Homeless in Arizona

N.J. man wins right for atheist licence plate

New Jersey government thinks atheists are "offensive"

N.J. man wins right for atheist licence plate

Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:43 AM

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey has approved a request from a national atheist group’s president for a license plate with the word atheist after a brief flap.

The Motor Vehicle Commission said Thursday a clerk had wrongly told David Silverman of New Jersey-based American Atheists Inc. he couldn’t use the word on his plate.

Spokeswoman Elyse Coffey says the clerk had exceeded her authority.

Silverman says the clerk told him his proposed plate was offensive, which he called “outrageously discriminatory.”

Custom plates with language deemed offensive are prohibited. Coffey says it was determined there was “nothing offensive” about it.

Silverman’s plate will have the number one in place of the letter “i.”

The MVC says “atheist” spelled with an “i’’ was taken. It’s on an old license plate hanging in Silverman’s office.

Atheists, Jews, Muslims and Hindus shut up and be tolerant

Source

On prayer, tolerance one-sided

Wed Aug 28, 2013 7:58 PM

A letter on Tuesday suggests we should show some maturity on prayer during governmental meetings (“Show some maturity on prayer,” Opinions).

I agree we have the right to participate in prayer if we choose. But why must those who are opposed to prayer always be the ones who have to “be mature” and show tolerance?

It seems that whenever religion and government come together, it’s always those who have different beliefs (or none at all) who have to be tolerant.

Let’s just not have prayer before the Glendale City Council meetings and let those who wish to pray do so prior to the meeting in silence.

— Jill Hudson, Glendale

Judge in rape case criticized for light sentence

If it was statutory rape and they had consensual sex I think the sentence is too harsh and that Stacey Dean Rambold should not have been charged with a crime.

On the other hand if it was a real criminal rape where Stacey Dean Rambold forced the woman to have sex with him the American criminal injustice system certainly isn't fair. In most other rape cases the criminal usually gets a harsh, draconian prison sentence.

Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh gave Stacey Dean Rambold a 30-day sentence for rape.

Well technically Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh gave Stacey Dean Rambold a 15 years prison sentence, but suspended all but 31 days.

Source

Judge in rape case criticized for light sentence, remarks about victim

By Christine Mai-Duc

August 28, 2013, 5:09 p.m.

A Montana judge has come under fire after handing down a 30-day sentence to a former high school teacher convicted of raping a 14-year-old student and for making statements in court that the victim was "older than her chronological age" and "as much in control of the situation" as her teacher.

Outrage is particularly sharp in Billings, where the crime took place, because the girl committed suicide in 2010, just shy of her 17th birthday, as the criminal case was pending. A protest was planned for Thursday, and organizers have called on Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh to resign.

The uproar began Monday when Baugh sentenced Stacey Dean Rambold, 54, to 15 years in prison on one count of sexual intercourse without consent, but then suspended all but 31 days and gave him credit for one day served. Prosecutors had asked for 20 years in prison, with 10 years suspended.

Baugh said that after reviewing statements made by the girl before her death, he concluded that she was a troubled youth. He then made the controversial remarks, including that he thought the girl had been "as much in control of the situation" as Rambold. The girl's mother, Auliea Hanlon, was in the courtroom and screamed at the judge before storming out, according to the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, Baugh apologized in a letter to the Billings Gazette newspaper, conceding his words were "demeaning of all women." He also said that while a 14-year-old "obviously" cannot consent, "I think that people have in mind that this was some violent, forcible, horrible rape.… It was horrible enough as it is just given her age, but it wasn't this forcible beat-up rape."

Under Montana state law, minors under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex.

"I don't believe in justice anymore," Hanlon said in a statement. "She wasn't even old enough to get a driver's license."

Protest organizer Sheena Rice called the judge's language "horrific."

"Judges should be protecting our most vulnerable children … not enabling rapists by placing blame on victims," she said.

Rambold was first charged in 2008 with three felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent after the girl reported to a church counselor that she had been sexually assaulted by a teacher, court documents show.

After the girl's death, Rambold admitted to one rape charge and entered a plea agreement in which the case would be dismissed provided he complete a sex-offender treatment program and meet other conditions, including having no unsupervised contact with children.

Prosecutors re-filed the charges in December after learning he had been terminated from the treatment program for having unsupervised visits with family members who were minors, according to court documents.

Jay Lansing, Rambold's attorney, had argued that Rambold had "already suffered as a result of his conduct," losing his career and his standing in the community. Lansing, who argued for the same sentence Baugh ultimately delivered, declined to comment Wednesday.

Prosecutor Scott Twito said his office was reviewing the sentence, which relied on an exception in state law that gives the judge latitude on sentencing in cases of sex with minors.

"I think the outcome could have been very different if the judge didn't have the freedom to make those choices," said Marian Bradley, president of Montana's National Organization for Women. Bradley and others are asking the governor and attorney general to review Baugh's actions.

In a statement to The Times, Gov. Steve Bullock said Baugh's comments left him "angry" and "disappointed," but that the Judicial Standards Commission handles complaints about a judge's actions.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

North Korea's Kim Jong Un executes ex-girlfriend???

Maybe Kim Jong Un is a mass murderer, but he is a rank amateur compared to American Emperors Bush and Obama who have murdered thousands and possibly millions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When it comes to murders that target specific individuals Kim Jong Un is a again a rank amateur compared the hundreds of people Obama has murdered with drones.

Source

North Korea's Kim reportedly has ex-girlfriend, 11 others executed

By Carol J. Williams

August 29, 2013, 3:09 p.m.

A North Korean firing squad last week executed a former girlfriend of leader Kim Jong Un and 11 other entertainers for allegedly violating laws banning pornography, a South Korean newspaper reported Thursday.

The report by Chosun Ilbo, an English-language newspaper of a Seoul media conglomerate, deemed the reported Aug. 20 executions a death blow to expectations that Kim would oversee a transition of his isolated and tyrannized people into a more open era.

Among the dozen performers shot to death while their families and former band members were forced to watch was Hyon Song Wol, a singer Kim reportedly courted a decade ago but was forced to abandon by his dictatorial father, Kim Jong Il.

Hyon was pictured by North Korean state television performing at a concert Aug. 8 in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, less than two weeks before her execution, Chosun Ilbo reported, posting a picture of the singer juxtaposed against one of Kim applauding at the concert.

The 12 members of the Unhasu Orchestra and the Wangjaesan Light Music Band were accused of violating anti-pornography laws by videotaping themselves having sex and selling copies of the tape to North Korean fans and in China.

The South Korean newspaper, which attributed reports of the executions to sources in China, said one also claimed that some of those arrested in the Aug. 17 crackdown were found to have Bibles in their possession. Like most communist countries, North Korea denounces religion as an undesirable foreign influence.

Hyon married a North Korean military officer after Kim's father forced their breakup, but reportedly continued to see the Pyongyang heir apparent even after her marriage, Chosun Ilbo said.

Kim, 30, is believed to have married Hyon's fellow band member, Ri Sol Ju, in the last year or so. Ri began showing up with Kim at cultural events in the capital a little more than a year ago, including at a female band concert in July 2012 that featured Western music, mini-skirted violinists and a parade of knock-off Disney characters. The gala raised speculation that Kim would relax longstanding constraints on artistic expression and social behavior imposed by his father and grandfather since North Korea's emergence as a separate state after World War II.

The performance that dispensed with the usual dour dress and state-mandated repertoire gave rise to "hopes that the young leader is more open to ideas from overseas, but that was apparently misreading," Chosun Ilbo concluded.

"Kim Jong Un has been viciously eliminating anyone who he deems a challenge to his authority," the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed source. The executions "show that he is fixated on consolidating his leadership."

Kim and his military and political hierarchies provoked new strain in relations with South Korea and the West this year by conducting a prohibited nuclear bomb test and proclaiming as invalid the 1953 armistice that halted fighting in the Korean War. The two sides never signed a peace treaty to formally end the conflict.

Minister convicted in slaying found hanged

Minister convicted in slaying found hanged

Associated Press Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:41 PM

IONIA, Mich. — A minister convicted of murder for killing his fiancee’s 24-year-old daughter to fulfill a fantasy to have sex with a dead body has died after being found hanged in his prison cell.

MLive.com reports that officials at the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia found 56-year-old John D. White about 4 a.m. Wednesday suffering from self-inflicted asphyxiation.

White had been a minister of the small Christ Community Fellowship church in Isabella County’s Deerfield Township, about 120 miles northwest of Detroit.

He was sentenced in April to 56 to 85 years in prison for the October 2012 beating and strangling of Rebekah Gay. Police say White confessed to killing Gay in her Broomfield Township home because he wanted to have sex with a dead body.

Mass. court hears Pledge of Allegiance challenge

Mass. court hears Pledge of Allegiance challenge

Wed Sep 4, 2013 7:52 AM

BOSTON — A lawyer for an atheist family has asked Massachusetts’ highest court to ban the practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in state public schools.

In arguments before the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday, a lawyer for the Acton family argued that the words “under God” in the pledge discriminate against atheist students.

The lawyer argues that the reference defines patriotism as someone who believes in God.

Lawyers for the school district and another family who want to keep the Pledge of Allegiance in schools say reciting it is voluntary and students can leave out the reference to God or choose not to participate.

Last year, a state judge found that the rights of the atheists were not violated by the words “under God.”

The family appealed the ruling.

Conviction in case tied to fight over God

Source

Conviction in case tied to fight over God

Associated Press Tue Sep 3, 2013 4:34 PM

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Oakland man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for shooting and killing his friend during an alcohol and cocaine-fueled argument over the existence of God.

The Oakland Tribune reports 33-year-old Douglas Yim was also found guilty Tuesday of assault with a firearm and mayhem for shooting a second friend in his living room two years ago.

Yim killed 25-year-old Dzuy Duhn Phan after a night of partying and playing video games. Another friend, Paul Park, testified the two men had engaged in a heated discussion about God.

Yim became enraged and grabbed his gun after Phan asked Yim where God was when Yim’s father died of a stroke several years earlier.

Yim shot Phan at least six times. Park was also hit by a bullet.

Yim faces 126 years to life in prison.

Jesus goes bankrupt???

Suits spur diocese to file for bankruptcy

By Michael Clancy The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Sep 3, 2013 10:35 PM

The Catholic Diocese of Gallup, N.M., announced at weekend Masses that it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a result of more than a dozen clergy abuse lawsuits.

Bishop James Wall, who formerly worked as a parish priest in Phoenix, said bankruptcy protection is “the most effective and thoughtful course to take in light of claims from those who were abused.”

The Gallup Diocese encompasses Arizona’s Apache and Mohave counties, and seven of 13 plaintiffs in the lawsuits reside in Maricopa County.

A filing date with federal bankruptcy court in Albuquerque was not specified.

Wall, who became bishop in 2009, said he wants to treat all abuse victims “in a just, equitable and more-than-merciful manner” while continuing diocese operations.

Gallup would become the ninth diocese nationwide to file for bankruptcy. Tucson was the second, in a case resolved in 2005. Tucson ended up paying $22.2 million to more than 50 abuse victims.

Gallup is believed to be one of the poorest dioceses in the country, operating on a budget of less than $3 million a year, less than some parishes in Phoenix.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Pastor said the bankruptcy filing is more about keeping information secret than minimizing the amount of abuse settlements.

A bankruptcy filing halts all legal action against the diocese. Pastor said he likely will lose the scheduled Sept. 18 opportunity to depose Wall, who he has been “trying to schedule for a year.”

“The diocese is using bankruptcy to put a stop to discovery,” Pastor said.

Wall, in his Sunday letter, denied that.

“I have not taken this step to avoid responsibility for what happened or to hide anything,” he said.

Pastor charged with burglary - again

Pastor charged with burglary - again

By Brian Haas Tennessean Wed Sep 4, 2013 5:29 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee pastor caught on tape trying to break into a church member's home for drugs in 2011 has been arrested again after police say he burglarized the home of another former church member.

Rickey Alan Reed, 56, of Smyrna remained jailed Tuesday on $32,500 bond in Davidson County on a single count each of felony aggravated burglary and misdemeanor theft under $500. He was already on probation after pleading guilty in 2011 to aggravated burglary in Rutherford County, avoiding a four-year prison sentence by begging a judge for mercy, forgiveness and a chance to treat his addiction.

