Robert Weller

CYBERFLANERIES - Robert Weller

2012-02-12T04:24:00.002-07:00

THE LATEST ON WHITNEY HOUSTON

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NUMEROUS REPORTS ON WHITNEY HOUSTON 1000 UTC FEB. 12 2012 (Robert Weller)

2012-02-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

NUMEROUS REPORTS ON WHITNEY HOUSTON 1000 UTC FEB. 12 2012 (Robert Weller):

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Robert Weller: RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller)

2012-02-12T04:15:00.001-07:00

Robert Weller: RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller)

RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller)

2012-02-12T04:15:00.000-07:00

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RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller)

2012-02-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

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RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller)

2012-02-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES (Robert Weller):

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So-Called Blasphemous Tweets Could Cost Saudi Blogger His Life

2012-02-10T11:16:00.004-07:00

And if that wasn’t disturbing enough, it is being reportedthat Interpol was involved.

That makes Julian Assange’s complaints about Sweden wantingto arrest him for a condom that broke look almost insignificant.

Of course, in theory, Assange could be sent from Sweden tothe U.S. and end up at Gitmo.

Now I see how inconsequential my concerns about porn andplagiarism are.

Instead of being a method to free the hoi polloi, it will bemore like the magician on the Tosh show who couldn’t break the chain tying himto a car in time and nearly died when it took off. Those Tweets will lead theauthorities right back to you.

Here is what 23-year-old Hamza Kashgari had Tweeted lastweekend, as reported by the Christian Science Monitor:

“On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel inyou, that you've always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do notlike the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.

On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will saythat I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand manymore.

On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kissyour hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smileat me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.”

The bogger is considered an apostate and infidel. He couldbe executed.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging Malaysia not to send Kashgari back to the Saudi kingdom.
Users should also be careful of what they say on Facebook unless they want to risk being pulled off a plane in another country. The Saudis have a lot of power.

RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES - Robert Weller

2012-02-10T02:45:00.000-07:00

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2012-02-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

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RUBICON CROSSINGS AND OTHER CYBERFLANEURIES - Robert Weller

2012-02-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

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Should We Be Worried About Lego Movies

2012-02-06T09:18:00.003-07:00

While the world was watching the Social Media animate theArab World in real life, there was a dark side. Lego, on the other hand, seemspretty bright.

Not nearly as violent as the video games my kids play.

As I was updating my Web page on the Columbine Massacre (Iwas the leading AP reporter) I couldn’t resist adding the Lego Columbine piece.It is Danish, a reflection of how Lego movies or clips or whatever they areknow no boundaries.
Tim Burton developed the stop motion animation, among others.

There are numerous Lego versions of 127 hours. No one makesthe joke making the rounds about how if you play it backwards it is about adisabled man who finds an arm in the desert, attaches it, and parties on. Somecertainly are in bad taste, much like life.

Here is what author David Waterhouse had to say about it oneof his many pieces on the Web.

“Things would be so much better if the world was made out ofLego. Even the worst things about life, like traffic wardens, taxes andLorraine Kelly, would be significantly improved if they were made out of littleyellow bricks.

“… And what about terrible films? Could you actually makesomething truly awful such as Tim Burton’s Planet Of The Apes remake watchableby making it purely out of Lego bricks?”

My guess would be yes, though I don’t want to take too muchof the fun out of it by telling you much.

Check them out on the Web, especially on YouTube.

So far I haven’t been able to reach Waterhouse. I amguessing Lorraine Kelly is a Scottish TV presenter.

But you need to be careful about what you meme. For example,some are using the word “prestitute” for female news anchors and reporters.

There must be dozens on 127 Hours alone. One of my favoritesis 127 Seconds, when a student gets his arm caught under books. Check it out.

Some of the Lego videos have great music, including from the films they are spoofing. There already are their own versions of Oscars.

Perhaps the Legos could hook up with the Occupy people andseize power from our socalled leaders.

Several different versions of what we should do onparticular issues could be made Lego videos and then we could go online andvote on them.
In the meantime, the CDC should send haz-mat teams into the mainstream media. Viruses are brewing there faster than in designer-beer breweries.
For those of a more traditionally artistic bent, trying this Web site:

http://www.stylelist.com/2012/02/03/craft-of-the-day-napkin-holder_n_1253013.html?ref=stylelist-home&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D133285

MORE Robert Weller stories https://sites.google.com/site/robertweller/rubicon

Colorado's busiest street, Colorado Blvd, this morning

2012-02-03T07:32:00.003-07:00

Our backyard

Assange Extradition

2012-02-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Experts quoted by British media are convinced Julian Assange will be extradited to Sweden in a dubious sexual assault case. Normally this paragraph would have said to face charges, but none have been filed.

After several appeals of a lower court decision to grant extradition failed the case went before the U.K. Supreme Court on Wednesday. The hearing is scheduled to be completed after two days.

A decision would be released later, though no time has been set.

Assange could take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if he loses.

The British experts quoted by the Guardian and others say to not extradite Assange would bring down the entire European justice system.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/feb/23/julian-assange-extradition-law

And well it might, but not necessarily for the reason they give. Most countries around the world have set up restrictions on extradition to prevent a political refugee from being dragged back to a dictatorship that will harm him, and deny a fair trial.

An extradition of Assange could result in a disastrous precedent for the European Union by making it possible for extradition requests without the approval of anyone outside the prosecutor’s office.

The process of extradition varies from country to country but a judge usually must approve, or even a high-ranking executive such as a state governor in the U.S. For instance, A prosecutor may not order an extradition in Britain. Instead, he/she would only begin the process.

In the U.S., an extradition would require that a charge had been filed.
To refer to such restrictions as technicalities is to demean the law. Both Britain and Sweden likely will be embarrassed.

So far, more questions have been raised than answered. It is widely believed the extradition is meant to keep relations between the CIA and Swedish intelligence agency cordial.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGxRDEojjAuWJsUB1Ld8L-BA2vDFDWLdxEsJFafdzPM/edit?pli=1&hl=en_US

http://justice4assange.com/Rule-of-Law.html

Hysterical Nation Calms Down

2012-01-28T16:25:00.001-07:00

If the nation had gone onFreud’s couch after 9/11 he might have diagnosed it as hysterical.

Although this diagnosishas lost favor because some deem it as anti-female, it originated with womenbut was not confined to them.

It concluded thathysterical symptoms were part of an attempt to protect the patient from psychicstress and sometimes had other motives including gain.

One might saymany in the nation suffered from PTSD, especially the editors near Ground Zero. It made them vulnerable, evenduty-bound, to support the Bush-Cheney war machine.

In years past thehuman cost of phony missions searching for WMDs might have been reined in bythe cost of dead soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

Not an easyproblem to resolve. Certainly we could use the all-volunteer military to avoidthe Vietnam scenario. Still, frequent deployments would be required. To inducethe required enlistments expensive bonuses, health care and educational grantswould have to be promised.

It worked welluntil the PTSD and suicide rate began rising sharply among those fighting thewars. Neither was new to war. Some said Westerners had evolved to the pointwhere killing at all, even in self defense, would scar them. The expanding useof roadside explosive devices created more head injuries. And generallyspeaking, most soldiers were deployed outside the wire longer than those inWorld War II. Studies then, by the U.S. government, found the longer the GIswere on the front lines the less effective they became.

Anecdotal signsof the cost were war crimes that turned up on YouTube. Urinating on deadTaliban was hardly the worse. There is a saying. We must remember who we areand who we are not.

Now with the datefor ending the Afghan war still not known, and Iraq still explosive, PresidentObama wants to cut 100,000 soldiers.

Where will theywork? What about those with PTSD or prescription drug problems?
The director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, warned in a meeting yesterday in Davos that inappropriate spending cuts might strangle growth prospects, the BBC reported.
What if morewars break out, which seems likely. Will we have to bring them back, at a highcost, or hire even more private contractors, at an even higher cost? We arebreaking our word to these people who fought dirty wars for their country.

The NationalGuard will be next, at the same time its burden will grow. Iowa is alreadyconsidering how much it will pay for college for those who have served.

That has been atradition in our military, especially on medical care. I know, my father, a17-year-old machine gunner who pursued a military career for pay that amountedto peanuts, was one of them.

If they can pullthis off with the military, seniors look out.

To sum up: don’tbetray the soldiers. End the wars. Trillions will be saved because of thecollateral costs. Plus it will keep 100,000 in good jobs and off the dole.

Internet TV

2012-01-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

No, I am not talking about an Internet ready TV thatrequires an expensive wireless or HDMI cable connection. Nor the ability to have 3D or even some system that emulates the shaking of an earthquake or bomb blast.

Just make the bloody TV ready to go. Keyboard and mouse. Allyou need is a modem-router and an account.

There are so many workarounds now it is becoming silly.

For example, some devices can connect your TV to your cableTV box.

Apple TV offers splendid connections to Netflix, YouTube andothers but will not surf the Web. Google has its version, much more expensive.

Apple only goes to certain sites.

When I brought this up with marketing reps several years agothey told me no one wanted a computer in their living room or entertainmentroom.

Wonder why alternatives such as iPads have done so well.Surely not everyone is reading it exclusively on trains, planes, and I certainlyhope not while driving an automobile.

If they ever get this done (seems likely to happen this yearactually) will there be a market for the HDMI cables.

And while we are at it, make sure it plugs right into yourhome theater complex.

Assange Russian TV Show

2012-01-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Wikileaks founder JulianAssange plans to host a show on Russian TV in March. The show will be taped in the UnitedKingdom so the long-running case of alleged sexual assault against Assange inSweden would not necessarily interfere.
However, it wasn't clear how shows taped weeks in advance could be timely.

Ria Novosti, the officialRussian news agency, confirmed plans for show.
It was an embarrassment for the U.S. media, coming on the same day that Reporters Without Borders lowered its ranking for press freedom from 20th to 47th.

Assange’s appeal of an extradition order is scheduled for a hearing in England’shigh court on Feb. 1. The authencity of the allegations have has been challenged by Wikileaks and many others. Some consider it aU.S.-influenced attempt to discredit Wikileaks for the release of negativeinform about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Assange has been underhouse arrest in England for more than a year.

The show will have tenhalf-hour segments with many outside guests, the channel Russia Today said. Itwill be called “The World Tomorrow," the station said.

“Guests of the show’s host and creator JulianAssange will include politicians and revolutionaries; people, who in hisopinion, will form tomorrow’s agenda,” the channel said.

“We are proud and delighted that our channel willpremiere Julian Assange’s project because the RT channel has gained a worldwideaudience that's disappointed by the mainstream and has become open to newangles, making this show fitting for the purpose” RT Editor-in-Chief MargaritaSimonyan said.

U.S. viewers likely would have to watch the showon the Internet or via satellite, barring a decision by commercial Americantelevision to pick it up.

Wikileaks said on its Web site that this is timelybecause some in the U.S. Congress were pushing legislation which wouldvirtually shut down the free flow of information on the Web.

“Upheavals and revolutions in the Middle East havestarted an era of political change that is still unfolding," WikiLeaksstated on its website. "In the West, the deterioration of the rule of lawhas demonstrated the bankruptcy of once leading political institutions andideologies. The Internet has never been so strong, or so much under attack.”

Alice in Afghanistan

2012-01-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

Are thelives of French troops more important to their government than U.S. fightersare to Washington.

Thekilling of four French soldiers, and wounding of at least 12 more, ledPresident Nicholas Sarkozy to order a stop to training of Afghan soldiers andpolice.

SixAmericans died in a helicopter Thursday. Washington seemed to think it was somecomfort that the chopper probably was not shot down, but crashed due to amaintenance problem or pilot error.

Pleasedon’t trick yourself into thinking the reason President Obama isn’t taking anaction like Sarkozy is because our soldiers are better than the French.

Rememberthe French Navy made it possible for us to become independent. And then ofcourse there is Napoleon. He took Moscow, something the Nazis couldn’t.
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet was ordered toAfghanistan immediate. “As part ofa drive inside the base that gunman shot, killed four of our soldiers inconditions that are unacceptable , he said. “Theywere not armed, they were murdered by an Afghan soldier.”
American and other NATO forces have suffered similar losses, betrayedby people we are trying to help. The fact is many of these people consider usinvaders and themselves heroes.
"I can not accept that Afghan soldiers fired on the Frenchsoldiers " , said Sarkozy . The question of an early return of theFrench army was raised, he told Le Monde.

"If theconditions of security are not clearly restored, then the question of an earlywithdrawal of the French army would arise," Sarkozy said.
"The Frencharmy is in Afghanistan at the service of the Afghans against terrorism andagainst the Taliban. The French army is not in Afghanistan so that Afghansoldiers can shoot at them," the Guardian reported.
The Guardian alsoreported that research commissioned by the U.S. showed the lack of trust withNATO and the Afghan people probably will mean more ambushes.
Perhaps Sarkozy’sactions could partly be tied to his re-election bid. The wars are barely anissue in America, distracted by unemployment, the Internet, entertainment andhijinks by its political parties.
The war inAfghanistan is barely an issue in the U.S. The mainstream media, after helpingthe Bush Administration to launch us into a war in Iraq for no authenticreason, largely has given up interest. Only the Internet keeps it alive.
“A celebratedpeople lose dignity upon a closer view,” said Napoleon.
Army Times reports attacks one NATO forces by our so-called allies have been increasing.
U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan are seeing a rise in attacks from supposedly friendly Afghan security forces, most recently the shooting of four French troops Friday and a U.S. soldier earlier this month.

Timeline for assaults on NATO troops by Afghan Army or police:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/20/nato-troops-killed-afghanistan

U.N. to Intervene in Syria

2012-01-16T22:16:00.003-07:00

Top AFP Free Syria Army Bottom Reuters

The U.N. is intervening indirectly inSyria by agreeing to train Arab League monitors, who have lost the confidenceof most of the outside world.
More than 400 people have died since the League monitors arrived Dec. 27, the Security Council was told in a closed-door meeting, the Washington Post reported.

The trainingwill begin after a meeting this weekend in Cairo, AFP reported. It was not clear whether anyof the monitors already in Syria will be among those trained or whether they will be withdrawn, as previously scheduled Thursday.

A U.N. spokeswoman, Vannina Maestracci,confirmed the plan.

Thedecision, which followed a request by Arab League member Qatar to send troopsinto Syria, is one step short of it.

Pressurefor a military intervention in Syria was growing as President Bashar al-Assadsent out mixed messages on his intentions. Russia appeared so concerned aboutwhat seemed likely that it introduced a third resolution in the U.N. in hopesof stopping it.

