At around 9 PM on September 29, Fairfax County, Virginia police responded to a 911 call describing an accident. However, they soon discovered they were not dealing with a routine emergency but the mysterious death of an employee of the 47-year old brother of President George W. Bush, venture capitalist Marvin Bush. Sixty-two year old Bertha Champagne, described as a long time "baby sitter" for Marvin and Margaret Bush's two children . . . was found crushed to death by her own vehicle in a driveway in front of the Bush family home. . . . Champagne reportedly lived at the Bush family home.

Champagne had left the residence to retrieve something from her car, which police say had somehow been left in gear. According to the police report, the car rolled forward and pinned the woman between it and a small building next to the driveway (possibly a checkpoint built by the Secret Service when Marvin's father, George H. W. Bush, was president). The car crossed Edgehill Drive, a small street in front of the Bush compound. The vehicle then crossed a busy two-lane street, Fort Hunt Road, finally coming to rest in a wooded area across the street that adjoins the prestigious Belle Haven Country Club. No explanations have been offered as to why the vehicle did not move until Champagne was in a position to be crushed. . . .

A Secret Service spokesperson emphasized there is no current Secret Service protection for Marvin Bush. However, there remains a question why private security agents posted at the Bush compound could not have responded to Champagne's distress.

There are also questions concerning Champagne's actual place of residence. According to the Post story, Bush told police that Champagne resided at their compound, However, a phone call to the directory-listed residence of Bertha Champagne in Franconia, Virginia resulted in Mrs. Champagne's son answering the phone. He confirmed that his mother lived at the Franconia address but he was clearly uncomfortable and nervous in talking to the media about the circumstances surrounding his mother's death.

The US will require advance notice of all food imports under measures aimed at preventing terrorists from tampering with the food supply, US government officials announced on Thursday. . . .

The US will require that all domestic food companies, and all foreign food companies that sell into the US, register with the FDA to help the government trace food shipments.

When the scheme is implemented, the FDA must be notified electronically of all food shipments to the US, including data on the manufacturer, the grower, the type of food being shipped and the country of origin.

Virtually every food product in the United States will soon have to be registered along with its supplier . . . the government is requiring some 400,000 facilities in the United States to register themselves and their products with the Food and Drug Administration.

Tensions between the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality over informing the public about air safety after the collapse of the World Trade Center may well have been greater than revealed . . .

White House council officials had influenced the language used in news releases to make them less alarming and more reassuring to the public . . . important cautionary information had been removed from proposed agency news releases . . .

Sam Thernstrom, then the White House council's communications director . . . objected to the agency's putting raw data on a public Web site, fearing that the information would be taken out of context and "easily misunderstood and mischaracterized" . . .

Thernstrom had said the environmental agency should not include health information in news releases because that was New York City's responsibility. But city health officials told the inspector general that they "were not aware of any agreement or understanding concerning this philosophy" . . .

Two more states withdrew this week from a federally financed test of a vast anti-terrorism database created by a private company in Boca Raton, bringing to five the number of states that have quietly dropped out of the touted national pilot project in recent months because of cost and security concerns.

Oregon and South Carolina withdrew earlier this week, and Louisiana officials had been leaning toward withdrawing but had not announced. . .

The Matrix supercomputer. . . is regarded by many who have seen it as the most ambitious information-sharing network yet devised.

At least nine states remain in the Matrix trial run overseen by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and partly backed by $12 million in federal grants.

The Justice Department and Homeland Security grants don't cover the $34 million total annual bill for the project charged by Matrix creator Seisint Inc., which stands for "Seismic Intelligence." . . .

Seisint executives hope the results of the Matrix test convince the federal government to take the system nationwide. Matrix would link federal, state and local police agencies in a comprehensive data mill combining public records, such as court and property records, with criminal histories, driver registrations, prison records and sexual offender data that in many states are restricted to law enforcement access.

"Our analysts live by it," said Philip Ramer, the FDLE's special agent in charge who is supervising the Matrix pilot project. "If you took it away from them today, they would beat you over the head with an ax." . . .

