Video  click....Martha Reeves on WDIV Chl 4 Detroit...

" I am an unique individual...  I am a professional entertainer "  Martha Reeves, legendary Motown singer and a Detroit Council member, said dodging a question by Roger Weber, of WDIV Chl 4, about her Motown tour to Europe.

But is she also feeling 'entitled' and is she ignorant...?

Martha Reeves, and elected member of the Detroit City Council took time away from important City issues to go sing in Europe for Motown. She apparently doesn't consider her responsibilites to the residents of Detroit as important as her 'contract' with Motown.

She was elected to represent and work for the residents of Detroit and with all the problems, she took off and collected a fee from Motown and Council salary - an ethical lapse? Well the Detroit City Council continues to fail to adopt strict ethical standards for their conduct and campaign contributions.

She should return her Council salary, for her time on Tour, apologize to residents of Detroit and vow - to work harder to solve the problems of Detroit or Resign.

Reeve's isn't the Council's brightest star asking ' are they tearing down Tiger Stadium' almost three weeks after demolition began. She needs all of her efforts devoted to keeping up with the issues and dealing with the problems of Detroit. If she wants to be a Motown star - do it during Council vacations and breaks, which are more than enough time.

Monica Conyers arrogant to the end and beyond.

Monica Conyers, a belligerent, demeaning and arrogant Detroit City Council member, finally resigned after pleading guilty to one (of five) federal bribery charges only after forcing the City Council to take a stand against her, because no one thought she would 'do the right thing'. She has left behind no important legacy of work for her wasted years.

Conyers picked her resignation date as July 6 - eight days too long and then tried to force her staff budget on the City taxpayers by saying the he staff would be available until December 31, costing the City hundreds of thousands of dollars - tax payer $$$$$.

The Council should immediately end Conyers staff budget and put it back into the general fund to pay bills long overdue and to preserve their integrity - which is still questionable because they fail to pass meaningful and effective ethics procedures to guide their conduct.

The Council should also pass clear language for the removal of the Mayor and Council members who are guilty (plea or convicted) of felony and penalties for misdemeanor crimes.

The Council should immediately pass rules and regulations for the pension boards that forbids the destruction of travel documents and any documents related to the conduct of members and the conduct of business by pension board members.

Detroit cannot wait three (3) years for a Charter Commission to propose and the residents to adopt changes in these critical areas - that everyone agrees, must be changed.

You should take up the cry - for ethical and honest city leaders...now

   Why don't  fellow members of the Detroit City Council or friends of Monica Conyers and JoAnn Watson tell them to 'stifle it' or just plain 'shut up'.
 
   Their comments are further damaging the image of  Detroit, the Council and themselves  providing further reasons to look beyond Detroit to the suburbs for leadership and intelligent city government.
 
    Monica in a Detroit News article again tries to comment on the Cobo Hall deal and just
invites ridicule and shows her ignorance. JoAnn Watson blames the media for her ignorance and serious lack of common sense and discretion.
 
    Detroiters will benefit from the Cobo Hall deal, as it stands - now, and even if tweaked by Mayor Bing - they will get to keep their jobs at restaurants, bars, casinos and other businesses that cater to Cobo conventioneers and visitors. Detroit will get to keep or increase the tax revenue that Cobo generates, if it remains viable and improved.
 
    Detroit will enhance its tarnished image and reputation if a renovated and improved Cobo  Hall attracts more conventions and visitors and positive comments spread, throughout the country.
 
    Requesting set asides and special job quotas only makes Detroit look desperate and needy. A city that has to have special consideration because it has poor schools, and an uneducated work force. Rather than residents who are educated and ready to compete for any job that Cobo can create or needs. Black residents should be ashamed that Conyers and other council members thinks so little of them and their abilities, while professing to be their champions.
 
    A succession of Detroit Mayors and Council members have allowed Cobo Hall to fall into severe disrepair - a city building engineer told me - it should closed and condemned. They have failed year after year to make necessary repairs and improvements needed to make Cobo a viable convention center. They have failed to control union contracts and costs associated with attracting and keeping convention business. How many businesses and companies have bit their tongues and used Cobo for a convention - because of loyalty to Detroit and a willingness to help it survive.
 
    Cobo Hall is a disgrace - a negative factor in moving Detroit forward, take a walking tour for yourself, look at the ceilings (protect your eyes during rain storms), go downstairs into the basement, look at the loading docks - and you will see that any attempt to renovate Cobo would be a chore a major undertaking - and a blessing to the City of  Detroit.
 
   Detroit can only benefit...and Detroit residents need leadership to embrace the opportunity to make Cobo Hall - a great convention center.
 
    And JoAnn Watson - OMG, blasphemy - using a prayer session in front of her home - to invoke God - to try and fool Detroit residents into believing  that God is on her side - despite her totally unbelievable story about her home assessment and failure to pay her fair share of property taxes. A council woman that is that ignorant and deceitful must resign - but won't - so Detroit residents must rise up and tell her too. Watson tries to blame the media for her serious lack of common sense and discretion - fellow council member should tell to pay up and 'shut up'.

