Latest White House Hoax: Claims 4-Year-Old Bin Laden Tapes Are New Footage

LINK: Osama Bin Laden: Pakistan's scepticism over videos

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Hoax: White House Claims 4-Year-Old Bin Laden Tapes Are New Footage
Dubious Bin Laden “Home Movies” Identical To Tapes Released 4 Years Ago By Pentagon Front Group

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars
Saturday, May 7, 2011
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In a desperate effort to bolster its crumbling official narrative, the White House today released a set of dubious Bin Laden “home movies” purportedly seized from his compound during the raid on Sunday night that it claims show Bin Laden on camera in 2010, but the tapes are almost identical to footage released almost four years ago by a notorious Pentagon front group that acts as a conduit for US intelligence by regularly releasing fake Al-Qaeda videos.
Before we even look at the new tapes, recall that the Washington Post reported last year on how CIA officials recruited “darker-skinned employees” to create fake Bin Laden tapes. The fact that the CIA created fake Bin Laden tapes is an admitted fact, not a conspiracy theory.
“Extraordinary home videos taken from Osama bin Laden’s hideout show the terrorist leader watching news coverage of himself on television,” reports the Daily Mail.

“The videos were seized by Navy SEALs after Bin Laden was killed. They were shown to reporters this afternoon by intelligence officials.”
One of the videos purports to show Bin Laden watching television news reports about himself. The footage is filmed from almost behind his head and only shows a small portion of his face. The TV shows footage of Bin Laden as well as still images and footage of Barack Obama. Interestingly, the only moment in which the cameraman zooms in on the TV so that you can clearly see the picture is when it either shows Bin Laden, Obama, or both of them in a still shot together.

Contrary to the footage of Bin Laden allegedly flicking through television channels, in which his beard is gray, in the other tapes, which the White House claims were recorded between October and November 2010, Bin Laden appears with his beard dyed black. The man watching TV appears to be much older than the Bin Laden seen in the other tapes.

MSNBC ran the video under the headline New Video Shows Bin Laden In Gold Robe. However, these tapes are almost identical to footage first released by the Pentagon front group SITE in September 2007. In that footage, Bin Laden also appears with a dyed beard and is wearing exactly the same clothes. The only thing that differs is the color of the background, but in other tapes the background is the same brown color as the 2007 tape. As computer expert Neal Krawetz’s analysis revealed, fake backgrounds are often used on purported “Al-Qaeda” tapes, where a blue screen is used to superimpose the figure of the speaker over a pre-selected backdrop.

The footage in these tapes purports to show Bin Laden making recordings in late 2010, and yet he looks identical to how he appeared in tapes first released in 2007.
The establishment media has completely failed to even mention the fact that much of the footage, which the White House claims was filmed in 2010, is almost identical to that first released in 2007 by the Pentagon front group SITE. Why would Bin Laden make a video in October 2010 and not release it? Unless this is merely outtakes from the footage already released four years ago.
It would not be the first time that tapes of Bin Laden have been passed off as new material when in fact they are years old.
In July 2007, the mainstream media heralded the arrival of a tape of Bin Laden giving a speech as new footage. In fact it was almost six years old, having been filmed in October 2001 and later released by IntelCenter, SITE’s sister organization, in October 2003. At the time we did an image comparison proving that the footage dubbed “new” in 2007 was in fact filmed in 2001 and released first by the Al-Ansaar Islamic news agency in 2002.

As we documented yesterday, the organization that released the original 2007 tape which is virtually identical to the tapes released by the White House today is nothing more than a conduit for Pentagon propaganda run the daughter of a former Israeli spy.
The SITE organization is virtually a contractor for the U.S. government, receiving some $500,000 a year annually from Uncle Sam, and has been caught releasing fake Al-Qaeda tapes on numerous occasions. SITE’s website domain is hosted by servers located in Washington DC, which are stationed between the Department of Homeland Security and the Israeli Embassy.
As in the 2007 tape, the As-Sahab logo appears in the “new” tapes released by the White House. A 2007 investigation by Neal Krawetz featured in Wired Magazine found that the As-Sahab logo was added at the same as the IntelCenter logo, another US military-industrial complex front, meaning the so-called “Al-Qaeda” tapes were in fact coming straight out of US intelligence circles. Although Krawetz asserted that this was the case in a taped interview, after the story began to receive attention he mysteriously backed away from the claim despite Wired’s Kim Zetter receiving approval from Krawetz that all the information contained in the original report was valid.
These “new” tapes which are actually identical to footage first released in 2007 will do little to firm up the White House’s crumbling Bin Laden narrative, which has been under suspicion after it was reported that Osama’s body was hastily dumped into the sea and President Obama refused to release an image of the dead Bin Laden.
The narrative of last Sunday’s raid has flip-flopped constantly and even mainstream journalists are starting to become wary, particularly after it emerged that Obama and Hillary could not have watched the raid unfold live as they had claimed because the live feed was cut before the Navy SEALS entered the compound, meaning that the “situation room” photos that purported to show Obama and Hillary watching Bin Laden’s assassination live were in fact completely staged.
A longer clip of the video that claims to show Bin Laden watching TV appears below.
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Clayton Attorney Indicted for $52 Million Ponzi Scheme: Webster Groves, Missouri Man Gained $8 Million from Fraud, Claimed Loans Were for Overseas Projects

