Ernie Reid passes

By Kurt Schauppner / For the Star

TWENTYNINE PALMS - The man who helped create Action Council for 29 Palms and was a guiding force at the Friends of Copper Mountain College has died.

Ernie Reid died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. Reid's wife, Mary, who goes by the name Lou, said her husband died at home at 7:05 a.m., two weeks after being discharged from the hospital.

“It was time for him to go,” she said. “He was a Marine to the end. I think that's why he lasted so long. He was bound and determined to die in his time.”

The Reids were due to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in July.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 27 at the Protestant Chapel at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. This will be followed by a celebration of Reid's life at the Officer's Club. More

A Report from the Home Front

A post from a concerned Father:

My wife and I just received a telephone call from Baghdad - our second son Jay called today.

Not a very happy Holiday season for him nor a happy new year.

Seems today that his Platoon Sergeant was killed and several others seriously wounded.

The Platoon Commander made sure that all of his remaining Platoon called home to tell family that they were alright before the news hit the press.

Funny - my son said that "it is better we fight them here - but they will never be able to take care of themselves - they are bad people".

Listen to Bush and those that have no blood in this fight all you want.

Both of my sons that have fought and are fighting have told me the same thing - they fight to kill those that killed us - yet they know that this war is very, very, wrong.

Today my 19 year old son became a man much older than his years. Thank you Mr. Bush and the rest of you that scream for war yet do not send your own blood to fight it - You sicken me.

Steve Spear

UPDATE: Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Vanderhorn, 37, of Pierce, Wash., died in As Sinia, Iraq, on Jan. 1, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations.  Vanderhorn was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

Humor: The year in review from the OC Weekly

The Orange County Weekly's Steve Lowery, takes the events of 2005 and mangles them with his sick mind. This is a great read. Here is an example:

September28, 2005- Ashley Smith was big news back in March when she was held hostage by Brian Nichols, a man accused of having just killed four people in an Atlanta courtroom. Somehow, after seven hours, Smith talked Nichols into releasing her and giving himself up.

Words such as miraculous and divine —Nichols called Smith an “angel”—were thrown around rather freely, especially after Smith revealed she got through to Nichols by talking to him about God and faith, using the good book, Saddleback Community Church’s Rick Warren’s Dianetics-like best-seller The Purpose-Driven Life as her guide. When word got out, Purpose-Driven’s already robust sales shot up fivefold and returned it to the top of the best-seller list. Warren went on Larry King Live and said that he now kept in touch with Smith, noting that “God uses normal, ordinary people.” Yeah huh, them and meth. Smith reveals in her just-released book, Unlikely Angel, that she not only read to Nichols but gave him methamphetamine—God doesn’t make junk, but apparently He’s down with crank.

Smith says it was the meth that made Nichols receptive to a chapter in Purpose-Driven called “Using What God Gave Me,” which directly precedes a chapter called “Using What God Gave Me Has Made Me Want to Grind Down My Teeth and Horny, I Think I’ll Paint the Garage.”

Now, please don’t misunderstand: I’m not being critical of Smith. She was on a bed, tied up with an electrical cord by an alleged mass murderer. If I’m in that position, I’m not only delivering meth, I’m doing it in high heels—I’ve done as much to get out of jury duty. In fact, Smith’s example has convinced me that meth is a required item for my post-New Orleans earthquake kit. I think it will prove an effective tool when bartering for food and women. (More, and there is more believe me.)

Balancing Act: Conflicting Constitutional Concerns

"The leaking of classified information is a serious issue. The fact is that al-Qaida's playbook is not printed on Page One and when America's is, it has serious ramifications," Whitehouse spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush was spending the holidays.

The administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress last week, saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored.

In a letter to the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees, the Justice Department said Bush authorized conducting electronic surveillance without first obtaining a warrant in an effort to thwart terrorist acts against the United States.

More

What's a Community to do?

I Googled "methamphetamine" this evening and found that there are 5900 recent news stories out there on the web. That means 5900 small town news papers throughout America ran a story this month on the Meth Problem. It has become a national problem.

It seems to me, we are being attacked from within by an enemy as insidious as any Middle Eastern terrorist group. Whole families are being effected, and whole communities are under siege.

