CLARION ISSUE TRIVIA

Will Rogers

MUSIC REVIEWS

At last the first two John Kay solo albums, Forgotten Songs And Unsung Heroes and My Sportin' Life have been re-released in their entirety. While an abbreviated 10 song CD was released under the title Lone Steppenwolf the collection carried only half of this excellent two-album song list. Now BGO Records has released all twenty songs, many of them covers, done by John Kay shortly after the demise of the original Steppenwolf in the early 1970s. The double release CD contains John Kay doing songs like "You Win Again" by Hank Williams, Steely Dan's "Giles Of The River," "Drift Away" by Mentor Williams and made popular by Dobie Gray, and many of Kay's originals to boot. If you were missing this great collection it is now available at the online music stores.

History's Currents

History's currents or current history? You decide!

CLARION ISSUE BRIEFS

THE SOUTH

UGA PLANS LETTERMAN-ALUMNI CEMETERY NEAR STADIUM

The University of Georgia now sports (pardon the pun) a cemetery for Bulldog lettermen and their families. "Bulldog Haven" is a designed resting place in the shadows of the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium where ex-Bulldog football players and their families can buy a plot for $1,500. So far, more than 100 spots at the site have been sold.

Several former players came up with the idea after Bulldog great Bill Hartman's 2006 funeral at another plot in the Oconee Hill Cemetery, just across the street from the stadium. Hartman's friends arranged for team broadcaster, the legendary Larry Munson, to recreate one of his most famous touchdown runs, and when it played over the stadium's loudspeaker, it inspired Mack Guest, a former UGA lineman, and other ex-players of the UGA Football Lettermen's Club to dream up a special burial place for former lettermen. The result is a tidy plot in the cemetery near the stadium where contractors plan to build a wall that looks like stadium steps, a small-scale version of a football field and a small chapel bell that would be rung to memorialize lettermen. The cemetery will also will include the famous hedges that line the field of the real stadium across the street.

If this sounds surreal it is really not. People in Athens, Georgia, and all around the South Eastern Conference take their football seriously. The school's beloved bulldog mascots, UGA I-VI, are interred in a specially built marble vault built into the side of the south grandstands just inside the main gate of the southwest side of the stadium. According to UGA officials, Georgia is the only school that buries its mascots within the confines of the stadium.

The website for Bulldog Haven is www.bulldoghaven.org .

In an unrelated story, The University of Georgia Research Foundation acquired bandwidth, the right to use the part of the electromagnetic spectrum the station used to broadcast its TV signal, when it purchased the Toccoa-based WNEG, Channel 6, for $1.4 million in 2008. When WNEG and most other U.S. TV stations begin digital broadcasting this year, that bandwidth could earn UGA some money. Digital signals are more focused than analog systems, so the new TV station will have lots of broadcast frequencies the station won't need, freeing up so-called "white space" on the electromagnetic spectrum used for wireless communication, which includes radio, TV, wireless internet, and cell phones.

The University has not indicated what it intended to do with the bandwidth, stating it is more focused with getting the TV station up and running; however, the possibilities for a big windfall for the university exist. Some companies have already asked UGA if they can purchase some of the university's unused bandwidth for wireless internet and FM radio use, and some universities have already made millions in presale commitments of their freed up white space bandwidth.

The University of Georgia was founded in 1785 and became the nation's first state supported university. Abraham Baldwin, a signer of the U.S. Constitution, was the first acting president of the Univesrity of Georgia.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON LOSES LOUISIANA CONGRESSIONAL SEAT

In a special election held on December 6, 2008, indicted Democratic Congressman William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson lost his seat in one of Louisiana's two elections delayed by Hurricane Gustav. He was defeated 50% to 47% by Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao, a New Orleans attorney, who will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress.

The 61-year-old congressman managed to get re-elected two years ago despite news of a major scandal when Federal agents indicated they found $90,000 in alleged bribe money hidden in his freezer. He faces bribery and money laundering charges. Jefferson, who was running for an 11th term, blamed his loss on low voter turnout. Green Party candidate Malik Rahim and Libertarian Gregory W. Kahn were also in the race.

Elections in the area had to be postponed due to Hurricane Gustav in September.

Jefferson has been under indictment since 2007. The indictment claims Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more between 2000 and 2005, including the $90,000 found in the freezer of his Washington home. Prosecutors contend Jefferson used his influence as chairman of the congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker deals in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and other African nations on behalf of those who bribed him. He became the butt of late the night comedians who renicknamed him "Cold Cash" Jefferson. He was stripped of his power in Congress by the Democratic leadership.

