Discovery of Human Remains in Florida Has Curious Connections to MSNBC's Joe Scarborough

Legal Schnauzer
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

EXCERPT...

This all raises questions about both Berkland's sanity and his competence when he served as a medical examiner. As we reported in a post titled "The Ugly Story in Joe Scarborough's Political Closet," the accidental-death finding in the Lori Klausutis case has never added up:

A report at onlinejournal.com, stated that such a fall in a healthy person is unlikely to cause death. Berkland's determination of an accidental death, however, brought the investigation to a virtual halt:

"According to the medical literature, simple falls in young, healthy people, virtually never cause death. Berkland’s claim that injury opposite to the site of impact is observed only when a person’s head hits a stationary object is also contradicted by the literature.

"The autopsy describes the prolapsed mitral valve in great detail, claiming that the medical literature sustains the notion that this is likely to be fatal.

"Dr. Berkland contends in lengthy autopsy comments that “there are only about three entities that generally cause one to drop in midsentence or in midstride . . . pulmonary embolus . . . a ruptured aneurysm . . . and most common, is a sudden cardiac arrhythmia.” Yet, the medical literature suggests that neither pulmonary emboli nor aneurysms are likely to cause immediate loss of consciousness. A blow to the head is a common cause of loss of consciousness. . . ."

Did Lori Klausutis really die from a blow to the head and not from a fainting spell? If so, who was responsible for her death?

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http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2012/09/discovery-of-human-remains-in-florida.html

The Curious Case of Don Siegelman

Written by Mimi Kennedy | Huffington Post
Friday, 07 September 2012 03:45
Progressive Democrats of America

Don Siegelman should be a star in the Democratic Party. Instead, he's a former elected official sentenced to prison by a right-wing judge in Alabama.

Siegelman had the temerity to be a popular Alabama Democrat who'd won every statewide office by 1998, when he first became governor.

With Jewish and Catholic roots, and empathic appeal to minorities, he threatened the GOP "southern strategy" for a dominant one-party Republican nation. To the GOP, Siegelman was potentially Another Clinton -- as repellent to them as Another Cuba.

U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, a friend of Karl Rove's, incited Siegelman's prosecution for bribery, destroying his political career and hurting his family. Read this letter signed by 113 former attorneys general and other national leaders, both Democrat and Republican. They assert that the prosecuted "bribe" wasn't one, and that, if this conviction stands, it threatens every public official and contributor at every level of government. Such routine transactions, if prosecuted, would choke our courts.

The "bribe"? Don Siegelman wanted to create a state lottery that would provide funds for Alabama youth to attend state college for free. Richard Scrushy, CEO of HealthSouth, donated $500,000 for a campaign to convince Alabamans this was a good idea. The lottery referendum went on the ballot. The half-million didn't benefit Siegelman's gubernatorial campaign or him personally -- unlike, say, the billions being poured into the current presidential race via the super PACS and individuals like Sheldon Adelson.

The referendum lost. It was opposed with money pouring in from nearby Mississippi, where Indian casinos, represented by Jack Abramoff, were threatened by the idea of Alabamans spending gambling money at home, for education.

Siegelman's first indictment from federal prosecutors came in 2004. Already, in 2002, rumors of alleged "crimes" had circulated during Siegelman's campaign for re-election as governor. But he almost won anyway; he went to bed as the announced winner on election night. The next day, Bob Riley announced that he had won. A sudden redistribution of gubernatorial votes in Baldwin County had reduced Governor Siegelman's totals by 3000, giving the win to Riley. No other Baldwin County results shifted during this odd event. Republican Attorney General Bill Pryor denied a recount of the paper ballots.

The 2002 indictment was thrown out immediately. Federal Judge U.W. Clemon called the case "unfounded" and dismissed it with prejudice. In 2006, Don Siegelman sought to regain his stolen governorship -- and was indicted again. This time the prosecution was brought by U.S. Attorney Leura Canary. Leura's husband Bill Canary was running Bob Riley's re-election campaign.

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http://www.pdamerica.org/news/item/723-the-curious-case-of-don-siegelman