NY authorities: Self-help couple commits suicide

TOM HAYS, AP

NEW YORK (AP) — On a radio show they hosted called "The Pursuit of Happiness," John Littig and Lynne Rosen urged listeners to embrace spontaneity.

"So much about life is about impulse," Littig said on a broadcast this year on an FM station in New York, WBAI. "It's about doing it right now."

A shocking decision the couple made together appeared more methodical: Police say they killed themselves side by side as part of a suicide pact.

Autopsies found that both Littig, 47, and Rosen, 45, died from asphyxiation after inhaling helium, a spokeswoman for medical examiner's office said Thursday.

The bodies were discovered Wednesday on a couch in the couple's brownstone in Brooklyn, with so-called "exit bags" over their heads. The suicide method — using plastic bags with draw strings and a hose attached to helium canister — is becoming more common because of it provides "a fast, peaceful, undetectable death" compared with suffocation by carbon dioxide, according to a recent fire department memo prepared for paramedics.

In separate suicide notes, Lettig indicated that they were determined to die together, while Rosen apologized to her family, police said. But beyond that, why two people who made a living giving advice on how to lead more fulfilling lives decided to cut short their own wasn't clear.

There was no immediate response to a message left Thursday at WBAI.

"RIP Lynne Rosen + John Littig. Partners on the air and in life," the station wrote in a tweet.

The victims were partners in self-help venture called "Why Not Now," according to their website. The site describes Littig as a motivational speaker, workshop facilitator and personal life coach, and Rosen as a life coach, speaker and consultant.

Rosen also was the host of "The Pursuit of Happiness," a once-a-month, hour-long show on the left-leaning WBAI. She was often joined in the Manhattan studio by Littig.

The pair's breezy banter about life's lessons is on display in YouTube postings of the broadcasts. In one, they mull a famous quote, "do one thing every day that scares you," attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.

"People get scared to make changes and step outside of that comfort zone, right, John?" she says.

"Stepping outside you comfort zone is very important. Or alternatively you can start to get comfortable with change," he responds.

"Yeah! I like that!" she says. "That's great."

And while pondering Albert Einstein's observation, "Imagination is more important than knowledge," Littig espouses the virtues of acting on impulse.

"Intuition, impulse are extraordinarily important things in life," he says. "You will not be well-served if the impulse is shut down or you think about everything too much. Sometimes you just do it."

(talk about do it yours-elvers)

US declassifies phone program details after uproar

DONNA CASSATA, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving to tamp down a public uproar spurred by the disclosure of two secret surveillance programs, the nation's top intelligence official is declassifying key details about one of the programs while insisting the efforts were legal, limited in scope and necessary to detect terrorist threats.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, in an unusual late-night statement Thursday, denounced the leaks of highly classified documents that revealed the programs and warned that America's security will suffer. He called the disclosure of a program that targets foreigners' Internet use "reprehensible," and said the leak of another program that lets the government collect Americans' phone records would affect how America's enemies behave and make it harder to understand their intentions.

"The unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation," Clapper said of the phone-tracking program.

At the same time, he offered new information about both programs, saying he wanted to correct the "misleading impression" created by out-of-context news articles even as he acknowledged that publicly discussing the programs comes with inherent security risks.

"I believe it is important for the American people to understand the limits of this targeted counterterrorism program and the principles that govern its use," Clapper said.

And so barely 24 hours after the phone records program's existence was first revealed publicly, Clapper took the rare step of declassifying and publicly releasing details about the authority used to authorize it, including that it's reviewed by a special court every three months and that the data collected can only be culled when there's reasonable suspicion — backed by facts — that the information is connected to a foreign terrorist group.

The Obama administration's defense of the two programs came as members of Congress were vowing to change a program they voted to authorize and exasperated civil liberties advocates were crying foul, questioning how President Barack Obama, a former constitutional scholar who sought privacy protections as a U.S. senator, could embrace policies with strong echoes of President George W. Bush, whose approach to national security he had vowed to leave behind.

