According to Hollywood superstar actor/director/producer Mel Gibson, who reportedly uttered those words to the arresting officer, when stopped for suspicion of drunk driving.

Coverup?. Maybe not, but there is no doubt that this is another case where the privileged are treated differently — the fact that Los Angeles County Sheriff's department refused to release photos and reports whereas if it was just a typical schmuck, their mugshot would already be pasted on a web site.

U.S. cracking down on offshore betting industry

When the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill cracking down on Internet gambling last week, David Carruthers, CEO of online gaming company Bet On Sports, was one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed law. The 49-year-old British executive has more immediate problems to worry about. Federal agents arrested Carruthers on Sunday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he made his way from the company's offices in London to Costa Rica.

As part of a wide-ranging probe of what the American Gaming Association says is a $12 billion online gambling industry, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway unsealed a 22-count indictment charging racketeering, conspiracy and fraud against Carruthers, 10 others and four companies Monday. A warrant was sworn out for the arrest of 47-year-old company founder Gary Kaplan. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry also approved the government's request to bar Bet On Sports from accepting bets from this country and forcing it to refund money to U.S. account holders. The FBI has ordered four phone companies to shut off service to the company.

The arrest of Carruthers, a longtime British racing industry executive who joined Bet On Sports in 2000, is setting off alarm bells in Europe and the Caribbean, where the offshore casino industry is based. Bet On Sports asked for its stock to be suspended on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Shares of British gaming stocks, such as industry leader Party Gaming, fell Tuesday in heavy trading, wiping out more than $1 billion in value.

Basically, the U.S. government has arrested an executve of an offshore gambling company despite it being totally legal in the country where the company is based.

This, in the wake of the House action last week, in passing the bill entitled "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006".

But the legislation is very selective in its targets — lotteries, horse racing and other state sanctioned gambling are given exemptions. Tragically, the bettor is channeled into wagering types that offer much more of a percentage take for the operator. Lotteries and horse racing scoop up much more in "vigorish" than sports betting, poker or blackjack. Another flagrant illustration of rampant hypocrisy exercised by our political leaders, something we've come to expect, particulary from the party in power right now. If you're an Arizona voter keeping a legislative scorecard, Republicans Renzi, Flake, Shadegg and Hayworth all voted for this bill. Democrats Pastor and Grijvala, along with dissenting Republicans Flake and Kolbe chose not to advance the Republican "Nanny State".

More troublesome is that there are draconian provisions that threaten freedom of speech in this bill — stipulating that internet service providers regulate and censor content.

That the American public and its elected representatives in Congress refuse to rein in the Bush regime and to hold it responsible for its monstrous crimes.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration, Paul Craig Roberts, with another dead on column on how the Iraq war is destroying the Army and America.

Americans who get their propaganda from Fox "News" or are told what to think by right-wing talk radio hosts are outraged at news reports that US troops planned and carried out the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman.

They are not outraged that the troops committed the deed; they are outraged that the media reported it. These "conservatives," who proudly wear their patriotism on their sleeves, dismiss the reports of the incident as a Big Lie floated by "the anti-American liberal media" in order to demoralize Americans and reduce public support for the war.

Many Bush supporters believe that truth is not on our side and must be suppressed. Yet, they support a war that is too shameful to report.

It was not the "liberal media" but the investigating US military officials who told the Associated Press that the rape and murder of the young woman and her family appeared "totally premeditated," that the soldiers noticed the woman on their patrols and studied her and her family for a week before separating the woman from her family and raping her. After having their way with her, the soldiers murdered her and tried to burn her body with a flammable liquid in order to cover up their foul deed. The soldiers' coverup attempt also involved the murder of other members of the murdered rape victim's family, including a child.

The criminals were turned in by other US soldiers who knew of the monstrous crime. According to the Associated Press (GIs eyed in alleged rape, murders in Iraq, USA Today, June 30, 2006), one of the soldiers has admitted his role in the rape and murder.