News America Marketing (NAM) is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corps. - the mother ship of Fox News. NAM was recently sued by Valassis, a competitor in the newspaper ad-stuffers biz. Rupert Murdoch's NAM lost the case and will pay $300-million to the plaintiff for engaging in underhanded, monopolistic business practices. Along the way, at trial, we are offered a rare glimpse inside Murdoch's furtive corporate empire, and like my nephew, it isn't pretty ...


News America's Carlucci Again Accused of Threatening to "Destroy" Floorgraphics
By Jim Edwards
industry.bnet.com
July 15th, 2009

George Rebh, founder of Floorgraphics, said News America Marketing CEO Paul Carlucci threatened to “destroy” his agency if he competed for clients, a Michigan state court heard. The testimony came in a case where newspaper coupon giant Valassis is trying to prove that News America used illegal monopoly practices against its competitors.

It is the second time that Rebh has told the story of his infamous meeting with Carlucci, who is also the publisher of the New York Post. Earlier this year, Rebh testified in a New Jersey federal court that he had a lunch meeting with Carlucci at which the latter had said “I will destroy you!” if Rebh’s Floorgraphics made inroads into News America’s in-store supermarket ad empire. Carlucci denies he said that.

In Rebh’s most recent recollection of the meeting, he described how he showed up at the now defunct Dish of Salt restaurant in New York, just blocks from News Corp’s HQ. In attendance at the round table were Carlucci, News America president Dominic Porco, Floorgraphics’ Rebh, his brother Richard, the CEO, and Gary Henderson. The execs talked business in which, Rebh said, he hoped to explore the possibility of working on joint promotions with News America. But Carlucci didn’t like that idea. He wanted to buy Floorgraphics, Rebh said:

Question: What happened? What did he say?

Answer: At a certain point, Mr. Carlucci turned to us, but primarily Richard, and said so you are here to sell your company. And that — because that was not the purpose we were there, that kind of took us a little by surprise and Richard said, no, that’s not why we came.

… Question: What did Mr. Carlucci say in response to that?

Answer: He kind of smiled and he said, you know, when we acquired ActMedia, which was in 1997, I asked them about what they thought of floor advertising and they all thought it was a fad, that it would go away. He said, words to the effect, but, I have always liked floor advertising, so, from this point on consider us your competitor. And he said, again, words to the effect, and you should know that I work for a man who wants it all and doesn’t understand anyone telling him he can’t have it all. And know this, if you ever get into any of our businesses, I/we will destroy you.

That “man” is News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch; News Corp. owns News America. News America ultimately acquired Floorgraphics in settlement of the latter’s anti-competition case against it.

http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/10002966/news-americas-carlucci-once-again-accused-of-threatening-to-destroy-floorgraphics/

Nauseating, isn't it? If this is the way the vile Mr. Murdoch conducts business, we'll just take ours elsewhere and let his Nazis twist in the wind. Boycott the Fox News nest of vipers.

- Uncle Creepy

NYT
July 30, 2009

To the Editor:

Re “Government Hit Squads, Minus the Hits” (Week in Review, July 19):

I was a special assistant to George W. Ball in 1964, when Cyprus was a dominant foreign policy concern and Archbishop Makarios was the magnetic leader of the Greek Cypriot people in secular as well as spiritual affairs. He was also a major thorn in the side of the United States, which wanted to keep using British bases on the Mediterranean island.

During a high-level meeting with intelligence officials from various agencies, someone from the C.I.A. suggested that it might be “convenient” if the archbishop were assassinated. Mr. Ball was a large man — 6-foot-4 and well over 200 pounds. He reared back out of his chair and bellowed, “The United States does not do assassinations!”

He told me later that he was deeply troubled that the United States had tacitly condoned the C.I.A. involvement in the overthrow and subsequent assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam a year earlier, and that he was adamant in resisting assassinations on his watch.

Thomas Ehrlich
Palo Alto, Calif.
July 19, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/opinion/lweb31squads.html?_r=1

by Zack23
www.dailykos.com
Jul 05, 2009

According to School of the Americas Watch, Honduran human rights organizations are receiving reports that opponents of the recent military coup (led by School of the Americas graduates General Romeo Velasquez and General Luis Javier Prince Suazo) are being assasinated.

Bodies are being found with all their clothes, money, and cell phones, a strong indication that gangs and robbers are not behind the murders. According to a news release by SOA Watch:

On Friday, journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega, who was reporting on the coup and military developments, was killed. He was last seen alive leaving Radio América after transmitting his latest report. Radio América is a well established Honduran news corporation which gets international coverage.

In a town in San Pedro Sula, a family of four was found assassinated. It is known that the mother of that family worked in her local court.

In Tegucigalpa, the nation`s capital, at least 5 corpses have been found. Two corpses were found yesterday in barrels. Another corpse, of a young man, was found in La Montañita [La Montan~ita]. La Montañita [La Montan~ita] was the first unmarked, clandestine cemetery established in Honduras in the 1980`s by the national army`s death squads, which were trained by the CIA and other U.S. military officers. It was established under the command of former chief commander of Honduran armed forces, Gustabo Álvarez Martínez [Gustabo Alvarez Martinez]. This unmarked cemetery, along with many others throughout the country, was used by the military`s death squads to depose of the bodies of students, activists, missionaries, political organizers, and others whom they detained, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in the 1980s. It is once again being used, presumably by the armed forces of Honduras.

