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147 Gang Members Indicted In California Top
HAWAIIAN GARDENS, Calif. — A Latino street gang waged a racist campaign to eliminate the city's black residents through attempted murders and other crimes, according to federal racketeering indictments unsealed Thursday. Five indictments charged a total of 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang, and federal and local agencies arrested 63 of them by early Thursday, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said at a news conference. Another 35 defendants were already in custody on unrelated charges. Weapons and drugs worth more than $1 million also were seized in what O'Brien called "the largest gang takedown in United States history." The indictments detail attempted murder, kidnapping, firearms, narcotics and other charges related to attacks by the gang, which is predominantly Latino and mainly operates in Hawaiian Gardens, a city of about 15,000 in southeastern Los Angeles County. "(Varrio Hawaiian Gardens) gang members take pride in their racism and often refer to the VHG Gang as the `Hate Gang,'" the main indictment said. "VHG gang members have expressed a desire to rid the city of Hawaiian Gardens of all African-Americans and have engaged in a systematic effort to achieve that result by perpetrating crimes against African-Americans." The indictment alleges a string of attacks on black residents, including a shooting into a home with eight people inside. The indictment does not say if anyone was hit. In another instance, two gang members allegedly chased a black man, yelled a racist epithet at him and then beat him with a garden rake. The same man was later repeatedly stabbed by two gang members, according to the indictment, which charged them with his attempted murder. According to 2000 census data, the latest available, Hawaiian Gardens was roughly 73 percent Hispanic and 4 percent black. Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Michael Gomez welcomed the crackdown, saying: "Honest residents should not have to live in fear of lawless thugs who act like it's high noon at the OK Corral." The indictments mark at least the second time in less than two years that federal authorities have accused Latino gang members of attacking black residents because of their race. Local officials have tried to downplay racial tensions. The investigation of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang began in June 2005 after the murder of Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Luis Gerardo "Jerry" Ortiz. Jose Luis Orozco, a member of the gang, was sentenced to death in 2007 for the killing. Ortiz, 35, died as he searched for Orozco, who had shot and wounded a man while he did yard work. Orozco was later found guilty of attempted murder in that case. "It was this hatred of African-Americans that may have spurred the attack on Deputy Jerry Ortiz, who was killed trying to arrest a gang member suspected of trying to shoot an African-American man in the back," O'Brien said.
 
Huff TV: Arianna On CNN, Discusses Cheney's Speech: "Same Delusional Stuff He Believed When He Was Vice President" Top
Arianna appeared on CNN's s"Situation Room" this evening to discuss the day's news along with Tony Blankley. They discussed whether Nancy Pelosi has anything to be worried about as House Speaker and Cheney's speech today defending the Bush administration's practices.
 
Senate Passes $91.3 Billion War Funding Bill Top
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed a $91.3 billion war spending bill that would fund stepped-up military operations in Afghanistan but deny President Barack Obama money to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. The 86-3 vote demonstrated widespread support for increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan. A House-Senate compromise should go to Obama shortly after Congress returns next month. The sweeping legislation also would provide the International Monetary Fund with a new $100 billion credit line and provides $1.5 billion to fight a potential flu epidemic. A few Democrats said that if they don't see measurable progress in Afghanistan they would rethink their support. The Afghanistan effort is projected to cost more than Iraq starting next year. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) _ The Senate on Thursday worked to pass a $91.3 billion military funding bill, shorn of money President Barack Obama wants to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but allowing him to significantly ramp up the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Senate passage of the measure, which provides money for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, would set up House-Senate talks on a compromise measure to present to Obama next month. By a 64-30 vote earlier Thursday, the Senate rejected an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to kill a proposed $100 billion line of credit for the IMF to shore up the ability of countries around the globe cope with financial crises, along with $8 billion for existing commitments. But DeMint earned a bipartisan rebuke from the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who said the IMF funding is critical to avoiding financial instability in the world that could harm the U.S. economy. "The fact is that if those emerging markets start to fade, not only do we lose the economic upside of those markets but we also run the risk that governments fail," Kerry said. Both Kerry and Gregg said the true cost to taxpayers would be very small, since the U.S. government is given interest-bearing assets in return and has never lost money on investments in the IMF. They said even the $5 billion cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office was too high. Other than that vote, the Senate the floor was often empty Thursday as senators wrestled privately over what final add-ons would make it into the bill. The underlying war funding measure closely tracks Obama's request for war funds, although the $80 million he was seeking to close the U.S. naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was dropped Wednesday. The three-day Senate debate featured little of the angst over the situation in Afghanistan that permeated debate in the House last week on companion legislation. "The majority of Afghans do not support a surge in U.S. forces and a majority in the south even oppose the presence of U.S. troops," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said in a statement. "Sending significantly more troops to Afghanistan now could end up doing more harm than good _ further inflaming civilian resentment without significantly contributing to stability in that country." Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., also injected a cautionary note into the debate. "I want to give this administration ... the resources it needs to successfully end these wars," Boxer said. "I don't support an open-ended commitment of American troops to Afghanistan; and if we do not see measurable progress, we must reconsider our engagement and strategy there." Obama is sending more than 20,000 additional troops there and, for the first time next year, the annual cost of the war in Afghanistan is projected to exceed the cost of fighting in Iraq. With support forces, the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan is expected to be about 68,000 by the end of the year _ more than double the size of the U.S. force at the end of 2008. The Senate bill includes $1.5 billion as cautionary funding to fight a possible flu pandemic, including the current outbreak of H1N1 swine flu. The underlying war funding measure has gotten relatively little attention, even though it would boost total approved spending for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars above $900 billion. The Pentagon would receive $73 billion under the legislation, including $4.6 billion to train and equip Afghan and Iraqi security forces, $400 million to train and equip Pakistan's security forces, and $21.9 billion to procure new mine-resistant vehicles, aircraft, weapons and ammunition, among other items. The House version adds $11.8 billion to Obama's request, including almost $4 billion for new weapons and military equipment such as eight C-17 cargo planes, mine-resistant vehicles, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Stryker armored vehicles. The measure adds $2.2 billion to Obama's request for foreign aid _ much of which appears to be designed to get around spending limits for 2010. The Senate measure also includes $6.9 billion in foreign aid, mainly for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. There's also $50 million to combat AIDS overseas, and $173 million for peacekeeping operations in Somalia and elsewhere. The bill also contains $350 million for various security programs along the U.S.-Mexico border. But the money would not be awarded to the Pentagon, as Obama requested. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, pushed a proposal to give Chrysler LLC dealers 60 days to close their dealerships instead of three weeks outlined by the company. Seeking leverage, her measure would prevent the Treasury Department from providing money to an auto company that failed to give a dealership at least 60 days to wind down its operations and sell its inventory.
 
PIMCO's Gross: U.S. At Risk Of Losing Top AAA Rating Top
Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund, warned on Thursday the United States will eventually lose its top AAA credit rating, a fear that had already spooked financial markets on Thursday and could keep the dollar, stocks and bonds under heavy selling pressure.
 
Phil Angelides: California Voters Don't Want Dire Cuts; They Want Leaders to Get It Right Top
Devastating cuts to schools and colleges. Aid to people with disabilities slashed. Thousands of firefighters and police officers cut loose. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened these dire consequences if the voters turned their backs on his special-election ballot measures. With the decisive defeat of Propositions 1A through 1E on Tuesday, he appears intent on making good on his promises. Not so fast. Today should be about starting over, not teaching the voters a lesson. Before the governor and the Legislature take a meat ax to the budget, they should take a breath, accept responsibility for the voters' judgment and try to get it right this time. Give the voters credit. Although the governor and his allies outspent opponents about 10 to 1, California's electorate made a reasonable judgment that the budget package was the wrong prescription for the state's fiscal ills. Years of fiscal chaos and repeated broken pledges to balance the books left the voters wary of a new set of election promises. It was clear the ballot measures would not solve California's chronic budget woes -- we would be facing a $15 billion deficit even if the propositions had passed. And it didn't help that the budget deal gave billions in tax breaks to big corporations while working families were stuck with a bundle of regressive taxes and cuts to education and other critical services. There will be ample debate about why voters from across the political spectrum rejected Sacramento's proposed budget fix, but there is no credible evidence that they wanted to see vital investments and programs hit with $21 billion worth of Draconian cuts. Recent polls show that voters oppose cuts in law