Sunday, March 8, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/madison-wisconsin-police-officer-fatally-shoots-black-man/

Cop fatally shoots black man after altercation in Wis.
CBS/AP
March 7, 2015

MADISON, Wis. -- Protesters carrying signs reading "Black Lives Matter" gathered Saturday, hours after an officer fatally shot a 19-year-old black man who authorities said assaulted the officer in the man's apartment.

Police Chief Mike Koval said the man was shot Friday night after an altercation in which the officer was knocked down by a blow to the head. Koval did not know whether the man was armed, but said "initial findings at the scene did not reflect a gun or anything of that nature that would have been used by the subject." The officer's name, race and years of service has not been released.

Authorities also did not release the name of the victim, who died at a hospital. Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, identified him as 19-year-old Tony Robinson, CBS Madison affiliate WISC-TV reports.

Sun Prairie High School Superintendent Tim Culver said in a statement that Robinson graduated in 2014.

Several dozen gathered outside the Dane County Public Safety Building on Saturday before starting to walk toward the scene of the shooting, holding signs that read, "Black Lives Matter" - a slogan adopted by activists and protesters around the nation after recent officer-involved deaths of unarmed black men. Protesters also shouted the slogan Friday night after the shooting.

"My son has never been a violent person. And to die in such a violent, violent way, it baffles me," said Andrea Irwin, who told WKOW-TV on Friday night she is Robinson's mother.

The state Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting under a 2014 Wisconsin law that requires police departments to have outside agencies probe officer-involved deaths. State Attorney General Brad Schimel said the department will not share details of the investigation until it is finished.

"We are resolved that the result of that investigation will be one in which the public can have confidence," he added.

Madison, about 80 miles west of Milwaukee, is the state capital and home to the University of Wisconsin's flagship campus. About 7 percent of the city's 243,000 residents are black.

Koval said police were called about 6:30 p.m. Friday because the man was jumping into traffic. A second call to police said the man was "responsible for a battery," Koval said.

The officer went to an apartment, which neighbors said was Robinson's, and forced his way inside after hearing a disturbance. Koval said the officer was assaulted by the 19-year-old and then fired at him. Koval said he believes more than one shot was fired.

Neighbors said Robinson's apartment is in a two-story gray house on the block of Williamson Street, known to many as Willy Street. Many walked to nearby restaurants and cafés on Saturday.

Grant Zimmerman said Robinson would run between his apartment and his roommate's mother's house across the street: "He runs back and forth across the street all the time, even in the middle of traffic."

Olga Ennis, a neighbor and family friend, said Robinson was well-liked. "He was a beautiful kid," Ennis said. "He wouldn't hurt a fly."

She said many in the community don't trust police officers. "We're afraid of the cops," she said. "Who do you call for help now?"

The shooting came days after the U.S. Justice Department cleared Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson, Missouri, officer who shot Michael Brown, of federal civil rights charges in the death of the 18-year-old, who was black and unarmed. A second report found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices in the St. Louis suburb.

Koval referenced recent officer-involved deaths across the nation, saying "it's understandable that the reaction at the scene and of some of our citizens is extremely volatile, emotional and upsetting."

Mayor Paul Soglin called it "a tragedy beyond description," according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

"I expect there will be a lot of anger and frustrations, particularly from friends," Soglin said. "I hope as the pain eases that something constructive will come of this."

Sharon Irwin, who told the newspaper Friday night she was Robinson's grandmother, urged protesters to be peaceful.

"I think you need to rise up but I don't want violence," she said.

Messages were left with Robinson's mother and the Madison police department.




