Tom DeLay sentenced to three years in prison.

Former House majority leader Tom DeLay was
sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a
money-laundering case stemming from the 2002
elections.
DeLay, once one of the most powerful
Republicans in Congress, was convicted in
November for illegally funneling $190,000 in
corporate money through the Republican National
Committee to help elect Republicans to the Texas
Legislature during the 2002 elections.
Texas judge Pat Priest sentenced DeLay to three
years on a conspiracy charge and also sentenced
him to five years in prison for money laundering.
Priest, however, allowed DeLay to accept 10
years probation on the money laundering charge,
assuming he meets certain conditions set by the
court.
DeLay could have received up to life in prison on
the money laundering and conspiracy charges.
The former Houston area congressman, known
as "The Hammer," was unrepentant today in
court. "I fought the fight. I ran the race. I kept the
faith," he said, according to the Austin American-
Statesman.
Former House speaker Dennis Hastert, DeLay's
former boss, attested to the character of his top
lieutenant. DeLay left Congress in 2006 and
served in the House's No. 2 job from 2003 to
2005.
DeLay was found guilty in November for illegally
funneling $190,000 in corporate money through
the Republican National Committee to help elect
Republicans to the Texas Legislature during the
2002 elections.
DeLay, 63, maintained his innocence even after he
was convicted last year, arguing a "miscarriage of
justice" and denouncing what he called "the
criminalization of politics."
Matt Angle, a former congressional aide who
heads up the Lone Star Project, said DeLay's
legacy will live on in Texas no matter how much
time prison time the Republican serves.
"There is little reason to feel comfort in justice
being served to Tom DeLay today," said Angle,
an aide to former congressman Martin Frost, a
Texas Democrat. "His corrupt, partisan legacy
lives on in Austin and is being practiced
enthusiastically by the Republicans currently
control in Texas."



Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/01/prosecutors-seek-jail-time-for-tom-delay-/1

READ MORE ................... Tom DeLay sentenced to three years in prison.

Loughner's Meltdown Began in Adulthood, Those Near Him Say.

The cloudy image of the gunman in Saturday's
horrific shooting in Tucson is starting to come
into focus, as neighbors and acquaintances paint
a picture of a troubled young man whose
disturbing behavior started to flare up in just the
last few years.
Alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner, charged in
the shooting that left six dead and 14 wounded
including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, has a minor
criminal record dating back to 2007. But his
former high school principal, Richard Faidley, told
FoxNews.com that he didn't have any major
disciplinary problems in school before that.
"I don't recall anything of any significance with
that individual," Faidley said, other than that he
was involved in the school band program.
But Loughner's problems have now escalated to
the point that his family has barricaded itself in
their home, hounded by reporters and spectators
who want to know how the 22-year-old could
have gone on a killing spree on a sunny Saturday
afternoon in Tucson.
The FBI was forced to wait outdoors Monday
while the family removed the plywood it had
used to blockade the door. After a few minutes of
removing the wood, FBI began another search of
the property that has been upended in the orderly
and ongoing law enforcement investigation.
Speaking in her annual state of the state speech,
Gov. Jan Brewer said the attack was an assault
not merely on individuals, but on "on our
republic, on our democracy." She said despite the
impact, Arizona will not be brought down.
"In fact, we've been lifted up by America's
thoughts and prayers and we're deeply grateful
for them," she said.
As for Loughner's descent, his problems seem to
have started to mount after he dropped out of
Mountain View High School in 2006. It's unclear
whether his behavior seriously startled anyone in
the years immediately following, but after
attending a local transitional school and then
enrolling in Pima Community College, his
classmates and his professors noticed something
was wrong with Loughner.
Last year may have been a breaking point.
According to the college, campus police got
involved on five separate occasions for
"classroom and library disruptions" involving
Loughner between February and September of
last year. Things came to a head after campus
police discovered a YouTube clip he filmed on
campus that showed him saying the college is
constitutionally illegal.
Loughner was suspended on Sept. 29 and
withdrew a few days later. He was told that if he
ever wanted to return he'd have to obtain a
"mental health clearance" from a mental health
professional saying he did not present a danger.
Loughner never presented such a document and
never returned to school.
Ben McGahee, a math professor who pushed for
Loughner to be removed, told Fox News he was
scared for other students' safety.
Pima college students were equally concerned.
Classmate Lynda Sorenson, 52, offered an eerily
prescient warning in a personal e-mail to friends
last summer.
"We have a mentally unstable person in the class
that scares the living crap out of me. He is one of
those whose picture you see on the news, after
he has come into class with an automatic
weapon," she said in an e-mail, published by The
Washington Post. "Everyone interviewed would
say, Yeah, he was in my math class and he was
really weird. I sit by the door with my purse
handy. If you see it on the news one night, know
that I got out fast..."
Sorenson wrote that Loughner was "seriously
disturbed," though she wasn't sure whether he
was "on drugs."
Apparently, he was. Loughner was rejected from
the Army in late 2008 when, during the
application process, he admitted to using
marijuana numerous times, according to a
military source.
His 2007 arrest on record in Pima County was for
possessing drug paraphernalia and other minor
infractions.
A high school friend of Loughner, Caitie Parker,
has given a detailed account of his personality
and background on her Twitter page over the
past few days. According to Parker, Loughner
had "a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning
in ‘06" and dropped out of high school.
She described him as "left wing" and "quite
liberal" and "oddly obsessed with the 2012
prophecy." Parker described him as a "pot head"
who was into rock music, though she hadn't
seen him since 2007.
"I think he slowly descended in a psychotic break.
Something in him snapped. He wasn't always like
this," she wrote.
Loughner's neighbors described the young man
as generally quiet and not talkative or friendly.
"It was almost as if he had blinders on," Stephen
Woods, who lives next door, told Fox News on
Monday. He said his son Anthony would try to
wave to Loughner and he would just keep on
walking. "No response, he wouldn't even look at
him."


Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/10/loughners-meltdown-began-adulthood-near-say/

READ MORE ................... Loughner's Meltdown Began in Adulthood, Those Near Him Say.

PMO: Sheikh Jarrah demolition 'in accordance with law'.

In wake of int'l condemnation, Netanyahu's
bureau defends construction of Jewish homes in
e. J'lem neighborhood: "State of Israel can't ban
Jews purchasing private property in J'lem"
The Prime Minister's Office on Monday defended
the bulldozing of the old Shepherd Hotel in east
Jerusalem that has drawn international
condemnation.
In a statement, Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's bureau said that actions undertaken
Sunday at the Shepherd Hotel were conducted by
private individuals in accordance with Israeli law.
The Israeli government was not involved."
The statement went on to explain that "there
should be no expectation that the State of Israel
will impose a ban on Jews purchasing private
property in Jerusalem. No democratic
government would impose such a ban on Jews
and Israel will certainly not do so."
"Just as Arab residents of Jerusalem can buy or
rent property in predominantly Jewish
neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Jews can buy or
rent property in predominantly Arab
neighborhoods in Jerusalem," the statement
added.
Earlier on Monday, Egypt and Jordan criticized
Israel for the demolition, AFP reported. The two
countries also warned against a violent backlash
in the wake of the demolition.
The Egyptian Foreign Affairs issued a statement
claiming that continuing Israeli settlement projects
will cause a "new explosion of violence" in the
West Bank.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also
strongly criticized Israel for the demolition of the
vacant but historic hotel in east Jerusalem, saying
that the move undermines US efforts to restart
stalled peace talks.
In a statement released from Abu Dhabi, where
she was beginning a tour of the Persian Gulf,
Clinton said late Sunday that the destruction of the
Shepherd Hotel to make way for a new Jewish
housing development "contradicts the logic" of
Israel and the Palestinians negotiating a solution to
their differences over Jerusalem, one of the most
explosive issues in Israeli-Palestinian
peacemaking. Clinton said the United States is
"very concerned" about the demolition.
Demolition of the Shepherd Hotel, in east
Jerusalem ’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, began at
dawn on Sunday.
It came after a long battle over construction rights
that drew condemnation from US President
Barack Obama and other leaders around the
world over the past few years.
The hotel, which was built in the 1930s by the
mufti of Jerusalem Haj Muhammad Amin al-
Husseini (1921- 1948), was bought in 1985 by
American millionaire Irving Moskowitz, who has
bankrolled other Jewish housing projects in Arab
neighborhoods in the capital. Moskowitz,
partnering with the Ateret Cohanim organization,
plans to turn the complex into 20 apartments for
religious Jewish families.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=202950

READ MORE ................... PMO: Sheikh Jarrah demolition 'in accordance with law'.