2 Jesuit Priests Beaten to Death in Moscow

The building at 19 Ulitsa Petrovka where the bodies of two priests were found.

Investigator Yury Sukharev told Gazeta.ru that there were glasses and open bottles of wine and absinthe in the kitchen.

St Petersburg Times | Oct 31, 2008

By Anna Malpas

MOSCOW — Two Jesuit priests were found beaten to death in an apartment just meters away from Moscow police headquarters, investigators said Wednesday.

Otto Messmer, 47, a Russian citizen and top Jesuit figure in Russia, and Victor Betancourt, a 42-year-old Ecuadorian citizen, were found dead with battered skulls at 10 p.m. Tuesday in an apartment at 19 Ulitsa Petrovka, investigators and Catholic officials said. Police headquarters is located at 38 Ulitsa Petrovka.

“They didn’t answer phone calls, so their fellow brothers in the order went to the apartment, where they found them dead,” said Igor Kovalevsky, general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, RIA-Novosti reported.

The priests were believed to have been dead for about 24 hours before they were found, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Investigators are exploring all possible motives for the killings, including the possibility of a quarrel, since “there were traces of a party in the room,” the statement said.

Investigator Yury Sukharev told Gazeta.ru that there were glasses and open bottles of wine and absinthe in the kitchen.

The door of the apartment was open when the bodies were found, but it was unclear whether any valuables had been stolen. The five-room apartment belongs to the Jesuits, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia said.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said she could give no more information than was in the Investigative Committee’s statement.

Early media reports said police were called to the apartment after a fight and that they were looking for a Latin American man who had fled the scene.

A police spokesman could not confirm the reports Wednesday.

The Catholic Church expressed hope that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. “The church hopes that the Russian law enforcement organs will be able to find the criminals and the court and society will give an objective legal and moral judgment of their misdeeds,” the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia said in the statement.

Both men carried out pastoral work at the St. Louis Catholic Church on Ulitsa Malaya Lubyanka, the statement said.

Messmer, whose title was Superior of the Russian Independent Region of the Society of Jesus, was born to an ethnic German family in Kazakhstan that kept its Catholic faith alive despite Soviet repression, the statement said. His brother, Bishop Nikolaus Messmer, is the Apostolic Administrator of Kyrgyzstan.

Betancourt had been working in Russia since 2001. This year, he began working at the St. Thomas Institute of Philosophy, Theology and History, a private Jesuit institution in Moscow.

The Jesuits have been active in Russia since 1992, when the Russian Independent Region of the Society of Jesus was officially registered.

A requiem mass for the two priests was held at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on Wednesday evening.

China melamine scandal prompts mass chicken cull

Reuters | Oct 31, 2008

By Ian Ransom

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese farmers, hurt by a spreading melamine scandal, slaughtered tens of thousands of chickens, state media said on Friday, as authorities in Shanghai began checks on feed producers for local fisheries.

Shanghai’s Livestock Office would check more than 100 feed producers in the city, and promised tests for the city’s seafood products if any feed were found to contain melamine, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said on Friday.

Melamine is a compound used in making plastic chairs and other things, but is often added to food to cheat nutrition tests.

At least four children died and tens of thousands were made ill from drinking milk formula adulterated with melamine this year.

The melamine scandal has since spread to other dairy products, sweets and chocolate, prompting recalls of Chinese-made food around the world.

A rash of cases involving melamine-tainted eggs exported to Hong Kong and South Korea, and sold in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, have aroused fears of how prevalent the compound is in Chinese animal feed.

Melamine was banned in feed last year in the wake of a pet food scandal that was blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats in the United States last year, but has since been found in chicken feed used by major egg producers in northern China.

Public fears about food safety have seen egg prices plummet in local markets, and wholesalers refuse stock not carrying melamine inspection certificates.

Full Story

Arctic blast brings London earliest snow in 70 years

White night: the Millennium Bridge with its temporary trail of iced footprints last night

The Arctic has been experiencing very cold temperatures this year

Evening Standard | Oct 29, 2008

By Mark Prigg

IT is a sight not seen in the capital since 1934.