Posted in News on May 13th, 2009

By ANDREW E. KRAMER May 11, 2009

——————————-

Each day, the contents of the bags spill into the stainless steel hoppers of the receiving room. The diamonds are washed and sorted by size, clarity, shape and quality; then, rather than being sent to be sold around the world, they are wrapped in paper and whisked away to a vault — about three million carats worth of gems every month.

“Each one of them is so unusual,” said Irina V. Tkachuk, one of the few hundred people, mostly women, employed to sort the diamonds, who sees thousands of them every day.

“I’m not a robot. I sometimes think to myself ‘wow, what a pretty diamond. I would like that one.’ They are all so beautiful.”

It could be years before another woman admires that stone. Russia quietly passed a milestone this year: surpassing De Beers as the world’s largest diamond producer. But the global market for diamonds is so dismal that the Alrosa diamond company, 90 percent owned by the Russian government, has not sold a rough stone on the open market since December, and has stockpiled them instead.

As a result, Russia has become the arbiter of global diamond prices. Its decisions on production and sales will determine the value of diamonds on rings and in jewelry stores for years to come, in one of the most surprising consequences of this recession.

Largely because of the jewelry bear market, De Beers’s fortunes have sunk. Short of cash, the company had to raise $800 million from stockholders in just the last six months.

The recession also coincided with a settlement with European Union antitrust authorities that ended a longtime De Beers policy of stockpiling diamonds, in cooperation with Alrosa, to keep prices up.

Though it is a major commodity producer, Russia has traditionally not embraced policies that artificially keep prices up. In oil, for example, Russia benefits from the oil cartel’s cuts in production, but does not participate in them.

Diamonds are an exception. “If you don’t support the price,” Andrei V. Polyakov, a spokesman for Alrosa, said, “a diamond becomes a mere piece of carbon.”

In an attempt to carefully calibrate its re-entry on the global market, without forcing prices still lower, Russia is relying on two things: the Soviet-era precious gem depository — created to hold jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy after the 1917 revolution — and capitalist investors, whom Alrosa hopes will buy diamonds as an investment, like gold.

Russia is taking a leadership role in other ways, too.

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Sergei Vybornov, Alrosa’s chief executive, said that he had helped persuade the central bank of Angola — which, like Russia, is still relatively flush with oil money — to buy 30 percent of the production of Angola’s diamond mines, keeping these stones off the market.

And last fall, Alrosa began what it called the St. Petersburg Initiative, along with De Beers and other large producers, to invest collectively in generic diamond advertising, akin to De Beers’s promotion of the slogan “Diamonds are forever.” Russia assumed the task as De Beers has principally shifted to promoting its own branded gems.

Still, it is a precarious time for the Russian diamond company to assume leadership of the industry.

Until last year, De Beers produced about 40 percent of the global rough stone supply, and Alrosa 25 percent. But De Beers, which is prohibited under its European Union antitrust agreement from stockpiling, closed mines in response to the glut in rough stones. Russia is loath to do that, as authorities in Moscow, gravely concerned about potential unrest by disgruntled unemployed workers, try to keep workers on the payroll.

In the first quarter, De Beers reduced output by 91 percent compared with the previous year. The diversified mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton also curbed production.

Meanwhile, the market for wholesale polished diamonds, worth about $21.5 billion, is expected to fall to about $12 billion in 2009, according to Polished Prices, an analytical service for the industry.

Rough diamond prices have fallen even more, as much as 75 percent since their peak last July at some auctions.

The two markets are distinct. Typically, about 60 percent of a rough diamond is lost as dust or shavings in the cutting process.

Mr. Vybornov blames diamond traders who pledged diamond stocks as loan collateral for part of the world glut. When credit dried up last fall, banks and other creditors seized those gems and sold them, he says, flooding the market. By December, his company decided to withdraw entirely from the market rather than further erode prices.

Russia historically remained mostly a behind-the-scenes player, perhaps because Soviet authorities would have had to perform some ideological gymnastics to promote a product consumed principally by the rich of the capitalist world.

Instead, twisting politics, the Soviets concluded a semisecret agreement with apartheid-era De Beers to sell Siberian diamonds in a way that would not undercut the market.

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian diamond industry created a formal alliance with De Beers, selling the South African company half of each year’s production at a discount intended to subsidize De Beers’s generic diamond advertising undertaken in the 1990s, mostly in the United States.

Now, the Russians are in the driver’s seat.

Charles Wyndham, a former De Beers evaluator and co-founder of Polished Prices, said Russia had thus far managed the transition well: withholding gems to make more money in the long run rather than further depressing the market.

“Whatever one wants to say about the Russians, they certainly aren’t stupid,” Mr. Wyndham said.

Alrosa is seeking to jump-start demand by selling gems under long-term contracts to wholesale buyers in Belgium, Israel, India and elsewhere. Under these contracts, six of which have been signed, prices are set at a midpoint between the peak last August and this winter, and fixed for a period of several years.

“A diamond ring should not cost $100,” Mr. Vybornov said. “We don’t want that type of client.”

Alrosa is also working with a Moscow investment bank, Leader, a subsidiary of the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, to market diamonds to investors. Under the plan, investors would buy diamonds but the gems would not be released to jewelers for several years.

