Senators blast military response to sex assaults

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, during the committee's hearing on pending legislation regarding sexual assaults in the military. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, during the committee's hearing on pending legislation regarding sexual assaults in the military. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., top right, questions military leaders on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, as the committee investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. Fellow committee members are, from left, Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to investigate the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. From right are, Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, and Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. Fro right to left are: Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos, and Staff Judge Advocate to the Marine Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Vaughn A. Ary. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. From right to left are, Judge Advocate General of the Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard C. Harding, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Judge Advocate General of the Navy Vice Adm. Nanette M. DeRenzi, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. senators dressed down senior military leaders Tuesday, led by female lawmakers, combat veterans and former prosecutors who insisted that sexual assault in the ranks has cost the services the trust and respect of the American people as well as the nation's men and women in uniform.

Summoned to Capitol Hill, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the beribboned four-star chiefs of the service branches conceded in an extraordinary hearing that they had faltered in dealing with sexual assault. One said assaults were "like a cancer" in the military.

But they strongly opposed congressional efforts to strip commanders of their traditional authority to decide whether to level charges in their units.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, especially the panel's seven female senators, grilled the chiefs about whether the military's mostly male leadership understands differences between relatively minor sexual offenses and serious crimes that deserve swift and decisive justice.

"Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

Frustration among the senators seemed to boil over as they discussed recent high-profile cases and statistics on sexual assault that underscored the challenges the Defense Department and Congress face.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Navy veteran of Vietnam, said a woman came to him the previous night and said her daughter wanted to join the military. She asked McCain if he could give his unqualified support to her.

"I could not," McCain said. "I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over the continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military. We've been talking about the issue for years, and talk is insufficient."

The committee is considering seven legislative proposals, including one introduced by Gillibrand that would deny commanders the authority to decide when criminal charges are filed and remove the ability of senior officers to convene courts-martial.

More than 40 senators are sponsors or co-sponsors of the proposals, several of which have overlapping provisions. A bill by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., would provide any victims with a special military lawyer who would assist them throughout the process. Another, sponsored by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would require any service member found guilty of rape or sexual assault receive a minimum punishment of a dismissal or a dishonorable discharge. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a bill with provisions that require commanders to submit reports of sex-related offenses to more senior officers within 24 hours.

Dempsey and the service chiefs warned against making the dramatic changes called for in Gillibrand's legislation. Removing commanders from the military justice process, Dempsey said, would undercut their ability to preserve good order and discipline in their units.

"We cannot simply legislate our way out of this problem," said Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff. "Without equivocation, I believe maintaining the central role of commander in our military justice system is absolutely critical to any solution."

But Gillibrand defended her proposal, which has garnered 18 co-sponsors in two weeks. She said victims of sexual assault are reluctant to report the crimes to their commanders because they fear their allegations will be dismissed and they might face retaliation. Aggressive reforms in the military's legal code are needed to force cultural changes, she said.

"You have lost the trust of the men and women who rely on you," Gillibrand said. "They're afraid to report. They think their careers will be over. They fear retaliation. They fear being blamed. That is our biggest challenge right there."

Dempsey and the service chiefs told the committee they back Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's April recommendation to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice and largely strip commanding officers of the power to toss out a military verdict. That change is included in several of the Senate proposals including Gillibrand's and is likely to be adopted by the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday in its version of the annual defense policy bill.

But Gillibrand and several other senators said that wasn't nearly enough.

Several members of the committee noted that American allies including Great Britain, Israel and Australia have already have taken serious cases outside the chain of command. The U.S. military leaders said they had just begun to study the changes to see how they might apply to this country.

The committee's Democratic chairman, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, opened the hearing by saying the problem of sexual assault "is of such a scope and magnitude that it has become a stain on our military." Levin has not endorsed any of the bills.

The military leaders didn't dispute Levin's assessment.

"Sexual assault and harassment are like a cancer within the force, a cancer that left untreated will destroy the fabric of our force," Odierno said. "It's imperative that we take a comprehensive approach to prevent attacks, to protect our people, and where appropriate, to prosecute wrongdoing and hold people accountable."