Bertha Oliva, a key human rights activist, asserts that military repression has been much more violent and unsupervised outside of the capital, where there is almost no international presence or press coverage. With the recent events of murder and repression within Tegucigalpa, human rights organizations are increasingly worried of what must be going on outside of the capital. ...

CONTINUED: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/5/750139/-Right-wing-Death-Squads-starting-up-in-Honduras

By Nat Worden
JULY 23, 2009

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Valassis Communications Inc. (VCI), a marketing company for consumer goods, said Thursday that it won $300 million in damages from a lawsuit alleging unfair competitive practices against News Corp. (NWSA) unit News America Marketing.

News Corp., owner of this newswire, said it was "disappointed" with the jury's verdict in a county court in Michigan, and it intends to appeal the decision.

The lawsuit, one of three against News America by Valassis, alleged that News America used its dominant market position in its in-store marketing business to undercut Valassis in its freestanding insert, or newspaper coupon, business.

News America denied the charges and said the Valassis lawsuit was "merely part of a larger strategy to get News America Marketing to raise its prices, a move that would have affected both our clients and their customers by reducing the number of coupons available - a consequence that would be extremely unfortunate in this economy."

News America also said its case was hampered by the court's decision not to allow a complaint against Valassis filed by the Federal Trade Commission in 2006 that said the company made "an effort to induce collusion" when it announced a new pricing policy on a public conference call with investors.

Valassis Chief Executive Alan Schultz said the pricing announcement he made was relevant to the investment community and that it wasn't an effort to collude on prices with anyone.

News of the jury's decision in its favor sent Valassis shares sharply higher, up 23%, to $8.63. News Corp.'s A shares rose 2.1%, to $9.87, amid a broad market rally.

Valassis's profits had been dented in recent years because of lost pricing power. Segment profit in its newspaper coupon business has fallen from $185 million in 2001, when it made up 93% of its overall profits, to $1.8 million in 2008, when it made up less than 2% of its profits.

The Michigan jury found News America liable on both counts of Valassis's suit. Meanwhile, Schultz said the company was looking forward to moving ahead on two other cases against News America Marketing - a federal antitrust case and a state unfair-competition suit in California. He said the company could triple its damages in federal court and double them in California.

A News America spokeswoman disputed Valassis's ability to win additional damages.

Elsewhere, shares of Insignia Systems Inc. (ISIG), which competes with News America in the in-store marketing business, rose over 20% in Thursday trading in reaction to the court's decision. Insignia - which has some business relationships with Valassis - also has filed suit against News America for unfair competition in federal district court in Minneapolis.

News America has responded with a motion to dismiss the case and said Insignia's case is unrelated to Thursday's verdict.

-By Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; (212) 416-2472; nat.worden@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090723-721447.html

Related: "Michael Jackson and the Fellowship Foundation Cult"

By American Atheists
www.opposingviews.com
July 28, 2009

A mushrooming scandal over members of the U.S. congress and a shadowy religious "fellowship"based in Washington, DC is attracting more news coverage and questions, and could lead to calls that the House Ethics Committee open an immediate investigation.

The story began when Sen. John Ensign admitted to having an extramarital affair with a former aide. What made the tabloid aspect more salacious, though, was that Ensign -- a strong crusader against separation of church and state -- is linked to a religious-right
group that maintains an anonymous enclave in Washington, DC where a number of key politicians, including Sen. Ensign, reside while congress is in session. Dubbed "the family" or "the Fellowship," the unmarked building is also the venue for constant prayer, bible meetings, and now, it seems, political strategy brain storming, spin-control and campaign fund raising.

Ensign's hypocrisy and un-masking has focused media attention on the "Christian mafia" and raised questions about what is taking place behind closed doors of the C Street house "in the name of the lord."

-- Just eight days after the Ensign scandal made headlines, a political action committee with ties to the disgraced senator made a $5,000 contribution to the campaign of another "Fellowship" member and resident, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee. Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Andy Sher noted: "Ensign's political action committee, Battle Born PAC, contributed the money on June 24 according to Federal Election Committee records. Wamp's campaign received the contribution on June 29, his Tennessee Registry of Election Finance shows."

One Wamp-connected operative , John Crisp refused to discuss the donation, other than to say that "This is important because of how hard Zach works... for the people of Tennessee."

Others weren't so sure. State Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester questioned the timing and circumstances, telling reporters: "It would seem to me that if you were running for governor and you were running on a set of moral values that Zach Wamp seems to talk about, you'd be sort of reluctant to receive financial support from an admitted adulterer."

Wamp also reported a $1,000 contribution from the Mint Political Action Committee linked to another religious right partisan, U.S. Sen. Jeff DeMint (R.-SC). "Numerous news accounts" link DeMint to the same C Street enclave as Wamp and Ensign, but the senator's office is now denying this.

-- Somewhat off the radar at present is South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican who is still working through his own imbroglio involving an adulterous affair with a South American woman. Sanford is a member of the "Fellowship" and reportedly received "spiritual counseling" at the C Street house. We also should not forget about US Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) now charged by his estranged wife with having an affair while residing at the "Fellowship" residence.