What was once a party drug of Bikers and a boost for cross country truckers, has now become the drug of choice for middle class America. We see the effects everyday. Young women with leathered faces, speeding through their lives but going nowhere. We can find men both young and old, unable to hold down a job, rattling off incoherently as they attempt to hold a intelligent thought. Their lives are aimless and lost. Their futures are bleak.

I wonder is their nothing that we can do as a community to at least curb the effects of methamphetamine among our own neighbors, friends and family?

Meth users turn to identity theft

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- Stealing mail. Digging through trash. Days spent in front of a computer trying to unlock financial information.
All to score methamphetamine.
Authorities are discovering that more and more desperate users of the drug are turning to identity theft to pay for their habit, creating a criminal nexus costing Americans millions of dollars.
The trend is sweeping the West and spreading nationwide, with one hub of activity in the garages and trailer parks of Riverside and San Bernardino counties on the fringe of suburban Los Angeles.
The region was the site of a third of California's nearly 500 meth lab raids last year and is home to the second-highest number of identity theft victims in the nation. More

Measure I: Court to hear sales tax lawsuit

A state appeals court will hear arguments next week on whether a half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements in San Bernardino County should be allowed to go forward.

The 4th Appellate District court already has issued a tentative decision, rejecting the Sierra Club's request to block the renewal of Measure I, approved by voters in November 2004. The court will hear final arguments Wednesday morning and will issue its decision later.

The countywide tax will raise $6 billion for transportation projects over 30 years, starting in 2010 when the current measure expires. The San Bernardino Associated Governments already has begun planning for how it will start spending the funds.

The Sierra Club contends that the measure promotes additional growth and that the county was required by state law to conduct an environmental study of the transportation projects funded by the measure before placing the proposal before voters More

A DUI can cost more than your license

Just a reminder for those planning on driving home from the party New Years Eve.

Alcohol-related crashes annually cost society $45 billion, yet this conservative estimate does not include pain, suffering and lost quality of life. These indirect expenses raise the alcohol-related crash figure to a staggering $116 billion.

Last year, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) reported in San Bernardino County, there were 138 alcohol-related deaths and 1,885 injuries. What makes it even more interesting is San Bernardino County was second only to Los Angeles County where 259 deaths were alcohol-related.

Statewide, there were 1,643 alcohol-related deaths in 2004, which was an increase from 1,629 in 2003.

Some More Resolutions

This weeks Desert Trail's editorial "Some suggested resolutions" is a darn good start.

As many of you are aware, we have been selling Hot Dogs down at the Court House three days a week. What is startling about spending time down there is the amount of misery. Misery that is manifest in the drug trade. It is something to hear a LA Gang Banger say in amazement, “I've never seen so many druggies in my life.”

The criminal activity in our area is almost totally caused by the drug trade. Family courts, Small Claims and of course criminal courts are overflowing with the effects of Meth and its many derivatives. Our whole society is being attacked by this plague as sure as any El Qeidia IED. Families are being destroyed, lives are being lost, and the economy is in jeopardy.

We would like to add to Kurt's Resolutions: Let it be resolved to put an end to the drug trade in the Morongo Basin.

Consulting: Eating the forbidden fruit

In California, overseen by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, all state (including city) employees, elected officials and state board or commission members are forbidden, for one year, from representing any party before the state agency by which they were formerly employed. For legislators, this ban includes any appearance before or communication with a legislator, employee, committee or subcommittee. For employees, the ban includes not only the agency of previous employment but also any other agency that would fall under the direction or control of the former agency. A lifetime ban also exists against switching sides in a matter on which an official worked while employed by or elected to the state government.

Adding a classified section

We thought we would like to start the New Year off with a Bang by expanding the web site a little. To start off, we've added a Classified Ad section. It's Free so don't get excited. Its easy to post your ad. Advertisements will stay online for 15 days (you can renew them up to 45 days.) Give it a try it should be fun. Look for Classified Ads on the left hand side of this page.

Park attendance booms

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK - California's Mojave Desert is nearly 9,000 miles from home for Reddy Shanti.

But just steps into Joshua Tree National Park, the Pondicherry, India, resident grasps the allure.

"The vistas. The vastness. The solitude," Shanti said of the atmosphere at the desert park.

Shanti, 50, is among nearly 1.3million people who visited the park in 2005 - a 10 percent increase in visitors from 2004.