But Jewel Proper, 70, said none of it worked. Instead she found him the morning of Aug. 8 standing in her Antioch home with her pain medication.

"I opened the back door and there he stood in the kitchen. I grabbed him by his shirt and I said, 'I got you now, you ain't goin' nowhere,'" Proper said. "He kept saying, 'Jewel, let me go'. I said, 'No! You stole my medicine.'"

Reed's attorney, Thomas Parkerson, said he is talking to prosecutors about resolving the case. He said he anticipates Rutherford County will also seek a charge for violating his probation.

"I'm hopeful that the victim and the courts will give him some opportunity to get him the help that he needs," Parkerson said.

Reed was pastor of First Free Methodist Church in Smyrna until he was caught on video July 4, 2011, breaking into the home of Jean Harris, a member of his church. Harris turned the video over to Smyrna police, who have said they had seen similar allegations that Reed had broken into homes hunting for pain pills. A year later, a Rutherford County judge spared Reed prison time, instead sentencing him to four years of probation.

Proper said that during the past year she had tried to help Reed, who she suspected was still addicted to painkillers. Reed had been her husband's pastor.

"You don't get help until you hit rock bottom," Proper said. "And I said (to him), 'You didn't hit there yet.'"

But medications for her back and neck pain and her husband's prostate cancer began to go missing. In early August, they installed an alarm on their home.

"On the fourth day he broke into my house," she said. "I told him, 'I'm the wrong one to mess with, I guarantee you.' I might be little, because I'm about 4'11", but I'm the wrong one for you to mess with."

Proper told police that 12 Lortab pills went missing from her pill bottle in the burglary. She hasn't been able to figure out how he got into her house because there were no signs of a break-in.

Reed's case has been sent to a Davidson County grand jury, which will determine if there's enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Proper said she forgives Reed but that he needs to be held responsible for his actions and to get help. Especially because of what he's done to her sense of security.

"He has invaded my life and my life will never be the same," she said. "You don't know what he's touched, you don't really know what he's taken. You don't know what they've done. All I care about is he serves the time and he gets the help he needs."

Files show NSA cracks, weakens Internet encryption

1) I have always suspected that the NSA can use it's supercomputers to crack PGP and other public key encrypted messages. But I suspected it took some effort to decrypt the messages. Is that still true??? Or it is now a trivial inexpensive task for NSA to read messages that are encrypted with PGP and other public key??

2) Just what are these "secret portals" or "hooks" that the NSA has created??? I suspect they are hooks that tell the encryption software used by HTTPS encryption to create encrypted data that is easily decrypted by NSA and other government agencies.

3) This shows that it is really not safe to put ANYTHING that you would like to keep secret from anybody, especially the government on the internet. Same goes for putting the data on telephone lines, radio waves or any public communication method.

Files show NSA cracks, weakens Internet encryption

By Michael Winter USA Today Thu Sep 5, 2013 4:51 PM

U.S. and British intelligence agencies have cracked the encryption designed to provide online privacy and security, documents leaked by Edward Snowden show.

In their clandestine, decade-long effort to defeat digital scrambling, the National Security Agency, along with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), have used supercomputers to crack encryption codes and have inserted secret portals into software with the help of technology companies, the Guardian, the New York Times and ProPublica reported Thursday.

The NSA has also maintained control over international encryption standards.

As the Times points out, encryption "guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world."

The NSA calls its decryption efforts the "price of admission for the U.S. to maintain unrestricted access to and use of cyberspace."

A 2010 memo describing an NSA briefing to British agents about the secret hacking said, "For the past decade, N.S.A. has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies. Cryptanalytic capabilities are now coming online. Vast amounts of encrypted Internet data which have up till now been discarded are now exploitable."

The GCHQ is working to penetrate encrypted traffic on what it called the "big four" service providers ---Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook, the Guardian said.

Chapel-run program at Sky Harbor seeks funds

Phoenix spends $75,000 a year on church at Sky Harbor Airport???

From this article it sounds like the City of Phoenix has been violating the Arizona Constitution and illegally shoveling $7,000 a month to the chapel at Sky Harbor Airport

Source

Chapel-run program at Sky Harbor seeks funds

Travelers Aid assists those in distress; city not renewing contract

By Amy B Wang The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Sep 1, 2013 9:25 PM

A place of refuge for travelers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is seeking help of its own.

The Sky Harbor interfaith chapel needs about $7,000 a month to continue Travelers Aid services after Phoenix did not renew its contract for the program earlier this year, Chaplain Al Young said. [So Phoenix has been mixing government and religion in violation of the Arizona Constitution and giving this church at Sky Harbor Airport $7,000 a month to operate???]

Many airports around the world have interfaith chapels, enclaves where anyone can seek momentary respite from the potentially stressful environment outside. Sky Harbor is unusual in that its chapel also houses the airport’s Travelers Aid program, Young said. [But per the Arizona Constitution and US Constitution government run airports are not allowed to mix religion and government and fund churches or chapels!!]

He said the Travelers Aid program serves as a “safety net” for those who are in distress — perhaps homeless, recovering from an addiction, stranded or fleeing a domestic-violence situation — and have nowhere else to turn after getting to the airport. [Homeless folks at the airport??? Last time I checked Homeland Security was chasing homeless folks out of the airport]

Although the airport chaplain held the contract for the Travelers Aid program, it is completely separate from the airport chaplaincy and the services provided there, Sky Harbor spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher said.

She said airport staff and volunteers have access to local resources that can provide support for victims of domestic violence, the homeless and other cases, which were often handled by Travelers Aid.

“The Travelers Aid contract was put into effect when the airport had fewer police officers, operational staff and volunteers,” Ostreicher said in an e-mail. “Now with over 400 customer-service volunteers and increased airport staffing and police, it is no longer necessary to contract this service.”

The religious ministry is funded entirely by donations from other sources, so the chapel itself is not in danger of closing, Young said. But without Travelers Aid, the chapel’s reach is limited. [But from this article it sounds like a bunch of tax dollars are being used illegally at the church or chapel!!!]

Travelers Aid case manager Nancy Tyler, who until last month was the lone case manager working out of the chapel for the Sky Harbor Travelers Aid, has agreed to an indefinite furlough.

There are people who need more than a just a temporary quiet place, Young said.

Tyler’s reports are filled with stories of misunderstandings, of people trying to escape domestic violence, of travelers who wind up stuck in Phoenix without money or means to get to where they need to go.

Sometimes, a little bit of communication makes all the difference, she wrote.

In June, Tyler received a call from a distraught man in Chicago who said his elderly, disabled mother was stuck at a gate in Terminal 2. Her connecting flight had been canceled, and he said no one from the airline had assisted her. Tyler worked with the airline to put her on another flight and helped the man’s mother get to Terminal 4 — to his immense relief, Tyler said.

Young said the chapel’s calming atmosphere is a natural environment for such a program. Tucked behind a currency exchange on the third floor of Terminal 4, it’s easy to miss. Every hour, at 27 minutes after the hour, a PA announcement mentions the chapel. [Did the taxpayers pay for this message????]

“We say it’s probably one of the best-kept secrets at the airport,” Young said. “Even regular travelers aren’t always aware there is a chapel.” [And because of the Arizona Constitution there shouldn't be a religious chapel at at government run airport]

Step through the chapel doors, and gone are footsteps of people rushing to catch flights. Once inside, only a water fountain in the corner of a dim room is audible. A small shelf holds about two dozen religious texts, while a table by the entrance offers pamphlets on everything from alcohol addiction to overcoming loneliness.

At one time, the chapel had 13 chaplains. Now, there are six: four full time and two part time, all volunteers.

“Their role is to rove through the airport, be observant,” Young said. “If someone is showing signs of distress, (they) step up and introduce themselves and ask if there’s any help they can offer.” [I thought per the Homeland Security rules only PASSENGERS were allowed to rove through the airport????]

The chapel receives an estimated 400 to 500 visitors each month, Young said. [So it costs between $14 and $17.50 for each person that visits the chapel] About half are airport employees; the rest travelers. Some come to pray or simply sit in silence. Others ended up there for the Travelers Aid program.

“While the chapel ministry is an important part of what we do, the other side of it is a social service that we have been providing ... for stranded and distressed travelers,” Young said. “This is the program that we feel most needs support from the community.”

The city approved a one-year trial run of the program in June 2006, then extended it for seven years at about $75,000 annually. [So it looks like the city of Phoenix is violating the Arizona Constitution and mixing government and religion at Sky Harbor Airport] The chapel wants to raise enough money to resurrect its Travelers Aid program and rehire Tyler. “Her knowledge is just indispensable,” Young said.

To make a donation, visit www.skyharborchapel.org/travelers-aid.

Who needs back up files when you have the NSA????

Don't think of it as the government flushing the Bill of Rights down the toilet!!!

Think of it as a free file backup service run by government goons!!!!

N.S.A. Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web

The article says the NSA has been getting makers of ICs or integrated circuits to put back doors into their products so the NSA can read or listen to your data before the chip encrypts it.

The article says the NSA is also working with software vendors like Microsoft getting them to put back doors in their software products, again so the NSA can grab the data before the software encrypts it.

Chandler Councilwoman Trinity Donovan mixes religion and government

Chandler Councilwoman Trinity Donovan is CEO of Chandler Christian Community Center

Chandler Councilwoman Trinity Donovan is also is the CEO of Chandler Christian Community Center, and seems to being doing the best she can to use the force of government to help the Chandler Christian Community Center despite the fact it is illegal under the Arizona Constitution

Source

Chandler, Tempe, Phx officials learn what life is like on $4.14 worth of food stamps

Officials join 'SNAP Experience'

Posted: Sunday, September 8, 2013 5:26 am

By Katie Mayer, Special to Tribune | 2 comments

Chandler Councilwoman Trinity Donovan walked into the grocery store last week with $29 in her purse and a feeling of uncertainty in her mind.

It was the only money she had for a week’s worth of food, so Donovon, a vegetarian, had to choose carefully. She wanted to buy a large container of yogurt for protein, but it would cost her too much. And she hoped for some juice and snacks, but again realized she could not afford them.

In the end, she settled on some water, rice, dried pinto beans, pasta, oatmeal, peanut butter, a small block of cheese and some fresh fruits and vegetables to get her through the week.

For Donovan, who is the CEO of Chandler Christian Community Center, the recent experience was just an exercise, but for more than 1 million Arizonans, it’s a reality.

The exercise, called the SNAP Experience, began Sept. 3 and ends Sept. 9, and is organized by the non-profit Arizona Community Action Association. The exercise encourages politicians, non-profit groups and the community to attempt to eat for $4.14 cents per day — the average amount a single person on food stamps receives. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and is the name now used in place of food stamps.

“We want people to experience what it might be like to live hungry for a week, and be able to identify some of the barriers and issues that people of low income have to face in their reality for an extended period of time,” said Arizona Community Action Association Outreach and Community Development Manager Angela Schultz.

About 140 people statewide participated in the SNAP Experience, including Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and State Rep. Juan Mendez, R-Tempe.

For Mendez, the experience was a reminder of what his family went through growing up with a single mother and four children in his home.

“I grew up on food stamps, so I know what it’s like to live in a family that depends on that kind of supplement just to cover the necessary food budget for a month,” Mendez said. “Now that I have this voice and this platform, I’m going to be working on legislation that highlights what families are going through.”

Mendez said the hardest part of the exercise for him was that to save money he had to follow a more planned out meal schedule. He also missed his morning cup of coffee.

Mendez said the experience was a good reminder, but still not nearly as difficult as life is for those living in poverty, who often must rely on public transportation and don’t always have easy access to grocery stores.

“There are many parts of the Valley that are food deserts,” Mendez said.

A food desert is a geographic area where residents have limited or no access to fresh and healthy food options due to the absence of grocery stores within a convenient distance, according to the non-profit Food Empowerment Project.

Schultz said this is the fourth year the Arizona Community Action Association has held the SNAP Experience, but this year it was especially important to raise awareness.

On Nov. 1, the 2009 Recovery Act’s temporary increase to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is scheduled to end, meaning that on average, a family of three will see their benefits reduced by $29 per month, Schultz said. On the national level, there are talks of cutting SNAP benefits as well, although a bill has not been introduced.