It is a program, essentially, of outsourcing the stockpiling function to investors in exchange for the chance to profit from a possible recovery in the market.

At one of Alrosa’s cutting shops in one of Moscow’s outer districts, Aleksandr A. Malinin, an adviser to the president of Alrosa, showed a typical collection that might become the basis for such an investment vehicle.

The gems fit in a felt box about the size of a laptop computer.

The larger stones, a circular-cut 10 carat flawless white and a princess-cut yellow, were estimated at about $400,000. The smaller ones ranged from $16,000 to $100,000. But the value of the box, while surely several million dollars, is something of a mystery just now given the depressed market.

How the buy-in price for the stones will be set, and how the company will determine when the price goes up and down, is unclear, Mr. Malinin said.

“We have to tell people that diamonds are valuable,” he said. “We are trying to maintain the price, just as De Beers did, as all diamond producing countries do. But what we are doing is selling an illusion,” meaning a product with no utility and a price that depends on the continued sense of scarcity where there is none.

At the Alrosa unit that receives diamonds, called the United Selling Organization, where about 90 percent of the output of the Siberian mines arrives for processing, Elena V. Kapustkina pours about 45,000 carats of diamonds though a stainless steel sieve every day to sort them by size.

“It’s just a job,” she said.

When asked whether diamonds had lost their romance for her, Ms. Kapustkina paused, looked down at the pile of gems on her table and blushed.

In fact, she said, her husband, a truck driver, gave her a half-carat ring 22 years ago. “Of course I love it,” she said. “It’s from my husband.”

  As usual the Detroit News editorial writer got it wrong about the new Detroit Charter Commission, not totally but enough that I, someone has to speak up.
 
   Detroit can not wait three (3) years for a new charter - as soon as the charter commission is elected, they must speed up their work and complete charter revisions in one year or less. By that time several council members maybe under federal indictment as well as former mayor Kilpatrick, new council members would be needed to fill vacancies.
 
   Detroit needs an ethics ordinance, immediately, not as a last priority that the News listed.
   Detroit above all must demonstrate that it will no longer tolerate - pay to play, and a friends and family employment plan and that all contracts are awarded not only on ability to do the work but at a fair and honest price. There must be clear definition of violations and swift action taken against those who violate honesty and debase the trust that Detroit has placed in its elected leaders.
 
   The Detroit charter must understand that it has lost 60% of its population, is the poorest city in the US and cannot afford nine council members, let alone need them. The council should consist of 5 to 7 members and a corresponding staff and budget. And the issue of district elections is - snake oil medicine - sold by the same people that supported - term limits. District elections maybe necessary - but should be a secondary issue - not a pressing issue in this charter revision. 'Detroit wants the ward system' is not a true statement as the News states. Some people may want it - but it has serious flaws and a real possibility for corruption.
 
    Councilwoman Sharon McPhail pleaded and begged me (October 23, 2003) at a council session to show her how the council could combat the strong mayor system that Detroit is saddled with. I told her - you - the council control the purse strings. Apparently the council doesn't understand the power of the purse. So the new Charter must create a balance of power, checks and balances so that the mayor and council must work together and not in opposition to each other to make Detroit better and to move Detroit forward.
 
  The charter needs other revisions but the commission must deal with the most important issues and 'get er done' quickly and efficiently - to have an effect on the future of Detroit.
 
 Charter repair | detnews.com | The Detroit News  Editorial referenced

Boycott - Burger King restaurants for putting on TV - sleazy sexually suggestive commercials aimed at children - despite the disclaimers these commercials are viewed and harm children.

How offensive can Burger King commercials get??

Aimed at children and young adults - we have seen the Square butt (SpongeBob) commercial and now the BLEEP stealing commercial (Star Trek).

The SpongBob Square pants ad features scantily clad women shaking the butts - square butts (booty is booty) squarely aimed at an appeal to children - a very distasteful tv ad, for a childrens meal. It extols the virture (?) of a square butts - and measures it.

Now they feature Burger King - BLEEP pinching and then stealing some teen agers nipples to get their Star Trek collectible glasses. Gross, offensive and distasteful all in one commercial.

Is the Burger King corporation blind - they have allowed their ad agency free reign to be sexually suggestive and offensive to children.

Where is the outrage - some people are offended by a single expletive, the case went to the US Supreme Court, but is no one offended by the Burger King commercials, that are sorely lacking in creativity - let alone being sexually suggestive and offensive.

 Streaming Burger King Collector's Item - videos & advertising media  -click and watch for yourself.

Note: even this blog is censored - the Bleeps are for the word - nipples, and I can write - butts, but not (BLEEP) which is also a Bleep - in a blog aimed for adults not children - but Burget King is not censored by Fox 2.

Nearly one in three US homeowners owe more on mortgage than their home is worth May 7, 2009 | 10:39 AM
Category: News
Edit | Delete 

The downturn in home prices has left about 20% of U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, according to one new study, signaling additional challenges to the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The increase in the number of such “underwater” borrowers comes amid signs that falling prices are making homes more affordable for first-time buyers and others who have been shut out of the housing market. But falling prices also make it more difficult for homeowners who get into financial trouble to refinance or sell their homes, and for others to take advantage of lower interest rates.