Jefferson's trial is tied up in the U.S. Appeals Courts. Jefferson argues that the charges are invalid due to the fact the grand jury got access to information about his actions as a member of Congress. Jefferson claims this action runs against the constitutional clause that shields members of Congress from civil or criminal action stemming from the performance of their legislative duties.

The prosecutors in the case, however, contend the indictment is valid and the appeal should be denied and the trial be allowed to begin. They went further saying, "at trial, the District Court will scrupulously guard against any possible violations of the Speech or Debate Clause."

Jefferson faces up to 235 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

MODERN DAY D. B. COOPER, MARCUS SCHRENKER, CAPTURED NEAR TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

Marcus Schrenker was arrested near Tallahassee, Florida, late at night on January 13 after making nationwide news by trying to fake his death by bailing out of an airplane and disappearing into the Alabama countryside, almost D. B. Cooper style. U.S. Marshals and other law enforcement officials took him into custody at a Chattahoochee, Florida, campground after he tried to commit suicide with a self-inflicted gash to the wrist.

On January 11, Marcus Schrenker, a 38-year-old financial adviser, was flying his single-engine Piper Malibu to Florida from his Indiana home when he reported the windshield had imploded over central Alabama. Authorities believe he parachuted to the ground and later sped off on a red motorcycle he had stashed in central Alabama. Schrenker has been described as a pathological liar. When approach by local law enforcement soon after landing he told the officers he had been in a canoe accident to cover for his wet pants, and got the officers to take him to a motel. Later he slipped away to the motorcycle with full saddlebags and the 24-hour news cycles. His empty aircraft had crashed into a Florida Panhandle bayou surrounded by homes.

Authorities say Schrenker's world had caved in around him. His wife was divorcing him and there was a state investigation of his businesses. Schrenker had several businesses, Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management, and he was responsible for providing financial advice and managing portfolios worth millions. Angry investors were accusing him of stealing potentially millions in savings they entrusted to him. Charles Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta alleges Schrenker scammed up to $135,000 from his parents' retirement fund said, "We've learned over time that he's a pathological liar; you don't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth."

Schrenker collected luxury automobiles, owned two airplanes and lived in a 10,000-square-foot house in an upscale neighborhood known as "Cocktail Cove," where affluent boaters often socialize with cocktails in hand. In a December 31 search of the Schrenker home authorities seized the title to a Lexus automobile.

Schrenker will face multiple charges in several states and several federal charges also. Of course, had he keep on riding down the open road and had those saddlebags been full of cash, he could have been a modern day D. B. Cooper.

D. B. Cooper or Dan Cooper was the legendary daredevil hijacker of a Northwest Orient 727 in 1971 who threatened to blow up an airplane and extorted $200,000 for the safety of the passengers, crew, and airplane. The skyjacker jumped from the plane in the dead of the night, during a storm, into a heavily forested area of Washington state with 21 pounds of $20 bills strapped to his torso. He was never caught, the money never found, and never identified other than as simply D. B. or Dan Cooper.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY FORMING IN CAMDEN COUNTY

The first organizational meeting of the Libertarian Party of Camden County was held on January 24, 2009, at 9 a.m. at Shoney's on Highway 40 in Kingsland, Georgia. The meeting was a basic meet and greet type of format where individuals expressed the basic reasons they were expressing interest in forming a Libertarian Party affiliate in the area.

One individual, a 34-year-old father of two, who works two jobs in the medical field, indicated he felt many Americans had lost touch with the true ideas expressed in the U.S. Constitution and felt many of our political leaders saw the document as an "archaic document." He went on to describe his feeling of America's election process as a farce, a monopoly of the two major parties that create their own opposition to one another. He described the Republican Party as pro-war, creating a warfare state, and the Democratic Party as buying off Union and minority votes with government programs. He indicated he felt his generation was ignorant of the Constitution and the political process. The individual also expressed concern over various treatments by the media of certain candidates, Ron Paul, a name mentioned several times during the discussion at the meeting, Mike Huckabee, and Hillary Clinton, indicating the belief in a strong and influential media bias in America's political process.