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Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release May 4, 2011	United States Attorney's Office Western District of Missouri
Three Men Indicted for $52 Million Ponzi Scheme St. Louis Man Gained $8 Million from Fraud, Claimed Loans Were for Overseas Projects KANSAS CITY, MO—Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that two attorneys, one residing in Webster Groves, Mo., and the other residing in Leawood, Kan., along with a real estate speculator in the United Kingdom, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a fraud conspiracy that stole more than $52 million from their victims. Martin T. Sigillito, 62, of Webster Groves; James Scott Brown, 66, of Leawood; and Derek J. Smith, 67, of Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom, were charged in a 22-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday, April 28, 2011. That indictment was unsealed and made public today following Sigillito’s initial appearance in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Mo. “The federal indictment alleges that conspirators stole more than $52 million through a Ponzi scheme that lasted nearly a decade,” Phillips said. “Combating financial fraud is a priority for the Department of Justice. We will aggressively prosecute those who illegally profit at the expense of their victims.” “When it comes to Ponzi schemes, the amount of money stolen in this case is the largest in the history of the Eastern District of Missouri,” said Special Agent in Charge Dennis L. Baker of the FBI St. Louis Division. “No matter how elaborate the schemes, they all eventually collapse.” “IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to investigating Ponzi schemes in an effort to protect the financial well being of the American public,” said C. Steve Howard, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation, St. Louis Field Office. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring this investigation to a thorough and complete conclusion.” Sigillito, Brown, and Smith are each charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The federal indictment alleges that, during a 10-year period from 2000 to 2010, investors in the United States loaned a total of $52.5 million to Smith through a Ponzi scheme that was known as the British Lending Program. Victims believed they were loaning money for legitimate real estate development projects, the indictment says, but in reality, most of their money was kept by Sigillito and Brown (or used to pay interest and principal to other lenders). According to the indictment, Sigillito gained nearly $8 million from the fraud scheme and used it to support an affluent lifestyle. The Defendants Sigillito is an attorney and an ordained priest and bishop in the church of the American Anglican Convocation. Sigillito, doing business as Martin T. Sigillito and Associates, Ltd., maintained an office in Clayton, Mo. The business claimed to provide international business consulting services, but did not have any actual associates or law partners and employed only a single clerical assistant. Sigillito portrayed himself as an expert in international law and finance and an experienced international businessman and attorney. He also claimed he was a lecturer at Oxford University in England, based upon his participation in an annual summer program of continuing legal education at Oxford through the University of Missouri - Kansas City. Sigillito had very few, if any, law clients. Instead, Sigillito’s primary occupation from 2000 to 2010 was the BLP. Sigillito was a member of several exclusive, private clubs in St. Louis (including The Racquet Club and the Boone Valley Golf Club) and spent some of the fees on collecting rare and antique books, maps, prints, coins, jewelry, artifacts, liquor, and rugs. He routinely traveled first class, including internationally, took his family on expensive vacations, purchased a country home in Marthasville, Mo., employed a chauffeur, sent his children to private schools, purchased and leased Volvo automobiles, and invested in a condominium project at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Prior to 2000, the indictment notes that Sigillito was not financially successful, was divorced, and had declared bankruptcy. Brown, an attorney, practiced law in England for several years prior to 2000. Brown also participated in the UMKC program at Oxford University. Between 2000 and 2010, Brown did not actively practice law; instead, Brown’s primary occupation was the BLP, from which he took substantial fees. Brown did business as British American Group and as J. Scott Brown and Associates. Smith was a structural engineer and business and real estate speculator/developer who resided near London, England. Smith did business as Princess Hotels Management and as Distinctive Properties. According to the indictment, Smith was previously successful but during the 1990s Smith acquired distressed hotel properties which were not profitable due to a recession in the English real estate market. By the end of the 1990s, Smith was in need of capital to maintain his ownership of several small hotels which were not trading profitably and to support his retention of several options to purchase land. The British Lending Program According to the indictment, in the original, legitimate form of the British Lending Program (BLP), funds were loaned by U.S. investors/lenders for short terms at high interest rates. Early loan funds were sent to the United Kingdom and lenders received written loan agreements through a British law firm. Borrowers paid interest to lenders directly or through intermediaries and loan principal was repaid at the termination of a loan (unless a loan was “rolled over,” or renewed, for an additional year). Sigillito became involved in the BLP in 2000. Brown and Sigillito developed a packet of marketing materials and began marketing the BLP to other U.S. lenders. Later, the indictment says, Brown and Sigillito