-- How far will "Fellowship" residents and members go in avoiding media scrutiny, or even official inquiries by congress? One disturbing indicator is a July 22 piece on the Buzzflash web blog by Mark Karlin, referring to material unearthed by Jeff Sharlet,
author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power." The latter writes:

Family leaders consider their political network to be Christ's avant garde, an elite that transcends not just conventional morality but also earthly laws regulating lobbying. In the Family's early days, they debated registering as "a lobby for God's Kingdom." Instead, founder Abraham Vereide decided that the group could be more effective by working personally with politicians. "The more invisible you can make your organization," Vereide's successor, current leader Doug Coe preaches, "the more influence you can have." That's true -- which is why we have laws requiring lobbyists to identify themselves as such.

But David Coe, Doug Coe's son and heir apparent, calls himself simply a friend to men such as John Ensign, whom he guided through the coverup of his affair. I met the younger Coe when I lived for several weeks as a member of the Family. He's a surprising source of counsel, spiritual or otherwise. Attempting to explain what it means to be chosen for leadership like King David was -- or Mark Sanford, according to his own estimate -- he asked a young man who'd put himself, body and soul, under the Family's authority, "Let's say I hear you raped three little girls. What would I think of you?" The man guessed that Coe would probably think that he was a monster. "No," answered Coe, "I wouldn't." Why? Because, as a member of the Family, he's among what Family leaders refer to as the "new chosen." If you're chosen, the normal rules don't apply.

It's a statement that should concerns about transparency on C Street. Will "Fellowship" members charged with inappropriate behavior cover for each other? If so , the term "Christian mafia" becomes most appropriate given the "code of silence" or "omerta"
being practiced on C Street.

-- There are reports that some "Fellowship" operatives in high places are now seeking cover amidst the widening scandal and public attention. According to the Detroit News, for instance, U.S. Rep.Bart Stupak now claims that "he does little more than sleep in a room he rents there."

Another "Fellowship" member, Rep. Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania (a member of the Congressional "Values" Coalition that promotes religious right legislation on Capitol Hill) issued a statement that he does not reside at the C Street lair.

For the public, all of this must raise concerns about what is taking place behind the doors at the C Street retreat and residence. Were powerful individuals like these representatives linked in such intimate and peculiar fashion to, say, a corporate interest
group or international mission, there would be an outcry for an immediate congressional investigation. The C Street residence, however, enjoys the mantle of religious probity. Its members do not seem to be living up to that standard.

Links to the C Street Scandal:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jul/21/tennessee-wamp-took-campaign-money-nevadas-ensign/?breakingnews
Tennessee: Wamp took campaign money from Nevada's Ensign State campaign finance records show U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., accepted a $5,000 contribution from U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who lives in a Capitol Hill Christian fellowship house with Mr. Wamp. The contribution came 13 days after Sen. Ensign admitted to the world he had had an affair with a former staffer. Sen. Ensign's political action committee, Battle Born PAC, contributed the money on June 24, according to Federal Election Commission records. Rep. Wamp reported receiving the contribution to his gubernatorial campaign on June 29, according to his Tennessee Registry of Election Finance disclosure.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/9044
"C Street" Cabal of Anti-Democracy Fundamentalist Senators and Reps Wouldn't Turn Over Child Rapist Among Them to Police? Kudos to Rachel Maddow for latching on to the captivating and chilling story about not just the lascivious and potentially illegal activities of some of the "C Street" Family, but -- more importantly -- focusing on their belief that they are chosen by God to lead and infiltrate our government. And she hasn't stopped pursuing this startling story, defying the normal news cycle of a nano-second of coverage unless it's Michael Jackson's death or a blonde white girl disappearing in Aruba.

What gets lost in the disgusting details of Ensign's adulterous affair, Mark Sanford's (an associate member of the Family) lust for an Argentine, and former Congressman Chip Pickering's adulterous bonking on-site at the C Street "Christian fellowship house" is
something that Maddow has repeatedly come back to: these men don't believe they are responsible to moral or governmental laws. If they deviate from the "righteous path," God is only testing their strength, because they are the ones divinely chosen to lead -- and it is weakness to succumb to remorse about one's "misbehavior."

That is why Mark Sanford said he won't resign and compared himselfto King David, who slept adulterously with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed.

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-lawmakers-part-of-secret-christian-mafia-in-washington-r-1248803228

Who's winning the Afghan War?: "DynCorp has emerged as one of the big winners of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which now generate 53% of DynCorp's $3.1 billion of annual revenue. ... "

Nathan Vardi
Forbes
07.30.09

Increasingly frozen out by the U.S. military, KBR concedes the Afghan battlefront.

DynCorp International, the Falls Church, Va., provider of mission critical services to the U.S. military, got good news Thursday from Houston rival KBR, which said it would not be protesting the recent loss of work supporting American troops in Afghanistan to DynCorp and Fluor Group.

"We recently met with the customer for a debrief of the selection criteria and the decision metrics for the awards," said KBR ( KBR - news - people ) chief William Utt on KBR's Thursday conference call. "After the debrief we decided KBR will not protest the outcome of the awards."