Turkishmedia reported a Russian ship delivered fresh weapons Monday. But with thecountry’s economy near collapse some members of Parliament, following anexample set in Libya, fled the country.

U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who had already warned Assad to stop thekilling, sent a message from Abu Dabi to the Security Council to deal seriouslywith the 10-month uprising. More than 6,000 are believed to have died, the vastmajority opponents of the regime or those who happened into the line of fire.

Assad,promised a referendum on a new constitution in March and said he was issuing acountrywide general amnesty for those involved in protests. However, he alsosaid he would use an “iron fist” to suppress his opponents, who he said werebacked by Western governments and media.

http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=15325

Syria: Growing Pressure for Military Intervention

2012-01-15T05:31:00.002-07:00

Pressure for a military intervention in Syria is growing asPresident Bashar al-Assad sends out mixed messages on his intentions.

One member of the Arab League, Qatar, has called for troopsto be sent in to stop the regime’s killing of Syrians opposed to Assad. Qatarplayed a leading role in support of ousting the late Muammar Gaddafi.

“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop theviolence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end,” U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in a a conference on democracy in the Arab world held in Lebanon on Sunday.
"The lessons of the past year are eloquent and clear. The winds of change will not cease to blow. The flame ignited in Tunisia will not be dimmed. Let us remember as well, none of these great changes began with a call for a regime change. First and foremost, people wanted dignity," he said.

Assad, promised a referendum on a new constitution in Marchand said he was issuing a countrywide general amnesty for those involved inprotests. However, he also said he would use an “iron fist” to suppress hisopponents, who he said were backed by Western governments and media.

The Guardian reported Assadvowed "God willing, we will be victorious … We are nearing the end of thecrisis." Supporters cheered him at the end of what was described as arambling 100-minute speech at Damascus University.

Russian media, which had roundlycondemned the Libya intervention, was more reserved on the Syrian situation. Moscow,however, continues to oppose sanctions. The U.S. has indicated support forintervention if the bloodshed does not stop.

Arab media carried a wide varietyof reports ranging from Assad would install a new government in February toMoscow refusing to support Damascus because the death toll was too high.

The U.N., relying partly onhuman rights organizations, says 5,000 have been killed by Assad’s troops. Thegovernment claims up to 2,000 soldiers have died.

Although Syria’s military isstronger than the forces Gaddafi deployed, the country is much smallergeographically and is surrounded by much stronger armies, including Turkey.

http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=15325
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Honor of U.S. Military Plummets to New Low

2012-01-13T06:13:00.001-07:00

When the four Marines urinated on the corpses of Talibaninsurgents they might as well have been emptying their bladders on the honor ofthe U.S. military.

As occurred in the Roman Empire, and was predicted here,replacing the draft with all-volunteers, mercenaries in my view, has beenfollowed with one case after another of America’s proud tradition beingstained.

Now, at virtually the same time the Marines were caught onYouTube a military judge decided Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manningshould be court-martialed for leaking information about apparent misconduct inIraq.

Only now, 18 months after he was arrested, flouting hisright to a speedy trial, was he brought to court. In general, defendants areentitled to a trial within six months unless they seek delays.

His denial by the judge of habeaus corpus, his right to facea court, alone is more than enough to dismiss the charges. Word is, nodefinitive answer is available, that because Manning wanted to meet with hislawyer before going to trial he was deemed to have given up his right to aspeedy trial.

At his kangaroo court, definition "a mock court inwhich the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted.”

“The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentiallydetermined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, eitherby going through the motions of manipulated procedure or by allowing no defenseat all.”

The vast majority of his defense witnesses were blocked fromappearing: only two were allowed.

What purpose does this serve. Primarily it obfuscatesaccountability.

The only thing proved in the Article 32 was that Manninggave more than enough warning that he should never have been near classifieddocuments or in a war zone because of his unstable mental condition.

Just like the officers who escaped punishment for a crimespree outside Fort Carson in 2009 when at one point officers returning from thewars were charged in at least 11 murders, the guilty are allowed to fade intoobscurity.

Many were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ifever the Army suffered a split personality this was it. While generals askedreporters to help them deal with it, lower-ranking officers whispered in theirears that the PTSD victims were just cowards trying to get out of fighting.

Even an Army psychiatrist was able to kill 11 and wound 31at Fort Hood.

Does it take a Sherlock Holmes to identify these tsunamis asthey approached?

Witnessing the Army not holding officers responsible at FortCarson for the crime outbreak there, I asked the army surgeon general whyofficers were not being punished. He said something like this is not the time.“If not now, when,” I said in reply, quoting Holocaust writer Primo Levi.

As an Air Force brat I grew up in the lower middle class. Mylate mother was stunned to see bonuses of $10,000 and more enabling soldiers todrive BMVs. She also wondered if the civilian guards at Ft. Leavenworth wouldtake a bullet for their country. We both knew they would deliver one.

Most of the so-called war crimes trials have ended withslaps on the wrist, with the exception of a handful that were just to big tohide.

But Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t dare call for a draftfor a phony war meant to assuage the President’s ego and enrich Cheney’sbusiness partners. Obama inherited it and didn’t have the spine to end it orthe torture that accompanied it.

The story of Rome’s fall is attributed by some historians tothe decision to use their wealth to employ mercenaries. Their draft had beenmuch harder than America’s, which often relied on lower income troops. In Rome,only landowners could be in the Army. And they had to come when called, bringtheir own weapons, and stay until victory.

If the mercenary Army was such a good job why are there somany suicides? Why so much PTSD? Most never expected to be doing revolvingtours deploying against guerrillas who followed no rules.

Manning reported things, by leaking them, that in some caseshe had an obligation to report because they were violations of the rules ofengagement, even war crimes.

What we must remember, to quote from the film “The Debt,” iswho we are and who we are not.

Remember MASH, the TV show or the movie, the conscriptsurgeons put right ahead of military rules. They were not interested in risingup the chain. We don’t have lawyers like that now in our Armed Forces.
Army Times reports Friday that 15 soldiers involved in supervising Manning were being disciplined. This raises questions about the decision to prosecute him. His lawyer will argue he acted with the permission of his superiors.

Honor Of U.S. Military Plummets To New Low

2012-01-12T18:16:00.002-07:00

When the four Marines urinated on the corpses of Talibaninsurgents they might as well have been emptying their bladders on the honor ofthe U.S. military.

As occurred in the Roman Empire, and was predicted here,replacing the draft with mercenaries has been followed with one case afteranother of America’s proud tradition being stained.

Now, at virtually the same time the Marines were caught onYouTube. Bradley Manning has been recommended for a court martial.

Eighteen months after he was arrested, flouting his right toa speedy trial, a military judge has recommended he be court-martialed for hisalleged role in leaking classified documents.

His denial of habeaus corpus alone is more than enough todismiss the charges. Word is, no definitive answer is available, that becauseManning wanted to meet with his lawyer before going to trial he was deemed tohave given up his right to a speedy trial.

At the kangaroo court, definition "a mock court inwhich the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".

The vast majority of his defense witnesses were blocked fromappearing: only two were allowed.

What purpose does this serve. Primarily it obfuscatesaccountability.

The only thing proved in the Article 32 was that Manninggave more than enough warning that he should never have been near classifieddocuments or in a war zone.

Even an Army psychiatrist was able to kill 11 and wound 31at Fort Hood.

Does it take a Sherlock Holmes to identify these tsunamis asthey approached?

Witnessing the Army not holding officers responsible at FortCarson, I asked the army surgeon general why. He said something like this isnot the time. “If not now, when,” I said in reply quoting Holocaust writerPrimo Levi.

Most of the socalled war crimes trials have ended with slapson the wrist, with the exception of a handful that were just to big to hide.

But Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld didn’t dare call for a draftfor a phony war meant to assuage the President’s ego and enrich Cheney’sbusiness partners.

The story of Rome’s fall is attributed by some historians tothe decision to use their wealth to employ mercenaries. Their draft had beenmuch harder than America’s, which often relied on lower incrome troops. InRome, only landowners could be in the Army. And they had to come when called,bring their own weapons, and stay until victory.

If the mercenary Army was such a good job why so manysuicides. Why so much PTSD. Most never expected to be doing revolving toursdeploying against guerrillas who followed no rules.

Manning reported things, by leaking them, that in some caseshe had an obligation to report because they were violations of the rules ofengagement, even war crimes.
What has been forgotten here is that, to quote from the film "The Debt," we must remember who we are and who we are not.

Marines Allegedly Urinated On Taliban Bodies

2012-01-12T03:54:00.002-07:00

The Marine Corps Times reports investigators at the highestlevel are reviewing whether Marines urinated on four Taliban bodies, aspurportedly shown in a video on YouTube and elsewhere today.

So far there has been no indication the video is a fraud.

The Marines can be heard joking about what they are doing. “Havea good day buddy” and “Golden like a shower.”

One of the Marines is holding what the Times said is a “precision,”or sniper rifle.

That and their other Marine gear and uniforms could help theNaval Intelligence Service track them down.

The Times reported: “The unit identified in the captionbeneath the video — 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines — returned to Camp Lejenue inOctober from a standard seven-month deployment to Afghanistan’s Helmandprovince. Its Marines saw intense action in and around Musa Qala, a violentdistrict located in northern Helmand.” The unit’s chain of command deniedcomment.

The video was first uploaded by a user namedsemperfiLoneVoice.

It has drawn acerbic remarks on Tweeter, including SemperPee, a twist on the Marine code Semper Fi, roughly translated from Latin andmeaning keep the faith.

On the other hand, some commenting on the Marine CorpsFacebook page dismissed the action as irrelevant and some said they would do itif they had a chance.

“The actions portrayed are not consistent with our corevalues and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps.This matter will be fully investigated.”

New Hampshire: A Word of Warning

2012-01-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

It probably won’t hold up but it is worth noting thatPresident Obama beat all the Republican contenders in the two New Hampshirevillages that voted early in the presidential primary.

Obama totaled 13 votes in Dixville Notch and Hart’sLocation. Mitt Romney led the GOP candidates with a total of seven votes in thetwo towns that voted just after midnight today.

These two towns are well aware that they can get attentionby departing from the media’s plan. Stepping out for Obama may be driven byantipathy to Republicans, though.

Reuters reported a fresh national poll showed Obama leading Romney and all other GOP candidates.
This could mean trouble for the Republicans though.

Obama has been portraying them as obstructionists, who havetried to block everything he wanted to do.

Some of the social issues pushed by the Tea Party and right are anathema in the "Live Free or Die State." Mary Jo Liacos of Manchester told the Guardian: "We don't want to be told what our values are."Romney may have moved to the top of the GOP cast because heis seen as a moderate. Running a moderate against Obama likely would cause manyconservatives to stay at home.

And that might cancel out stay-at-home progressives, unhappywith Obama not keeping his word on health care, torture and the wars.

It could even lead to a third party candidate on the right.

The party of Lincoln once had a proud record on theenvironment and some other issues. Now it is seen as a mouthpiece forfundamentalist Christians in the south.

Should Obama win a second term, he might find himself facinga weakened and embarrassed opposition.

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Occupy Movie

2012-01-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

Occupy protesters note: A risk analyst at a prominent WallStreet firm, about to discover the company’s assets are mostly thin air, isfired.

After learning what was happening, a trader is asked by his youthful assistantswhether the rumor he made $2.5 million the year before is true.

In a sort of Nero fiddles while Rome burns style, WillEmerson (Paul Bettany) says it was easy and rattles it off in cars, houses,clothes, savings et al.

When it is pointed out he still had $125.000 left, “Yeahwell I did spend $76,520 on hookers, booze and dances, but mainly hookers.

He quickly notes he was able to claim much of that back onhis taxes as entertainment.
He might not have been as sanguine if he had not known that like Nero he would not be hurt financially.

In what may be the closest inside look yet at what happened thenight the spotlight was turned on the real estate market and it turned out tobe a mirage turned out to be a mirage, he defends what the company had beenknowingly doing.

A young trader in on the secret says: “This is going toaffect people.”

Emerson replies: “Yeah it’s going to affect people like me.”

The youthful trader replies: “Real people.”

Emerson unleashes what is almost a soliloquy: “People wantto live like this and their cars and their big f* houses they cannot even payfor … you’re necessary … you’re the only reason that they all get to continueliving like kings is we’ve got our fingers on the scales in their favor.

… I take my hand off and the whole world gets really f* fairquickly and nobody actually wants that.

“They want to get what we have to give them but they alsowant to play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from … F*normal people.

“Margin Call” is one of the strongest American films of the year and easily the best Wall Street movie ever made," the New Yorker says. The New York Times and Roger Ebert also are impressed.

Writer-director J.C. Chandor employs a strong cast,including two Best Actor Oscar winners, Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons, and DemiMoore for his first feature-length film.

Some might see it as Spacey’s vilification of the market,just as he had shown the American Middle Class in the worst possible light in “AmericanBeauty.” Some would say it was about time and that it would take an artist todo it. The mainstream media, which frequently stumbles when presented with newthings like the Occupy movement.

Chandor doesn’t put times or dates on what is happening,just the time of day. The need for the CEO, played by Irons, to come to theheadquarters after midnight in a chopper is all that you need.

Irons knows he won’t be able to pull off the dumping of thefirm’s mostly worthless assets without the help of Spacey, his market tradingmanager. Spacey is troubled but takes the money and pulls it off, with Ironsnoting “there is going to be a lot of money to be made coming out of this mess.”

The movie ends with the company surviving and Spacey buryinghis beloved Labrador retriever, who he had just had to put down. His ex-wifehears him in the late night hours and comes out and finds him digging a gravein what was once the front yard of their luxury home.

Andy Zipser On Occupy

2012-01-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

From Andy Zipser, former editor of the Guild Reporter:

Yes, the rise of the internet and social media played a significant role in debilitating an inquisitive, socially conscious press. But decades of newspaper ownership that resembled a game of Monopoly, emphasizing profit over purpose, has depleted the ranks of reporters, shrunk news holes and made publishers hyper-sensitive to anything that might further limit the flow of advertising dollars. Having failed to meet the internet challenge when its coffers were overflowing with 25% and 30% profit margins, the industry was incapable of anything resembling an innovative response when the roof caved in and the money went away.

Moreover, the industry as a whole has been driven by the same forces that have pushed the country ever further rightward. As cogently argued in a recent essay in New York magazine by David Frum, a conservative apostate: “The business model of the conservative media is built on two elements: provoking the audience into a fever of indignation (to keep them watching) and fomenting mistrust of all other information sources (so they never change the channel). As a commercial proposition, this model has worked brilliantly in the Obama era. As journalism, not so much.”