Londoners today woke up to the earliest snow cover for more than 70 years as a freezing blast of wind from the Arctic hit the capital.

Some areas of north London saw two inches of snow fall in two hours when temperatures hit zero.

Snow fell across much of the city from around 10pm, despite Met Office predictions that the city would escape the wintry showers that have swept across the north of England and Scotland leaving a thick covering.

In Brent, a heavy snow flurry caught residents by surprise as streets and cars were quickly covered in a white blanket. Graduate Charlotte Hussey, 21, said: “I was really excited and surprised, it was like Christmas had come early. I am going to go to the park today to build a snowman and go sledging.”

Amid the snowfall, a man was taken to hospital after his car skidded off the M25 near Enfield. The Renault rolled over before landing in a ditch.

The cold snap with its widespread frost and crisp air is being caused by air from the Arctic replacing the normal south-westerly Atlantic breezes. “What we saw was the back edge of a weather system being blown down from the Arctic catching London,” said Byron Chalcraft, a Met Office forecaster.

Smile: this boy took advantage of the early snowfall

“The Arctic has been experiencing very cold temperatures this year, so it was an unusually cold front. Some unusual wind patterns meant it was blown over Britain very quickly, meaning the temperatures stayed very low. It is certainly very, very unusual to see snow in London this early,” said Mr Chalcraft. “The last time there was October snow [in the South-East] was in 1974, but the last time we actually had snow cover in October [in London], which we did late last night, was in 1934.”

Forecasters had earlier said there was a chance that London could see “a couple of flakes” but some areas saw a couple of inches fall in two hours.

They said the worst had passed but warned temperatures are set to stay low for the week. Much of snow had melted by this morning, giving way to a bright, cold day with plenty of sunshine.

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• Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
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• Arctic blast brings London earliest snow for 70 years
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• Houston cold shattered record lows set in 1951
• As U.S. Experiences Record Lows and Snows, Climate Report Shows Warming Increase
• Global cooling caused by global warming?
• Arctic Ice Grows 30 Per Cent In a Year
  
• NASA: Solar cycle may cause “dangerous” global cooling in a few years time
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• North Carolina reporting near record cold temperatures
• Unusually cold weather ‘is set to get worse’ in Northern Ireland
• Yes, global warming “is just propaganda”
• Officials Urge Florida Residents To Prepare For Record Low Temperatures
• Arab world shivers in worst deep freeze since 1964

Alabama cold snap ties low temperature record

Tuscaloosa News | Oct 29, 2008

By Jamon Smith

TUSCALOOSA | The big chill that Tuscaloosa experienced Tuesday tied the record for the lowest Oct. 28 temperature ever recorded in the city.

The temperature dropped to a low of 28 degrees early Tuesday morning and was forecast to do the same Tuesday night.

The Tuscaloosa record was originally set on Oct. 28, 1957, said John Sirmon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

‘This is just kind of an early season surge of cold air,’ Sirmon said. ‘It’s not all that unusual, but the normal low for this time of the year is 47 degrees.’

The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a freeze warning for central and West Alabama, effective from 1 to 9 a.m. today.

Sirmon said delicate plants and pets should be brought indoors overnight when the temperatures near the freezing mark.

‘We’re not expecting a hard freeze where you have to worry about pipes bursting, but plants need to be moved inside and any kind of standing water will freeze over,’ Sirmon said. ‘There should be frost on the ground in the morning.’

Maj. Mark Smith, head of the Salvation Army of West Alabama, said the Salvation Army’s shelter has been full the last two nights because of the cold snap.

‘The shelter has been close to full for almost a year now,’ Smith said Tuesday. ‘But we were at full last night, and we’ll be full tonight, but we won’t turn anyone away. We will put cots in the hallway if we have to.’

Despite the frosty chill, power bills haven’t shot up yet.