also utilized third-party recruiters to locate new investors and bring their funds into the BLP. Soon afterward, Smith became the sole and exclusive borrower in the BLP and became the focal point of marketing efforts by Sigillito and Brown. Sigillito allegedly told investors that Smith and the BLP had a track record of success and a unique ability to identify undervalued properties and properties whose value could be greatly increased through the re-zoning process. Smith’s goal was to sell or “flip” the properties for a profit. Conspirators also allegedly claimed that Smith was a highly successful real estate owner and developer who generated cash flow and profits from “flipping” properties and options. In reality, the indictment says, Sigillito knew that Smith’s trading properties were unprofitable and required funding to avoid foreclosure, that Smith’s re-zoning efforts did not produce successful property flips and that Smith could never repay the large sums which had been borrowed in his name from BLP lenders. Sigillito allegedly claimed that Smith was willing to borrow at, and could afford to pay, high rates of interest, and that British banking practices made it cumbersome for Smith to borrow funds in a timely fashion to take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities. In reality, the indictment says, no real estate developer could afford to make enough money from BLP loans with the small amount of funds left over after payment of interest and fees to make a profit and to meet BLP interest and redemption obligations. Also as Sigillito allegedly knew, Smith could not borrow from a traditional lending institution because he lacked sufficient equity in his properties to serve as collateral, because his hotels were not profitable and b! ecause his options could not serve as loan collateral. Sigillito also allegedly claimed that there was little or no risk of not being repaid in full, because the present market value of Smith’s assets exceeded his liabilities by a ratio of at least 2-to-1 and often as high as 6-to-1. In reality, the indictment says, Sigillito knew that Smith’s financial statements were false and misleading. Sigillito allegedly told investors/lenders that their loan funds were sent to Smith in England for use in his real estate activities and that payments of interest and principal came from England out of Smith’s business revenues and profits. In reality, the indictment says, the vast majority of BLP loan funds were never sent to or received by Smith for use in productive business activities. Instead, the vast majority of funds allegedly remained under the control of Sigillito and Brown; the funds were allegedly used to pay fees to Sigillito, Brown and others, and to pay interest and principal to prior BLP lenders. According to the indictment, Smith received the benefit of a total of approximately $6.1 million during the time in which approximately $52.5 million in loan funds were received in the BLP. In contrast, during the same period, Sigillito took “fees” totaling approximately $7.8 million, Brown took “fees” totaling approximately $1.4 million and approximately $27 million was used to pay interest and principal to lenders. All BLP funds were dissipated and as of June 2010, the BLP had no funds. Many BLP lenders placed a great deal of trust in Sigillito and Brown based on their claimed expertise, their status as attorneys, affinity through family connections and private organizations, and particularly Sigillito’s mastery of multiple languages, his status as a board member of The Racquet Club and his status as a bishop. The indictment alleges that Sigillito took advantage of several lenders who were particularly vulnerable due to age, friendship, lack of financial expertise, family circumstances and faith. Sigillito allegedly used high pressure tactics to persuade some lenders to loan funds to Smith. As part of his sales tactics, the indictment says, Sigillito often avoided giving direct and specific answers to questions about documentation and his claimed due diligence in the BLP. Once loans were “closed,” Sigillito allegedly avoided direct contact with lenders. Many victims loaned funds which had been saved for retirement and were held in Individual Retirement Accounts. Many IRA lenders let their “interest” accrue and also rolled their loans over annually for years, each time receiving a signed loan agreement for a new, larger amount. Thus, many IRA lenders were led to believe that their IRA accounts were growing and that they could be relied upon in retirement. Wire Fraud In addition to the conspiracy, Sigillito is charged with nine counts of wire fraud. The indictment alleges that on nine separate occasions Sigillito wired funds across state lines as part of the fraud scheme. The wire transfers typically involved hundreds of thousands of dollars and, in one case, a transfer of $15 million. Mail Fraud The indictment also charges Sigillito with six counts of mail fraud related to documents that were mailed to lenders. Money Laundering The indictment also charges Sigillito with six counts of money laundering related to financial transactions with funds illegally obtained by wire fraud. Forfeiture Allegation The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Sigillito to forfeit to the government $52.5 million, which was derived from proceeds of the alleged offenses, as well as property that was seized by law enforcement officials, including hundreds of antique books, antique maps and prints, antique jewelry, antique coins, antique artifacts, six Persian rugs, dozens of bottles of cognac champagne, whiskey, and wine, a 2006 Volvo S40, $19,500 in cash, $19,237 from bank accounts, and residential property in Marthasville. Phillips cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence. This case is being prosecuted by Jess Michaelsen, Steven Holtshouser and Richard Finneran, Special Attorneys to the U.S. Attorney General. It was investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation.

