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101 Tips for Playing Online

October 31, 2010

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This week in Narco News

October 31, 2010

Republican House members used taxpayer money to boost de facto government as it was criminalizing dissent, shutting down media outlets

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Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives spent nearly $25,000 in taxpayer funds to support the coup in Honduras. An analysis of Congressional travel reports shows four far-right legislators— Rep. Connie Mack (Fla.), Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (Calif.), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.)—used the money to fly themselves and their GOP staff members to Honduras during the critical months following the violent ousting of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya. Those trips were then used by coup plotters and supporters to create a false sense of legitimacy towards their tactics of criminalizing civil resistance and shutting down the country’s media outlets.

On June 28, 2009 Zelaya was forcibly removed from office and exiled to Costa Rica, in a coup d’état orchestrated by the country’s oligarchy. Roberto Micheletti, then leader of the National Congress in Honduras, was appointed to be the new president of the de facto government that was created after the coup. The majority of countries throughout the world condemned the coup, and the next day President Barack Obama told reporters that, “We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there.”

Less than a month later, after the de facto coup government in the country had passed an emergency law banning basic liberties like the right to protest and due process, Reps. Bilbray and Mack traveled to the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras on July 25 to show support for the Micheletti regime. During the taxpayer-funded expedition, which was labeled a “congressional delegation trip,” the two lawmakers met with Micheletti, businessmen and lawmakers responsible for the coup. Mack, who lead the trip and had already voiced support for the coup government before arriving in Honduras, parroted the lies used by the coup plotters that removing Zelaya at gun point was legal and constitutional. After the visit, Bilbray disseminated those distortions to the US media and encouraged the Obama administration to negotiate with Micheletti. The total cost billed to taxpayers was $7,684.80, according to Congressional foreign travel reports.

On October 5 later that year, a few weeks after the de facto government had used the military to shut down and censor opposition media outlets, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, a ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, organized another visit to Honduras that was financed with $9,562.68 in public funds. Ros-Lehtinen used the trip to boost the de facto regime, which had suffered a significant blow in late September when Zelaya had managed to return to the country and was trapped inside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. During the visit, Ros-Lehtinen denounced the US government’s decision to withhold financial aid and visas to the coup government, and later Tweeted from the country that the Honduran people “don’t want [Zelaya] back!”

Days before Ros-Lehtinen arrived in Tegucigalpa, Republican coup supporter and Senator Jim DeMint (N.C.) had a public scuffle with Democratic Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, over travel to Honduras. When Kerry blocked DeMint from using taxpayer funds to finance his own coup-boosting trip to Honduras, DeMint arranged for the US military to fly him there with three other House members. Ros-Lehtinen’s travel was not a part of the DeMint trip, according to Bradley Goehner, the Republican communications director for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The last taxpayer-funded trip to boost the Honduran coup backers was after the country’s November presidential elections, which were held amid a climate of “intimidation, torture, illegal detentions and in extreme cases, assassinations.” After documented electoral fraud, National Party candidate and coup supporter Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was announced the winner, with the State Department endorsing the election results. Once Lobo had been inaugurated, Republican Rep. Rohrabacher, who had written a letter of support for Micheletti, traveled to the country on Jan. 31 to meet with Lobo. “After the new president was elected, he traveled to Honduras to let the newly elected government know that Republicans supported them,” says Tara Olivia Setmayer, a media representative for Rohrabacher. The trip cost $7,473.40, bringing the total spent on coup-boosting trips in Honduras to $24,720.88.

When compared to the federal government’s multi-trillion dollar budget, the money may seem trivial. However, there’s no denying that those funds—which could make up a small annual salary for one person in the United States—went towards Republican efforts to support a regime that continues to censor opposition media, criminalize dissent, and commit numerous human rights violations in Honduras.

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Find the Perfect Poker Room with the Pocket Casino Guide

October 31, 2010

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'Off to the Races' Rounds the Bend Again at Barona

October 30, 2010

SOURCE: Barona Resort & Casino

Get in on the Virtual Horse Racing Action for a Chance to Win Every Wednesday in November

SAN DIEGO, CA–(Marketwire – October 28, 2010) – Club Barona members can pick their favorite horse for a chance to win during Barona Resort & Casino‘s interactive and virtual “Off to the Races” game every Wednesday night in the month of November.

Beginning on November 3, guests who play and earn 100 Club Barona myPoints will have the opportunity to pick the horse they think will win from one of Barona’s slot or video poker games. And if their horse wins, they win $100 in “myFREEPLAY.”

“Barona’s ‘Off to the Races’ game was so popular in July that we’ve decided to bring it back in November,” said Nick Dillon, Barona’s executive vice president. “This game brings the excitement of horse racing right to the myView screen on our loose slots and video poker machines in the casino, and gives players the chance to win multiple times every racing day.”

Players can begin earning Club Barona points the hour prior to each race, which will take place at the top of the hour from 9 p.m. to midnight. In addition, a professional race caller will announce the action live on the casino floor.

For those who enjoy live racing action, Barona also offers year-round Off-Track Betting in a 136-seat venue housing 32 televisions, including five big screens. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., guests can wager and watch the sport’s best thoroughbreds at the country’s top racetracks including Del Mar, Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Churchill Downs. 

Known as San Diego’s loosest casino, Barona has 2,000 loose slots and video poker machines. Additionally, the casino features over 80 table games including Blackjack, Pai Gow poker, Caribbean Stud, Barona Craps, Three-Card Poker, Four-Card Poker, Mississippi Stud, Let It Ride, as well as the most exciting innovations in chipless gaming including Chipless Roulette™, Chipless Baccarat™, Chipless Three-Card Poker™ and Chipless Blackjack™.