While acknowledging the problem and accepting that legislation is inevitable, the military leaders insisted that commanders keep their authority to handle serious offenses including sexual assault cases that occur in their units.

The Air Force's top officer, Gen. Mark Welsh, said, "Commanders having the authority to hold airmen criminally accountable for misconduct ... is crucial to building combat-ready, disciplined units."

But, their voices rising, female members of the committee complained that the military's reporting process fails to recognize the seriousness of rape.

"This isn't about sex," said McCaskill, a former county prosecutor in Missouri. "This is about assaultive domination and violence. And as long as those two get mushed together, you all are not going to be as successful as you need to be at getting after the most insidious part of this, which is the predators in your ranks that are sullying the great name of our American military."

The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel. While the number of sexual assaults that members of the military actually reported rose 6 percent to 3,374 in 2012, thousands of victims were still unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs aimed at curbing the crimes, the report said.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested that youth is partly to blame for the problem. "The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23," he said. "The hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur." But Chambliss also said the military and Congress need to do far more to stop sexual assaults from occurring.

Commanders and senior enlisted troops are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their units don't develop climates conducive to sexual assaults and harassment. But Dempsey said that he and other military leaders haven't kept their fingers on the pulse of their units as closely as they should over the past decade due to the heavy pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think I took my eye off the ball a bit in the commands that I had," said Dempsey, who spent more than three years as a commander in Iraq.

Dempsey also said in response to a question from McCain that there are gaps in the way the services screen prospective recruits that could allow an individual with a history of sex-related crimes to join.

"There are currently, in my judgment, inadequate protections for precluding that from happening," Dempsey told McCain. "So a sex offender could, in fact, find their way into the armed forces of the United States."

The committee's hearing, which lasted nearly eight hours with testimony from three different panels of witnesses, came as a string of incidents has raised doubts about how aggressively the services are acting to change their cultures and eradicate sexual assaults.

Last week, the Pentagon said the U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three football team members sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house more than a year ago. A lawyer for the woman says she was "ostracized" on campus after she reported it.

In recent weeks, a soldier at the U.S. Military Academy was charged with secretly photographing women, including in a bathroom. The Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit was arrested on charges of groping a woman. And the manager of the Army's sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was relieved of his post after his arrest in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-04-Military%20Sexual%20Assault/id-76fa13e5ef6648449917ed40a1c7dffe

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Kardashian's sex tape 'Golden' for senior sisters

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

12 hours ago

They had hoped to make their mark by sharing cooking tips and the sort of wisdom that comes with age, but that wasn't what catapulted Mary Bartnicki, Josie Cavaluzzi and Terry Dahlquist to fame.

Instead, the senior sisters found their place in the spotlight when a clip of them watching another memorable video -- Kim Kardashian's sex tape -- went viral.

"She got famous doing it, and we got famous watching it," Cavaluzzi, 74, explained during a Tuesday morning visit to TODAY.

Now the trio star in their own reality show, "Golden Sisters."

"We were shocked!" 82-year-old Bartnicki said.

"We had no idea it would evolve into something so big like this," Cavaluzzi agreed, adding that even when they were told of their initial success, she didn't understand it. "(The now-producer of our show) called us and said, 'Oh my God, you guys are viral!' And I said, 'Viral? What's that?' I didn't even know what it meant."

All of them understand it now, especially since their fans include Kardashian herself.

"(Kim) says I'm Khloe," Bartnicki said a smile.

"I'm Kim!" twins Cavaluzzi and Dahlquist both claimed.

After some friendly sibling bickering, Bartnicki insisted, "(Terry's) Kourtney."

See more from the gals on their show. "Golden Sisters" Saturdays at 10 p.m. on OWN.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/kim-kardashians-sex-tape-proves-golden-new-reality-stars-6C10188453

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Magnitude 5.3 earthquake strikes near Hawaii

PAHALA, Hawaii (AP) ? The U.S. Geological Survey is revising the magnitude of an earthquake off the southeast coast of Hawaii to 5.3.