Joseph Brown, external affairs manager for Alabama Power, said that late January is when people start turning the heat on.

‘I can’t see this little spike making a difference,’ Brown said. ‘Actually, at this time of year people are just turning off their air conditioners so our services are at the lowest.

‘A lot of people stall before they turn on their heat,’ he said.

Temperatures throughout the rest of the week are expected to steadily warm up.

The low for today is forecast to be 38 degrees with a high of 63 degrees. Thursday’s low is also forecast at 38 degrees with a high of 71 degrees. Friday’s low is forecast to be 41 degrees with a high of 72 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Related

• Cold Snap Ties Record Low Temperature in Cuba
• Alabama cold snap ties low temperature record
• Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
• Florida Town Breaks 1950s Low Temperature Records for 2nd Straight Day in a Row
• Arctic blast brings London earliest snow for 70 years
• Global cooling? An inconvenient truth
• Houston cold shattered record lows set in 1951
• As U.S. Experiences Record Lows and Snows, Climate Report Shows Warming Increase
• Global cooling caused by global warming?
• Arctic Ice Grows 30 Per Cent In a Year
  
• NASA: Solar cycle may cause “dangerous” global cooling in a few years time
• Global Cooling? Saudi Arabia covered with snow in coldest winter for 20 years
• Global cooling soon to replace global warming
• North Carolina reporting near record cold temperatures
• Unusually cold weather ‘is set to get worse’ in Northern Ireland
• Yes, global warming “is just propaganda”
• Officials Urge Florida Residents To Prepare For Record Low Temperatures
• Arab world shivers in worst deep freeze since 1964
• Record-breaking cold temperatures hit Vero Beach
• Global Cooling is Here

Evidence of sunspot involvement in climate change compelling

Engineering News | Oct 31, 2008

Over the last few years, the evidence that sunspots on our sun are directly related to climate change on earth has been steadily increasing.

I explained the exact proposed mechanism in some detail previously. Great work in this field is being carried out by Dr Henrik Svensmark and coworkers in Denmark and elsewhere.

Briefly, the mechanism is that cosmic rays impact on the earth from deep space. These cosmic rays penetrate our atmosphere and lead to the formation of cloud cover. The cosmic rays nucleate sites in the atmosphere, from which clouds form from the natural water vapour.

If one puts a spoonful of coffee powder into a cup of microwaved water, the water forms bubbles of foam on the coffee grains. This is basically the same principle as the cosmic rays forming clouds in the atmosphere.

The earth’s magnetic field, which acts as a shielding, is altered by the sun’s activity, which, in turn, is indicated by means of the number of sunspots. As the earth’s magnetic shield varies, so the cloud cover varies. Few sunspots mean a weaker earth shield, which means more cosmic rays, which mean more clouds, which mean a cooling earth.

The correlation for this effect, going back thousands of years, is good, remarkably so. Scientifically, this looks believable, and it is consistent with the theory and observation.

In contrast, the argument that man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing warming does not fit the facts at all. Firstly, there was no indus- trial CO2 produced in vast quanti- ties when the Roman Warming period occurred, or when the Medieval Warming period occurred. Both are well documented in various archives, such as the historical and archaeological.

But there is more – global warming is extremely complex, and it is really naïve to believe that a relatively simple theory will explain it satisfactorily. It is far too simple just to say: CO2 traps heat and, therefore, more CO2 means more heat, and so we have global warming.

As the makers of heat-seeking missiles know very well, the CO2 in the atmosphere has ‘windows’ in it. This means that certain ‘heat frequencies’ pass through the atmosphere easily but other frequencies are trapped. It is these windows that the missile uses to hunt its prey. As a consequence, there are ‘frequency bands’ related to the CO2 cover of the earth. In various ‘bands’, the infrared passes through easily, or not so easily.

Further, CO2 can trap incoming heat from space and outgoing heat being radiated from the earth. The frequency bands linked to the CO2 also become saturated – they cannot just keep sucking up more and more heat. Essentially, this CO2 argument is very complex.