enforcement, public schools, colleges, and health care for low-income families and the disabled by more than 2-to-1. If there is a disconnect between what the voters want and what they'll pay for -- as some claim -- it's in no small part because over the past six years, they've been fed a cynical diet of budget borrowing and accounting maneuvers that have skirted any meaningful discussion of the choices confronting the state. So what are the governor and the Legislature to do? How Sacramento reacts in the coming days will determine whether the trust of Californians in their state's leadership can be restored and whether the state can get on the road to recovery. Here are some principles to light the path. • Protect the investments most important to the voters and the state's future. There's no way the budget can be balanced with cuts alone, and there's no doubt we can find fair ways to bring in revenue. Increase tax compliance. Wipe out senseless corporate tax loopholes, including the $2.5 billion in annual giveaways that were part of the budget deal. Update the tax code. If AIG was too important to fail, then certainly our public schools can be spared. • Try a little fairness. Resolutions to crises require shared sacrifice, but almost all the recent tax burdens and cuts have fallen on working families and the most vulnerable. Ask the oil companies that got a free pass in the latest budget deal to kick in some of their record profits before asking the guy at the Costco checkout stand who's already struggling to make ends meet to take another hit. • Show the voters that Sacramento is serious about making state government run more efficiently. Efficiencies alone won't close the budget gap, but a real effort to make state government more accountable will yield long-term results. Lay out significant reforms to the prison system. Set productivity goals. Eliminate some of the commissions that offer full-time pay for part-time work. • Most of all, craft a plan that shows the people of this state how we're eventually going to climb out of this mess. Level with them about the magnitude of the challenge facing us, but don't threaten their communities, schools and families with avoidable harm. And go back to the ballot box only when there are real reforms - such as replacing the two-thirds vote to adopt a budget with a simple majority vote - to put before the voters. It's been too long since a governor and legislative leaders have spoken directly, plainly and honestly about the level of investments we need for California's future, the fairest way to pay for those investments and the real reforms required to right the fiscal ship. As of Tuesday, the case still had not been made. It's time to get back to work. Phil Angelides served as California state treasurer from 1999-2007 and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2006. This piece was originally published in The Sacramento Bee .
 
Bernard-Henri Lévy: UNESCO: The Shame of a Disaster Foretold Top
Here is an open letter I have co-signed along with Elie Wiesel and Claude Lanzmann: Who declared in April 2001: "Israel has never contributed to Civilization in any era, for it has only ever appropriated the contributions of others" -- and added almost two months later: "the Israeli culture is an inhumane culture; it is an aggressive, racist, pretentious culture based on one simple principle: steal what does not belong to in order to then claim its appropriation"? Who explained in 1997, and has repeated it since in every way possible, that he was the "archenemy" of all attempts to normalize his country's relations with Israel? Or who, as recently as 2008, responded to a deputy of the Egyptian parliament who was alarmed that Israeli books could be introduced into the Alexandria Library: "Burn these books; if there are any there, I will myself burn them in front of you"? Who said in 2001 in the newspaper Ruz-al-Yusuf that Israel was "aided" in its dark intrigues by "the infiltration of Jews into the international media" and by their diabolical ability to "spread lies"? To whom do we owe these insane declarations, this anthology of hate and error, and this frenzy of conspiracy theories? To Farouk Hosny, the Egyptian Minister of Culture for the past fifteen years and undoubtedly the next Director General of UNESCO if nothing is done before the May 30 deadline for nominating candidates to stop his apparently unstoppable march to one of the most important posts of cultural responsibility on the planet. Even worse: the words that we just cited are only a few -- and not even the most nauseating -- of the innumerable declarations of the same tenor that punctuate the career of Mr. Farouk Hosny over the past fifteen years and that, consequently, precede him as he aspires, even today, to a role on a worldwide scale. The evidence is there: Mr. Farouk Hosny is not worthy of this role; Mr. Farouk Hosny is the opposite of a man of peace, dialogue, and culture; Mr. Farouk Hosny is a dangerous man, an inciter of hearts and minds. There is only little, very little time left to avoid committing the major mistake of elevating Mr. Farouk Hosny above others to this eminent post. We thus call on the international community to spare itself the shame that would be the designation, already all but claimed by the candidate himself, of Mr. Farouk Hosny to the post of Director General of UNESCO. We invite all countries dedicated to liberty and culture to take the initiatives necessary to avert this threat and avoid the disaster that would be his nomination. We invite the Egyptian President himself, in remembrance of his compatriot Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature who must be spinning in his grave right now -- we invite him, for the honor of his country and as an heir of his great civilization, to become aware of the situation, and, with all urgency, to disown his minister and withdraw his candidacy. UNESCO has certainly made other mistakes in the past -- but this particular abuse of authority would be so great, so abominable, so incomprehensible. It would be an obvious provocation so transparently contrary to the proclaimed ideals of the UN that UNESCO would not recover. There is not a minute to lose in order to prevent the irreparable. We must, without delay, appeal to everyone's conscience to keep UNESCO from falling into the hands of a man who, when he hears the word "culture," responds with a book burning. Claude Lanzmann Bernard-Henri Lévy Elie Wiesel Translated from the French by Sara Phenix. More on Egypt
 