At issue were two National Security Agency programs that came to light late Wednesday and Thursday after highly classified documents were leaked to the media.

A top-secret court order, first disclosed by the Guardian newspaper in Britain, requires the communications company Verizon to turn over on an "ongoing, daily basis" the records of all landline and mobile telephone calls of its customers, both within the U.S. and between the U.S. and other countries. Experts said it's likely the program extends to other phone companies as well.

Another secret program came to light when The Washington Post and The Guardian reported that the NSA and FBI can scour the nation's main Internet companies, extracting audio, video, emails and other documents to help analysts track a person's movements and contacts. Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple were all included. Most denied giving the government direct access.

Clapper alleged that articles about the Internet program "contain numerous inaccuracies." He did not specify what those inaccuracies might be.

Senior administration officials defended the programs as critical tools and said the intelligence they yield is among the most valuable data the U.S. collects. Clapper said the Internet program, known as PRISM, can't be used to intentionally target any Americans or anyone in the U.S. He said a special court, Congress and the executive branch all oversee the program and that data accidentally collected about Americans is kept to a minimum.

The phone records program, too, has been taken out of context, Clapper alleged. His defense was echoed hours earlier by leaders of Congress' intelligence panels, who dismissed the furor over what they said was standard three-month renewal to a program that's operated for seven years. Committee leaders also said the program recently helped thwart what would have been a significant domestic terrorist attack.

The NSA must collect the phone data in broad swaths, Clapper said, because collecting it narrowly would make it harder to identify terrorism-related communications. The court prohibits the government from indiscriminately rummaging through the phone data without evidence of a terrorist group connection, he said.

But the widespread notion of a government dragnet ensnaring terror suspects and innocent Americans pushed typical political foes to stand together against Obama as he enforces what many likened to Bush-era policies.

"When law-abiding Americans make phone calls, who they call, when they call and where they call from is private information," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "As a result of the disclosures that came to light today, now we're going to have a real debate in the Congress and the country and that's long overdue."

Officials from Clapper's office, the Justice Department, NSA and FBI briefed 27 senators for some two hours late Thursday at a hurriedly convened session prompted by severe criticism and uncertainty about the program.

"The National Security Agency's seizure and surveillance of virtually all of Verizon's phone customers is an astounding assault on the Constitution," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. "After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters' phone records, it would appear that this administration has now sunk to a new low."

Paul said he will introduce legislation ensuring that the Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures apply to government search of phone records.

The surveillance powers are granted under the post-9/11 Patriot Act, which was renewed in 2006 and again in 2011. Republicans who usually don't miss a chance to criticize the administration offered full support.

"I'm a Verizon customer. I could care less if they're looking at my phone records. ... If you're not getting a call from a terrorist organization, you got nothing to worry about," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The possibility of a third secret program letting the NSA tap into credit card transaction records emerged late Thursday in a report in The Wall Street Journal. The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry about that program.

The disclosures come at a particularly inopportune time for Obama. His administration already faces questions over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of conservative groups, the seizure of journalists' phone records in an investigation into who leaked information to the media, and the handling of the terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead.

At a minimum, it's all a distraction as the president tries to tackle big issues like immigration reform and taxes. And it could serve to erode trust in Obama as he tries to advance his second-term agenda and cement his presidential legacy.

The Verizon order, granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on April 25 and good until July 19, requires information on the phone numbers of both parties on a call, as well as call time and duration, and unique identifiers, The Guardian reported.

It does not authorize snooping into the content of phone calls. But with millions of phone records in hand, the NSA's computers can analyze them for patterns, spot unusual behavior and identify "communities of interest" — networks of people in contact with targets or suspicious phone numbers overseas.

Once the government has zeroed in on numbers that it believes are tied to terrorism or foreign governments, it can go back to the court with a wiretap request. That allows the government to monitor the calls in real time, record them and store them indefinitely.

