Man arrested/convicted for complaining to gov't

Could this have happened 15 years ago in full view of the media? A citizen arrested and convicted for writing too many letters to his representative complaining of a menace to the community?

Anyone who saw the Shawshank Redemption and admired Andy Dufreyne for tirelessly writing letters to the governor requesting a better library for the prison - and got action...get your mind right...because this is now deemed 'harassing' the government.

Man arrested and convicted
for complaining about government

Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Source
Marshall Pappert waged a passionate, perhaps slightly obsessive, campaign of protest letter writing to Bridgeville, Pa. politicians and city officials to express his opposition to concrete plant. The city has responded, by arresting him, for criminally harassing the government.

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ABC News Pittsburg reports: A Bridgeville man who was arrested and convicted after making repeated complaints to his local government took his appeal to one of Pennsylvania’s highest courts on Tuesday.Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons, who originally broke the story, was in Superior Court for the arguments. At issue: How many letters to borough officials does it take to constitute a crime?

Marshall Pappert freely admits that when you add up all of the letters he has written to government officials — and include the copies of those letters he has sent to other public officials — the number of letters is about 350.While waiting for his case to be called, Pappert made no apologies for his letter-writing campaign to Bridgeville Borough.

“I did what any citizen should do when you see something that’s unhealthy to the community,” Pappert said.Pappert lives across Union Street from a Bridgeville concrete plant. The dust, the noise, the idling diesel trucks all combined to cause him to complain to the borough.

He wrote letter after letter — hundreds of them — and he left voice mail messages for the borough manager.In one message, Pappert said, “I’m asking you as a Bridgeville resident of 56 years to resign and get off of your position. Do the right thing.”

Instead, Pappert got arrested on a harassment charge and was convicted.At Tuesday’s appeal hearing, Assistant District Attorney Peggy Ivory told the court that Pappert “clearly crossed the line to a course of conduct designed to harass” the borough manager. Ivory declined an interview with Team 4 on Tuesday.

”We really maintain that this is about the First Amendment and that public officials just have to tolerate it,” said Bruce Boni, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union who’s representing Pappert.Bridgeville Councilman Pat DeBlasio said he doesn’t just tolerate Pappert’s actions, he embraces them.”We go to Memorial Day and stand there and listen to ‘Taps’ and honor the people who died. Well, they didn’t die so we could have five different choices of breakfast cereal. They sacrificed their lives so that you have the right to complain when you see something wrong,” DeBlasio said.

”If you can’t talk and do what I did to your government, what can you do? What are they going to do next to you?” Pappert said.A decision on whether to overturn Pappert’s criminal conviction is not expected until sometime in the summer.

Team 4 also learned on Tuesday that Ed Bogats — who arrested Pappert — submitted his resignation as Bridgeville police chief last month.The borough council unanimously accepted Bogats’ resignation. DeBlasio said Bogats cited medical reasons.Bogats did not return Team 4’s call to his home on Tuesday.

Thanks to Jonathan Turley
Phil Leggiere
http://mondoglobo.wftk.org/blog/qa/

Judge orders microchip implant.

When did judges in England get the power to order people microchipped? Microchipping for heroine addiction sounds like a greasy shoe horn to a policy which is clearly open for abuse, especially in Great Britain where the people have fewer and fewer rights. And it's a very short distance between what happens in GB and the US, or Ireland even.

I can only surmise that The People don't know that a judge can order them microchipped. Who would stand for such a policy if they knew about it?

British Court Orders Singer To Get
“Medical Implant” for Drug Addiction

06-13-2009
Mail.com
Source
Pete Doherty has been freed on $82,000 bail as he awaits trial on a dangerous-driving charge.

The Babyshambles singer appeared in court in Stroud, in western England, on Friday and pleaded guilty to heroin possession and driving without a license or insurance. Defense lawyer Peter Ratcliffe said Doherty will plead not guilty to dangerous driving and face trial on that charge.

Doherty, 30, a former boyfriend of model Kate Moss, has a history of drug use. He was charged Thursday after being stopped by police in Gloucester, about 100 miles west of London.

The court ordered Doherty to observe a nighttime curfew and use a medical implant to prevent drug use. His next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 11

The death knell of the dollar

I have previously blogged on the emerging power of the BRIC countries here: When China awakes, it will shake the world. - Napoleon Bonaparte The article below is just more evidence that the dollar is losing reserve currency status. American leaders must know this. Exactly what this means for common people though, I do not know.

Brazil joins Russia, China in eyeing IMF bonds

By ALAN CLENDENNING
06.10.09
Source

SAO PAULO -- Brazil is looking to buy $10 billion in IMF bonds, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday, joining China and Russia in seeking to use the new instruments to diversify dollar-heavy currency reserves.