About Barona Resort & Casino
 Barona Resort & Casino blends the best of San Diego’s leading resorts with the gaming excitement of Las Vegas. LEED™ Gold Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, Barona is San Diego’s leading destination resort featuring 400 guest rooms and suites all with beautiful views of the Barona Valley, a variety of award-winning dining options, the AmBience Day Spa, a full-service events center and the 18-hole championship Barona Creek Golf Club, rated the 3rd best resort course in California by Golfweek magazine. For Barona Resort & Casino reservations and information, visit barona.com, or call toll free 888-7-BARONA (722-7662). You can also join Barona on Facebook, Twitter and the Barona Casino blog.

CONTACTS:
Audrey Doherty/Jordan Cole
619-236-8397
Email Contact

Kelly Jacobs Speer
619-933-5013
Email Contact

Click here to see all recent news from this company

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· Filed Under Craps News 

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October 30, 2010

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ND Highway 57 reopens near Devils Lake

October 29, 2010

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· Filed Under Casino News 

The play on Point Molate

October 29, 2010

Nearly lost amid the shouting of a high-volume campaign season, 42,000 Richmond voters may do more to change the region’s environment than in any election in decades.

They will vote on a gambling resort, right on the Bay, with more slot machines than all the casinos on Lake Tahoe’s south shore — the first Vegas-style casino in a California urban area. And if its magnitude is not well understood, its origins are even less so.

The resort’s journey to the ballot — which, if voters agree, could prod federal approval — is a seven-year saga with an uncommon cast, from a figure with alleged criminal ties who spurred a small band of American Indians to pursue casino riches, to a development team that includes a former U.S. senator and Clinton-era defense secretary, a major Chicago real estate financier and a former governor’s land czar.

Along with the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians, a tribe with 112 members and roots in Mendocino County, they’ve pushed ahead with the help of, among others, a former top aide to U.S. Sen. John McCain, and financing first from Harrah’s and now from the tribe that runs Cache Creek Casino Resort in Yolo County.

It’s a story of far-reaching influence and lavish promises: eight-figure payouts, a local jobs boon, historical preservation, the vow of a world-class “green” design — all contingent on a high-roller haven at Point Molate, a jut of former Navy land near the foot of the Richmond-San Rafael

Bridge.

The plan’s fiercest critic is now a supporter. Contra Costa County last year swung a $12 million-a-year deal with the developer, then told federal officials it had come to embrace the tribe’s historical claim to the land, a claim the county’s hired expert had labeled “duplicitous and intellectually bankrupt.”

Environmental groups inked a deal Tuesday with the developer worth at least $48 million, trading an end to litigation for the money to buy other shoreline land in the region.

Backers say years of litigation and talks with developer Upstream Point Molate and the tribe have only improved the casino resort plan and the local payoff, leaving critics on a wobbly anti-gambling stool. To opponents, the deals threaten to muffle legitimate concerns about traffic, crime, addiction and the fate of a rare slice of prime, scenic bayshore.

Measure U, an advisory vote on a casino at Point Molate, could weigh heavily. But the results of City Council and mayoral races may do more to settle the fate of the project, since a divided council must first agree to turn over the land to the tribe.

Moneyed opposition remains, in the form of three Bay Area card clubs and a Sacramento-area casino tribe — competitors that could influence the local vote, but may hold little sway in Washington, where federal decision-makers who must agree on Guidiville’s claim to the land.

The story reaches to the Capitol, but it begins and ends in Richmond, a city that bet big on the casino dream and, until lately, never wavered.

The promise of a fiscal turbocharge from Indian gaming was swirling in 2003 when Richmond’s then-city manager and public works director bellied up to a Palm Springs casino blackjack table and pushed out small stacks of $100 chips as a crowd formed. Isaiah Turner and Rich McCoy were among a group who were on a tour of Southern California casinos arranged by a hopeful developer.

Oakland’s then-mayor, Jerry Brown, envisioned a casino at the old Oakland Army Base, and the potential of dozens of land-seeking tribes in California, and the Bay Area’s thicket of tourists and Asian gamblers, enticed more investors.

While some communities — such as Vallejo, Antioch and Concord — balked, Richmond leaders were all ears when a consultant for a group of Florida investors proposed sites in the city on behalf of Guidiville and another tribe, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians.

“Very welcoming” said casino consultant Kevin Kean, describing city officials’ reaction. He arranged the southern tour, which accomplished its goal.

“We came back with an education about it, enlightenment,” said McCoy, now retired. “And yes, more enthusiasm.”

The Florida investors had won over the two tribes through the work of Gary Fears, who already had developed an Illinois riverboat casino. That Florida group would run into trouble from federal and state authorities who questioned their associations and dealings. Federal gaming regulators nixed their deal with the Seminole tribe for a Florida casino, finding it granted them excessive profit. A report later commissioned by the Guidiville tribe concluded Fears “routinely associates with individuals who are involved in criminal activity, often including them in his business ventures.” Fears did not return a reporter’s phone calls seeking a comment.

But those issues had not unfolded back when Kean was wooing city officials.

A few months after the Palm Springs trip, the City Council commissioned a $100,000 study that estimated a half-billion dollars in annual city benefits from a casino.

The Scotts Valley band, with the Florida investors, offered $10 million to develop a casino at Richmond’s Port Terminal No. 3. But the city had another idea: the 412 acres at Point Molate, which the Navy was urging the city to take over.

McCoy said recently that Turner and City Council members “had their minds focused on Point Molate” early on. The land includes the historic Winehaven district, once home to the country’s largest winery before Point Molate became a World War II-era naval fuel depot.

The city was dragging its feet over the cost of cleaning up and maintaining the land, with its contaminated soil and groundwater. But within weeks of the Palm Springs trip, Point Molate moved to the front burner. Soon, the city had taken over 85 percent of the land; the Navy held onto 41 contaminated acres, pending federal cleanup requirements.

