Death Records Now

Video Credit: http://www.youtube.com/user/friendsforfullerton- See Below

Two police officers were charged in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Southern California who was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun during his arrest, authorities said Wednesday.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation on July 5 with officers.

Police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force.

The prosecutors said Thomas was acting “in self-defense, in pain and in a state of panic. His numerous pleas of `I’m sorry,’ `I can’t breathe,’ `Help’ `Dad’ — all to no avail. Screams, loud screams, didn’t help.”

Six officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident that occurred while police were investigating reported vehicle break-ins at a transit hub.

Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and was taken off life support five days later.

Thomas suffered from schizophrenia and lived on the streets even though he received support from family and friends.

Police said Thomas ran when officers tried to search his bag. A struggle followed when they tried to arrest him for investigation of possession of stolen goods.

Video from a bystander’s cell phone taken from a distance showed parts of the bloody encounter in which Thomas can be heard screaming for his father.

Surveillance video aboard a bus showed agitated passengers telling the driver that officers beat and repeatedly used a stun gun during the arrest.

After the incident, the police chief went on medical leave and the embattled City Council hired a law enforcement expert to investigate Police Department practices.

Incensed community members held demonstrations and started an effort to recall the mayor and two councilmembers over the incident.

Ron Thomas, the father of the dead man, filed a claim seeking damages from the city.

He has previously released his son’s medical records showing Thomas suffered broken bones in his face, choked on his own blood and was repeatedly shocked with two stun guns.

Duration : 0:17:53

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Two police officers were charged in the death of a mentally ill homeless man in Southern California who was beaten and repeatedly shocked with a stun gun during his arrest, authorities said Wednesday.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation on July 5 with officers.

Police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force.

The prosecutors said Thomas was acting “in self-defense, in pain and in a state of panic. His numerous pleas of `I’m sorry,’ `I can’t breathe,’ `Help’ `Dad’ — all to no avail. Screams, loud screams, didn’t help.”

Six officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident that occurred while police were investigating reported vehicle break-ins at a transit hub.

Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and was taken off life support five days later.

Thomas suffered from schizophrenia and lived on the streets even though he received support from family and friends.

Police said Thomas ran when officers tried to search his bag. A struggle followed when they tried to arrest him for investigation of possession of stolen goods.

Video from a bystander’s cell phone taken from a distance showed parts of the bloody encounter in which Thomas can be heard screaming for his father.

Surveillance video aboard a bus showed agitated passengers telling the driver that officers beat and repeatedly used a stun gun during the arrest.

After the incident, the police chief went on medical leave and the embattled City Council hired a law enforcement expert to investigate Police Department practices.

Incensed community members held demonstrations and started an effort to recall the mayor and two councilmembers over the incident.

Ron Thomas, the father of the dead man, filed a claim seeking damages from the city.

He has previously released his son’s medical records showing Thomas suffered broken bones in his face, choked on his own blood and was repeatedly shocked with two stun guns.

Duration : 0:9:8

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Or will you start rationalizing their backsliding on budget-cutting, bipartisanship and transparency?

House Republicans dial back on promises

By: CNN’s Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh

Washington (CNN) – Even before House Republicans took control of the chamber Wednesday, there were at least three areas where they appear to be backtracking on promises made: Cutting $100 billion in the first year, allowing opportunities for the minority party to offer amendments on bills, and making public attendance records for committee hearings.

The Republicans ran for office in 2010 on a platform they titled "The Pledge to America," which states they would reduce government spending to 2008 "pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels" and cut "at least $100 billion in the first year alone."

House GOP aides are now backing off that $100 billion figure. They insist they will still cut spending back to 2008 levels, but it won’t add up to $100 billion. They insist the reason is because they made the $100 billion calculation based on the budget that President Obama offered, and that budget was never enacted. Therefore, the government is currently running on lower, 2009 spending levels and that will make the dollar figure of the GOP cuts smaller.

Republican aides confirm the "back of the envelope" number they will now use is about HALF the original estimate – $50-60 billion in cuts.

"House Republicans remain committed to fulfilling their Pledge; this has not changed," said Conor Sweeney, spokesman for the House Budget Committee.

"House Republicans will continue to work to reduce spending for the final six months of this fiscal year – bringing non-security discretionary spending back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels – yielding taxpayers significant savings and starting a new era of cost cutting in Washington," he said.
Being generous to those in the minority was always an objective of the new majority, as articulated by the incoming GOP Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy back before the election:

"Bills won’t be written in the back of the room, where the bills have to be laid out for 72 hours, where bills actually have an open rule, where people can bring amendments up on the floor, which any freshman congressman that’s sitting there today has never even seen that happen under the rule of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats," McCarthy said on CNN "State of the Union" on October 10, 2010.
BUT – the health care repeal legislation, the first major bill that will move through Congress, will be a closed rule – meaning no one will be able to offer an amendment.