“We are trying to get the information out to help families know that this is coming,” Schulz said, “because they budget their food money based on what their SNAP budget is.”

Since SNAP benefits are often not enough to cover a family’s food needs, Donovan said her organization often fills the gap by providing monthly food boxes and weekly fresh food, which is donated from restaurants and businesses. Last year, Chandler Christian Community Center distributed about 16,000 boxes to 10,000 people.

Donovan said the food boxes are healthy and nutritionally balanced, which Mendez said is important, because people don’t always know how to make good food choices.

“If kids are not eating right, there are going to be things that will complicate their life later on,” Mendez said. “I have family members with health problems directly tied to the fact that we did not know what we are eating.”

Schultz said the national obesity epidemic is changing the way hunger looks.

“You think of really thin people who are starving, but what we’re seeing is you can buy Doritos and Coke and buy empty calories that are going to fill you up and be empty calories,” Schultz said. “If people look like they’re well fed, it’s because they’re eating high-calorie, low-nutrient foods.”

For more information on the SNAP Experience or how to get involved, go to azcaa.org or chandlerfoodbank.org.

Journalist Facing Prison Over a Link

Placing a "link" or an "A tag" to a document is a Federal crime???

"By trying to criminalize linking, the federal authorities ... are suggesting that to share information online is the same as possessing it or even stealing it"

I guess that is just a cockamamie, convoluted, lame excuse to flush the First Amendment down the toilet by Obama's federal goons.

Source

A Journalist-Agitator Facing Prison Over a Link

By DAVID CARR

Published: September 8, 2013

Barrett Brown makes for a pretty complicated victim. A Dallas-based journalist obsessed with the government’s ties to private security firms, Mr. Brown has been in jail for a year, facing charges that carry a combined penalty of more than 100 years in prison.

Professionally, his career embodies many of the conflicts and contradictions of journalism in the digital era. He has written for The Guardian, Vanity Fair and The Huffington Post, but as with so many of his peers, the line between his journalism and his activism is nonexistent. He has served in the past as a spokesman of sorts for Anonymous, the hacker collective, although some members of the group did not always appreciate his work on its behalf.

In 2007, he co-wrote a well-received book, “Flock of Dodos: Behind Modern Creationism, Intelligent Design and the Easter Bunny,” and over time, he has developed an expertise in the growing alliance between large security firms and the government, arguing that the relationship came at a high cost to privacy.

From all accounts, including his own, Mr. Brown, now 32, is a real piece of work. He was known to call some of his subjects on the phone and harass them. He has been public about his struggles with heroin and tends to see conspiracies everywhere he turns. Oh, and he also threatened an F.B.I. agent and his family by name, on a video, and put it on YouTube, so there’s that.

But that’s not the primary reason Mr. Brown is facing the rest of his life in prison. In 2010, he formed an online collective named Project PM with a mission of investigating documents unearthed by Anonymous and others. If Anonymous and groups like it were the wrecking crew, Mr. Brown and his allies were the people who assembled the pieces of the rubble into meaningful insights.

Project PM first looked at the documents spilled by the hack of HBGary Federal, a security firm, in February 2011 and uncovered a remarkable campaign of coordinated disinformation against advocacy groups, which Mr. Brown wrote about in The Guardian, among other places.

Peter Ludlow, a professor of philosophy at Northwestern and a fan of Mr. Brown’s work, wrote in The Huffington Post that, “Project PM under Brown’s leadership began to slowly untangle the web of connections between the U.S. government, corporations, lobbyists and a shadowy group of private military and infosecurity consultants.”

In December 2011, approximately five million e-mails from Stratfor Global Intelligence, an intelligence contractor, were hacked by Anonymous and posted on WikiLeaks. The files contained revelations about close and perhaps inappropriate ties between government security agencies and private contractors. In a chat room for Project PM, Mr. Brown posted a link to it.

Among the millions of Stratfor files were data containing credit cards and security codes, part of the vast trove of internal company documents. The credit card data was of no interest or use to Mr. Brown, but it was of great interest to the government. In December 2012 he was charged with 12 counts related to identity theft. Over all he faces 17 charges — including three related to the purported threat of the F.B.I. officer and two obstruction of justice counts — that carry a possible sentence of 105 years, and he awaits trial in a jail in Mansfield, Tex.

According to one of the indictments, by linking to the files, Mr. Brown “provided access to data stolen from company Stratfor Global Intelligence to include in excess of 5,000 credit card account numbers, the card holders’ identification information, and the authentication features for the credit cards.”

Because Mr. Brown has been closely aligned with Anonymous and various other online groups, some of whom view sowing mayhem as very much a part of their work, his version of journalism is tougher to pin down and, sometimes, tougher to defend.

But keep in mind that no one has accused Mr. Brown of playing a role in the actual stealing of the data, only of posting a link to the trove of documents.

Journalists from other news organizations link to stolen information frequently. Just last week, The New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica collaborated on a significant article about the National Security Agency’s effort to defeat encryption technologies. The article was based on, and linked to, documents that were stolen by Edward J. Snowden, a private contractor working for the government who this summer leaked millions of pages of documents to the reporter Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian along with Barton Gellman of The Washington Post.

By trying to criminalize linking, the federal authorities in the Northern District of Texas — Mr. Brown lives in Dallas — are suggesting that to share information online is the same as possessing it or even stealing it. In the news release announcing the indictment, the United States attorney’s office explained, “By transferring and posting the hyperlink, Brown caused the data to be made available to other persons online, without the knowledge and authorization of Stratfor and the card holders.”

And the magnitude of the charges is confounding. Jeremy Hammond, a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to participating in the actual hacking of Stratfor in the first place, is facing a sentence of 10 years.

Last week, Mr. Brown and his lawyers agreed to an order that allows him to continue to work on articles, but not say anything about his case that is not in the public record.

Speaking by phone on Thursday, Charles Swift, one of his lawyers, spoke carefully.

“Mr. Brown is presumed innocent of the charges against him and in support of the presumption, the defense anticipates challenging both the legal assumptions and the facts that underlie the charges against him,” he said.

Others who are not subject to the order say the aggressive set of charges suggests the government is trying to send a message beyond the specifics of the case.

“The big reason this matters is that he transferred a link, something all of us do every single day, and ended up being charged for it,” said Jennifer Lynch, a staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that presses for Internet freedom and privacy. “I think that this administration is trying to prosecute the release of information in any way it can.”

There are other wrinkles in the case. When the F.B.I. tried to serve a warrant on Mr. Brown in March 2012, he was at his mother’s house. The F.B.I. said that his mother tried to conceal his laptop and it charged her with obstruction of justice. (She pleaded guilty in March of this year and is awaiting sentencing.)

The action against his mother enraged Mr. Brown and in September 2012 he made a rambling series of posts to YouTube in which he said he was in withdrawal from heroin addiction. He proceeded to threaten an F.B.I. agent involved in the arrest, saying, “I don’t say I’m going to kill him, but I am going to ruin his life and look into his (expletive) kids ... How do you like them apples?”

The feds did not like them apples. After he was arrested, a judge ruled he was “a danger to the safety of the community and a risk of flight.” In the video, Mr. Brown looks more like a strung-out heroin addict than a threat to anyone, but threats are threats, especially when made against the F.B.I.

“The YouTube video was a mistake, a big one,” said Gregg Housh, a friend of Mr. Brown’s who first introduced him to the activities of Anonymous. “But it is important to remember that the majority of the 105 years he faces are the result of linking to a file. He did not and has not hacked anything, and the link he posted has been posted by many, many other news organizations.”

At a time of high government secrecy with increasing amounts of information deemed classified, other routes to the truth have emerged, many of them digital. News organizations in receipt of leaked documents are increasingly confronting tough decisions about what to publish, and are defending their practices in court and in the court of public opinion, not to mention before an administration determined to aggressively prosecute leakers.

In public statements since his arrest, Mr. Brown has acknowledged that he made some bad choices. But punishment needs to fit the crime and in this instance, much of what has Mr. Brown staring at a century behind bars seems on the right side of the law, beginning with the First Amendment of the Constitution.

E-mail: carr@nytimes.com;

Twitter: @carr2n

The Reinvention of an Anti-War Activist

Kyrsten Sinema isn't an Anti-War Activist???

Kyrsten Sinema is also a gun grabber and wants to flush the Second Amendment down the toilet.

Source

The Reinvention of an Anti-War Activist

Alana Goodman | @alanagoodman 07.23.2012 - 10:00 AM

You wouldn’t normally expect Washington Democrats to spend much time fretting over a congressional primary in Arizona. But the three-way Democratic race between Kyrsten Sinema, Andrei Cherny, and David Schapira is getting a surprising amount of attention from national Democrats, the pro-Israel community and the political media.

Ten years ago, Sinema was one of those radical left-wing activists who donned pink tutus at anti-war rallies and organized with anti-Israel groups. Today, the 36-year-old is running for Congress as an AIPAC-supporting moderate who would have voted in favor of the Afghanistan intervention.

The problem? Some Democrats say her evolution doesn’t add up. For one, Sinema’s been involved with anti-Israel and anti-war groups much more recently than her campaign has acknowledged. And while she recently released a strongly-worded pro-Israel position paper [hmmm... an atheist, anti-war activist that supports war mongering Israel??], her latest comments on foreign policy issues have been dodgy and confusing. [I suspect that is very intentional, so she won't lose any votes from fence sitters who don't know if she is for or against something]

“Is she for or against killing bin Laden?” asked former AIPAC spokesman Josh Block. “Based on her record, you don’t know. You would think when you’re considering a member of Congress, you would know their positions on these issues.”

One Democratic Arizona state representative who has worked with Sinema said her views are impossible to decipher. [Again I suspect that is very intentional, so she won't lose any votes from fence sitters who don't know if she is for or against something]

“When she wanted to be an activist, she was anti-war, all these kinds of things that now she says she never was,” he said. “I don’t think she actually has a foreign policy core, I think she has a political core.” [hmmm so Kyrsten Sinema is now denying being an anti-war activist????]

According to the Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo, Sinema didn’t just dabble in radical circles; she helped organize and lead extreme anti-war groups that took anti-Israel positions on issues like the right of return and Israel’s self defense. Townhall’s Guy Benson reported that she was involved in anarchist riots that encouraged property destruction. [To be honest Sinema always has been a socialist like Drew Sullivan's Phoenix Anarchists, but I don't ever remember hearing about her at a Phoenix Anarchist event. ]

Sinema’s campaign disputed the claim that she was involved with anti-Israel activism, calling it a smear tactic by opponents.

“These weren’t anti-Israel groups. These were ‘Let’s not go to war with Iraq and Afghanistan groups,’” Sinema’s spokesman Rodd McLeod told me. He acknowledged that there may have been anti-Israel elements at some of the rallies she attended, but that this never represented her own view. “Frankly it’s sexist. She has to agree with the people she marches with, when she’s a 25-year-old grad student?”

That phrasing is slightly misleading, since Sinema’s involvement with radical and anti-Israel causes continued well beyond her mid-20s. Two years ago, Sinema was a featured speaker at an anti-war rally sponsored by Code Pink, the End the War Coalition, and Women in Black. She also sat on the board of the Progressive Democrats of America in 2006 and 2007, when she was entering her second term as an Arizona state representative. During that time, PDA issued a statement condemning the pro-Israel lobby and equating it with Palestinian terrorism.

“PDA opposes the powerful and dangerous lobbies that distort US foreign policy in the Middle East, much as we condemn those Palestinians guilty of waging and supporting terrorist war against Israeli civilians,” read the statement.

The organization also blamed Israeli policy for Palestinian terror attacks.

“[W]hile we condemn such terrorism, it remains our belief that the root cause of violence in Israel and Palestine is the Israeli occupation and intransigence, despite Israel’s trumpeted withdrawal from Gaza.”

When I raised this with McLeod, he said he wasn’t aware Sinema was ever a PDA board member and that the statement didn’t reflect her views. “She does not believe Israeli intransigence is the root cause of the conflict,” he said. “To conflate terrorism…with political activity is just absurd. She would never support that.”