Over the last century, the temperature changes in our planet’s atmosphere, let alone ground and sea, just do not match the atmospheric CO2 concentration at all. This is cause for warning bells that, perhaps, this whole CO2 argument is not correct.

In comparison, the cosmic ray and sunspot information match well. However, as I have said, this whole atmospheric temperature issue is very complex, and no capable scientist in the field is going to say otherwise.

Right now, we have been experi- encing a rather long period of sunspot inactivity on our sun, some 200 days plus. This has happened before.

Formal sun- spot data collection started in 1749 and has been monitored ever since. But long before that date, sunspots were known and informal measurements were taken. It is, therefore, known that the Little Ice Age, which took place from the midseventeenth century to the eighteenth century, was preceded and paralleled by a period of some 50 years with a virtual absence of sunspots, according to informal records.

In more recent times, we have had relatively long periods without sunspots. This year, we passed the mark of 200 days without sunspots, which is unusual. In fact, the sun has been blanker now than in any other year since 1954, when it was spotless for 241 days, and this year is now being called the sun’s quietest year of the space age.

The sun was also very quiet in 1913, so runs of 200-plus spotless days are rare, but not that rare. As I have already said, the global warming and cooling issue is complex, and so a run of 200-plus days without sunspots cannot be compared to a 50-year quiet period during the Little Ice Age, but it is cause for some scientific thinking.

Further, a cooling that could be initiated by a lack of sunspots will induce other climatic effects that will either favour warming or cooling. The jury is still out on exactly what happens, but the evidence for sunspot involvement in climate change is just too compelling for it to be brushed aside by those who want to cling to the simplistic idea that man-made CO2 is the only factor.

How Jewish is Nathaniel Rothschild?

Is he too Blue to be Jewish?

Jewish Chronicle | Oct 30, 2008

Nathaniel is at the centre of a row involving George Osborne, whom he alleged requested illegal donations to the Conservative party. But is this one of the Jewish Rothschilds?

For: The Honourable Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild, known as Nat, is the 35-year-old scion of wealthy Jewish banking family the Rothschilds. His father, Jacob Rothschild, is the fourth Baron Rothschild, who follows the financial family’s charitable interests in Israel and is the chairman of Yad Hanadiv, the family foundation which gave the Knesset and the Supreme Court buildings to Israel. Nat is director of the Rothschild Foundation, which aims to support and strengthen Jewish life in Europe. He has been linked with Hollywood’s haimishe princess Natalie Portman, and says he would like to meet a nice Jewish girl. Now, could this be the ultimate 100% man?

Against: Oy, if only. It’s not that bankers have suddenly become less-than-eligible son-in-law material. It’s that Nat’s mother, the Canadian Serena Mary Dunn, is not Jewish. Plus, educated at Eton, Nat went on at Oxford to become a member of the distinctly Waspish Bullingdon Club, famous for its drinking binges – and we’re not talking Palwin. And far from being obviously neurotic, Mr Rothschild had a distinctly unstereotypical reputation as a playboy. He also married Annabelle Neilson in Las Vegas, without the help of a rabbi.

Verdict: His blood is too blue to be Jewish.

So we say he is 48% Jewish

Related

Nathaniel Philip Rothschild

Wikipedia

The Honourable Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild, known as Nat, (born 12 July 1971) is a British financier who is Co-Chairman of Atticus Capital LP, a 2004 Young Global Leader, and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England.

Nathaniel Philip Rothschild is the youngest of four children and only son of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild and Serena Mary Dunn, whose grandfather was the Canadian financier and industrialist, Sir James Dunn. As the son of a baron, he is entitled to be styled “The Honourable”.^[1] He was educated at Colet Court (in the same year as George Osborne), Eton College and Wadham College, Oxford. Rothschild was a member of the Bullingdon Club as an undergraduate, at the same time as George Osborne now the Conservative Party shadow chancellor.^[2]

Rothschild began his career in 1994 at Lazard Brothers Asset Management in London, before joining Gleacher Partners, the New York-based mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm founded by Eric Gleacher, former head of M&A at Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.