Alex Pasternack: Waxman-Markey Bill Moves Forward, After Arrests and a Speed Reading Top
TreeHugger.com After four days of attempts by Republicans to further water it down and debate among environmentalists about its current merits, the landmark greenhouse gas emissions bill is on its way out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee tonight -- but not without a few arrests and a much-awaited speed reading. Capitol police arrested 15 demonstrators from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) who were blocking the office door of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) in protest of his support for the coal industry. Rep. Boucher has been successful at inserting into the Waxman-Markey bill billions in incentives for coal, which plays a large role in the region of Virginia that he represents. CCAN director Mike Tidwell told Grist before his arrest: "This is a climate mugging of the American people. Waxman-Markey is becoming a coal industry welfare bill." Boucher has been open about his ongoing talks with the coal industry. But opponents like CCAN say that he has not met with them to hear their concerns. (Grist's Kate Sheppard @kate_sheppard has been dutifully tweeting all the lacunae of the #ACES mark-up, and Grist has helpfully pooled all Twitter action on the bill.) Corporate Sponsors While undecided congressmen in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been urged by phone calls and letters from a wide range of interests and constituents to vote "no" on the bill -- or calls from Al Gore to vote "yea" -- an increasing number of corporations have voiced their support for the legislation. Yesterday the Democrats distributed a list of energy companies, utilities, manufacturers, and unions that they say are urging the committee to approve the legislation -- among them Duke Energy, Shell, Alcoa, US Steel, Dow Chemical, John Deere and Exelon Corp. That prompted one of the panel's senior Republicans, Illinois Rep. John Shimkus, said that the increasing numbers of corporations pushing for a cap-and-trade scheme were doing so because "they're afraid if they're not in the room they're going to be destroyed." Shimkus' remarks come as the GOP tries a new, unintuitive tactic to combat the climate bill: seeking to distance itself from big business , while insisting that Democrats are embracing "Wall Street traders," "polluters" and "others in corporate America" who are "guilty of manipulating national climate policy to increase profits on the backs of consumers." Republicans maintain that the bill would be a dangerous blow to the American economy. The Heritage Foundation, for instance, has claimed that the bill would destroy over a million net jobs, impose over $1,500 in energy costs on families, and slash GDP by $9.6 trillion by 2030. But in a new non-partisan analysis , the Environmental Protection Agency reiterates that this isn't true. GDP would increase by more than $5.1 trillion by 2030, says the agency, and costs to families would be no more than $140 per year. That doesn't take into effect reduced energy costs from energy efficiency and greater use of solar and wind sources. And even with recent cuts in pollution reduction goals and renewable energy standards and handouts of carbon credits to energy utilities -- meant to alleviate concerns of committee members from coal-rich states -- the bill would still achieve emissions reductions equivalent to taking half a billion cars off the road, says the EPA. Another study by market analysis firm Point Carbon points out that the money generated by auctioned-off greenhouse gas permits would give consumers $750 billion in direct and indirect handouts and subsidies through 2030, meant to offset higher energy costs associated with newer energy sources. Once More, With Feeling In addition to the still controversial cap and trade scheme, the legislation would establish renewable energy standards requiring utilities to buy at least 12% of their electricity from renewable sources such as windmills, solar panels and geothermal technology. That's a knock-down from an original 25% target -- a move meant to placate House members from the southeast and midwest who argued their states did not have the renewable resources to comply. The bill also promotes "large scale" programs to spur demand for electric vehicles, offers rebates to spur demand for energy efficient appliances, and amends building code to ensure new buildings are 50% more efficient by 2016. All together, the bill aims to cut emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% by 2050. Racing Out of Committee Tonight Still, after three long days of meetings during which Republicans promised to draw out the markup with hundreds of amendments -- and possibly a reading of the 900-page bill -- the Republicans recognized that delay was futile, and signaled defeat today by promising to expedite today's proceedings toward a vote. As a