When asked about the this contradiction Tuesday night, Boehner said, "it’s not like we haven’t litigated this for years."

And, finally, the initial rules package that House Republicans will pass Wednesday had a provision to make committee attendance public. But the House GOP conference voted last night to strip that out (a move by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas). The goal had been transparency – who is at these hearings? But making that public will no longer be a requirement.

The reason? Some GOP lawmakers say they were concerned about getting slammed for missing hearings when they may have extenuating circumstances, like a death in the family.

House Republicans dial back on promises

THREE broken promises on the FIRST day?

Tracking Obama’s promises

Promise Kept 123
Compromise 39
Promise Broken 24
Stalled 85
In the Works 232
Not yet rated 3

http://www.politifact.com/

Gitmo

8.9 Earthquake hits Japan triggers tragic Tsunami headed for the west coast

Tragady struck Japan when a 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake

Retweet this vid:
http://clicktotweet.com/UgJKV

A tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan’s eastern coast killing hundreds of people as it swept away boat cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control
A few hours later the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific as far away as South America Canada Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai Another 88 were confirmed killed and at least 349 were missing The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of the disaster
The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot 7-meter tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile 2,100-kilometer stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo hundreds of miles kilometers from the epicenter
The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan
The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to evacuate because the plant’s system was unable to cool the reactor The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown The plant is 170 miles 270 kilometers northeast of Tokyo
Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well but there was no radiation leak at any
Japan’s coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi prefecture
horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles kilometers nland before retreating The apocalyptic images of surging water broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the wayUpturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines were snapped Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo which normally serve 10 million people a day were also suspended leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets Tokyo’s Narita airport was closed indefinitely
The aftershocks keep coming
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near the city of Sendai carrying buildings some on fire inland as cars attempted to drive away Sendai airport north of Tokyo was inundated with cars trucks buses and thick mud deposited over its runways Fires spread through a section of the city
More than 300 houses were washed away in Ofunato City alone. Television footage showed mangled debris, uprooted trees upturned cars and shattered timber littering streets.
The tsunami roared over embankments washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars homes and other debris out to sea Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes
The President assured earthquake-ravaged Japan this morning that the United States stands ready to help
He said in an early-morning statement that his administration would continue to closely monitor tsunamis around Japan and the Pacific going forward
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.
Also in Miyagi a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant but it was later extinguished
A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water the But it was unclear if the leak was caused by tsunami water or something elseThere were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan’s nuclear plants
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world
The quake struck at a depth of six miles 10 kilometers about 80 miles 125 kilometers off the eastern coast
Japan Hit by 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Mar 11, 2011?Japan Hit by 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Mar 11, 2011?Japan Hit by 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake Mar 11, 2011?Japan Hit by 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake?Japan Hit by 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake?Japan Hit by 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake?Japan Hit by 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake?Japan Earthquake 8.8, Tsunami Warnings?Japan Earthquake 8.8, Tsunami Warnings?Japan Earthquake 8.8
Our Prayers goes out to all affected

