AJC.com-Drug Sniffing Dog Finds $1.5M Worth of Coke

Drug sniffing dog: blogs.seattleweekly.com

(Story reported by Larry Harstein for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

An Atlanta man used a storage unit near Buford to hide 15 kilos of cocaine worth nearly $1.5 million, authorities told the Gainesville Times.

Robert Perez-Mendoza, 32, was arrested and charged with trafficking cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, according to the newspaper. He's being held in the Hall County Jail.

An officer in Hall County's Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad was training with his police dog this month at the mini-storage facility "when the dog indicated on a certain unit," the squad's commander, Lt. Scott Ware, told the paper. "We obtained a search warrant and found the 15 kilograms inside."

"Our K-9 officer trains his dog throughout Hall County in different environments, and we got lucky on this one," Ware added.

(Click here to read the full story on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution website.)

Wash Po-Ex-Girlfriend Of Justice Thomas; "He Was Obsessed Wtih Porn"

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: AP

(Story reported by Michael A. Fletcher for the Washington Post)

For nearly two decades, Lillian McEwen has been silent -- a part of history, yet absent from it.

When Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his explosive 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Thomas vehemently denied the allegations and his handlers cited his steady relationship with another woman in an effort to deflect Hill's allegations.

Lillian McEwen was that woman.

At the time, she was on good terms with Thomas. The former assistant U.S. attorney and Senate Judiciary Committee counsel had dated him for years, even attending a March 1985 White House state dinner as his guest. She had worked on the Hill and was wary of entering the political cauldron of the hearings. She was never asked to testify, as then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who headed the committee, limited witnesses to women who had a "professional relationship" with Thomas.

Lillian McEwen, former girlfriend of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has written a book about their relationship: Bill O'leary/Washington Post

Now, she says that Thomas often said inappropriate things about women he met at work -- and that she could have added her voice to the others, but didn't.

In her Senate testimony, Hill, who worked with Thomas at two federal agencies, said that Thomas would make sexual comments to her at work, including references to scenes in hard-core pornographic films.

"If I used that kind of grotesque language with one person, it would seem to me that there would be traces of it throughout the employees who worked closely with me, or the other individuals who heard bits and pieces of it or various levels of it," Thomas responded to the committee.

McEwen scoffs softly when asked about Thomas's indignation, which has barely cooled in the 19 years since the hearings. In his vivid 2007 memoir, the justice calls Hill a tool of liberal activists outraged because he did not fit their idea of what an African American should believe.

McEwen's memoir describes her own "dysfunctional" family in the District and, ultimately, a long legal career.

She charts how she developed an "inner self" to escape the chaos of her childhood. Her story also includes explicit details of her relationship with Thomas, which she said included a freewheeling sex life.

Given that history, she said Hill's long-ago description of Thomas's behavior resonated with her.

"He was obsessed with porn," she said of Thomas, who is now 63. "He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films, if there was something worth noting."

(Click here to read the full story on the Washington Post website.)

Baltimore Sun-Clinton to Dems In Baltimore; "Claim Your Future"

Former President Bill Clinton at a rally in Baltimore, Md.,  for Dem. Gov. Martin O'Malley:Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun

(Story reported by Laura Vozzella for the Baltimore Sun)

Bill Clinton's old campaign anthem, "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow," blared from speakers in a Baltimore park as the former president tried to rally voters Thursday for Gov. Martin O'Malley and other Democrats.

And just like the Fleetwood Mac song from the '70s, Clinton was at once forward looking and retro.

"Show up," Clinton urged a crowd of more than 1,000 in Federal Hill Park. "Claim your future. Keep your governor."

Clinton, who left office a decade ago, is something of a bridge back to the 20th century — a link to a time when he was in the White House, the country was at peace, the federal budget was balanced, the economy was humming along.

And with the nation and Clinton's party in considerably more dire straits today, Democrats across the country are asking him to take voters on a trip down memory lane.

Clinton has attended 95 campaign events for 65 candidates so far this year, according to National Public Radio's calculation Thursday. And that was before Clinton arrived — late, just like when he was in the White House — in Baltimore.

Clinton's motorcade pulled up nearly two hours late, perhaps with no less justification than when he was leader of the free world; he'd started the day campaigning in South Florida and stumped in North Carolina before landing in Baltimore.

Throngs of supporters were willing to wait. "If he ran again, I would vote for him," said Elizabeth Linski, 63, a retired church administrator who lives in Federal Hill.

(Click here to read the full story on the Baltimore News website.)

UK Daily Mail-Lisa Marie To Oprah; "I Wish I'd Saved Michael Jackson"

Lisa Marie Presley on Oprah: Splash News/Harpo Productions

(Story reported by the UK Daily Mail)

Lisa Marie Presley has opened up for the first time about the death of ex-husband Michael Jackson, saying 'I wish I'd saved him.'

Presley, 42, was married to The King of Pop from May 1994 until January 1996.

She told Oprah she was in 'floods of tears' when she heard about Jackson's death - and wishes she could have done more

'I know it's naive to think that I could've, but I wanted to,' she said.