House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said that once the data has been collected, officials still must follow "a court-approved method and a series of checks and balances to even make the query on a particular number."

The steps are shrouded in government secrecy, which some lawmakers say should change.

"The American public can't be kept in the dark about the basic architecture of the programs designed to protect them," said Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

Verizon Executive Vice President and General Counsel Randy Milch, in a blog post, said the company can't comment on any such court order. He said Verizon take steps to protect customers' privacy, but must comply with court orders. Verizon listed 121 million customers in its first-quarter earnings report this April.

The NSA is sensitive to perceptions that it might be spying on Americans. It distributes a brochure that pledges the agency "is unwavering in its respect for U.S. laws and Americans' civil liberties — and its commitment to accountability."

Emerging from the briefing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Intelligence committee, said the government must gather intelligence to prevent plots and keep Americans alive. "That's the goal. If we can do it another way, we're looking to do it another way. We'd like to."

She said Congress is always open to changes, "but that doesn't mean there will be any."

(the constant struggle between freedom and security is thorny problem indeed,as technology continues to grow and the ease with which our most private moments can become public knowledge with the push of a button is scarey enough,let alone that massive government or even corporate interests can collect our information for its own purpose is just plain terrifying.  on the other hand if the wrong information gets out countless lives are at stake in both our military and intelligence communities  and perhaps even the general populace. )

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Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Nancy Benac, Lara Jakes, David Espo and Jack Gillum in Washington and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Esther Williams Dead, Swimmer and Bathing Beauty Star Was 91

Natalie Finn, eonline

Esther Williams was in a class by herself.

The Olympic hopeful turned leading lady, who utilized her aquatic skills in Technicolor romances such as Bathing Beauty and Neptune's Daughter, died early this morning in her sleep. She was 91.

A champion swimmer as a teen growing up in Los Angeles, Williams was headed for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo when the outbreak of World War II prompted the Games' cancellation. But it turned out the brunette beauty was destined for stardom in other arenas.

She was discovered swimming alongside  Tarzan star  Johnny Weismuller as part of Billy Rose's Aquacade show in San Francisco and her career took off in the 1940s when she starred in a series of "aquamusicals," romantic dramedies with lavish sequences of synchronized swimming and diving.

Williams also played Australian swimming star  Annette Kellerman in the MGM musical  Million Dollar Mermaid, which went on to become the actress' nickname in Hollywood for years to come and the title of her autobiography. The 1952 film was also notable thanks to the off-screen story of an affair between her and costar  Victor Mature—which Wiliams admitted to in her book.

So, the stunner's personal life didn't glide along quite as smoothly as her effortless crawl stroke. She was married four times and was with second husband  Ben Gage, with whom she had three children, during the time she spent with Mature. 

Williams and Gage divorced in 1959 and, 10 years later, she married Latin star  Fernando Lamas and was with him until his death in 1982. She is survived by her fourth husband,  Edward Bell.

The star retired from acting in the 1960s, but she kept one foot in the pool. Over the years she lent her name to a line of retro swimwear and instructional videos for children, and in 1984 she provided synchronized swimming commentary during the Summer Olympics

Prostitutes in sex-trafficking case: Life was good

MEGHAN BARR, AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Prostitutes in a sex-trafficking case that's winding down in New York City say they and their pimps were one big happy family, enjoying a comfortable suburban life as "wife-in-laws" in Pennsylvania and commuting by night to work in Manhattan.

But prosecutors say the women were coerced into prostitution by a father-and-son team that threatened them with beatings, withheld money and referred to them as animals.

Closing arguments were underway Thursday in the trial of Vincent George Sr. and Vincent George Jr., a case that drew widespread attention after several prostitutes took the witness stand to defend their pimps. The men, who have admitted promoting prostitution, pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, money laundering and other charges.

"What I don't understand is why people refuse to understand that some women want to be in this lifestyle. This is what they always wanted to do and they willingly entered that lifestyle," defense attorney Howard Greenberg said in court Thursday, describing one of the women as a "happy hooker."