A casino there made sense, said Councilman Nat Bates: Congress had required economic development for reclaimed former military bases. Point Molate had toxic taint, crumbling infrastructure, a historic district in disrepair. It needed money. And, at the edge of a crime-ridden city of 103,000, it was relatively remote, set off by the bridge toll plaza, hemmed in by Chevron’s property. That would deter crime, Bates argued.

The Florida investors weren’t so enamored. Point Molate had a big problem: a bottleneck at its only road in and out, right by the toll plaza. A draft environmental report last year found the casino would create major bogs on both sides of the bridge that could not be readily solved.

“It’ll be jammed,” Kean said. “In my opinion, it couldn’t handle that traffic.”

Undeterred, the city began searching for a developer who could pull it off.

Project first, then tribe

In the summer of 2003, after a 45-member residents group called for a “new city neighborhood” at Point Molate, the council sought out developers and, from seven responses, chose to negotiate with Upstream, which had outlined a hotel-conference center and residential project.

Neither the city’s request, nor Upstream’s proposal, mentioned a casino. But the city “made it known we’d be receptive to having a casino come in,” McCoy said. Added Upstream partner John Salmon: “If a city asks you as a developer to try to do something, you usually figure out how to do it.”

It would be months before that idea reached the public. The city moved forward on the casino plan quietly to avoid a backlash from anti-gambling interests.

“We tried to keep it off that (City Council) floor as long as we could,” McCoy said.

Upstream would choose a partner in Harrah’s, which scouted Guidiville. The tribe quickly ditched the Florida investment group.

The wraps finally came off the bold project, which Upstream’s managing partner, Jim Levine, would describe as “Ghirardelli Square times 10.” Chevron, not eager to see a major development adjacent to the refinery, bid as much as $80 million for the land. But council members were dubious. Upstream offered the city $50 million for the land and close to $20 million a year when the casino starts up. Top Harrah’s officials showed up, and council members were clearly impressed by the team — a partnership with deep connections in Washington and Sacramento.

“There was no wavering or hesitation,” said Bates, 79, who led a pro-development majority that has softened.

The vote to move forward was unanimous.

The Upstream frontmen were Levine and Salmon, who had worked together on several land-reclamation projects. Levine, 56, the blunt-speaking pitchman, co-founded Emeryville-based environmental abatement firm LFR Levine-Fricke, and he met Salmon in the 1980s when they joined to clean up a Superfund site at Point Isabel in Richmond that became state parkland.

Back then, Salmon, 65, headed development and sales for one of the largest landowners in California, Santa Fe Pacific Realty, which later became Catellus. He would later head up then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s office of asset management and advised Wilson on base reuse.

The casino resort venture also includes a Chicago real estate financier, Steven Bandolik, whom Salmon had worked with in the past. Levine said it was Bandolik who introduced them to their most formidable, but least visible, partner: William Cohen, a former secretary of defense, who earlier, as a U.S. senator from Maine, headed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

“If you want to label them, Bandolik is money, Levine is environmental, I’m state, and Cohen is federal,” said Salmon, 65.

Cohen declined through an assistant to be interviewed, and Levine and Salmon refuse to specify his role, saying only that he is a partner and helped them navigate the Navy bureaucracy. How Cohen may have used his influence to help the casino project in the Senate committee, or with the Department of Interior, where key decisions on the tribe’s bid are pending, remains unclear.

“With a guy like that, you don’t really have to ask him what he can do,” Levine said.

Tribal members, including Guidiville’s chairwoman for more than a decade, Merlene Sanchez, 66, occasionally show up at hearings but rarely speak. Instead, Michael Derry, CEO of the tribe’s economic development arm, represents the tribe.

The 48-year-old Canadian has a long history of helping tribes. Derry boasts snug personal ties with several Bureau of Indian Affairs officials in Sacramento, according to a federal court deposition, and claims he has gotten more land into federal trust for California tribes than anyone. He first started working as a consultant with Guidiville a decade ago, beginning with failed attempts to buy land in Ukiah for an auto mall.

He is the tribe’s gatekeeper, defender and promoter.

“There’s a certain percentage of the public and the opposition that are going around saying this project isn’t real. The emperor has no clothes,” Derry said. “It sure feels real to us.”

Guidiville and other tribes worked to extend a close relationship with regional BIA officials through a program using federal Indian funds to hire the very BIA officials who would help process their land applications. A tribal committee helped choose who was hired, funded the positions, and recommended the employees for cash awards.

A 2006 Interior Department inspector general’s report states, criticizing the program for creating actual conflicts of interest. The “‘whole purpose’ is to ensure these applications receive a favorable recommendation,” the report said.

Changes this year appear to weaken the tribes’ hand in hiring decisions, but the program and many of the same Pacific Region employees remain.

In Washington, the plan hinges on approval by Interior Department officials, who must find that Guidiville qualifies for casino land at Point Molate under a 1988 federal law that bars, with few exceptions, Indian casinos on “newly acquired land.”

Both Guidiville, at Point Molate, and Scotts Valley, at a nearby site in North Richmond, seek an exception for “restored” tribes, having regained federal recognition in the same 1991 settlement of a federal lawsuit. But they need to show a “significant historical connection” to the lands, or at least the area.

The tribes owe their federal status to rancherias that the federal government set up a century ago for homeless Indians. No one claims the existence of any Guidiville villages or burial grounds near Point Molate, or that the tribe occupied land close to it. When an Indian mortar and pestle turned up at Point Molate, it was found to be Ohlone, according to a confidential city memo.

But the tribe submitted to the Interior Department reams of documents showing Pomo-speaking people traveled to the Bay Area “to engage in commerce and harvest natural resources,” as well as census and historical records tracing Guidiville blood to Pomo, Ohlone, Wappo, Patwin and Coast Miwok Indians — ancestry that lived or traded around the Bay Area before being forced out.