For instance, fewer will qualify to take advantage of a key component of the Obama administration’s plan to stabilize the housing market. Under the plan, announced in February, as many as five million homeowners whose loans are owned or guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can refinance their mortgages, but only if the mortgage loan is a maximum of 105% of the home’s value.

Government officials are considering an increase in that limit. “It’s a question that we’re looking at,” said James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

Real-estate Web site Zillow.com said that overall, the number of borrowers who are underwater climbed to 20.4 million at the end of the first quarter from 16.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. The latest figure represents 21.9% of all homeowners, according to Zillow, up from 17.6% in the fourth quarter and 14.3% in the third quarter.

“What’s going on here is that you don’t have any markets that have turned around and you have new markets, like Dallas, that have joined the ranks” of communities where home prices have fallen, said Stan Humphries, a Zillow.com vice president.

Borrowers who owe far more than their home is worth may also be less likely to participate in another part of the government’s housing plan, which provides incentives for mortgage companies to modify loans to make payments more affordable. Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist, said borrowers who owe 30% more than their homes are worth are far more likely to walk away from their property than those who owe just 5% or 10% more and expect prices to rebound. More than one in 10 borrowers with a mortgage owed 110% or more of their home’s value at the end of last year, according to First American CoreLogic.

There are some recent indications that the housing market could be beginning to stabilize. The National Association of Realtors pending home-sales index, for instance, increased 3.2% in March.

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Just how many borrowers are underwater is a matter of some dispute, with the answer depending in part on assumptions regarding home values and mortgage debt outstanding. Variations in home-price estimates can make a major difference in the number of borrowers who are underwater. In addition, borrowers who are already in the foreclosure process may be counted as being underwater if the title to their property hasn’t changed hands.

Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said underwater estimates can be too high if they use price data that includes a large number of foreclosures. Foreclosed homes tend to sell at a discount, he said, making it appear that prices have fallen more than they actually have.

Moody’s Economy.com estimates that of 78.2 million owner-occupied single-family homes, 14.8 million borrowers, or 19%, owed more than their homes were worth at the end of the first quarter, up from 13.6 million at the end of last year.

Part of the reason Zillow’s numbers are higher may be that it looks at mortgage debt taken out at the time the home was purchased and doesn’t adjust for any payments since made toward the outstanding mortgage balance. It also assumes that borrowers who took out home-equity lines of credit at the time of purchase have fully tapped the amount they can borrow. That approach can overstate the portion of borrowers who are underwater, Mr. Zandi said.

Mr. Humphries of Zillow calls his methodology conservative and said Zillow’s use of pricing for individual homes provides a better measure of home valuations than Mr. Zandi’s approach, which relies on market-level estimates of home values. He adds that Zillow doesn’t include foreclosures in its pricing models.

Write to Ruth Simon at ruth.simon@wsj.com and James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

Fantastic Video you must see and pass on to all you know!! This one tells it like it is!!

This song could sell 10 Million copies (just in Michigan..LOL)

Wake Up America!!

 

http://heavens-gates.com/usworkers/

 

 

Finally, the truth about Area 51
After decades of denying the facility’s existence, five former insiders speak out by Annie Jacobsen Area 51. It’s the most famous military institution in the world that doesn’t officially exist. If it did, it would be found about 100 miles outside Las Vegas in Nevada’s high desert, tucked between an Air Force base and an abandoned nuclear testing ground. Then again, maybe not— the U.S. government refuses to say. You can’t drive anywhere close to it, and until recently, the airspace overhead was restricted—all the way to outer space. Any mention of Area 51 gets redacted from official documents, even those that have been declassified for decades.

It has become the holy grail for conspiracy theorists, with UFOlogists positing that the Pentagon reverse engineers flying saucers and keeps extraterrestrial beings stored in freezers. Urban legend has it that Area 51 is connected by underground tunnels and trains to other secret facilities around the country. In 2001, Katie Couric told Today Show audiences that 7 percent of Americans doubt the moon landing happened—that it was staged in the Nevada desert. Millions of X-Files fans believe the truth may be “out there,” but more likely it’s concealed inside Area 51’s Strangelove-esque hangars—buildings that, though confirmed by Google Earth, the government refuses to acknowledge.

The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk—in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors. Colonel Hugh “Slip” Slater, 87, was commander of the Area 51 base in the 1960s. Edward Lovick, 90, featured in “What Plane?” in LA’s March issue, spent three decades radar testing some of the world’s most famous aircraft (including the U-2, the A-12 OXCART and the F-117). Kenneth Collins, 80, a CIA experimental test pilot, was given the silver star. Thornton “T.D.” Barnes, 72, was an Area 51 special-projects engineer. And Harry Martin, 77, was one of the men in charge of the base’s half-million-gallon monthly supply of spy-plane fuels. Here are a few of their best stories—for the record:

On May 24, 1963, Collins flew out of Area 51’s restricted airspace in a top-secret spy plane code-named OXCART, built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He was flying over Utah when the aircraft pitched, flipped and headed toward a crash. He ejected into a field of weeds.

