New Orleans Criminal Defense

Archive for April, 2010

Amnesty: U.S. guilty of Katrina-related abuses New Orleans — The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states have consistently violated the human rights of hurricane victims since Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people and caused widespread devastation after striking in August 2005, Amnesty International said Friday. Read more on Detroit News

Amnesty International accuses federal, state governments of Katrina-related abuses New Orleans public housing initiatives particularly criticized Read more on New Orleans Times-Picayune

Amnesty: U.S. guilty of Katrina-related abuses NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states have consistently violated the human rights of hurricane victims since Hurricane Katrina killed about 1,800 people and caused widespread devastation after striking in August 2005, Amnesty International said today. Read more on Pioneer Press

Ex-cop pleads guilty in Danziger Bridge case Washington, April 9: Michael Hunter, who until last week was an officer with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and misprision of a felony, for failing to report a crime, in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge, the Justice Department announced. Read more on New Kerala

Fascism is a word tossed around much by those of us on the left side of politics. Dr. Lawrence Britt examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and several Latin American regimes. Through his examination Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each regime. Does America have any of the characteristics Britt discovered? I believe elements of each characteristic can be found in America now, and I will cite examples of each characteristic.

14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Ever since 9/11 there has been a plethora of American flags. Drive down any given street in suburban America, or small towns for that matter, and you will see flags flying from houses. There are flags on mailboxes, cars, and t-shirts. The Bush administration considers someone patriotic if they fly the flag, but not if they ask questions and dissent.

As folk singer David Rovics asks in one of his songs, “Is there a flag upon your house, and a flag upon your car? Is there a ribbon upon your mailbox with stars and bars? Do you support the president in his war for oil? Do you think your sons belong there on someone else’s soil? How far is to here from Nuremburg?”

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

The U.S. will not be present when the U.N. General Assembly meets mid-May to elect new members to the Human Rights Council (HRC). The Bush administration says it will not be attending because the HRC lost its “credibility.” Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, stated, “The United States does not have a shred of moral authority left; its only authority is the big stick…It is the United States that has lost its credibility, and that is why it would never be elected.” When the U.S. ran for a seat on the HRC in 2001 it ended up being kicked out. Clearly the world believes the U.S. violates the human rights of detainees.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

During the run-up to invading Iraq Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaida by President Bush and members of his administration. In President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address he claimed Iraq and al-Qaida “have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. In a letter to Congress a few months later, Bush asserted that using force against Iraq “and other countries… including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.”

President Bush and his administration also claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). During a 2002 speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Bush claimed that surveillance photos showed Saddam Hussein’s regime were rebuilding factories where it had once produced WMDs. Vice-President Dick Cheney appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” claiming Hussein was “out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons.”

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

The US military budget for the year 2007 is $439.3 Billion, which is larger than the combined military budgets of the next fourteen largest spenders. It is eight times larger than China’s military budget. Meanwhile millions of Americans lack access to affordable healthcare. America is the only country in the ‘developed’ world that does not have a tax-payer funded healthcare system. Instead Americans pay for the military to invade and occupy sovereign nations.

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion, and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

The Supreme Court banned an abortion method called “intact dilation and extraction” on April 18. Anti-reproductive rights critics refer to the procedure by the misnomer “partial-birth” abortion. It was used in only 0.17 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2000. “Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts and disregards the U.S. Constitution,” declared the National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy.

President Bush recently warned Democratic leaders in Congress via letters not to attempt to weaken federal policies restricting abortion. When the Congress was controlled by Republicans federal funding of abortions was prohibited except to save the mother’s life, or cases of rape or incest. The religious fundamentalist James Dobson, founder and leader of Focus on the Family, declared with approval, “President Bush is not the first man to occupy the Oval Office who talked about valuing pre-born life, but no administration has backed up those words with as much consistent policy support as his has.”

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

The main stream media is owned by a handful of corporations. Media critic Ben Bagdikian pointed out in his book The Media Monopoly in 1983 that only 50 corporations controlled the U.S. news media. With each new edition of the book the number shrinks. In 1992 less than two dozen corporations controlled the news media, and by 2000 only six. By 2004 the number shrunk to five.

Given the state of the MSM, it is not surprising that during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq the MSM kept repeating the lies of the Bush administration as if they were facts. For example:

• CBS Evening News, November 9, 2002: “But as U.N. weapons inspectors prepare to return to Iraq for the first time since Saddam kicked them out in 1998, the U.S. faces a delicate balancing act: transforming the international consensus for disarmament into a consensus for war.”

• The Washington Times, November 14, 2002: “Iraq kicked out U.N. inspectors four years ago.”

• Bob Woodward in the Washington Post, November 17, 2002: “The speech assailed the United Nations for not enforcing the weapons inspections in Iraq, specifically for the four years since they had kicked them out.”