The announcement was excellent news for DynCorp, which has been consistently winning government war-zone work from competitors like Blackwater USA and KBR that have had trouble in Iraq. DynCorp is counting on the expanding war in Afghanistan to provide corporate growth and was bracing for a potential challenge from KBR. It is now likely that within six months DynCorp will begin working on a five-year, $5.9 billion deal awarded in July to logistically support U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan. Fluor ( FLR - news - people ) won the work that will be required in northern Afghanistan.

DynCorp has emerged as one of the big winners of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which now generate 53% of DynCorp's $3.1 billion of annual revenue. The company's revenue grew 45% last year thanks to a 51%-owned joint venture that has a multiyear $4.6 billion contract to supply 9,100 linguists to translate for U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Last year DynCorp and Fluor, together with KBR, became part of the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or Logcap, a huge contract once awarded exclusively to KBR. The three companies now are competitively bidding on various jobs under the wars' biggest contract. In the last six years, Logcap has meant big revenues for KBR, which earned an estimated $700 million of income (before interest and taxes) on $31.4 billion of revenues off of the program, mostly in Iraq, but been dogged by accusations of overbilling and negligence.

In July the Pentagon announced that it planned on having DynCorp and Fluor take over KBR's work in Afghanistan under Logcap, doing everything from providing laundry to food and fuel. The decision came as President Obama sent 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan to go after the Taliban in an expanding war. KBR has now accepted the military's contracting switch in Afghanistan and will focus on trying to retain its Logcap work in Iraq, which should be up for bid by the end of this year.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/30/dyncorp-kbr-afghanistan-business-logistics-dyncorp.html

Thanks to all our readers for visiting and re-visiting Newsifact! Enjoy your summer.

"Conservatives" of the '70s had a good laugh at the "scare-mongering" liberals who claimed that Agent Orange was a destructive poison. Spokemen for the American Enterprise Institute, a CIA/military intelligence propaganda front, offered to drink it to prove the defoliant harmless, but of course they chickened out. My uncle fought in Vietnam and was exposed to the poison - he had cancer in his early fifties, and a major heart by-pass. A friend of mine from Arkansas was blinded in 'Nam. The Pentagon fought his disability claim for decades, claiming that Agent Orange is basically harmless. The lesson here is never ever listen to conventional "conservative" wisdom ... - AC

Dr. Phil Leveque
Salem-News.com

One of our reader/correspondents, Chuck Palazzo, just brought to our attention that Agent Orange, actually DIOXINS, have been re-discovered to cause all sorts of damage to humans.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I believe I had the first human DDT insecticide poisoning case in the US in about 1952. The patient was a “cropduster” pilot spraying mosquito swamps in Portland, Oregon. He filled the sprayer tanks with DDT in oil with 5 gallon cans and spilled it all over himself. He was advised by the salesman that it would kill mosquitoes like crazy but wouldn’t hurt him. After one summer of exposure he never recovered.

At that time, I was a newly minted toxicologist and was very cognizant of the extreme dangers of Chloroform and similar chlorinated anesthetics and their severe liver toxicity if used more than a few times. I also had some of the first 2-4-D, 2-4-5-T (in Agent Orange) chlorinated weed killer poison cases. I came to the conclusion that ALL chlorinated organic pesticides were lethally toxic to humans, other animals and birds.

DDT almost wiped out the American Eagle and many other birds including Condors.

This is about the time Rachel Carsons book Silent Spring came out [reporting] that pesticides were killing ALL sorts of wildlife. We were both scoffed at. How could weed killers and bug killers hurt humans?

About 1970, the U.S. was spraying Agent Orange, Agent White and Agent Blue all over Vietnam and American Infantry Soldiers were getting poisoned in large numbers. The Army and VA doctors were told that the soldiers’ illnesses were caused by SMOKING BAD MARIJUANA and they would get over it when they got home and quit smoking pot.

It didn’t turnout that way. DIOXINS are the extreme poisons in many chlorinated pesticides.

The Dioxins combine with DNA/RNA which are the building blocks for most functions in metabolism.

The [damage] includes Heart Disease, Parkinsonism, Diabetes, etcetera. Dioxins are already known to produce serious birth defects and a variety of cancers. Because of the extremely high reactivity of the DIOXINS, which are poisonous in parts per billion, and not the herbicides, it is surprising that many of these DIOXIN-contaminated pesticides are still in use.

The strange thing is that many are banned in the U.S. but are still manufactured here and sold in Third World Countries and causing the same problems.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july302009/agent_orange_pl_7-30-09.php
*****
One Last Ride: Vietnam veteran a victim of Agent Orange
by Laura Camper/Times-Georgian13

While serving, he was exposed to Agent Orange, an herbicide used by the U.S. military during the war to remove leaves and plant life that provided cover for the enemy. Since then, Poe has been dealing with organ damage.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides were used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971, and that shortly following their military service in Vietnam, some veterans reported a variety of health problems and concerns, which some of them attributed to exposure to Agent Orange or other herbicides.

Like Dan Poe.

Now, at 58, he is confined to a wheelchair and must use an oxygen tank. He has only one artery pumping blood from the heart and that is 70 percent blocked.