Almost 46 years later, in late fall of 2008, sitting in a coffee shop in the San Fernando Valley, Collins remembers that day with the kind of clarity the threat of a national security breach evokes: “Three guys came driving toward me in a pickup. I saw they had the aircraft canopy in the back. They offered to take me to my plane.” Until that moment, no civilian without a top-secret security clearance had ever laid eyes on the airplane Collins was flying. “I told them not to go near the aircraft. I said it had a nuclear weapon on-board.” The story fit right into the Cold War backdrop of the day, as many atomic tests took place in Nevada. Spooked, the men drove Collins to the local highway patrol. The CIA disguised the accident as involving a generic Air Force plane, the F-105, which is how the event is still listed in official records.

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As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins’ own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. “They wanted to see if there was anything I’d for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash.” The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.

“Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word.” The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. “Boy, was she mad,” says Collins with a chuckle.

At the time of Collins’ accident, CIA pilots had been flying spy planes in and out of Area 51 for eight years, with the express mission of providing the intelligence to prevent nuclear war. Aerial reconnaissance was a major part of the CIA’s preemptive efforts, while the rest of America built bomb shelters and hoped for the best.

“It wasn’t always called Area 51,” says Lovick, the physicist who developed stealth technology. His boss, legendary aircraft designer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, called the place Paradise Ranch to entice men to leave their families and “rough it” out in the Nevada desert in the name of science and the fight against the evil empire. “Test pilot Tony LeVier found the place by flying over it,” says Lovick. “It was a lake bed called Groom Lake, selected for testing because it was flat and far from anything. It was kept secret because the CIA tested U-2s there.”

When Frances Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk, Russia, in 1960, the U-2 program lost its cover. But the CIA already had Lovick and some 200 scientists, engineers and pilots working at Area 51 on the A-12 OXCART, which would outfox Soviet radar using height, stealth and speed.

Col. Slater was in the outfit of six pilots who flew OXCART missions during the Vietnam War. Over a Cuban meat and cheese sandwich at the Bahama Breeze restaurant off the Las Vegas Strip, he says, “I was recruited for the Area after working with the CIA’s classified Black Cat Squadron, which flew U-2 missions over denied territory in Mainland China. After that, I was told, ‘You should come out to Nevada and work on something interesting we’re doing out there.’ ”

Even though Slater considers himself a fighter pilot at heart—he flew 84 missions in World War II—the opportunity to work at Area 51 was impossible to pass up. “When I learned about this Mach-3 aircraft called OXCART, it was completely intriguing to me—this idea of flying three times the speed of sound! No one knew a thing about the program. I asked my wife, Barbara, if she wanted to move to Las Vegas, and she said yes. And I said, ‘You won’t see me but on the weekends,’ and she said, ‘That’s fine!’ ” At this recollection, Slater laughs heartily. Barbara, dining with us, laughs as well. The two, married for 63 years, are rarely apart today.

“We couldn’t have told you any of this a year ago,” Slater says. “Now we can’t tell it to you fast enough.” That is because in 2007, the CIA began declassifying the 50-year-old OXCART program. Today, there’s a scramble for eyewitnesses to fill in the information gaps. Only a few of the original players are left. Two more of them join me and the Slaters for lunch: Barnes, formerly an Area 51 special-projects engineer, with his wife, Doris; and Martin, one of those overseeing the OXCART’s specially mixed jet fuel (regular fuel explodes at extreme height, temperature and speed), with his wife, Mary. Because the men were sworn to secrecy for so many decades, their wives still get a kick out of hearing the secret tales.

Barnes was married at 17 (Doris was 16). To support his wife, he became an electronics wizard, buying broken television sets, fixing them up and reselling them for five times the original price. He went from living in bitter poverty on a Texas Panhandle ranch with no electricity to buying his new bride a dream home before he was old enough to vote. As a soldier in the Korean War, Barnes demonstrated an uncanny aptitude for radar and Nike missile systems, which made him a prime target for recruitment by the CIA—which indeed happened when he was 22. By 30, he was handling nuclear secrets.

“The agency located each guy at the top of a certain field and put us together for the programs at Area 51,” says Barnes. As a security precaution, he couldn’t reveal his birth name—he went by the moniker Thunder. Coworkers traveled in separate cars, helicopters and airplanes. Barnes and his group kept to themselves, even in the mess hall. “Our special-projects group was the most classified team since the Manhattan Project,” he says.

Harry Martin’s specialty was fuel. Handpicked by the CIA from the Air Force, he underwent rigorous psychological and physical tests to see if he was up for the job. When he passed, the CIA moved his family to Nevada. Because OXCART had to refuel frequently, the CIA kept supplies at secret facilities around the globe. Martin often traveled to these bases for quality-control checks. He tells of preparing for a top-secret mission from Area 51 to Thule, Greenland. “My wife took one look at me in these arctic boots and this big hooded coat, and she knew not to ask where I was going.”

So, what of those urban legends—the UFOs studied in secret, the underground tunnels connecting clandestine facilities? For decades, the men at Area 51 thought they’d take their secrets to the grave. At the height of the Cold War, they cultivated anonymity while pursuing some of the country’s most covert projects. Conspiracy theories were left to popular imagination. But in talking with Collins, Lovick, Slater, Barnes and Martin, it is clear that much of the folklore was spun from threads of fact.