No surprise, then, that when the OWS phenomenon bloomed, the first reaction of the corporate press—its ranks depleted, its legitimacy fading—was to ignore it. OWS was an attack on the corporatist status quo, and the skeleton crews left to staff most newsrooms no longer had the resources, vision or nerve to act on their once fondly touted credo of “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.” Yet days turned into weeks, and the initial encampment in Zuccotti Park in New York metastasized into dozens of similar occupations all over the U.S. and then abroad. And when the pepper-spray started flying, ignoring what was happening was no longer an option.

But by then, of course, the rules of the game had changed completely.

The privileged position that newspaper reporters had occupied suddenly vanished. OWS protesters weren’t always receptive to press coverage, with its simplistic questions and fleeting attention span—and all too often, the horse-race kind of attention they got justified their apprehension. “We’re fighting a system, and this media is part of the system,” complained Patrick Bruner, an organizer for OWS in New York, whose repeated efforts to educate the media about the protesters’ issues had been ignored. Or as Alicia Shepard, a former NPR ombudsman, told the New York Times, most OWS coverage “hasn’t been about the issues, it’s been about who’s up and who’s down.”

At the same time, the police and many city officials demonstrated that they, too, have little regard for reporters, at times physically attacking, forcibly restraining and arresting journalists with or without official credentials. In one notable incident, New York police asked all credentialed reporters to raise their hands—then hustled them off to a “safe zone” too far away to see anything.

Yet to some extent, the effort to shape media perceptions was fruitless because the press was no longer the primary chronicler of events: that role fell to the social media, and most particularly to Twitter, as OWS protesters, bystanders and press reporters themselves all turned to 140-character tweets and cell phone videos to describe what was occurring. The paramount example cited in several accounts was that of Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones magazine, live-tweeting as police dragged him out of Zuccotti Park, but there were numerous similar instances.

The reliance on social media by mainstream reporters was, however, a two-edged sword. When an Associated Press reporter and a photographer were arrested at Zuccotti Park and one or both of them tweeted about it to a personal account, the wire service quickly issued a memo chastising employees for tweeting about a newsworthy event “before the material was on the wire.” The rebuke drew derisive responses from both corporate press pundits and electronic media mavens. Brian Stelter at the New York Times suggested that if tweets are beating the wire then maybe the wire should speed up. And as Mathew Ingram at GigaOm noted, “if a 140-character post or two by one of your reporters on Twitter is a threat to your news service, then you have a problem that can’t be fixed by simply enforcing your social-media policies more stringently.”

AP was simply attempting to prevent the commodification of news, but that horse had already bolted the barn. More than 5,000 people watched the Oakland police raid on that city’s OWS site via local resident Spencer Mills’ smartphone uploads to @OakFoSho, and at one point Al-Jazeera English was also simulcasting his broadcast. The Other 99 drew 20,000 viewers over 16 hours as it covered the Nov. 15 police action at Zuccotti Park. @Blogdiva, run by blogger Liza Sabater, became an RSS feed for occupations nationwide as well as for the ongoing protest in Egypt.

Even as corporate media like the Associated Press are fighting a rear-guard battle against the blurring of journalistic roles, so too is the establishment that is being challenged by OWS. “Imagine my surprise,” wrote Stu Loeser, an aide to New York Mayor Bloomberg, “when we found that only five of the 26 arrested reporters actually have valid NYPD-issued press credentials”—the implication being, of course, that reporters without credentials aren’t the real thing. Worse yet, the inevitable corollary of Loeser’s formulation is that only officialdom can determine who is and who is not a journalist.

That didn’t go down well with the establishment press, which soon hit back on a couple of levels. The New York Press Club announced that it was forming “The Coalition for the First Amendment,” along with other local media groups, “to monitor police actions”—something one might have presumed the press was already doing. Separately, a coalition of various media outlets and press advocacy groups wrote a letter seeking a meeting with police and city officials to complain about actions that “clearly violate NYPD policies and procedures as concerns the media.” Alas, the letter also griped that previous letters of complaint had been ignored—over a period of several months—adding a certain forlorn tone to the demand.

In the end, it may be that individual reporters will just have to decide for themselves how to make sense of a rapidly changing world in which all institutions are being challenged. The Newspaper Guild is attempting to help that process with a new Facebook page, “Occupied Journalists,” to serve as a forum for media workers to share anecdotes and survival strategies. “The Occupy movement is about justice,” explained TNG-CWA President Bernie Lunzer. “Our effort is to ensure just treatment for all journalists and media workers as they cover this story that’s playing out in the streets.”

But at least some of those journalists are already drawing their own conclusions about what it means to be a reporter—even if it means shedding a corporate strait-jacket that has twisted a once noble calling into something fundamentally dishonest. As reported by Natasha Lennard in a piece for Salon titled “Why I quit the mainstream media”: “[I]f the mainstream media prides itself on reporting the facts, I have found too many problems with what does or does not get to be a fact—or what rises to the level of a fact they believe to be worth reporting—to be part of such a machine. Going forward, I want to take responsibility for my voice and the facts that I choose and relay.”

And so Occupy Wall Street, whatever its ultimate outcome, succeeds in creating one more incremental change.

Media Always Has Last Word

2012-01-04T07:43:00.001-07:00

Win Win Media

Not so much has changed. The pen remains mightier than thesword, and the Occupy movement doesn’t even have weapons.

The mainstream media is portraying the Iowa caucuses as asign that the Occupy movement, which it has always opposed at leastsubliminally, has failed. The reason? The Iowa caucuses were held.

Did anyone think they would not be? It appears to be littlemore than a giant anti-climax. An eight-vote victory for the guy with the mostmoney.

The real test of the Occupy movement is whether they canrein in some of the renegade selfish banks. They have scored a few victories.

Of course it can be said that they were non sequiturs. Justbecause banks dropped some plans to add new charges or increase existing onesdoes not mean it was because of the worldwide protests of greed.

That is why it is a win win argument. Writers can’t lose.

Ah for the days of Bertolt Brecht, a man who was describedas never seeking to resolve conflict or achieve harmony. Rather he would put iton the stage and let the theater-goers decide what to do.

The same argument was used against Wikileaks despite aninherent contradiction. If they did not reveal anything really new then whywere they a security threat?

Although there was a lot more noise about Vietnam War crimes,Lt. William Calley was pardoned after 3 years of house arrest in the My Laimassacre.

A trial begins today in a military courtroom in Californiafor the killings of 24 civilians in Iraq in 2005. Don’t expect much. Seven havealready had the charges dismissed or were acquitted.

So perhaps it is accurate to deem the Occupy protestsineffective. Will it change anything?

Ranger’s Death: We Must Pay the Price

2012-01-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

While the mainstream media largely stayed as far as it couldfrom the veteran angle in the Mt. Rainier ranger death, the social mediadebated it like a buzzsaw.

Should the former soldier get special treatment after thekilling of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, or should he be burned at the stake.

I can recall during the Vietnam War we journalists wereurged to avoid mentioning that criminals were veterans.

These days I can’t imagine a worse approach. We sentBenjamin Colton Barnes, 24, to Iraq. He came back with a violent streak andPTSD.

All that was left of the would-be Rambo on Monday morningwas a lifeless body.

He didn’t get very far from the shooting scene, dyingbefore law officers could track him down in the snow.

Are we not partly responsible for the death of RangerAnderson, the mother of two, who was just doing her job in a usually tranquilpark?
The media is especially responsible because it bought into a phony war and largely has supported two administrations keeping them going even after the truth was discovered.

Suicides are at record levels in the military, includingFort Lewis, which issued a report as the manhunt was continuing. Our country isfacing an underfunded military health care system, even without the suicides.And there will more over the years to come.

Border Explorer: Obama signs National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into Law Today

2012-01-01T04:36:00.000-07:00

Border Explorer: Obama signs National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into Law Today:

'via Blog this'

Media Misses More Often Than Not

2011-12-30T15:45:00.002-07:00

While the mainstream U.S. media is focusing on B Roll fromthe North Korean funeral, some of it possibly looped to go round and round,some serious events are ignored or barely touched.

Turn to groups like Humans Rights Watch, the ICRC or Amnestyto find out about countries that don’t sell Western products or Obama doesn’twant you to know about.

Here is what is going on in Saudi Arabia: http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/30/saudi-arabia-renewed-protests-defy-ban

To sum it up, all the violent politics are hardly in Syria,Yemen, China or Russia. The latter two get coverage, though mostly in WesternEurope and Asia. Economic conflicts are a separate issue in some cases.

Given that most Americans couldn’t care less about othercountries, it was startling to me to see the bureau of whatever the GreatNavigator is called these days.

Even film crews were not visible. No foreign crews were allowedto march with the goose-steppng mourners.

At the same time we heard of blood in Syria and Yemen, and political violence elsewhere.

“Saudi reform advocates havestaged several protests since mid-December, 2011, despite a categorical ban onprotests issued last March, Human Rights Watch said today. In Riyadh, Buraida,and Qatif, security forces immediately arrested the protesters, who werepeacefully protesting the detention without trial of hundreds of people heldfor long periods in intelligence prisons.
“Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry should immediately release scores of detainedand convicted peaceful advocates of reform,”Human Rights Watch said.

Part of the problem is thelack of contest. Those of us long taught to explain situations by includinghistory have learned it is often remove or put at the bottom. Once there itdisappears.

It took several days forreports from the Times of India to reach the U.S. about demanding majorInternet powers to remove content that can result in racial or racial hatred.

This despite the fact thatnew U.S. legislation that if passed could turn the Internet into a milk run.There remains a strong strand of reporting the Indian information withoutexploring what it could mean elsewhere, even soon.

Robert Weller

2011-12-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Robert Weller:

'via Blog this'

West Africa wins again

2011-12-26T10:00:00.003-07:00

Forgive the old expression, WAWA, but trying to narrowNigeria’s problems down to conflicts between Muslims and Christians justdoesn’t seem to tell the entire story. Nigerians believe juju was used to defeat them in soccer.

Certainly the latest murders of Christians by a power-madIslamic sect is not funny at all.

But for some of us who spent time there we still recall theexpression that Nigeria “is the asshole of the world.”

How can you forget the graffiti on the wall of the ex-EkoHoliday Inn. “Beam me up Scotty, now!” Or the mouthful of cigarette ashes spitout from a breakfast buffet.

And it seems too late to blame the British for theboundaries they and other Europeans drew.

I traveled from Nairobi to Yola, Nigeria, in 1984, passingthrough Chad and Cameroon because it wasn’t safe to pass from the coast to nearthe Cameroon border in the east. A Muslim called Musa Mekaniki, had led anassault that could produce a Garden of Earthly Hells painting by Hieronymus Bosch. Thousands died, including many of the bullet-proof sect.Getting home was fun. As I drove through Cameroon an attempted coup wasunderway. Wearing clothes from Banana Republic I sort of looked a bit mercenary-like.I dared not call the Paris bureau or they would ask for coverage. I made itthrough dozens of roadblocks, got to Ndjamena, not most reporters’ idea of asafe haven. Then the plane I was booked on just before Christmas flew over anddid not land. I boarded an Air Sudan flight. It couldn’t take off until someoneraised money for a bribe or gasoline. Khartoum seemed like Geneva that night.

Why should America care? Because Nigeria is ourfourth-biggest oil supplier and in the not to distant future could be thethird. That is if the country of 160 million doesn’t “fall apart,” to stealpart of the title of the acclaimed 1958 novel by

1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe.

The concept of a second civil war, the 6 July 1967–15January 1970 Biafran War claimed at least 600,000 lives and perhaps as many as2 million, seems unthinkable.

Some are calling for breaking the nation in two, with aMuslim half and Christian half. The population is about evenly divided.

The Christian President Goodwill Jonathan, some say, istaking the same laissez-faire approach to the Boko Haram Muslim sect as themilitary government took to the failed coup that led to the Biafran War. Theplotters were not killed, as is the usual reward. This year dozens were killedin Christian churches in the second Jihad Christmas in a row. Of course not allMuslims are fanatics. Not much help to those who die to know that, however.

Most of Nigeria’s oil is in the Christian South, andresidents there already think they don’t get enough for the oil taken from themand the pollution left behind. A rebel group there is mostly observing a trucein the Niger Delta area. It is not clear how a Muslim North could survivewithout oil revenue.

It must be conceded Nigerians retain their sense of humor. Scrawled electronically across the Vanguard Website: "Apart from going to hell" there is really nothing wrong with using juju.

Article first published as West Africa Wins Again on Technorati.

Moscow Staggered By Democracy Protesters

2011-12-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

Photo Ria Novosti

The Russian news agency Ria Novosti, BBC and France’s Le Monde had virtually identical headlines Saturday on how Moscow was overrun by opponents of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Ria said tens of thousands, the BBC thousands and Le Monde called the crowd immense.
Rallies were reported across the vast nation.
The usually cautious New York Times headline read: Vast Rally in Moscow Streets Is Challenge to Putin’s Power
It brings to mind how the Occupy Wall Street movement hasn’t died across the Atlantic.
People won’t take no for answer any longer. Former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, who stood up to the Army and Communist Party to end their rule, urged Putin to resign.
On Sakharov Ave., named after the nuclear scientist dissident, they held banners that called for “free elections” or blew red whistles, Ria reported.
Neverthless the Kremin has shown no sign of rerunning parliamentary elections. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boldly effectively called them rigged in favor of Putin’s United Russia party.
The protesters also want new rules to prevent fraud in place before the presidential elections. Law does not permit a president to serve three terms in a row. So the presidency was lent to Dimitry Medvedev, who will likely become prime minister.

Even with the alleged rigging, the United Russia’s share of the vote was knocked down from 64 percent in the last vote to 49.9. Putin denies the claims.

He will have a billionaire among opponents, but his regime has not flinched at putting billionaires in jail.

Internet on the Brink

2011-12-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

Netizens of the World WideWeb had a shot fired across their bow Friday. At the very leastthey must realize there is a world out there.

India is one of the biggestWeb users in the world.

And this shows Web may be indanger before the U.S. Congress even passes SOPA, if it does.

The Times of India reportedFriday that an Indian court in Delhi called in all the powers, Google, Google,Youtube and 18 others to charge them with criminal conspiracy for “selling,publicly exhibiting and … (circulating) obscene, lascivious content,” The Timesof India reported. They also were accused of promoting racial hatred and violence, as radio had done before them.

