Los Angeles police under scrutiny in Jackson death
By LINDA DEUTSCH and THOMAS WATKINS, AP
L. Michael Jackson.Investigation

The rented home of Michael Jackson seen from the air, Monday, June 29, 2009,...


LOS ANGELES — The investigation of Michael Jackson's death is widening as questions intensify about the drugs he took, the doctors who provided them and the actions of police.

Why didn't police seal the mansion where he had been living? Why were moving vans seen at the home, and were any items removed before police wrapped up their search? Why didn't they get immediate search warrants? Why did they tow away a doctor's car right after the death but not declare the home a crime scene?

Los Angeles police say proper procedures were followed based on the circumstances officers encountered when they were called to the home at 12:21 p.m. on June 25. A doctor was attending to Jackson and stayed with him when he was placed in an ambulance at 1:07 p.m. There was no sign of foul play.

Others say police should have assumed it was possible a crime occurred and taken precautions to ensure the scene was not disrupted so evidence wasn't lost or tainted.

"If I was the chief detective on the case, I would have said, 'We don't know what's going on. We should seal the scene,'" said defense attorney Harland Braun, who has represented celebrities including Robert Blake, Roseanne and Gary Busey. "You always have to think of the worst-case scenario and you have to think fast. I would have sealed the scene just because it was Michael Jackson."

Whether the Jackson probe turns into a criminal investigation hinges on what evidence emerges involving the drugs. Charges could be brought if authorities determine Jackson had been overly prescribed medications, if he had been given drugs inappropriate for his medical needs, or if doctors knowingly prescribed Jackson medications under an assumed name.

It's still not known what caused Jackson's death at age 50. The pop star went into cardiac arrest in his bedroom and his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, performed CPR while an ambulance was called, according to Murray's lawyers. Murray has spoken to police and authorities say he is not a suspect, though his actions have come under scrutiny because his own lawyers acknowledge it may have taken up to a half-hour for an ambulance to be summoned.

An autopsy was conducted but results are not expected for several weeks. The Jackson family had a second autopsy performed and those results also are pending.

On Wednesday, The Associated Press learned Los Angeles police asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to assist in the investigation.

DEA agents participated in the investigation of the 2007 overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith at a Florida hotel. California Attorney General Jerry Brown investigated her former boyfriend and two of her doctors.

Brown handed the investigation over to the Los Angeles district attorney's office, which filed charges of conspiring to provide Smith with prescription drugs.

Brown said the suspects broke the law because Smith was a "known addict." The former boyfriend and doctors denied the charges.

The DEA also probed whether painkillers found in actor Heath Ledger's system after his death last year were obtained illegally. Federal prosecutors did not charge anyone.

Jean Rosenbluth, a University of Southern California law professor, said the agency's involvement in the Jackson case suggests authorities are looking into whether drugs came from out of state. Murray lives in Las Vegas and is licensed to practice in Texas, Nevada and California.

Federal drug regulations include controls over whether and how frequently a doctor can write prescriptions over the phone, and DEA agents could be looking to see if these rules were broken, Rosenbluth said.

"You can't just get on the phone and continue to prescribe something for someone without having seen them for a long period of time," she said.

Jackson had a well-known history of using prescription medications, especially painkillers. Following his death, Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who had worked for Jackson, told the AP she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug Diprivan, also known as Propofol. It's a potent anesthetic used in operating rooms and it would be highly unusual to have it in a private home.

Uri Geller, a former Jackson confidant, said he tried to keep Jackson from abusing painkillers and other prescription drugs, but others in the singer's circle kept him supplied.

"When Michael asked for something, he got it," Geller said in a telephone interview from his suburban London home.

Jackson had multiple doctors and many others like Geller who came in and out of his life. Which people are being interviewed by police is unclear because the LAPD has said virtually nothing about the probe.

"I am not going to make any comments on the investigation," Commander Patrick Gannon, the designated police spokesman on the Jackson case, said by e-mail Thursday.

Any evidence would be turned over to the district attorney's office, which has final say on criminal charges.