“Police Chief Mike Koval said the man was shot Friday night after an altercation in which the officer was knocked down by a blow to the head. Koval did not know whether the man was armed, but said "initial findings at the scene did not reflect a gun or anything of that nature that would have been used by the subject." The officer's name, race and years of service has not been released.... The state Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting under a 2014 Wisconsin law that requires police departments to have outside agencies probe officer-involved deaths. State Attorney General Brad Schimel said the department will not share details of the investigation until it is finished.... Koval said police were called about 6:30 p.m. Friday because the man was jumping into traffic. A second call to police said the man was "responsible for a battery," Koval said. The officer went to an apartment, which neighbors said was Robinson's, and forced his way inside after hearing a disturbance. Koval said the officer was assaulted by the 19-year-old and then fired at him. Koval said he believes more than one shot was fired.... Grant Zimmerman said Robinson would run between his apartment and his roommate's mother's house across the street: "He runs back and forth across the street all the time, even in the middle of traffic.".... "I expect there will be a lot of anger and frustrations, particularly from friends," Soglin said. "I hope as the pain eases that something constructive will come of this." Sharon Irwin, who told the newspaper Friday night she was Robinson's grandmother, urged protesters to be peaceful. "I think you need to rise up but I don't want violence," she said.”

"He runs back and forth across the street all the time, even in the middle of traffic." Really? Was this young man deranged? He wasn't doing that when he hit the police officer, though. By his own admission, however, the policeman “forced his way” into his house after hearing “a disturbance.” Predictably that would scare the members of the household and make them more likely to put up a fight. Did this young man, who may have been unbalanced, think that he was defending his home? He was unarmed, but according to the officer, he hit the policeman and knocked him down, then the officer shot him.

Again in this case, the policeman was alone in answering the call about someone “jumping into traffic.” If he had had a partner the two of them probably could have subdued the young man without shooting him. At least, that's my theory on why many of these shootings reported over the last 6 months or so have occurred. The officer usually says “I felt in fear for my life.” When trying to subdue someone who is behaving erratically there is an even greater need for a partner to help with the arrest. I can see in some of these cases, this one included, why an officer uses force, but there needs to be a halfway point between making an arrest (which certainly should be done if the officer was assaulted) and deadly force. Even if there is no racial bias in operation, the police departments across the nation need to use better methods in enforcing the law.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/strangers-clear-snow-so-elderly-man-can-reach-wifes-memorial/

Strangers clear snow so elderly man can reach wife's memorial
By STEVE HARTMAN CBS NEWS
March 6, 2015

Photograph – A plaque on a bench dedicated to Daisy Caldwell

FOND DU LAC, Wis. -- There's really nothing to do at Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin -- at least not in the winter.

So why then, for the past couple months, have two city workers -- Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Schultz -- been sneaking off, on their own, to shovel a walkway no one really needs to walk on?

"For most people it's a path to nowhere," said Ebert. "It's a path to somewhere for one person."
Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Schultz say they discovered that one person one snowy day. They saw the man in his car in front of a snow bank. After watching him, they figured out what he was doing there.
"It took us both back a little bit thinking, my gosh, his devotion is that strong that he still comes when he can't make it to the bench even," said Ebert.
At the end of the walk there's a bench dedicated to a woman named Betty Caldwell -- and just based on the flowers you can tell she's still loved.

Bud Caldwell says his wife loved the song "Daisy a Day", so when he lost her a couple years ago after 55 years of marriage, he got a bench in her memory and started taking her daisies every day he could. He thought no one was noticing -- so imagine his surprise.

"One day I pulled up there and there's the walk shoveled," explained Bud. "My knees about buckled on me."

Bud couldn't believe someone would go to such trouble.

"We were just doing what we felt was our job," said Ebert. "Some intuition, be it divine or otherwise says this is why you're here - to help one another."

Sometimes to make a difference in the world you need a good idea. And sometimes all you need is to recognize the good around you and clear the way for it.

"See, you tomorrow, munchkin," Bud said as he walked away from the bench. "Love you. Always did. Always will."