Google said because of the holiday no one was on duty to comment.
Some are arguing thatHollywood, or perhaps Bollywood, are behind such restraints.

But there has beenwidespread use of the Internet to spread profanity. In the U.S. there have beenseveral major cases in which coaches at all levels have used the Web tosexually harass or assault athlets.

Internet content has causedriots and death. It also has led to freedom for millions, and brought downdictators.

Google already lost a YouTube case in Italyfor material it removed as soon as it learned it was present.
Freedomof speech in the U.S. excludes prior restraint. That means someone may not bestopped from saying, something but can be punished afterwards.

In essence that means the accountability must follow theact. On the other hand, providers can be held responsible for permitting itcontinues. Racketeeering laws, in the U.S., can be used in such circumstances.

Bradley Manning Landmark

2011-12-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Baby boomers growing uplearned of cases like the Scopes “Monkey Trial.” Clarence Darrow,perhaps the best American lawyer of all time, made it a landmark.

Although teacher JohnThomas Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution, which is still a hot topic,he was released on a technicality.

Ferdinando NicolaSacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in 1927 for two murders committedin South Braintree, Mass., authorities said, on behalf of anarchists.Historians remain split over whether they were guilty.

Manning’s lawyer andthe prosecution were gave final arguments today in his preliminary hearingbut the judge, who limited the defense to two witnesses, has until mid-Januaryto render a verdict. And it won’t be conclusive. He could be ordered to gothrough the whole thing again in a court martial.

Manning’s case ismore controversial than either, even before a verdict, for two reasons. He was not fit for such classified duty. Hedemonstrated it on numerous occasions when he lost control, and even reportedhimself. As a writer on disabilitybecause of PTSD I know what it is like to contend with overwhelming forces.

The second reason isthe Army has demonstrated it is not capable of dealing with such cases. Thiscan be partly blamed on making it all-volunteer. Rome’s downfall was precededby a decision to replace draftees, indeed only those who owned property, withmercenaries. It is all a chimera meant to allow presidents to get away withunwanted wars.

Legally, there is athird reason. His lengthy detention, which included the punishment of beingheld in solitary, is illegal.

My view is based onhaving covered military trials, murderous military fiascos, and Wikileaksitself.

Manning, who now is beingpresented as literally gaga, is accused of walking out of an Iraq base with 251,000classified documents he had put on a DVD marked Lady Gaga.

The documents, including avideo showing what appeared to be an unjustified U.S. helicopter attack onBaghdad civilians, reached Wikileaks which published them selectively.

Any analysis of whathappened should begin with noting American soldiers are required by military toreport war crimes.

In fact, I have witnessedtime and time again soldiers being given white glove treatment in courtmartials for killings and wounding of civilians.

Pat Tillman, an NFL football star, avolunteer, should not have died of friendly fire in Afghanistan.

In one case, a soldiercharged with others for throwing two non-combatant Iraqis in a river where onedrowned, was given a leading question. He didn’t know the man was going to drownor he would have intervened. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he said to courtroomlaughter as I recall.

Then the defense asked whythe other man, who was a witness, was not in court or on a televideo. The Armysaid they couldn’t find him.

That led to the defensesaying the AP had found him an interviewed him, which was true.

Suddenly the militaryjudge wanted me, then an AP reporter, to say whether this was true or not. Ofcourse I refused to comment. And this was something that could have been foundon Google.

The Army told me over andover again that potential sufferers of PTSD would be stopped from deploying.Yet history shows many were, including some who had already been deployed andthus suffered the psychiatric wound.

A soldier-translator wascharged with cowardice, the first case since Vietnam, because he freaked outwhen he witnessed the body of an Iraqi killed by the Special Forces heaccompanied. Publicity led to his discharge.

A doctor who was in chargeof dispensing medicine that led to the death of a soldier who had returned fromdeployment with serious psychiatric problems. Civilians seemed just asincompetent. An El Paso County doctor got the man’s race wrong.

Once, after listening tothe umpteenth attempt by Army commanders to convince reporters that PTSD wasnot cowardice, an Army captain leaned over to me and said it was all horseshit;these people were all cowards.

Dr. NidalMalik Hasan, a Virginia-born Muslim psychiatrist, killed 13 at Fort Hood. His likely behavior shouldhave been obvious. In World War 2, the Army tended to avoidsending Japanese Americans to fight in the Pacific.

It was not the first timea Muslim soldier had killed his Christian counterparts.

In military and civiliancourts it has been shown that Muslims sometimes get special treatment, at leastfrom journalists.

FIRST on Examiner.com

There Is Hope For Journalism

2011-12-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

There is a sign of hopefor journalism despite recent setbacks in Western countries. And like the ArabSpring it is from a surprise source: Russia.

It is no longer uncommonto find hard-hitting news reports, even on the official Russian news agency,Ria Novosti.
Also credible sources such as Al Jazeera are becoming increasingly. Millions can get to it via the Internet in places like the U.S. where it is only on commercial TV a few hours a day at best.

After 40 years ofexperience, 40 in in mainstream U.S. journalism, it has been distressing tosee the mainstream media so embedded they frequently avoid controversial stories.

For example how much playwas there in the U.S. for the report that a Pakistani intelligence officersold out Osama bin Laden. And that the Saudis had been paying Islamabad hidehim, keep him safe and out of the trouble.

Even worse was the parrotingthey did of Cheney’s Halliburton line about WMDs in Iraq and unproven suggestionBaghdad was involved 9/11. Of course that was not true yet the implicationstill appears in numerous news accounts.

Today’s breakthrough storyis in the American media because it paints the Russians in a bad light. An oil rig became a ghost ship in an instant. Notthat Mosow, Putin and Co. need help on that score. They are being described bysome as the Magnificent Sn as the muzhiks (dudes) override public opinion to athird presidential term.

Ria Novosti gavewidespread coverage to the sinking of the oil rig Kolskaya in a winter storm inthe Sea of Okhotsk.

Family members were shownaccusing the Russian oil company of sending the rig into the weather againstgovernment rules.

VIDEO Ria Novosti http://en.rian.ru/video/20111220/170389017.html

Of course the governmentdenied it. The video, taken from the air in part, showed seas even those of uswho have been in the Bering Strait in a seal skin boats was stunned by. The rigis shown overturning.

So far only 14 of the 67aboard have been rescued. Many are missing. Most the rescued are in hospitals.

Ria Novosti said threepossible causes were being considered, it included violation of safety rules.The families’ insistence that no rigs were to travel in the area until the endof February. The other two reasons were no more reassuring: weather andtechnical problems aboard the rig.

Novosti reported:

“The Kolskayadrilling rig was being towed in a severe storm when it overturned and sank some200 km (125 miles) off Sakhalin Island early on December 18. Of the 67 peopleonboard, 14 have been rescued and 37 more are listed as missing. The death tollnow stands at 16 people.

“The Kommersantbusiness daily said on Monday that about a half of all people onboard the oilrig were not authorized to be there. “According to regulations, only thecaptain and a minimal part of the crew needed for the transportation processare allowed to be onboard when the rig is being towed.

“The drilling rig,built in 1985 in Finland, was carrying out work under a contract with energygiant Gazprom. The rig, which is 69 meters long and 80 meters wide, canaccommodate up to 102 people.

First reported on Examiner.com

Could History Label Bradley Manning A Hero

2011-12-19T09:43:00.003-07:00

As thepre-trial of Pvt. Bradley Manning gets more complicated, it seems to increasethe possibility he could be the American version of Neil Aggett of South Africa and/or the AlfredDreyfus of France.

TheDreyfus story is already well known. The world should know about Dr.Aggett, a white who joined in theanti-apartheid campaign and died in prison. Security police claimed he hangedhimself.

Hisfamily, friends and activists, and one fellow prisoner, said he probably diedfrom torture. He was the 51^st campaigner to die in detention, butthe first white in almost 20 years. The “best guess” for his death is Feb. 5,1982.

I willnever forget his funeral. The death of this white do-gooder stunned thecountry. An Afrikaans newspaper published my interview with his family.

Fifteen thousandturned out for his funeral. I remembercalling the bureau astonished that police stood back and let them march. It mayhave been the straw, or one of the straws, that broke apartheid’s back.

At thisstage, Manning is finally in a court, after 17 months of imprisonment, much ofit in solitary, a brief portion forced to sleep naked.

Thisdenies him his constitutional right to a speedy trial. In general civiliansmust be tried within six months unless they request delays or the prosecutionneeds a witness who is not available. The U.S. Supreme Court has set no timelimit but precedent holds that if the right is denied the only remedy isdismissal of charges with or without prejudice. A delay of more than a year hasbeen ruled prejudicial in some cases.

For itto take this long, and for so much of the early days to focus on Manning’s apparentcross-sexual tendencies makes it appear more like the case is about a militaryRuPaul than treason.

Hisright to not be punished before trial, violates the Uniform Military Code ofJustice. Solitary confinement for lengthy periods is clearly punishment, someexperts say torture.

It hasled to torture in many cases. Aggett only made it through 70 days. Frenchresistance leader Jean Moulin twice tried to kill himself to avoid talking toNazi Klaus Barbie, and apparently succeeded the second time.

It also shouldbe noted that it is now widely accepted Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Evenif it had war crimes would remain war crimes. Whatever Manning did was becausehe felt war crimes had been committed.

Justfollowing orders has not been accepted since the Nuremburg Trials. We led them.

Islamic Honor Code

2011-12-17T21:54:00.002-07:00

What if Islamic law does support Honor Code killings?

What if they are legitimate under Islamic law?

Does the argument that Muslims are normal people like the rest of us and those who commit terrorist acts are radicals and aberrations of Islam still stand? Should their violent actions be ignored?

This question has arisen before elsewhere. When the U.S. tried to bomb Hanoi back to the Stone Age non-combatants were killed. Thousands. It was of no help to them that we did not mean to kill them.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that perhaps as many as 5,000 women and girls a year are killed by members of their own families.^[3] Many women's groups in the Middle East and Southwest Asia suspect the number of victims is about four times greater, according to Wikipedia.

Yet as a 40-year veteran of journalism it appears to me, and I could be wrong, that honor killings do not receive the news coverage they would if did not involve Islam.

Is it because it is feared coverage will trigger more violence. Why is the Kingston, Ontario, alleged honor killings of four women getting minimal coverage?

A Muslim iman who graduated from Montreal’s Concordia University says “There is no such thing as honor killing in Islam.”

Yet the Canada Free Press says it has found at least two references to honor killings being allowed when a “father or mother” kills their “offspring, or offsring’s offspring.”

The first reference, according to Canada Free Press, is “Umdat al-Saliq,” a manual of Islamic law written in the 14th Century and approved as late as1991 as a reliable guide to Sunni Islam by the al-Ahazar University in Cairo.

The late Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Iranian Revolution against the Shah, also approved immunity for parents who killed their own children. He wrote it in “Resaleh Towzih Al-Massadel” in 1961.

Or can we solve this question by verifying, for example, whether someone is a member of the Judean People’s Front or the People’s Front of Judea. Chances are they will explode their bomb before you can ask.

Rise of the Planet of the Humans

2011-12-15T09:40:00.001-07:00

The blows heard around the world may come from a relativelysmall Chinese village but the social media is preventing the Communist regimefrom keeping it quiet.

It won’t work. At least one journalist is inside Wukan, and thesocial media has plenty of experience outwitting dictators.

The people, near Hong Kong, are reportedly fed up with theCommunist regime’s officials allowing their underlings to take property andhand it to developers to flip it to get rich quick.

It is the first time Beijing has lost control of agovernmental unit since the early days of the Mao regime.

Unlike most of the Occupy events elsewhere there has been atleast one death. One Chinese YouTube video shows a local woman being assaultedwith a baton by a policewoman. She blows it off like Jackie Chan. Food has been cut off, no fishing is allowed and the village is on lockdown.

But in some ways it must be more frustrating than the U.S.and Europe. There are jobs. But what do you do with the money?

Around the world social media is waking sleeping people who gonefrom being ants to become giants. It is almost like the story of the Rise ofthe Planet of the Apes. The New Yorker is calling Putin's Russia the Civil Archipelago.

Social media could be the equivalent of the drug they aregiven in the movie. I know the power of apes and chimpanzees because I wasknocked down by a gorilla in a primate center at a primate center in a junglein Gabon. A chimpanzee distracted the 400-poud gorilla so I could flee.

But the democracy advocates have no powerful drug that turnsthem into the intellectual equals of humans to heal that diseases likealzheimers and is mistakenly given a bit and then the enlightened ones takemore.

At times in the movie, as a big battle is fought on theGolden Gate bridge the seemingly overpowered Chimpanzees and gorillas arereminiscent of American Indians fighting the Calvary on horseback in the fog.

The way people are coming together now reminds one of JohnGalt. Outing corruption.

The winner has not been declared yet. Former French PresidentJacques Chirac was convicted this week of corruption. Gaddafi is dead. Army Pvt.Bradley Manning no doubt won’t do as well when he first goes to court for hisassistance to Wikileaks more than 18 months after his arrest began. Much of thetime he was being held in solitary, naked at bedtime. It was consideredtorture. At least remains won't be incinerated and dumped like our war heroes.

Some scenes in the Apes say it all. “Take your handsoff me you damn dirty ape.” Caesar thechimpanzee leading the revolt replies. “No.” Then the trashing of San Franciscobegins. The apes, chimpanezees and gorillas don’t even make up one percent andtheir idea of occupy is more like Sherman marching through the South.

On the bridge is anything but “shooting fish in a barrel”and the army of the one percenters’ SUVs appear more like toys,.

When the playing field is finally leveled it will make agreat YouTube video. After all, these people are home.

First on www.technorati.com

Hawaii 5-0 Staff Insults Pearl Harbor Vets

2011-12-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Denver veterans of Pearl Harbor have told Channel 7 publicly that they were treated as nuisances by staff of “Hawaii F-O” when they attended the anniversary a week ago.

Staffers for CBS interfered with them walking through the graves at Punchbowl Cemetery, the TV station reported.

It showed video of the incidents.

Radio host Steffan Tubbs, who attended, said he heard show staff telling them to be quiet. Some were stopped from placing roses there. He is a board member of the Greatest Generations Foundation.

“The whole staff at Hawaii Five-0, whether it be the directors or the support staff, were completely disrespectful to our survivors and those veterans,” said Timothy Davis, president and chief executive officer of The Greatest Generations Foundation.

He said 23 of the 24 veterans were Pearl Harbor survivors.