frustrated Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) tried once again to push an amendment that would count woody biomass from federal land as renewable energy, Chairman Waxman called on him as "Mr. Woody." Walden eventually withdrew the amendment in the hopes of discussing it before the house. Earlier, ranking Republican Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) made light of earlier Republican threats by asking for his amendment to be read aloud -- by a speed reader hired by the Democrats in case a reading of the bill were to be forced. Barton, who had seen the speed reader practicing in the hallway, called the reading "just to hear that young man read." "I want him to read in a Texas accent," Barton added. After a trial with a Texan drawl, the reader began to read accent-less. Applause erupted a minute into the reading of the amendment, which would eventually fail. "If anybody in the country wants to hire a speed reader, are you available?" When Rep. Waxman asked if the reader, Douglas Wilder, was available for other speed reading jobs, he replied, "Yes!" "You've just created a new job," Waxman told Barton. "If he'll just work on his accent a bit, he'll have a bright future," Barton replied. Though the bill -- which Al Gore called "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced" in Congress -- is about to clear its first hurdle, levity is not exactly to be expected in the coming months. Soon the Ways and Means and two other committees will take stabs at the legislation before it moves on to a full House vote and an uncertain future in the Senate. More on Climate Change
 
Jane Smiley: Dick Cheney is Crazy. Really. Top
In 2002, my partner was driving his new van down a busy, but two lane, road near our house. He was slowly passing a major accident that crossed both lanes of the road, and it so happened that one of the tow trucks, which was going too fast, ran into the accident, was bounced off the vehicle it hit, and deflected toward my partner's van. It landed on the van. If my partner had been going any more slowly, the tow truck might have landed on him , but it didn't. The van was seriously damaged, but he drove home to tell the tale. And then there was the time, on the same road (though in a different spot), when a cop car making a U-turn in order to commence a car chase, hit him right in the front end. Nevertheless, and this is what I would tell Dick Cheney, we have managed to move on, to set aside our fears of automotive death, and go about our business. We live in a valley. The road through our valley has been the scene of several horrific accidents since we moved here. We live north of Big Sur. Highway 1 along the Big Sur coast has seen its share of bad crashes, too. The one that sticks in my mind happened a few years ago, when an English couple forgot to pull back into the right lane after road construction and was killed at the next curve. There were accidents when I lived in Iowa, too -- four kids in the family sedan after prom, flipping over into a corn field. Every single person who survives or hears about one of these accidents could, in fact, go the Cheney route -- remain panicked and fearful about the next accident to the point of never driving (or of keeping a hazmat suit in his car, as Cheney was reported doing a few years ago), but most people recognize a couple of realities of modern life. The first of these is that life goes on. The second of these is that it doesn't. Let's give Dick Cheney the benefit of the doubt. Let's say that he's terrified out of his wits that the US could be attacked again, like 9/11 (except there are no Trade Towers, so no attack like 9/11). What did we learn about 9/11? We learned that it happened (in large part because the Bush Administration ignored a clear warning that it could happen) and we also learned that we survived it. The other thing that most of us learned was in that in our fear and anger as a nation, we allowed our leaders (especially Cheney) to inflict on others, many others, much more death, pain, torture, horror, social disintegration, and gratuitous cruelty than was inflicted upon us. We learned that Cheney didn't know what the hell he was doing in his terrified effort to do something, anything, to respond to 9/11. And that's if we give him the benefit of the doubt. The other thing we learn, especially once we get to Dick Cheney's age, is that death comes for everyone, even oneself. A sane person comes to grips with this and acknowledges that perfect safety is impossible, and that there are some things no decent person would do in order to save his own skin -- killing and maiming small children, for example. Those who don't learn this -- those who sacrifice others, many others, so that they might live, are also crazy. If we don't give Cheney the benefit of the doubt, we have to say that he is pretending to be a man who is crazy with fear in order to once again achieve the sort of power that he lost when Obama was elected president. In that case, he's still crazy, he's just more coldly, viciously, sociopathically crazy than he is crazy with fear. If we don't give him the benefit of the doubt, we have to say he is crazy with evil. Personally, I don't know which to pick -- I don't know the man. But I do know that he is neither laughable nor unimportant, and that every word out of his mouth, repeated in the press and the blogosphere, is destructive to us as a nation and to the psychological health of those who listen to him. Unfortunately, it is a trait of crazy people never to shut up. But we really really need to begin seeing him the way we see that paranoid old uncle we might have -- someone never ever to be listened to. More on Dick Cheney
 

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