In a way this is just a “feel good” story, but in a time period when so much hatred is showing its head in the news, this is a sign of goodness existing alongside the bad. Two city workers took their own time without pay and cleared the sidewalk so the man could get to his memorial bench and commune with his deceased wife. Kindness is never wasted.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/06/391279409/snowden-asylum-in-switzerland-a-great-political-option

Snowden: Asylum In Switzerland A 'Great Political Option'
Scott Neuman
March 6, 2015

Edward Snowden wants Switzerland to grant him asylum.

The NSA leaker made the remark as he spoke to an audience in Geneva via a video link from Moscow, where he has been living in exile to avoid U.S. prosecution on espionage charges.

"I would love to return to Switzerland, some of my favorite memories are from Geneva. It's a wonderful place," Snowden told the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, where the Oscar-winning documentary about his case,Citizenfour, was screened.

"I do think Switzerland would be a sort of great political option because it has a history of neutrality," he said.

Snowden, who fled first to Hong Kong in the summer of 2013 after the publication of secrets he leaked on U.S. electronic surveillance, later landed in Russia, where he has lived since.

In recent months, however, he has raised his public profile.

In April, he appeared on Russian television for a question-and-answer with President Vladimir Putin. And, earlier this month, he participated via video link at an event sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union in Hawaii.

Speaking at the Geneva event, the former National Security Agency contractor said he'd asked 21 countries, "the majority in central and Western Europe," for asylum.

"Unfortunately no country said yes," he said. He accused the Obama administration of "political interference."

Switzerland and the U.S. enjoy a mutual extradition treaty, so it's not clear whether Snowden could remain there. Reuters also notes that "[under] current Swiss laws, an applicant has to be on Swiss territory to lodge an asylum request."

However, Snowden also says he is working with his lawyers to secure a guarantee of a "fair trial" in the United States.

"Unfortunately, the Department of Justice is unwilling to agree," he said. "The only thing they have said at this point is that they would not execute me, which is not the same as a fair trial."

In August of last year, Snowden was granted a three-year Russian residency permit.




"I would love to return to Switzerland, some of my favorite memories are from Geneva. It's a wonderful place," Snowden told the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, where the Oscar-winning documentary about his case,Citizenfour, was screened. "I do think Switzerland would be a sort of great political option because it has a history of neutrality," he said.... And, earlier this month, he participated via video link at an event sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union in Hawaii.... Switzerland and the U.S. enjoy a mutual extradition treaty, so it's not clear whether Snowden could remain there. Reuters also notes that "[under] current Swiss laws, an applicant has to be on Swiss territory to lodge an asylum request." However, Snowden also says he is working with his lawyers to secure a guarantee of a "fair trial" in the United States. "Unfortunately, the Department of Justice is unwilling to agree," he said. "The only thing they have said at this point is that they would not execute me, which is not the same as a fair trial."

I understand why Snowden released the information that he did. He thought it violated American principles and was a threat to the public security and democracy itself. The reaction that so many people across the country had about it shows me that he was correct. However, it was in violation of his job as a CIA and DIA administrator and trainer, and then for Dell and Booz Allen inside the NSA, not to mention that he turned his discoveries over to the press. He will surely be charged with treason. When people take a job of that kind and sign a contract not to disclose information about the agencies, they can expect lots of people to be angry at them for breaching security, especially their bosses and the president. I think we owe him a debt of gratitude for exposing the level of government intrusion that has been going on, but I hope he will come forward soon. He can't stay in Russia forever, and Switzerland probably won't let him come there. He has a verbal guarantee that he won't be executed, but he really can't expect to avoid prison, nor in my opinion should he. Personally, I wouldn't want to have a job like that in the first place. It runs the risk of a crisis of conscience. Plausible security measures by a government may conflict with the society's civil rights and moral/ethical standards. There has always been government secrecy in all nations and “special cases” on moral/ethical matters. It goes with the territory.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-rocket-launchers-pulling-back-front-line-pro-russia-separatists/

Signs of hope for Ukraine cease-fire
CBS/AP
March 6, 2015

Photograph – A multiple rocket launcher system belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces is driven onto a wagon of a cargo train at a train station in Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine, March 6, 2015.  REUTERS

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian military officials said Friday that government forces were withdrawing heavy rocket launchers from the front line with Russian-backed separatists in accordance with last month's cease-fire accord.