Duration : 0:2:12

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Five myths about Sarah Palin 1. Palin cost McCain the 2008 election. She didn’t. CNN’s 2008 national exit poll, for example, asked voters whether Palin was a factor when they stepped into the voting booth. Those who said yes broke for McCain 56 percent to 43 percent. With her by his side, McCain’s fundraising and support from conservatives improved.
2. Resigning as governor was rash. When Palin returned to Alaska , she confronted three problems. The political coalition on which she had based her governorship had collapsed. Her critics were using Alaska’s tough ethics laws to launch investigations into her behavior, sapping her finances and her energy. Finally, every time she traveled to the Lower 48, Alaskans criticized her for putting her political interests above the state’s. Palin’s solution was to resign. Her agenda stood a better chance of passing if Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell succeeded her as governor. As a private citizen, meanwhile, Palin could make enough money to pay her legal bills.
3. Palin and the tea party are destroying the GOP.The reality is that Palin and the tea party are saving the GOP by dragging it back to its roots and mobilizing conservative voters. Remember, by the time Palin arrived on the national scene, the Republican Party was depleted, exhausted and held in disrepute. An unpopular war in Iraq, an economy in recession and GOP corruption had driven away independents. Meanwhile, massive government spending and a liberal immigration policy had dispirited conservatives. In the wake of Obama’s historic victory, she and countless other grass-roots activists could have abandoned the GOP and turned the tea party into a conservative third party. They didn’t. They decided instead to refashion the Republican Party from the ground up, pressuring it to live up to its limited-government ideals. Now, two years after Obama’s win, Republicans have reaped major gains in the midterm elections. Palin and the tea party haven’t hurt the GOP one bit.
4. Palin is extreme. On many of the most important issues of the day, Palin holds positions that are squarely in the center-right of American political discourse. And many of those positions, not incidentally, are held by a large segment or even a majority of the public. For instance, neither the public nor Palin believes the stimulus worked. While most Americans may not share Palin’s views regarding "death panels," many join her in opposing Obama’s health-care overhaul. Over the past two years, Pew and Gallup surveys have tracked the public as it has moved to the right — not on just one or two issues but on a whole constellation of issues. Even on the controversial topics of abortion, guns and same-sex marriage, Palin is not far away from the center. A May 2009 Gallup poll, for example, found that a majority of Americans identified as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice." In October 2009, Gallup measured record-low support for gun control. The public is divided on same-sex marriage, with about half the country joining Palin’s opposition.
5. Palin is unelectable. Without question, a Palin 2012 campaign would be an uphill battle. Palin is unpopular — massively so among Democrats, decisively so among independents. Even many Republicans don’t believe she’s ready to be president. But opinions can change. Look at the political resuscitations of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton. If Palin works hard and runs an impressive campaign, wavering Republicans and skeptical independents may give her a second look. To earn that second look, she may need to find a big idea. It’s hard to become president without one. Reagan had supply-side economics and the end of detente with the Soviets. George W. Bush had compassionate conservatism and the freedom agenda. Obama had national unity and hope and change. At the moment, however, Palin still expresses her agenda mainly in negative terms, focusing on her opposition to Obama and the Washington establishment. She hasn’t defined her common-sense conservatism" in positive language. And she hasn’t found a unifying, exhilarating theme. Then again, she just might get along without one. After all, a presidential contest is a choice. The public might not love Palin. But by 2012, Americans might absolutely despise Obama. Two more years of a bad economy and an unpopular Afghan war and anything could happen.
Alvin….It is the "seasoned hand" that has resulted in the decline of America’s influence in the world. She could not do a worse job than Obama…. His bowing, scraping and pandering to every nation, including our enemies, not only has been a national embarrassment but has made us the "joke" of the world. Maybe a little fresh faced national pride, open and honest, is what our nation needs.
Governor Palin negotiated with a hard nose greedy oil industry and won a contract that even her severest critics say was a major win for the people of Alaska. She is plain speaking and honest….a refrehing change in American politics
Bobby…..I keep hearing she is "dumb"…..but none of her history would seem to support that conclusion…She had the highest approval rating for job performance of any governor in America…..she got straight A’s in school and was a member of the Honor Society….she earned a degree….. she has core principles which even when it is to her advantage….she won’t compromise. She is plain spoken, no vacillation or political double speak. Yes, she has made some gaffs…..misspoke…..but then so has President Obama…..and do not even mention the Vice President…..his gaffs are a national embarrassment and the stuff of which legends are composed

I think nothing about it.

I’m not obsessed with Sarah Palin.

With advanced technology comes responsibility. Lets talk about how someone used a cell phone to record the death of Saddam Hussein. With this recording device they then played it ad nauseam all over the world and within hours of his death a child in Texas and now it’s been reported in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East children have hung themselves to see how it felt for Saddam to die! Granted some experts are saying they didn’t need the visual to set them off, and that they may have been over the edge anyway, but does this give us the right to act in such an irresponsible manner? I think not. For these families to having to deal with their children’s demise it may have well been an explosive device that someone detonated right in the privacy of their own homes.
Now that anyone can become a common-citizen journalist with broadcasting power similar to large media companies, do we as responsible individuals have to follow the same code of ethics as CNN TV, Time Magazine, NBC TV,

Being nice.

This is amazing…we have had many earthquakes of various sizes in just over the last 4 months… Are you ready to endure to the end?
If not, don’t you think it’s time to prepare your heart?
excerpt…
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) — Chile was rocked by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake centered 200 miles (317 kilometers) southwest of Santiago near the main winemaking region. Dozens of people were killed and tsunami warnings were issued across the Pacific.

The quake struck at 3:34 a.m. offshore from the province of Maule at a depth of 22 miles (35 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site. At least 64 people have been killed, Chilean Interior Minister Edmundo Perez told reporters.

“Amid such a major earthquake we can’t rule out that the death toll will rise,” President Michelle Bachelet said at a televised press conference. “We will provide information as soon as we have it.”

Power and phone connections were disrupted and Santiago residents waited in the street amid fears of aftershocks, pictures on CNN+ showed. The quake’s focus was 70 miles north of Concepcion, Chile’s second city, close to the vineyards of the Curico valley. While the world’s largest underground copper mine, El Teniente, is 180 miles from the epicenter, most of the country’s copper deposits are at least 500 miles to the north.