One of the key questions is why it took four days for police to issue a search warrant and remove medications from Jackson's home.

Although the home wasn't declared a crime scene, police did tow Murray's car the evening of the death to look for potential evidence.

Vernon J. Geberth, former commanding officer of the Bronx Homicide Task force in New York, said police should have known they were dealing with an extraordinary situation.

"If it's a high-profile person, you have to do more than you would do ordinarily," he said.

Still, Geberth, who now acts as a private forensic consultant, said he believes the LAPD acted appropriately.

"Having a doctor present altered the equation. It was not a homicide scene. It was an emergency medical scene," he said.

Police spokesman Lt. John Romero declined to comment when asked if the LAPD was reviewing its handling of the investigation.

Rosenbluth said if the case ends up as a criminal prosecution, any defense attorney would seize on the LAPD's failure to immediately seal Jackson's home.

"If you can get even one juror think, I don't know, maybe somebody fiddled with the medicine before the police came in and collected it, that's reasonable doubt," she said. "All that the defense attorney needs is one juror."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

It brings Joy to my heart to hear that Michael Jackson wills complete and sole custody of his children to his mother!!!.
I am grateful to him for the beautiful music and for leaving a third of his great fortune to charity. I pray that it goes straight to the needy children he wants it given to.
RIP dear Michael
I know you are with angels!
Clarita

Whatever My President decides is ok with me. It is the first time in my life I have ever trusted and felt affection for a president and his family!
May they always stay blessed!

The Scorpion and the Frog

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

Self destruction - "Its my Nature", said the Scorpion...
An Interesting article regarding this fable

The frog is altruistic I read somewhere and that is you and I. But we also need to be pragmatic and realistic. It is the nature of people to act as who they are. People do not change their basic character and it is not always easy to identify the scorpions as they disguise themselves very well. So you do what President Reagan said about the Russians when they agreed to dismantle their nuclear arsenal. You trust but verify. You never give strangers access to money or decision making with out a long time of proving themselves, that you always have two signatures and you have a board of directors approve all decisions. That is how NGO’s and business operates. You can trust with small things. If someone does not justify, explain, show proof in details, or defers or deflects and does not answer, that is not ethical, professional, in any culture of the world. People have different customs, but if they are sincere they will prove it that is culturally appropriate but they will show they are friends and trustworthy. Trust your instincts. You have a rare ability to see where so many are blind. Trust the sight that comes from your heart and not your eyes alone.

I think I’ve figured it out. There’s something in public health called the “prevention paradox”: measures of disease prevention that offer great benefits to populations at large (such as fluoridation of water sources, wearing seatbelts, lifestyle changes, smallpox vaccinations, etc) offer little benefit or personal incentive to individuals.

But research shows that health education geared toward individuals (counseling on reducing salt intake for hypertension, exercise for diabetes, etc) are less effective when geared only toward individuals and/or used in a short-term approach. People are motivated to act for immediate gain and substantial personal benefits, but “the medical motivation for health education is inherently weak. Their health next year is not likely to be much better if they accept our advice or if they reject it. Much more powerful as motivators for health education are the social rewards of enhanced self-esteem and social approval.” (Geoffrey Rose, Sick Individuals and Sick Populations.)

Physicians also prefer individualized health education because with population interventions (such as anti-smoking campaigns), their success rates are low and results take a long time to achieve.

The US is such an individual-centric society that people have no cultural reason to care about population health as a whole. Most Americans do not see that universal access to healthcare means that problems are detected and treated early (which is less costly), and that sometimes preventive medicine can encourage life-saving behavior change. That the person going into the ER for stomach pain because s/he does not have health insurance is costing the taxpayer literally thousands more dollars than s/he would if s/he’d gone to a primary care physician.

Nor do they understand the concept of herd immunity- if a large proportion of a population is immune to or vaccinated against a particular disease, the likelihood that one individual will get that disease is far less.

The focus on the individual and the apathy toward the well-being of communities and populations is by no means restricted to health alone. The same can be said about the current financial crisis. Individuals who borrowed more than they could pay back, and their unscrupulous lenders have created a global downward spiral of hundreds of economies, with the bottom billion hit the hardest.