Some of Sinema’s positions on national security are also unclear. In a May questionnaire requesting an endorsement from the PDA, Sinema wrote that she “led efforts opposing these wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] before they even started.” [So was Sinema always been a war monger, who hangs out with anti-war folks????]

That same month, she told The Hill newspaper that she would have voted to authorize the 2001 Afghanistan intervention if she had been in Congress at the time — and added that she also supports military intervention in Sudan and Somalia.

The campaign doesn’t believe this is a contradiction. “She makes a distinction between an invasion and occupation, and the use of military force,” McLeod explained.

Sinema also seems unfamiliar with some of the content in her staunchly pro-Israel position paper. The Jewish Journal’s Shmuel Rosner obtained private email conversations in which Sinema contradicted portions of the paper and seemed perplexed by what a “demilitarized” Palestinian state meant.

When I asked McLeod how much involvement Sinema had with the paper, he said she had done much of the work herself. “I did one edit on it, but she worked with members of the community on it.”

But in one of the emails cited by the Jewish Journal, Sinema claimed that her staff had written the paper, not her. [Yea, a typical lying politician. Blame your STAFF for any statements that make you look bad!!!!]

“You are right, staff writes position papers,” she wrote. “I will ask staff to edit and get an updated and accurate position uploaded to the website this week.”

Sinema refused to answer questions about her history when I called her on the phone. Instead, she said I would have to request an interview through her office.

“I assume you got this [cell phone] number from my opponents, and I’m sure they’re trying to spread some horrible stories about me,” she said,

When I got in touch with her spokesperson, McLeod, he said Sinema was busy and wouldn’t have time to talk to me directly.

Kyrsten Sinema isn't an atheist?????

Even though Sinema does not claim the atheist mantle, nontheist groups consider her one of their own.

It sure sounds like Kyrsten Sinema will say ANYTHING to get elected.

While Sinema's campaign was initially unavailable for comment after Tuesday's election, spokesman Justin Unga said Friday that Sinema does not consider herself a nonbeliever, adding that she prefers a "secular approach.''

Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona Democrat, To Replace Pete Stark As Sole Atheist In Congress

Religion News Service | By Kimberly Winston Posted: 11/08/2012 7:35 am EST Updated: 11/09/2012 4:46 pm EST

(RNS) Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., the only openly atheist member of Congress, lost his race for another term on Tuesday (Nov. 6).

But secularists will not remain unrepresented in the Capitol. Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, a former Arizona state senator who was raised Mormon and is a bisexual, has narrowly won her pitch for a House seat by 2,000 votes.

"We are sad to see Pete Stark go," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, which gave Stark its Humanist of the Year award in 2008.

"He was a pioneer for us, and by being open about his lack of a belief in God we hope that he has opened the door for people like Kyrsten Sinema and others that will come after her."

While Sinema's campaign was initially unavailable for comment after Tuesday's election, spokesman Justin Unga said Friday that Sinema does not consider herself a nonbeliever, adding that she prefers a "secular approach.''

"Kyrsten believes the terms non-theist, atheist or nonbeliever are not befitting of her life's work or personal character,'' Unga said in email. "She does not identify as any of the above.''

Stark, who turns 80 this year, is the dean of the California congressional delegation and has served Fremont, a religiously diverse community near San Jose, since 1972. He "came out" as a nonbeliever in 2007, and went on to win two re-election bids. But this time he faced recent redistricting and a fellow Democratic challenger, Eric Salwell, almost 50 years his junior.

"I don't think his lack of belief in a god had anything to do with the results of this election," Speckhardt said. "The numbers were close."

But during the campaign, Salwell raised Stark's 2011 vote against reaffirming "In God We Trust" as the national motto, a vote in which he was joined by just eight other lawmakers. The outspoken Stark accused Salwell of taking bribes, an accusation which he eventually had to apologize for.

Still, Speckhardt said Stark's achievements for nontheists include his opposition to the war in Iraq and his support of health care reform and civil rights. He also worked for congressional recognition of Darwin Day and the National Day of Reason, which nontheists observe to promote science education and critical thinking.

"Humanism is not just a lack of belief in God, it is a positive, progressive philosophy," Speckhardt said. "So for us, he has done things every day."

Sinema, 36, has much in common with Stark ideologically. Having previously served as both an Arizona state senator and representative, she has a long record of supporting women's rights, marriage equality, gay rights and science education.

Even though Sinema does not claim the atheist mantle, nontheist groups consider her one of their own.

"This is a step forward in that she was able to run openly as a nontheist and it didn't seem to be an issue," said Lauren Anderson Youngblood, communications manager for the Secular Coalition for America, whose Arizona branch supported Sinema's election. "That is a great thing for the community, especially because with the loss of Pete Stark, we are left with a big hole."

Editor's note: The post has been updated to reflect input from the Sinema campaign about Sinema's beliefs. [And of course that probably seems to change on who she wants to vote for her. ]

PLEA endorses Sinema's congressional bid

Police officers LOVE Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema

Phoenix Law Enforcement Association endorses Sinema's congressional bid

I suspect the reason Kyrsten Sinema tried to flush Arizona's medical marijuana act down the toilet by interdicting a bill that would have slapped a 300 percent tax on medical marijuana was to keep her cop friends who give her lots of money happy.

Source

PLEA endorses Sinema's congressional bid

Posted: Jan 05, 2012 4:14 PM Updated: Jan 17, 2013 4:14 PM

By Phil Benson - email

The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association on Thursday endorsed Democrat Kyrsten Sinema's run for Congress.

Sinema, of Phoenix, declared her candidacy Tuesday and resigned from the Arizona Senate to run for the U.S. House seat from Arizona's 9th Congressional District.

"As a state legislator, Kyrsten did more than just give lip service in support of law enforcement and police officers," said Levi Bolton, spokesperson for PLEA. "She stood by those words and voted on numerous occasions to support us." [See the police will tell you themselves that Kyrsten Sinema supports the police state. Her attempt to slap a 300 percent tax on medical marijuana is the best example of that I can give you]

"Kyrsten's proven commitment to protecting those who protect our community will make her a strong and effective advocate for police and first responders in Congress," Bolton added.

The newly drawn 9th District includes much of central Maricopa County, taking in Tempe and parts of Phoenix and Mesa.

At least one other prominent Democrat may run for the seat. State Sen. David Schapira of Tempe has said he may run.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Quayle also lives in the district, but he may run instead in an adjacent district.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will pick a replacement to serve the rest of Sinema's Senate term.

Copyright 2012 KPHO. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

7 years in prison for consensual sex????

Source

Ex-snowboard instructor Alexander Peth gets prison for teen sex

Posted: 8:03 PM

TUCSON, AZ - A former snowboard instructor has been sentenced to seven years in prison for having sex with a 13-year old Tucson girl.

Pima County prosecutors say 23-year-old Alexander Peth was sentenced Monday following a guilty plea to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

After his release from prison, Peth will serve 10 years of probation.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that Peth met the girl and her family in February while working as a snowboard instructor at Sunrise Ski Resort in the White Mountains.

The family hired Peth to teach their daughter to snowboard.

Prosecutors say Peth and girl continued their relationship in Tucson, where they each live.

The girl's parents found out about their relationship and notified police.

Marijuana fans cheer historic Senate hearing

Source

Marijuana fans cheer historic Senate hearing

USA Today Tue Sep 10, 2013 3:12 PM

Federal laws pose "significant obstacles" to regulation of marijuana in states where it is legal and need to be addressed, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Tuesday in a first-ever hearing aimed at reconciling rapidly changing state marijuana laws with a federal prohibition on the drug.

"We must have a smarter approach to marijuana policy," Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said. "Marijuana use in this country is nothing new, but the way that individual states are dealing with marijuana continues to evolve."

The hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee follows a Justice Department memo outlining how it will enforce federal marijuana prohibitions in two states, Colorado and Washington, that have legalized its use, and 20 states that allow marijuana for medical use.

"The absolute criminalization of personal marijuana use has contributed to our nation's soaring prison population and has disproportionately affected people of color," Leahy said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Colorado has done a poor job so far of preventing marijuana exports to other states where marijuana remains illegal.

"Why has the Justice Department decided to trust Colorado?" Grassley said. "Colorado has become a significant exporter of marijuana."

The Justice Department reserved its right to challenge state laws if public health or safety problems emerge or if the states fail to enact strict regulations to control marijuana use and sale, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, author of the memo, told the Senate panel.

The states' regulations must be "tough in practice, not just on paper," Cole said. "It must include strong enforcement efforts, backed by adequate funding."

The Justice Department said in its Aug. 29 memo to U.S. attorneys nationwide that it would seek only to prosecute people who sell marijuana to minors, use state laws as a cover for drug trafficking or who attempt to distribute marijuana in states where it is not legal.

King County, Wash., Sheriff John Urquhart said he sees little conflict between his state's marijuana laws and federal law enforcement.

"The reality is we do have complimentary goals and values," Urquhart said. "We all agree we don't want our children using marijuana. We all agree we don't want impaired drivers. We all agree we don't want to continue enriching criminals."

The federal government needs to take some steps to help the state meet those goals, particularly easing banking laws to allow them to do business with licensed marijuana business, Urquhart said.

Because it's illegal under federal law for banks to open checking, savings or credit card accounts for marijuana businesses, marijuana stores are cash-only, he said. That makes them prime targets for armed robberies and makes them difficult to audit for tax evasion and wage theft, he said.

"I am simply asking that the federal government allow banks to work with legitimate marijuana businesses who are licensed under this new state law," Urquhart said.

"What we have in Washington is not the wild, wild West," he said. "The message to my deputies has been very clear: You will enforce our new marijuana laws. You will write someone a ticket for smoking in public. You will enforce age limits. You will put unlicensed stores out of business."

Legalizing marijuana without strict controls will create an enormous public health problem similar to what the United States faced with tobacco use, said Kevin Sabet, founder of Project SAM, which advocates for a marijuana policy that focuses on public health, prevention and treatment.

After years of fighting "Big Tobacco," Sabet said, "we are now on the brink of creating 'Big Marijuana.' "

"Authorizing the large-scale, commercial production of marijuana will undoubtedly expand its access and availability," Sabet said. "When we can prevent negative consequences of the commercial sale and production of marijuana now, why would be open the floodgates, hope for the best, and try with limited resources to patch everything up when things go wrong?"

The hearing suggests that "the Senate at last is acknowledging the remarkable shift in public opinion and state laws involving marijuana," Drug Police Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann said.

Volunteers Cops - Know your enemy!!!!

Volunteer Police Officers mixing religion and government????

Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa volunteers help police departments save time, money

More time allotted to officers; volunteers handle non-emergency, non-crime tasks

Posted: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 6:35 pm

By Corey Malecka, Special to Tribune

In an effort to assist officers with the daily grind of safeguarding the communities they serve, East Valley police departments are home to various volunteer programs that provide much-needed leverage to the departments’ time and budgets.

The existence of police volunteer programs often helps shore up more time for sworn, or employed, police officers to spend on the literal public safety component of their jobs; tasking volunteers with non-emergency and non-crime issues offers the potential for departments to be “proactive in terms of addressing crime problems,” said Mike White, associate professor at Arizona State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

The national program, called the Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), is utilized by police departments like those serving Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa. It is a program under the United States Citizen Corps, an organization that began in 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to enhance community involvement through volunteerism.

“One of the myths about policing is that all police officers do is fight crime and catch bad guys, and that’s simply not true,” [but hey, isn't that the myth the police unions try to sell us to get their members more money??? That a police officer is an super dangerous job and their lives are in danger 24/7, when in fact a police officers job is no more dangerous then a person that drives a car at work???] said White, who has conducted research for and with police agencies for about 15 years. “There’ve been studies that look at the nature of what patrol officers do and patrol officers make up the majority of a police department.”

About 25 percent of an officer’s time is actually tied to fighting crime, while about 75 percent of the workload is basic police services, information gathering, taking reports and order maintenance, White noted. [Which is quite different then what the police unions are constantly telling us. They want us to believe that cops have a super dangerous job and their lives are in danger 24/7, when in reality a cops job isn't any more dangerous then that of a person who drives a delivery truck]

VIPS standards are fairly uniform in hiring volunteers, but the number of fields, minimum work hours and the type of training offered in East Valley departments, like those in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert vary.