Prosecutors say the women made as much as $500,000 a year for the Georges but got only a few dollars a night themselves. The women were threatened with beatings when they didn't bring in as much money as expected or were late to check in, according to the district attorney's office.

The men used a music recording company and a livery car service to launder millions of dollars for the prostitution business, prosecutors said.

The women told the packed courtroom about big houses, nice cars, vacations in Florida and lavish physical attention from their men.

"The whole point to our family was just to become better," said a 31-year-old woman who said she met Vincent George Jr. when she was 17. "This wasn't our lifestyle. This wasn't something where we said, 'Hey, I'm going to do this until I'm gray.'"

But recordings of the wiretapped phone calls presented by prosecutors present a darker side of the prostitute-pimp relationships. In one call, George Jr. angrily and profanely demands money from one of the women.

"Yes, sir," the woman replies.

The Associated Press is not naming the women because they are alleged victims of sex crimes.

Legal experts say the notion of prostituted women standing by their pimps is common, but that defending them before a judge is not. While most sex-trafficking cases hinge upon the cooperation of the women involved, prosecutors relied upon wiretaps and follow-the-money techniques that are typically used to prosecute white-collar business crime.

Greenberg denied allegations the women were living in fear.

"None of them were forced to enter the life," he said. "None of them were forced to stay in the life. They were all in the life before they met any pimp named George."

Wearing a striped dress that revealed her pregnant belly, a 26-year-old woman had a tattoo on her neck that said "King Koby," a nickname for George Jr., whom she met when she was 19 and working as a prostitute in upstate New York.

"I would say that I make my own choices," she said. "I am not a dumb person. I know what I'm doing."

The women have been sexually exploited and stripped of their self-worth, said Norma Ramos, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Ramos said tattoos are commonly seen among sex trafficking victims.

"They're branding their women. They're branding their victims," Ramos said. "They're treating them like cattle."

Two of the women used the word "daddy" when describing their relationship with George Jr. in court.

"I'm not a victim towards anything, and I think the best way to show and prove that is for me to be here," said a 24-year-old woman who began working as a stripper and streetwalker at age 13, according to prosecutors.

One photograph presented by the prosecution shows the woman with a visible black eye in 2007. At the time, she told former prosecutor David Novick that George Jr. caused the injury.

"She said she deserved it, and it wasn't a big deal," Novick told the court during his testimony.

For many sex-trafficking victims, their relationship with their abusers is the only source of love they've ever experienced, and they'll do anything to maintain that attention in their lives, said Bridgette Carr, director of the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School.

"I think one of the questions is: Is this what love looks like?" she said.

( looks like $$$ apparently but seriously folks lots of countries have legalized prostitution,and it it is a billion dollar industry, the tax revenues alone would be staggering,and subjecting the worlds oldest profession to health inspections,regulation and maybe even unions would be a boon)

, 

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Associated Press Writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

Made-up names appear in NY high school's yearbook

SCHAGHTICOKE, N.Y. (AP) — Officials at a small school district in upstate New York say an "honest mistake" led to students being identified in the yearbook as "Creepy smile kid" and "Some tall guy."

The labels appear in photo captions of the high school yearbook at Hoosick Valley, a rural district 20 miles northeast of Albany.

Acting Superintendent Amy Goodell tells the Troy Record (http://bit.ly/122a274 ) that a "non-intentional, honest mistake" resulted in some members of the track and field team being labeled with made-up names such as "Isolation kid." Several students were identified simply as "Someone."

Goodell says corrections are being made and the parents of students whose names weren't published correctly have been contacted.

The high school has about 380 students, with a graduating class of fewer than 100.

( honest mistake? brutal honesty, so years from now when the students look over these bound volumes of memories they can reminisce about "creepy smiler," "that tall guy," and good old "what's his name") 

DNA on beer cans leads to NY suspect's arrest

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a burglar's decision to knock back a couple of beers during a break-in at an upstate New York home led to his arrest.

