Universal Rhythm

FBI denies editing Oklahoma City bombing tapes
Published - Sep 30 2009 08:31PM PDT

By TIM TALLEY - Associated Press Writer

(AP Photo/FBI via the Oklahoman)

This frame grab taken from security video released by the FBI and provided to The Oklahoman shows damage to a nearby building shortly after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The tapes were obtained by an attorney and provided to The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman, the newspaper reported Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009.
The FBI says it did not edit videotapes of the aftermath of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building before turning them over to an attorney who is conducting an unofficial inquiry into the bombing.

The FBI turned over more than two dozen tapes taken from security cameras on buildings and other locations around the federal building to Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who obtained them through the federal Freedom of Information Act. Trentadue said the tapes are blank at various times in the minutes before the blast.

“They have been edited,” Trentadue said Wednesday.

The soundless recordings show people rushing from nearby buildings immediately after a 4,000 pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring hundreds more.

Some show people fleeing through corridors cluttered with debris. None shows the actual explosion that ripped through the federal building.

Trentadue said the absence of footage before the blast indicates something was on the tapes that the FBI did not want to make public.

“They don’t do anything by accident,” he said.

A spokesman for the FBI in Washington, Paul Bresson, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the agency did not edit the tapes before turning them over to Trentadue.

Bresson said the FBI identified 26 videos in its files in response to an April request by Trentadue for video from security cameras in 11 different locations. FBI agents did not report finding any security tapes from the federal building itself.

“The FBI made no edits or redactions in the processing of these videos,” Bresson said. “The tapes are typical security cameras _ the view switches camera to camera every few seconds.”

Bresson declined to expand on the FBI’s e-mail statement when contacted Wednesday.

Trentadue began looking into the bombing after his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, died at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center in August 1995. Kenneth Trentadue was a convicted bank robber who was held at the federal prison after being picked up on an alleged parole violation at his home in San Diego in June 1995.

He was never a bombing suspect, but Jesse Trentadue alleges guards mistook his brother for one and beat him to death during an interrogation. The official cause of Kenneth Trentadue’s death is listed as suicide, but his body had 41 wounds and bruises that Jesse Trentadue believes could have come only from a beating.

A judge in 2001 awarded Kenneth Trentadue’s family $1.1 million for extreme emotional distress in the government’s handling of his death.

Some images turned over to Jesse Trentadue were used as evidence at bomber Timothy McVeigh’s trial. McVeigh was convicted on federal murder and conspiracy charges and executed in 2001. Co-conspirator Terry Nichols is serving life in prison on federal and state bombing convictions.

DOUBLE G “STRING THING” feat. SONUS QUARTET
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29
FAIS DO DO
10pm - 11pm
ONE SET ONLY
daKAH conductor & composer Geoff Gallegos (DOUBLE G) presents SONUS QUARTET performing a Los Angeles encore of his new string quartet music, commissioned by the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA.
Club Fais Do Do
5257 Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA  90016
$5.00 cover.  Please mention GG or SONUS at the door.

ONE SET ONLY
10pm - 11pm

for more info visit
www.doublegmusic.com/
 

Rock Jamaica presents Julian Marley’s live acoustic performance this Tuesday on the Roof Top of Kress for his West Coast Album Release Party of ‘AWAKE’…

Dj Pj Butta and Black Gold will be carrying the nights music festivities with best in reggae, dancehall & hip hop music.

Kress
6608 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028 (located between Cherokee & Wilcox)

Enter through the back parking lot entrance…
Parking in the back parking lot off Schrader…

ENTER THROUGH THE BACK PARKING LOT FOR THIS SHOW!