And if the trend holds, it will be the highest annual visitor total since 1998 and second overall in the 11-year history of the park. More

Christmas in Baghdad

Iraqi Christians celebrated Christmas midnight mass Saturday afternoon, several hours before dusk because of a night curfew and the danger of being out late at night in a city marred by years of violence.

The celebration, part of which was carried live on Iraqi national television, was led by the patriach of Babylon and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Emmanuel III Delly.

He led prayers for "peace in Iraq and in the world" at the Church of the Virgin Mary in the capital's Karrada Christian district. More

Angels for Afghanistan

A group of Utah aviators stationed in Afghanistan delivered Christmas to hundreds of boys and girls in a small village there.

Amanda Butterfield talked with two of the pilots who organized "Angels for Afghanistan," and shows us even though the children had never heard of Santa Claus, they understand the spirit of giving.

Forget the sleigh, this year Santa and his helpers arrived in the village of Jegdalek, Afghanistan in Schnuck helicopters. A village, where people live in mud huts. More

US Marines bring Christmas cheer to children in Malta

Under the "Toys for Tots" program, during the festive seasons, US Marines worldwide distribute toys to a number of children living in institutions and shelters.

The US Marines and members of the US Embassy staff had the opportunity to meet with the children at the home and with Sister Rose Xuereb, as well as other members of staff at the home.

Worlds apart, but two hearts stay close

She sits alone in baggage claim, a couple of suitcases along for company.

She says she's been here since 10:30 a.m. But it's 1 p.m. Friday afternoon now and it feels like forever.

Forever's a long time when you're waiting to see the man you love for Christmas.

On the day before the night before Christmas, Linsey Cogdal's is a familiar scene, loved ones waiting for loved ones, anxiously scanning schedules and fidgeting in front of the arrival gate.

And it's a scene that will be repeated hundreds of times at Palm Springs International Airport before Christmas Day.

Linsey had gone home for the holidays so she could come home for Christmas.

Her husband, a lance corporal at the Marine Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, wasn't able to take leave, so she spent the week with her family in Missouri. More

American Justice: A Presumption of Guilt

Almost all (95-97%) felony indictments are settled by a coerced plea. By withholding exculpatory evidence, suborning perjury, fabricating evidence, and lying to jurors, prosecutors have made the risks of a trial too great even for the innocent. Consequently, the prosecutors' cases and police evidence are almost never tested in court. Defendants are simply intimidated into self-incrimination rather than risk the terrors of trial.

According to Yale University law professor John Langbein, "The parallels between the modern American plea bargaining system and the ancient system of judicial torture are many and chilling." Just as the person on the rack admitted to guilt in order to stop the pain, the present day defendant succumbs to psychological torture and cops a plea, whether he is innocent or guilty, in order to avoid ever more charges.

Michael Tonry, director of Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology, reports that the US has the highest percentage of its population in prison than any country on earth, including dictatorships, tyrannies, and China. The US incarceration rate is up to 12 times higher than that of European countries.

Unless you believe Americans are 12 times more criminally inclined than Europeans, why is one of every 80 Americans (not counting children and the elderly) locked away from family, friends, career, and life? Part of the answer is the private prison industry, which requires inmates to fuel the profits of investors. Another part of the answer is career-driven prosecutors who want convictions at all costs. Yet another is the failure of judges to rein-in prosecutorial abuses. Another part of the answer is the hostility of Americans to defendants and indifference to their innocence or guilt. More

Man Acting as His Own Attorney Holds Corrupt Courts at Bay

Sometimes it is the little things that defeat the bad guys, says Gene Forte. He compares the evidence he now has about public officials and judicial corruption to what put Al Capone behind bars.
More
http://www.newswithviews.com

Federal Judge looking for the easy way out for Strippergate Two

SAN DIEGO – The judge in the City Hall corruption trial allowed former San Diego Councilman Ralph Inzunza and former Las Vegas lobbyist Lance Malone to remain free on bond pending the outcome of their appeals, which could take up to three years. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller ruled Monday there are "debatable" legal issues surrounding the July 18 convictions on extortion, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. More

Ex-SJ sheriff is out of prison

MANTECA — Baxter Dunn, who was forced from his job as San Joaquin County sheriff after a public corruption scandal, finished a six-month prison term Tuesday.