“I’m trying to get in touch with Santiago,” said Gonzalo Cuadra, a London-based executive at Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer and the owner of El Teniente. “I think in the north there haven’t been problems. We have to see what happened with the mines near Santiago.”

Rio Tinto Group, a shareholder in the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida, located in northern Chile and owned by BHP Billiton Ltd., has had no reports of damage, London- based spokeswoman said Christina Mills said by telephone.

State of Emergency

A state of emergency was declared in Maule and the province of BioBio to the south, where Concepcion is located. A third region, Araucania, south of BioBio and the center of the country’s forestry industry, may also be added, Bachelet said.

In the aftermath of the 90-second quake, the USGS reported 11 aftershocks, of which five measured 6.0 or above.

Heavy waves struck the Chilean coast and the Tsunami Warning Center for Chile and Peru issued alerts that were later extended up the coast as far as Costa Rica and also to Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Russia and island groups including Hawaii, where the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said urgent action should be taken to protect lives.

“This is a major, damaging earthquake,” Randy Baldwin of the USGS told the BBC in an interview. “For any population in the area it would be reasonable to expect some damage.”

Chile was struck by the most powerful earthquake on record in 1960, when a magnitude 9.5 temblor killed about 1,655 people, according to the USGS Web site. A further 211 people died when associated tsunamis struck Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.

Earlier today, a magnitude 7 earthquake hit near Okinawa, Japan, at about 5:31 a.m. local time, the USGS said.

Last month, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 quake. The death toll may reach 300,000, President Rene Preval said Feb. 21. More than 1 million people were left homeless.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0z0ThTpynDc&pos=8

These earthquakes are nothing in comparison to what will happen in the Tribulation Period. Thankfully I’ll be raptured before all Hell breaks lose!

One for celebrities and/or the rich?
And one for the regular folks?
What do you think of this? Thanks…

NFL’s Stallworth gets 30 days behind bars in pedestrian’s death

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail for a DUI manslaughter that killed a construction worker in March under terms of a plea agreement, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Cleveland Browns’ Donte Stallworth can continue to play football, but his driver’s license is revoked for life.

Stallworth, 28, pleaded guilty in a Florida court Tuesday to killing Mario Reyes while driving under the influence of alcohol. He began serving his sentence immediately, said Terry Chavez, spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office.

Some notes if you don’t want to read the full article: The victim’s family signed off on this plea deal and also received a large sum of money from Stallworth, in lieu of filing a wrongful death suit. The DA said Stallworth’s excellent record (not even a parking ticket), his community service and the fact that the victim may be contributed to his own death because he ran in front of Stallworth’ vehicle was taken into account.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/16/florida.nfl.player.plea/index.html

There’s 4 different justice systems.

One for politicians.

The second for rich people and celebrities but there’s a lot of mitigating factors such as how rich and how big of a celebritie.

The third is for the so-called ‘common folks’ that have to mortgage their property just to put up the retainer for a lawyer.

Down on the bottom of this so-called ‘classless’ American society is the poor. They get a court appointed lawyer that advises his client to cop out on a lesser charge. Never mind that he/she is innocent. He’s probably institionalized by now that he’s looking forward to returning to second base on the prison ball team.

(CNN) – The deportations of thousands of Mexicans who have served time in U.S. jails into Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, are adding a deadly ingredient into an already volatile state of security, Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN.

A turf battle between rival drug cartels, and between authorities and cartels, have made Juarez one of the world’s most dangerous cities. There were 305 drug-related killings in August, making it the deadliest month yet, according to the mayor’s office.

Most of the recent violence has been committed by young street-level drug dealers who work for the Sinaloa or Juarez cartels, Reyes Ferriz said.

Adding tens of thousands of deportees from the United States, some with criminal records, worsens the situation, the mayor said.

In the past 45 days, 10 percent of those killed in Juarez had been deported from the United States in the past two years, Reyes Ferriz said.

"We don’t have the statistics to know if they were criminals from the United States or not," he told CNN’s Rick Sanchez this week. "We know they were deported from the U.S. Most of them come from U.S. jails. They end up in the city of Juarez, and that’s a problem generated for us, but also for the United States."

Most deportees are simply Mexicans who crossed the border illegally, but some hardened criminals get involved with the gangs, which have networks in the United States, Reyes Ferriz said.

But according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. agency that oversees deportations, the number of criminal deportees entering Juarez from El Paso, Texas, is not high.

"El Paso had the fewest removals among the other border areas" in fiscal 2008, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said.

About 85,400 "criminal aliens" were deported from the United States to their homelands in 2008, according to ICE.

Of those deported through El Paso, about 6,800 were criminal aliens, Zamarripa said. Not all were Mexican, so not all left the United States by crossing into Juarez, she added.

By comparison, 11,400 criminal aliens were processed through San Antonio, Texas, via the nearby Laredo international bridges, and 11,000 criminal aliens were deported through San Diego, California.