The tribe’s hired anthropologist, James McClurken, also found that a federal program in the 1920s and ’30s pushed at least 15 Guidiville women off the rancheria, to work as Bay Area domestic servants. It was an example, McClurken wrote, “of the federal government’s actual encouragement of Guidiville Pomos’ north/south migration during the first half of the twentieth century.”

In April 2009, Contra Costa County challenged that claim with research by a hired historian, Lewis & Clark College professor Stephen Beckham. He concluded that only five of the 15 women cited by McClurken were actual Guidiville band members, and only one worked in Contra Costa County — for 13 days.

“I have seldom encountered such misrepresentation in forty years of work relating to the documentation of Native American history and culture,” wrote Beckham in an e-mail to a county official.

“I thought it nailed them,” said Sara Hoffman, a former assistant county administrator, of Beckham’s research.

Derry insists Beckham lacked access to primary historical materials and said his report “is not worth the paper it’s printed on.”

Contra Costa County spent $1 million to fend off casino projects, including Beckham’s research and studies on traffic and health impacts. So it was no small matter in November when the supervisors did an about-face, pledging support for the casino-resort in return for $12 million in annual payments and jobs for county residents if the casino rises.

County Administrator David Twa explained to the Interior Department that the county was persuaded by a review of about 5,000 pages of recently obtained historical documents. “We now have a greater understanding of the basis for the Guidiville tribe to request taking the Pt. Molate Site into trust,” Twa wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. The new documents “have helped to change our opinion on the matter.”

That wasn’t exactly true. The county had the bulk of those documents earlier, guiding Beckham’s analysis. After a fight, Guidiville later turned over another 500 pages of census records, academic reports and letters documenting the work program.

Twa recently said he never read them. Nor did Hoffman, county Supervisor John Gioia, or Beckham.

“The county did not send them to me,” Beckham said. “It was surprising the supervisors rolled over.”

Critical to that reversal was Gioia, whose district includes Point Molate. Just as the county was filing its last critical comments to the Interior Department last year, internal e-mails show, he was considering negotiations with Upstream.

Gioia, a leader behind the supervisors’ 2005 vote against casinos in the county, said recently it wasn’t the strength of the tribe’s historical argument, but doubts about whether the county’s voice would ring loud enough in Washington. At the time, the tribes were saying federal approval was imminent.

“It became a sort of reading-the-tea-leaves and playing a game of chess,” he said.

Apparently, though, federal officials cared a lot about the county’s opinion. Just a week before the Gioia, Twa and Upstream started negotiations, Richmond officials met with Interior officials in Washington for an update on the status of Point Molate.

“They absolutely said they wanted the county to be supportive,” said former assistant city manager Janet Schneider.

Councilman Bates agreed. “They made it very clear that the county — almost mandatory — had to be a party of support.”

Interior Department officials refuse to discuss where their review stands. But correspondence reviewed by Bay Area News Group suggest the staff has recommended approval for Guidiville, a decision in the hands of Obama appointee Larry EchoHawk, assistant Interior Department secretary for Indian affairs.

Donald Duncan, Guidiville’s vice-chairman, said staff members at the Bureau of Indian Affairs told them two years ago — during the Bush administration — that they had determined the tribe qualified for the land in a legal opinion that remains pending.

“We’ve been waiting two years,” Duncan said. “It’s sitting there.”

As federal officials weigh a move, congressional support for Indian casinos has dimmed. The explosion of Indian gaming into a $27 billion industry has led officials such as McCain, R-Ariz., the former head of the Indian Affairs committee, to seek limits on gaming beyond reservation lands.

The legislation granting the Lytton tribe casino land in San Pablo brought controversy, as did the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandal that began in 2004. And there is long-standing opposition to any Bay Area Indian casino from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who railed against the Lytton deal and now heads the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Interior Department purse strings.

So far, thanks in part to the casino team’s pull in Washington, Guidiville has survived the fray.

Cohen is a friend of McCain, having served as best man at McCain’s second wedding. The developer’s hiring of lobbyist Wes Gullett, a former top McCain aide, also didn’t hurt. Gullett connected Upstream and the tribe with staff members on McCain’s committee, Levine said.

“In the end, once they get us through the door, you have to make your own pitch,” Levine said. “I think the Indian Affairs Committee staff has a warm spot for us, which is as important as anything else. “… Our goal is to have warm spots.”

Levine said the project also has a quiet backer in Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who helped Lytton in San Pablo and took a barrage of criticism. Miller has refused to take a public position on a casino-resort on Point Molate.

“He doesn’t need the hassle of being a cheerleader for this,” Levine said.

Unlike other Indian casino bids, such as Scotts Valley in North Richmond, the project requires a vote by local officials, since Richmond owns the land. The council must certify an environmental review and finalize a deal with the developer and tribe for the casino-resort to rise.

The unanimous council vote of 2004 is long gone, replaced by an uncertain City Council split. At least three current council members and one mayoral candidate have wavered, flip-flopped or refused to state their positions on the casino-resort.

To date, card clubs and one casino tribe — owners of Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln — have spent $276,000 on anti-casino campaigns and for local candidates who oppose the project. The development team has dropped about $350,000 to support it, Levine said.

Most local political observers believe it will be the priciest campaign season in Richmond history.

Bates, the councilman and mayoral candidate, said he doesn’t trust that voters can make an informed decision without reading details of the project or studying the benefits to the city. Still, he voted, reluctantly, to place the advisory measure on the ballot.

“You never want to shut the public out.”

Staff writer Katherine Tam contributed to this story.

