4 SLA Members Plead Guilty to Killing

They express regret as they admit roles in ‘75 slaying of woman during a bank holdup.

Four members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical leftist group that cut a violent path through California in the mid-1970s, pleaded guilty Thursday to the murder of a churchgoing mother of four during a suburban bank robbery here more than a quarter-century ago.

I was struck by the genuine forgiveness and compassion of the family of the murdered Myrna Opsahl.

“There was no reason to pursue any lengthier prison time,” Opsahl said, noting that each of the four had remade themselves into responsible citizens with families and children. “There is no such thing as perfect justice,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do that will bring my mother back to life.”

His father, Trygve Opsahl, also expressed compassion for the four defendants and their families.  “I have no hard feelings for the people involved,” said Opsahl, 76, a retired surgeon. “I hope they’ll be able to have some life after they leave prison.”

An SLA story. At one point when the SLA and the Weather Underground were both living underground, the SLA put out feelers through intermediaries to the Weather Underground, asking if they could team up. The answer came back, “Fuck no, those people are crazy.”

BTW, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn of the Weather Underground are alive, free, and married. He is a respected educator, she a lawyer.  I heard him speak a while back on a tour for his new book “Fugitive Days: A Memoir”. Those expecting a mea culpa were disappointed!

This just in.

Last SLA Bank Robbery Suspect Arrested
The last Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive in a 1975 bank robbery and murder has been arrested overseas.

James Kilgore was arrested this morning, a day after his four fellow suspects pleaded guilty to the shotgun slaying of bank bystander Myrna Opsahl.

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Barrista! An anti-diabetes triple expresso please!

Heavy coffee drinking may lower diabetes risk!

The cup that helps millions of people get started in the morning, and several more cups throughout the day, may reduce the risk of diabetes, Dutch researchers said Friday.

Scientists at Vrije University in Amsterdam said components in coffee seem to help the body metabolize sugar, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes, which affects 130 million people worldwide.

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California Energy

California may file antitrust against El Paso
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said his office has strong evidence to support an antitrust action against El Paso Corp. for fueling the state’s energy crisis by strangling the flow of natural gas into California.

California gives a break to big users of energy
In a key decision on who should pay for California’s electricity crisis, state regulators Thursday gave a lower bill — for now -to some of the state’s biggest businesses and institutions. <Thanks SO much…>

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That busy beaver Bill

Clinton Was Key to Davis Strategy

Working behind the scenes, former President Clinton played a key role in the California governor’s race, helping persuade Gov. Gray Davis to launch a devastatingly effective series of ads during the Republican primary. <the ads that blew Richard Riordan out of the water, allowing the doofus Bill Simon to be the Republican candidate, thus guaranteeing a Davis win>

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Al Qaeda Seen Planning Major Strikes - Interpol

Al Qaeda militants seem to be preparing simultaneous attacks in several countries including the United States, the head of the world-wide police authority Interpol said.

“Something worrying is going on,” he said. “All intelligence experts are agreed that al Qaeda is preparing a major terrorist operation, simultaneous attacks that would not target the United States alone but several countries at the same time.”

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We look forward to Transgendered Ken

Toymaker may sue over ‘Bondage Barbie’. 

US toymaker Mattel can sue a British dollmaker who turned squeaky-clean Barbie into an X-rated Dungeon Doll but is unlikely to win the breach-of-copyright action, a judge has said.

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THIS is the spirit the Democratic leadership needs!

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Brit judges attack US treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees

Three senior judges yesterday launched a strongly worded attack on the US government’s treatment of terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay.
 
The three said that the US was acting “in apparent contravention of the fundamental principle of law” by detaining indefinitely about 600 people, including seven British citizens, at the US military camp in Cuba.

They spoke of “deep concern” over the indefinite detention of one of the British citizens, Feroz Abbasi.

“What appears to us to be objectionable is that Mr Abbasi should be subject to indefinite detention in territory over which the US has exclusive control with no opportunity to challenge the legitimacy of his detention before any court or tribunal,” the three judges said.

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Queen warned butler on his safety

This story is getting truly weird. Ok, the butler goes on trial for stealing Diana’s belongings after her death, then is saved, at the last possible moment by direct intercession of the Queen. Now the butler says the Queen previously warned him his life could be in danger. Curiouser and curiouser.

Paul Burrell, the former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, who recently faced charges of stealing some of her belongings, shocked Britain yesterday with a suggestion that the Queen warned him in a private meeting of mysterious forces at work in the country that could put his safety at risk.

In an interview published in the Daily Mirror, Mr. Burrell said that shortly after Diana was killed in 1997, he had a three-hour meeting with the monarch in which she reportedly told him: “There are powers at work in this country about which we have no knowledge.”

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