Former Congressman Bob Barr sent a letter Tuesday to Director William Hitchens, Head of the Georgia Office of Homeland Security urging him and the State of Georgia, to following both South Carolina and Oregon’s recent decision to not participate in the Multi-state Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, MATRIX:

"The MATRIX program, funded by the federal government, through a private Florida company, is similar in concept, design and effect, to the now-discredited Total Information Awareness (TIA) program developed by DARPA at the Department of Defense. Congress recently reined in this program due to privacy and constitutional concerns. The MATRIX program appears to be an attempt by the Feds to do indirectly what it cannot do directly."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark has resigned from the board of two companies - Acxiom Corp. and Entrust Inc.

In mid-2001, the retired Army general had joined the Stephens Group, the parent company of a privately held family financial concern in Little Rock, Ark., as a managing director for merchant banking. That December, Acxiom Inc., a Little Rock data analysis company, signed a $300,000 contract with Stephens to obtain Clark's help in lobbying the government for homeland security business.

Clark joined Acxiom's board at the same time, and after leaving Stephens earlier this year, he signed another, $150,000 consulting agreement with the company. That contract was terminated when he announced for president last month, according to Acxiom, but he had remained a paid board member.

NATO defense chiefs took part in an unusual secret exercise in Colorado yesterday . . .

Held under tight security at Schriever Air Force Base, the exercise was devised to stimulate discussion among alliance defense ministers on a soon-to-be-fielded NATO Response Force capable of intervening in crises far beyond Europe . . .

The NATO Response Force of some 15,000 to 20,000 ground troops as well as air and naval components is being formed to move a combat brigade quickly to world hot spots.

A ceremony formally establishing the unit is to be held October 15 in Brunssum, Netherland. . .

A rapid-reaction force from NATO swept in, evacuated the capital city and eliminated the threat.

That, at least, is how the fictional terrorist crisis played out at Schreiver Air Force Base here . . .

NATO has decided to mount a new "NATO Response Force," composed of about 20,000 personnel, that can respond instantly to "asymmetric" threats -- in which the enemy is not a national army but a small, loosely organized guerrilla . . .

Last week, NATO workers erected security and communications towers in the area in advance of this week's defense ministers' conference.

By 9 a.m. Friday morning, all 10 lines at Overhead Door Company of Colorado Springs were lit up with calls from the Broadmoor and the nearby town of Security complaining that their garage- door openers had jammed. . . .

"With over 600-plus calls, it's hard to believe that it can be anything but" NATO [the company's receptionist] Oetken said Wednesday. . . .

Oetken said some of her customers were even locked out of their houses because their computer keypads jammed.

A two-block perimeter around the Broadmoor Hotel, site of the two-day conference of NATO defense ministers from 19 countries. . . .

The hotel is closed to the public during the conference. People who live within two blocks of the hotel have to go through checkpoints. . . .

Residents living within the perimeter have been banned from posting protest signs in their yards.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said afterward that Wednesday's exercise showed alliance leaders that "crises that start small can finish big," . . .

"We need to get our armed forces fit and ready and able to meet the security challenges of the future," he added. . . .

During the exercise, Robertson and other allied leaders sat at a large round table inside a high-tech tent at Schriever Air Force Base, about 19km east of Colorado Springs.

To be President, not only must you be a citizen, but you must also be natural-born.

The 14th Amendment defines citizenship this way: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." But even this does not get specific enough. As usual, the Constitution provides the framework for the law, but it is the law that fills in the gaps.

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

Anyone born inside the United States

Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe

Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.

Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national

Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year

Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21

Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)

A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

So, here we are in Code Yellow status. If you even know what that means, you are one up on me. With predictable verbosity and confusing mumbo-jumbo, our friends in Washington have purposely made this Homeland Security Advisory System incomprehensible so that we are always in a state of panic - which may be their sole objective. People are more easily led if they are confused and terrified.

Mr. Ridge has asked every citizen to be vigilant in reporting suspicious activity to his or her local authorities. I took a look out of my front window for suspicious activity and I think I am going to be logging a lot of phone time. Really. Just what is the point of all of this? I mean other than adding more people to the government payroll. The hard fact is that we cannot stop anyone from attacking this country. They can and will change their mode of attack as current climate dictates. No one in their right mind would attempt another attack using airliners, but you can bet they have other avenues in mind. But, hey, if the government took all this time and money to think of this silly warning system, the least we can do is to give it our attention.

For those of you who are not familiar with the warning system, I have broken it down for you. In each level I have listed the government's responsibilities along with those of Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen.