Rothschild is the co-chairman of Atticus Capital LP, an international investment management firm established in 1995, that has offices in New York and London. He is also a director of RIT Capital Partners plc, and a director of The Rothschild Foundation. In 2006, he was appointed chairman of Trigranit, a Hungarian developer of which he is a major shareholder.

Rothschild is a member of the Belfer Center‘s International Council at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution. He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Barrick Gold Corporation. He was nominated as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2005.

Spain’s Zapatero calls for ‘New Financial World Order’

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero joined calls for a new financial world order with stronger mechanisms for control.

Earth Times | Oct 30, 2008

San Salvador, El Salvador – Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Thursday joined calls for a “new financial world order” with stronger mechanisms for control and transparency. At the Iberian American Summit in San Salvador, the centre-left Rodriguez Zapatero criticized the “myth of deregulation” which according to him put speculation and greed, and the unbounded craving for greater benefits, above the productive economy.

He demanded a redefinition of the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), giving emerging and developing countries a greater say, so that international financial institutions “reflect the current geopolitical reality.”

Rodriguez Zapatero praised the progress made by Latin America in recent years, and stressed that Spain will not cut down development aid at timed of crisis.

“At a time in which the economic outlook is complex and difficult, commitment in the field of cooperation for development acquires even greater value, it must continue to be a priority,” he said.

The Spanish prime minister noted that 40 per cent of his country’s aid goes to Latin America.

Spain’s King Juan Carlos, in turn, focused on the summit’s motto, “Youth and Development,” and underlined the importance of creating conditions for the full development of Latin America’s young people.

“If we do not achieve that, we will be committing the fate of our children and not abiding by our responsibilities,” he added.

The 18th Iberian American Summit brings together the heads of state and government of Latin America, Spain and Portugal, with the exceptions of Venezuela, Uruguay and Cuba.

It opened Wednesday with a dinner, while debate started Thursday.

Iberian American summits have been held annually since 1991 to bring together Latin American nations with Spain and Portugal.

Cold Snap Ties Record Low Temperature in Cuba

Cuban News Agency | Oct 30, 2008

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 30 (acn) A cold snap set the lowest temperatures for October on Wednesday in several sites of the interior of western Cuba. The minimum recorded was 9.0 Celsius degrees in Guines, southeast of the capital.

The sharp drop in temperature, unusual for this time of the year in the Caribbean island, is due to a massive continental Artic air mass, along with little cloud cover and weak winds in the interior and south of the country.

A report by Granma daily newspaper says that other record lows were set in several towns in Havana province with temperatures of 9.2 in Tapaste; 9.3 in Melena del Sur; 9.4 in Bainoa; 10.9 in Batabano; and 11.2 in Guira de Melena, according to Anolkys Mengana of the Cuban Forecast Center.

The weather stations in Santiago de las Vegas reported 12.5 and Casablanca, across the bay from Old Havana, registered 18.4, said the expert.

Related

• Cold Snap Ties Record Low Temperature in Cuba
• Alabama cold snap ties low temperature record
• Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age
• Florida Town Breaks 1950s Low Temperature Records for 2nd Straight Day in a Row
• Arctic blast brings London earliest snow for 70 years
• Global cooling? An inconvenient truth
• Houston cold shattered record lows set in 1951
• As U.S. Experiences Record Lows and Snows, Climate Report Shows Warming Increase
• Global cooling caused by global warming?
• Arctic Ice Grows 30 Per Cent In a Year
  
• NASA: Solar cycle may cause “dangerous” global cooling in a few years time
• Global Cooling? Saudi Arabia covered with snow in coldest winter for 20 years
• Global cooling soon to replace global warming
• North Carolina reporting near record cold temperatures
• Unusually cold weather ‘is set to get worse’ in Northern Ireland
• Yes, global warming “is just propaganda”
• Officials Urge Florida Residents To Prepare For Record Low Temperatures
• Arab world shivers in worst deep freeze since 1964
• Record-breaking cold temperatures hit Vero Beach

Hometown doesn’t recognize young man feds say plotted carnage

Daniel Cowart

“The boy you saw on TV was never the kid we saw,” said Scotty Runions, who employed Cowart at a grocery store in town. “He didn’t roam around the community like that. That’s why everybody’s so shocked.”