Local Attorney Anne Orr, one of the organizers of the meeting, indicated she was unhappy with the present system because the American people seemed to have abrogated their responsibilities as citizens. She said, "We get the government we deserve." She went on to use the "dumbing down" of America's education system, both in the K-12 grades and the nation's institutions of higher learning, as an example of how America has lost ground in its development of political leadership and voter responsibility.

Everyone at the meeting expressed concern over the public's lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the fundamental governmental principles contained in the original document and the various amendments to the document. Everyone at the meeting was given a free pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

The Libertarian Party of Camden County will meet again and is looking for more interested people to attend. Meetings will last about one hour. The next meet is tentatively scheduled for March 28, 2009, at 10 a.m. at Shoney's on Highway 40 in Kingsland, Georgia. Please feel free to look at the state platform at the web site LPGeorgia.com and at the national web site lp.org . Also please check the Clarion Issue blog at clarionissue.blogspot.com for any changes to the Libertarian Party of Camden County's meetings plans. We will post all information we receive from them, like we post the information from the Republican Party's Bits and Grits Breakfast program and news releases from the Democratic Party as we receive them.

For more information on the Libertarian Party of Camden County contact Anne Orr at anneorr@mindspring.com.

PEANUT BUTTER SCARE TRACED BACK TO GEORGIA PLANT

Federal health authorities have traced a national salmonella outbreak to peanut butter processed in a plant in Blakely, Georgia, owned by Peanut Corp. of America (PCA). The deadly outbreak began in mid-January and by January 24 had sickened at least 486 and killed six people in over 40 states.

While a recall was issued as soon as the salmonella was discovered, peanuts, especially peanut butter is a hard product to trace because of its popularity in America's diet. It is used in cooked and processed foods. Peanuts are used in everything from ice cream to all kinds of different cookies. The salmonella outbreak has led to a recall of products such as Famous Amos' peanut butter cookies, Wal-Mart's peanut butter fudge, Little Debbie sandwich crackers, Blanton's Peanut Butter Sticks, Meijer's peanut butter cup ice cream and Austin's cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers.

On January 23, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced "the source of the outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant." On the same day PCA laid off a majority of the plant's employees for the duration of the investigation.

Federal health officials estimate the salmonella recall now involves about 31 million pounds of peanut butter and peanut paste. The nonprofit National Peanut Board says Americans eat 700 million pounds peanut butter every year. PCA is not an industry giant. Its peanut paste is used by other manufactures to make dozens of products, from energy bars, to cakes, to dog biscuits. However, the recall list keeps getting longer, and it is making the food industry nervous. At this time no major national brands of peanut butter are affected. Even the Girl Scouts are reassuring customers Peanut Corp. of America is not the supplier of peanut butter for their cookies.

THE NATION

O. J. GOES TO PRISON

On December 12, 2008, football great O.J. Simpson was sentenced to a maximum of 33 years with the possibility of parole after nine years by Nevada District Judge Jackie Glass. Before the sentence, he offered a rambling, emotional apology in which he told the court in a shaking voice he was sorry for his actions, but he believed he did nothing wrong. Glass, however, brushed his apology aside, saying his actions amounted to "much more than stupidity," and calling him both "arrogant and ignorant."

Simpson had been convicted of robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit these crimes on October 3, the 13th anniversary of his acquittal in the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman. The Nevada crimes were against sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel in 2007.

Prosecutors in the 2008 case alleged that O.J. Simpson had led a group of men who used threats, guns and force to take sports memorabilia from sports memobraila dealers Bruce Fromong and Al Beardsley. Simpson claimed that he was attempting to recover items that belonged to him. Most of the codefendants made deals with prosecutors in exchange for their testimony. A secret audio recording of the six-minute altercation captured by the middleman who arranged the meeting, Thomas Ricco, was used as evidence against the accused during the trial. Simpson and codefendant Clarence "C. J." Stewart were convicted on all 12 counts they faced, including two counts of first-degree kidnapping, robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Judge Glass made it clear prior to imposing her sentence that O. J.'s previous acquittal in the 1994 case and his other brushes with the law had nothing to do with her sentence. She indicated, "I'm not here to sentence Mr. Simpson for what's happened in his life previously in the criminal justice system. The jury decided. There are many people who disagree with that verdict, but that doesn't matter to me." The sentence was for this crime and not "payback for anything else."

Simpson's attorneys asked that he be sentenced to no more than six years. A presentencing report recommended an 18-year term for the 61 year-old Simpson. The 33 year sentence would put the former football star in prison until he is 94 years old if he is denied parole. He would be eligible for parole in seven and a half years. Gabriel Grasso and Simpson's other lawyer, Yale Galanter, said they will appeal the decision and sentence as soon as possible.