“It’s only pumping 30 percent of blood to his whole body,” said Mike Chenette, who says Poe, a Carrollton resident, is like a dad to him. “In the last three years, his heart actually just started dying. The doctors came out and told us here just a few months ago they can’t do no more for him, to go ahead and make his funeral arrangements.”

It hasn’t always been like this. Poe used to own a car-crushing business. Chenette worked for him probably seven or eight years ago, when times were still good. Chenette met him at an auction where Poe was buying toys and gifts.

“He was one of those people buying a bunch of stuff and donating it to a bunch of kids at Christmas time,” Chenette said. “He was one of these people, you know, it didn’t matter what was going on in his life, he donated things or gave to other people besides himself.”

Chenette didn’t know how sick Poe was then, but he’s watched him deteriorate over the years and it’s been hard to see, particularly because they became very close and consider themselves family. It was easy to forget the health issues until one day at work.

“While I was working with him one day he had a massive heart attack and I had to rush him to the hospital,” he said.

Suddenly the health problems came on with a vengeance and for the last two years, Poe has been unable to work.

One of the most difficult things Poe has had to give up because of his illness is road trips with his wife. His Harley Davidson Heritage Softail is parked in his garage, just waiting, but he can no longer use it. Poe’s final request is for one last road trip to the mountains with his wife, Dottie, said Jennifer Albright, a member of the local Iron Order Motorcycle Club.

“He loves the mountains and he loves it up there,” Albright said. “I had gotten with Pigeon Forge, the Chamber of Commerce up there, and they have donated a lot of stuff. The Comedy Barn up there donated tickets, two free passes, The Miracle Show Theater they donated a VIP attraction pack for them. We are going to get them a hotel, and we’re trying to get together a ride to take them up there in a convertible.”

A convertible may not be a motorcycle, but he can still feel the wind on his face for the trip.

All Poe’s family and friends have rallied around him. Though he hasn’t been able to work for two years, he’s been denied medical disability by Social Security. He and his wife survive on his veteran’s disability checks. The Veterans Administration hospital takes care of most of his medical work, but still the bills have added up.

“He’s the type of person, he’s not going to ask anybody for help, because he thinks other people (are) important than he is,” Chenette said. “To me he is a very important person in my life and anybody else’s life that’s ever met him or got to know him. Everybody just loves the man to death.”

So, he hatched the idea for a motorcycle benefit. He contacted Albright at the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, and the two began planning.

The benefit, a motorcycle ride, is today at Southern Steel Cycles in Carrollton. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., kickstands up at 10 a.m. Kroger is providing food. There will be a raffle for a Stoeger M2000 Automatic 12 gauge shotgun. Dozens of area businesses have donated gifts and prizes for the event as well as tents to host it.

Neil Yearta, co-owner of Southern Steel Cycles, has known Poe for a few years.

“We really felt it was important to try and do something to help him,” Yearta said. “When he was working and making good money, he always gave a lot to charities and buy toys for kids, and really just gave a lot back to people who needed it.”

Now Yearta can finally give back.

http://www.times-georgian.com/pages/full_story/push?article-One+Last+Ride-+Vietnam+veteran+a+victim+of+Agent+Orange%20&id=2982204-One+Last+Ride-+Vietnam+veteran+a+victim+of+Agent+Orange&instance=west_ga_news

Excerpt: "Dr. Conrad Murray: Investigating Michael Jackson's Personal Doctor"
By JIM AVILA, LUCHINA FISHER and SHEILA MARIKAR
ABC News
July 30, 2009

... In the wake of the investigation, a slew of liens and lawsuits against Murray has emerged. In the last three years, Murray has faced lawsuits for unpaid business bills totaling over $700,000, including rent on his medical offices. He also owes more than $13,000 in child support, $70,000 to a business partner with whom he launched an energy drink called Pitbull, and he failed to pay more than $71,000 worth of student loans from medical school.

Murray was also charged with domestic violence in February 1994 while undergoing a cardiology fellowship at the University of Arizona at Tucson. He stood trial in July of that year and was ultimately acquitted. ...

Murray didn't set out to be a doctor to the stars. He was born on the Carribean island of Grenada in in 1953. He was raised by his mother in neighboring Trinidad. She never married his father, Dr. Rawle Andrews, a renowned physician in Houston, Texas.

Murray was a customs clerk, a teacher and an insurance agent before beginning his studies at Texas Southern University at age 27. After graduating magna cum laude, he went on to medical school at Meharry in Nashville, Tenn. He then did his residency at Loma Linda University in California before eventually opening a practice in Houston, serving the largely poor, African American community where his father had been a local hero.

Murray's Doctor Dad Had Medical License Suspended

But while he was revered by his patients, Andrews, now deceased, came under scrutiny late in his career, foreshadowing the problems currently plaguing his son. Andrews had his medical license restricted by the board in 1994 for prescribing "controlled substances and substances with addictive potential" to two patients for "extended periods of time without adequate indication," according to documents obtained by ABCNews.com.

Murray's attorney's spokeswoman, Miranda Sevcik, said that any wrongdoing of Murray's father has nothing to do with the son's predicament.

"This is not relevant to Dr. Murray or the investigation into Michael's death," Sevcik said.