<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16399678tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16399678Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:01:05 GMT 00:00″>The play on Point Molate

· Filed Under Blackjack News 

CIA Drone-Code Scandal Now Has A Big Blue Hue

October 29, 2010

Republican House members used taxpayer money to boost de facto government as it was criminalizing dissent, shutting down media outlets

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Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives spent nearly $25,000 in taxpayer funds to support the coup in Honduras. An analysis of Congressional travel reports shows four far-right legislators— Rep. Connie Mack (Fla.), Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (Calif.), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.)—used the money to fly themselves and their GOP staff members to Honduras during the critical months following the violent ousting of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya. Those trips were then used by coup plotters and supporters to create a false sense of legitimacy towards their tactics of criminalizing civil resistance and shutting down the country’s media outlets.

On June 28, 2009 Zelaya was forcibly removed from office and exiled to Costa Rica, in a coup d’état orchestrated by the country’s oligarchy. Roberto Micheletti, then leader of the National Congress in Honduras, was appointed to be the new president of the de facto government that was created after the coup. The majority of countries throughout the world condemned the coup, and the next day President Barack Obama told reporters that, “We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there.”

Less than a month later, after the de facto coup government in the country had passed an emergency law banning basic liberties like the right to protest and due process, Reps. Bilbray and Mack traveled to the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras on July 25 to show support for the Micheletti regime. During the taxpayer-funded expedition, which was labeled a “congressional delegation trip,” the two lawmakers met with Micheletti, businessmen and lawmakers responsible for the coup. Mack, who lead the trip and had already voiced support for the coup government before arriving in Honduras, parroted the lies used by the coup plotters that removing Zelaya at gun point was legal and constitutional. After the visit, Bilbray disseminated those distortions to the US media and encouraged the Obama administration to negotiate with Micheletti. The total cost billed to taxpayers was $7,684.80, according to Congressional foreign travel reports.

On October 5 later that year, a few weeks after the de facto government had used the military to shut down and censor opposition media outlets, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, a ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, organized another visit to Honduras that was financed with $9,562.68 in public funds. Ros-Lehtinen used the trip to boost the de facto regime, which had suffered a significant blow in late September when Zelaya had managed to return to the country and was trapped inside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. During the visit, Ros-Lehtinen denounced the US government’s decision to withhold financial aid and visas to the coup government, and later Tweeted from the country that the Honduran people “don’t want [Zelaya] back!”

Days before Ros-Lehtinen arrived in Tegucigalpa, Republican coup supporter and Senator Jim DeMint (N.C.) had a public scuffle with Democratic Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, over travel to Honduras. When Kerry blocked DeMint from using taxpayer funds to finance his own coup-boosting trip to Honduras, DeMint arranged for the US military to fly him there with three other House members. Ros-Lehtinen’s travel was not a part of the DeMint trip, according to Bradley Goehner, the Republican communications director for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The last taxpayer-funded trip to boost the Honduran coup backers was after the country’s November presidential elections, which were held amid a climate of “intimidation, torture, illegal detentions and in extreme cases, assassinations.” After documented electoral fraud, National Party candidate and coup supporter Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was announced the winner, with the State Department endorsing the election results. Once Lobo had been inaugurated, Republican Rep. Rohrabacher, who had written a letter of support for Micheletti, traveled to the country on Jan. 31 to meet with Lobo. “After the new president was elected, he traveled to Honduras to let the newly elected government know that Republicans supported them,” says Tara Olivia Setmayer, a media representative for Rohrabacher. The trip cost $7,473.40, bringing the total spent on coup-boosting trips in Honduras to $24,720.88.

When compared to the federal government’s multi-trillion dollar budget, the money may seem trivial. However, there’s no denying that those funds—which could make up a small annual salary for one person in the United States—went towards Republican efforts to support a regime that continues to censor opposition media, criminalize dissent, and commit numerous human rights violations in Honduras.

<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2010/10/cia-done-code-scandal-now-has-big-blue-huetag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2010/10/cia-done-code-scandal-now-has-big-blue-hueSun, 10 Oct 2010 00:01:45 GMT 00:00″>CIA Drone-Code Scandal Now Has A Big Blue Hue

· Filed Under Slot Machine News 

Race for Attorney General

October 28, 2010

Candidates Draw Different Lessons From Aqueduct Bidding Scandal

Staten Island District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. on Friday seized on a scathing report by the state inspector general as evidence that his attorney general rival, Eric T. Schneiderman, the veteran Democratic state senator from Manhattan, cannot be trusted to clean up Albany because of the company he has kept.

Inspector General Joseph Fisch accused top legislative leaders and the governor’s office of angling for campaign contributions and political advantage when they awarded a lucrative video slot machine contract for Aqueduct Race Track to a consortium that later was disqualified. He was especially critical of two leaders of Mr. Schneiderman’s party in the Senate, Malcolm Smith of Queens and John Sampson of Brooklyn.

“It’s appalling, it’s disgraceful and it’s exactly what the people of New York state are sick and tired of,” Mr. Donovan, a Republican, said in a conference call with reporters. “Eric Schneiderman cannot root out public corruption having been part of one of the most dysfunctional and corrupt legislatures in the country.”

Mr. Schneiderman, who is not named in the report, said in a statement that he would return all contributions to his campaign—reportedly about $75,000—from Senate leaders and their campaign committees as well as others mentioned in the report “out of an abundance of caution and to avoid even an appearance of conflict.” He called the allegations “beyond disturbing—they are horrendous.”

Mr. Schneiderman pointed out that he had voted against the Aqueduct bidding process because he thought it might be too subject to the influence of lobbyists. He issued a position paper calling for a moratorium on attempts to circumvent state procurement practices. He also applauded Mr. Fisch for forwarding the report to the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Manhattan district attorney for possible criminal investigations.

‘State Street Eric’ Lampoons Schneiderman’s Albany Links

In case voters miss the point of his portrayal of Mr. Schneiderman as the consummate Albany insider, Mr. Donovan has devoted an entire Web site to driving home the message, statestreeteric.com. On the site, “Schneiderman” enthuses about how much he “loves” Albany and lists “special friends” that include shady politicians, trial lawyers, unions, sex offenders and drug dealers. It features a running tally—down to the second—of an Albany tenure that began in January 1999.