GREEN: Low risk of terrorist attack. (This level is extremely unlikely to be activated because it would require that our government have its nose out of the Middle East for at least one year. But, just in case, here are the responsibilities.)

Government responsibility: Collect taxes to keep the Homeland Security people employed. Constantly remind taxpayers of the ever-present threat of terror so that no one entertains the notion of disbanding the Homeland Security office. Mention Osama bin Laden.

Citizen responsibility: Work to pay taxes. Watch reality television and give no serious thought to a smaller government - we are safe here.


BLUE: A general risk of terrorist attacks. (General risk? What the hell does that mean? This level will most likely be used in the event that people get too comfortable in Code Green and start wondering why we are funneling all this tax money into Homeland Security.)

Government responsibility: Collect taxes. Arrest a few Middle Eastern people coming back from a trip to Niagara Falls on some bogus charge, question them, and show pictures of the scary foreigners on the evening news. Mention Osama bin Laden and replay the footage of the World Trade Center collapse.

Citizen responsibility: Work to pay taxes. Look at the pictures of the scary foreigners, shake your fist, and shout, "Nuke the bastards!" Give no thought to a government that keeps its nose to itself.


YELLOW: Significant risk of terrorist attack. (We will be at this level until they serve margaritas in hell because our government shows no sign of minding its own business in the very near future.)

Government responsibility: Collect taxes. Parade a few soldiers in full battle gear around government centers or national monuments. Make airline travel a living nightmare by running people through so many X-Ray machines that they glow in the dark. Make carrying a nail clipper or making fun of an ineffective, absurd system a punishable offense. Mention Osama bin Laden.

Citizen responsibility: Work to pay taxes. Stand in line for three hours to board an airplane. Get mad and blame it on those, "Damn Arabs." Give no thought to why 90% of the military, constitutionally charged with defending OUR borders, is sitting in the Middle East.


ORANGE: High risk of terrorist attack. (This level will most likely be the result of a higher level of "chatter." Only three people in Washington know just what "chatter" is, but it seems that it may have something to do with a pissed off Arab person fabricating stories about another Arab person to whom he owes money.)

Government responsibility: Collect taxes. Send more troops to the Middle East. Give daily news briefings in which absolutely nothing is said. When pressed for the evidence that necessitated the higher threat level, site national security and refuse to answer any more questions. Plan an invasion of another country justifying it with vague references to a relationship between their country's president and some scary person like Osama bin Laden.

Citizen responsibility: Work to pay taxes. Send your sons and daughters to fight in the Middle East. Prepare a disaster kit. Buy a gross of batteries, 800 gallons of drinking water, 90 rolls of toilet paper, and 678 miles of duct tape. Give no thought to how one would breath in a house that was airtight.


RED: Severe risk of terrorist attack. (This level would most likely be invoked about three hours after an attack.)

Government responsibility: Collect taxes. Rush to the scene of destruction, wave the flag and make inspirational speeches about kicking someone's ass. Create another government position to prevent another attack of THIS particular nature. Give no thought to who is going to protect our borders when our entire military is stationed in the Middle East. Link the attack to Osama bin Laden.

Citizen responsibility: Work to pay taxes. Watch endless footage of the destruction. Cry a million tears. Bury your dead. Give no thought to why this happened.

Colorfully yours,
Liberty's Voice

An estimated 50,000 Shiite Muslim faithful descended on this holy city Friday for ceremonies marking the 40th day since the car bomb assassination of revered cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

The crowd marched into the city chanting anti-Saddam Hussein slogans, some people beating their chests in a traditional Shiite gesture of mourning. Others chanted pledges of support for Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the dead cleric's brother and a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council. ......

Iraqi police, the Badr Brigade -- the banned military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and uniformed soldiers of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan provided security at the memorial services. The slain al-Hakim founded SCIRI while in Iranian exile. His brother has since taken over leadership.......

Speaking at al-Hakim's grave site, Jalal Talabani, head of the PUK and member of the Governing Council described al-Hakim's death as a "national disaster for Iraq and Muslims" and a huge loss for Iraqis. He called for unity between Sunnis and Shiites.....