Interviews and background checks

The Town of Gilbert Police Department’s 60 volunteers had to pass a rigorous interview process and “background investigation,” said Sherry Nielsen, a police volunteer programs specialist for the last seven years. It consists of fingerprinting, a records check, a polygraph test and a drug screening.

Conducting a background investigation, testing, training and signing a confidentiality agreement helps ensure volunteers will not violate the privacy of the 227 sworn officers, 122 civilian employees, and even alleged criminals being processed at the Gilbert PD, she said, [sounds like the cops only want volunteers who will cover the *sses of crooked cops] considering volunteers have access to police data and building clearance.

“If they hear something or see something while they are here, they cannot take that outside,” Nielsen said, stressing the importance of confidentiality at each department.

The stringent interview process is by no means intended to scare people, said Melanie Slate, the City of Chandler Police Department’s VIPS community outreach coordinator. It ensures the department does not hire a resident who could damage its integrity. [Of course I think they should do a lot more to keep crooked cops off the force, but that ain't going to happen]

Police volunteers have been utilized in Chandler for about two decades and have logged a total of nearly 36,500 hours over the past two years, said Slate, Chandler’s coordinator for six years.

Training and volunteer fields

Gilbert’s VIPS are able to choose the field they find interesting, Nielsen said. Training instructs volunteers on what they can and cannot do and how to communicate with others.

“Their goal is not to aggravate any citizens. Their goal is to help and support the police department by helping the citizens and supporting the citizens with the goal of keeping everyone safe,” she said.

Each field has different training specifications, whether alleviating officers of basic administrative duties or allowing an officer to resume patrol, Nielsen said.

The town’s volunteers had a total of 28,921 logged hours from July 2011-June 2013.

Chandler’s 62 volunteers, who support around 320 sworn officers, do not undergo peace officer certification as full-fledged officers do, Slate said.

They don’t have the authority to make an arrest as a sworn police officer would, although they can conduct a citizen’s arrest, which any private citizen can do.

Slate explained her volunteers must attend a 2-3 hour orientation and basic field training. They get to select from 18 fields such as an alarm unit, chaplain, [with the both the Federal and Arizona Constitutions forbidding mixing government and religion why are the police hiring volunteer chaplains????] dispatch aid, DUI task force, fingerprint technician, lab assistant or motorist assist.

Motorist assist volunteers drive vehicles, such as a Ford Escape of Ford Taurus, with volunteer decals on the side and a blue light bar, she said.

“They provide assistance to motorists who have encountered vehicle problems. [Why are the police driving private companies out of business that offer roadside motorist services??? If you need a tow truck you should call AAA and pay for it] They do utilize the same radios and in-car computers that are police officers use for communications and dispatching,” Slate said.

Chandler’s VIPS program is similar to Gilbert’s and Mesa’s with a one-year commitment and 16 hours of volunteering a month, “but several do more” than is required, she said.

Mesa’s program is slightly different because it has about 30 fields to choose from. Mesa has about 135 volunteers and 129-square miles of police jurisdiction, said Hall, a former Mesa Crime Scene Unit supervisor and forensics specialist.

The amount of training depends on the field they are placed into.

In Mesa’s Crime Scene Unit, volunteers will have eight weeks of class training and eight weeks of field training before they can assist officers with property cases, said Hall, who helped develop the volunteer unit. From 2010-2012, Mesa’s volunteers logged an approximate total of 86,267 hours.

‘Added value’ and community relations

By utilizing volunteers, Mesa saved approximately $500,090 — also known as “added value” — during the 2012 budget year. Mesa’s volunteer program began in 1990.

Hall explained one benefit of having volunteers is “you’re bringing the community” to the police department for a closer engagement and to receive tips about the community directly from citizens.

Expenses for the volunteers, such as the background process, interview, training, polo shirts, pepper spray, and Mesa’s annual volunteer banquet are paid out from the department’s budget, she said.

Slate said Chandler’s program has received weekly emails, letters and even phone calls commending volunteers assisting police officers.

“The VIPS program has also improved the overall quality of life for those who live and visit Chandler,” Slate said in an email.

The department’s jurisdiction is 71-square miles, she said, with a combined added value of $796,550 from budget years 2011-2013.

“The volunteers enhance what we are able to do rather than save money,” Slate said about the real benefit of Chandler’s program.

It has no definitive budget for VIPS, she said, because money is channeled to each field within each police unit making it difficult to tally.

The Gilbert Police Department polices 76-square miles and has received about 700 police commendations from people mentioning volunteers assisting police in the past five years, Nielsen said. The total added value was $634,362 from budget years 2011-2013.

“I think using volunteers is a good way to connect with the community and improve community relations,” said White, ASU’s professor of criminology and criminal justice, in an email. “It is a way for the department to show it is transparent and open to ‘outsider’s’ views.” [At the beginning of this article they seem to state the opposite]

Corey Malecka, a junior studying journalism at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, was an intern for the East Valley Tribune this past summer.

Glendale City Council OKs prayer during meetings

Glendale City Council OKs prayer during meetings

By Caitlin McGlade The Republic | azcentral.com

Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:27 PM

The Glendale City Council adopted a policy Tuesday, Sept. 10, that allows for prayer during meetings — a practice that has languished in a legal gray area nationwide for long enough that the United States Supreme Court is weighing in this session.

The council voted 4-3 to allow speakers to volunteer to make a two-minute prayer or invocation during meetings to “solemnize” council business, replacing the moment of silence that the council traditionally observed.

Mayor Jerry Weiers, along with councilmembers Norma Alvarez, Sam Chavira and Ian Hugh, voted in favor of the measure. Vice Mayor Yvonne Knaack, joined by councilmembers Gary Sherwood and Manny Martinez opposed it.

Weiers said public prayer from various faiths would illuminate Glendale’s diversity and perhaps give the city a spiritual boost.

“The fact is, the city needs help. I’m willing to take help from anyone I can get it from,” he said.

Knaack cited a few reasons for her opposition, including that she felt the proposal was a “personal agenda item and not one that the majority of our citizens support.”

Council received about 25 letters regarding prayer during meetings, with 22 against the move.

After the meeting, Sherwood said his “no” vote was because the city has far larger problems to handle.

More than 30 municipalities statewide convene council meetings with prayers or invocations, according to research compiled by Glendale staff.

But protocols could change pending the outcome of a case the Supreme Court will take up this session.

Governments that offer prayer have operated under “fuzzy” guidelines since a 1983 Supreme Court case set a precedent for allowing prayer before sessions as long as the practice didn’t lead to proselytizing or disparaging any beliefs, said Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum in Washington DC.

The court left much unclear, such as whether prayers should only be universal or whether a rotating group of religious leaders is permissible even if most speakers represent one religion, Haynes said.

The confusion has landed a slew of cities in the courtroom. Those cases have resulted in a patchwork of conflicting rulings from different courts. Haynes said the high court likely agreed to take up the latest case to set straight the differing rulings.

The case before the U.S. Supreme Court examines pre-meeting prayers at Greece, N.Y. There, rotating prayer leaders bless meetings. A lower court ruled that because most of the meetings carried a Christian message, the town was effectively promoting one religion over another.

The town argued that most of their messages were Christian simply because most of the speakers who volunteered were of that faith.

An Arizona Republic story in June found that 80 percent of the invocations since 2011 at Chandler City Council meetings represented Christian denominations.

“Any city or town that is thinking of passing a prayer policy at this point would probably be wise to wait to hear what the court says,” Haynes said.

Haynes said he doubts the court would strike down prayer before sessions but, it should answer a key question: If governments have a rotating prayer leader model, and prayers wind up representing mostly one faith, is that permissible if there is a good effort to include all beliefs?

Such models typically fall into that cadence. Haynes said, leaving minorities to feel left out. That includes a growing number of people with no religious identity, he said. A December 2012 Gallup poll found that 15.6 percent of Americans do not identify with a religion.

Weiers said he’s not concerned about the Supreme Court case, explaining that Glendale could change its procedure if it conflicts with its ruling.

Glendale’s 20-point set of guidelines broaches that issue by barring one speaker from leading consecutive meetings and from leading more than three times a year. In addition, it bars speakers from the same denomination to appear more than three times in a year. If no speaker is scheduled, council will observe a moment of silence.

Glendale’s program will allow speakers to deliver prayers or invocations at each meeting, free of council or staff review, as long as they they do not proselytize their faith or disparage others. The mayor’s office will keep a list of such speakers, who will be scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“The 20-point guideline, which establishes how we go about the prayer, makes a simple and meaningful thing complicated and bureaucratic,” Knaack said.

Alvarez pointed out that most people could pull a dollar bill from their wallets, which clearly says “In God We Trust.”

“Let us not be hypocrites,” Alvarez said said.

Weiers, a former state representative, told his colleagues during an August workshop meeting that prayers have been offered before sessions in the state Legislature for more than a century without problem. However, a secular invocation caused a stir in May when Rep. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, who is atheist, offered the invocation to ask lawmakers to celebrate their “shared humanness.” The next day, state Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, who is Christian, asked lawmakers to join him in a second daily prayer in repentance for Mendez’s secular invocation.

Other Valley cities that include prayer or invocations during meetings include Chandler, Phoenix, Goodyear, Gilbert, Mesa and Litchfield Park, according to Glendale staff.

In 2011, Litchfield Park Councilman Peter Mahoney started walking out during prayers or invocations because he is a firm believer in separating church and state, he said.

The same year, the Chandler Unified School District went the opposite direction. It switched from public prayers to moments of reflection after officials at an Arizona School Boards Association law conference suggested that boards avoid prayers to prevent lawsuits.

The court has treated prayer before legislative bodies differently than it has treated prayer before educational bodies. For example, in 1992, the Supreme Court held that prayer during high school graduation ceremonies was unconstitutional.

The difference is that children may not excuse themselves from school functions, whereas city council meeting-goers may, said Paul Bender, a constitutional-law professor at Arizona State University.

Prayer during school functions also borders on the line of indoctrination or conveying a message about the government’s priorities, he added.

“One assumes the city council members are OK with it, that they’re adults. If they’re OK with it, what’s the harm,” Bender said.

But governments, too, can appear to convey a message or a priority if they open meetings with prayers each time, he said.

Martinez and Knaack both said they worried the new policy would cause problems. Martinez read letters sent by religious constituents asking council to vote against the prayer.

Father Jim Turner of Saint Thomas More in north Glendale wrote that all religions have different ways of invoking their deities, and having to adjust prayers in council chambers to make them non-offensive to others would be inappropriate and offensive to him.

Martinez had also said he preferred the moment of silence because it allowed him to pray as he wished.

Haynes made a similar observation about prayer at government meetings.

“What it ends up being is a watered-down, to-whom-it-may-concern prayer, which is not real prayer for some people.”

Glendale City Council OKs prayer during meetings

Glendale City Council OKs prayer during meetings

By Caitlin McGlade The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:04 PM

The Glendale City Council adopted a policy Tuesday, Sept. 10, that allows for prayer during meetings — a practice that has languished in a legal gray area nationwide for long enough that the United States Supreme Court is weighing in this session.

The council voted 4-3 to allow speakers to volunteer to make a two-minute prayer or invocation during meetings to “solemnize” council business, replacing the moment of silence that the council traditionally observed.

Mayor Jerry Weiers, along with councilmembers Norma Alvarez, Sam Chavira and Ian Hugh, voted in favor of the measure. Vice Mayor Yvonne Knaack, joined by councilmembers Gary Sherwood and Manny Martinez opposed it.

Weiers said public prayer from various faiths would illuminate Glendale’s diversity and perhaps give the city a spiritual boost.

“The fact is, the city needs help. I’m willing to take help from anyone I can get it from,” he said.

Knaack cited a few reasons for her opposition, including that she felt the proposal was a “personal agenda item and not one that the majority of our citizens support.”

Council received about 25 letters regarding prayer during meetings, with 22 against the move. [So it doesn't sounds like telling elected officials about your opinions, or even the Constitution will get you anything]

After the meeting, Sherwood said his “no” vote was because the city has far larger problems to handle.

More than 30 municipalities statewide convene council meetings with prayers or invocations, according to research compiled by Glendale staff.