The Leaf Chronicle | Oct 28, 2008

By CLAY CAREY

BELLS, Tenn. — Folks around this small town who’ve met him paint a simple picture of Daniel Cowart: a quiet computer whiz, polite and shy.

But federal authorities who descended on this town last week cast the 20-year-old in an entirely different light.

Cowart and another man were arrested a week ago today, accused of plotting a hate-fueled rampage that would have claimed dozens of lives. Their alleged prized target: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The caper, which never came to fruition, and publicized images of Cowart holding a weapon were bizarre to local residents who know him.

“The boy you saw on TV was never the kid we saw,” said Scotty Runions, who employed Cowart at a grocery store in town. “He didn’t roam around the community like that. That’s why everybody’s so shocked.”

Those who’d never heard of Daniel Cowart before were surprised by the idea that the murderous plot he stands accused of spearheading could have roots in the small Crockett County town of 2,200, about a half-hour drive northwest of Jackson.

“It’s kind of shocking,” said Bells resident Stevie Johnson, 45. “You never think something like that is going to happen in a small town like this.”

“You think Jackson, Memphis, maybe Humboldt,” a town about 12 miles away. “But Bells? It’s really a peaceful place.”

Paul Schlesselman

News of Cowart’s arrest was kept quiet until Monday, when he and alleged co-conspirator Paul Schlesselman of Helena-West Helena, Ark., made their initial court appearances.

The story of their alleged plans struck a nerve in tiny Bells.

“People are scared. Nobody really wants to say anything about it,” said Johnson, an African-American in a county with a 14 percent black population, according to the most recent U.S. Census.

“I don’t have no fear myself,” Johnson said. “They got up on it in the nick of time.”

The two were arrested by Crockett County deputies last Wednesday on charges of possessing illegal guns, according to court documents.

Those arrests led to an array of federal charges including conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee and making threats against a major candidate for the office of president.

Cowart and Schlesselman, 18, are in federal custody in Jackson. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Cowart’s mother and grandfather both live in Crockett County. Neither could be reached Tuesday to discuss his arrest. His attorney, Joe Byrd Jr., did not return a call for comment.

Federal authorities said the two men fostered a friendship on the Internet based on racist beliefs, and started discussing a spree that would have involved killing 88 people and decapitating 14 African-Americans.

Both numbers hold significance in the neo-Nazi world — 88 is shorthand for HH, or “Heil Hitler,” and 14 is the number of words in a slogan of the white supremacist movement.

Authorities say they planned to target an unidentified predominantly black school and, ultimately, Obama. Investigators say the pair said they wanted to wear white tuxedos and top hats as they gunned down the Democratic presidential candidate.

To execute the plan, authorities said, the two stole firearms from family members and hatched a scheme to rob a gun store to expand their arsenal.

On Oct. 20, authorities said, Cowart brought Schlesselman to Crockett County to carry out the plan. They were arrested two days later, after drawing racist symbols and words on Cowart’s car with window chalk.

“These men have some frightening weapons and some very frightening plans,” said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies the white supremacy movement. “But with the part about wearing top hats … it gets a bit hard to take them seriously.”

Cowart and Schlesselman were “calm as they could be” when officers took them into custody, Sheriff Troy Klyce said. The sheriff would not discuss the specifics of the arrest that triggered the federal charges.

“I’m sure there had to be some thought put behind it. … They definitely had some plans,” Bells Mayor Harold Craig said.

Klyce and Bells Police Chief Ilandis Smith said police are rarely called to investigate crimes based on race.