On Thursday, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, U.S. commander in Iraq, said between three and six American soldiers are killed and another 40 wounded every week in Iraq by an enemy that has become more lethal and sophisticated since the fall of Baghdad in April.

a senior official of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said Iraqi opposition leaders had already agreed on a blueprint for a new government as part of a process started by Washington last year......
"Our problem with America is this: is it correct to ignore all the opposition efforts during the last six months started in Washington?" asked the official, who attended meetings in the U.S. capital which included Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"July 8 [2002]– The Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani held talks with officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the last two days. A source close to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader said that the talks covered bilateral relations and regional and world issues of mutual concern. Mr. Talabani also held a series of meetings with representatives of the Iraq opposition groups in Iran, in particular a lengthy meeting with Sayed Mohammed Bakir Al Hakim, the leader of the resistance movement , the Supreme Council For Islamic Revolution in Iraq, SCIRI."

A criminal complaint unsealed Monday alleges Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi violated U.S. law by accepting, either personally or through the American Muslim Foundation he heads, $10,700 from the Libyan mission to the United Nations and by failing to disclose numerous trips to Libya on his passport....

Al-Amoudi, 51, has contended that he was constantly looking for money for the Islamic advocacy group he heads and sought out Libya because it has renounced terrorism.

In August 2003, the affidavit said, customs officials in Great Britain found $340,000 in sequentially numbered $100 bills in al-Amoudi's luggage. Al-Amoudi, who was not charged in that incident, told the officials that he received the money from an unknown individual at a London hotel after visiting the government-controlled Libyan Islamic Call Society based in Tripoli.

That happened after al-Amoudi "had a series of meetings with White House officials" about gaining access to Libyan assets frozen after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, the affidavit said.......

Al-Amoudi is a founder of the American Muslim Council and the related American Muslim Foundation, currently serving as the latter group's president. ....

In June 2002, FBI Director Robert Mueller spoke before the American Muslim Council to thank Muslims for helping in the war on terrorism......

[p. 19] "The letter is from Alamoudi, as President of AMF, to Mohamed Ahmed Al Sharif, the Secretary General of the International Islamic Dawa Association, which is the same as the World Islamic Call Society.
63. The letter recites that “we” were able to buy a building in May 2002 to be a permanent quarters for the AMC [American Muslim Council], the AMF [American Muslim Foundation] and the Hajj Foundation. The purchase price was $2.5 million dollars and the value of the real estate in March 2003 was described as $3.5 million. According to the letter, the building was acquired by three loans two of which, from Islamic Development Bank and SEDCO (Saudi Economic Development Co.) were interest-free. The third loan was interest free for six months. The letter solicited Al-Sharif to assist in paying the loan which would bear interest or taking an equity stake in the realty....... "

"[London Times Online -- Jan. 16, 2002] "The International Development Foundation (IDF), which is a registered charity with offices in Curzon Street, London, was named in a French parliamentary report last year as having “points of contact” with al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s terrorist organisation....
The Charity Commission believes that the IDF, which was founded by SEDCO, a powerful Saudi corporation, is connected to Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman who is said to have entertained Osama bin Laden at a mansion he owned in Buckinghamshire......
Kahlid bin Mahfouz, who was granted Irish nationality in 1999, is believed to be under investigation by the Saudi authorities for alleged links to al-Qaeda. He is also alleged to have had connections to BCCI, the British bank used by the CIA to pay bin Laden during the Afghan war with the former Soviet Union.
The four bin Mahfouz brothers who run the IDF are based in Saudi Arabia and have registered addresses at SEDCO, the Saudi Economic and Development Company that controls the IDF and which also has offices in Curzon Street...."

The American Muslim leader charged with smuggling $340,000 out of Libya was suspected of funneling cash from Osama bin Laden to blind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman in the failed 1993 attempt to blow up New York City landmarks, The Post has learned.....

[Abdul Rahman al-Amoud's] name surfaced almost a decade ago when federal agents grabbed the blind sheik and several other suspects as they were literally mixing a "witches brew" of explosives in Queens to detonate bridges, tunnels and landmarks in the Big Apple, a knowledgeable source said.

Among those arrested was Abdel al-Rahman Haggag, the sheik's speechwriter, who turned government informant.

Haggag said he believed Osama bin Laden routinely funneled $5,000 payments to Rahman through Amoudi and his organization, the American Muslim Council....