Although his term at minimum-security Taft Correctional Institution near Bakersfield has ended, Dunn is expected to begin six months of court-ordered home detention. More

A world unto itself

By Steve Bailey, Globe Columnist | December 16, 2005

It may be of some comfort to those 50,000 managers at Verizon Communications Inc. who are fuming about having their pensions frozen and losing their retirement health benefits to know that the people at the top know all about hard work and sacrifice. Take, for instance, Doreen Toben, Verizon's chief financial officer.

''Horses are an incredible amount of work," Toben told Fortune magazine two years ago. ''I was raised on a horse farm in Harding Township, N.J. My father worked on Wall Street. There were always horses on the property, and we grew up with horses and fox hunting with the likes of Jackie Kennedy and stuff. When you got home from school, you would have to muck your own stall. You would brush your own horses. You would groom your own horses."

Imagine the hardship. But to continue: ''my daughter does show jumping, and we have six horses. If you think of the Olympics with maybe one rail lower, that's the kind of jumping I'm talking about. We do horse shows every single weekend. It's a real bond between the two of us because we can talk about it. My husband talks to my son about basketball. It's also a very stay-out-of-trouble, all encompassing, wear-blue-jeans-and-a-T-shirt-with-no-makeup-and-your-hair-pulled-back kind of lifestyle."

It gets better: ...

Yes Joey, there is a Santa Claus...

You've saw it here first. Michael Swigart, City Manager for the City of Twentynine Palms has notified the Council that he intends to retire as of June 1, 2006. We at Vote29.com could not be more pleased. As Gerold Ford said, “The long nightmare is over.”

Oh thank you Santa you made our Christmas!

China: So long Mao, Hello Capitalism!

BEIJING -- As China hurtles down the capitalist road, the communist ideals of the modern nation's founder, Mao Zedong, lie discarded in the gutter.

Yet Mao is still enshrined as China's greatest leader. His large portrait, solemn and slightly enigmatic, looks out over Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the nation.

The Communist Party clutches Mao as a monumental figurehead, 29 years after his death. Party leaders won't let go of him as long as they retain their monopoly on political power. The preamble to China's Constitution hails ''Mao Zedong Thought'' for helping to guide China into the present. His likeness appears on nearly every piece of currency.

But Mao's ideas appear to have little relevance. ...One can only imagine the shock that the Great Helmsman would feel if he came back to life and strolled through China's cities. More

USS Iowa bound for California port

WASHINGTON — The USS Iowa is now a jump ball, with California cities including Stockton and San Francisco getting a chance to compete for the old battleship.

In a political settlement that leaves the biggest question unanswered, lawmakers have agreed the now-retired Iowa will end up somewhere in California. In a bit of a blow to Stockton's original hopes, though, Congress will not specify which city gets the trophy.

Instead, the Navy will consider bids placed by those who think the famed 45,000-ton warship will make a dandy tourist attraction.

"This agreement," Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday, "will ensure that the California community best prepared and suited to develop this museum will receive it." More

National media are making the news instead of reporting it

By: F. Paul Valon

To MoveOn.org supporters, those who still consider Dan Rather's downfall an anomaly, and others deluded into believing the national media lack an agenda, I present Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey.

Endearing himself to his Waynesville, N.C., neighbors by waging a one-man war protest, Massey was feted in the media for alleging American military atrocities in Iraq. From a 4-year-old shot in the head and civilians executed at checkpoints to truckloads of dead non-combatants putrefying into organic ooze, Massey told all the only minor hitch being, apparently, that none of it actually happened.

Eager to fuel the fire, Arabic network al-Jazeera seized upon Massey's fabrications, decrying "rampant" brutality and calling the U.S. campaign "genocide." And one might forgive the French (as charitable souls forgive them most things military and governmental) for publishing Massey's charmingly titled book, "Kill, Kill, Kill."

But shouldn't we expect better from America's allegedly mainstream media? What about USA Today, whose "Recruiter-turned-peacenik" feature chronicled Massey's metamorphosis from Jarhead to war criminal to protester?

Or the Associated Press, which celebrated Massey's book by recounting claims that his platoon killed unarmed civilians? As an afterthought, it mentioned that a Marine Corps investigation found his allegations "unsubstantiated."

Or perhaps Vanity Fair, where former "60 Minutes II" producer Michael Bronner, unperturbed by Massey's dubious credibility, highlighted him among allegations of Marine recruiting abuses? Read More

Adelanto Council gets in spirit of Christmas

ADELANTO - Opting to dispense with any pretenses of political correctness, the Adelanto City Council went full bore ahead and wished everyone a "Merry Christmas."