The location of the deportation proceedings "depends on bed space and operational availability," Zamarripa said.

Reyes Ferriz wants deportees to be repatriated to the interior of Mexico instead of his city.

The Department of Homeland Security is running such a program, involving deportees from Phoenix, Arizona. The deportation flights from Arizona to Mexico are happening because it is a high-traffic area for illegal immigrants, and because that’s where the government of Mexico agreed to the program.

In a recent conversation, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the United States would work to give Juarez more details about who is being dropped off on its doorstep, Reyes Ferriz said.

The 2009 death toll in Juarez was 1,421 as of Monday, the mayor’s office said, on pace to beat last year’s 1,600 killings.

According to report released last week by a Mexican watchdog group, Juarez, population 1.5 million, was the homicide capital of the world. It had an estimated rate of 130 killings per 100,000 people.

By comparison, the homicide rate in New Orleans – by far the deadliest city in the United States in 2008 – was 64 homicides per 100,000 residents, based on preliminary FBI figures
http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=11033751&nav=menu608_2

That’s why the US needs to get rid of all these criminal aliens and illegal aliens. They’re lawbreakers! And they keep proving they are lawbreakers again and again wherever they are. They kill each other on the streets of the US, in jails, and on the streets of Mexico, etc.

The US has gone to a great deal of expense to remove many illegal aliens to the interior, per a deal with Mexico whereby US pays ALL of the costs, and Mexico limits numbers and destinations. Actually, in deportation, the US’s only obligation is to return them to any border crossing or airport for entry into their country, and has no further responsibility or liability for those who violate US immigration and/or other laws.

Mexico is simply playing "poor, poor pitiful me" games to hijack the pockets of the American taxpayer again (and again and again). Let them deal with their own bloody criminals. It is their problem and should be their problem since it is their citizens in their country which are violating their laws.

BTW, the murder rate in New Orleans is mostly due to the huge influx of illegal aliens who ran to N.O. post-Katrina in order to collect FEMA and other aid funds. Leeches, cons, criminals flooded in, and FEMA, N.O., et al, let them. Now they pay the price for not stopping these criminals years ago.

MASS MEDIA : ABU GHRAIB

INTRODUCTION

Although in recent months, Abu Ghraib has not been making front page news, it is still an issue at large in the United States and the world. Millions around the globe witnessed shocking images of tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib at the hands of their American captors; the reaction was anger and outrage. The constant bombardment of shocking photos and articles made sure that everyone knew about the problem at hand. And that something needed to happen to resolve this issue.
In this paper I will be exploring the mass media coverage of the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. I will examine a few different media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Times. I will also attempt to compare the amount of coverage given to Abu Ghraib by the two newspapers as well as the underlying motives of the liberal New York Times and the conservative Washington Times. Also, I will be examining the Abu Ghraib coverage broadcasted on national television in the United States. CNN, a known liberal news station and The Fox News Channel a known conservative news station will be my mediums. I will be examining them to see if I can find distortions in the coverage, the amount of coverage, bias in the coverage, and more importantly the repercussions of the said statements from the newspaper and television.
I chose these particular news mediums because they are all well known, trusted institutions of news. Also it is important to understand that each carry their own political views, whether they are Republican or Democratic. That being said, I believe we will find many differences in the coverage of the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal between the news agencies

METHODS

To acquire data for my analysis of Abu Ghraib media coverage I turned to the primary sources themselves. By using the internet to review old articles and the fact that I constantly watch cable news, I was able to review a fair amount of data. Some of which is stuff I remember from watching CNN and FNC during the height of the Abu Ghraib pandemic.
By contacting staff writers at the Washington Times and using microfiche to review articles posted by the New York Times, I was able to see many differences in the media coverage. However, the internet proved to be my most valuable player in helping me compile my research. Depending on the key words used to research Abu Ghraib in the media I would get many different results. By typing in “Abu Ghraib” I would get websites that were mostly focused on the cold hard facts of the case without the left or right wing bias. However, when I typed in words like distortions, propaganda, and sensationalism attached with Abu Ghraib I found that the websites information changed dramatically. I noticed a great deal of what I would call finger pointing, people playing the blame game, and the attempted defamation of character was always popular.
The three search engines used where; Yahoo, Google, and Ask.com. For the most part the three search engines returned most of the same information but it’s always nice to mix it up a little. It was difficult to sift through what I considered to be accurate coverage and what I will call uneducated coverage of the issue. Everyone’s got an opinion but I think it’s best to just stick to the facts of the cases and use the comments and statements of accredited news agencies
In order to discuss differences in media coverage of Abu Ghraib I needed to first understand what actually happened at Abu Ghraib. To complete this task I used a number of internet sites describing the events that took place. Wikipedia on the web proved to be the most complete, unbiased information on the actual facts and timelines of the case.