Doors Open 9.30p
Ladies free before 10.30p
Guest list $10 before 10.30p
$20 Cover After 10.30p

For More Info. www.FreeiEntertainment.com

Email jason@freeientertainment.com

For updates and drink specials login to our new blog site WWW.ROCKJA.COM

Video:

 

A SOULFUL HOUSE MONTHLY EVENT

BRIGHTER DAYS - Every 4th SUNDAY of the month
Soulful House Afro, Latin, Jazz & More

Sunday, September 27th 2009

Featuring LA’s

Soulful House Selectors

KRISTI LOMAX - LA
Restless Soul, KPFK Monday Nights
www.lomaxwax.com
www.myspace.com/kristilomax

AL JACKSON - LA
juju/soul children
www.myspace.com/djaljackson
Grand Star Jazz Club (2nd Door Entrance - UPSTAIRS)
943 N. Broadway - Chinatown, Downtown
Los Angeles, CA 90012
9:30pm - 2am | $5 before 11pm & $10 After | 21+
For More Info Go To:
www.myspace.com/brighterdaysla | brighterdaysla@gmail.com

PROMOTIONS BY:
WWW.UNIVERSAL-RHYTHM.COM

COMING UP:

October 25th

Special Guests TBA

FRIDAY NIGHT JAM
Every Friday @ Continental

Friday September 25th

featuring

resident dj’s

DAVID BULLOCK & PHARMONIC

Located @ CONTINENTAL
7250 Melrose Ave. (x st. Alta Vista)
(UPSTAIRS from El Guapo Resturant)
plenty of street parking or valet for $6
R.S.V.P. facebook.com/ph…
www.continentalbar.com

Coming Up:

10/9 Cha Cha Radio 2 Year Anniversary

w/ SLICK DADA & BIG CEE

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19th KARIZMA, MARK DE CLIVE LOWE, WISEACRE +

KARIZMA

MARK DE CLIVE LOWE

WISEACRE

YOSAKU & CHAKA

Plus a live performance by Laurnea!

Warehouse
2808 Elm St.
L.A.  90065

$8 before 10pm & $15 after
grownfolks | 9pm - til late ?

LIFT -  Thursdays
  
Thursday, September 10th

LIFT

featuring resident dj

FRANK LARA - LA
higher, universalrhythm, lift

with special guests
 
music: acid jazz and beyond | house | disco | funk | classics
 

JLounge 1119 S. Olive St.
Downtown, LA, CA 90015
www.jloungela.com and www.jpresents.com

Fines proposed for going without health insurance

Published - Sep 08 2009 08:22PM PDT

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR - Associated Press Writer

(AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., leaves the subway at the U. S. Capitol for a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009.
Americans would be fined up to $3,800 for failing to buy health insurance under a plan that circulated in Congress on Tuesday as divisions among Democrats undercut President Barack Obama’s effort to regain traction on his health care overhaul.

As Obama talked strategy with Democratic leaders at the White House, the one idea that most appeals to his party’s liberal base lost ground in Congress. Prospects for a government-run plan to compete with private insurers sank as a leading moderate Democrat, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, said he could no longer support the idea.

The fast-moving developments put Obama in a box. As a candidate, he opposed fines to force individuals to buy health insurance, and he supported setting up a public insurance plan. On Tuesday, fellow Democrats publicly begged to differ on both ideas.

Democratic congressional leaders put on a bold front as they left the White House after their meeting with the president.

“We’re re-energized; we’re ready to do health care reform,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insisted the public plan is still politically viable. “I believe that a public option will be essential to our passing a bill in the House of Representatives,” she said.

After a month of contentious forums, Americans were seeking specifics from the president in his speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night. So were his fellow Democrats, divided on how best to solve the problem of the nation’s nearly 50 million uninsured.

The latest proposal: a ten-year, $900-billion bipartisan compromise that Baucus, who heads the influential Finance Committee, was trying to broker. It would guarantee coverage for nearly all Americans, regardless of medical problems.

But the Baucus plan also includes the fines that Obama has rejected. In what appeared to be a sign of tension, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs pointedly noted that the administration had not received a copy of the plan before it leaked to lobbyists and news media Tuesday.

The Baucus plan would require insurers to take all applicants, regardless of age or health. But smokers could be charged higher premiums. And 60-year-olds could be charged five times as much for a policy as 20-year-olds.

Baucus said Tuesday he’s trying to get agreement from a small group of bipartisan negotiators in advance of Obama’s speech. “Time is running out very quickly,” he said. “I made that very clear to the group.”

Some experts consider the $900-billion price tag a relative bargain because the country now spends about $2.5 trillion a year on health care. But it would require hefty fees on insurers, drug companies and others in the health care industry to help pay for it.

Just as auto coverage is now mandatory in nearly all states, Baucus would require that all Americans get health insurance once the system is overhauled to make premiums more stable and affordable. Penalties for failing to do so would start at $750 a year for individuals and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level _ about $66,000 for a family of four _ would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950.