Investigators tried to prove Amoudi was a terror middleman but could not find "smoking gun" evidence.

That allowed Amoudi to became a politically connected Muslim activist and co-founder of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veteran Affairs Council, which helps the U.S. military select Muslim chaplains. ....

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Brett Gentrup said in court documents yesterday the feds suspect Amoudi might have been funneling the $340,000 to terror groups operating in Syria, such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.......

Amoudi, 51, who was refused bail yesterday, was arrested at Dulles Airport and charged with having financial dealings with the outlawed Libyan government of Moammar Khadafy....

To the CIA, which pumped more than $2 billion into the fourteen-year Afghani resistance effort, Sheik Omar was what intelligence officials call 'a valuable asset.'.....
During a conversation between a 20-year veteran FBI agent and one of his top undercover operatives, the operative asked:
"Why aren't we going after the Sheik [Omar Adbel Rahman]?" demanded the undercover man.
"It's hands off," answered the agent.
"Why?" asked the operative.
"It was no accident that the Sheik got a visa and that he's still in the country," replied the agent, visibly upset. "He's here under the banner of national security, the State Department, the NSA, and the CIA."
The agent pointed out that the Sheik had been granted a tourist visa, and later a green card, despite the fact that he was on a State Department terrorist watch-list that should have barred him from the country. He's an untouchable, concluded the agent …"

[Oct. 1994] "The Al-Kifah, or Struggle, Refugee Center in New York, which used to recruit and raise funds for Mujahedeen headed for Afghanistan, last year announced it was switching its operations to Bosnia. It was established in the mid-1980s by Egyptian Mustafa Rahman as a joint venture with Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, spiritual leader of Gamaat al-Islamiya." [aka, Al-Jihad or Egyptian Islamic Jihad]

although the American Muslim Council is part of the Bosnia Task Force USA, a Muslim group, we helped establish the American Task Force for Bosnia (ATFB), to include members of different faiths. We successfully brought Christian, Jewish and other organizations together in support of Bosnia. We believe Bosnia is more a humanitarian issue than a purely Islamic one."

The Supervisors’ recent approval of the Diebold contract for purchase of Touchscreen voting equipment enables us to move forward with plans to provide Touchscreen early voting access to County voters

A rape victim interviewed by Maria Shriver in 1996 has come forward . . .

[Karen] Pomer claims that, after a lengthy on-camera interview and in front of several witnesses, Shriver turned to her and "matter-of-factly" said:

"Karen, I can't believe your boyfriend stayed with you. My husband wouldn't go near me again. He would leave me, because I would be damaged goods."

New regulations under the USA Patriot Act take effect today requiring banks, brokers and other financial institutions to meet minimum standards in verifying the identities of new customers. Financial institutions also must compare the names of their new customers against government lists of known or suspected terrorists.

The new regulations don't apply to certain financial agencies such as pawn shops, casinos and money-by-wire offices, but those establishments may be included in the next round of rules, say officials. Even real-estate closings and settlements eventually may fall under the Patriot Act, they say. . . .

The information required under the Patriot Act is basic: name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and a government-issued ID. (Post-office boxes are not acceptable addresses.) The regulations apply only to new customers, not existing ones . . .

I mean, come on. A political candidate entering a race on Jay Leno??

And Jay was there to cap it off last night as he introduced Arnold as the victor.

Jay works for NBC.

NBC is owned by GE.

GE HAS A MAJOR BUSINESS PRESENCE IN CALIFORNIA.

GE is into nuclear power. More power plants, anyone?

GE supplies all the appliances for Richmond American Homes. More home construction, anyone?

GE just settled a suit (9/26) with the CA attorney general for a piddling 8.5 mill. Subject of the suit? Electricty rates. The AG has the right to pursue new allegations if he can find any. Do you think he will now, under Arnold? . . .

Arnold, Jay, NBC, GE. A power axis.

And oh yes. Arnold was heavily supported by Rob Lowe, who starred on the NBC series, West Wing, and now has his own new NBC series.

NBC supplied the billion-dollar ad on Leno for Arnold, that first moment that changed everything irrevocably.

And no one is howling?

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Employment of Relatives

ACTION: Proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a plain language rewrite of its regulations regarding the employment of relatives . . . .

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 21, 2003. . . .