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Condoleeza Rice on September 8, 2002. When he asked her about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons capabilities, she replied, “We know that he has the infrastructure, nuclear scientists to make a nuclear weapon…And we know that when the inspectors assessed this after the Gulf War, he was far, far closer to a crude nuclear device than anybody thought — maybe six months from a crude nuclear device…The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

President Bush is a product of what I like to term “Bible-belting fundamentalism.” He invokes the name of God, co-opting Christian imagery and biblical text while ignoring the warnings against using violence which Jesus taught. For instance, during his 2002 address in Cincinnati he stated, “The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to an end. Saddam Hussein must disarm himself — or, for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.” However, Bush failed to mention that the majority of the intelligence community did not believe Hussein possessed WMDs. Bush ended his Cincinnati speech with the words, “May God bless America.”

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Due to the state of campaign financing, and the huge cost it takes to run for a political office, corporate money plays a huge role in US congressional and presidential elections. The 2004 presidential and congressional elections cost $4 billion. The 2000 presidential and congressional elections cost $3 billion. The cost for television and radio ads, not to mention political consultants, is enormous. As a result, elected officials are in the proverbial back pockets of corporations.

General Electric (GE) is a good example. The CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt contributed to both Bush’s presidential campaigns, and gave donations to the Republican National Committee. In 2003 GE was awarded a $10,600,007,101 no-bid contract in Iraq, and is ranked number seven in the list of 100 biggest defense contractors. During the 1990s the Pentagon created an investigations office for GE, which resulted in the company being indicted on 22 criminal counts.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

During the immigrant rights rally on May Day at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, the police tried to break up a peaceful demonstration. On the website la.indymedia.org an observer described what happened when the police began firing at the crowd and attacking them with batons. According to the article, police officers began to push a protestor, a crowd gathered around as a result, and “a protestor was shown the true force of a police baton in blunt force trauma to the head… LAPD was now fully mobilizing at this point getting riot gear ready and forming a defensive block. Bear in mind; this all started with LAPD attacking peaceful protestors.”

Members of the media were injured, including Fox TV Camerawoman Patti Ballaz, who sustained severe injuries after members of the LAPD struck her with batons. Ballaz filed a lawsuit against the LAPD. A Telemundo reporter was injured by the LAPD, as well a Los Angeles area television news reporter, four employees of a news station, a camerawoman, and a reporter for a radio station.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

A 46 page report compiled by over 60 scientists accused the Bush administration of censoring scientific reports for political purposes. The report accused the administration of “suppressing, distorting, or manipulating the work done by scientists at federal agencies.” The scientists claim the administration ordered “massive changes” about the findings on global warming in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 Report on the Environment. According to the report a fact sheet for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention was replaced with a warning on the failure rate of condoms.

An Inspector General report accused Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, of altering scientific reports in order to limit the number of species classified as endangered, according to a March 29 Washington Post article bearing the title “Official Allegedly Tampered with Data.” The report found that MacDonald violated federal rules by sending internal agency documents to lobbyists, but did not accuse her of a crime.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

In 2002 the Congress authorized the Patriot Act. Under the Patriot Act law enforcement has an expanded ability to gain access to personal medical, financial, mental health, medical records. Law enforcement can conduct secret searches. The FBI can conduct criminal investigations on American citizens without probable cause if it is for “intelligence purposes.” Non-citizens can be arrested based on suspicion.
The Patriot Act was reauthorized in 2005. The best commentary on the Patriot Act occurred during an episode of the crime procedural Law & Order: Criminal Intent, when actor Christopher Noth’s character remarked, “I’ve read the Patriot Act in its original form: 1984.”

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Private contractors are used more now than ever. According to a New York Times article the “most successful” contracts are given not to “those doing the best work” but to those who have the right connections within the Bush administration. The Bush administration has outsourced everything from the emergency preparation and evacuation of New Orleans to the maintenance of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq alone there are 100,000 contractors, almost the number of U.S. forces, according to a military census.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The 2000 presidential election came down to votes in Florida. Al Gore won the popular vote. The race in Florida was too close to call which triggered an automatic state-wide recount. Democrats wanted a hand count of votes in counties that used the “butterfly” ballot. The Bush campaign went to federal court to block the hand recounts. The court refused to block the recounts, but the Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, a Bush supporter, oversaw the certification process. State law required the election results to be certified within seven days, and Harris refused to extend the deadline, which would allow the manual recounts to be included.