But protocols could change pending the outcome of a case the Supreme Court will take up this session.

Governments that offer prayer have operated under “fuzzy” guidelines since a 1983 Supreme Court case set a precedent for allowing prayer before sessions as long as the practice didn’t lead to proselytizing or disparaging any beliefs, said Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum in Washington DC.

The court left much unclear, such as whether prayers should only be universal or whether a rotating group of religious leaders is permissible even if most speakers represent one religion, Haynes said.

The confusion has landed a slew of cities in the courtroom. Those cases have resulted in a patchwork of conflicting rulings from different courts. Haynes said the high court likely agreed to take up the latest case to set straight the differing rulings.

The case before the U.S. Supreme Court examines pre-meeting prayers at Greece, N.Y. There, rotating prayer leaders bless meetings. A lower court ruled that because most of the meetings carried a Christian message, the town was effectively promoting one religion over another.

The town argued that most of their messages were Christian simply because most of the speakers who volunteered were of that faith.

An Arizona Republic story in June found that 80 percent of the invocations since 2011 at Chandler City Council meetings represented Christian denominations.

“Any city or town that is thinking of passing a prayer policy at this point would probably be wise to wait to hear what the court says,” Haynes said.

Haynes said he doubts the court would strike down prayer before sessions but, it should answer a key question: If governments have a rotating prayer leader model, and prayers wind up representing mostly one faith, is that permissible if there is a good effort to include all beliefs?

Such models typically fall into that cadence. Haynes said, leaving minorities to feel left out. That includes a growing number of people with no religious identity, he said. A December 2012 Gallup poll found that 15.6 percent of Americans do not identify with a religion.

Weiers said he’s not concerned about the Supreme Court case, explaining that Glendale could change its procedure if it conflicts with its ruling.

Glendale’s 20-point set of guidelines broaches that issue by barring one speaker from leading consecutive meetings and from leading more than three times a year. In addition, it bars speakers from the same denomination to appear more than three times in a year. If no speaker is scheduled, council will observe a moment of silence.

Glendale’s program will allow speakers to deliver prayers or invocations at each meeting, free of council or staff review, as long as they they do not proselytize their faith or disparage others. The mayor’s office will keep a list of such speakers, who will be scheduled on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“The 20-point guideline, which establishes how we go about the prayer, makes a simple and meaningful thing complicated and bureaucratic,” Knaack said.

Alvarez pointed out that most people could pull a dollar bill from their wallets, which clearly says “In God We Trust.”

“Let us not be hypocrites,” Alvarez said said.

Weiers, a former state representative, told his colleagues during an August workshop meeting that prayers have been offered before sessions in the state Legislature for more than a century without problem. However, a secular invocation caused a stir in May when Rep. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, who is atheist, offered the invocation to ask lawmakers to celebrate their “shared humanness.” The next day, state Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, who is Christian, asked lawmakers to join him in a second daily prayer in repentance for Mendez’s secular invocation.

Other Valley cities that include prayer or invocations during meetings include Chandler, Phoenix, Goodyear, Gilbert, Mesa and Litchfield Park, according to Glendale staff.

In 2011, Litchfield Park Councilman Peter Mahoney started walking out during prayers after the council replaced its moments of silence with invocations that Mahoney felt were Christian-oriented.

The same year, the Chandler Unified School District went the opposite direction. It switched from public prayers to moments of reflection after officials at an Arizona School Boards Association law conference suggested that boards avoid prayers to prevent lawsuits.

The court has treated prayer before legislative bodies differently than it has treated prayer before educational bodies. For example, in 1992, the Supreme Court held that prayer during high school graduation ceremonies was unconstitutional.

The difference is that children may not excuse themselves from school functions, whereas city council meeting-goers may, said Paul Bender, a constitutional-law professor at Arizona State University.

Prayer during school functions also borders on the line of indoctrination or conveying a message about the government’s priorities, he added.

“One assumes the city council members are OK with it, that they’re adults. If they’re OK with it, what’s the harm,” Bender said.

But governments, too, can appear to convey a message or a priority if they open meetings with prayers each time, he said.

Martinez and Knaack both said they worried the new policy would cause problems. Martinez read letters sent by religious constituents asking council to vote against the prayer.

Father Jim Turner of Saint Thomas More in north Glendale wrote that all religions have different ways of invoking their deities, and having to adjust prayers in council chambers to make them non-offensive to others would be inappropriate and offensive to him.

Martinez had also said he preferred the moment of silence because it allowed him to pray as he wished.

Haynes made a similar observation about prayer at government meetings.

“What it ends up being is a watered-down, to-whom-it-may-concern prayer, which is not real prayer for some people.”

New York claims Muslim surveillance warranted

New York claims Muslim surveillance warranted

Associated Press Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:05 PM

NEW YORK — The New York Police Department had legitimate reasons to put specific mosques and Muslim worshippers under surveillance as part of its counterterrorism efforts, a city lawyer said Thursday at the first court date in a civil rights lawsuit accusing the NYPD of religious profiling.

Peter Farrell of the city Law Department argued that before the case goes forward, the city should be allowed to present evidence specific to the six plaintiffs that he said would prove police were acting with legitimate law enforcement purposes. If the judge agrees, “then this case is over,” he said.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Hina Shamsi, countered that her clients already had sufficient legal standing to sue the city and that the NYPD should be ordered to begin turning over sensitive reports and documents detailing the alleged spying on Muslims.

U.S. Magistrate Joan Azrack said she would rule at a later date.

The suit was filed in June following a series of Associated Press reports, detailing the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance programs. It alleges that the programs undermined free worship by innocent people and asked the court to halt the surveillance.

In a letter filed on Tuesday, city lawyers outlined evidence they say shows that a security team at a mosque named as a plaintiff in the suit sponsored survival training outings and referred to team members as “jihad warriors.” Another plaintiff mosque was frequented by a man convicted earlier this year of lying to the FBI about plans to team up with the Taliban or al-Qaida, the letter said.

An NYPD investigation of a third plaintiff, college student Asad Dandia, “is based on information that he has made statements and conducted activities in support of violent jihad,” the letter said. Dandia also “attempted to organize a trip to Pakistan in 2011 to train and fight alongside extremist elements there,” it added.

An NYPD informant acknowledged last year in an interview with the AP that he had spied on Dandia and others.

The NYPD didn’t target particular mosques “simply because the attendees were Muslim,” the letter said. “Rather, the NYPD followed leads suggesting that certain individuals in certain mosques may be engaging in criminal and possibly terrorist activity.”

In response, the ACLU accused the city of vilifying its clients “through inflammatory and insinuation and innuendo, suggesting (they) are worthy of criminal investigation on the basis of First Amendment-protected speech, activities or attenuated — and unwitting — association alone.”

It added: “This strategy is a deliberate distraction at best. At worst, it verges on the very type of discriminatory and meritless profiling at the heart of this case.”

Last month, the AP reported that confidential documents show that the NYPD has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorist organizations, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on worshippers. Police officials have insisted that the department only acts on legitimate leads about terror threats.

Priest sentenced to 50 years for child porn

Despite the fact that I am making fun our our hypocritical religious leaders, I think putting people in prison for the victimless crime of looking at dirty pictures is also wrong.

Even if this guy is a pervert, he doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison for looking at dirty pictures.

Source

Mo. priest sentenced to 50 years for child porn

Associated Press Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:50 PM

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A priest whose child pornography case led to a criminal conviction against a Roman Catholic bishop was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors had asked that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan be sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of five young victims after he pleaded guilty in August 2012 to five counts of producing and trying to produce child porn.

Ratigan, 47, was charged in May 2011 after police received a flash drive from his computer containing hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on their crotch areas.

Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was convicted last September of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state.

Prosecutors said the diocese learned about the photos on Ratigan’s computer on Dec. 16, 2010, after a technician found them on the priest’s laptop and alerted church officials. A day after the images were found, Ratigan missed Sunday Mass and was found unconscious in his garage with his motorcycle running and a suicide note nearby.

Instead of reporting Ratigan or the photos to law enforcement, as required by state law, Finn waited until the priest was released from the hospital and sent him out of state for psychiatric counseling.

When Ratigan returned to Missouri, Finn ordered him to stay at the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist, a facility where he could say Mass for the sisters.

The diocese turned the photos over to police in May 2011 after receiving reports that Ratigan had violated Finn’s order to avoid contact with children.

Senate panel OKs measure defining a journalist

Only journalists have First Amendment rights????

I suspect in the long run the law if passed will be used as a lame excuse to say that ONLY journalist have First Amendment rights. And to downgrade the First Amendment rights of the rest of us, by saying that ONLY journalists have full blown First Amendment rights.

Source

Senate panel OKs measure defining a journalist

Associated Press Thu Sep 12, 2013 2:09 PM

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel on Thursday approved legislation designed to protect reporters and the news media from having to reveal their confidential sources after narrowing the definition of a journalist while establishing which formats — traditional and online — provide news to people worldwide.

On a 13-5 vote, the Judiciary Committee cleared the way for the full Senate to consider the measure. The vote came just months after the disclosure that the Justice Department had secretly subpoenaed almost two months’ worth of telephone records for 21 phone lines used by reporters and editors for The Associated Press and secretly used a search warrant to obtain some emails of a Fox News journalist.

The Justice Department took the actions in looking into leaks of classified information to the news organizations. The AP received no advance warning of the subpoena.

“One of the things that protect democracy is the free flow of information,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who mentioned his own connection to journalism. Leahy’s parents, Alba and Howard, published a weekly newspaper before selling it and starting a printing business.

Criticism of the collection of the phone records and other material without any notice to the news organizations prompted President Barack Obama to order Attorney General Eric Holder to review the department’s policy. The bill would incorporate many of the changes proposed by Holder in July, including giving advance notice to the news media of a subpoena.

In a broadside against the Obama administration, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the legislation was merely a diversion by the White House. It was introduced three days after word emerged about the secret subpoenas of the AP records.

“A new law is not what we need,” Cornyn said. “We find ourselves here because of the abuses of the attorney general.”

A point of dispute was the definition of a journalist.

The original bill would have extended protections to a “covered person” who investigates events and obtains material to disseminate news and information to the public. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a chief proponent of the medial shield legislation, worked with Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., as well as representatives from news organizations, on a compromise.

The protections would apply to “covered journalist,” defined as an employee, independent contractor or agent of an entity that disseminates news or information. The individual would have to have been employed for one year within the last 20 or three months within the last five years.

It would apply to student journalists or someone with a considerable amount of freelance work in the last five years. A federal judge also would have the discretion to declare an individual a “covered journalist,” who would be granted the privileges of the law.

The compromise also says that information is only privileged if it is disseminated by a news medium, described as “newspaper, nonfiction book, wire service, news agency, news website, mobile application or other news or information service (whether distributed digitally or otherwise); news program, magazine or other periodical, whether in print, electronic or other format; or thorough television or radio broadcast . or motion picture for public showing.”

While the definition covers traditional and online media, it draws the line at posts on Twitter, blogs or social media from non-journalists.

The overall bill would protect reporters and news media organizations from being required to reveal the identities of confidential sources, but it does not grant an absolute privilege to journalists.

“It’s Kevlar, not kryptonite,” Schumer said.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., complained that the definition of a journalist was too broad. Pushing back, Feinstein said the intent was to set up a test to determine a bona fide journalist.

“I think journalism has a certain tradecraft. It’s a profession. I recognize that everyone can think they’re a journalist,” Feinstein said.

In a moment of levity at the two-hour plus hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, remarked that the legislation “will not shield me when I use Twitter.”

Responded Leahy, “Nothing shields us from our mistakes, Chuck.”

The panel approved the compromise on a 13-5 vote.

Holder’s revised guidelines called for the government to give advance notice to the news media about subpoena requests for reporters’ phone records unless the attorney general determines such notice would pose a clear and substantial threat to the investigation. Search warrants for a reporter’s email would apply only when the individual is the focus of a criminal investigation for conduct not connected to ordinary newsgathering.

The bill makes clear that before the government asks a news organization to divulge sources, it first must go to a judge, who would supervise any subpoenas or court orders for information. Such orders would be limited, if possible, “in purpose, subject matter and period of time covered so as to avoid compelling disclosure of peripheral, nonessential or speculative information.”