During its newscast Tuesday night the station said the network had apologized.

This will probably be the last year for most of the survivors, who are generally in their late 80s or early 90s, to visit on the anniversary. So far no formal veterans’ ceremony is planned for next December.

First reported on Technorati.com

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/hawaii-five-o-staff-insults-pearl/#ixzz1gStQ2VMk

National Canadian Clothing Rules, Eh

2011-12-13T08:11:00.001-07:00

(Photo by Odd Andersen AFP-GETTY)

Canada has taken the big leap, banning the wearing of theIslamic veil known as the niqab at citizenship ceremonies.

“This is not simply a practical measure. It is a matter of deepprinciple that goes to the heart of our identity and our values of openness andequality,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday as he announced thechanges in Montreal.

“Thecitizenship oath is a quintessentially public act. It is a public declarationthat you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely andopenly,”

Whilesome Muslims consider banning the veil violates their religious rights someother people feel it is a security risk, because some terrorists wear the fullbody cloaks to hide bombs.

Butwhat’s next? Will shoes be banned to stop people from throwing them atdictators such as Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian news agency Mehrreported a laid off worker, S Rashid, was beaten up by the crowd when heexpressed his discontent by tossing his shoe; he missed.

Throwing shoes is a strong expression ofunhappiness in the Middle East.

Nextthing you know Canada will at least try to discourage the use of its trademark“eh.” The Canadian Web site Ask Men says it is the No. 1 Canadian expression.

“In short, “eh” -- the most popular Canadian expression ofthem all -- is used to solicit conversation,” Ask Men reports.

Some might, on the other hand, find it odd that storiesabout the citizen-niqab battle do not mention the honor code.

A Muslim Canadian is on trial now on murder charges forkilling his wife and three daughters for allegedly violating the Islamic honorcode. He says he would do it again.

“Whileprecise statistics are scarce, the UN estimates thousands of women are killedannually in the name of family honor (National Geographic). Other practices that are woven into the sharia debate,such as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, andgender-biased inheritance rules, elicit as much controversy. There issignificant debate over what the Quran sanctions and what practices were pulledfrom local customs and predate Islam,” the Council of Foreign Relationsreports.

http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034

dispatch first appeared on Technorati.com

Social Media Smarter Than Reds

2011-12-11T12:57:00.001-07:00

The good cop, bad cop drill was working well for Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.

Even my 20-year-old son was fooled by Medvedev’s good looks and Putin’s Mafia style. So was I.

When Medvedev seemed to clash with Putin over what was going on in Libya it made him even more of a world hero.

Everyone knew Putin was the chief don, but hoped somehow Dmitry would drive him from power. Medvedev seemed aware of how the world was changing because of social media. I even got a Tweet once from a page that was theoretically his.

I recall Putin and Medvedev telling the U.S. not to get so uptight about Wikileaks.

It was only a matter of time. Although the former Evil Empire managed to trick some liberals into opposing the denouement of Gaddafi, history readers knew it was Russian trash.

The mango hit the fan when the Russians held an election for its parliament or Duma. Videos of fraud were posted on YouTube. Worse, Hillary Clinton called them out.

Putin had been popular after the fall of Communism as the economy boomed. Three years ago his United Russia party won 64 percent while the ex-KGB guy and Medvedev swapped jobs. The same thing is scheduled to happen this spring.

What has happened in the interim? No room here to mention it all, though a document released by Wikileaks said the Russian Mafia was running the country. Political opponents and some billionaires ended up in prison.

Last week United Russian fell a hair short of 50 percent.

The government caved in and allowed protests, after arresting hundreds of activists.

No one can say for sure how many were on the streets. Probably hundreds of thousands.

Instead of an Arab Spring, the protesters cooperated with police. It could be the U.S. social media as well as the social media from most of the rest of the world were pulling the strings.

Still, it was too much for Medvedev. On his Facebook page condemned the Putin critics.

The result was a sort of Chinese crossing the Yalu River in the Korean War. Every Western-based social media site blasted Medvedev.

Putin and the Wolf

2011-12-10T10:35:00.001-07:00

My what big teeth you have? Sadly Apple rushed out an app that would wire his mouth shut.

The head of the Russian Mafia thought he had set updemocracy activists so he could trick them into violency protests and then takethem down like Peter the Wolf, blaming it all the time on that wicked Hillary.

It certainly was true that the American Imperialist had beenusing all her social media tools and friends to accuse Putin of stealing thelatest Russian election.

But although Twitter, Facebook, Google, American officialmedia like Voice of America urged the Russians to resist the return to the EvilEmpire, the biggest protest since Communism fell went on without any majorviolence reported. Of course Putin's thugs arrested hundreds of patriots in the days before Saturday's national protests.

Hundreds of thousands of dissidents marched throughout thehuge country and made fun of the ex-KGB black belt guy.

President Medvedev was quoted by one site as saying if theelection really was crooked it needs to be run again. Many twitted they wantedno resolution just a new, free and fair election.

Considering all the false war crimes made against the U.S.,NATO and the Arab League in Libya, Putin might want to watch his own mouth.

Mikael Gorbachev, who blocked the commies from regainingpower, said that Putin wants to do just that.

Wikileaks released a U.S. Cable saying Putin et al wereusing the Russian Mafia to do their dirtiest work.

At the very best, Putin will be lucky to have anycredibility at all. That’s assuming he survives in office.

What to do about the Internet?

2011-12-09T07:37:00.001-07:00

Drawing Guy Billout, the Atlantic

Having recently spent months working with many untrained writers I suggest the debate on the Internet is rarely balanced.

For some, the only thing that matters is free speech. Some critics are upset about the sexual exploitation, pornography, plagiarism and fake presentations. Luddites ignore the benefits and the liabilities.

Still others believe our growing dependence on Google makes us addicted to Web tools, like a typewriter or a cane. If listening to Mozart and Bach can make children smarter why not this reaction. A typewriter allowed Nietsche to return to writing when his vision began to fail. Nicholas Carr, in “The Shallows,” argues that not necessarily all change will be good.

“Is Google Making Us Stupid” he wrote earlier in the Atlantic.

Hollywood and friends are trying to impose a law that will guarantee that none of their productions are used without permission.

Few care at all about the private citizens who often suffer.

The world has dealt with major changes in how it does business for thousands of years.

The Internet sometimes seems more than all the other changes combined.

There can be no doubt that the Internet does make important information more widely and easily available. This is perhaps the main reason some support it and reject draconian censorship.

Of late the tsunami of pornography on the Web as well as sexual exploitation of children is getting considerable attention. Every form of communication likely has been misused. Remember “phone sex.” Even video movies were interactive.

What can be done. Two things are not the entire answer, in my view. Accountability is necessary, research has been shown. But it is likely to be misused to benefit some. Still it is necessary. Unlimited free speech is already being overused.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article2698888.ece

Read more: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/balancing-the-debate-on-the-internet/#ixzz1g33nUQtD

Hockey Club Parents Trade Texts On Sex Allegations

2011-12-08T16:35:00.001-07:00

Is this the future of sports for American youngsters.Parents of a private Boulder ice hockey club are trading text messages to seewhether their children might have been sexually exploited online by a23-year-old coach.

Gina Finney, whose son was one of those who may have beenassaulted, told the Boulder Camera parents are trying to get as muchinformation as possible by ex-coach Zachary Thomas Meints. He turned himselfinto police Thursday and was being held without bond on five charges.

Details of the incidents were in sealed arrest warrants usedto seize a computer and a mobile phone, said police spokeswoman Kim Kobel.

She said 13 people who were witnesses and or victims wereinvolved in the case.

“To hear something like this is happening is verydisconcerting because of how it impacts our life,” said Finney.

The Penn State scandal, by no means the first time youthsports have involved misconduct, has shaken the nation. The Nittany Lions andlongtime coach Joe Paterno were among the most respected group of collegeathletes in the nation.

Kobel said police were trying to determine whether there wasany and if so how much physical contact. “We do believe there are more victims. We are asking peopleto call the tip line or the police. If they have any information about anysuspicious behavior, we’d like to know about that too.”

Boulder has long been regarded as one of the finest placesto live in the nation. Back in the day, “Mork and Mindy” was based there.

The still unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey, wealthyparents, destroyed the city’s apparent virginity.

Yesterday a Boulder sheriff’s deputy was arrested and isbeing held on $100,000 bond in a separate online sexual exploitation case.

Putin Pissed At Hillary

2011-12-08T06:18:00.001-07:00

One ofmy favorite memories of the Cold War, while dad was maintaining Falconair-to-air missiles up in Alaska, was Slim Pickens waving his cowboy hat as heused his body to navigate a nuclear missile right down to its Russian targetafter warning the crew that they were facing noo-clear combat toe-to-toe withthe Russkies.

Or asDonald Fagen of Steely Dan put it: “Yeswe're gonna have a wingding
A summer smokerunderground
It's just adugout that my dad built
In case the redsdecide to push the button down. We've got provisions and lots of beer. The keyword is survival on the new frontier”

Andthen there was being with the commies on Y2K night at NORAD. I remember beingthe journalist whisperer: Major. Should we be letting these guys in the warroom? No worries. They won’t get to really see anything he replied. Well, therewas one missile fired that night by the Reds, but it was just a theater device_ not meant for the Yankee Imperialists (Chechens).

And nowfor something completely different. The point of this story.

The U.S. Secretary of State saoid Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation.

VladimirPutin got his rear kicked in recent parliamentary elections though he hisUnited Russian did hold on. And he is blaming Hillary Clinton. The sexy Russianbetter hurry or the French profession that his name sometimes is transliteratedto will be banned. He might even have to arm the Anna Chapmans of the Russiansecret service. Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation."

Or, asspeculated by Ljubica Vujadinovic, theUkraine might be persuaded to legalize prostitution. But that’s another story.

Thefriction between Clinton, who I would bet on in a street fight despite theRussian’s reported black belt, stems largely from his government’s insistence onsupporting world dictators. After losing in Libya why go on to support Syria?

But thereal disgust is that Clinton dared to suggest Russia’s election was on the samestandard used by these and other dictators.

For months, Mikhail Gorbachev, who broke Russia free fromthe Iron Curtain has been warning his countrymen and women that Put will takeMoscow back to the Cold War Days. He said last week’s election was a fraud and afresh vote should be held.

YouTube

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9ynY5NvYsZY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.strategic-air-command.com/gallery/movies/images/dr_strangelove_bombdrop.jpg

Will Life Be As Tender Without Irma On Call?

2011-12-07T20:56:00.001-07:00

The late Jack Lemmon, the straight arrow rookie flic in oneof the red light districts of Paris, asked the bartender why so many couplesare going into the Hotel Casanova next door.

“I have a very definite idea. They’re making love,” whichthe cop, Nestor, denounces as vice.

He earns the retort from Moustache, the bartender, “petitbourgeoisie. It shows the kind of world we live in.

“Love is illegal but not hate. You can do that anytime,anywhere, to anyone.” Lovers must hide in the dark.

Irma La Douce was a hit as a musical on the stage in Paris and London before it was a film smash in the U.S. Life Magazine called the musical "a French fairy tale for wicked grown-ups who want to believe in love.

"France has always been the artistic and fashionable centerof the profession in the West. It also has been common for Frenchmen to havemistresses.

And when the disgraced head of the International MonetaryFund, Daniel Strauss-Kahn, resigned after being accused of raping a New YorkCity hotel maid many prominent French leaders stood up to publicly defend him.

Although he was able to escape prosecution, opinion quicklyturned in France, egged on by American and French bloggers and other feministleaders.

Combined with a series of alleged rapes and sexual harassmentof world-famous politicians, athletes, gays and celebrities, around the world,one could sense too many of these incidents were happening to be mostlyinspired by gold-diggers. The FBI of the U.S. has reported for decades that thevast majority of sexual assaults are for real. And most involve people who knoweach other, not someone jumping out from behind a tree.

An investigation of rape at the Air Force Academy came toolate to result in much prosecutorial action, but it made clear the leadershiphad been mostly ignoring the problem.

But recent scandals in France and elsewhere around the worldseem to harden. San Francisco and Canada have supporters for decriminalization.

This week the right and the left in French parliament passeda resolution condemning prostitution. It clearly was going to be met with strongresistance.

But this time, as in Sweden and some other countries, andU.S. states like Colorado, the proposal is to arrest “johns.” As the nameimplies most of the perpretrators will be males.

Assuming all the technical difficulties of proving moneychanged hands, it seems about as likely to succeed as Prohibition in the U.S.Most people just don’t care. They may not want to see them standing on streetcorners but overworked and understaffed police forces won’t make it a priorityunless some public scene occurs. Such arrests will have to compete with thecases against political candidates for one.

Whether some of the more recent sex cases, such as PennState, will make the entire subject sickening is unknown.

Much of the traffic has already moved to the Internet. Whilethey are being pursued aggressively around the world, unless there are underageor slave-like prostitutes the appetite for nailing cyber sex artists also maynot have the after-thirst for police agencies as rapes, murders and such.

So there will be the occasional big bust such as occurred inPolk County, Fla., where at least 60 were picked up in a sting.

A crackdown that seems likely on the Web will have toovercome opposition by those who support free speech. The record of law enforcementin the U.S. on abiding strictly by laws that guarantee free speech have a mixedhistory at the very best.

As far controlling the crime, if it is one, societies havehad little success for the thousands of years it has existed. In America, at acertain level it is a violation of privacy.

It wasn’t until 2003 until the U.S. Supreme Court outlawedthe remaining laws against sodomy. Clearly it was unlikely where could ever bea conviction without violating the defendants’ privacy.

Would judges be asked to personally review the activity, to determine whether it was legal, asportrayed in a Saturday Night Live skit.

Sheriff to Spend Christmas In Jail Named After Him

2011-11-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

If you find the constant creep forward of Christmas annoying imagine what it will be like for former Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan. He is being held in a jail named after him.

A year before he retired in 2002 he had been declared national sheriff of the year.

He is being held on $500,000 bail on charges of providing meth to recovering male addicts for sex. In charge of the third largest county in the state, with a population of more than 500,000, he had been one of the most highly regarded public servants.

Investigators began tracking him after getting a call saying an "old guy" was trying to get his roommates back on drugs. When Sullivan was told the residents would call the police he said,"...I am the police."

A sting was set up and he was caught, possessing meth. He told detectives he was part of a statewide meth drug task force to help druggies clean up. No such task force exists, the Denver Post reported.

Because of his association with so many county employees, in courts, jails, law enforcement, the trial is going to be very difficult.