Military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said the Uragan launchers were being pulled back by 22 miles from the line of contact.

Both sides in the conflict, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives since flaring up in April, have given assurances they are complying with pullback requirements. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have complained that they have been obstructed from conducting exhaustive verifications, however.

No smiles from Kerry, Russian FM as Ukraine festers
Report: Russia had plans on Ukraine incursion a year ago
Will killing of Russia dissident affect Ukraine peace deal?

Also, despite the heavy weapons withdrawals, multiple skirmishes and exchanges continue to be reported daily.

Lysenko accused rebels of mustering equipment, weapons and manpower in several locations in preparation for potential upcoming offensives.

President Obama has come under mounting pressure from U.S. lawmakers from both parties to provide more assistance to the Ukrainian forces battling the rebels.

In spite of repeated denials from Moscow, the U.S. and its allies say the evidence is irrefutable that Vladimir Putin's government is directly supporting the separatists, providing everything from heavy weapons to Russian infantry and commanders.

The European Union's foreign policy chief spoke out Friday against the bipartisan calls in Washington to provide lethal, defensive weapons to Ukraine.

Federica Mogherini said Friday that "the European Union is doing enough" and insisted that the implementation of the peace deal brokered in Minsk "is the way to go forward."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been particularly outspoken against pouring more firepower into the conflict, but no European leaders have backed the calls to add more weapons to the mix.

Mogherini said "what Ukraine needs now is not only the full respect of its sovereignty, of its territorial integrity but it is also peace."




“Both sides in the conflict, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives since flaring up in April, have given assurances they are complying with pullback requirements. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have complained that they have been obstructed from conducting exhaustive verifications, however.... President Obama has come under mounting pressure from U.S. lawmakers from both parties to provide more assistance to the Ukrainian forces battling the rebels. In spite of repeated denials from Moscow, the U.S. and its allies say the evidence is irrefutable that Vladimir Putin's government is directly supporting the separatists, providing everything from heavy weapons to Russian infantry and commanders.... Federica Mogherini said Friday that "the European Union is doing enough" and insisted that the implementation of the peace deal brokered in Minsk "is the way to go forward."

There is the danger of a much wider war going on in and around Ukraine if we give them arms, but there is a risk of Russia pulling an all out offensive if we don't support Ukraine with weapons. I personally think we should help them. I think Putin plays a constant game of intimidation, and if all nations back down before him his next move will be an invasion. There is more danger to Europe if they don't make a stance against him than if they do. I think he really doesn't want to fight all the NATO nations and others in Europe. He just wants to take over Ukraine this year, another former Soviet nation next year, and maybe some totally new territory after that. Britain, perhaps?






http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/03/06/390968567/germans-open-their-homes-to-refugee-roommates

Germans Open Their Homes To Refugee Roommates
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
International Correspondent, Berlin
MARCH 06, 2015

Photograph – Berlin residents Mareike Geiling (left) and her boyfriend, Jonas Kakoschke, speak with their roommate, a Muslim refugee from Mali. Geiling and Kokoschke helped launch a website that matches Germans willing to share their homes with new arrivals.
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson/NPR

Asylum-seekers are flooding into Germany in record numbers, with more than 200,000 applying for that status last year, many from Muslim countries, according to the government.

This is fueling tensions on several fronts. Overwhelmed local officials often house the new arrivals in old schools and re-purposed shipping containers in neighborhoods where they aren't always welcome. The western German city of Schwerte even proposed placing 21 refugees in a barracks on the grounds of a Nazi-era concentration camp.

Berlin residents Mareike Geiling and her boyfriend, Jonas Kakoschke, have a different approach.