Holder’s revised guidelines do not call for a judge to be involved before the government asks a news organization to divulge sources. However, the guidelines call for a new standing News Media Review Committee to advise the attorney general on such requests.

Reporters must be notified within 45 days of a request, a period that could be extended another 45 days but no more

In the AP story that triggered one of the leak probes, the news organization reported that U.S. intelligence had learned that al-Qaida’s Yemen branch hoped to launch a spectacular attack using a new, nearly undetectable bomb aboard a U.S.-bound airliner around the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death.

In the Fox News story, reporter James Rosen reported that U.S. intelligence officials had warned Obama and senior U.S. officials that North Korea would respond to a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning nuclear tests with another nuclear test.

ASU mixing government and religion????

Groundbreaking marks addition of LDS Institute at ASU Polytechnic campus

Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 7:11 am

By Cecily Markland, Special to Tribune

Amidst the thousands of square feet of laboratory space at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus in East Mesa, one new building will be constructed to house religion classes and services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the LDS Institute of Religion building was held Sept. 9, with special guests and speakers, ASU President Michael Crow and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church.

Also in attendance were mayors John Lewis of Gilbert and Gail Barney of Queen Creek, as well as Mesa vice mayor Alex Finter. Among the other elected officials attending were Maricopa County supervisors Steve Chucri and Denny Barney, state Reps. Justin Pierce and Douglas Coleman and state Sen. Bob Worsley.

Inclement weather forced the groundbreaking ceremony to be moved from the site on the northwest corner of Innovation Way North and South Sterling into an adjacent building on the campus, where approximately 200 people witnessed the presentations and a groundbreaking ceremony.

Crow spoke of the Polytechnic campus, noting it represented a combination of “ideals and ideas focused on education in a technical sense of mind and body.

“However,” he added, “We don’t focus on the spiritual.”

He added by working with faith-based organizations, such as the LDS Church on this particular project, “We can provide in one environment a complete and total educational experience an individual needs to put them on the right course.”

Crow added that in the 11 years since he began at ASU, he’s come to love many things about the university.

“It’s a fantastic university,” he said. “We are moving forward and making progress on many fronts.”

He counts the addition of the new Institute as a mark of that progress, as the “science, engineering and many natural sciences” offered on the campus will be combined “with everything this institute represents in terms of spiritual development.”

Andersen, representing the LDS Church, thanked ASU and Crow, and encouraged LDS educators, community members and elected officials in attendance to let others know about this new addition to what is offered at ASU.

“Share this with our members and our youth. Let them know that ASU is our friend,” Andersen said.

Referring to the LDS Institute building on ASU’s Tempe campus, Andersen added, “Dr. Crow took leadership to step forward and let us build a large Institute there.”

He said the new building on the Polytechnic campus is another example that, “ASU is very inclusive of us;” and, he added, for LDS students, when compared with Utah schools or other church schools, ”There is every bit as much reason and maybe more to stay and go to ASU.”

The new LDS Institute building will be constructed at what Elder Andersen called, “right at the crossroads of campus.”

Dave J. Gornik, of Emc2 Group Architects Planners, PC, is the lead architect on the project. Scott Lutes, also with Emc2, said the 25,000 square-foot building will include a chapel, three large classrooms, a recreation area and 11 smaller classrooms. Richard Clutter, another of the architects on the project, said the exterior has been designed of brick masonry, with two-tone brick and a flat roof so it will blend in with the other buildings on the campus.

Permits have been approved and the project is currently out for bid. Once construction begins, it is expected to take 11 months to complete.

Gilbert Constitution Week or Gilbert Theocracy Week

Source

‘One Nation Under God’ aims to create common ground, promote religious freedom

Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 6:39 pm

By Cecily Markland, Special to Tribune

Prominent spiritual leaders from across the country and from many denominational backgrounds will come together in an evening designed to create common ground and to inspire attendees to take a stand for religious freedom.

“One Nation Under God: Common Ground Found in Freedom,” scheduled for Sept. 19 as part of the Gilbert Constitution Week events, promises to be a “historic” and “life-changing experience,” said organizers from the American Academy for Constitutional Education (AAFCE).

“The objective is to bring people of different religious backgrounds together, not to talk about ideology, but to explore the common good in religious freedom,” said Shane Krauser, AAFCE director.

While the Gilbert-based Academy is “committed to educating people about the uniqueness and power” in all aspects of the United States Constitution,” he said they chose to focus on religious freedom for this particular event.

“We all love the message of freedom, but we have got to come together to protect those freedoms,” Krauser said. “Our religious freedom is under attack. If we have no religious freedom or ability to workshop as we see fit, then we have no freedom at all.” [Hmmm ... just who is attacking this religious freedom???]

The evening will include entertainment by the Miracle of America musical group, following which religious leaders will speak for 10 to 15 minutes each about “what we must to as Americans to stand for these freedoms that are under attack,” Krauser said.

The “One Nation Under God” speakers include Reverend C.L. Bryant, a well-known Baptist minister, radio host and television host from Louisiana; Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, from California, who has been called one of America’s leading Christian voices and named by CNN as “the leader of the Hispanic Evangelical movement;” and Rabbi Micah Caplan of Congregation Or Chadashin Phoenix. Also speaking will be Pastor Chad Hovind, author of GODONOMICS: How to Save Our Country and Protect Your Wallet Through Biblical Principles of Finance; Elder David LeSueur of the Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Rev. John Guns, a Baptist minister from Jacksonville, Fla.; Pastor Ralph Robertson, of Peoria-Sun Cities Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Religious Liberties Leader of the Seventh-Day Adventist Conference of Arizona, and others.

“Attendees will learn skills that will help them to not preach to the choir, but to convince the unconvinced about the message of liberty,” Horvind said.

Krauser said, based on recent and ongoing events, “It made sense to come together during Constitution Week for this event.”

“Our freedoms came from our Creator, our freedoms come from something other than ourselves; they are bigger than that,” Krauser said, adding, “It doesn’t matter who you are, we must all stand together as Americans.”

According to the organizers, at the “One Nation Under God” event, participants “will be inspired and encouraged to take action, both personally and in your community, in the fight to uphold the biblical values of faith, family and freedom;” and, they promised, “You will never view America the same way again.”

“It is important that we do not forget the great endowment that we have been given by our Creator. I pray that God will inspire true revival in our nation,” Bryant added.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the event will begin at 7 on Thursday, Sept. 19 at Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St, in Phoenix. Additional information and tickets ($10) are available www.aafce.eventbrite.com. A number of tickets have been purchased by sponsors and donated for students. Any students wishing to attend should call (480) 347-8969 to be put on the list to reserve one of these free tickets. Boy Scouts and ROTC members in uniform will also be admitted free. Any questions may be directed to AAFCE at (480) 347-8969.

Norwalk pastor violated 20-plus women

Source

Norwalk pastor violated 20-plus women using 'healing hands,' cops say

By Richard Winton and Ruben Vives

September 19, 2013, 11:19 a.m.

An associate pastor at a church in Norwalk arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting more than 20 female parishioners allegedly told his victims the sex acts were a necessary part of using "healing hands."

Jorge Juan Castro, 53, was arrested last Friday on allegations that during his eight years as associate pastor at Las Buenas Nuevas Church in Norwalk, he repeatedly sexually assaulted at least 20 parishioners. He told the alleged victims who questioned the sex acts that they were part of the faith-healing process, said L.A. County Sheriff's Capt. Robert Esson.

"He claimed to have healing hands and ulitized that process to eventually sexually assault them," Esson said. "He preyed upon them from a trust position. He warned them they'd be the subject of ridicule in the church if they told others."

Castro also allegedly threatened to have the women — who ranged in age from 18 to 39 — deported if they spoke out, Esson added.

Esson said the alleged crimes stretch from October 2004 to September 2012. Detectives in the Special Victims Unit began investigating Castro April 8 when a person who many of the alleged victims had confided in informed authorities and convinced some to speak to detectives.

Detectives know of some 20 victims in the mostly Spanish-speaking congregation had allegedly been assaulted by the pastor. Several victims provided evidence to detectives and their allegations led to the charges, said sheriff's Sgt. Al Garcia.

Church leaders removed Castro from the church upon learning of the investigation, Esson said.

"The church and the senior pastor here worked with us. ... We've been to services and spoken [to the parishioners]. We assured everyone they need not be concerned about deportation," Esson said. "This is about this pastor's crimes."

After surveillance by undercover major-crimes detectives, Castro was arrested Sept. 13 at his home in Norwalk and booked on charges of rape, penetration by a foreign object and oral copulation. He is already charged with six felony counts, but that number is expected to rise.

Castro is being held in lieu of $2-million bail after a court appearance earlier this week.

Castro came to the United States from Argentina in 2004. Soon after, the alleged sex crimes began, Esson said.

Authorities in Riverside County are now also investigating his term at a church in Moreno Valley, which has been alerted, Esson said.

"He has a large number of victims and we suspect there are more. We'd like many more of those victims to come forward to us. They have nothing to fear," Esson said.

Esson said anyone with information can contact the detectives at (877)710-5273 or email Specialvictims@lasd.org or anonymously call (800) 222-TIPS or text the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637)

Twitter: @lacrimes| Google+

richard.winton@latimes.com

God's not infallible????

Source

Pope Bluntly Faults Church’s Focus on Gays and Abortion

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 19, 2013 1043 Comments

Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic Church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics.

In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” the pope told the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal whose content is routinely approved by the Vatican. “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.

“We have to find a new balance,” the pope continued, “otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

The interview was conducted in Italian during three meetings in August in the pope’s spartan quarters in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse, and translated into English by a team of translators. Francis has chosen to live at Casa Santa Marta rather than in what he said were more isolated quarters at the Apostolic Palace, home to many of his predecessors.

The interview was released simultaneously on Thursday morning by 16 Jesuit journals around the world, and includes the pope’s lengthy reflections on his identity as a Jesuit. Pope Francis personally reviewed the transcript in Italian, said the Rev. James Martin, an editor-at-large of America, the Jesuit magazine in New York. America and La Civiltà Cattolica together had asked Francis to grant the interview, which America is publishing in its magazine and as an e-book.

“Some of the things in it really surprised me,” Father Martin said. “He seems even more of a free-thinker than I thought — creative, experimental, willing to live on the margins, push boundaries back a little bit.”

The new pope’s words are likely to have repercussions in a church whose bishops and priests in many countries, including the United States, often appeared to make combating abortion, gay marriage and contraception their top public policy priorities. These teachings are “clear” to him as “a son of the church,” he said, but they have to be taught in a larger context. “The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.”

From the outset of his papacy in March, Francis has chosen to use the global spotlight to focus instead on the church’s mandate to serve the poor and marginalized. He has washed the feet of juvenile prisoners, visited a center for refugees and hugged disabled pilgrims at his audiences.

His pastoral presence and humble gestures have made him wildly popular, according to recent surveys. But there has been a low rumble of discontent from some Catholic advocacy groups, and even from some bishops, who have taken note of his silence on abortion and gay marriage. Earlier this month, Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., told his diocesan newspaper that he was “a little bit disappointed in Pope Francis” because he had not spoken about abortion. “Many people have noticed that,” the bishop was quoted as saying.

The interview is the first time Francis has explained the reasoning behind both his actions and omissions. He also expanded on the comments he made about homosexuality in July, on an airplane returning to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, where he had celebrated World Youth Day. In a remark then that produced headlines worldwide, the new pope said, “Who am I to judge?” At the time, some questioned whether he was referring only to gays in the priesthood, but in this interview he made clear that he had been speaking of gays and lesbians in general.

“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” he told Father Spadaro. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.”

The interview also serves to present the pope as a human being, who loves Mozart and Dostoevsky and his grandmother, and whose favorite film is Fellini’s “La Strada.”

The 12,000-word interview ranges widely, and may confirm what many Catholics already suspected: that the chameleon-like Francis bears little resemblance to those on the church’s theological or political right wing. He said some people had assumed he was an “ultraconservative” because of his reputation when he served as the superior of his Jesuit province in Argentina. He pointed out that he was made superior at the “crazy” young age of 36, and that his leadership style was too authoritarian.

“But I have never been a right-winger,” he said. “It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.”