The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman both made statements to the press after the trial and were glad to see O.J. going to prison. Simpson arrived at the Lovelock Correctional Center, about 90 miles northeast of Reno, on December 19, 2008, to begin his sentence. Lovelock is one of the newest and smallest prisons in the Nevada state prison system. It opened in 1995 and houses just under 1,500 inmates in two-bed cells.

NASA LOOSES $100,000 TOOL KIT

On November 19, 2008, NASA astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper from the space shuttle Endeavour was just beginning work on a solar panel of the Space Station when a grease gun inside her tool kit exploded, and she accidentally let go of the bag. "Oh, great," she mumbled, as the astronaut watched the tool kit and everything in it float into space. The kit was one of the largest items ever to be lost by a space walker, and occurred during an unprecedented attempt to clean and lube a gummed-up joint on one of the space station's solar panels.

Stefanyshyn-Piper let the backpack-sized bag slip out of her grip while wiping grease off her camera, helmet, and gloves. She was carrying out the space walk with fellow astronaut Stephen Bowen. Luckily, he had his own tool bag with another grease gun, putty knife and oven-like terry cloth mitts to wipe away metal grit from the clogged joint. Mission Control agreed the spacewalk would continue as planned, and that the two astronauts would share tools. Flight controllers were assessing the impact the lost bag would have on the next three planned spacewalks.

The joint was located near the extreme reaches of the 220-mile-high Space Station. The space walkers had 85-foot safety tethers to keep them connected to the mother ship at all times. For more than a year, the jammed joint has been unable to automatically point the right-side solar wings toward the sun for maximum energy production.

The tool bag is one of the largest items to be lost in space. It could be seen from earth with a telescope or even strong field glasses and several websites and at least one news network informed readers and viewers where to look for the missing tool kit for several days after its loss.

Endeavour was launched on Nov. 14, and delivered an extra bathroom, kitchenette, two bedrooms, an exercise machine and a refrigerator to allow space station residents to enjoy cold drinks for the first time. The additions will transform the Space Station into a two-bath, two-kitchen, five-bedroom home. Endeavour also delivered and hooked up a recycling system to convert astronauts' urine and sweat into drinking water. This system was essential to the Space Station because NASA plans to double the size of the space station's crew to six next June.

Endeavour returned to earth on Nov. 30.

$10,000 FOUND IN A BOX OF CRACKERS

It was a early Christmas present for a Rogoff family of Irvine, California. On October 10, 2008, her daughter brought her an envelope with $10,000 cash in it she had found in a box of Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers. However, Debra Rogoff knew the money was not a prize and reported the find to the Irvine Police.

The police initially thought the money could be part of a drug drop. However, further investigation by the authorities revealed something far different.

Police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin, California, that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. In a mix-up the store restocked the box rather than composting it. The Lake Forest woman, whose identity was not released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the money. Luckily for her, the box of Annie's Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers were bought by the Rogoffs, who discovered the crisp $100 bills in an unmarked white envelope on Oct. 10 and notified the police.

Debra Rogoff said, "We just thought, 'This is someone's money,' We would never feel good about spending it." The Rogoffs never heard from the woman and didn't receive a reward, but the Rogoffs did return to Whole Foods a couple weeks later. "I asked them if I could have another box of crackers," Debra Rogoff said with a laugh, and the store obliged.

QUIET PLEASE

PHILLY THEATER SHOOTING 'BUTTONED UP' BY COPS

A man angered by a noisy family sitting near him in a movie theater on Christmas night threw popcorn at the son and later shot the father in the arm during an altercation at a movie. Philadelphia police detectives indicated James Joseph Cialella, 29, of "the City of Brotherly Love," first told the victim's family to be quiet, then threw popcorn at the young son in the group. The victim told police Cialella was walking toward him and his family when he stood up and was shot. The victim was hospitalized in stable condition in Jefferson Hospital after the shooting. After being released from the hospital after several days, the victim was eventually identified as Woffard Lomax, a 31-year-old man from suburban Yeadon.

The incident occurred at the United Artist Riverview Stadium Theater in South Philadelphia. Detectives arrived at the scene to find Cialella still in the complex carrying the Kel-Tec .380-caliber handgun used in the shooting in his waistband. He was watching the movie.