Tuesday afternoon's earthquake was centered about 34 miles southeast of Pahala on the Big Island, at a depth of about 25 miles. Officials say it's not expected to generate a tsunami.

Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira says there are no immediate reports of damage.

The USGS reported earlier that the quake's magnitude was 5.6.

People as far away as Maui and Oahu reported weak shaking to the USGS. The Oahu Department of Emergency Management says some areas may have experienced strong shaking.

Kevin Dayton, the executive assistant to the mayor, says he felt a large jolt in the county building in Hilo. A stock clerk at the Mizuno Superette grocery store in Pahala says the shelves rocked but nothing fell.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-04-US-Hawaii-Earthquake/id-1bd0329d5c7d49328e094a1f55a207c3

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Hardening Your Home Against Tornadoes

When you think of a tornado, you rightly think that there's little you can do to protect yourself short of huddling in a fortified underground bunker. Yet in the case of an F4 or F5 tornado, a fortified underground shelter would be the best bet.

Still, underground shelters have their own set of problems, including the possibility that groundwater can seep in or that they can easily become moldy as condensation forms on their walls. They're also extremely expensive and notoriously unstable?and expansive soils in the southern U.S. can wreak havoc with them.

Instead, existing homes can be fortified with sheet metal, plywood, and heavy-duty hardware, and you don't even have to go to an architect or an engineer for plans. FEMA has some surprisingly straightforward plans (PDF) that an experienced amateur builder should be able to use to make a safe room in his or her house or basement. And it doesn't require exotic hardware to make high-strength connections to bolster a residential frame building. Chances are you can find most of what you need at a local home center or lumberyard.

One of the best names in the business, Simpson Strong-Tie, makes connectors that create a continuous load path, tying the house together from roof to foundation. Simpson has teamed up with university engineers to make the design and installation process as straightforward as possible. If you can read construction drawings and are familiar with using basic power tools, especially a rotary hammer or a hammer drill, it's likely that you can install the necessary connectors. These connectors give protection for F0, F1, and F2 tornadoes, which account for 95 percent of tornado activity. (For protection against an F1 tornado, Simpson Strong-Tie products cost $0.25 per square foot during new home construction. F2 protection costs $0.50 per square foot.)

Once winds start clocking in at around 165 mph, speeds equivalent to an F3, things get a little tricky. "By the time you get to that point, you're having problems with windows and roofs resisting those winds," says Randy Shackelford, vice president of the Simpson Strong-Tie Company.

Finally, if you decide not to harden your home, there are prefabricated solutions that use reinforced precast concrete. Mike Vaughn, president of the National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA) and Vaughn Concrete Products, says all NSSA-approved producers manufacture above-and below-ground shelters that can withstand 250-mph wind speeds, says. You can place these F5-resistant structures in your garage. Examples include the Model BP 3060 Storm Shelter from Central Alabama Storm Shelters, a six-person structure that costs $5500 plus delivery. Other structures can be installed in your backyard, such as this building from Safe Sheds, Inc., which costs $4785 for an 8 x 10?foot unit.

Ernst Kiesling, executive director of the NSSA and professor emeritus of wind engineering at Texas Tech University, says there are different advantages to above- and below-ground structures. "After the Moore tornado, I heard the media say that the safest place is being underground. That is absolutely incorrect," Kiesling says. Underground structures will face significantly less wind force but can be difficult to access, especially for the elderly or physically disabled. Kiesling says that it's best to make a house function more efficiently, such as reinforcing small rooms and designing with load paths. However, it can be difficult to retrofit entire homes once they are built. Storm proofing is best reserved for new homes or major remodeling.

Look for a storm shed or safe room that meets specifications established by the NSSA.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/survival/tips/hardening-your-home-against-tornadoes-15553314?src=rss

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Viewpoint: From ?Aggressive? Trayvon to ?Laid Back? Dzhokhar ? Marijuana?s Changing Image

Aside from having regularly smoked marijuana, Dzokhar Tsarnaev and Trayvon Martin share little in common. Tsarnaev, of course, is the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings and Martin was the unarmed black teenager shot to death in Florida in 2012 by a man who claims he felt threatened by him.?But differences in the way the media has covered their cannabis use portend a major shift in public attitudes about the drug, as well as a troubling reminder of the racism that still largely prevents us from seeing drugs as a health issue.