Baucus would offer tax credits to help pay premiums for households making up to three times the poverty level, and for small employers. Upper middle-class households making between three and four times the poverty level would not have to pay more than 13 percent of their income for health insurance. People working for companies that offer coverage could avoid the fines by signing up.

Nonetheless, the fines pose a dilemma for Obama. As a candidate, the president campaigned hard against making health insurance a requirement, and fining people for not getting it.

“Punishing families who can’t afford health care to begin with just doesn’t make sense,” he said during his party’s primaries. At the time, he proposed mandatory insurance only for children.

White House officials have since backed away somewhat from Obama’s opposition to mandated coverage for all, but there’s no indication that Obama would support fines.

One idea that Obama championed during and since the campaign _ a government insurance option _ appeared to be sinking fast.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters a Medicare-like plan for middle-class Americans and their families isn’t an essential part of legislation for him. Hoyer’s comments came shortly after a key Democratic moderate said he could no longer back a bill that includes a new government plan.

That left liberals in a quandary. They’ve drawn a line, saying they won’t vote for legislation if it doesn’t include a public plan to compete with private insurance companies and force them to lower costs.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., who once supported a public option, said Tuesday that after hearing from constituents during the August recess, he’s changed his mind.

“If House leadership presents a final bill that contains a government-run public option, I will oppose it,” Ross said.

Democrats are considering a fallback: using the public plan as a last resort if after a few years the insurance industry has failed to curb costs. That approach is also being pushed by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a moderate whose support could be critical to any health legislation.

Snowe said Tuesday that Obama’s been open to her fallback idea.

“He’s been receptive, recognizing that there’s difficulties with the public option,” Snowe said. Republicans have cast it as a government take-over.

Baucus is calling for nonprofit co-ops to compete in the marketplace instead of a public plan.

An 18-page summary of the Baucus proposal was obtained by The Associated Press. The complex plan would make dozens of changes in the health care system, many of them contentious. For example, it includes new fees on insurers, drug companies, medical device manufacturers and clinical labs.

People working for major employers would probably not see big changes. The plan is geared to helping those who now have the hardest time getting and keeping coverage: the self-employed and small business owners.

RED BULL 45s LA
@
THE HUNDREDS BLOCK PARTY

Labor Day, Monday, Sept 7th
Fairfax and Rosewood, LA
6pm - 9pm

Featuring:
- SHORTKUT (Beat Junkies - SF)
- MAYER HAWTHORNE (Stones Throw - LA/Detroit)
- AMIR (Wax Poetics - NYC)
- JOHN DOE (The Get Back - Vegas)

With Special Guest DJ Set by:
- KID CAPRI

And Hosted By:
- ALOE BLACC

For more info, check out: www.myspace.com/redbull45s

Red Bull 45s pays tribute to yesteryear by tasking DJs to compete against each other using only 7-inch 45 rpm records popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The competition format places four DJs in four opposite corners of the space, with the crowd in the middle. Each DJ spins two 45 rpm records, with each subsequent DJ attempting to audibly beat match off the previous DJ - without the help of today’s computerized beat-matching computers and equipment. The goal of the event is to revive the sound and spirit of once revered 45 rpm record while tasking DJs to use all their imagination and expertise to create a seamless and continuous flow of music. Plus, today’s untouchable and disconnected club DJ hidden behind a serato screen didn’t exist when 45s were in – DJs are on the floor with the crowd, so all get down as one. And we’ll plan to!

THE HUNDREDS BLOCK PARTY – www.thehundreds.com
This annual who’s who of BBQs Gets crackin at Noon
- BBQ All Day
- DJ Sets from Mike B, Audible Agent + Plus Many More
- Support from our friends at Pabst Blue Ribbon & Serve Mobile Bartending

W / Newly Added features for the Day:
- Fades from Barracuda Hair on the block.
(www.myspace.com/barracudahair)

- Beat Swap Meet on site with massive Record collections on sale or for trade.
(www.beatswapmeet.com)

- Free DJ Lessons all day with Scratch Academy & Turntable Lab.
(www.scratch.com/la) & (www.turntablelab.com)