Even tricker might not be the jail name. It's not like renaming a football stadium when a company that bought the name goes out of business.

Will anyone want to buy the right to rename the Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility?

Psychiatrists Say Norwegian Mass Killer Insane

2011-11-29T07:13:00.001-07:00

Courts in Norway have determined that Anders Behring Breivik suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He killed 77 people and wounded 151 in two attacks July 22 in Oslo and on the nearby island of Utoeya.

Verden Gang Nett and other Norwegian media reported the decision.

“Paranoid schizophrenia is one of several types of schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness in which a person loses touch with reality (psychosis). The classic features of paranoid schizophrenia are having delusions and hearing things that aren't real,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

Two psychiatrists compiled a 243-page report for the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine.

The BBC said although the 32-year-old remains insane it is not clear whether his trial will go ahead as planned in April.

Breivik inhabited his “own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his own delusions.” In the past it was frequently diagnosed as a split or multiple personality, but in fact it is a shattered image or personality.

In most countries victims of such a psychotic illness end up being hospitalized in mental wards, even if they were convicted of murder.

A key element in many locations is not whether the defendant can tell right from wrong but whether he or she can control the behavior that resulted in physical violence.

Years ago psychiatrist Karl Jung said that for every one such sociopath who is known there are ten others not discovered.

In some cases paranoid schizophrenics are more capable of appearing to act normal than others suffering different symptoms.

In Breivik’s view he was fighting a cultural Marxist and Islamic invasion.

Many of the dead were youngsters attending a summer political party on the island.

First published on Technorati http://technorati.com/blogging/article/courts-judge-norwegian-mass-killer-insane/

Should Guns Be Allowed in Post Offices

2011-11-28T15:25:00.001-07:00

The issue isn't being tested in a ghetto or other high crime area. A federal court in Denver has allowed two residents of one the wealthiest regions in the nation to file a constitutional challenge to a ban on possession of guns in either post offices or their parking lots.
No, there have been no claims that it is particularly dangerous in the Vail or neighboring Avon, home of two of the nation's richest gated communities.
The lawsuit, filed by Debbie and Tab Bonidy, and supported by the National Association for Gun Rights and Mountain States Legal Foundation, mentions the right of self-defense but it is clear it is the right of unlimited gun possession that is at stake.
There have been no reports of the couple being attacked on the ten-mile drive from their mountain home to the Avon Post Office.
Their case was twice turned down, but on Nov. 18, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch of Denver, who handled the trial of Timothy McVeigh, reinstated their case and ordered a scheduling conference.
The law seems clear enough. The Supreme Court has ruled that the right to possess arms can be subjected to some restrictions in so far as where they can be possessed. Not in schools, for example.
The Supreme Court has ruled that guns can be barred from "sensitive areas." Earlier decisions have determined that Post Offices are just such places.
Can anyone forget where the term "going postal" came from? "The expression derives from a series of incidents from 1983 onward in which United States Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public in acts of mass murder. Between 1986 and 1997, more than forty people were gunned down by spree killers in at least twenty incidents of workplace rage," according to Wikipedia.
Part of the issue is that the gun prohibition includes post office parking lots.
Conflicts are bound to arise in mountainous areas where hunting is popular. There is no legal way to drive into such a parking lot with a gun, no matter how secure it is in a storage area and even dismantled.
Up to now federal courts have held that "de minimus" restrictions are legal. That means rules of "minor importance."
In the unlikely event the strict federal laws specifically preventing non-law enforcement officers from bringing guns into Post Offices is declared unconstitutional how many other such areas will also be open to guns?
Postal workers undoubtedly will protest. As the late Warren Zevon put it: "Send lawyers, guns and money."

NATO Admits Deadly Attack on Pakistan

2011-11-26T08:19:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles Times photo trucks held up by closure of Pakistan-Afghan border

NATO has admitted it is “highly likely” it was responsible foran attack by warplanes and helicopters that killed dozens of Pakistan soldierson an Afghan border post near Mohmand. Pakistan forces returned fire.

Reuters and Al Jazeera said the toll could reach or exceed30. It was deadliest attack on Pakistan forces byNATO since it invaded neighboring Afghanistan after 9/11.

"Pakistan's sovereignty was attacked early this morning," said Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. "This is our Pakistan and we have to defend it," told the Wall Street journal.

“Close air support was called in, in the development of thetactical situation, and it is what likely caused the Pakistan casualties,”Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a spokesman for NATO said. He apologized.

News reports said NATO forces were involved in ananti-Taliban operation in the Khyber region of northwestern Pakistan near theAfghan border.

Relations between Islamabad have deteriorated as the warseems to drone on without end. And U.S. military and government officials haveaccused Pakistan of giving some of the ammunition and other aid it delivers toanti-Afghanistan government groups.

In some cases NATO forces allegedly were killed with thesemunitions.

Pakistan was outraged by the Navy Seal attack inside itsterritory that resulted in the execution of Osama bin Laden.

Afghan President has simultaneously criticized the U.S. forallegedly killing civilians not involved in the conflict.

In the U.S., support for the war has declined as casualtiesclimb at the same time American commanders say they are winning. Intensepressure to cut government spending adds to the pressure to pull out of thegraveyard of empires.

Pakistan, meanwhile, said it returned fire on the attackearly Saturday. There was no information on NATO suffered casualties.

“Pakistani troops effectively responded immediately inself-defense to NATO’s aggress with all available weapons,” its military saidin a statement.

Fighting Erupts Between Pakistan and NATO

2011-11-26T01:32:00.001-07:00

Simmering relations between Pakistan and NATO eruptednto fighting early Saturday when American choppers killed 25 soldiers at a border post near the town ofJamrud. More Pakistan troops were wounded.

Dawn, the BBC, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, the Times of India and others reported the attack,which was followed immediately by the closure of the main transport route intoAfghanistan. They quoted Pakistani TV, military and government officials.

The attack occurred in the same area where Pakistan forceshave been fighting the Taliban.

NATO said it was aware an incident had occurred but it didn’thave details.

Relations between Islamabad and Washington have grownincreasingly tense. Pakistan is accused of providing some support toanti-Afghan governments.

The U.S. incursion into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Ladenoutraged our main ally in the Afghan war. In turn the fact that Pakistan hadallowed the author of the 9/11 attacks to hide in its territory for years madethings even worse.

This was at least the second such incident, but the previous one involved only two dead and the two sides worked it out.

Cops Have Nothing On California Black Friday Shopper

2011-11-25T10:48:00.001-07:00

It should be no surprise after so many television viewings, and online parodies, of police pepper spraying Occupy protestors.

A woman used pepper spray to get to the head of several lines at a San Fernando Wal-Mart.

And as one person commented on YouTube it should be even less a surprise that cities that had banned tents being set up by Occupiers allowed plenty of them in front of big box so they could be first into stores for Black Friday. And why the big deal. Fox News says pepper spray is just food.

The Los Angeles Times said 20 people were injured. The woman, who has not been identified, fled before authorities arrived late Thursday.

"People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray," said Alejandra Seminario said. With X Boxes and other game consoles one of the main targets of shoppers next year there could be a Black Friday game.

No serious injuries were reported, but victims said they were painful.

"She was competitive shopping," said Los Angeles Fire Capt. James Carson.

The injured, including children, were hurt in the 10:10 p.m. incident. Shoppers complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats, he said.

Joseph Poulose, one of those hit with the spray at the DVD and video games display, said Target had allowed to many people in the building to keep it under control. "Every aisle was full."

Police said store surveillance photos will be available soon and likely will go right on the Internet. Plus if the woman used a credit card she could be caught even faster.

First on http://technorati.com/blogging/article/cops-have-nothing-on-california-black/

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Egyptian Democracy Activists Want Army Ruling Council Out

2011-11-22T16:06:00.001-07:00

More than 100,000 Egyptians have been clashing with the Army in Cairo trying to force them to keep their promise to hand over power to civilians.

Following the collapse of the Tunisian dictatorship Egyptians launched their own revolution Jan. 25.

By Feb. 11, President Mubarak had been ousted and taken into custody. The military promised it would hold presidential elections within six months.

Now, nine months later it appears the military council intended to hold the voting late in 2012 or early in 2013.

At least 30 people have been killed in protests. More than 1,500 were wounded. The Obama administration has condemned the military’s violence.
Amnesty International reports that in some cases the army has been more brutal than Mubarak's regime.

The military has dismissed the civilian cabinet, and it was not known when it would be replaced.

On Tuesday, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the council, said presidential elections would be held no later than June or July next year.
The announcement drew jeers from the masses in Tahir Square, the same location where demonstrators drove Mubarak from power. They told the army to leave because they are staying.

Tantawi said if the people want the army out of power sooner a referendum could be held, but it would have to show this is the will of the majority.
“The Armed Forces, represented by their Supreme Council, do not aspire to govern and put the supreme interest of the country above all considerations,” Tantawi said.

The speech came too late, said Abdulrahman al-Zaghimy, a leader of young dissidents who are calling for a second revolution.

Pictured: Field Marshal Tantawi

South African Parliament Imposes Censorship On Media

2011-11-22T07:28:00.001-07:00

South Africa's parliament passed a bill Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says will impose tight censorship on the news media and facilitate corruption.

Although former President Nelson Mandela did not condemn the legislation his foundation said it was concerned about its implications.

News24 said the vote was 259 yes, 41 no ballots asnd 32 abstentions. "In its current form, the bill represents an attack on principles of open democracy that are deeply embedded in our constitution and our national life," the South African National Editors' Forum told allAfrica.com.

South African unions also have opposed the bill. There may be amendments before the final version is passed. With the African National Congress controlling two-thirds of the parliament there is no doubt they can push it through if they wish.

The bill was introduced after several years of reported corruption and President Jacob Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, was accused if receiving kickbacks from a French arms manufacturer, News24 reported. Maharaj is suiing several journals.

Under apartheid there were strict rules limiting press, such as barring banned people from meeting with reporters or being quoted. Violent methods were employed against some anti-apartheid dissidents.

However, under apartheid a scandal erupted and cost some high-ranking officials their jobs for using government money to try to secretly spread pro-regime propaganda. A Johannesburg newspaper, the Rand Daily Mail, was leaked the information and reported it. It was later driven out of business.
Under white-minority rule newspapers were a leading supporter of majority rule.

There have been widespread claims of ANC officials manipulating government contracts to enrich themselves. Journalists, of both races, again have been leading the calls for reforms.

Article first published as <a href='http://technorati.com/politics/article/south-african-parliament-imposes-censorship-on/'>South African Parliament Imposes Censorship On Media</a> on Technorati.

Can California End The Nation's Gridlock

2011-11-20T12:12:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles may have invented gridlock in one sense, but partisan politics has created a much more dangerous version. Now the Golden State may be ready to cry "Eureka" again.
Not gold this time. But more the Archimedes version. A solution. He stepped into a bath full of water and saw the level rise. In the California and American case, the answer would be that there is no free lunch. Bills must be paid.
On Monday a group of billionaires, celebrities and others are releasing a plan to use their money and brains to get the state out of debt that is destroying it.
"As Washington is in gridlock, maybe California can lead the way again by showing that we know how to fix things," former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg told the Sacramento Bee.
He is a member of "The Think Long Committee for California." The group is going to try to get an initiative on the ballot that would raise $10 billion to get the state back on the yellow brick road.
At first glance it seems another pie in the sky scheme. First, it costs millions to get an initiative on the ballot. Second, it costs even more for TV and other political expenses to get it passed.
Of course California has more Warren Buffetts than any other state. Some have signed on, as well as celebrities like former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Current governor Jerry Brown isn't ready to join, although he has tried and failed to raise taxes.
"The problem with most initatives is funding. That's not a problem this group will have," committee adviser Nathan Gardels told the Los Angeles Times. It also will create a watchdog committee to avoid some of the mistakes that led to this situation.
Everyone would end up paying somewhat more, though low- and middle-income families would pay less in state taxes. It is a commplicated plan that is to be released Monday. The goal is to raise 11 percent more in state revenue.
It is hoped to get it on the ballot next year.

2011-11-20T12:07:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles may have invented gridlock in one sense, but partisan politics has created a much more dangerous version. Now the Golden State may be ready to cry "Eureka" again. Not gold this time. But more the Archimedes version. A solution. He stepped into a bath full of water and saw the level rise. In the California and American case, the answer would be that there is no free lunch. Bills must be paid. On Monday a group of billionaires, celebrities and others are releasing a plan to use their money and brains to get the state out of debt that is destroying it. "As Washington is in gridlock, maybe California can lead the way again by showing that we know how to fix things," former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg told the Sacramento Bee. He is a member of "The Think Long Committee for California." The group is going to try to get an initiative on the ballot that would raise $10 billion to get the state back on the yellow brick road. At first glance it seems another pie in the sky scheme. First, it costs millions to get an initiative on the ballot. Second, it costs even more for TV and other political expenses to get it passed. Of course California has more Warren Buffetts than any other state. Some have signed on, as well as celebrities like former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Current governor Jerry Brown isn't ready to join, although he has tried and failed to raise taxes. "The problem with most initatives is funding. That's not a problem this group will have," committee adviser Nathan Gardels told the Los Angeles Times. It also will create a watchdog committee to avoid some of the mistakes that led to this situation. Everyone would end up paying somewhat more, though low- and middle-income families would pay less in state taxes. It is a commplicated plan that is to be released Monday. The goal is to raise 11 percent more in state revenue. It is hoped to get it on the ballot next year. <img src="http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/11/20/56961/gold.jpeg?t=20111120100414" />

Gaddafi's Heir Surrenders Meekly

2011-11-19T08:18:00.001-07:00

Libya government fighters have captured Muammar Gaddafi's arrogant heir apparent, Saif al-Islam, in the western mountain city of Zintan.

Saif, unlike his father, surrendered along with three armed comrades without a fight, according to Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. He had frequently boasted on the BBC that he would keep his father's fight alive and drive NATO from Libya
alive.

Gaddafi was killed in his home town of Sirte on Oct. 20.
Human Rights Watch called on the Libyan transitional government to hand him over to the International Criminal Court and treat him humanely.

“The authorities will send an important message that there’s a new era in Libya, marked by the rule of law, by treating Saif al-Islam humanely and surrendering him to the ICC,” said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

“His fair prosecution at the ICC will afford Libyans a chance to see justice served in a trial that the international community stands behind.”
Saif, 39. was educated in Britain. He is likely to face charges before the International Criminal Court.