As for the myths of reverse engineering of flying saucers, Barnes offers some insight: “We did reverse engineer a lot of foreign technology, including the Soviet MiG fighter jet out at the Area”—even though the MiG wasn’t shaped like a flying saucer. As for the underground-tunnel talk, that, too, was born of truth. Barnes worked on a nuclear-rocket program called Project NERVA, inside underground chambers at Jackass Flats, in Area 51’s backyard. “Three test-cell facilities were connected by railroad, but everything else was underground,” he says.

And the quintessential Area 51 conspiracy—that the Pentagon keeps captured alien spacecraft there, which they fly around in restricted airspace? Turns out that one’s pretty easy to debunk. The shape of OXCART was unprece-dented, with its wide, disk-like fuselage designed to carry vast quantities of fuel. Commercial pilots cruising over Nevada at dusk would look up and see the bottom of OXCART whiz by at 2,000-plus mph. The aircraft’s tita-nium body, moving as fast as a bullet, would reflect the sun’s rays in a way that could make anyone think, UFO.

In all, 2,850 OXCART test flights were flown out of Area 51 while Slater was in charge. “That’s a lot of UFO sightings!” Slater adds. Commercial pilots would report them to the FAA, and “when they’d land in California, they’d be met by FBI agents who’d make them sign nondisclosure forms.” But not everyone kept quiet, hence the birth of Area 51’s UFO lore. The sightings incited uproar in Nevada and the surrounding areas and forced the Air Force to open Project BLUE BOOK to log each claim.

Since only a few Air Force officials were cleared for OXCART (even though it was a joint CIA/USAF project), many UFO sightings raised internal military alarms. Some generals believed the Russians might be sending stealth craft over American skies to incite paranoia and create widespread panic of alien invasion. Today, BLUE BOOK findings are housed in 37 cubic feet of case files at the National Archives—74,000 pages of reports. A keyword search brings up no mention of the top-secret OXCART or Area 51.

Project BLUE BOOK was shut down in 1969—more than a year after OXCART was retired. But what continues at America’s most clandestine military facility could take another 40 years to disclose.

ANNIE JACOBSEN is an investigative reporter who sat for more than 500 interviews after she broke the story on terrorists probing commercial airliners. When she isn’t digging into intelligence issues for the likes of the National Review, she’s snapping together Legos with her two boys.

$1.3 TRILLION in "Stimulus Spending"                                  & less than 20% for Shovel Ready Projects.

8.5% UNEMPLOYMENT & CONGRESS chooses "pet projects" over job creating projects.

WHO WROTE THE STIMULUS BILL IN THE HOUSE..........                                                  ....... & WHO WROTE THE SENATE VERSION

$500 BILLION plus in the OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL - more pet projects....    

 Does unemployment have to reach 10% before we say ENOUGH....

       Join in a Tea Party next week and let CONGRESS hear that -                          WE THE PEOPLE  -                                                      
     pay too much in taxes for the incompetence of CONGRESS

No more Bailouts / No More Partisan Projects

FIRE CONGRESS

Start With Chris Dodd & Barney Frank

Then Everyone that voted for the STIMULUS & didn't read it...

GM is $62 BILLION in debt even after multiple gifts exceeding $30 Billion from US TAXPAYERS.

The clock is ticking and you have a choice.  Make a deal that hurts or lose everything.  With Benefits alone costing GM $31 / hr. there is no sign of a profitable business plan going forward. 

Bankruptcy is a given before summer.  And Obama will force GM to cut back on trucks and SUVs the 11 models that actual turn a profit for the company. 

HOPE & CHANGE - - - - is this what you had in mind????

"Impeach Conyers before it's too late"...Nolan Finley (4/5/9) Det News

Doesn't go far enough...Detroit has less than 900,000 residents and nine (9) council members - too many...the residents should demand that the city charter be amended to reduce the number of council members to five or seven members, which would also create a budget savings and a more efficient council. But this in not about to happen, so the state must step in and use whatever powers it has to reduce the council membership.

Detroit has a dearth, a shortage of quality leaders - the black ministers of Detroit have failed to use their moral leadership to improve Detroit. While Detroit drifts they remain silent. Wether it was Kilpatrick or Conyers they have failed to forcefully speak out demanding ethical leadership and an end to racial baiting politics. They need to tell Conyers to 'shut up' and the rest of the Council to do their jobs ethically and efficiently.  

Conyers is buoyed enough with her anti Cobo support to think, she should run for Mayor -OMG - what message will that send to the suburbs, outstate residents and supporters of Detroit that his woman - race baiter - emotionally challenged would be taken seriously as a candidate. 

And their is no outstanding candidate for mayor...only pretenders. Detroit it challenged and needs an ethical, intelligent, and level headed person to lead Detroit into the future. It may not happen in the next few years, but a leader for Detroit must be found.

 Ps. The Detroit School Board has eleven members - Bobb should reduce that number down to five to seven members, and apply their pay to student improvement. And make it clear that Detroit Public Schools has a dedicated leader - the Mayor of Detroit doesn't have the time.  