Cialella's statement indicated he acted in self-defense.

Cialella was arraigned on six charges including attempted murder, aggravated assault and a firearms count. The amount of bail was never stated in any printed internet sources, and neither was when or if Cialella made bail. However, if he did make bail, the Clarion Issue hopes he was banned from movie theaters and relegated to watching DVDs at home while awaiting trial.

According to sources outside the police the movie being viewed when the shooting occurred was "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." The movie, a rather long (two and a half hour plus) movie, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who ages backwards.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a detective who investigated the case, said it was "scary that it gets to that level of violence from being too noisy during a movie."

To check out the public's opinion on Lt. Vanore's take on the up tick of violence at the movies the Clarion Issue went to our favorite polling spot, the world famous Lumber City Mall-Mart, and asked two men playing checkers on a cracker barrel outside the store what they thought of the incident. Lewis M. (Mudcat) Buchanan said, "If I had'a watch a two and a half hour long movie starring Brad Pitt I might shoot somebody too!" When we asked Mudcat about why the skinhead Neo-Nazis had not threatened to blow up any theaters over the movie Valkyrie, a movie about the plot to kill Hitler in 1944 starring Tom Cruise, he replied, "Anyone who ain't got no more sense than to become a Nat/se (Nazi) certainly ain't got 'nough sense to use no C-4 explosive devices."

At this time movie theaters across America may be considering extra security at their theaters very close to the security at the airport. You may see metal detectors, you may be asked to remove your shoes, and see long security lines to enter the theater the next time you take in a movie. Theater owners, however, are expected to combine the security line with the concession lines for those patrons who wish to "kill two birds with one stone" (no pun intended) and only stand in one long line. Clarion Issue experts estimate the extra security will increase the price of a movie ticket by 14.7%.

CYNTHIA McKINNEY PLAYS ANGEL OF MERCY TO HAMAS IN GAZA

Former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia (assault with a deadly cell phone) McKinney was among 16 people aboard a medical supply boat that collided with an Israeli naval ship on December 30, 2008, as it tried to enter coastal waters around Gaza. The waters have been labeled a "closed military zone" by Israel and blockaded by the Israeli navy.

McKinney said the yacht Dignity, owned by the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement, left Cyprus with three tons of medical supplies donated by Cyprus and set out for Gaza. On the way to Gaza the Israeli navy fired machine guns into the water and hit (rammed) the boat three times.

The Dignity, registered under the flag of Gibraltar and with an English captain, reportedly took on water and experienced engine problems. The boat's captain was given permission to dock in Lebanon, where the group is regrouping and repairing to try again. The Dignity reported damage to the hull, the bridge and the engine room.

McKinney said she now wants President-Elect Obama to condemn Israel. "Say something about the harshest violence being visited upon the Palestinian people in 60 years, which has been reported," said McKinney. "That the president-elect promote peace by discontinuing the transfer of weapons of mass destruction used by Israel."

Israel's foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that an Israeli vessel and the 60-foot Free Gaza Movement boat did make some "physical contact," but only after the yacht failed to respond to radio contact. He denied any gunfire had occurred, and he said no one was hurt in the incident. He told media sources the Israeli ship escorted the damaged boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.

After the original dockside interviews McKinney was slated to travel by car to Beirut where she was expected to conduct media interviews and meet with Lebanese government officials, according to Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the California-based Free Gaza group. Larudee said the organization was determined to continue the relief mission, the sixth such trip to Gaza and the first to be interrupted. McKinney was not originally destined to be on the Dignity but came on when others backed out.

The Clarion Issue wanders how many bars Cynthia McKinney's cell phone gets in the waters off Gaza? There were no reports of Ms. McKinney having to surrender the cell phone as a weapon at the port of Beirut.

Ed Note: Today Mr. Obama is President; however, he was President-Elect when these events took place.

MADOFF MADE OFF WITH OVER 50 BILLION IN PONZI SCAM

On December 11, 2008, Bernard Madoff (Made/off), Wall Street force for decades, was arrested and charged with allegedly running a $50 billion "Ponzi or pyramid scheme" in what may rank among the biggest fraud cases ever. Madeoff is a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and best known as the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the closely held market-making firm he launched in 1960. However, he also ran a hedge fund that U.S. prosecutors said racked up $50 billion of fraudulent losses. It was in the hedge fund Madeoff supposedly milked individual investors and charities out of millions of dollars.