She added that Murray, in 20 years of practicing medicine, has never had his license suspended or a malpractice claim filed against him. ...

FULL STORY: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/MichaelJackson/story?id=8210705&page=1
****
Excerpt: "Dr. Murray's Criminal Past"
Posted by ExtraTV Staff
July 30, 2009 11:04 AM

Michael Jackson's doctor has had a previous run-in with the law. Dr. Conrad Murray, who could face manslaughter charges in Jackson's death, was arrested in 1994. Murray was arrested on domestic violence charges in Arizona. The police report alleges Murray threw his then-girlfriend to the ground as their baby sat on the floor crying. ...

Former prosecutor Marcia Clark revealed on Larry King Live last night that the report is finished, and is being held up by the LAPD. "It's actually done," Marcia said. "It's ready to go, but Chief Bratton is not in town. They're sitting on it 'til he gets back from his vacation next week."

The Jackson clan has reportedly seen the completed report. ...

http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2009/07/dr_murrays_criminal_past_1.php
****
Excerpt: "Dr. Conrad Murray Previously Sentenced to Jail"
By Bridget Daly
www.hollyscoop.com
July 29, 2009

... Radar has learned that Murray has been sentenced to jail on two different occasions. And one of them was just a couple months ago!

According to the report, Murray was sentenced to jail on April 29th, 2009 for failing to pay child support. He was also sentenced in 2007 for non-payment of child support in connection with a son he fathered in California with a woman named Nenita Malibiran. On both occasions, the doctor was able to get out of doing any time by paying up. ...

Sounds like Dr. Conrad Murray has some skeletons in his closet—not only having to do with the Michael Jackson investigation, but in his personal life as well!

http://www.hollyscoop.com/michael-jackson/dr-conrad-murray-previously-sentenced-to-jail_21059.aspx

John Byrne, Raw Story July 30, 2009: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressured the British intelligence service not to disclose evidence of alleged US torture of a British national, Britain's foreign secretary told the UK's top court Wednesday. Asked about the claim at a press availability by a BBC reporter Wednesday, Clinton declined to comment. 'I’m not going to comment,' Clinton said when asked. 'Obviously, the issue of intelligence sharing is one that is critically important to our two countries, and we have both a stake in ensuring that it continues to the fullest extent possible.' ... "

The environment? Nope.

Communities? Nope.

A made-up innocent golden era before such nasty things as civil rights came along? Yup.

Enraged Sarah Palin supporters are holding rallies in which they are burning their "Star Trek" related items in large bonfires. The rallies come as a response to a series of appearances by "Star Trek" star William Shatner on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" in which the actor parodied the former Alaska governor by putting her words to music.


Enraged right-wingers have vowed to end their association with "Star Trek" as a result. "This episode by Shatner confirmed to me that 'Star Trek' is just more far-left liberal propaganda from the New World Order cabal," said one woman at a "James T-party".

Officially scientist Stephen Hawking is disabled...


But as the above pictures show, there is clearly something we aren't being told...

In this article written exclusively for Newsifact, Republican House Minority leader John Boehner argues that the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks may have been connected to the current Democratic players in the healthcare reform debate.


Public Option Players had Secret Meeting with 9/11 Hijacker in Prague

by John Boehner

Current proposals for a rigorous public-option to be introduced into the nation's healthcare system by a thankfully ever-smaller number of Democrats has one man laughing - Osama bin Laden. Back in 2001, high-level sources tell me, today's key Democrat advocates for so-called "Healthcare reform" met with Mohamed Atta, the main hijacker in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The meeting took place in Prague. What could Atta have discussed with Democrat Congress members X,Y and Z? I have decided not to name the Democrats involved directly - I am sure their names will soon come to light.

Mohamed Atta

Did Atta perhaps tell them: "After my work is done, I want you to socialize the American healthcare system."? Why were these Democrats so silent after 9/11? Why are these same Democrats now pushing for so-called "healthcare reform"? Is this part of an Al-Qaeda plot to euthanize our elderly and weaken the rest of us? Have we been caught off guard?

There is yet more disturbing evidence. According to the completely independent and just created citizens' group "The Free Association for Freedom in Healthcare Freedom Reform" (The DemocRATS say it is a lobbyist funded front group - they are lying) there is evidence that the DemocRATS are trying to secretly introduce the healthcare system of Niger, Africa into the United States. The FAFHFR has evidence that the same top DemocRATS that went to Prague to meet with 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta then flew to Niger in Africa. There, they tried to acquire "Yellow-Flake" a handbook written by Al-Qaeda on how to undermine nations through "healthcare reform".

Prague

There is yet more. We have evidence that DemocRATS plan to shift hospitals to "mobile socialized hospitals" - little more than trucks - because under their plan, the government simply won't be able to afford hospitals anymore.

Dysfunctional mobile hospitals - the result of Democrat so-called "reforms"?

A top intelligence source also tells me that Al-Qaeda has provided the DemocRATS with aluminium tubes which can cheaply be converted into needles. These needles would then inject patients with a euthanizing drug. This is deeply disturbing. We cannot wait for nations like France to act.

Healthcare in Niger. Is this what the Democrats want?