"And I do mean a 'Merry Christmas,' " Mayor Jim Nehmens said during Wednesday night's City Council meeting. Officials took the opportunity during the standing-room-only meeting to light the city's freshly planted Christmas tree and celebrate Adelanto's 35th birthday.

More

Ex-Colton Councilman Given Slap On Hand

After saying he was "deeply apologetic" for taking bribes while on the Colton City Council, Donald Sanders was sentenced Monday to 17 days in jail and $45,000 in restitution and fines.

"I've been ashamed, absolutely been ashamed," Sanders told U.S. District Judge James V. Selna at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana.

http://www.latimes.com/

Ashamed? Hell all he got was 17 Days, Seventeen stinking days! If you got caught for littering you might spend more time. Sentencing for Political corruption is a joke. Instead of stringing them up the courts have been letting corrupt politicians off with a slap on their hands. The crime here is with the dirty politicians. They write the laws and make damned sure they cover their own asses.

City gets money back from Tony Robbins

SOUTH GATE, Calif., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A California city that paid $65,000 for a platinum membership in Tony Robbins' organization for its former treasurer is getting some of its money back.

Albert Robles was a big fan of the motivational guru, the Los Angeles Times reports, at one time taking a group of South Gate employees to a fire walking seminar and berating those who were nervous about treading on hot coals. Robles, who has since been convicted of bribery and corruption, went to private Robbins events in Fiji and Prague.

More

Desert Trail: Bernal given leave of absence

TWENTYNINE PALMS - Twentynine Palms City Council Member Elaine Bernal was granted a 60-day leave of absence from the council to recover from injuries she sustained while working as a California Highway Patrol officer.

Council members voted 4-0 to grant Bernal the leave of absence at their regular council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Bernal's injuries have prevented her from attending council meetings.

In discussing those injuries, Council Member Steve Spear, who is a sheriff's deputy, said Bernal was involved in a head-on collision while on duty in Morongo Valley.

Previously, Bernal announced that, because hers is a workers' compensation case, she had been ordered not to take part in city council activities. More

We wonder will the Mouth of Morongo shut the hell up now?

Desert Trail: Cole looks forward to 2nd term

TWENTYNINE PALMS - Kevin Cole, who served a term as mayor of Twentynine Palms in 2002, will serve in that capacity again in 2006.

Cole succeeded Mayor Dawn Benton Jr. after being nominated for the position by Mayor Pro Tem Steve Spear in a move which bypassed the normal succession process in cities like Twentynine Palms.

Spear later said he opted out of the job because he felt he did not have the time to commit to the position.

“That's pretty much how it came about,” Cole said of his ascension to the first-among-equals position. “Regardless of how it came about I am honored to do the job.” More

President Gerald Ford, 92 in Hospital

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, 92, was in a California hospital for tests on Tuesday but his office said the admission was routine and indicated his stay would be brief. Ford's office said in a statement that the former president "was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. He is undergoing medical tests and will be released when they have been completed." "It is just routine," a spokeswoman told Reuters. She declined to give details but said a statement would be issued when Ford was released.

29 Council Meeting: Realignment of duties

While Council-member Elaine Bernal is on the mend, the Twentynine Palms City Council will be deciding who will perform what duties tonight.

"Once Ms. Bernal is back we can reassign duties," According to Councilman Steve Spear, "there is no rule that one must keep the same committee assignments for a year."

DHS City manager interviews announced

The Desert Hot Springs City Council announced Monday that it will begin interviewing top city manager candidates on Dec. 26.

Out of a special hourlong closed session Monday, interim City Manager Corky Larson said the council will interview four to six candidates for the city's chief executive officer post beginning at 8:15 a.m. Dec. 26.

The proceedings are personnel matters and will be closed to the public. More

Crips gang co-founder, Stanley "Tookie" Williams executed

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) - Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed Tuesday morning.

Williams, 51, died at 12:35 a.m. Officials at San Quentin State Prison seemed to have trouble injecting the lethal mixture into his muscular arm. As they struggled to find a vein, Williams looked up repeatedly and appeared frustrated, shaking his head at supporters and other witnesses. More

US Supreme Court Says No To Tookie

The US Supreme Court has refused to block California's execution of Stanley Tookie Williams.