This week, the judge in the Martin case said that his accused killer, George Zimmerman, may not use evidence related to his victim?s past marijuana use in his defense. As the New York Times put it:

Mark O?Mara, Mr. Zimmerman?s lawyer, argued that Mr. Martin?s drug use could have made him aggressive and paranoid, which the defense said might have prompted him to attack Mr. Zimmerman, 29, a neighborhood watch volunteer.

Such an argument is contradicted by medical evidence, which shows that marijuana tends to reduce aggression. Nonetheless, the fact that metabolites of the cannabis were found in Martin?s blood made national headlines when it was first made public.? The blood test was generally seen as discrediting the victim.? As his mother told the media at the time, ?They?ve killed my son, and now they?re trying to kill his reputation.?

(MORE: Did Drug Stigma Contribute to Trayvon?s Death?)

Indeed, while the marijuana-related evidence was only part of a huge trove of data released, it received most of the attention.? From ABC News to TIME to Rush Limbaugh, the fact that Martin had smoked pot some time in the days or weeks before the killing was seen as potentially helpful to his killer?s case that his victim had been up to no good.

Now let?s consider the media?s take on the weed habit of the man suspected of carrying out the worst act of terrorism on American soil since 9/11.? Here?s how a high school friend, widely quoted in the media, described him to the New Yorker?s David Remnick:

?He was a cool guy,? Ashraful Rahman said. ?I never got any bad vibes from him. He wasn?t a star student, but he was smart?It?s so out of character. And you have to remember?he was a stoner. He was really into marijuana. And generally guys like that are very calm, cool.?

Here?s how the Times described him, in an article headlined, ?The Dark Side, Carefully Masked,?

To even his closest friends, Mr. Tsarnaev was a smart, athletic 19-year-old with a barbed wit and a laid-back demeanor, fond of soccer and parties, all too fond of marijuana. They seldom, if ever, saw his second, almost watertight life: his disintegrating family, his overbearing brother, the gathering blackness in his most private moments.

USA Today put it this way:

Friends and classmates of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can?t grasp how the pot-smoking, party boy they knew is the same young man now accused of carrying out a terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, Politico described Tsarnaev as being ?more interested in blunts than bombs? and quoted a friend as saying he was a ?normal pot head.?

In other words, rather than portraying Tsarnav?s marijuana use as a sign of his criminality, it is presented as a reason not to suspect him ? a signal that he?s ?one of us?, not some unknowable monster.? The New York Times actually lists marijuana use as one of his ?light side? characteristics, not as a harbinger of other criminal acts.

What can account for these differences?? The most obvious factor is race: Martin was black and Tsarnaev is white and our educational and justice systems certainly treat drug use by those two groups rather differently.? In white kids, marijuana use is typically dismissed as relatively harmless youthful experimentation ? in blacks, it?s a reason for arrest and suspension from school.? Black youth are arrested for drug crimes at a rate ten times higher than whites are, despite research finding that whites are equally or more likely to take or sell drugs.

Another factor may be public perceptions about terrorism. ?Because of the connection to religious radicalism in the Tsarnaev case, marijuana smoking might be seen as more mitigating because radical Muslims are forbidden from drinking or other drug use. ?However, the 9/11 terrorists drank and attended strip clubs before their attacks, so this explanation is not necessarily plausible.

A more important influence, I believe, is timing. Since the Martin case became national news in February of 2012, two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized recreational use of marijuana. National polls show continually growing support for ending marijuana prohibition, a position now taken by a majority of Americans. The younger someone is, the greater the pro-legalization majority, suggesting that in the long run, change is highly likely.