I find it ironic and deeply saddening that 30 million more people have been pushed into starvation thus far due to the financial crisis while bankers are taking hefty bonuses and governments are bailing out businesses that were failing even before the crash (GM, Chrysler, etc…)

The Calf-Path

by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.

Since then three hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bellwether sheep
Pursued the trail o’er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bellwethers always do.

And from that day, o’er hill and glade,
Through those old woods a path was made,
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because ’twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed — do not laugh —
The first migrations of that calf,
And through this winding wood-way stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane,
That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet.
The road became a village street,
And this, before men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare,
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed that zigzag calf about,
And o’er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They follow still his crooked way,
And lose one hundred years a day,
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.

They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives they move;
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf!
Ah, many things this tale might teach —
But I am not ordained to preach.

Creating a lot of sensationalism and news stories on so called epidemics
is a way of overthrowing a government. A couple of hundred deaths worldwide from this disease is hardly a reason for global panic. It is an old military tactic that puts fear in people and causes discrimination. Dividing them is a trick they use to put a corrupt government in power through the use of fear, control, isolation, intimidation of present leaders[ by making them look incapable of taking care of the people], and creating great financial difficulties that threaten their society. It has been going on for ages. If people buy into these dirty tricks they will be very sorry afterwards. What comes to them once the corrupt regime has established itself, by creating chaos, is far worse than anything they could ever have imagined.

At Cal, global poverty minor's hot, humane
Reyhan Harmanci, Special to The Chronicle
Friday, April 10, 2009

UC Berkeley senior Emma Shaw-Crane is graduating in May with a degree in interdisciplinary studies and a Fulbright scholarship that will take her to Bogotá, Colombia. But she says that if it weren't for the university's newly established global poverty and practice minor, she might not have made it through her four years of study.

"I came into Cal thinking I'd fail out. I was partly schooled in Mexico, and I didn't know how to read and write in English," says Shaw-Crane, 23. "The minor was really, hugely important. I don't think I would have cut it if I hadn't been able to take classes based on what I was interested in and absolutely love."

Led by city and regional planning Professor Ananya Roy, who is curriculum director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and bolstered by 21st century service ideals, the global poverty and practice minor has become the school's fastest-growing minor. Sixty students will graduate with the credential this spring, as opposed to seven in 2007-08, its inaugural school year. Roy says that the fall's enrollment is 210, which could make it the campus' most popular field of secondary specialization.

At the heart of the curriculum, which includes the mandatory class Global Poverty: Challenges & Hopes in the New Millennium, is "the practice" - an opportunity for students to take their learning into real-world situations. The practice has led students around the globe, from South America to Africa to the Caribbean to Oakland, where they work on a wide range of issues: housing, health care, urban planning, infrastructure and gender equity.

"The Blum Center had been in existence for a couple of years, and I was focused on poverty alleviation - there's a set of projects that I run - and there was a sense on campus that we should also involve our undergrads in greater numbers," Roy says of the birth of the minor. "Many people in this generation are already doing this kind of work. We wanted to support that work and possibly train them."

Don't think, though, that either the professors or the students have any illusions about ending or solving poverty. "We want our students to be useful, but this is so much about what they learn from the experience that they are transformed, particularly as young Americans," Roy says.

Developing organizations and projects that won't disappear when a practice ends is another goal of the minor. Jonathan Lee, 21, a graduating senior from Pleasanton, plans to continue work on his nonprofit. Tentatively called Community Health Development in Honduras, the nonprofit has garnered national attention and landed Lee a spot in this year's Clinton Global Initiative University program.

Lee first heard about the global poverty and practice minor from a professor in another department, who thought it would align well with his previous work as a volunteer for Global Medical Brigades in Honduras. "I did a service learning trip with a group that helped to provide health care (in 2007)," he says. "I came back from the trip very frustrated, angry and confused, but hopeful. I switched to a public health major. I was interested in medicine but felt like my major wasn't doing anything to address what I had seen in Honduras."