"This support is important to help end the international financial crisis," Mantega said, adding that a trade surplus and $204 billion in reserves has positioned Brazil to help the International Monetary Fund boost lending to other emerging economies.

Chinese officials have also expressed interest in buying as much as $50 billion in IMF bonds, while a Russian central bank official on Wednesday said his bank would reduce U.S. Treasury holdings to invest in the IMF notes instead. Russia now holds about $120 billion, or 30 percent, of its hard currency reserves in U.S. Treasuries and said it would redirect up to $10 billion to the IMF.

India also plans to buy some of the notes, although it has not yet said how much it will spend, Mantega said, according to the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.

The announcements come just a week before the BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - gather for talks in Russia, where they are widely expected to discuss alternatives to the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.

Russian officials have expressed concern about the dollar for several years and China has advocated a shift away from the greenback, warning that large U.S. budget deficits and monetary expansion could weaken the world's chief currency.

Commodity exporters like Brazil and Russia are particularly vulnerable because most raw materials including oil, soy and minerals are priced in U.S. dollars, making it even more likely that a weak greenback would slash their export income.

Russia is looking to diversify that risk with a move to IMF bonds, analysts said.

"They need to spread the risk out," said Ron Smith, chief strategist at Alfa Bank, one of Russia's biggest private lenders. "They've been doing some diversification for the past several years measuring everything against the dollar-euro basket."

In a statement from the Washington-based lender on Tuesday, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn welcomed news of China's interest, saying its investment would "boost the Fund's capacity to help" emerging economies weather the world crisis and "benefit all members by facilitating an early recovery of the global economy."

He said the bonds will offer "a safe investment instrument with reasonable return," but gave no other details, noting only that IMF staff will present plans to the board to allow the bond issue "as early as possible."

The bonds, which have yet to be issued, will be denominated in special drawing rights, an artificial currency used by the IMF.

Leaders of the so-called Group of 20 nations, which include the four BRIC powerhouses, agreed at a London summit in April to boost contributions to the IMF by as much as $500 billion to help it increase lending to nations battered by the global downturn.

The bond issue is part of the effort to meet that goal, said a spokesman for the fund in Washington. He was unable to give any other details and declined to be named.

In Brazil, Mantega echoed Strauss-Kahn on Wednesday, saying that his country's $10 billion loan would help troubled economies recover, reviving global trade and ultimately benefiting net exporters including Brazil.

"Brazil is facing solid conditions to loan to the IMF. In the past, the opposite was true: the fund loaned to Brazil," said Mantega, who has lobbied for reforms that would boost developing countries' voting rights within the IMF. It was not clear if a bond purchase would change that.

The IMF has lent Brazil billions of dollars in the past, but the country became one of the fund's creditor countries for the first time this year.

The majority of Brazil's foreign reserves are held in dollars.

Associated Press writer Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

The Leopard and the Mouse...errr Rat.

You dirty rat: Daring rodent shows puzzled leopard exactly who's boss by stealing its lunch

By Beth Hale
Source
It's not so much snatching victory from the jaws of defeat as dinner from the jaws of danger.

But even the imposing presence of an adult leopard at feeding time is not enough to get between plucky young Rattus Norvegicus (better known as the brown rat) and a free meal.

This extraordinary series of images were captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge, as he trained his camera on the leopard for a course project.
Leopard/ mouse

Excuse me? A perturbed Sheena the leopard looks on as a cheeky mouse nibbles her food at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire...


The little rat - thought to be only two to three months old - was spotted scampering into the leopard's enclosure shortly after feeding time at the Santago Rare Leopard Project, in Hertfordshire.

So intent was the plucky rodent on its mission to snatch a tasty snack, that it seemed not to notice that its path was taking it within a whisker's breadth of 12-year-old Sheena.

Clutching a corner of raw meat with its tiny paws, the rat busily tucked in, until it sensed one of those whiskers moving in.

Sheena, bemused by the interloper coming between her and the remains of dinner, padded over on paws big enough to wreak vengeance with a single swipe.

But rather than giving the thief at very least the hearty set down it deserved, she gingerly lowered her nose for an exploratory sniff.

Rattus paused, lifted its dainty pink claws in submission, then - obviously deciding on a nothing-ventured-nothing-gained approach - continued to tuck in.

And after another tentative investigation, Sheena gave the leopard equivalent of a shrug and turned away.


...but even a gentle shove does not deter the little creature from getting his fill...

Mr Gutteridge, 19, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, thought the rodent was a mouse.

Mr Gutteridge said: 'I have no idea where it came from - he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard.
'He didn't take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself.

'But the leopard was pretty surprised - she bent down and sniffed at it and flinched a bit like she was scared.

