After a seven-day trial, the fate of an Ashland Islamic charity founder is now in the hands of a federal jury. The all-white panel from Oregon communities as far-flung as Gervais, Bend and Myrtle Creek began deliberations late yesterday afternoon in the tax fraud and money-laundering conspiracy case against Pete Seda. Jurors deliberated for 4 1/2 hours and recessed at 8:45 p.m. without reaching a verdict; deliberations are expected to continue today. Al Haramain defense counsel Laurence Matasur will be with us on Air Cascadia…just as soon as the jury finishes lynching his client.
Rachel Corrie Testimonies resumed on Tuesday in the ongoing civil suit lodged by Rachel Corrie's family against the State of Israel in Haifa's District Court this week,. The state's defense team called three witnesses to the stand. The Corries' civil lawsuit charges Israel with criminal negligence and the intentional killing of their daughter, as well as a failure of due regard to the presence of unarmed and nonviolent civilians by operators of a military vehicle and their commanders. On 5 September, the first defense witness -- who at the time was a 20-year-old sergeant charged with leading internal investigations following the killing, known to the court as "Oded" -- confirmed that a senior commander ordered the interruption of the investigations. Members of Rachel’s group, International Solidarity Movement, were there. They witnessed the murder. They will not be called to testify. Israeli law is different from international law…
Last week the Olympia Food Co-op official divested itself from doing business with Israeli companies. and we all cheered. This week the Israel Divestment Campaign has submitted a ballot initiative to force California’s huge public retirement systems to withdraw investments from companies that “support Israeli settlement or supply military products to the government of Israel.” Cali's PERS account represents $300 billion dollars. sends a message...
- KBOO