So here we are,  4 months later and we are right back where we were last year, wanting to know if Uncle Saminski, our Big Brother Comrade will continue to foster socialism based on oil and GM by cutting the useless GM more freshly printed billions.

The only difference is that Ford just introduced a 41 mpg Fusion Hybrid which for the first time has me interested in an American car.

Oh yes, one other big difference is that the bridge of ice between those two small islands in Antarctica broke off over the weekend which is like popping the cork on a big bottle of champagne.

But I'm sure climate change is the least of your concerns in Detroit. Maybe a Tsunami of cash from Big Daddy...

A FEW MINUTES WITH ... An ex-cop who calls it as he sees it

BY JIM SCHAEFER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 29, 2009

If the guy in the photograph looks familiar, that's because David Malhalab has been a Detroit media gadfly for years.

Malhalab, 58, started popping up in publications like the Free Press in the 1980s, when he was one of the few Detroit street cops who would talk to reporters. Back then, and even today, talking to the media without approval could be risky to a career.

But Malhalab always talked. And e-mailed. And talked. Sometimes the media ignored him; sometimes he made it onto the airwaves and into print.

He's no longer a cop, but he still talks. Just this month he popped up with Huel Perkins on Fox 2's "Let it Rip."

You have to wonder what makes a guy like Malhalab tick.

QUESTION: David, you and I have known each other for years. ... What in the world made you decide to become the self-appointed spokesman for Detroit police?

ANSWER: Because I saw the lack of training, lack of equipment, the nepotism, the favoritism and the cronyism was having a detrimental effect on police officers and the delivery of police services to Detroit residents.

Q: You lived through a number of different chiefs. Who was your favorite?

A: None of 'em!

Q: If you had to choose one of them to be your chief today, which would it be?

A: None of 'em!

Q: If you had to.

A: If I had to? (Laughs.) Probably Chief Hart.

Q: Really? The guy who stole $2.6 million from the secret service fund? Had money fall from the ceiling of his home? Went to federal prison?

A: In terms of being a police officer, not being hurt by a chief, William Hart was probably our better chief. ... I'm not condoning what he did.

Q: You ever get any grief from coworkers, family or friends about talking so much? Do they ever say, 'David, just give it up!' "

A: I've had some criticism. "Oh, you're on TV too much." ... All I say is, "I'll give you the reporters' phone numbers. ... You tell 'em what you believe to be the truth, what you see is going on."

Q: Will you ever shut up?

A: (Laughs.) When I'm finally cremated, I think you may have heard the last from me.

Q: What else should I ask?

A: I'm single. Looking for a fun, enjoyable woman that wasn't astonished at my appearance on "Let it Rip."

Q: You looked fine.

A: God, I looked like a big head with hair!

Contact JIM SCHAEFER at 313-223-4542 or jschaefer@freepress.com.

MARY SCHROEDER/Detroit Free Press

David Malhalab stands Friday in front of Detroit Police Department headquarters. As a Detroit cop, Malhalab didn't hide his opinions from the news media. Even now, in retirement, he's somewhat the media gadfly; this month he appeared on a TV debate program.

Hopefortoday wrote:
Speak out with the truth, and your dept will turn against you. I applaud Mr. Malhalab.
03/29/2009 9:59:36 a.m. EDT Recommend(1) New post Reply to this Post Report Abuse 1wings wrote:
Call it like it is, The Detroit police department cant do much , with all the dirty mayors the city has had
03/29/2009 6:53:16 a.m. EDT Recommend(1) New post Reply to this Post Report Abuse EDW22 wrote:
I knew Dave Malhalab over 30 years ago when he was my boss at an ice rink. I thought he was an oddball then but looking back he was he one of the better people I worked plus one of the few that had the guts to speak out on issues when he was on the police force. He was so honest pointing out the problems in the department-he was a constant pain to Coleman Young. I'm grateful for that.
03/29/2009 3:24:30 a.m. EDT Recommend(4) New post Reply to this Post Report Abuse

"m in PKSA karate and active in Tang Soo Do with Master Collins. They are having there State Championship Tournament March 28, 2009 at Trenton High School. The Grandmaster Drouillard will be there the his student. He opened his club in the downriver Detroit city of Wyandotte at the local YMCA. The opening of that club was another milestone for 9th Dan in Tang Soo Do Grandmaster Drouillard as it was the first Moo Duk Kwan school established in America. Hope to see you there!!!!!

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WATCH THE LATEST - LET IT RIP - 3/19/09

myFOX Detroit | Let It Rip            CLICK ON MYFOX LINE -

                                                    
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      EVERY THURSDAY @ 10:35 PM

I came to this great country a long time ago ,from Latvia . A displaced person of WW II. I
learned the American Language without an accent within a few months . Now what grips the most is the Europeans & United Nations rhetoric that we are dead beats. I propose that we
change the PRESS ONE BUTTON FOR ENGLISH ,TO PRESS ONE FOE "AMERICAN" this after all is
what we speak in AMERICA. There should be no other button for another language !!!1
 
                                 George Andris Jakovics
                                An American !
                                410 693 3135
                                Mechanicsville , Maryland , USA . 20659

DETROIT PBS...HAS NOT SHOWN THE TIGER STADIUM DOCUMENTARY - STRANDED AT THE CORNER - PBS WAS CREATED TO GIVE VOICE TO ISSUES - THAT NEED TO BE AIRED - WITHOUT POLITICAL CONCERN.