'It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked - he said he'd never seen anything like it before.'

An expert at the Wildlife Trust said the creature was in fact a young and 'inexperienced rat', identifiable by its big paws and ears and more importantly its bald, scaly tail with a thick base.

Leopard project owner Jackie James added: 'My son threw meat in for the photographers and it just appeared. Sheena batted it away but it just came back. The determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.'
Leopard/ mouse

...so the mouse continued to eat the leopard's lunch and show the leopard who was boss


Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old.

She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by Jackie's late husband Peter in 1989.

The African leopard can be found in the continent's forests, grasslands, savannas, and rainforests.

The leopard is the most elusive of all the big cats. They are solitary animals and are primarily nocturnal - preferring to hunt at night.

The species is also a strong climber and is capable of killing prey larger than itself.

The leopard's prey ranges from fish, reptiles and birds to smaller mammals such as hares and monkeys.

A stealthy hunter, leopards are known to stalk close to their prey and run a relatively short distance on the hunt.

They kill by grabbing their prey by the throat and biting down with their jaws, and store their larger kills in trees - out of the reach of prowling lions and hyenas.

We have seen the enemy and it is NOT us

It is sometimes in the underbrush of current events that one finds the truth of the past and the seedlings of the future. The big stories always have so much spin and razzle dazzle for the audience - like a 17 ring circus: I can never get to the details of each ring if I am to have a glimpse of them all. So when I find a story like this, that links many different themes and is an almost invisible sideact that few are watching, I become absorbed in connecting all the other dots it helps me to see.

The headline that caught my eye was At least 30 reported killed as Indians protest oil and gas exploration in Peru.

Indians protesting oil and gas exploration on their lands battled police in Peru’s remote Amazon yesterday, with authorities and Indian leaders reporting at least 30 deaths.

The violence broke out before dawn as officers tried to end a road blockade by some 5,000 Indians in an area called Curva del Diablo - or “Devil’s Curve” - in the northern province of Utcubamba.

Protest leaders said police opened fire from helicopters with bullets and tear gas, while national police director Jose Sanchez Farfan said Indians attacked officers with firearms. He said they also set fire to government buildings....

Indian leader Alberto Pizango said 22 Indians were killed in the clash and he accused the government of “genocide” in attacking what he called a peaceful protest. Another 50 Indians were injured, 14 of them seriously, said Servando Puerta, president of a second indigenous umbrella group for the region.

Indians have been blocking roads, waterways, and a state oil pipeline intermittently since April, demanding Peru’s government repeal laws they say make it easier for foreign companies to exploit their lands.

This all happened in the PROVINCIA DE UTCUBAMBA

Related
Peruvian police fire on unarmed indigenous tribes' oil and gas protest

Or if you prefer the oil company's response: Oil Company Says Protests Causing Fuel Shortages in Peru


There is a similar issue here in Ireland concerning the Corrib Shell Pipeline in the West and people are still resisting and protesting this firehouse sale of Irish natural resources to a multinational corporation. Native and indigenous people fighting the big oil companies, who have managed to create unholy alliances with corrupt governments which sacrifice the well being of their citizens for GDP growth and to curry favours from imperialists goverments.

(If there are any doubts about whether these sorts of deals happen, a look at John Perkins
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man will be enlightening.)


Corrib pipeline protest leads to eight arrests

PROTESTERS OPPOSED to Shell EP Ireland’s controversial Corrib gas pipeline in Co Mayo have been involved in fresh clashes with gardaí leading to the arrest of eight people.

Gardaí said up to 120 protesters gathered over the weekend at a “peace camp” beside Glengad beach, close to Belmullet. Around half of the group approached Shell’s fenced off construction site on the beach just before 5pm yesterday and tried to gain access to the site....

A statement from those at the camp said five people had been arrested after they gained access to Shell’s compound. It said a sixth person was arrested later when “Gardaí targeted a prominent campaigner and forcibly detained him for speaking out against the actions of the Gardaí”....

Meanwhile, a report by the human rights organisation Afri has said spending cutbacks and extra levies on the taxpayer could be alleviated if the State took a greater stake in offshore oil and gas resources.

Under current licensing deals, companies are liable for 25 per cent tax on profits. “However, there are considerable write-offs on exploration and development costs which means such tax paid is minimal,” joint-author Andy Storey explained.

“We believe that projects such as Corrib should be environmentally safe, that the human rights of residents should be protected and that the State should get a fairer share of proceeds.”

The Afri report, The Great Gas Giveaway; How The Elites Have Gambled Our Health And Wealth , says it is “not too late” for Ireland to renegotiate Corrib.


Related HIGHWAY TO sHELL
Protest at site of Corrib gas terminal
Royal Dutch Shell Group Updates