The name of the frequently updated site refers to one of the two main Albany streets running past the Capitol. Debuting on Sept. 17, it was devised by Donovan campaign adviser Bradley Tusk, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s campaign manager in 2009. The home page carries the legend “Paid For By Donovan 2010″.

Marcus Reese, Mr. Donovan’s campaign manager, said the Donovan camp wanted its main site, dandonovan.org, to focus on Mr. Donovan’s background and credentials. “State Street Eric” is designed to highlight Mr. Schneiderman’s weaknesses as a potential attorney general, Mr. Reese said. “I wanted to have a hard, clear contrast for voters,” he said in an interview. “We are cutting through all the static, all the political stuff. There is a fundamental, strong contrast between the candidates.”

Mr. Donovan said Friday he considered the site as largely a “tongue-in-cheek thing” to add a bit of “levity” to a hard-fought campaign. But he said it also provides important details about Mr. Schneiderman’s radical voting record in the Senate, which he has characterized as pro-tax and anti-law enforcement. “Now that all New Yorkers are going to have the opportunity to either vote for him or me, I think his record is important to know,” Mr. Donovan said.

James Freedland, a spokesman for the Schneiderman camp, said Mr. Donovan has brought down the tone of the campaign through his attacks against Mr. Schneiderman on the site and in TV ads. “Rather than unleash false and divisive attacks, most candidates use their campaign commercials and Web sites to introduce themselves to voters, and discuss their records,” Mr. Freedland said. “But in fairness to Mr. Donovan, ‘I’m a political machine hack, who was implicated in a mob scandal, allowed rampant public corruption to occur under my nose, and presided over soaring rape and murder rates’ just doesn’t have a great ring to it.”

Schneiderman Releases Daily Policy Papers

Mr. Schneiderman is giving voters plenty to read in the last days of the campaign. Since Oct. 5, he has been releasing a policy paper each weekday providing extensive details on various parts of his agenda. Among the areas covered have been voting reform, climate change, pollution, health insurance scams and requiring state lawmakers to reveal the income they earn outside the Legislature. The releases elaborate on an “agenda book” that the Schneiderman campaign compiled during his Democratic primary campaign.

Mr. Donovan, by contrast, has posted a concise 10-point agenda on his Web site with few details. Nevertheless, he said he believes he has exhaustively revealed his plans for items at the top of his agenda: fighting government corruption, Medicaid fraud and the practice of paying for access to public offices. Mr. Schneiderman “could paper us to death,” Mr. Donovan told reporters. “But that won’t hide the fact he is not qualified for the job.” Mr. Freedland responded that the papers show the “depth and breadth” Mr. Schneiderman has acquired through his experience as a legislator and a lawyer. “While Eric Schneiderman has unveiled a substantive policy proposal each day—from cracking down on foreclosure fraud to shutting down health insurance scams—Dan Donovan has no plan, only desperate personal attacks on Eric.”

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<a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202473812347&Race_for_Attorney_Generaltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202473812347″>Race for Attorney General

· Filed Under Slot Machine News 

Halloween events in the Twin Cities last all month

October 28, 2010

By Erica Tasto, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Oct. 15–From ghastly ghouls to ghosts and zombies, this year’s Halloween lineup is filled with fun. If you have an event to add to our online version of this list, please e-mail etasto@ pioneerpress.com.

THIS WEEK, ONGOING

Frightmares at Buck Hill. Four scary attractions — the Orchard Manor Dead and Breakfast, the Bellharm-Lovejoy Asylum, the Fright Factory (in 3-D) and the Haunted Hollow burial ground. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 30, Sundays and Thursdays, tonight-31, 7 p.m.-midnight (closes 10 p.m. Sundays); $18-$16; frightmares.com.

The Haunted Basement. The Haunted Basement crew and its guest artists tell a horrifying narrative based on this year’s theme, “Distortion.” Daily through Oct. 31, 6 p.m.-midnight; the Soap Factory, 514 Second St. S.E., Minneapolis; $20; 18 and older; soapfactory.org.

Nightmare Hallow-Scream. The 19th annual Nightmare Hallow-Scream Park features ghosts, zombies, Freddy Krueger, Jason and other creepy creatures. Two haunted barns, a haunted hayride, a beer tent, Halloween blackjack, a palm reader, Halloween air-brushed makeup and a bonfire. Tonight and Oct. 20-24, 27-31; 6:30-10 p.m. (until midnight Fridays and Saturdays); Running Aces Harness Park, 15201 Zurich St. N.E., Columbus; $18.50-$15.50; 651-462-7279; nightmarehalloween.com.

Palooza. Pumpkins, gourds and squash (“cucurbits”) reflect this year’s harvest. Gardeners at the Arboretum have cultivated 83 varieties, and hundreds of all sizes, shapes and colors will be on display. Daily through Nov. 1; Great Hall, Oswald Visitor Center at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chanhassen; 952-443-1409; arboretum.umn.edu.

Real Haunted Tours. Paranormal investigators walk visitors through St. Paul’s Mounds Theatre telling stories of the three ghosts who live in the walls. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in October; $20; realhauntedtours.com. Also, catch a showing of “The Blair Witch Project,” Oct. 30, 8 and 11:30 p.m.; $5.

Sever’s Fall Festival and Corn Maze. Sever’s Fall Festival celebrates its 14th year by partnering with the Minnesota Vikings during their 50th season. Features include a giant Norseman maze, corn cannons, pig racing, live music, magic shows, wildlife shows and more. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 31, and Thursday and Friday Oct. 21-Oct. 22; 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; next to Canterbury Park, Shakopee; $9; 952-974-5000; severscornmaze.com.