Although Gaddafi had ordered the destruction of British and French airliners in 1988 and 1988 he was able to buy his way out of trouble with his oil billions.

His agents committed other acts of terrorism also.

But when the Arab Spring set the region on fire, it also inspired Libyans to bring the regime down. He had killed and tortured thousands of his own people.

Natalie Wood Yacht Captain Says Robert Wagner Responsible For Wife's Death

2011-11-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

The captain of a yacht carrying Natalie Wood says her husband Robert Wagner was responsible for her death in 1981.

Dennis Davern, speaking on the Today show, said he was urging a fresh investigation. Asked if an argument that included bottle smashing between the couple led to her death he responded: "Yes."

Davern said, "I made some terrible decisions and mistakes. I did lie on a report several years ago." He added, "We didn't take any steps to see if we could locate her," Davern added.

"I think it was a matter of, 'We're not going to look too hard, we're not going to turn on the searchlight, we're not going to notify anybody right now.'"

Davern helped write a book in 2009 that included the information he was providing now, he said. The Los Angeles Times first reported the investigation was being reopened. The newspaper said sheriff's investigators have received new information on comments the yacht's captain made about the case and are reopening it.

Few actresses were more popular than the woman of Russian ancestry. Only 43, she had made 56 movies with the likes of Steve McQueen, Orson Welles, James Dean, Gene Tierney, James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Bette Davis, Laurence Olivier and Bing Crosby. She was taking the Thanksgiving weekend off at Isthmus Cove near Santa Catalina while making "Brainstorm" with Wagner, whom she had remarried after they divorced, and Christopher Walken.

"The official theory is that Wood either tried to leave the yacht or to secure a dinghy from banging against the hull when she accidentally slipped and fell overboard. When her body was found, she was wearing a down jacket, nightgown, and socks. A woman on a nearby yacht said she heard calls for help at around midnight. The cries lasted for about 15 minutes and were answered by someone else who said, "Take it easy. We'll be over to get you. It was laid back," the witness recalled. "There was no urgency or immediacy in their shouts," Wikipedia reports.

http://youtu.be/c_PfXAr9fsE

Read more: http://technorati.com/entertainment/celebrity/article/natalie-wood-yacht-captain-says-robert/#ixzz1e5BSJEIf

Downtown Colorado Becomes Clyfford Still's Gulch

2011-11-15T18:42:00.001-07:00

       Although he didn't hide his paintings in a valley in the mountains of Colorado, Clyfford Still was for all intents and purposes the John Galt of America's art world.
       Unlike Ayn Rand's character, Still didn't seek to subvert the government. He just kept to himself, rarely selling paintings, and even deciding which work a customer could buy.
       The words of his contemporary, who created Galt in "Atlas Shrugged," would have suited him well.
       Still rarely was interviewed, and kept his thoughts to himself. But the way he acted was almost a mirror-image of John Galt.
       In a chapter in which Galt is trying to persuade train magnet Dagney Taggert to join his struggle, this is what he said to explain why he was secretly recruiting the best of the best to join him an effort to bring the government down.
       "We are on strike. Why should this seem so startling? There is only one kind of men who have never been on strike in human history. Every other kind and class have stopped, when they so wished, and have presented demands to the world, claiming to be indispensable -- except the men who have carried the world on their shoulders, have kept it alive, have endured torture as sole payment, but have never walked out on the human race."
       It would not be that much of a stretch to take Rand's anti-socialist theme and apply it to some of the Occupy Wall Street activists. Rand frequently threw darts at corrupt capitalists. What follows might fit today.
       "Yes, this is an age of moral crisis. Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil.But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame.It is your moral code that's through, this time. Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course. And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality -- you who have never known any -- but to discover it," said Galt.
       Still didn't want to influence anyone or be influenced by anyone.
       His work, now that it is being revealed to the world in a new museum exclusively for his art in Denver, will stun many. His 2,400 works were far more than the several dozen large impasto-laden abstractions that did impress museum curators and his colleagues when they were allowed to see them. In fact the museum only got possession of all of them several weeks ago.
       Some of the most stunning are still waiting to be framed or put on stretchers so that they could be hung after being rolled up for more than 40 years.
       The sale of four of them at Sotheby's in Manhattan last week for a total of $114 million was twice what was expected, an indication of how hungry the market is for his unseen works
       Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko recognized Still's vision long before the public.
       At first glance some of his works can be almost scary as they tower overhead. Many were ten feet high and 12 feete wide. On the other hand, you have to get within two feet to see all that is there.
       Still climbed up ladders to do his work with a palette knife, employing thick impasto.
       Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb had made a run at persuading Still's late wife, Patricia, to let Denver build the museum her husband wanted. It fell through.
       But the city did not give up and managed to enlist Still family members to help them persuade her.
       Mayor John Hickenlooper, now governor, went to Washington, D.C., to meet Mrs. Still. He passed up on a meeting of several mayors with the president to make sure he got to her.
       Correspondence shown at a media briefing Tuesday showed it was never a sure thing. Still's two daughters were persuaded to support the sale of four paintings to help pay the cost of construction and create an operational endowment. Mrs. Still had died and thus a judge in Maryland had to give his approval. The four paintings drew $114 million.
       Museum Director Dean Sobel says no museum has as many works, 2,400, of any major artist. And few artists hated museums as much as Still. "Museums were like morgues,death places," Sobel said.
       The planners had to take that into consideration when they chose to put it next to the Denver Art Museum's two buildings, one built by Daniel Libeskind and the other by Gino Ponti. The library just across the street had a top put on it by Michael Graves.
       It is a museum to an interesting man. Some of his library is displayed, and it included Marcel Proust, Sophocles, Oswald Spengler and many other of the literati.
       Born in 1904 in North Dakota his family moved quickly to Alberta, and it's hard to conceive that the rolling and jagged plains did not influence him. He died in 1980, 30 years after turning away from any public interaction with the art world.

Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators Pick Wrong Artist

2011-11-11T12:13:00.001-07:00

If abstract painting wonder Clyfford Still was still alive he might well have been among the Occupy Wall Street activists protesting the sale of more than $300 million in his paintings and those of compatriots in Manhattan's Sothebys. His 1949-A-No. 1, he usually didn't title paintings, led going for $61.7 million.
   For many years Still refused to allow any of his paintings to be displayed in New York because he felt it was too corrupt.
   When he finally did permit the Metrpolitan Museum of Art to show some in 1980 it was only after it agreed, in an unprecedented fashion, to allow him to post the paintings himself and curate the he exhibition, according to retired Denver Art Museum Director Lewis Sharp. He was working at the Metropolitan at the time.
   Money was less important to many famous painters than Still, even though he got his art education during the the Great Depression. He rarely sold any of his more than 2,000 works. And a buyer had to take the work Still chose for him. His difficult attitude resulted in some calling him the Unabomber of painting.
   Still abhorred the idea of his works being scattered around the nation or world. He wanted them together as much as possible.
   The paintings, when first seen could be mistaken for a horror movie. Works from the 1940s average 4 feet by 6 feet, and paintings from the 1950s average 9 1/2 feet by 12 feet. He splashed thick impasto in what some called a color-field approach.
   The pastels are much smaller and are on paper.
   Still died in 1980, and it was 24 years later before his late widow, Patricia Still, agreed to an offer from the city of Denver to build a museum for his paintings if she would donate many of them. It was under the condition that none would be sold and none would be sent on tours.
   Denver had to get a court to approve its decision to sell four of the several hundred it received. The money is needed to help pay for the construction of the museum, which opens next week, and its operation.
   There can be no doubt that Still's appeal was enhanced by the few sales of his works throughout his lifetime and even after his death.
   Wealthy investors may be viewing paintings as a refuge from the volatile markets. And with gold at $1,800 an ounce Thursday it may not be seen as a viable alternative.

Paterno and Cain and Accountability

2011-11-10T14:12:00.001-07:00

The firing of Joe Paterno and bad publicity Herman Cain has received are not likely to result in any permanent changes in the U.S., if early reactions mean anything.

Penn State students rioted Wednesday night to protest Paterno's dismissal for failing to reveal the alleged sodomization of children by a foundation run by one of Paterno's former assistants.

Thousands of students gathered shouting "F* the trustees" and "We want Joe," reported the school's Daily Collegian. Two news vans were overturned.

As allegations that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed women grow so do his standings in most polls.

Paterno, known as "Joe Pa" at the university for bringing them winning teams without breaking NCAA rules, has won more games than any other coach in NCAA history. It is alleged he was told by a coaching assistant about the sexual abuse of youngsters by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky at the university-supported foundation. Paterno reported passed the information on to the higher ups but did nothing when no action was taken.

There are unconfirmed reports that Sandusky was forced to retire as a coach after a witness reported seeing him sodomizing a 10-year-old. The university retirement date was not clear. He is charged with sexually assaulting children from 1994 to 2009. Sandusky retired from "The Second Mile Foundation," which he founded, last year.

The foundation declined to make anyone available to comment. Sandusky's lawyer says he is innocent.

The Collegian said Sandusky's non-profit organization was given $399,000 in donations the past six years. He said he founded the group to help under-privileged and at risk children.

The Detroit Free Press published the Penn State grand jury indictment: http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF

At least five women have accused Cain of sexually harassing them. Although he concedes some were paid settlements that nothing happened and it was not him who paid them. He said the Natonal Restaurant Association, which he formerly served as president and CEO, made the payments.

Cain says Democrats launched the attacks. Some radio hosts have attacked the accusers, the usual pattern when women accuse powerful men of sexual assaults.

The FBI says the vast majority of sexual assault claims are valid.

Top university athletic teams have frequently been accused of breaking recruiting rules.

The University of Southern California, winner of 11 national football titles, was stripped of one earlier this year because it violated recruiting rules to get star running back Reggie Bush.

NCAA athletics generate hundreds of millions of dollars, and they have never been more crucial than now as states have had to cut funding because of economic crisis.

A joke has widely circulated for years, any of the top teams could put be put here, Blank University's football team has made the university something students can be proud of.

Do We Face A Lost Generation, A Lost Decade Or Worse

2011-11-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

Whether it was Ernest Hemingway, or his writer-mentor Gertrude Stein, who coined the term "the lost generation," turned out to be perhaps the most understated prediction in history. Made in the last years of World War I and the years that followed, it was hoped it would at least be the war to end all wars.

Archives estimate 17 million died, 10 million military and seven million civilians, according to Wikipedia. The death in World War II and the Holocaust that accompanied it was put at 60 million.

The point of the lost generation was that the wounded and dead were only a part of the toll. Many people lost the spirit to rebuild, even if it was possible.

Although the world had far more powerful weapons during the Cold War 30 years later, the worst was avoided.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, using much milder language, is predicting that if bold, worldwide action is not taken quickly there will be a "lost decade."

Lagarde, whose tough face would make her the most sinewy cut of beef on fine restaurant menus, is calling on all governments to make the cuts in spending and investment in growth necessary.

The U.S., still the most powerful economy in the world, isn't doing it. The will to raise taxes is missing, though the nation hasn't had the violence that has occurred in many other countries _ yet.

Two European prime ministers, George Papandreou of Greece and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, this week announced they would step down to get their people and opposition to accept cuts even steeper than the trillion already made around the globe.

Before what is needed can be done the angry public must be convinced control of government power will be taken from banks, many say. Banks too-big to fall have profited while millions lost their homes and jobs.

Rich countries like the U.S. are spending fortunes on wars while taxes are lowered.

In Denver, an active center of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the focus now is on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said corporations are real people, and have the rights of people.

Border Collie Best In Occupy Denver Show

2011-11-08T23:10:00.001-07:00

Most groups around the world are refusing to meet government demands to act conventionally. The Mile High City is only a bit different.

The group, which has clashed on several occasions with downtown Denver police announced it would name a director: but the activists chose a dog named Shelby.

An unidentified spokesman said that if corporations can be people, as the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, then dogs can as well.

"Shelby is closer to a person than any corporation: she can bleed, she can breed, and she can show emotion. Either Shelby is a person, or corporations aren't people," the spokesperson said.

A statement emailed to the media Tuesday said: "Newly-elected leader Shelby will be leading this Saturday's Occupy Denver march against Corporate Personhood, and invites all other civic minded dogs (and their leash-holders) to join.

Source: media-pr@occupydenver.org

occupydenver.org

The Two Faces of Justice in America

2011-11-07T10:26:00.001-07:00

   Spc. Bradley Manning leaked information he believed revealed war crimes in Iraq. Starlet Lindsay Lohan bought and used drugs and stole a fancy bracelet from a jewelry story.

   Despite breaking parole conditions after several releases, Lohan only spent four late evening hours in the county jail on her latest arrest this weekend _ and that was after breaking parole again. Apparently her jail was too crowded.

   We don't know much about what is going on with Bradley Mannning. He was arrested in May of last year. He is still in prison though there has been no trial. He has been held in solitary much of the time.

   I don't think Lindsey had to remove her clothes when she went to bed. Of course if she had there would have been paparazzi around to catch her.

   Of course given that she was unable to post satisfactorily nakedly for Playboy, including full view of her vagina, there might not have been enough time. Her return to jail was delayed at the request of Playboy, whose editors said her naked photos were lame.

   Justice expert Jiwei C, author of "The Two Faces of Justice," says this kind of disaparate treatment cripples our justice system. Many will simply see no reason to obey the law. Some may want revenge.

Our Allies in Pakistan and Afganistan Kill Us And Insult Us

2011-11-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

     The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost our nation trillions, as our infrastructure falls apart. No value can be put on blood. Cops, teachers, firefighters, hospital workers are laid off. Schools are closed.

     Yet when one of our generals, Peter Fuller, tells the truth about what is going on he gets fired.

     Daniel Petraeus and other commanders have known from the start that Pakistan supported the Taliban and Haqqani networks and other insurgents. There are so many groups fighting us the media had to create a new word: militants.

     American soldiers and contractors have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan with weapons and ammo the U.S. provided Pakistan.

     Despite claims by Petraeus and others that we are winning, casualties in Afghanistan are at their highest level ever. During the Vietnam War a more skeptical nation recognized "the five o'clock follies" for what they were.

     One famous joke: In 1969 IBM's smartest computer was asked when the war would be over at the current kill rate of Viet Cong and NVA. The answer was 1967.

     The only warrior to ever defeat the Afghans was Alexander the Great, and he had to marry one of their princesses to get a deal.

     The big difference between Afghanistan and Vietnam is that there are no draftees. Should that justify fighting a war we have no interest in?

     Afghan President Hamid Karzai had insulted America on numerous occasions. He made it clear he wanted our military to die before risking killing an Afghan civilian.