The evidence is real. Believe me, these aren't so-called Republican "scare-tactics" - we only want what is best and cannot stand idly by as this evidence of an Al-Qaeda/Public-Option link comes to light. I urge you all to act and act soon. Don't let the smoking gun become an operating room shroud!

John Boehner (R) is a U.S. Representative of Ohio's 8th congressional district. He is also the House Minority Leader in the 111th Congress.

The British newspaper "The Sun" is refusing to apologise after publishing semi-naked pictures of former Vice-President Al Gore. Mr Gore's office has called the decision to publish the paparazzi pictures taken during a recent vacation as "unfortunate".

Bill Gates...


Bob Gates...


Henry Louis Gates...

(Because she'd be Gates Gates)

She also can't marry (via gay marriage) Glenn Close otherwise she'd be Gates Close.


Nor can she marry Commerce Secretary Gary Locke or she'd be Gates Locke...

Is there such a thing as historical memory? Why do so many American conservatives look like what they are really angry/terrified about is that they lost the Civil War and aren't allowed to keep slaves anymore? "These people are going to come and get us!!" Is this experience buried in their genes? Anger, hysteria, paranoia...RAGE!!!

This is how conservatives used to express their entirely hypocritical and cowardly anger. But then "Washington" took their slaves away. Fortunately, conservatives soon got Jim Crow and segregation and also..."Bang!"... shot the president that had won the war for the Union (the same year, they also formed the Ku Klux Klan).

Decades later, a "liberal bleeding heart" called Roosevelt changed the former system of unregulated greed, which had led to the Great Depression, to create a more equitable and egalitarian economic system. Cleverly, he was also countering and muting Soviet propaganda about what capitalism was really like. Yet, all paranoid conservatives saw was an expansion of government and their taxes being given to "welfare mom" types - perhaps for "stealth reparations".

Then an "activist Supreme Court" intergrated schools, backed up with National Guard troops, ie the "Federal government". When would this humiliation of conservatives by their own government end? Even poor Joe McCarthy had lost his power to induce a permanent paranoia in America.

The "Little Rock Nine"

By the 1960s, a young president was determined to get rid of segregation. "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" (or "Bang! Bang! Bang!" if you believe the official version that a lone communist sympathizer did it - but "sssh!" honest investigations could cause World War III!). Anyway "Bang!" soon became the new "Whip!" (as in whipping the slave - see above picture). And if conservatives couldn't have slaves, at least they were going to have their guns. This is how Michael Moore put it in the film "Bowling for Columbine".

The next guy passed the Civil Rights Act anyway - Republicans and Democrats sort of swapped places after that. Now conservatives were really, really mad! "Bang!" the black Civil Rights leader was dead. "Bang!" the former president's brother was dead. Thankfully, for the next decade or so, the "whip/bang lust permanent war" was transferred overseas: Vietnam...

The communists gave conservatives a new (and justifaible) target, but instead they just managed to screw up their moral credibility by acting almost as dirty as the other side (sound familiar?).

A few decades later "Bang!" a federal building in Oklahoma was bombed and 168 people were dead. Compared with the prior evacutaion warnings and pathetic pipe-bombs of 60s left-wing radicals like the "Weather Underground" this attack was big-time!

The pent up and angry perpetrators of the Oklahoma City bombings were protesting against the "Feds".

Suddenly, there was a new "whip/bang lust permanent war" to keep conservatives unclogged.

But it was not going so well and all those tax cuts for the rich and deregulation that promised to create a "neoconservative paradise" on earth weren't working so well. And then this black guy got elected. He was actually going to do some smart things to defeat extremists overseas instead of just feeding them propaganda victories and try to fix the economy. "Traitor! What do you mean torture is suddenly torture? Socialist! What do you mean you need to invest in the country in order to keep it economically viable?"

Is Glenn Beck sub-consciously re-living the "painful loss" for "states' rights" following the Confederacy's defeat in the Civil War?

Somebody get these conservative people a blanket! They are really in total shock. This guy is going to come and get their guns and then get them!!! "Thank God his birth certificate is faked, he was only elected thanks to ACORN fraud and his secret socialist/Muslim agenda will soon be exposed. I mean the guy is black, how could he possibly not be trying to sabotage America? After all, we are filled with bitter rage, so the black guy must be too - against us!"


"At least we still have our guns, secessionist ramblings, code-words, talk radio, Fox News - and lots and lots and lots of pent up anger and ignorance. But we need outlets or we may just explode!!"

So next time you see blind, white-hot, pyschotic and hysterical rage like that recently demonstrated by Glenn Beck...maybe it can be explained as historical memory (imagine Beck whipping a slave into submission) raging its ugly head, the same way it does in every other country on earth - Iran and outside intervention, Israel and pathalogical persecution of Palestinians under the guise of victimhood, Russia's historical self-denial and inferiority complex, North Korea's existence as a historical Stalinist abberation, China's humiliation under Japan, etc. etc...There will always be those who fear inward examaniation believing it to be a sign of weakness.

Fundamentalist conservatives simply can't win fair debates. So instead they distort, attack, discredit or muddy the message of the opposition - as was recently demonstrated in Iran. If that doesn't work: "Bang!"