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Death Of America's Most Wanted Doesn't Even Make FBI Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending May 6, 2011

Every week we (Hermann Mo News) posts the "FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending..."
It is curious that Osama bin Laden was The FBI's MOST WANTED with a 25 Million Dollar Reward but his Purported Death and Burial at Sea are not even mentioned except as an possible email scam!!!
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FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending May 6, 2011

Washington, D.C. May 06, 2011

FBI National Press Office

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1. Headquarters: E-Mails Claiming to Show Images of bin Laden’s Death Could Contain Malware
   
   The FBI warns computer users to exercise caution when they receive e-mails that purport to show photos or videos of Usama bin Laden’s recent death. This content could be a virus that could damage your computer. Full Story
   
   
2. Washington Field: Investigates Suspicious Letters Received by District of Columbia Schools
   
   The FBI continues to investigate who is responsible for mailing at least 29 letters containing a white powder substance to Washington, D.C. schools, causing some school evacuations and tying up hundreds of hours of police and law enforcement resources. Full Story
   
3. New York: Acting Capo of Genovese Family Sentenced in New York for Murder Conspiracy
   
   Anthony Palumbo, a soldier and acting capo in the Genovese organized crime family who operated crews in both New York and New Jersey, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 10 years in prison in connection with his participation in a conspiracy to murder an individual associated with Russian organized crime. Full Story
   
4. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Attorney Indicted on Bankruptcy Fraud Charges
   
   Kenneth G. Reidenbach, an attorney in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was charged by superseding indictment with bankruptcy fraud, concealing assets during a bankruptcy proceeding, and embezzling from a bankruptcy estate. Full Story
   
5. Baltimore: Three Maryland Gang Leaders Plead Guilty in Racketeering Conspiracy
   
   Eric Brown, Ray Olivis, and Rainbow Williams pled guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to conduct and participate in the activities of the Black Guerilla Family, a racketeering enterprise. Full Story
   
6. Indianapolis: Sixteen Charged in Indiana in Connection with Multi-State Prostitution Ring
   
   Sixteen defendants were charged in connection with their participation in a criminal organization headed by three brothers who procured prostitutes, some of whom were smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico and Central America. Full Story
   
7. New Haven: Venezuelan Accountant Pleads Guilty in Connecticut to Obstructing SEC Investigation
   
   Accountant Juan Carlos Guillen Zerpa pled guilty to conspiring to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of a Connecticut hedge fund adviser. Full Story
   
8. Miami: Two Florida Corporations Plead Guilty to More Than $200 Million Medicare Fraud
   
   Two Miami-area corporations, American Therapeutic Corporation and Medlink Professional Management Group Inc., pled guilty to their involvement in a fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare. Full Story
   
9. St. Louis: Three Men Indicted for $52 Million Ponzi Scheme
   Two attorneys and a real estate speculator were indicted for their roles in a fraud conspiracy that stole more than $52 million from victims. Full Story
   