Lee went back to Honduras for his practice, working on a new model for providing health services to remote areas. With two other Berkeley grads, he helped train people in preventive health care methods and to use cell phone technology to form a community health network.

"The basic platform is to empower communities to improve their health care," Lee says, calling the lack of medical care a "pathology of poverty." "The probabilities of a child dying in a rural area is 1.5 times more than in urban areas."

The minor is, by design, heavily interdisciplinary. City and regional planning Professor Jason Corburn, for instance, will be taking 10 students to Nairobi this summer to work on a multifaceted project in Kenya's second-largest slum.

Because of a plan to clean up the Nairobi River, an estimated 120,000 people will be displaced and Berkeley will work with University of Nairobi students and local nonprofits to help alleviate the situation. After their trip, Corburn will lead a class on follow-up action, creating and submitting proposals to the local government and to the United Nations.

"We are in a position of privilege as UC Berkeley students and faculty coming from a rich country and we spent a year or more building trust with a local community-based organization, really listening to what their needs are," Corburn says. "What privileged people can best do is support their ongoing work - don't shape or dictate, but support."

E-mail Reyhan Harmanci at dateletters@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page F - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Creative energy brings you
to it
and it will bring you
through it.
Clarita

Not to long after my step father passed on I joined tig. The years have passed rapidly. I feel like an old member now!
Everyone in my family loved Bob, my stepfather, because he was a kind and unique individual. When he left us we knew we would really miss him. He had muscular dystrophy and it finally got the best of him. I still remember the day before he died the news had announced that Sadam Husen been captured.
I was so impressed with the way my mother told her dream I was inspired to make a piece of art out of it.
In the dream my mother was standing in a new house that Bob was showing her. She said the house was very nice and she liked it a lot. Then he led her down some stairs and she found herself in a small glass room that had a small bed and a book to read. The walls were glass and you could see the ocean on all four sides. She felt frightened in the dream but Bob told her not to be. He looked young and healthy as he stood there in front of her. He told her it was a place to rest for a while, to be calm. and that it was good. This calmed her down and she woke up feeling happy about the visit because she loved him very much!
I had a lot of difficulty searching for an image of a glass room on the internet that I could use to inspire me with the picture I wanted to make. I had never joined any internet sites and didn't plan to but there I was all of a sudden on taking it global. I don't know how I got there and why I joined so quickly, it wasn't like me! When I went back to read the fine print, which I usually read, I realized the community of artist and global matters I had joined was for young people. That was what I thought at least after reading everything carefully. I was wondering how it was that I acted so quickly and got glass house out of "taking it global". Especially after searching for hours and only finding about three pictures. None of the images were what I had in mind to use for an idea. Well, I thought, tig accepted me so I must be within their requirements, I told the truth about my age! As I got to know the community I realized that there were other people my age and that youth was the main focus. I was very happy about this. I felt so welcome by everyone and have made the greatest friends I could ever make! I have a son from Ghana now because of this site. He is wonderful and brings much joy into my life. We communicate in English. He is teaching me Dagbani and I am teaching him Spanish. I have brothers and sisters on tig that I feel as if I had grown up with. I have shared tears and laughter with them. We have helped one another.
This is my favorite site and I can only hope to meet you if you are reading this because all people who come here are pulled here by a beautiful energy.
As far as the dream....the glass walls are the directions I travel when I see all my friends [my global family] and we share our dreams. The book ......that is the story of humanity and myself. Our loves, our tears, our success, our loss, our truth....
The resting for a while....a time to reflect....
the house upstairs....our chance to work together to realize harmony and unity together on one planet as one family.
My mother/parents.....An angel who gave me the opportunity to see my humanity....my family on earth
My stepfather....An angel who brought me a message. One that I followed and found to be the most important decision I have made in my life.
This is why I am here sharing my dream with you.
May peace be with you always!
Clarita

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/27/MNQO16O4VT.DTL


(03-27) 14:34 PDT OAKLAND --

In an emotional farewell, more than 20,000 grateful citizens and law-enforcement officials from across the country gathered Friday to honor the lives of four Oakland police officers who were shot and killed in the single deadliest day in department history.