“I’ve been here for 15 years,” Smith said. “I’ve not had any (racist) graffiti or anything of that nature.

“This is a quiet town. We don’t have that many problems.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center said on its Web site that Cowart had belonged to a group called the Southern White Alliance, which the center said was formed earlier this year. It posted a photo of Cowart at a group’s celebration of Adolph Hitler’s birthday. The center said the president of the alliance is the son of the imperial wizard of the Kentucky-based Imperial Klans of America.

A posting on a Web site for the Supreme White Alliance says Cowart had been a “probate” with the group but had been expelled.

Heidi Beirich, director of research and special projects for the Alabama-based SPLC, said there are several known neo-Nazi groups in Tennessee, including the National Socialist Movement and the Confederate Hammerskins.

The SPLC’s blog shows Cowart’s member page on the Supreme White Alliance’s Web site — a page that has been taken down. Cowart’s profile on that page said, “I’m 19 years old, from west TN. I am easy going and easy to get along with, so long as you are White!”

Those images stand in stark contrast to the Daniel Cowart described by Harold Craig and Scotty Runions.

Mayor Craig got to know Cowart when he worked at Runions’ grocery store and also knew Cowart’s grandparents. The mayor said Cowart “came from good stock.”

“He was a quiet boy over at work. … He was a nice young man,” the mayor said. “It’s a total surprise.”

Runions said he last saw Cowart about two weeks ago; his former employee helped him fix a problem with an electronic sign at another grocery store Runions owned.

“If he’s anything, he’s a little weird — a computer geek,” Runions said. But he never pictured Cowart as a dangerous man.

“That person never existed. I’ve never seen him like that. Nobody can explain it,” Runions said.

“He was a kid trying to find himself, and he went down the wrong path.”
Bob Smietana of The Tennessean, Bill Theobald of The Tennessean’s Washington bureau and Associated Press contributed.

Related

Alleged Plotter Against Obama Was Member of Supreme White Alliance
The SWA Ning site also carries a page showing “Daniel’s Friends,” belonging to Daniel Cowart, that lists as a friend Steven Edwards (posting as “Stevenfuckit08″), the current president of SWA. Edwards is the son of Ron Edwards, who is the imperial wizard, or national leader, of the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), based in Kentucky.

Imperial Klans of America
The Ku Klux Klan is a US Supreme Court recognized and protected Christian Organization in multiple Supreme Court decisions, and has received a Charter from US Congress.

Supreme White Alliance webpage

Pentagon Seeks Robots To Hunt Down Uncooperative Humans

InfoPackets | Oct 29, 2008

by Bill Lindner

The latest Orwellian request from the Pentagon reportedly involves seeking contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human.”

Questions arise as to where that type of technology could end up. Last year, iRobot struck a deal with Taser International to mount stun guns on its military robots. How long will it be before we see packs of rogue droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralyzing and deadly weapons while making wrong decisions?

Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University, an expert on police and military technologies told New Scientist that “what we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs” and “once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed.”

Technologies for human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat have already been developed.

While it’s understandable that the military would want such equipment for war time use, concerns have arisen that it would be used against U.S. citizens irresponsibly.

With the threat of Marshall Law being instituted if the fraudulent bailout wasn’t passed, U.S. troops being deployed on U.S. soil and the Department of Homeland Security expanding its own powers to search travelers at borders — and turning vast swaths of the U.S. into “Constitution-Free Zones,” egregiously violating the civil rights of numerous Americans — the question of what the military intends to do with heavily armed robots tracking down ‘non-cooperative’ humans is a very legitimate one. (Source: countercurrents.org, and aclu.org)

It appears that America has slowly and methodically been changed from a Democracy to a fascist police state in the name of “National Security,” which may just be an oxymoron intended to keep crimes committed by the federal government covered up.

At what point does the federal government start looking out for the people they allegedly represent? At what point do people start paying attention to the dangerous acts being committed against them by their own government?