10. Boston: Executive Sentenced in Massachusetts for Role in Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme
    
    Gary C. Gitto was sentenced to 59 months in prison on conspiracy and wire fraud charges in connection with his role in a multi-million-dollar scheme run from a former plastics company, where he served as an owner and officer. Full Story

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River Flood Trade-offs City over Farms: Blowing Up Levees

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Bargaining With The Flood

By Jeff Nilsson

May 7, 2011

www.saturdayeveningpost.com
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1937 flood

Broadway in Paducah

See also: Ohio River flood of 1937

In 1937, the Ohio River at Paducah rose above its 50-foot flood stage on January 21, cresting at 60.8 feet on February 2 and receding again to 50-feet on February 15. For nearly three weeks, 27,000 residents were forced to flee to stay with friends and relatives in higher ground in McCracken County or in other counties. Some shelters were provided by the American Red Cross and local churches. Buildings in downtown Paducah still bear plaques that highlight the high water marks.

Flood Marker on Broadway (top 1937, bottom 1913, below -> 1884

With 18 inches of rainfall in 16 days, along with sheets of swiftly moving ice the '37 flood was the worst natural disaster in Paducah's history. Because Paducah's earthen levee was ineffective against this flood, the United States Army Corps of Engineers was commissioned to build the flood wall that now protects the city from the ravages of flooding.
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This past Tuesday [May 3], the Army Corps of Engineers blew several holes in the Mississippi river’s levees. As a result, floodwaters are pouring into the Missouri lowlands. Eventually they will cover 130,000 acres of farmland (that’s 195 square miles to us cityfolk). When the Spring floods abate, the ground will re-emerge under a thick cover of silt and debris that will make it un-farmable this year and maybe next.
It hardly seems the best way to handle the problem, but there are no ideal solutions in flood control—only trade-offs. The only alternative was to let the flood lift the river over the Illinois bank to wash away the town of Cairo.
This is not the first time the Engineers sacrificed the planting season of Eastern Missouri to save Cairo, Illinois. When they first employed the Birds Point/New Madrid floodway, back in 1937, they drove 5,000 Missourians from their property to keep the 13,000 residents of Cairo above water. This year, the controlled flood will affect 300 Missouri households to spare 2,800 residents across the river.
Naturally, Missouri farmers are unhappy about this trade-off. Nor are the people of Cairo delighted with their prospects. While they may have been spare this year, their families, homes, and businesses will continue to live with the annual threat of flooding.
Another Illinois town, just 98 miles up the Ohio river, faced a similar challenge. After 135 years of determinedly fighting the river, they finally admitted defeat, as the Post reported in 1940.

Looking down from levee top to ferry at normal river stage.

Fourteen times the river has burst through on Shawneetown in major floods, each usually worse than the last, and the last worst of all, in 1937. It was then that the town, which did not know when it was licked, gave up.
There were disastrous floods in 1832, in 1847, in 1853 and 1858. When another came in 1859, the exasperated town folk started the first levee. In 1867 the river rose to a new high and burst over and through the levee.

Shawneetown responded by enlarging and strengthening its levee, which kept the flood out of town for 15 years.

Then came the three successive floods of 1882, 1883 and 1884, each set­ting a new mark and driving everyone to the hills. This time the Federal Government came to the aid of Shawneetown. At a cost of $200,000, it raised the levee one foot and length­ened it.

The sixty-one-foot mark at top of levee. The Ohio River reached sixty-six feet in 1937.

In 1898 the river topped fifty-five feet for a new record and drowned twenty-six persons, with a huge property loss. The levee was lengthened and strengthened again, but not raised, for never could there be such a flood as 1898′s again. All was well until the great flood of 1913, when the Ohio topped fifty-nine feet. When Shawnee­town dug out of this, it spent an addi­tional $130,000 on its barrier wall. These were large sums for a town of never more than 2000 persons. Twenty years went by without a repetition, but the wary dwellers by the river re­built the levee in 1933 just to make sure, raising it to sixty-one feet above the low-water mark. At normal river stages the town was almost invisible from passing boats.
Then the long-sleeping Ohio in 1937 vaulted high over all past records to sixty-six feet. This was five feet higher than the top of the levee, but long be­fore the river reached that stage the town had been evacuated and the levee dynamited to prevent the possibility of its sudden collapse. The waters swirled twenty-five feet deep in Main Street and surged twenty-two miles inland to engulf Harrisburg, a town of 12,000.
“How deep was the water in here?” you ask the clerk in the high-ceilinged drugstore.
“About eight or nine feet,” he says, “upstairs!”