Sadly, today's hardcore American conservatives have evidently learnt nothing, even after their ideal neocon president (Mr Mis-underestimate) along with shadow-man (Darth Vader) almost brought the entire country to its knees. That part is the hypocrisy of the whip...

Shy Cowell blushes before the cameras.

An attempt by Simon Cowell to move from critiquing other performers' singing abilities on shows like American Idol to singing himself ended in farce Wednesday after the embarrassed singer succumbed to a bout of crippling stage-fright. Cowell choked up and began to blush really, really badly. His singing attempt was by all accounts a complete disaster..."I'm so sorry," he said afterwards "I just got really, really shy. I'm not usually like that."

"Look, I've been burned really badly before..."

Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney has applauded the news that Osama bin Laden's son Saad has apparently been killed. Saad is believed to have been a very minor player in the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, but in an interview with Fox News, Cheney said that his guilt was clear: "He supported the illegal and amoral actions of his father, and in my mind that makes him just as guilty."

"The beloved voice cast will be heard in the upcoming series of Futurama!" - So begins a new press release by Fox TV, lauding a compromise deal, which purportedly will allow viewers of the new series of Futurama to hear the cast they have known and loved since Futurama premiered in 1999. But the devil is in the detail and may actually serve to further stoke outrage among fans.


The announcement, at least in the eyes of Fox, resolves a dispute over pay that had previously led the company to announce that it was replacing the entire voice cast in the revived series because it was unwilling to meet their pay demands. This led to an outcry among fans, many of whom stated that they could not imagine seeing Futurama without hearing the likes of Billy West (Fry) and John DiMaggio (Bender).

But now, Fox has decided to take another path which avoids the pay issue altogether - resampling snippets of the actors' voices from previous episodes. "We realized that over four seasons and four movies, we had the entire cast saying just about every word and phrase possible," states a Fox executive in the press release "So we decided that rather than replacing such a great cast, we would use today's technology to re-sample and cut and splice previous recordings and make them into new words and sentences."

The press release continues: "Good news everyone! Wait till you hear it; the results are phenomenal! We're back, baby!"

Comedy legend Mel Brooks (83) is to come out of retirement to star in a film that mocks the recent panic over the Swine Flu outbreak, Paramount Pictures confirmed Monday. The film, described by Paramount as a "madcap comedy" will be called "Schwine Flu" - a similar play on words was used in the 1987 Mel Brooks "Star Wars" parody "Spaceballs" in which "The Force" was replaced with "The Schwartz". Gene Wilder, star of several Mel Brooks movies including "The Producers" (1968) is also rumored to be among the cast.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going through a least two boxes of squishy stress relieving toys a day, according to several inside sources. "Those few settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem that he has managed to slip by the US administration just aren't enough and it is leaving him seriously frustrated," said one source "We realized that he needs an outlet for his passions so we got him some stress relievers hoping that that would do the trick, but he is just grabbing them and destroying them within seconds."


The source also stated that extremely violent video games will be used as a back-up measure if the current plans don't work. However, serious concerns remain "The guy needs a war or a line of bulldozers doing some mass demolitions - something big soon or I just don't know what he is going to do. When this is all you've ever known your whole life, you're going to have a real hard time adjusting to anything less; we keep whispering 'natural growth' in his ears over and over again, but that only calms him temporarily."

George Orwell

Amazon.com remotely erases George Orwell books from their Kindle users' devices. Story here - you really can't make shit like this up,

The Republican leadership in Washington D.C. has released a statement applauding Fox studios for their recent decision to re-cast the voice talent in the freshly revived animated series "Futurama." The news that Fox is not prepared to pay the former cast members the salaries they were asking for and has instead decided to re-cast the show has been slammed by fans, who have largely reacted with disgust and disbelief, with many saying they will refuse to watch the budget series, while others view this as a slap in the face to devoted fans who have pushed so hard for the show to return.


However, Republicans in Washington have argued that the decision was a wise one: "In these tough times, we need cutbacks," said the statement by the GOP, "We applaud Fox for this bold decision, which demonstrates exactly the kind of thinking we need for the future. A lower budget and a new voice cast will stimulate fans' imaginations leading to a fresh growth of the show. This isn't the time to be investing in something of great quality because of some future belief that quality will bring profits."

A still from the new low-budget Futurama.

In this massive Newsifact exclusive, we can confirm the rumors that President Obama has been keeping an alternate birth certificate from the public. The document in question was located after an exhaustive Newsifact investigation in Hawaii.

After pursuing numerous leads and speaking to dozens of sources, we were, somewhat surprisingly, directed to "The Honolulu Star Trek Fan Club." There, the long-time head of the organization produced for us a copy of a "United Federation of Planets birth certificate" sent to young Barry Obama in 1971 when he was just ten years old.



The head of the club, Allen Sanwick, confirmed that "That kid was a huge Star Trek fan. What with his dad out of his life and his mother remaining in Indonesia [where Barack had moved with his mother from ages 6-10; his mother then sent him home and remained there in her job for another year], I think the kid enjoyed the escape offered by Star Trek."

Sanwick explained the application procedure: "He wrote to us and applied for membership, and that included a free United Federation of Planets 'birth certificate' - actually a membership certificate - for every member. Maybe that's what these crazy 'birthers' have been talking about all this time..."

Sanwick (center left) today.