The decision came after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency for the former Crips gang leader, who is due to die early tonight. More

Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams is set to be executed just after midnight tonight.

From the desk of the Governor

Subject: Stanley Tookie Williams

"Hasta la vista, baby."

The Massey saga continues: 3/7's Honor remains intact

Once again the Scourge of the 3/7 in this case we can confidently state, "ex-Marine" Jimmy Massey is back in the news.

Massey was in Iraq during the war's first weeks in 2003. He was honorably discharged later that year and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Once home, he began telling horrific tales: Of Marines committing atrocities in Iraq, deliberately - almost gleefully - gunning down unarmed Iraqis, including small children. He repeated his claims, sometimes differing in their details, in widely distributed media reports.

Then last month, a St. Louis newspaper reporter who was embedded with the battalion labeled the allegations as exaggerated or plainly false.

Ron Harris, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter whose November article called into question Massey's claims, said neither he nor any Marine he has interviewed remembers the events described by Massey.

Massey has suggested Harris set out to smear him, but Harris insists there was nothing personal in his reporting. He says he set out to see whether he could prove - not disprove - Massey's allegations.

"I wrote stories that did not paint a pretty picture" of the early days of the war, Harris says. "I'm damn sure not covering for the Marine Corps."

Read more on this story "A Marine confronts nightmares of Iraq - but are they real?"

or Read: Why did the press swallow Massey's stories?

ADELANTO: Of all the Gin Joints.....

ADELANTO -- In a run-down house scattered with debris, authorities found the original manuscripts of "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane" and "My Fair Lady" hidden in boxes in a bedroom closet Wednesday morning.

Two men were arrested after detectives served a search warrant in the 20600 block of Highway 395 and recovered at least $500,000 of movie and sports memorabilia from a series of burglaries in the Los Angeles area over the past year. (More: Desert Dispatch)

Will The Real John Murtha Stand Up?

Contrary to popular opinion, Rep. John Murtha, the decorated ex-Marine who called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, is no hawk.

He may also soon be probed for misusing defense appropriations.

"If you want anything done on the committee, you go to Murtha."

He's delivered so much pork to his congressional district, an airport and a major highway are named after him.

Ashdown and his nonpartisan watchdog group criticized Murtha for using the $417 billion fiscal 2005 Pentagon spending bill to give business to his lobbyist brother.

The Los Angeles Times in June reported that Murtha funneled nearly $21 million to 10 or more corporate clients of KSA Consulting, where Robert "Kit" Murtha is a senior partner.

Carmen Scialabba, a Murtha congressional aide for 27 years, is also a high-ranking official at KSA.

The newspaper Roll Call reported that there might be a House ethics committee investigation of Murtha's apparent improprieties.

But is that possible now that Murtha has become the media's "hawk with a conscience?"

Come to think of it, could Murtha have been thinking about a possible ethics investigation when he decided to throw himself into the public limelight last month?

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...

3/7 Looses a Marine

A Marine corporal from Twentynine Palms was killed in Iraq this week.

An improvised explosive went off while Cpl. Joseph P. Bier, 22, was in Ar Ramadi on Dec. 7.

Bier, born Oct. 1, 1983, in Centralia, Washington., joined the Marine Corps in June 2003.

He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, as a machine gunner in October and had been in Iraq since September.

He earned the National Defense Service Medal and War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

He is survived by parents Clayton and Carol of Centralia Washington.

TV Repeater District Sucks

Either George Morang's letter to the Editor in the Desert Trail is an example of the "tail chasing the dog" gobbledegook or the Editor cut to much out to make the 300 word limit. Television service to the area that pays the bills, sucks. It sucked 5 years ago, a year ago it sucked and it still sucks. Nothing has changed.

The antenna propagation is directed away from the taxpayers. Signal strength is stronger in the City of Twentynine Palms than it is in the CSA area it is meant to serve. The only dependable thing about the TV Translators are that they will go out just when you sit down to watch a program. The supposed two channels that are in control at the local level are out just as much as those provided by the scapegoats from LA. You can set your watch to the fact that the TV will go out on World Series Week, Super Bowl Sunday, New Years Eve or any other significant event. It's almost like someone likes getting their ass chewed.