A Ponzi scheme is a swindle offering unusually high returns, with early investors paid off with money from later investors.

Madeoff (70) was charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was released after posting a $10 million bond secured by his Manhattan apartment. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate civil charges against him later in December.

Several charities were hit hard by the scandal. The Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, a Massachusetts-based group that financed trips for Jewish youth to Israel was forced to close, as was the Chais Family Foundation, a California-based charity group donating some $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes in Israel and Eastern Europe. One Jewish charity organizer speculated aloud on a TV news network how Madoff, himself a Jew, could do this to other Jews. Yeshiva University, where Madoff was on the board of trustees, also lost over $15 billion in assets in the scam.

The fraud had far reaching effects, especially in Europe. The Austrian bank, Bank Medici's, took a three billion dollar plus hit in losses from the collapse of Madoff's investment scheme and was taken over by the Austrian government. Its CEO, Peter Scheithauer, was forced to resign.

Celebrities as well as Wall St. tycoons also lost money in the scheme. Included in the celebrity list are Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick. Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, a French investor, was found dead in late December after he cut his wrists with a box-cutter after loosing $1.4 billion in the ponzi scam.

In a related story from the other side of the world late 2008 saw the Chinese dealing with a ponzi scam of their own. According to Chinese authorities from the state-run Xinhua news agency, a pair of Chinese forestry executives cheated thousands of investors out of 160 million dollars by selling off "timber lands" in the barren Gobi Desert region.

In scam involving more than 30,000 people all across China, Chairman Chen Xianggui of Inner Mongolia's Wanli Afforestation Co. was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court in the region. General manager Liu Yanying received nine years for the pyramid land sale scheme. (That is a long time to plant rice, harvest water chestnuts, and get 'reeducated.')

The company was involved in an "illegal pyramid scheme with false advertising" because it paid bonuses to members based on how many investors they brought in.

Investors put in money with the promise that they would receive timber worth four times the original investment according to a court in Baotou, China.

Sometimes people forget the cardinal rule of investing: if it sounds too good to be true; it probably is.

140 YEAR OLD LOBSTER RELEASED

A New York Park Avenue seafood restaurant agreed to free a 140-year-old lobster nicknamed George that was caught in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland, Canada. George had lived in the tank for about 10 days before his release by the City Crab and Seafood restaurant on January 10, 2009.

George became an overnight cellebrity when the restaurant manager Keith Valenti bought the 20-pound lobster for $100 and placed him in a giant sized tank. Valenti said "We bought a big lobster, started taking pictures with kids, and it worked out real well." The lobster quickly became a tourist attraction as families fought to have their photographs taken alongside its tank.

A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) spokesman indicated the animal rights organization asked City Crab and Seafood to return George to the Atlantic Ocean after a diner saw him at the restaurant, where steamed Maine lobster sells for $27 per pound. "We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace," said Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of PETA.

Scientists believe lobsters can live to be more than 100 years old. PETA and the restaurant guessed George's age to be about 140, using a rule based on the lobster's weight. Valenti said a lobster's lifespan was calculated by multiplying every pound it weighed by seven. If their assessment is correct, George may have been born in 1869, the same year as Neville Chamberlain, Mahatma Gandhi, and Henri Matisse.

George was released near Kennebunkport, Maine, on January 10 in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden.

PORN INDUSTRY SPOKESPERSONS ASK FOR BAILOUT MONEY

On January 7, 2009, porn industry moguls Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine and "Girls Gone Wild" video series creator Joe Francis announced they would be seeking a five-billion-dollar bailout from Washington, arguing that the limp US economy has thrown cold water on the adult entertainment industry.

Flynt and Francis asked the newly convened 111th Congress "to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America" in a bailout move similar to the one set-aside for US auto manufacturers. Francis indicated, "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses. We feel we deserve the same consideration. In difficult economic times, Americans turn to entertainment for relief. More and more, the kind of entertainment they turn to is adult entertainment." While Flynt and Francis were quick to admit the 13-billion-dollar industry is in no fear of collapse, they stressed there was no need to take chances.

Francis cited industry figures that show adult DVD sales and rentals decreasing 22 percent in 2008, as people turn to the Internet for adult entertainment. The industry also points to a decrease in the sales of adult "toys, apparel, and novelties."

Flynt said, "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly." He went on to add people were "too depressed to be sexually active. This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex."