The refugees gathered in a Red Cross camp inside the township high school to discuss their future.

They were reminded that the Federal Government and the Red Cross had spent in fifty years more than $600,000 on the levee and for rescue and rehabilitation work here.
The refugees… voted 44 to 1 to surrender to the river.

Government-built new town on the hill. Most of the houses are new; a few have been moved from the old town.

A few residents stubbornly held on, living in the old family homes downtown, but most residents moved to high ground, three miles from the river. They left the houses and commercial buildings to the inevitable flood they knew would sweep them all away.
Today, 1200 people live Shawneetown, Illinois. Down by the river, though, 200 residents live in Old Shawneetown, which still survives, along with its old houses, stores, and its great neo-classical Bank. The great, all-destroying flood that Shawneetown fled to escape never arrived.

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Mississippi River Flooding Sends White-tail Deer and Wild Pigs Swimming to Dry Land

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East-bound traffic travels on Interstate 40 by a flooded field near Hazen, Ark., Thursday, May 5, 2011. Eastbound lanes of In an aerial photo, Interstate 40 remains open while 23 miles of westbound lanes from Brinkley to Hazen are closed because of flooding from the rain-swollen White River Thursday, May 5, 2011. Arkansas State Highway Transportation Department spokesman Glenn Bolick said Thursday morning that westbound drivers are being diverted off I-40 at Brinkley for a 120 mile detour to get to Little Rock. 
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Mississippi Delta sees flooding from mighty river
May 6, 2011By ADRIAN SAINZ
apnews.myway.com
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Parts of the Mississippi Delta are beginning to flood, sending white-tail deer and wild pigs swimming to dry land, submerging yacht clubs and closing casino boats, and compelling residents to flee from their homes.
The sliver of land in northwest Mississippi, home to hardship and bluesman Muddy Waters, is in the crosshairs of the slowly surging river, just like many other areas along the banks of the big river.
To points much farther north, thousands face the decision of whether to stay or go as high water kept on rolling down the Mississippi and its tributaries, threatening to soak communities over the next week or two. The flooding is already breaking high-water records that have stood since the 1930s.
"We're getting our mamma and daddy out," said Ken Gelston, who helped pack furniture, photos and other belongings into pickup trucks in Greenville, Miss.

His parents' house sits on Eagle Lake, which the Army Corps of Engineers expects to rise significantly.
"We could have 5 feet of water in there," Gelston said, nodding at the house. "That's what they're telling us."
A little more south in Rolling Fork, Miss., the birthplace of McKinley Morganfield (better known as Muddy Waters), tension was high.
"It's weird," said Lakeysha Stamps, a waitress at the Highway 61 Cafe. "Here we are today and everything's fine. And tomorrow there could be all this water!"
The sentiment was the same elsewhere.

In Memphis, Tenn., at a well-to-do enclave known as Mud Island, residents were getting too much of their beloved river. Rising waters practically lapped at the back porches of some of the island's expensive houses.
"I'm going to sleep thinking, 'I hope they don't evacuate the island and we wake up and we're the only ones here,'" said Emily Tabor, a first-year student at the University of Tennessee's College of Pharmacy in Memphis who lives on Mud Island.
The island pays homage to the mighty river with an elaborate scale model of it, a museum about its history and a paddlewheel steamboat that looks like something straight out of "Huckleberry Finn."
The three-mile-long strip of land that is part of Memphis has about 1,500 homes and businesses and 6,000 mostly well-off residents, many of them living in gleaming, 20-year-old houses with wide river views and traditional Southern touches such as columns, porches and bay windows. Tourists can take a tram or drive across a small bridge to visit Mud Island's park, amphitheater and a museum devoted to life on the Mississippi.
Emergency officials warned that residents may need to leave their homes as the river rises toward an expected crest Wednesday of 48 feet - about 3 feet higher than Thursday. The record in Memphis, 48.7 feet, was set in 1937.