The case ended up going before the Florida Supreme Court which granted a five-day extension. The Bush campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in December. The recount process itself ended up being disputed as each county had a different way to evaluate the ballots. Republican protestors on November 22 pounded on the doors and windows of the building where Miami’s Dade county officials were counting the ballots. As a result the county canvassing board stopped the recount, although they denied the protests were responsible for their decision. Palm Beach County asked Harris to extend the deadline as they did not have enough time to recount all the ballots, but she refused, and that evening certified Bush the winner. The Supreme Court in December ruled recounts in Florida would stop.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated allegations of voting fraud in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The Commission found that approximately 54 percent of the 180,000 “spoiled ballots” in Florida were cast by African-Americans, who make up about 11 percent of Florida voters, and are largely registered as Democrats.

Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:25:47 -0600

Subject: Racism is alive and still kicking until we united D’Anne Burley Radio Talk Show Host on Racial Profiling and worse 2007

Racism is still here but Don Imus is not the issue the most important one is below and I am black and can get no policing agent to investigate corruption and or criminal acts. I am also seeking letters for others who are black who have had racist issue in the times in order to show patterns on this issue. Blacks themselves are on hold and have opened the backdoor to allow for these comments to comeback, there is a greater issue that affects us and thats the lack of creditabitity we have and the lack of police power whereby if there are crimes in our neighborhoods and we report them the police do not respond as they would with whites and its far worse now because wer are in 2007 and we are still not fighting agressively to change this why?

This is hot and just off the press and here is the growing concern here is the mindset going out and not undercover please read!

Trained to Use Hatred

BERLIN, Germany (AP) — A video showing a German army instructor telling one of his soldiers to envision African-Americans in the Bronx while firing his machine gun was broadcast Saturday on national television.

The video, coming after scandals involving photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan and the abuse of recruits by instructors, seemed likely to raise more questions about training practices in Germany’s conscript army.

“We can no longer talk about an isolated case,” said Lt. Juergen Rose of the Darmstaedter Signal, a group of current and former army officers and sergeants who independently review military procedures.

“Things like this don’t happen in the army on an everyday basis, but unfortunately in recent years there have been a number of comparable incidents.”

The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.

“We are currently investigating the incident,” said Florian Naggies, a spokesman for the army and Defense Ministry.

He did not identify the instructor or the soldier, who are shown in camouflage uniforms in a forest.

The instructor tells the soldier, “You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways … Act.”

The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.

The existence of the video was first reported on the home page of the German news magazine Stern on Friday and excerpts of the video were aired on the news television channel n-tv on Saturday.

According to Stern, the 90-second video had been posted on a Web site used by soldiers to exchange private videos. A soldier who used the site alerted his superiors, the magazine reported.

The video is the latest embarrassment for the German army. Eighteen army instructors are currently on trial for allegedly abusing and humiliating 163 recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with a skulls — including one who exposed himself while holding a skull.

My father Dan Burley was the real father of the Rap Industry thou now this point of history has been twisted to others Dan Burley authored the Harlem Handbook of Jive, and was involved in the then musican entertainment industry with Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway and others who made the then Black Hiphop JIve via smooth talk within rythms, some of the music today is great while others are just making a buck and the style and way much is being done is modeled out of the white industry because the money always flows upward. I got letters within my archieve of how many major publications in the past wanted to reform Blacks in music style and dress to make they act in a way that was or acceptive. But we think today that the style we have is not built around another agenda please! While we are in the music and in the dress, we are losing careers, jobs, and business via nafta and other hidden agenda’s we can not see and or will not be a part of, and much of this is because our Black Leadership is not on this issues.

I am one of the very few Blacks if there are any within the media addressing the issue of the WTC, Ok City, Waco ( which had 40 or more blacks living there) and all of the other world issues that if it comes into being Blacks think its bad now just want. Because whites are complainting and are effected. Look at New Orleans folks there still in some areas have no water or electric, and they are lying about the grants. So if we are no gathering dollars and committing to one another where are we going to be in the future.

There is the issue of driving while Black, going to work while black, reporting crimes while black. And the black press is not going there why? what is controlling our media whereby stories are not getting out again? I am hearing this from all over the place I am speaking of radio and television reporters.

And here I will stop and have you read the following again if you see acts of terrorism while black and they do nothing then why do you think they will come to your home and investigate your daughter being raped and or a murder without saying that its a crime that you committed yourself – Peace! D’Anne Burley

I am a former Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, I know much about law enforce and clout, and before that I worked over 35 yrs within Corporate America as an Accountant, Computer Programmer/Analysis, did some actuary work relating to removing employees who got close to retirement age, Developed Businesses, I worked as a para legal from Friedman and Koven which was the second in it’s day Law Firm in the World within Conflict of Interest international, also for United States Gypsum, Navistar, FMC Corp, Harris Bank, First National Bank, Argonne National Lab’s as Assistant Editor in the Bio lab, and many other larger than live Corporations within their Controllers Dept and World Headquarters, and in the Mortgage Industry of over 8 years seeing already formed terrorist cell operating from withn the Suburb of Palos Hills, Palos Heights, Broadview, Chicago and other neighoring communities. The scandal involved the use of International Drivers Licenses to falsify Identity and create other false ID’s such as Drivers License, Corporations, Bank Accounts in order to move and laundery money into Jihad and Al-Qauda cells all over the globe.