The Slaughter House. Includes a comedy show and tour of a haunted balcony. Tours are available only before showtimes. Oct. 22-23, 29-30; 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.; The Joke Joint Comedy Club, 801 Sibley Memorial Highway, Lilydale; $20; must be 18 or older; 651-330-9078.

Spooky Hollow Halloween Gallery. Dig up creepy crawlers and march through a swampy bog in the Earth World Gallery. Also, create spooky music in the Rooftop ArtPark and enjoy caramel corn-on-the-cob and hot apple cider. Spooky Hollow walks begin every 15 minutes. Through Oct. 31; Tuesday-Thursday 10 a.m.- 3 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.7 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Minnesota Children’s Museum, 10 W. Seventh St., St. Paul; $1 (plus museum admission); 651-225-6000; mcm.org.

Valleyscare. From horrifying outdoor mazes to mystifying magic shows to spookless family fun, there’s something sure to fright or delight you at Valleyscare. Weekends through Oct. 31. 952-445-6500 or valleyscare.com.

“Vampires! Horror!” Rock musical follows an unlikely cast of characters — including a small-town sheriff, a toymaker, his pregnant wife, a military general and a tabloid reporter — as they are thrown together by an ancient prophecy. Performed by Table Salt Productions. Through Oct. 30; Thurs.-Sat. 7:30 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m.; Old Arizona Theater, 2821 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; $15; tablesaltproductions.com.

Weird Tales for Halloween. Featuring a combination of horror, comedy and inventive staging of three stories never before seen onstage: “The Beast With Five Fingers,” “Lukundoo” and “The Dunwich Horror.” Fridays and Sundays through Oct. 31, 7 p.m.; Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater, Minneapolis; $18-$12. 612-825-8949; bryantlakebowl.com.

Autumn Foliage Ambles. Nature walk. Oct. 23, 10 a.m.; $12-$10; 952-443-1422. Oswald Visitor Center at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum; Chanhassen; arboretum.umn.edu

Mrs. Smith’s Halloween Spooktacular. Games, music and on-stage seance with Mrs. Smith’s pet/psychic friend Sylvia Cleo. Oct. 23, 7 p.m.; Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater, 810 W. Lake St., Minneapolis; $15; 612-825-8949; bryantlakebowl.com.

Baker Boo. During a family camping adventure, create a scarecrow, play mini golf, join a costume parade. Reservations required by Oct. 20. Oct. 23-24, check-in 10 a.m., check-out 11 a.m.; Baker Park Reserve Campground, Maple Plain; $82.75-$74.20; 766-559-6700, activity No. 410007-XO.

Bats and Vampires. Two-day class about bats for kids ages 6-8. Oct. 21-22, 1-4 p.m.; Science Museum, 120 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $56; 651-221-4511; smm.org/classes.

A Big Woods Halloween. Follow costumed characters along the woodland trail to treats and a bonfire and earn prizes along the way. Also, check out Fire Spinners show. Reservations required. Oct. 23, 6-9 p.m.; Eastman Nature Center, Elm Creek Park Reserve, Dayton; 766-559-6700; activity No. 412207T0-TA.

Grand Avenue’s Boo Bash. This free annual event features family-friendly activities so everyone can feel the Halloween spirit without the super scary tricks. Events include the Monster Mash dance, pony rides and a petting zoo, a costume contest and more. And while the children play, adults can enjoy shopping or donate blood at Dracula’s Blood Drive. Oct. 24; 1-5 p.m.; Grand Ave., St. Paul; grandave.com.

Graveyard Ghouls. Two-day class for kids ages 9-12 who will use electronics and stuffed animals to construct a ghoul. Oct. 21-22, 9 a.m.-noon; Science Museum; 120 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $72; 651-221-4511; smm.org/classes.

Haunted Halloween Adventures. See puppets and play games along a not-so-scary trick-or-treat path. Later, warm up by the campfire or take a wagon ride. Wear a costume and bring a bag for treats. Reserva-tions required. Oct. 23, 5-8 p.m.; Hyland Lake Park Reserve, Bloomington; $8-$7; 766-559-6700, activity No. 463007H1-H4.

Halloween Mask Boooooks! Start off with a story and a game to get the creative juices flowing, then use the provided supplies to make a colorful and unique book mask. Oct. 23; 10 a.m.-12 p.m.; Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; $30 per adult/child pair, $15 additional participant; 612-215-2520 or mnbookarts.org.

Little Folks Halloween. Meet costumed characters, see a puppet show, search for hidden pumpkins. Then meet animals, explore the bat cave and decorate a pumpkin. Win prizes playing Halloween-themed games. Reservations required. Oct. 23, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Eastman Nature Center, Elm Creek Park Reserve, Dayton/Maple Grove; $7; 766-559-6700, activity No. 412207-01.

The Minneapolis Horror: Tales From the Night Shift. Costumed actors tell stories of the dangers of working the night shift as well as disasters that have happened at the mill. Oct. 26-27, 6:30, 7, 7:30 p.m.; Mill City Museum, 704 S. Second St., Minneapolis; $14-$10; 612-341-7555; millcitymuseum.org.

Old-Fashioned Trick-or-Treat. The 20 historic buildings along a candlelit path set the stage for trick-or-treating. Oct. 23, 4-8 p.m.; the Landing, Minnesota River Heritage Park, Shakopee; $9; 766-559-6700, activity No. 43840732-37.

Shadows and Spirits of the State Capitol. Visitors meet historical spirits during tour of the Capitol and get an up-close look at the rotunda chandelier. Oct. 21-23 and 28-30, 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m.; State Capitol, St. Paul; $10-$7; 651-296-2881.