BACKGROUND

In the early months of 2003, various abuses and torture tactics were being used on inmates at the Abu Ghraib Prison. Private contractors, CIA officers, and U.S. armed forces were among the many individuals who would ultimately be charged with cruel and unusual treatment of prisoners. On April 28th, 2004, the emergence of various reports of abuse and graphic pictures of Americans abusing POW’s appeared in the international media. CBS aired an episode of 60 minutes 2 that went into graphic detail of the events at Abu Ghraib. The New York Times published an article on the abuse just 2 days later. I will go into greater details of this story later in this report.
The damage of this scandal to the U.S.’s credibility was tremendous. The news of the abuse reverberated throughout the entire Arab world, leading millions to believe that these instances represented a “broader American attitude of disrespect and violence towards Arabs.”(CNN) The U.S. countered by saying that the abuses were committed by a handful of low-ranking personnel, and that their individual actions did not represent the U.S. armed forces as a whole. In response to the scandal the removal of 17 officers from duty, the arrest 7 soldiers for dereliction of duty, maltreatment, aggravated assault, and battery, for which they were sent to prison, as well as 2 officers who spent 10 year prison terms.
Ironically, the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal, led by the U.S. coalition, was not the first account of torture that the walls of the prison had seen. In fact, thousands of political prisoners held by Saddam Hussein were believed to have been tortured and murdered. “Up to 4 thousand prisoners are thought to have been executed there in 1984 alone. Prisoners are routinely executed, guards fed prisoners into plastic shredders, and there are even allegations that some of these detainees were subjected to experiments as part of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons program.”(Wikipedia 2004) After Baghdad was invaded and the government was overthrown, the U.S. took over the prison where it would eventually come to hold over 5 thousand prisoners.

Washington Times

The Washington Times is a D.C. newspaper that reaches about 103,017 readers on a daily basis. It was created by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon to be the conservative counterpoint to the liberal Washington post. Both papers claimed to print neutral news coverage but reserve the right to print conservative and liberal opinions in the respective papers.
The Washington times is known and is seen as a conservative newspaper. By conservative, I mean that their political views are in support of traditional values and the “existing social order.” The support of republicans in times of political discussions and events is also common place. This is precisely why we have seen a difference in the amount of coverage in Abu Ghraib by the New York Times versus the Washington Times.
According to Jennifer Harper, of the Washington Times,” positive images and accounts of the U.S. armed forces is rare.”(Harper 2005) She goes on to give an example, “30 U.S. airmen and soldiers delivered school supplies and toys – gifts from American children – to an Iraqi village.” “Yesterday air force medical teams airlifted a critically ill infant and mother to an Ohio hospital for treatment.”(Harper 2005) The question is why are these stories being overshadowed by all the bad images of the war? The Washington Times claims it does an excellent job at staying neutral.
The Washington times, as well as other agencies such as the Media Research Center, are very suspicious of the fact that there are broadcasters in news companies using their influence to build a case against the war in Iraq, as well as the Bush administration. Abu Ghraib proved to be the catalyst for many to turn away from the war on terror and question the legitimacy of the war in Iraq. For this reason, the Washington Times opted out of sensationalistic media coverage of the Abu Ghraib incident. The Washington Times was not one to publish a ridiculous amount of shock articles along with anger incising photographs to amplify the severity of the events. The liberal media has had no such qualms doing so; as the Washington Times has gone on to say in many of their articles.
Why would the Washington Times shy away from an obscene amount of coverage of Abu Ghraib? Why would they retaliate and say that the liberal media is using the scandal to undermine Bush’s war efforts. The answer is simple. We have a Conservative in office. The Washington Times and any conservative media for that matter do not want to see their poster boy’s image tarnished. It is in the Washington Times best interest to keep a republican in office and writing stories that discredit Bush’s control on the situation at hand would have a negative effect… As we have seen from the “bombardment of Abu Ghraib images from CBS, CNN, Washington Post, and especially the New York Times.”(O’Reilly, 2004)