"We don't like the idea of putting these people into one place where many, many" people live, says Geiling, who is 28.

Kakoschke, a 31-year-old graphic designer, adds: "Many asylum-seekers have to stay there for years ... doing nothing, because they are not allowed to do anything.

"They are not allowed to work, they are not allowed to have German classes sometimes and sometimes it's not a city, it's a village and there's nothing to do and so you get depressed after years and stuff like this," he adds.

So the couple decided to launch Refugees Welcome, a website in English and German that matches asylum-seekers with people willing to share their homes with them. They have more than 400 applications in the works — in Germany as well as Austria.

Refugees "don't know each other, they are far from the city and so we like the idea that they are really living with us, like in our homes," Geiling explains.

She and Kakoschke were the first Germans to open their doors. Geiling is away most of this year on a teaching job in Cairo, so last December the couple sublet her room in their fourth-floor, walk-up apartment in the diverse, working-class neighborhood of Wedding to a Muslim man from Mali.

The 39-year-old, who is afraid of giving his name for safety reasons, has applied for asylum and is awaiting a work permit. In the meantime, Kakoschke and Geiling (who happened to be back in Berlin when NPR visited to the apartment) say they rely on donations to cover the new roommate's $430 share of rent and utilities.

Just like in any apartment shared by multiple people, compromise is key, the roommates say. They cook meals jointly and split up housework. Kakoschke jokes that the apartment has never been cleaner.

The roommate says he still can't believe Germans would open their apartment to asylum-seekers.

"It surprised me a lot because ... the people here don't want to see people like us in their land," he says.

Before his current arrangement, the roommate says, he had more or less been living on the streets since arriving from Italy a year ago.

Refugees walk along on a street near the Initial Reception Camp Marienfelde in Berlin, Germany, in January. Marienfelde camp has been a transitional home for refugees in Germany for more than 60 years. But the recent influx of asylum-seekers is straining the system.

"Sometimes I'd take the bus from different sector to different sector at nighttime until, you know, 2:30" in the morning, he says. Then he'd "get out and sleep for 20 minutes and go back on the train again sometimes and go back in the mosque and pray there for 30 minutes and sleep there for one hour."

He says it was his German teacher who found out about the roommate program and put him in touch with the couple.

It's easy to see that he and the couple get along well, and they say they have learned a lot about each other's cultures.

"I think I just asked when we met the first time if it's OK for him that I drink alcohol," Kakoschke says with a laugh. "He said, 'Yes, of course, it's your life, do what you want with it.'"




“Asylum-seekers are flooding into Germany in record numbers, with more than 200,000 applying for that status last year, many from Muslim countries, according to the government. This is fueling tensions on several fronts. Overwhelmed local officials often house the new arrivals in old schools and re-purposed shipping containers in neighborhoods where they aren't always welcome. … "We don't like the idea of putting these people into one place where many, many" people live, says Geiling, who is 28. Kakoschke, a 31-year-old graphic designer, adds: "Many asylum-seekers have to stay there for years ... doing nothing, because they are not allowed to do anything.... So the couple decided to launch Refugees Welcome, a website in English and German that matches asylum-seekers with people willing to share their homes with them. They have more than 400 applications in the works — in Germany as well as Austria. Refugees "don't know each other, they are far from the city and so we like the idea that they are really living with us, like in our homes," Geiling explains.... The 39-year-old, who is afraid of giving his name for safety reasons, has applied for asylum and is awaiting a work permit. In the meantime, Kakoschke and Geiling (who happened to be back in Berlin when NPR visited to the apartment) say they rely on donations to cover the new roommate's $430 share of rent and utilities.... "It surprised me a lot because ... the people here don't want to see people like us in their land," he says. Before his current arrangement, the roommate says, he had more or less been living on the streets since arriving from Italy a year ago.... Marienfelde camp has been a transitional home for refugees in Germany for more than 60 years. But the recent influx of asylum-seekers is straining the system.”