NEXT WEEK, ONGOING

Halloween Ghost Trolley. A Halloween tradition sponsored by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum at the Lake Harriet/Lake Calhoun location. Fridays and Saturdays Oct. 22-30, 6-9 p.m.; Linden Hills’ Station; $4-$3. trolleyride.org/CHSL_Main/ special_events.htm#Ghost_CH.

Halloween Spooktacular Parties. Moon bounce, glow-in-the-dark slime and trick-or-treating in galleries. Bunny Clogs, a Twin-cities based band, will perform. Oct. 23 and 30, 6-9 p.m.; Minnesota Children’s Museum; $14-$10; 651-225-6000; mcm.org.

The Haunted Theater. Guests are led on a chilling tour of what used to be the Loring Theater, a silent-movie house in the 1920s, to hear ghost stories. Oct. 18-31, every half-hour from 5-10:30 p.m.; Music Box Theatre, 1407 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-424-1407; musicboxtheatre.org.

Victorian Ghost Stories. Costumed actors perform dramatic ghost story readings featuring works by Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton and the Brothers Grimm. A tour of the James J. Hill House follows. Oct. 17, 24, and 31, 6 and 7:30 p.m.; James J. Hill House, 240 Summit Ave., St. Paul; $10; 651-297-2555.

ZooBoo. A trick-or-treat path, pumpkin bowling, crafts and more than 200 costumed characters are part of this non-scary event. Oct. 16-17, 22-24, 4:30-7:30 p.m.; Como Zoo, 1225 Estabrook Drive, St. Paul; $7-$6; 651-487-8226; comozooconservatory.org.

Ar-BOO-retum. Costumed visitors receive free admission to event featuring trick-or-treating in the gift store and story time in the library. Oct. 31, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum; Chanhassen; 952-443-1409; arboretum.umn. edu.

Children’s Halloween Costume Tea. Wear a costume and enjoy a three-course children’s tea. Oct. 30, 11 a.m.; Avalon Tearoom & Pastry Shoppe, 2179 Fourth St., White Bear Lake; avalontearoom.com.

Dias de Los Muertos. Day of the Dead festivities will be combined with the new exhibit “Chocolate.” Puppeteers will teach the holiday’s traditions, Latin-American art will be on display and visitors will be able to create their own artwork and drink spicy Mexican hot chocolate. Oct. 30, noon-4 p.m.; Minnesota History Center, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; $10-$5; 651-259-3000.

Fort Snelling After Dark. Participate in a court martial to decide the fate of a soldier during a candle and torchlight tour. Oct. 30, 6-9 p.m.; Fort Snelling, 200 Tower Ave., St. Paul; $12-$7; 612-726-1171.

Ghost Walk. Folktales, legends, superstitions and history are the highlights of this event. Listen to costumed interpreters while walking along a historic candlelit trail. Reservations required. Oct. 30, 6-9 p.m.; the Landing, Minnesota River Heritage Park, Shakopee; 766-559-6700, activity No. 43840720-22.

Halloween Family Camp-In. Late-night Omnitheater screening, spooky science activities, trick-or-treating, costume contest and campout. Oct. 30-31; $46-$42; the Science Museum; 651-221-4553 or smm.org/campins.

Halloween Toons for Tots. Presented by Childish Films @ the Library. Kids can wear costumes, see six short vintage cartoon videos and decorate cookies. Oct. 30, 2:30 p.m.; Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave. S., Edina; 952-847-8107; supporthclib.org.

HallZooween. Come to the zoo for an exciting and safe place to trick or treat. Oct. 30-31, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Minnesota Zoo, 13000 Zoo Blvd., Apple Valley; 952-431-9200; mnzoo.org.

Minnesota Symphony Winds “Spooky Music.” Spooky-themed music, including Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in d minor,” Malcolm Arnold’s “Tam o’Shanter Overture” and William Ryden’s “Galloping Ghosts.” Costumes encouraged. Oct. 30, 7 p.m.; Burnsville Performing Arts Center, 12600 Nicollet Ave., Burnsville; $25; 800-982-2787; ticketmaster.com.

New Orleans Halloween Party. Music, dancing and Mardi Gras-themed evening, featuring a walk through the “French Quarter,” performance art and costume contest. Musicians include the Joe Krown Trio, featuring Walter “Wolfman” Washington; the Charmaine Neville Band; Klondike Kates. Oct. 30, 7 p.m.; Roy Wilkins Auditorium, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul; $20; ticketmaster.com.

A Spirit of Halloween. When Theatre of Fools’ Lloyd Brant was the opening act for the Doors, he developed a haunting character said to resurrect Jim Morrison’s spirit. He wrote this one-man show based on that character. Oct. 28-31, 7:30 p.m.; Jewel Theatre, 250 E. Seventh St., St. Paul; $20-$15; 877-840-0457; theatreoffools.com.

Sweet Colleens. Local Celtic-inspired band invites kids to Halloween Monkey Dance Spooktacular. Oct. 30, 11 a.m.; Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; $10-$5; thecedar.org.

Trick ‘r Trolley. Kids and parents can wear costumes and go for a streetcar ride. Kids hear a Halloween story and receive a goody bag. Presented by the Minnesota Streetcar Museum at the Lake Harriet/Lake Calhoun location. Oct. 31, 1 and 2 p.m.; wildrumpusbooks.com.

Crypticon’s Mad Monster Party. Not ready for Halloween to end? At this fifth annual horror/sci-fi convention, guests can meet horror film celebrities and get autographs, see special effect and make-up demos, win prizes in the costume contest and more. Be sure to rock out to the 14 featured bands, including Mushroomhead. If you’re over 21, you can enter the Mad Monster VIP Room and taste the signature “Zombie Snot” beer. Nov. 5-7; Sheraton Hotel, 7800 Normandale Blvd, Bloomington; $90-$20; crypticonminneapolis.com.

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<a href="http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/151090488tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/151090488Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:05:49 GMT 00:00″>Halloween events in the Twin Cities last all month

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