Fox News Channel

Another entity with similar conservative ideology is the Fox News Channel, with their “hardballer” Bill O’Reilly. Fox News Channel was founded by Rupert Murdoch in an attempt to combat the liberal media. They operate under the slogans “Fair and Balanced”, “We report you decide”, and as Bill O’Reilly says, “your now entering a no spin zone.” Although Fox News Channel was criticized in the 2000 election for being, “the last to retract the call of Florida for Gore and first to call Florida for Bush, their record of being unbiased is pretty good.”(Wikipedia 2003)
Perhaps the most well known and noteworthy television personality on the Fox News Channel is Bill O’Reilly. He is known for his conservative political views, unorthodox methods of interviewing guests on his show, and sensational commentary. As someone who watches the O’Reilly Factor, it was not hard to compile the feelings and articles from O’Reilly on the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. On a side note, O’Reilly does not believe he is either a conservative or a liberal. As he has stated time and time again.
In response to the Abu Ghraib scandal, O’Reilly was forthcoming to say that the photos did show abuse but was reluctant to admit that the photos showed what the New York Times Dubbed as torture. O’Reilly’s focus was more turned toward what he perceived as sensational coverage of Abu Ghraib by the leftist media and the consequences of their journalism. O’Reilly goes on to say that “the New York Times, of course is using the prisoner story to hammer the Bush administration and continue to do so, but here’s the unintended consequence of that. By creating hysteria over Abu Ghraib, the much more important war on terror story has vanished from the newspapers. Last weeks dog and pony show by Senators Kennedy and Bidden once again placed blame on the Bush Administration. And the senators did everything they could to mandate no coercive interrogations of suspected terrorists. Meantime foreign governments are encouraging suicide killers and we are the targets. Yet it’s all Abu Ghraib, all the time in much of the media, politics once again trumping your safety.”(O’Reilly 2004) He also states that the New York Times ran with 43 front page stories on Abu Ghraib in 47 days. An incredible amount of coverage.

New York Times

The New York Times is published in New York City but is an international newspaper. “It is owned by the New York Times Co. which also publishes some 40 other newspapers including the international Herald Tribune and the Boston Globe.” We will return to the Globe later in the essay. The New York Times is viewed by many to be a liberal newspaper. By liberal I mean that they are concerned with individual rights, civil liberties and the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor. Tax breaks for the poor are generally favored over tax breaks for the rich.
The New York Times is usually thought of as supporting the Democratic Party. It has been suggested that “during presidential campaigns the paper systematically gives more coverage to democratic topics, but only when the incumbent president is a republican.”(FNC 2005) Based on these facts some might assume that the New York Times would have much to gain from extensive coverage of Abu Ghraib. Much like their opponent conservative paper, the New York Times has a stake in the reactions of their readers. For the liberal side of the news Abu Ghraib was the Holly Grail of leverage points.
There is no doubt that the New York Times covered the Abu Ghraib prison scandal extensively. In fact from April 29, 2004 to may 31, 2004 the Abu Ghraib scandal was on the front page of the New York Times in full color. A few of the 32 headlines read,” Iraqi recounts hours of abuse by U.S. troops. The solider; from picture of pride to symbol of abuse, and abuse; afghan deaths linked to a unit in Iraq.” (NYT 2004) All articles painted vivid images of the tortured and mutilated Iraqis in the minds of Americans and the world. Many of the articles also attempted to illustrate the incompetence followed by the underhand ness of the bush administration and the U.S. armed forces as a whole.
One article in particular, Abu Ghraib, Stonewashed, published by the New York Times read, “while piously declaring its determination to unearth the truth about Abu Ghraib, the Bush Administration has spent nearly 2 months obstructing investigations by the army and members of congress. It has dragged out the Armies inquiry, withheld crucial government documents from a senate committee and stonewalled senators over dozens of Red Cross reports that document the horrible treatment of Iraqis at American military prisons.”(NYT 6/30/04). This seems to be one of the running themes in the liberal media.
As mentioned before the New York Times publishes the Boston Globe. Like the New York Times the Globe is also thought of as having liberal bias toward political issues. Apparently this bias carried over into the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. “On May 11, 2004 after the Abu Ghraib photos were released, Boston City Council Chuck Turner called a news conference with activist Sadiki Kambo. At the conference Turner and Kambo claimed to have pictures of American soldiers raping Iraqi women which Kambo said he got from the Nation of Islam. The Americans have a right and responsibility to see the pictures, Turner said standing beside a poster showing some of these graphic photos.’(Zinsmeister, 8/4/04) After three days it was found that the photos were blatant fakes and the Globe was forced to publicly apologize for reporting the case of abuse when the photos were nothing more the commercially produced pornography.”(Wikipedia, 04)Let’s hope the Iraqis got that omission.

CNN

Created by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld, CNN has been dubbed “the most watched 24 hour news network in the world.”(CNN) It is available to 1.5 billion people in over 212 countries. Also being dubbed as the Clinton news network, CNN has come under scrutiny by conservatives for the practice of liberal bias in their reporting. CNN has been known to be a mouth piece for the New York Times and the Washington Post. All three cover stories with the same slant and Abu Ghraib is really no different.
CNN’s coverage of Abu Ghraib was also extensive and made a habit of plastering shocking photos on T.V. of tortured and tormented Iraqis at the hands of Americans. I also watch CNN. It’s not to say that the coverage was inaccurate or untrue but the constant harping on the issue six months after the fact led many to believe that CNN had a greater hidden agenda in the reporting of the abuse case. Perhaps to discredit the Bush administration and make themselves look right righteous crusaders trying to uncover the truth, increasing the credibility of the left wing.