Sharing housing isn't something that most Americans want to do. They want their own space, whether it be a house or an apartment. That's one reason the cost of living here is so high, and and with a very low income you can end up living in the street. An apartment of any kind, even the smallest one room space, costs too much. Whites are sometimes shocked to find black or Hispanic people living in very crowded spaces with more than one family sharing it. That seems shameful to the Middle Class, but it is a simple expedient to have a roof over everyone's heads. In my parents' young days, Southern families often had multiple children who would marry and have kids, with everyone living in the same house. That was traditionally acceptable, and of course those houses weren't as small as a city apartment. Still siblings often had to share beds. The extended family was just the way things were then. Even wealthy people might house one or more of their unmarried adult children in the home, which would be in fact a mansion. A woman who didn't marry was expect to stay home with the parents and then in their old age, take care of their health cooking needs.

This is different in that the individuals aren't long-term friends or relatives, but renters. This is a preferable way to live, though, because instead of being in a crowded government facility and restricted in their movements, they can have a more comfortable and companionable relationship with the owners, and do the things they need to. The refugee in this story, for instance, is learning German and trying to get a work permit. Until he has an income, his part of the household expenses is being paid by “donations,” according to the young German couple. I am glad to see such an arrangement, because there have been reports that the Islamic refugees in France have been ending up – either by the government's societal preferences or due to economics – in crowded and poor living conditions where they feel scorned by the Christian citizens in wealthier neighborhoods. They are essentially in ghettos like the Jews under the Nazis. The young people are coming up hostile and hopeless, and too often turn to groups like ISIS to give them something to believe in and be a part of. Given the predilections of ISIS, that is a very dangerous thing.

I wonder how the Islamic people in this country are living? I hope we are assimilating them better than France has. I imagine at least some of our mosques are radical, however, and those may foster jihadist sympathies in the young. I hope the CIA and other agencies that deal with such people are on the job and will catch them before they commit crimes or go to Syria to fight.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/planting-a-future-for-monarch-butterflies/

​Planting a future for monarch butterflies
CBS NEWS
March 8, 2015

Photograph – Flowers popular among Monarch butterflies are purple cone flowers (top left), asters (top right), vervains (bottom left), and milkweed (bottom right).

A modest campaign to preserve a colorful but fragile creature is taking flight -- tight in photographer Joel Sartore's back yard:

I have a confession to make.

A few years ago, on a farm I own in eastern Nebraska, I took 44 acres out of production, on purpose.

That's a lot. Where corn and beans once grew, I planted tall, native grasses and wildflowers. Among area farmers, this was seen as nothing short of scandalous.

Though the new plantings helped stabilize the soil in steep areas the previous owners should have never have plowed in the first place, I took some heat for my little "prairie patches."

"Must be nice to be able to leave money on the ground like that," one farmer told me. "What a WASTE."

If only he knew what I really had in mind ... butterflies!

You see, a few years ago I'd had a near-religious experience on a mountaintop in central Mexico. I'd arrived before dawn, on a rented mule. There, standing silently in the mist, were ancient fir trees so laden with Monarch butterflies their bows literally bent under the weight. Can you even imagine how many butterflies it takes to make a tree branch sag?

When the sun finally came up, millions of brilliant orange spots burst from the trees, rising and falling and swirling around me like a great living blizzard.

And for a few moments at least, I felt like I was five years old, and in heaven. But now we're told this wonder of the world may be coming to an end. How could this possibly happen?

Saving the monarch butterfly (CBS News, 02/09/15)
Monarch butterfly could get endangered species protection (CBS News, 12/31/14)
Monarch butterflies drop, migration may disappear (01/29/14)

It's not terribly hard to figure out, actually. Monarchs only spend the winter in Mexico; then in March, they begin their yearly migration northward. They glide right up the center of our continent, where they need plenty of nectar-bearing plants to feed on, and especially milkweed to lay their eggs.