Every kind of law enforcement officer from every corner of the nation was there, from San Francisco parking-control officers to state game wardens and sheriff's deputies in camouflage to officers with rescue dogs. There were officers from the U.S. Mint, UC Berkeley, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Austin, Texas, many of whom waited in lines snaking around Oracle Arena to remember their fallen colleagues who made the ultimate sacrifice.

They were joined by community members and a host of dignitaries during a three-hour service at the arena for what was by far the largest police funeral in recent memory.

Sgt. Mark Dunakin, or "Dunny," as everybody called him, was a big teddy bear and die-hard Ohio State Buckeyes and Pittsburgh Steelers fan who proudly patrolled the streets on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle after serving a stint as a homicide investigator.

Traffic Officer John Hege was a "beer and brownie man" who combined his love for the department and the Oakland Raiders by working overtime at the Coliseum during home games.

SWAT Sgt. Ervin Romans was a former Marine Corps drill instructor, a "tactical guru" and expert marksman who instilled the importance of safety in the hundreds of officers he trained.

Sgt. Daniel Sakai, a former K-9 officer known for his big smile - and big ears - juggled the duties of being a patrol sergeant and a SWAT entry team leader, yet still insisted on working out and running with officers preparing to take a grueling physical test.

Deadliest day

All four veteran officers died March 21 when a wanted parolee, 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon, opened fire in separate incidents just hours apart in East Oakland. Together, they had nearly 50 years of experience with the force. Their deaths left 10 children without fathers.

As officers from 15 agencies patrolled city streets, the entire 815-member Oakland Police Department came to celebrate the lives of the officers even as they struggled to come to terms with the deadliest day in its history. To lose four officers was almost too much to bear.

"I was hoping not to have to go to another one of these things. It's a tough job," said Oakland police Officer John Wilson, a 25-year veteran who hopes to retire this year. "But our job is to protect and serve, and sometimes we die for it."

Mixon opened fire with a handgun after Dunakin, 40, and Hege, 41, pulled him over during a traffic stop at 74th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard at about 1 p.m. Shortly after 3 p.m., Romans, 43, and Sakai, 35, died when their SWAT team stormed the apartment where Mixon was hiding. This time, Mixon fired with an assault rifle. He was shot to death by police.

Another SWAT officer, Sgt. Pat Gonzales, suffered a gunshot wound but is recovering. He was one of Sakai's pallbearers.

'Forever Heroes'

Rumbling corteges of motorcycle officers escorted each hearse in miles-long processions to the arena, causing traffic delays on most East Bay freeways in the morning and again in the afternoon. Along the way, police officers and firefighters stood in silent salute on highway overpasses.

At the arena, police vehicles passed underneath a giant American flag hanging between the extended ladders of two Oakland fire trucks, maintaining a tight and sharp formation, just as Dunakin would have liked it, his colleagues said.

Their badges wrapped with black bands of mourning, hundreds of officers in dress uniforms lined the steps outside the arena and saluted as one by one, honor guards escorted four flag-draped caskets inside, followed by the officers' families. A sign at the complex read, "Forever Heroes."

Hundreds of police vehicles - bomb-squad trucks, motorcycles, Ford Crown Victoria and Dodge Charger cruisers - filled the parking lot. There were police cars from Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. A rainbow of uniforms filled the arena and the adjacent Oakland Coliseum, where an overflow crowd of several thousand watched the service on two big screens.

Many officers dabbed at their eyes with white gloves as the caskets were placed in front of a flower-adorned stage beside their pictures. The police motorcycles of Dunakin and Hege and two pairs of empty boots sat nearby.

The funeral was mixed with humor and sadness.

Chris Dunakin recalled playing cops and robbers with his goofball of an older brother who, naturally, was the cop. Mark Dunakin took great delight in the irony that his little brother became an attorney, because that meant "I am still a crook," Chris Dunakin said, drawing laughs.