Drug Trafficking occured over Operation Mountain Express, which had netted over 52 mega tons of drugs, and drug making material to use to place on the streets and in the hands of mintories, our youth date rape drugs and other nightmare subtances to fund Terror across the world. In Illinois the Illinois trucking scandal was involved because the truck were involved within a operation to move the drugs, laundered money and also guns in and out of the hands of criminal within the KKK and aryan nation and other hate groups. All who were being used as part of the funded Bin Laden Operation, and that was really the involved of Bin Laden. Sept 11, 2001 was a part of a mock terrorist drill which was designed to cover-up the fact that the WTC had design defects that were brought to the port of Authority when it was being built but NYC had no rights to the business plans and could do nothing in the courts because it was alleged that the Port was not governed by the City and or State Regulations and laws because it fell under Marine laws only. In addition because of the first failed attempted to bomb the buildings in 1993 by so-called Islamic Extremist and due to the injuries, death, and claims filed against Lloyds of London in England, Lloyds was on the brick of Bankruptcy and was the Port of Authority, which also would have effected NYC itself in paying off huge amounts of money which would had totally bankrupt the city and the state.

As within the plot of the Savings and Loan Scandal years before as the failed savings institutes had not enough money to pay back the people who had accounts within within the federal Reserve, in both cases I alleged that conspirators from within and outside the government conspired to commit fraud by turning these events into cases for insurance.

In the savings and loan scandal during that time there were mounting numbers of “Banl Robberies in the Midwest and across the US.

The robberies I saw began in the late 80’s but expanded into 1990 whereby while I worked within the Courts there was the alleged ex-police officer out of Hoffman Estate called the Bearded Bandit, who with his wife alleged robbed banks all over the suburban area of Chicago Illinois. There were some elements of this case which were not true in fact and covered up for one the wife never shot herself in the front of a home in Streamwood she was shot by special unit op’s from what division I am not sure. Then her husband who was capture was killed in a shoot out but what I alleged was that he was gunned down so that he would not share information of the insurance scam. The same issue was happened in areas around Ok City and that could be the reason why Jesse Tredue’s brother was allegedly murdered within his prison cell the cover-up the real reason behind the bank robberies.

John Gary Peeler a former CIA/BATF/FBI agent was undercover within the KKK he has been on my program and his son John Christropher Peeler is being held in a Ark prison without parole for a crime of murder where there is no body, no crime scene and no evidence nothing to shutup Peeler. Peeler Sr. worked with Timothy McVeigh while undercover within the KKK working on bombing the Ok City Building, he knew about the bank robberies, the plot to take down the building and was able to stop one, but could do nothing about the WTC because no one would listen to him, his story as those of Eric Shine Merchant Marine Presidential Appointed by George Bush Sr., , Mary Schneider who worked 30 yrs within the INS and saw the florida connection of agents allowing Middle Easterns to gain entrance into the US that area of Fla was where the flight school was involved with the alleged training of terrorist cells at the same time I saw within my then office which was a place I was bought to to setup a new business to do Islamic Interest Loans for homes (Noriba) on the wall a huge picture of a boeing 747 class plane which I was told that being use as a picture to explan how to flight within a flight school which operated out of the Palos Hills area with ties into FL prior to 9/11/01.

The story was my nightmare, the government via clouted government officials and those who I had alleged were involved in a major sleeper cell used terrorism against me and my children. By sending in spooks, attempting to setup my bank account with counterfeit money orders, blackball me so I can not work and so that my children can not, criminalized by young son, use traffick tickets and others working within the policing agencies to cover-up and not investigation major corruption and criminals acts within DuPage County in order to shut be up and down and make me homeless. This is the same pattern that had been used on all whistleblowers and then causing them not to have equal rigthts under the amendments of the constitutional.

I am 55 yrs old and I have seen every level of corruption over a spam of 45 years including how entertainers and others were taken out in the same fashion in the 1940’s-62 while my father was involvcd as a publisher and reporter.Within his archieve were letters of this and then I was told by other creatible sources over the years of how they watched Mohammad X, who was a friend of my fathers, Joe Louis for saying good things about Jimmy Hoffa, and my father knew Jack Ruby prior to my father’s death. My father’s name was within the Warren Commission Report of the Death of JFK and my father help Kennedy to get elected within the chains of press he was involved in within the Black Community.

Because of all this I had been watched, and as they attempted to do with Mohammad X’s daughter they attempted to set me up over the years. But you see I saw things when I was very young and knew how they operated. Please read on thanks

D’Anne Burley