With more acreage than ever planted to crops they can't eat, plus insecticide sprayed with abandon, it's no wonder the Monarchs have been flying steadily downhill.

But of course there is hope.

Come springtime, we can all embrace native plants. Think how lovely your home, office, school or garden would look with purple coneflower and asters, vervain and black-eyed Susans. And above all, think milkweed. That's the one plant that Monarch babies just can't live without.

Find a nursery that sells the native plants that grow where you live, and get a variety of species that take turns blooming from April all the way through October.

And if we don't manage to save the one insect we so adore? Now THAT will truly be the biggest waste of all.




“That's a lot. Where corn and beans once grew, I planted tall, native grasses and wildflowers. Among area farmers, this was seen as nothing short of scandalous. Though the new plantings helped stabilize the soil in steep areas the previous owners should have never have plowed in the first place, I took some heat for my little "prairie patches." …. When the sun finally came up, millions of brilliant orange spots burst from the trees, rising and falling and swirling around me like a great living blizzard. And for a few moments at least, I felt like I was five years old, and in heaven. But now we're told this wonder of the world may be coming to an end. How could this possibly happen?.... But of course there is hope. Come springtime, we can all embrace native plants. Think how lovely your home, office, school or garden would look with purple coneflower and asters, vervain and black-eyed Susans.”

It would help a lot if Americans would stop calling wildflowers “weeds” and spraying them with poison. I remember years ago my father encouraging milkweed on one corner of his garden. He wasn't a raving conservationist, but he knew a little about it, and appreciated the beauty of nature. When I was young there were not merely a few, but a large number of butterflies, moths and also a wonderful bug called the firefly. Female fireflies sit on bushes and in the grass after dark, flashing light signals so the opposite sex, who are flying around a few feet above, will come and have a chat. Both of those insects are beautiful, well beyond the range of most highly prized works of art, in my view. I do hope the Monarch butterfly will be added to the endangered list. I was under the impression that it was done some years ago. There was certainly talk of it at that time. In the meanwhile, go to your Home Depot and pick up some wildflower seed packages. Make a little ornamental garden in your front yard and plant them there. They really are as beautiful as cultivated flowers, and the butterflies which aren't dead yet will come and have a feast.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspect-yelled-heil-hitler-after-jewish-site-shootings-in-kansas-police-officer-testifies/

Cop: Suspect yelled "Heil Hitler!" after Jewish site shootings
CBS/AP
March 2, 2015

Photograph – Frazier Glenn Miller, suspected of killing three people at two Jewish sites in Kansas in April 2014, makes anti-Semitic remarks as he is wheeled out of a Johnson County, Kanas courtroom for a lunch break during a hearing, March 2, 2015, in Olathe, Kansas.  AP PHOTO/THE KANSAS CITY STAR, RICH SUGG, POOL

OLATHE, Kan. -- A man accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites in Kansas declared "Heil Hitler!" and asked how many Jews he had killed after the attacks, a police officer who was at the scene testified Monday.

Frazier Glenn Miller, 74, is charged with capital murder in the April 13, 2014, shootings at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas, and at a nearby Jewish retirement home. None of the victims was Jewish.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

At a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to put Miller on trial, Overland Park police Sgt. Marty C. Ingram, who was working off-duty at the Jewish Community Center, testified that he heard shots and saw the doors of the center's theater shatter. He said he took cover as more shots hit the building's facade.

"Dust, smoke was flying everywhere at that point," he said. The gunman then drove away.

Miller is accused of killing Dr. William Lewis Corporon, 69, and his 14-year-old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood, who were attending a singing contest audition at the Jewish Community Center.

Ingram found Corporon and his grandson, who was barely alive, outside in a truck.

"I realized the gentleman had sustained such horrendous head wounds that there was nothing I could do," he said, recalling how he then heard a "tremendous scream" when Reat's mother saw her mortally wounded son.