Local programming is produced for and directed to communities not served by the taxpayers of the Television district. A good example, Who in the CSA Districts gives a hoot about Paws and Palms? They are served by the Humane Society and the County Animal Control.

Try getting an answer out of the local office. Either you are treated like a irritant or they blow smoke so far up your tail you think you're a steam engine. George come on, Mr. Herndon could talk to you until he's blue in the face and it would be the same old song and dance, it has been that way since we approved the County's take over of the TV Club.

Community input is neither wanted nor appreciated. It never has been and until District residents raise unholy hell it never will be.

DHS: 1200 down 600 to go, Recall seems sure.

Alex Bias reported today for his first full day as mayor of Desert Hot Springs.

He took his oath of office last night at city hall. He was swept into office on a wave of voter discontent with city leaders.

Also at last night's meeting, people continued to gather signatures to recall two city council members, Mary Stevens and Hank Hohenstein. The recall effort needs 1,800 signatures from registered voters in Desert Hot Springs to qualify for the ballot.

1,200 signatures have already been collected. Bias's signature is on the petition.

The Odd Fellows Club?

Well guess who is going steady? Last night's Planning Commission the public witnessed that a certain Councilman was all buddied up with a terminated, oh excuse me resigned, ex-city official. They were seen passing notes and talking sweet nothings.

We wonder who paying for this? Someone is about to get the big one slipped to them. Care to bet, its the taxpayer?

Remembering Pearl Harbor

YUCCA VALLEY - It's been 64 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor. Each year, the passage of time claims survivors, now in their 80s. With candor and clarity, Yucca Valley resident Clarence Lux shared his memories about his Navy days, the attack on Pearl Harbor and his little place in that great big event.

Lux grew up in small-town America - Troy, in northeast Kansas. After graduating from high school in 1940 he became a grease monkey, changing oil at the local Chevrolet dealership. But when the boss's nephew showed up looking for a job, Lux found himself out of work during America's Great Depression. More from the Hi-Desert Star

Write-in mayoral candidate, 74, dies

Desert Hot Springs resident Jerry Murphy is being remembered this week for his involvement in law enforcement, real estate, the Elks Lodge, the Army and politics.

Mr. Murphy, 74, died Nov. 29 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. Rogers said the cause is undetermined but her father had suffered from heart problems and recently had stents put in to treat artery blockage.

As a write-in candidate in November's Desert Hot Springs election, Mr. Murphy received 267 votes, or almost 11 percent, placing him fourth for the mayor's race. Alex Bias was elected mayor with 865 votes, almost 35 percent. More PE.com

DHS: A New Mayor and Halfway to Recall

Desert Hot Springs will begin a new era with a new mayor today. Challenger Alex Bias won the mayor's race in a close election this November against Mary Stephens.

The recall effort is still underway . Recall leaders say they have half of the signatures necessary against councilmembers Mary Stephens and Hank Hohenste. They hope to get it on the March ballot. They plan on collecting more signatures for the recall during today's swearing-in ceremony.

2/7 Contact Numbers

'America's Finest City' falls from grace

One of its congressmen admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes, the FBI has investigated City Hall, the mayor resigned, a $1.37 billion pension shortfall damaged the city's credit rating and fueled talk of bankruptcy, and two councilmen were convicted of taking bribes from a strip club owner.

Faced with all that ill repute, the city has quietly dethroned itself and dropped the self-proclaimed title "America's Finest City" from its official Web site. "We couldn't stake that claim anymore," said Gina Lew, the city's director of public and media affairs. "We were taking too many hits."

The San Diego Union-Tribune recently asked readers to coin a new slogan, saying "America's Finest" had turned "creaky." Among the nearly 500 responses: "Scandalicious," "An Eruption of Corruption," "All Major Unmarked Bills Accepted Here," and "Bunglers by the Bay." (More- Desert Sun)

SF Mayor reflects on hike in homicide rates

No one should be surprised when Mayor Gavin Newsom states, "I'm accountable.'' It's a phrase he uses a lot, most recently in response to San Francisco's rising homicide rate in recent months.

Last year, there were 88 homicides in San Francisco. The number was surpassed this year on Nov. 23, when victims No. 89 and No. 90 were gunned down. Newsom stated last year that he would bring the homicide rate down. http://www.sfgate.com/

Well just wait until the Gun Ban goes into effect. The rate should double or triple. The criminals are lining up right now at the east shore of the Oakland-B