Hours later Lisa Marie said she received a text message from John Travolta breaking the tragic news. 'I was floored,' she said. 'Honestly floored.'

Lisa Marie told Oprah she had never suspected Jackson was using drugs during until the final days of their marriage.

'I didn't really suspect and catch on until just before I filed for divorce,' she said.

'There was just an occasion, an incident where he had collapsed and he was in the hospital.'

Though doctors blamed it on a viral infection, Presley said there were several different reports.

'I couldn't tell what was happening,' she said. 'I couldn't really get a straight answer about what was happening with him, and I think we were all a little bit in the dark.'

(Click here to read the full story on the UK Daily Mail Website.) 

New Yorker-Sean Wilentz; The Cold War Orgins of the Tea Party

Illustration by Steve Brodner for the New Yorker

(Investigative essay written by Sean Wilentz for The New Yorker, 18 October 2010

A few months ago, the cable-television and radio host Glenn Beck began his Fox News show with one of his favorite props: a pipe clenched between his teeth. “I’ve got my pipe,” he told his audience, his speech slightly muddled by the stem, “because we’re going to speak about schoolish kind of things.”

The theme of the day was “Restoring History,” and Beck, looking professorial in a neat dark blazer and a pink button-down shirt, began the lesson by peering at a stack of history textbooks and pronouncing them full of falsehoods, produced by “malicious progressive intent.” Progressives, he explained—liberals, socialists, Communists, the entire spectrum of the left—“knew they had to separate us from our history to be able to separate us from our Constitution and God.” For the next hour, Beck earnestly explained some of the history that “is being stolen from us”: the depression of 1920, for example, or how conservative economics saved the nation from the “near-depression” of 1946—crises that progressives don’t want you to know about. “You’ve been taught one lie, I think, your whole life,” he said.

(Click here to read the full text of Sean Wilentz investigative essay on the New Yorker website.)

Mediaite-Va. GOP Head Compares Black Wefare Recipients To Dogs

Virginia Beach GOP Chairman David Bartholomew resigns after comparing Black welfare recipients to "dogs": Mediaite

(Story reported by Brea Tremblay for Mediaite)

Talking Points Memo is reporting that on March 15th 2010 that Virgina Beach GOP Chairman David Bartholomew sent an email with the subject line “my dog.” The email went public on Tuesday and Bartholomew resigned his post on Wednesday. The contents of the email were as follows:

MY DOG
I went down this morning to sign up my Dog for welfare.
At first the lady said, “Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare”.
So I explained to her that my Dog is black, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and has no frigging clue who his Daddy is.
So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify…
My Dog gets his first check Friday.
Is this a great country or what?

Politicians from both sides of the aisle are weighing in on the controversy. Representative Glenn Nye, a Democrat who represents Virgina Beach, denounced the email, saying, “This type of racist behavior has no place in politics.” Nye’s Republican opponent Scott Rigell agreed, calling the email “reprehensible” and in stark contrast to the core values of the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, and my personal belief in a colorblind society.”

Bartholomew does have one defender: Second District GOP chair Gary Byler, who told the Virginian-Pilot that Bartholomew is not a racist and forwarded the email without reading the contents when “he was first getting familiar with the Internet.”

(Click here to read the full story on the Mediaite website.)

Chicago Tribune-Rock The Mic; Rhymefest Running For Alderman

Che "Rhymefest" Smith, 33, talking to supporters on the South Side of Chicago, in his run for alderman in the 20th Ward: Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune

(Story Duaa Eldeib for the Chicago Tribune)

 In the garage of a local auto detailing shop, Grammy Award-winning rapper Che "Rhymefest" Smith announced this morning he is running for alderman of the 20th Ward.

The third-generation South Sider spoke about his candidacy in artistic terms.

"The definition of revolution is love," began Smith, 33.

The 20th Ward includes the Woodlawn, Englewood and Back of the Yards neighborhoods. Ald. Willie Cochran is seeking re-election there.

Smith said his vision for the ward includes an engaged community in which small business owners would be able to expand, youth would find productive ways to fill their time and elders would be sought out for their wisdom.

"The wheel doesn't have to be reinvented," Smith said. "It just has to be reinstated."

For too long, the community has struggled, he said.

"Our businesses don't need to just survive," he said. "They need to thrive."

Smith said he will use hip hop as a tool and call on the likes of Kanye West and Common to support his message -- even if it means asking then to open up businesses in the neighborhood.

(Click here to read the full story on the Chicago Tribune website.)

BBC News-Doctors Investigate Outbreak Of Fatal Disease In Haiti

map of Haiti:BBC News

(Story reported by BBC News) 

Officials are investigating an outbreak of diarrhoea in Haiti.

Reports say about 50 people have died after suffering acute fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. Many more with similar symptoms have been admitted to hospitals north of the capital.

A senior UN health official told the BBC it was not clear what caused the outbreak. Test results are due later.

The country is still suffering the aftermath of January's quake which killed some 250,000 people.

It also left 1.5 million homeless.

An unnamed Haitian health official told AFP news agency the outbreak was cholera but the report could not be confirmed. The government was expected to make an announcement on the outbreak later on Thursday.

(Click here to read the full story on the BBC News website.)