INFORMATION: . . . When necessary to meet urgent needs resulting from an emergency posing an immediate threat to life or property, or a national emergency as defined in Sec. 230.402(a)(1) of this title, a public official may employ relatives to meet those needs without regard to the restrictions on the employment of relatives in 5 U.S.C. 3110. Such ppointments are temporary and may not exceed 1 month, but the agency may extend such an appointment [indefinitely].

Prince William County prosecutors portray Mr. Muhammad, an Army veteran of the first Gulf war, as the domineering captain and "moving spirit" of a "killing team" that included him and his brainwashed young acolyte. . . .

[I]t now is clear that each defendant will blame the other. . . .

The prosecution theories in each trial match the defense theories in the other. . . .

Prince William County prosecutors portray Mr. Muhammad as a canny puppeteer who taught his young follower sniper skills, and directed his crimes down to ordering Mr. Malvo when to fire.

Fairfax County prosecutors offer a contradictory version — a kind of "Malvo the magnificent" who needed no coaching to become the monster willing to kill children. . .

Maryland prison guard Cpl. Wayne Davis testified . . . "He said his father would give him 'the go,' whatever that means" . . .

The Malvo defense team . . . enters this month's final pretrial maneuvering positioning its client as an impressionable child controlled by a domineering father figure. . . .

The Malvo legal team, told reporters they finally are seeing "the real Lee Malvo," chatty and smiling . . . after he shed his master's preaching about a race war.

"He was so programmed. ... We finally got him out of Muhammad's clutches," Mr. Arif said then.

[Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul E.]Ebert, who is prosecuting Mr. Muhammad . . . says the theory Mr. Muhammad was something of a Svengali to Mr. Malvo is compelling. "I'm sure that Malvo didn't have much influence over Muhammad."

Mr. Ebert tells The Times his case is strong but purely circumstantial, with no eyewitness or admissions.

"We don't have any eyewitnesses. We have to prove that circumstantially. Malvo has claimed to be the triggerman in most cases. Even though he actually pulled the trigger, we think, we hope, we'll be able to show to the court's satisfaction that they both participated as principals in the first degree," Mr. Ebert says. . . .

"Anyone on the panel who has paid too much attention to the Prince William trial will probably not make it on the jury anyway," says Mr. [Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Robert F.] Horan. . . .

Both defenses seek, without success so far, to force prosecutors to show their hands on case details, and to explain how each witness and bit of evidence relates to their cases. But even when they win an order for more specifics, they get little. . . .

Evidence . . . includes the stolen Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle used in the killings, and the nearly identical rifle Mr. Muhammad bought in 1999 and sold in 2000 when he was under a domestic restraining order. Both came from Bull's Eye Shooter Supply in Tacoma, Wash.

Other evidence includes a Global Positioning System unit that pinpoints locations by satellite, a laptop computer containing maps of shooting sites, fragments of bullets and shells, and unexplained "suspected fecal matter" seized from their dilapidated Chevrolet Caprice . . .

Defense attorneys have been objecting both to the vagueness of listing DNA samples by code numbers and to techniques for comparing them with saliva samples from the two prisoners.

Washington sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad has been administered an electric shock for refusing a medical test.

Muhammad was shocked with a stun belt Friday by a Prince William County sheriff's deputy after the sniper suspect refused to participate in medical tests at a local hospital, his attorneys told the Washington Post.

Muhammad was to undergo a court-ordered MRI and an electroencephalogram.

Families of some September 11 victims are asking that the staff director of the commission set up to investigate the attacks be removed from a big part of the inquiry. . . .

He has a conflict of interest in investigating the National Security Council . . .

"We believe staff director [Philip] Zelikow should remove himself from any and all portions of the investigation addressing the NSC," the Family Steering Committee wrote in a letter sent to the commission Friday. . . .

Zelikow, who was a part of the Bush transition team, drafted a memo for Miss Rice on reorganizing the NSC. Finding out why that body failed to anticipate or defend against the attacks is a major part of the commission's mandate.

"Really, if he's looking at the NSC, he's investigating himself," said Lorie Van Auken, one of the letter's authors, who lost her husband . . .

ARNOLD AB CHAO?"I am calling on everyone in this state to put the chaos and the division of the recall behind us and do what's right for this great state of California." - California Gov. Gray Davis concession speech, October 6.