Joe Francis was recently imprisoned for almost a year on a prostitution-related charge after pleading no contest in a plea bargain.

At the time the Clarion Issue went to press President Obama and the congressional leaders on Capital Hill had not responded to the porn industry's request. However if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opens the door for a porn industry bailout of if Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi agrees to narrate infomercial for the new Z-35 battery operated "Mr. Burgundy" female sex toy, the Clarion Issue will report on it in its entirety.

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION ISSUES TOXIC CHEMICALS ALERT FOR CAMP LEJEUNE

The Department of the Navy recently sent letters to veterans who were stationed at "Camp Lejeune" Marine Corps Base in North Carolina to notify them of toxic chemicals in the drinking water from 1957 to 1987. Veterans who received the letter from the Department of the Navy may visit the VA Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Fact Sheet and visit the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina web page. For more information, call the Department of the Navy toll-free at (877) 261-9782.

THE WORLD

WW II GERMAN BUNKERS UNCOVERED ALONG DANISH COAST

A spring storm in 2008 uncovered four German World War II bunkers near Houvig, Denmark, along Krylen beach. According to Danish authorities, historians, and archeologists, the bunkers were just several of the 7,000 the Nazis built along Denmark's western shores as part of Hitler's 'Atlantic Wall' to repel a possible allied invasion of Europe. The bunkers had been covered since 1945.

Most of the Danish bunkers were plundered by the Danish people soon after the war in order to obtain the furniture, food, and other objects the Germans left behind and to salvage the scrap iron and electrical devices that were needed after the long war. However, the four Houvig bunkers remained in good shape.

The discovery was "a sensation" for history buffs because the bunkers were found completely furnished with beds, chairs, tables, communication systems and the personal effects of the soldiers who lived in the bunkers. Experts and archaeologists hastened to the scene, and working, emptied the structures of boots, undergarments, socks, military stripes, mustard and aquavit bottles, books, inkpots, stamps picturing Hitler, medicines, soda bottles, keys, hammers, and other objects used by the solders in the bunker. The four stamps featuring Hitler's image and the German eagle would have been used by the German soldiers to mail letters and Christmas presents to their families in Germany. The Christmas gifts would have consisted mostly of packets of Danish butter, according to historical experts.

It is believed nine soldiers and their commander lived in the cramped, 20-square-meter (215-square-foot) space for five years. Experts indicated they would not expect contemporary objects like these to be so well preserved but speculated it was because they were kept for 60 years in the cold and dark like in a big vacuum.

Denmark will soon have to decide what to do with the four Houvig bunkers. Some people want to destroy them in order to help destroy what they once stood for. Others wish to keep them intact in order to preserve a little bit of World War II history for posterity. The fate of the Houvig bunkers will be a difficult decision for the Danish government and people.

PALM OIL PRODUCTION THREATENS INDONESIAN ORANGUTANS

Birute Mary Galdikas, age 62, an original student and researcher for Louis Leakey studying the mysteries of human origin in the 1960s, has concluded the Indonesian orangutans are on the verge of extinction because the forests they call home are being clear-cut and burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations.

The demand for palm oil is rising in the U.S. and Europe because it is touted as a clean alternative fuel. It is also used in many food products. Indonesia is the world's top producer of palm oil, and prices have jumped by almost 70 percent in the last year. But palm oil plantations devastate the forest. Rainforest and trees are being cut at a rate of 300 football fields every hour. These massive land-clearing fires have turned the country into one of the top emitters of carbon.

The effect on the orangutans in the area has been devastating according to experts such as Galdikas. There are only an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of them in Indonesia. Galdikas estimates the orangutans outside of national parks have less than 10 years left if nothing is done to help the populations.

Galdikas observed female orangutans give birth when they are around 15-years-old and then only once every eight or nine years, making them especially vulnerable to extinction. They also have one of the most intense maternal-offspring relationships of all mammals, remaining inseparable for the first seven or eight years. While orangutans are at first very gregarious, as adults they live largely solitary lives, foraging for fruit or sleeping weeks at a time.

Galdikas is working at Tanjung Putting National Park, a 1,600 square mile park at the southern tip of Borneo island. It has an estimated 6,000 orangutans and together with the nearby Sebangau National Park these orangutan populations are less vulnerable to diseases and fires than other orangutan populations in Indonesia and around the world.

The Clarion Issue points out it would be horrible for the world to lose entire orangutan populations and thousands of square miles of rainforest all in the name of palm oil.