Discussion

In order to best understand the juxtaposition of the conservative and liberal media outlets we must first understand the broader situation going on. I will attempt to give you a condensed background of the political forces at work when dealing with Abu Ghraib and the media in general.
Currently we have a Republican president in office and have had one in office since 2000. This has not set well with the Democrats very well. As we have seen in the 2000 election with the Florida recall and again in 2004 when the Democrats tried to get the votes of soldiers in Iraq disqualified from the count. A noteworthy side note, most US soldiers are supporters of Bush and his administration.
Perhaps the most talked about aspect in the media has been the American led war in Iraq. Since the beginning of the war, liberals have tried to slam Bush and the American people, as I see it, for going to war with the country that supposedly has nothing to do with terrorism. This is false. On the 16th of March, 1988 Saddam and his followers used chemical weapons on the Kurdish people in the town of Halabjah. “Around 5000 people were murdered, mostly civilians.”(CBS 2004) The fact that the United States was unable to find weapons of mass destruction has been a staging point for much of the liberal criticism. Perhaps someone should tell them that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction and the United States has the receipt to prove it. A mistake made by the Reagan administration. However, since the weapons of mass destruction debacle has gone away the Liberal media has been starving for a new media headline to discredit the Bush administration. Abu Ghraib would come to be the headline.
There is no doubt in my mind that what happen at Abu Ghraib was a horrible thing and those responsible should have been punished, but was the constant streaming of torture photos really necessary. The unfortunate aspect for all the coverage of Abu Ghraib is that the problem had been uncovered and fixed by the military six months before the media ever caught wind of it. The way the media portrayed the issue was that the supposed tortures were going on, on a daily basis when in fact the abuse had stopped. It wasn’t as if the media had uncovered the evil Americans torturing inmates, it was the military that discovered it and dealt with in accordingly. So I ask, if the Bush administration is so incompetent and don’t have a handle on the war and all its aspects, (AG), then why were they the ones to uncover the problem and fix it.
Another problem I have with the coverage of Abu Ghraib was that of the photographs alone. When the Liberal media showed these pictures they never gave timelines of when the pictures were taken. They just showed pictures and led people to believe that these photos were taken over the course of weeks and even months when they were actually taken on the same day. Probably within hours of each other. But that’s not what the Liberal media would have you know. They attempted to make it look like the torture was an ongoing and everyday practice.
Tim Graham of the Media Research Center noted that “this abuse story is just not going away” it is still the topic on most network news. And there strong focus of the court martial, on the bad apples-it’s as if those troops represent the military at large as far as the media is concerned. The center has been following the bias problem among broadcasters who use the abuse story to build a case against the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. As a sample the group tracked abuse stories from April 29th to May 11th on NBC and found that the network aired 58 stories on abuse in that period. In the past year NBC only aired 5 stories on mass graves found in Iraq from the Saddam Hussein era.”(Graham 2004) From this information it is easy to see where NBC, a known Liberal station, is focused.
Another aspect of the Abu Ghraib case that needs to be addressed is the flagrant use of the word torture. I believe that the word torture really needed to be evaluated and defined before the media as a whole began tossing it around. The context the word carries with it is very different from country to country, culture to culture. To a great deal of Americans the photos were disturbing but were not viewed as torture. To me most of the” photos showed nothing more than you would expect to see at a fraternity hazing.”(Tim 5/3/2004) The others clearly showed textbook procedures in dealing with a person you were interrogating. Although I do admit some of the marine’s actions went too far and deserved to be punished.
The media loved to show the image of an Army ranger restraining a snarling dog from ripping into an Iraqi they were interrogating. Using dogs and other “high stress” tactics to get information out of detainees is completely legal. Though I think the public could have gone without seeing that image. If you were to ask Iraqis who lived under the murderous Saddam Hussein, the Vietnamese and Bosnians if they thought the pictures showed torture, they would probably disagree.
Overall, I would have to say that both the conservative and liberal media’s did a good job of covering the topic. However, Fox and the Washington Times may have been a little to relaxed about the whole issue but did cover all of the main focal points of the scandal. CNN and the New York Times on the other hand may have gone a little overboard on the Abu Ghraib coverage but were well within their rights to do so. I think all agencies had accurate coverage of the issue and presented their slants on the issue very well. It is my contention that a cross between the two media circles would be able to produce better and possibly fairer coverage in the future.

that was the worst thing I’ve ever read. It was poorly written, made unsubstantiated arguments, and was basically devoid of conclusions. It was terrible. We are all stupider for having witnessed this. May God have mercy on your soul.