SHOULD DETROIT PBS SHOW ITS AUDIENCE -THE TIGER STADIUM DOCUMENTARY - STRANDED AT THE CORNER. I SAY - YES..

From: Homberg, Rich
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 8:22 AM
To: peterrileygpm@aol.com
Cc: Alpert, Daniel; Manney, Dave
Subject: RE: TIGER STADIUM DVD...the time is now.........    

Riley Broadcast Center

1 Clover Court   

Wixom, MI  48393    

  I can’t guarantee anything, but we will take a look. 

  There are a couple of important points you should be aware of: The station has announced five key areas that we are concentrating on…children, culture, leadership, environment and health.

  We are working on a long-term plan in each are, along with specific programs.   The station doesn’t have a commitment to sports at the moment. While you issue might fit into culture, it is not a key priority in the area we are working toward.   We have done virtually nothing in the area of architecture on a local basis.  The key to our cultural effort is around (for example) the members of the Cultural Alliance, particularly the performance and venue-based, on-going institutions.

  Our “leadership” effort is, virtually, 100% focused on jobs at the moment. That probably won’t change. There isn’t a strong fit here. Please understand that challenge here in what you are presenting.  There are a lot of hurdles here.  Walk through the following: Airing a (1) strong, public-affairs documentary in an area we don’t regularly cover from an    (2) outside, single-topic organization on a (3) topic that continues to make news in an (4) area we don’t regular cover…is a risky business.

  History documentaries can be great, but this isn’t “history” yet.  I’m sure you’ll agree.

 Partnering with an outside organization demands that we have the staff to fully vet your film, your research, your oganization.  We don’t. Taking a strong stand demands that we capture both sides.  We aren’t in a position to staff. The fact that the film has had to be edited in order to be presented to different audiences is a concern.  If I may suggest, Ch. 2, 4 and 7 have on-going news operations and strong sports department, might be better partners.  ESPN often tackles subjects like this in their “Outside the Lines” series.  Ch. 62 has a public affairs series this might fit.  

From: peterrileygpm@aol.com [mailto:peterrileygpm@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:52 PM
To: Homberg, Rich
Subject: Re: TIGER STADIUM DVD...the time is now.........

Mr. Homberg:

      Thank you for your kind response and gracious offer to review the film a second time.  If you would forward me your mailing address I will gladly ship you your copy.

      I appreciate the stations consideration to air the film.  It is most important to me that it be aired. The when and the where of it is up to you.  I urge you once again to contact the Tiger Stadium Conservancy for details on the current project with the City of Detroit to restore the stadium.

     In doing so Detroit Public TV will not only show the history but also allow the future of this great ballpark to once again be celebrated.  

     I think a studio discussion of the current stadium project with the historic portions of the film would make for a very enjoyable evening for supporters of public TV.  I believe both organizations can benefit from a night at the "Corner".

     Thank you for your consideration of my company's film and your support for Tiger Stadium.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Peter Comstock Riley
Michigan & Trumbull, LLC.

313.402.4565

www.preservetigerstadium.com

 Rich  

   Tiger Stadium isn't about sports....you missed the point....    its about Community....Leadership......Jobs......  

   An estimated 100,000,000 (100million) people have visited Navin Field -Briggs Stadium-Tiger  Stadium to view a variety of events (historical events) including the Lions and Tigers games.  

  The Tiger Stadium issue has lacked Leadership - from the lies of Coleman Young, to the lies of Tom Monaghan, to the lies of other current and past mayors and the DEGC. Tiger Stadium should have been a revenue producing site since its abandonment in 1999, but also it shouldn't have been abandoned - Monaghan's own engineers had devised a way to raise the upper deck and put in luxury suites at Tiger Stadium, giving him what he wanted,  but he ignored that. Those people who have stood up for Tiger Stadium have been ignored - including - now by PBS.   

 Your audience at Detroit PBS has gone to Tiger Stadium and most have found memories of their time their - and aren't aware of the true issues involved. It would be a ratings boost and a public service to inform your audience of the truth. I am sure many believe that Tiger Stadium has been torn down - and not preserved 1st to 3rd.  

  The Corktown Community was lied to by the DEGC (I was at a meeting with them) and the City - a Tiger Stadium renovation / preservation could be a tourist anchor to bring people to Corktown - and create JOBs. 

  Lambeau Field - Fenway Park (which was renovated) are tourist attractions for their communities creating jobs and pride. 

  Your hesitancy to air - Stranded ... shows a lack of leadership, a lack of understanding and a lack of faith in your audience.

  Tiger Stadium is an important Public Issue - that PBS was created to give Voice To.... just open the time up and let your audience make up its mind.    David L. Malhalab      

 

 

 

Thanks for the publishers. As the crisis in the US economy is going to affect all other economies in the world, I am curious to know more about it. Especially what all the strategies are going to taken by the US government for limiting its impacts. From where I can get more details about such things.
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Fischer

Drug Intervention Georgia