These shifts meant that by the time the bombings occurred this April, a major re-examination of marijuana had occurred. The media, which generally attempts to mirror public sentiment, did not want to seem out of touch by making an issue of Tsarnaev?s marijuana use. Reporters and editors recognized that a drug that half the adult population has tried is unlikely to be a key driver of terrorism. (Other than, ironically, by financing it through illegal trade, which appears to have been directly the case with the Tsarnaev brothers, at least one of whom apparently sold the drug).

Indeed, virtually the only non-ironic media attention given to the idea that marijuana could have caused the bombings was an op-ed arguing for drug testing, written by a former anti-drug official who runs a drug testing company and once testified in court that even irregular use of marijuana signifies addiction.

The fact that two marijuana users could commit an act of terror that injured 264 and killed three ? with their marijuana use seen as either irrelevant or actually mitigating ? suggests that America may have finally gotten over its reefer madness. If we can now make sensible laws that don?t criminalize the use of a substance demonstrably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, perhaps we can also start to eradicate the racism that has led to our harsh drug laws, their biased enforcement and their terrible consequences.

MORE: 7 Tips to Make Legalizing Marijuana Smart

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/viewpoint-aggressive-trayvon-laid-back-dzhokhar-marijuana-changing-163449425.html

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Situation in flood-hit German city 'dramatic'

PASSAU, Germany (AP) ? Waters from three swollen rivers gushed into the old town of Passau in southeast Germany on Monday, as officials warned that water levels ? already the highest in 70 years ? could rise further.

The city was one of the worst hit by flooding that has spread across a large area of central Europe following heavy rainfall in recent days. At least eight people were reported to have died and nine were missing due to floods in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

"The situation is extremely dramatic," Herbert Zillinger, a spokesman for Passau's crisis center, told The Associated Press.

Much of the city was inaccessible on foot and the electricity supply was shut down as a precaution, he said. Rescuers were using boats to evacuate residents from flooded parts of the city.

But with water from the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers relentlessly pouring into the city, water was advancing into previously dry streets -- in one case going from dry to ankle-deep within half an hour. Markers set in 1954, when the city suffered its worst flooding in living memory, have disappeared beneath the rising water.

The German army said it has sent 1,760 soldiers to help local authorities and volunteers reinforce flood defenses particularly in the south and east of the country. Chancellor Angela Merkel planned to visit flood-hit areas Tuesday, her spokesman said.

Authorities in the Czech Republic worked Monday to erect further protective metal barriers along the Vltava river, which also flows through the capital Prague.

Interim mayor Tomas Hudecek said no major evacuations were planned, but animals from a zoo located by the river had been taken to safety. Parts of the city's subway transportation network also were shut down because of flooding.

The Charles Bridge ? normally packed with tourists at this time of year ? was closed to the public as were some other popular spots near the river at the foot of Prague Castle. Rescuers evacuated some 2,700 people across the western half of the country where the government declared a state of emergency in most regions.

Some had to leave their homes in the southern neighborhoods of Prague while further evacuations have been under way in the northern Czech Republic, awaiting a flood wave later Monday.

___

Frank Jordans in Berlin and Karel Janicek in Prague, Czech Republic, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/situation-flood-hit-german-city-dramatic-081904495.html

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Long-awaited Bulger murder trial set to begin in Mass.

BOSTON (AP) ? James "Whitey" Bulger is no longer the feared man who swaggered around South Boston and later became one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives.

At 83, the bright platinum hair that earned Bulger his nickname is all but gone and his reputed status as the leader of a violent gang has passed.

But as Bulger's long-awaited trial gets underway, it's clear that the passage of time has done little to diminish Boston's fascination with Bulger.

"He's a survivor. He's had a very long shelf life in a profession where that is not typical," said Dick Lehr, who has co-written two books about Bulger, including the biography "Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss."

"The many faces of Whitey make him intriguing," Lehr said.

Those faces include his early image as a modern-day Robin Hood and harmless tough guy who gave turkey dinners to his working-class neighbors at Thanksgiving and kept drug dealers out of the neighborhood. That image was crushed when authorities began digging up bodies.

Bulger would eventually be charged with playing a role in 19 murders but fled in late 1994 after former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr. tipped him off that he was about to be indicted. He remained a fugitive for more than 16 years before finally being captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.