When he heard that a suspect had been arrested nearby, Ingram accompanied some witnesses to the arrest scene to determine if they could identify him. As they approached the patrol car where Miller was detained, he shouted "Heil Hitler!" and asked how many Jews he had killed.

Miller, of Aurora, Missouri, is also accused of killing 53-year-old Terri LaManno, who was visiting her mother at a nearby Jewish retirement home.

Miller, who has emphysema and needs oxygen from a tank to breath, muttered during breaks in the hearing about how Jews "owned Hollywood."

"Google it," he urged the court.

Veteran death penalty defense lawyer Mark Manna has been assigned to represent Miller, CBS affiliate WIBW reported. Miller's previous attorney withdrew last month, citing a breakdown in communications with his client.

Thomas Bates, a former combat medic who worked at the community center, said he grabbed his medical kit when he heard about the shootings. When he reached the victims, Corporon was dead but Reat was still breathing. Bates said the teen had been shot in the head and there was little that could be done for him.

Paul Temme testified that he was getting his gym bag from his car when he heard gunfire. He dialed 911 and chased the shooter's vehicle in a failed attempt to get his license details. But then the shooter stopped.

"He pulled a handgun out and fired at me," said Temme, who ran for cover.

In phone calls to The Associated Press, Miller has said he thought he was dying because of his emphysema and felt he was fulfilling a patriotic duty by killing Jews. He regretted shooting the teenager, who he said looked older.

Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, is a Vietnam War veteran from southwest Missouri who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina and later the White Patriot Party.

After a nationwide manhunt in 1987, federal agents found him and three other men at a rural Missouri home stocked with hand grenades and automatic weapons. Miller was indicted on weapons charges and accused of plotting robberies and the assassination of the Southern Poverty Law Center's founder. He served three years in federal prison.

Miller also ran for the U.S. House in 2006 and the U.S. Senate in 2010 in Missouri, each time espousing a white-power platform.




“A man accused of fatally shooting three people at Jewish sites in Kansas declared "Heil Hitler!" and asked how many Jews he had killed after the attacks, a police officer who was at the scene testified Monday. Frazier Glenn Miller, 74, is charged with capital murder in the April 13, 2014, shootings at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City in Overland Park, Kansas, and at a nearby Jewish retirement home. None of the victims was Jewish. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.... Ingram found Corporon and his grandson, who was barely alive, outside in a truck. "I realized the gentleman had sustained such horrendous head wounds that there was nothing I could do," he said, recalling how he then heard a "tremendous scream" when Reat's mother saw her mortally wounded son.... Miller, who has emphysema and needs oxygen from a tank to breath, muttered during breaks in the hearing about how Jews "owned Hollywood." "Google it," he urged the court. Veteran death penalty defense lawyer Mark Manna has been assigned to represent Miller, CBS affiliate WIBW reported. Miller's previous attorney withdrew last month, citing a breakdown in communications with his client.... In phone calls to The Associated Press, Miller has said he thought he was dying because of his emphysema and felt he was fulfilling a patriotic duty by killing Jews. He regretted shooting the teenager, who he said looked older. Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, is a Vietnam War veteran from southwest Missouri who founded the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in his native North Carolina and later the White Patriot Party.”

“Miller also ran for the U.S. House in 2006 and the U.S. Senate in 2010 in Missouri, each time espousing a white-power platform.” I think that one of the most basic problems in this case is that Miller/Cross was only sentenced to three years for his crimes in 1987. It would also have been helpful if the court had mandated mental health care for the man, because he is clearly what we sometimes call “a nut job.” Fascinating that he ran for public office twice on the white power platform. There is so much talk among the Tea Party and their allies the “militia” and the “Patriots” about America no longer being sufficiently patriotic. This man's idea of patriotism is appalling. I wonder what a lot of the others feel to be their “patriotic duty?” I'm afraid that unless the Moderate Republican voices speak up for themselves there will no longer be any just and fair-minded Republicans left in the country. What will we have then? Armageddon?