Sgt. Rich Vierra said he tried to wow Romans with a story about being attacked by a baby seal while scuba diving. Romans countered with a story of how a bear stole a fish from him in Alaska - and he "took the fish back from the bear."

Along with remembrances by friends and family were reminders by public officials who told those in attendance to keep their heads high in honor of the fallen officers.

Public officials who spoke at Friday's event included Sens. Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, State Attorney General and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums sat on the stage but did not speak after he was asked by at least one family not to, a city official said without elaborating.

Show of support

Members of the Oakland City Council, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were among those in attendance.

"Yes, they were gunned down in hatred and in anger, but they stand very tall in our hearts, in our memory forever," Brown said.

"We must not let the pain drown out the joy and comfort that these men brought to so many lives," Feinstein said.

Schwarzenegger hailed the selfless actions of officers who "would give their lives for any one of us. It is an awful day when we lose one of them, and now we have the sorrow of saying farewell to four of them, all at once."

Oakland police Capt. Ed Tracey agreed, telling mourners that although the four officers he supervised died of an evil act, "We must not, however, allow the selfish and cowardly actions of a criminal to taint our wonderful memory of these officers' lives." Tracey also singled out Clarence Ellis, a 53-year-old retired AC Transit bus driver who ran over and performed CPR on Dunakin.

Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan, who assumed the post only three weeks before the tragedy, gave the families of each officer the flags that had covered their caskets. A bugler sounded taps, and police bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." Outside the arena, officers stood at attention as their slain colleagues received a 21-gun salute from military cannons.

Each officer was honored with a group of five law enforcement helicopters flown overhead, with one peeling off in a "missing man" formation.

E-mail the writers at hlee@sfchronicle.com, carolynjones@sfchronicle.com and srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

[I am very proud of Hillary for standing up and speaking the truth. it is the same story with the many of the other crisis in this world. Tere is always a finger being pointed and an unwillingness on the part of the side pointing the finger to look at their part]. - Clarita

Mexico traffickers are armed by US weapons to supply drugs across border, admits Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton has admitted that the US demand for illegal drugs and its consequent supply of weapons is fuelling the wave of violent killings in Mexico's drug wars.

The US secretary of state yesterday distanced the new administration from those in Washington who have in the past suggested that the government of the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, had lost control of parts of its territory.

During a visit to Mexico, Clinton never wavered from a tone that repeatedly stressed the concept of "shared responsibility" that appeared designed to address historic Mexican sensibilities over heavy-handed treatment from its northern neighbour.

"We know very well that the drug traffickers are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States and that they are armed by the transport of weapons from the United States," Clinton said.

The acknowledgement comes amid growing international concern about drug-related violence in Mexico that killed about 6,000 people last year and well over 1,000 so far this year.

Most of the victims of the violence are associated with rival trafficking groups who are in the midst of a turf war that has intensified since Calderón launched a military-led crackdown on the cartels in December 2006. In recent months some in Washington have suggested the Mexican government has lost control of parts of its territory, or even that Mexico is on the verge of becoming a failed state.

There is particular concern about the situation in cities such as Tijuana, south of San Diego in California, and Ciudad Juárez, just over the border from El Paso in Texas. The violence in Juárez has subsided somewhat in the last few weeks, but only because 8,000 soldiers have taken over security in the city in what amounts to de facto martial law.

After meetings with Calderón and the Mexican foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, Clinton gave the country's government a ringing endorsement.

"President Calderón has demonstrated great courage and dedication," Clinton said. "The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us. They will fail."

An estimated 90% of drugs used in the US come through Mexico. A similar proportion of the weapons used by the cartels in their war in Mexico come from the US.

Along with promising greater efforts to try to stop guns from getting to the cartels, Clinton announced the creation of a new Bilateral Implementation Office in Mexico where officials from both governments would work together against the cartels. She also promised extra money for more helicopters than already negotiated in a $700m (£479m) training and technology package under the Bush administration.