Water pooled at the lowest end of Beale Street, the most famous thoroughfare in the history of the blues, but it was about a half-mile from the street's popular restaurants, shops and bars and did not threaten any homes or businesses.
In south Memphis, Maria Flores spent her fourth day in a church shelter with her husband and three children. They had to flee their trailer in the low-lying working-class Memphis suburb of Millington when it was swamped by stinky, dirty water. They have no flood insurance, and sleeping in a room with 20 other people, including crying children, has been difficult.
"We don't have money, we don't have anything," Flores said. "It's like a bad dream we can't wake up from. I just want this water to go away."
On Mud Island, meanwhile, the Mississippi engulfed a riverside park and bike path. At the private Maria Montessori School in the wealthy, 500-home Harbor Town section, several feet of light brown river water inundated the garden. Students and teachers built a sandbag wall to keep the water out of their classrooms.
"We've done our best to protect our building. This is very scary to me," principal Maria Cole said.
Russell Carter, who owns a pizza restaurant in Harbor Town, said he plans to stay with his wife and 9-month old daughter, mainly to protect his home and his business from the water and possible looters.
He said he is not too worried because he knows neighbors in the community he described as "Mayberry without Barney Fife" will be there to help if there's trouble. They are planning to hold a flood party Saturday.
"I've got too much invested," Carter said. "I'm not going to leave what I've worked for and what my family has worked for."
Elsewhere in the flood zone Thursday:
- In Kentucky, authorities closed 250 roads in 50 counties. The Coast Guard rescued at least 28 people, 12 cats, and three dogs from rising waters.
- In Missouri, the Army Corps of Engineers blew a third hole in a levee to relieve pressure and prevent catastrophic flooding there and in Illinois and Kentucky. The Mississippi continued to rise in Caruthersville, where a high-mark set in 1937 was surpassed on Wednesday, but was generally going down elsewhere in the state. The water was expected to crest Sunday in Caruthersville at 49.5 feet, just a half-foot below the top of the floodwall protecting the community of 6,700.
- In Louisiana, National Guardsmen used sandbags to fortify levees in the northeast part of the state, and the state penitentiary stood ready to evacuate prisoners. Officials were planning to open a spillway in the southern part of the state to divert river water.
- In Arkansas, truckers tried to rearrange their routes to avoid a 23-mile stretch of Interstate 40, a major link between the East and West coasts, where the rising White River forced the closing of the westbound lanes. Drivers were forced to take a 120-mile detour toward Little Rock.

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'metoo' Child Feeding Chair Safety Concerns - Sold atTarget and Toys R Us - phil&teds

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Gov't warns kids' tabletop chairs not safe
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By JENNIFER C. KERR
The Associated Press
May. 7, 2011
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WASHINGTON -- The government warned Friday that tens of thousands of tabletop feeding chairs for babies and toddlers are not safe.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says children could be hurt in certain versions of the "metoo" clip-on tabletop chairs imported by Colorado-based phil&teds USA Inc. The CPSC says numerous children - believed to be about a dozen - have been injured.
The chairs have metal clamps that attach to most table tops, such as a restaurant table. The CPSC says those clamps can easily come loose, causing the chair to detach and sending the child plummeting to the floor.
Fingers or hands can also be pinched or crushed when the chairs partially detach from a table, catching a child's fingers or hands between the clamp and a metal bar on the front of the chair.
The commission says the company refused to agree to a national recall that was acceptable to the agency.
A call to the company in Fort Collins seeking comment was not immediately returned.
The clip-on chairs involved in the commission's warning do not have plastic spacers between the table clamps and the front metal bar.
The company also has clip-on chairs with plastic spacers between the clamps and bar - and those chairs are under investigation, the CPSC said.
On its website, the company is offering rubberized grips to cover the chair's clamps. CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson says the grip replacement kits being offered by phil&teds will not keep children safe in the seat.
"Even with those rubber boots, the chair can still slip off a table," said Wolfson. "We believe the company needs to come up with a free remedy that will prevent children from falling or having an amputation hazard if one side of the chair detaches."
The commission said the company had claimed on its website to be offering the replacement kits in cooperation with the CPSC. The commission says there was no such agreement and maintains the kits fail to keep children safe in the chair.
The "metoo" chairs have been sold at nationwide retailers such as Target and Toys R Us as well as online.

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Consumer Product Safety Commission / AP Photo

This undated photo provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission shows a feeding chair. The government warned Friday, May 6, 2011 that tens of thousands of table-top feeding chairs for babies and toddlers are not safe. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says children could be hurt in certain versions of the "metoo" clip-on table top chairs imported by Colorado-based phil&teds USA Inc. The CPSC says numerous children _ believed to be about a dozen _ have been injured.

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