Onondaga (ahn-uhn-DAH'-gah) County prosecutors tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse (http://bit.ly/14vfeMo ) that 29-year-old Moses Wilson was stealing copper piping from a vacant rental home in Syracuse in early February when he found an unopened case of beer in the basement.

Officials say he drank some of the beer during the burglary. Prosecutors say police were able to match Wilson's DNA to DNA found on the cans.

Wilson was arraigned Tuesday in Onondaga County Court on charges of burglary and petit larceny. He is being held in jail on $10,000 bail. It couldn't immediately be determined if he had a lawyer.

( and the lesson here? don't drink and rob, do one or the other,not both)

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Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com

Turkish leader slightly mellows his tone

ELENA BECATOROS, AP

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's prime minister used less belligerent language but said he would go ahead with redevelopment plans that have sparked nationwide protests, in comments Thursday that could be decisive in determining whether the demonstrations fizzle out or rage on.

Speaking at a news conference in Tunisia on the last leg of a four-day tour of North Africa, Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that some Turks have been involved in the protests out of environmental concerns, but insisted that terrorist groups are involved in the unrest in a country seen as a democratic model for the Middle East.

It appeared unlikely that Erdogan's comments would calm demonstrators. Protesters were gathering at an airport in Istanbul in anticipation of the prime minister's return home Thursday night.

Erdogan frequently spends weekends in Istanbul, rather than the capital Ankara. It was unclear whether he chose to land in Istanbul because he has a strong support base going back to his days as the city's mayor.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Turkey's cities in protests that began after police violently cracked down on demonstrators camping out to protest plans for a development in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

The protests quickly spiraled into an outpouring of rage directed at Erdogan, who the demonstrators see as increasingly autocratic and uncompromising. Anger has grown at police for frequent use of tear gas and water cannons, and a human rights group says thousands of people have been injured.

In Tunisia, Erdogan said he had "love and respect" for protesters with environmental concerns.

"But as I told you earlier, some terrorist groups are involved," he said, claiming that an outlawed left-wing militant group that carried out a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in February was also involved in the protests.

"They are involved. They have been caught in the streets and on social media," he said.

Erdogan said the Islamic-rooted government had already apologized for the violent police crackdown on the Taksim sit-in, but insisted that tear gas was used everywhere in the world to break up protests.

"Demands cannot be made through illegal means," he said. Erdogan has insisted that democracy happens only at the ballot box, dismissing the demonstrators as an extremist fringe.

Erdogan indicated that the government would go ahead with the redevelopment plans in central Istanbul, insisting the plan would beautify the city, and would include the planting of trees and the construction of a modern theater and opera. Erdogan has earlier said the plans included the construction of a shopping mall.

Some protesters in Taksim Square were skeptical of Erdogan's pledges.

"I do not believe his sincerity," said protester Hazer Berk Buyukturca.

Scrambling to contain tensions, Turkish officials have in recent days delivered more conciliatory messages. Turkey's deputy prime minister offered an apology for the heavy-handed way the sit-in protest was rousted.

Huseyin Celik, deputy leader of Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party, said the government is sympathetic to secular-minded Turks' concerns and is prepared to take steps to "eliminate" their fears.

Celik has also called on supporters of Erdogan's party not to come out in force to greet Erdogan when he arrives.

A police officer was reported killed on Thursday while trying to subdue a protest in southern Turkey, bringing the death toll in a week of demonstrations to three.

Gov. Huseyin Avni Cos said the officer died in a hospital after falling into an underpass under construction in Adana, on the Mediterranean coast. He was trying to break up protests there.

Two protesters have been reported killed in the demonstrations in some 70 cities, and one person is on life support in a hospital in Ankara. The Turkish Human Rights Foundation said some 4,300 people were hurt or sought medical care for the effects of tear gas.

The government says dozens of police officers have been injured.