Clinton's visit was preceded by a week of successes for Mexican law enforcement. First, Vicente Zambada, the son and heir-apparent of one of the country's most important drug lords, El Mayo Zambada, was arrested in one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods of Mexico City.

Then Sigifrido Najera, allegedly a top hitman of the Gulf cartel, was detained. Finally, on Tuesday, soldiers picked up Hector Huerta Rios in a suburb of Monterrey, the northern industrial city where he allegedly controlled operations for the Beltrán-Leyva cartel.

All three were on a list of the country's top 24 traffickers published on Monday along with rewards of up to $2m for information leading to their capture. Such key detentions looked to many in Mexico as if they were specially put on for Clinton.

The secretary of state will spend most of today in Monterrey. Her sojourn will be followed by a visit from the US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, and then President Barack Obama in mid-April.

I once fasted at an ashram for a week. When the swami came to visit after a week of fasting the head devotee proudly announced "Master, we have fasted for a whole week!"
The master answered, "Where there be fasting there be feasting!"
I once went without speaking for a week at a silent retreat. After the retreat two of the people who attended were exchanging numbers. I was trying to give them my number so we could all get in touch but they never heard me. One of them was to busy talking to the other and not giving the other opportunity to speak. One kept interrupting trying to say something while the other spoke endlessly as if he were enjoying the sound of his own wonderful voice and thinking that surely everyone else must feel the same way. What started out as a conversation turned into an argument about who was wrong and who was right.
I reflected a lot on these experiences as I was growing up. Words seemed like wires that if they became hot could light on fire. Bodies seem to be more like vehicles that carry one heart to another. Or vehicles that break down when you give yourself the wrong directions. We can fill our trunks [minds] with words or we can travel light. We can distract ourselves with noise and not hear someone warning us of potential danger. We can think someone is looking at how great a color our car is when they are actulally looking at what is about to hit us.
One day I had a dream that I was able to have a new body if I wanted it and I said yes because it seemed so much more beautiful than my own. Once I was in the new body I felt frightened. It was like being put in a dark cold mansion. I walked to the mirror and fell because my legs were to long and to muscular. I looked at myself and saw that I was covered with very thick light hair all over my body that could not be seen from far away. I was not use to the weight of the new body that looked so well built from afar. The worst part was that who ever use to have the body was being followed by men dressed in black who were contracted to find whoever it use to belong to because they had done something terribly wrong. My new body trembled with fright! I wanted to return to my beautiful wonderful self but I couldn't. Suddenly I stood looking down at my body that I had given up. There I was laying on a table motionless and peacefully sleeping. I cried to think of how unfair I had been to myself. My body was good to me and had done what I asked. It gave its all to me without questioning and accepted what I gave it like a child. It was not to blame. I was so glad when I woke up to find myself.
I didn't need words...I just knew I was ok and that was all that mattered. I had my body and a my life to feel greatful for.
Many years have passed and I remember as if it were yesterday.
I can only say now that there are no words as important as "I love you"
and there is no one as special as someone else to say them to.
Life should be lived in gratitude for this.
Sometimes I need to stop and quite my mind and that is a contribution to society.

Prayer for a United world
By Paramahansa Yogananda

May the heads of all countries and races be guided to understand that men of all
nations are physically and spiritually one;
Physically one, because we are the descendants of common parents-the symbolic Adam and Eve; and spiritually one, because we are the immortal children of our Father, bound by eternal links of brotherhood.

Let us pray in our hearts for a League of Souls and a United World. Though we may
seem divided by race, creed, color, class, and political prejudices, still, as children of
the one God we are able in our souls to feel brotherhood and world unity. May we work for the creation of a United World in which everty nation will be a useful part, guided by
God through man's enlightened conscience.

In our hearts we can learn to be free from hate and selfishness. Let us pray for harmony
among the nations, that they march hand in hand through the gate of a fair new
civilization.

I think we will begin to see many groups surge that are coming together to help Obama bring people together. I believe these groups will join with one another and welcome people from all over the world in an effort to someday be one humanity in a peaceful loving world. A world where everyone discovers their full potential and creativity is the universal language.