Bulger's trial, set to begin this week with jury selection, promises to have all the glamour and gore of a TV mob drama. Prosecutors plan to call a collection of infamous mob figures, including Bulger's former partner, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, who is now serving a life sentence for 10 murders and admitted pulling the teeth out of some of the gang's victims, including his own girlfriend.

Former hit man John Martorano, who admitted killing 20 people, will also take the stand, as will Kevin Weeks, a former Bulger lieutenant who eventually led authorities to half a dozen bodies.

Bulger's lawyers have made it clear that they will attack the credibility of men they describe as "once-reviled criminal defendants" whom prosecutors have eagerly transformed into "loyal government witnesses."

"The government now offers these men as witnesses against James Bulger with no apparent regard for their complete lack of credibility," attorneys J.W. Carney Jr. and Hank Brennan wrote in a recent court filing.

Bulger, who grew up in a South Boston housing project, earned his first arrests as a juvenile and went on to serve time in Alcatraz and other federal prisons for bank robberies. He became one of the most notorious criminals in Boston, while his younger brother, William Bulger, became one of the most powerful politicians in Massachusetts, leading the state Senate for 17 years. William Bulger is expected to attend his brother's trial.

"If you go back to his childhood, he was nothing more than an incorrigible juvenile who was destined to go on to live a life of criminality, and that's exactly what he did," said Tom Duffy, a retired state police major who was one of the lead Bulger investigators.

Bulger, an inspiration for the 2006 Martin Scorsese film, "The Departed," headed the Winter Hill Gang, a largely Irish gang that ran loan-sharking, gambling and drug rackets.

"I think his basic credo was to live your life in a Machiavellian way. As a result of that, he put a great emphasis on intimidation and deception. He was a master at deception," Duffy said.

After Bulger went on the run, the public learned that he had been working as an FBI informant for years, providing information on the New England Mob ? his gang's main rivals ? even while he was committing a long list of his own crimes, including murder, prosecutors say.

The revelations of the corrupt relationship embarrassed the FBI and led to Connolly being convicted of racketeering.

Law enforcement officials who felt thwarted for years as they investigated Bulger say the trial may give them a long overdue sense of justice.

"We were frustrated because he was being protected by the FBI, but we didn't know to what extent," said retired state police Detective Lt. Bob Long, who investigated Bulger in the '70s and '80s.

Bulger's lawyers planned to use an immunity defense at his trial, arguing that federal prosecutor Jeremiah O'Sullivan, now deceased, granted Bulger immunity from prosecution for his crimes.

But Judge Denise Casper rejected that request, finding that any purported immunity agreement is "not a defense to the crimes charged."

Bulger's lawyers have also denied that he was an FBI informant. They've said Bulger will take the witness stand to testify in his own defense.

The defense is sure to emphasize for the jury how Martorano, Weeks and Flemmi all struck deals with prosecutors for reduced sentences in exchange for their cooperation. The defense has also indicated it plans to emphasize that Justice Department lawyers depicted the men as unreliable while defending lawsuits accusing the FBI of facilitating Bulger's crimes, but they are now using them as their star witnesses against Bulger.

"Mr. Bulger believes that he will have a fair trial if he is able to present the whole truth concerning his relationship with the Department of Justice and FBI, including that he was never an informant," Carney said in an email.

Prosecutors declined to comment before Bulger's trial.

For some of the victims' families, the trial is a chance to get answers.

Billy O'Brien was born four days after his father, William O'Brien, was gunned down in March 1973. Authorities say Bulger and his gang killed O'Brien and 10 others in a dispute with members of a rival group.

O'Brien never got to meet his father, but growing up in South Boston, he would see Bulger around the neighborhood.

"You'd have all this crazy stuff that runs through your head. You're seeing someone that's responsible for killing your father. You have all these things that come to you that you want to say, but I'm a kid then. What was I going to do?" O'Brien said.

"I want to know the reason why my father was killed," he said.

"I'm still looking for that to this day."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/long-awaited-bulger-murder-trial-begin-mass-133212542.html

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