Now, Francis said, he prefers a more consultative leadership style. He has appointed an advisory group of eight cardinals, a step he said was recommended by the cardinals at the conclave that elected him. They were demanding reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, he said, adding that from the eight, “I want to see that this is a real, not ceremonial consultation.”

Excerpts from his most extensive and revealing interview since he was elected in March.

The pope said he has found it “amazing” to see complaints about “lack of orthodoxy” flowing into the Vatican offices in Rome from conservative Catholics around the world. They ask the Vatican to investigate or discipline their priests, bishops or nuns. Such complaints, he said, “are better dealt with locally,” or else the Vatican offices risk becoming “institutions of censorship.”

Asked what it means for him to “think with the church,” a phrase used by the Jesuit founder St. Ignatius, Francis said that it did not mean “thinking with the hierarchy of the church.”

He said he thinks of the church “as the people of God, pastors and people together.”

“The church is the totality of God’s people,” he added, a notion popularized after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which Francis praised for making the Gospel relevant to modern life, an approach he called “absolutely irreversible.”

And while he agreed with the decision of his predecessor, Pope Benedict, to allow the broader use of the traditional Latin-language Tridentine Mass, he said that the more traditional Mass risked becoming an ideology and that he was worried about its “exploitation.” Those who seek a broad revival of the Tridentine Mass have been among Francis’s harshest critics, and those remarks are not likely to comfort them.

In contrast to Benedict, who sometimes envisioned a smaller but purer church — a “faithful fragment” — Francis envisions the church as a big tent.

“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people,” he said. “We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.”

Valley cities' prayer policies may face scrutiny

Valley cities' prayer policies may face scrutiny

By Caitlin McGlade The Republic | azcentral.com

Thu Sep 19, 2013 9:15 AM

Glendale this month joined other West Valley cities that pray before politics, a practice the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on soon.

The Glendale City Council will now allow speakers to volunteer to offer a two-minute prayer or invocation during meetings to “solemnize” council business, replacing the moment of silence that had been in place.

Other Valley cities that include prayer or invocations during meetings include Chandler, Phoenix, Goodyear, Gilbert, Mesa and Litchfield Park, according to Glendale staff.

Mayor Jerry Weiers, along with council members Norma Alvarez, Sam Chavira and Ian Hugh, voted in favor of the measure. Vice Mayor Yvonne Knaack, joined by council members Gary Sherwood and Manny Martinez, opposed it.

Weiers said public prayer from various faiths would illuminate Glendale’s diversity and perhaps give the city a spiritual boost.

“The fact is, the city needs help. I’m willing to take help from anyone I can get it from,” he said.

More than 30 Arizona municipalities convene council meetings with prayers or invocations, according to research compiled by Glendale staff.

But protocols could change depending on the outcome of a case that the Supreme Court agreed to consider when the court’s new term begins in October.

Governments that offer prayer have operated under “fuzzy” guidelines since a 1983 Supreme Court case set a precedent for allowing prayer before sessions as long as the practice didn’t lead to proselytizing or disparaging any beliefs, said Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The court left much unclear, such as whether prayers should be universal or whether a rotating group of religious leaders is permissible even if most speakers represent one religion, Haynes said.

The confusion has landed a slew of cities in the courtroom. Those cases have resulted in a patchwork of conflicting rulings from lower courts. Haynes said the high court likely agreed to take up the latest case to set straight the differing rulings.

The case before the Supreme Court examines prayer before meetings at Greece, N.Y. There, rotating prayer leaders bless meetings. A lower court ruled that because most of the meetings carried a Christian message, the town was effectively promoting one religion over another.

Town officials argued that most of their messages were Christian simply because most of the speakers who volunteered were of that faith.

The Republic reported in June that more than 80 percent of the invocations since 2011 at Chandler City Council meetings represented Christian denominations.

“Any city or town that is thinking of passing a prayer policy at this point would probably be wise to wait to hear what the court says,” Haynes said.

Haynes said he doubts the court would strike down prayer before sessions, but it should answer a key question: If governments use a rotating prayer-leader model, and prayers wind up representing mostly one faith, is that permissible if there is a good effort to include all beliefs?

Haynes said such models result in minorities feeling left out. That includes a growing number of people with no religious identity, he said. A December 2012 Gallup poll found that 15.6 percent of Americans do not identify with a religion.

Weiers said he’s not concerned about the Supreme Court case, explaining that Glendale could change its procedure if it conflicts with its ruling.

Glendale’s 20-point set of guidelines broaches that issue by barring one speaker from leading consecutive meetings and from leading more than three times a year. In addition, it bars speakers from the same denomination appearing more than three times in a year. If no speaker is scheduled, the council will observe a moment of silence.

Glendale’s program will allow speakers to deliver prayers or invocations at each meeting, free of council or staff review, as long as they do not proselytize their faith or disparage others.

“The 20-point guideline, which establishes how we go about the prayer, makes a simple and meaningful thing complicated and bureaucratic,” Knaack said.

Weiers, a former state representative, told his colleagues during an August workshop meeting that prayers have been offered before sessions in the state Legislature for more than a century without problem. However, a secular invocation caused a stir in May when Rep. Juan Mendez, D-Tempe, who is atheist, offered the invocation to ask lawmakers to celebrate their “shared humanness.” The next day, state Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, who is Christian, asked lawmakers to join him in a second daily prayer in repentance for Mendez’s secular invocation.

In 2011, Litchfield Park Councilman Peter Mahoney started walking out during prayers because he firmly believes in separation of church and state.

Martinez and Knaack both said they worried the new policy would cause problems. Martinez read letters sent by religious constituents asking the council to vote against the prayer.

Father Jim Turner of Saint Thomas More Parish in north Glendale wrote that all religions have different ways of invoking their deities, and having to adjust prayers in council chambers to make them non-offensive to others would be inappropriate and offensive to him.

Martinez had also said he preferred the moment of silence because it allowed him to pray as he wished.

Haynes made a similar observation.

“What it ends up being is a watered-down, to-whom-it-may-concern prayer, which is not real prayer for some people.”

---------------------------

School prayer treated differently

The Chandler Unified School District switched from public prayers to moments of reflection after officials at an Arizona School Boards Association law conference suggested that boards avoid prayers to prevent lawsuits.

The court has treated prayer before legislative bodies differently from how it has treated prayer before educational bodies. For example, in 1992, the Supreme Court held that prayer during high-school graduation ceremonies was unconstitutional.

The difference is that children may not excuse themselves from school functions, whereas people attending city council meetings s may, said Paul Bender, a constitutional-law professor at Arizona State University.

Prayer during school functions also borders on indoctrination or conveying a message about the government’s priorities, he added.

“One assumes the city council members are OK with it, that they’re adults. If they’re OK with it, what’s the harm?” Bender said.

But governments, too, can appear to convey a message or a priority if they open meetings with prayers each time, he said.

No. It blurs the separation between church and state.Yes. Prayer brings people together.Maybe. As long as council members have the option to sit out.

ADOT mixing government and religion in Boy Scout project????

For those two reasons alone the government should not be giving them money.

Source

ADOT aids Scouts with free labor, roadwork

By Craig Harris The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:04 PM

The Arizona Department of Transportation has donated hundreds of hours of labor to the Boy Scouts of America at taxpayer expense, teaching new ADOT employees during the past two weeks how to use heavy equipment while making improvements to a northern Arizona camp the youth organization operates.

Officials from both organizations called the partnership a “win-win,” saying the state is able to train 20 employees on graders, loaders, skid steers (also known as Bobcats) and dump trucks in real-life situations, while the Scouts get much-needed roadwork and other improvements at Camp Raymond in Parks, between Flagstaff and Williams.

But a resident near the camp said he was concerned that the Boy Scouts are getting preferential treatment with state resources.

“If they were working on state roads, I would not have a problem with it because it’s beneficial to taxpayers,” said Bill Fry, a camp neighbor who has been at odds with the Scouts over loud noises from its shooting range. “But this is for the benefit of a private enterprise.”

The state has not placed a monetary value on the improvements at Camp Raymond and other Scout camps that have similarly benefited from ADOT training exercises the past few years. A video explaining the program on ADOT’s website two years ago suggested comparable work done privately would require the Scouts to spend $100,000.

“The primary benefit is what the agency accomplishes in training our employees to safely operate this equipment, since they will later be sharing highway work zones with drivers,” said Doug Nintzel, an ADOT spokesman. “You likely can’t place a dollar value on that.”

The arrangement has been in effect for several years and began at the suggestion of an ADOT employee who is a scoutmaster, officials said.

The Boy Scouts’ Grand Canyon Council is a federally registered non-profit organization that runs Camp Raymond and other Arizona facilities. It has $13.6 million in net assets, according to its recent financial disclosure forms.

The organization for the past two weeks fed 32 ADOT employees and housed 12 of them, with most of those being instructors. The Boy Scouts also are offering classroom space. The training ended Friday.

“It helps the state save money, and saves us tens of thousands of dollars,” said Suzanne Herrmann, chief financial officer for the Grand Canyon Council. “We offered up our facilities to train their operators.”

Nintzel said the state is saving about $10,000 on meals provided by the Scouts, and the lodging is free for some ADOT employees. The state, however, paid at least $14,318 in lodging for 20 of the employees classified as students who stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Flagstaff.

Nintzel said the training is needed, and the state would have had to absorb some cost regardless of where it occurred.

“We are able to combine the classroom space with hands-on equipment training that you can’t get in a parking lot or a maintenance yard in Phoenix,” he said.

Nintzel said the partnership began in fall 2011, when ADOT needed a place to train. Tim Wolfe, an ADOT maintenance district engineer who is also a scoutmaster, suggested working with the Boy Scouts.

The first three training sessions were held at Camp Geronimo north of Payson. The state agency also has done work at the Heard Scout Pueblo in Phoenix and the R-C Scout Ranch facility near Payson. The recent work on Camp Raymond is the agency’s sixth maintenance academy with the Scouts.

Nintzel said ADOT is open to examining new ideas or offers from other groups to conduct training if they can provide classroom space and an environment similar to the Scout camps, which are closed during state training. He added that the state cannot send new employees directly out in the field until they learn how to use the equipment.

“The fact is, training costs money,” Nintzel said. “These camps have provided great training locations and allowed our maintenance districts to train as many as 20 new employees at one time on how to safely use heavy equipment.”

The DEA, CIA, FBI and NSA were reading my email

Of course I was paranoid and wonder was someone else really reading my email.

Of course my first guess was that it was one of my enemies like David Dorn.

And of course the second guess was that it was the government.

Of course now after Edward Snowden released his information that the government was spying on it that I realized that the government probably was involved with illegally reading my emails several times.

I also wondered why on Earth government would waste their time cracking my passwords.

Well again from the recently released information about government spying it turns out that the government wasn't cracking my passwords.

The NSA was simply twisting the arms of Google and Yahoo and getting them to give the government the passwords and email addresses of people the government considers to be criminals like me.

Of course the government's definition of a criminal seems to be any body that "thinks they have Constitutional rights" or anybody that expects the government to obey it's own laws.

And I guess by those definitions I am a criminal because I do think I have "Constitutional Rights" and I do expect the government to obey it's laws.

Of course I an not a criminal by the standards most normal people think of criminals being.

I don't steal stuff. I don't vandalize stuff. I don't destroy property.

Ex-probation chief gets 10 months for child porn

Source

Ex-probation chief gets 10 months for child porn

Updated 8:42 pm, Friday, September 20, 2013

The former chief probation officer of San Mateo County was sentenced Friday to 10 months in jail and three years of probation for possessing child pornography - material he asserted he had viewed as part of his job.

Stuart Forrest, 62, of San Mateo was taken into custody after his sentencing hearing at San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City.

Forrest testified at his trial that images found on his personal computer late last year were related to work the probation department was doing on human trafficking. But authorities said he collected child pornography for his own use and initially lied about the images when confronted.

Forrest - who served three years as the county's chief probation officer - tried to commit suicide after the pornography was discovered, cutting himself in the neck outside a San Mateo church as authorities moved in to arrest him, investigators said.

To avoid conflicts of interest, the case was prosecuted by the state attorney general's office. The trial was held before a visiting judge, who considered a report prepared by Santa Clara County probation officials before sentencing.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee

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