     When he said Afghanistan would support Pakistan if the U.S. attacked it, Maj. Gen. Fuller said:

     “Why don’t you just poke me in the eye with a needle! You’ve got to be kidding me … I’m sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you’re telling me, ‘I don’t really care’?”

     He also said NATO would rather teach Afghans how to fish than buy them fish. But they would prefer to just get more free fish.

World's Best Halloween Costume: Population Bomb

2011-10-31T16:39:00.003-06:00

For those looking for a population bomb Halloween costume there would be many choices. After all it may turn out to be another Y2K. Or it could be Rwanda. Or Somalia. Or Even the U.S.

How about dressing up like Anglican clergyman Thomas Malthus. In 1798 he predicted humankind would eat itself out of existence.

There would be plenty of backup from war and disease. Greed figures in there somewhere.

"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man," he wrote.

Malthus might be writing slogans today for the Occupy Wall Street activists. He stated that misery and vice were useful tools for making the world live in poverty and repression.

Many believe his doomsday predictions have been proven wrong. How so? This week the U.N. announced the world's population had reached 7 billion.

Earlier predictions said it would be 9.3 billion by 2000. It may well become an explosion. There seems no will on the planet to stop it, other than greed.

What happened? More prosperous countries began to find large families inconvenient. Along came AIDS and other diseases. War was/is never far away.

Many scientists say the Earth cannot sustain such larger numbers. Others are more skeptical. Perhaps we can have an Green Internet and download food; more likely people will starve but not enough to die. Pogo once quoted a Russian leader as saying shortages will be divided among the peasants.

"Famines do not simply occur _ they are organized by the grain trade," wrote Bertolt Brecht, who wrote "The Three Penny Opera" with Kurt Weill before they fled Hitler's Germany.

His "How Fortunate The Man With None," which is available in numerous versions on YouTube from Brecht's play "Mother Courage" relates his zeitgeist in a beautiful and powerful manner reminiscent of Jim Morrison's "The End."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9vFE1ivVQ0

Obama Is A Peacemaker

2011-10-21T18:56:00.001-06:00

President Obama met with immense ridicule when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize not long after taking office, but who could have known how effective he would be.

If he had lived a century ago he might have been a bounty hunter carrying a Colt Peacemaker: Muammar Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, and more are likely to follow. The death toll has been higher for common folk but they refused to give up.

The day after Gaddafi died Obama announced we would be bringing our 39,000 soldiers home from Iraq before Christmas.

No one explained the award better than Obama himself: "Throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes," Obama said. "And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action -- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."

There were many things as well that did not serve humanity, toleration of torture for example. Too often he seemed to be the tool of the military and the bankers.

Yet when that challenge came, in the form of the Arab Spring, even though his administration was barely staying afloat under constant attack from the Republicans he did not back down.

With the Internet preventing dictators from hiding their gruesome excesses, Obama joined France, England and other European countries, as well as seducing the Arab League, to bring democracy into North Africa and the Middle East. It began reaching elsewhere. Now the Occupy Wall Street has served warning: banks do not own governments.

Events in the past year have made it difficult to know when this will stop, or whether it can even be stopped.

And Obama was the leader, while struggling with his day job. And that was jobs for his people.

Many who had voted for him believed he had let them down, that he was spineless. That kind of talk has stopped, at least for the moment.

Now his people can see what he can do if he is not having to spend most of his time fighting his own people. Syria may be the next test. He may be allowed to keep troops in Afghanistan longer than the nation wants, yet they will want an assurance that they are coming home.

For now he is acting like a leader. If he keeps it up he may win another term. If he backs off it will be a great disappointment for the progressives and liberals who put him in office.

My WEBSITE
https://sites.google.com/site/robertweller/rubicon

Circumstances Of Gaddafi's Death Unclear

2011-10-20T07:50:00.000-06:00

Media reports from Paris military sources suggest a convoy of vehicles transporting Muammar Gaddafi was attacked by French warplanes and a U.S. predator as he attempted to leave his concrete bunker tunnels before he was captured alive.

Video footage indicates he later died, and possibly was beaten to death in humiliating fashion in his hometown. Fighters said he was shot with a 9mm pistol.

His death brings to an end more than 40 years of brutal rule and has ended in the biggest victory of the Arab Spring.

The Times of India said Gaddafi shouted "Don't Shoot, Don't Shoot," to no avail when he was discovered hiding in an underground bunker's concrete tunnels. An Al Jazeera video suggests he was beaten to death after being shot. A DNA sample will be required to confirm it is the true dictator.

Some unconfirmed reports said the U.S. military had been involved in the capture after attacking a convoy, and that he was taken alive.

Libyans took to the streets to celebrate. Le Monde said the entire city of Sirte was liberated, though it was devastated by NATO bombs and the fighting between NTC fighters and Gaddafi supporters. An Al Jazeera reporter said Sirte had received so much money from Gaddafi that it was a jewel of the kingdom before the fighting.

The two news outlets quoted the NTC government. President Obama confirmed the death. It was a major victory for the U.S., France, the U.K., the Arab League and other supporters. For Moscow it was a slap in the face.

Photos Al Jazeera.

“We announce to the world that Gaddafi has died at the hands of the revolution,” Abdel Hafez Ghoga, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council, was quoted by Al Arabiya as saying.
“It is a historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate.”

Al Arabiya

Al Jazeera and the BBC reported the death. Video footage appeared to show the body being brutalized. He had been hiding like Saddam Hussein, in under ground concrete tunnels, nothing like the defiant warrior waiting to return as described by so many in the mainstream media. He may go down in history as the most successful manipulator of the media of all time.

The body of the former Libyan leader was taken to a location which is being kept secret for security reasons, an NTC official told Al Jazeera.

"Gaddafi's body is with our unit in a car and we are taking the body to a secret place for security reasons," Mohamed Abdel Kafi, an NTC official in the city of Misrata, told Reuters.

Many will be pleased, including relatives of more than 400 passengers and crew on the Pan Am Lockerbie flight and UTA 772. His agents killed thousands of Libyans.

It took less than a year to bring him down, mocking those who insisted he would be able defiantly lead a desert war for years.

Does The Blood From Syria Lead To Moscow

2011-10-18T16:28:00.000-06:00

Those choosing to blame the U.S. and the U.N. for not stopping the hospital murders in Syria need to review the Soviet role. Is it another Hungary, just in a different style?

They began throwing their weight around in Syria decades before the fall of the Soviet Empire. Without their weapons would there be a toll of several thousand in what is nearly a civil war?

Indeed, Russia was only the Soviet Union for about 70 years but its defeat by the West was a humiliation it has not lived down. The nationalism it appears to be returning to lasted more than 400 years, and even preceeded the Russian empire. The Tsar was known as the “Tsar of all the Russias.”

There is no doubt Russia is preventing the U.N. from blasting Bashar Al-Assad from power, what would be an easy job compared to Libya. Syria is much smaller geographically, and is surrounded mostly by Turkey, Iraq and Israel.

Why does Vladimir Putin take this stand? His critics say it is because Russia is returning to its nationalist heritage.

Moscow plans to restore a naval base in Syria near Tartus next year to handle modern warships. The port has been left to rust for years.

Moscow also supplies weapons to Damascus, though whether it will get paid remains unknown.

Putin’s government has put itself in such a gridlock with Arab League countries facing increasing demands for democracy it is trying diversions like supporting admission of Palestine to UNESCO. Should they support allowing Palestine into the U.N. that might mean something.

Perhaps the play given Ria Novosti to a story about the Arab League calling for peace talks to begin within 15 days indicates Putin understands Al-Assad will fall, and it will be two losses in a row for Moscow when it betted on the wrong horse.

Putin’s critics, including Mikhail Gorbachev, accuse him of trying to draw the former republics back into its circle.

Gorbachev, who stood up against the Communists to end their rule, opposed Putin’s decision to run for president again. He said Putin’s United Russian party reminded him of the Communist Party, and he feared the repression of old would be brought back.

He told Der Spiegel that Putin was “dragging the country into the past, when it is on fire with modernization.”

Putin this week denied any ambition to restore the former empire and told Western critics “to mind their own business,” the kind of diplomacy no doubt taught at the KGB.

So far Putin has met with only moderate resistance from the U.S. and Western Europe but it would not be a surprise if the U.N. becomes a verbal battlefield like the one that existed during the Cold War.

Can Moscow expect to be invited into NATO? Perhaps entry into the World Trade Organization. But even being in trade organizations do not rule out restrictions being imposed base on human rights’ issues or monopolistic policies originating from poorly hidden nationalistic tendencies.

Does The Night Remain As Starry Without A Suicide?

2011-10-17T16:36:00.001-06:00

Has the time come for envious artists to end their loathing of Vincent Van Gogh for showing them up? Two authors report he did not kill himself after selling only one painting.

“Everyone wants to get on the Van Gogh boat. There’s no trip that’s so horrible that someone won’t take it,” in the words of Basquiat writer/director Julian Schnabel.

Ignore the next Van Gogh and “you might be staring at Van Gogh’s ear,” he added.

The extent of ear removed by Van Gogh has already been disputed, but it was enough for Paul Gauguin to carry him to the Auvers hospital in critical condition. That story must end there. It raises more questions that are even more scandalous.

“Van Gogh: The Life” is 900 pages of even tiny details, but near the end the bombshell hits. Authors Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith say the painter was accidentally shot with a faulty gun by two teens he knew.

As the story goes, and it seems consistent with the life that preceded it, Van Gogh helped cover up what happened. He wanted to die, despite being at the apogee of his painting life, because of his declining health and the burden he placed on brother Theo.

Although some reports have the curator of the Van Gogh Museum damning the reports, Leo Jansen’s statement merely said many questions remain unanswered and it would be “premature to rule out suicide.”

And it is not the first time such a claim has been made. The late art historian John Rewald, who visited Auvers in the late 1930s came to the same conclusion after talking to villagers about the “fou roux” or red-headed mad man.

“These two boys, one of whom was wearing a cowboy outfit and had a malfunctioning gun, you have a boy who likes to play cowboy, you have three people probably all of whom had too much to drink,” the BBC quotes Rewand as writing. The bullet to the stomach took more than a day to kill the painter in 1890 at the age of 37.

By this time Van Gogh was in his absinthe days, an anise-flavored drink called 'The Green Fairy" that gained a reputation for exaggerated hallucinogenic powers.

One thing is for certain. His 2,000 art works, done while fitting in other temporary day jobs, including a pastor serving pathetically poor miners, stand for themselves.

In one of the last of his hundreds of letters to brother Theo, who followed him in death by only a few months, "I did not have to go out of my way very much in order to try to express sadness and extreme loneliness."

Want to Get Thinner, Take More Time Cooking and Eating

2011-10-14T15:59:00.000-06:00

A review of the publicitygenerated by this month’s upcoming food day, it certainly is often more PR than information, indicates it will beanother venture into out-of-control rhetoric.

Many have stopped reading,listening to watching TV because the rules keep changing so often, though toooften we only found out the previous rules were wrong or exaggerated decadeslater.

Although some talk of fattaxes, low-fat is out to a large degree, and fat returning according to thelatest science. Meanwhile fast food, at home, at work, in school andrestaurants keeps making most of us fatter. Not just the U.S. either.

My twins stuff themselveson the bête noire of nutritionists, fructose-heavy fast food. They have grownup to believe that steak, sausage and bacon are bad. That isn’t why they don’teat them though. It takes time to cook. And requires kitchen cleaning.

In the U.S. the need forspeed drives everything. It’s an issue that is not discussed so much in themainstream meetings on diet. Reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon showing a manon the edge of a bed getting dressed. He says to the woman next to himsomething like this: “Of course I ejaculated prematurely. I am a busy man.”

The fact is experts saypeople don’t even tell them the truth about what they eat. Britain’s chiefmedical officer, Dame Sally Davies, says she and her colleagues need to know thetruth to determine how to try to deal with it.

“It is about what we eat,how we cook it and about portion size,” she told the BBC.

Many of us have heard howgreat fish and olive oil are. Yet sometimes knowing that doesn’t help you finda product, except at speciality stores, like tuna in olive oil. And it willcost.

Coke has its legendaryafter-taste. Salt makes chips inviting, only the constantly rising prices anobstacle. More expensive foods are seemingly healthier, meaning they cost more. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Despite evolution we stillare like a deer in headlights where salt is concerned. There is even a reality show, "The Biggest Loser."

So all the speeches in allthe month will not knock the food kings off the wall.

And take care beforeadopting too many new fashions. Indeed, it might save more lives to taxunderweight people. But they might need to be given financial help. Their weightmay not even be their choice.

There is a slow cooking, and it has been around for more than 20 years. http://www.slowfood.com/?-session=query_session:A867DB7B18c2339532igB32DD73A

But even TV shows and movies romanticizing such cooking don't seem to have much impact when faced with the pressures of a daily life that should be easier with all our conveniences. Seems everyone, especially employers, expect more.

Apple Officially Enters Clouds

2011-10-13T11:31:00.001-06:00

Officially,at least, Steve Jobs beat Apple into the clouds by a week. But looking at itfrom a different angle it shows how his presence lives on.

Thisweek’s the company’s servers were catching up as it replaced its Mobileme withiCloud. So many users were making the switch that some met delays.

Inreality, Mobileme was a cloud-based product. Amazon, Google, Netflix and othersalso have been effectively offering storage space and streaming for some time.

Applereleased IOS5 on Wednesday to replace its paid Mobileme mail and otherofferings on the iPhone, iPad and Macs. And its basic service will be free viaiTunes.

TheLos Angeles Times reported Thursday that by the end of the year consumers willbe able to pay to watch movies, making it a competitor of Netflix andUltraviolet. They will have a choice of renting the films for a specific periodor paying a higher price and downloading them as a purchase.

ICRC Libya Sirte Situation Desperate

2011-10-11T11:07:00.000-06:00

Tripoli/Geneva (ICRC) – On 10 and 11 October, staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) evacuated a total of 25 war-wounded and other patients from Ibn Sina Hospital in Sirte. The patients had been left with only a few health-care personnel to care for them following fierce fighting in recent days.

"The situation inside the hospital is very chaotic and distressing," said Patrick Schwaerzler, the ICRC delegate in charge of the evacuations. "When we arrived there, we found patients with severe burns and shrapnel wounds. Some had sustained recent amputations. A few were half-conscious. They were lying among crowds of other people who were also asking us for help."

The hospital has been partly destroyed and is not functional any more. It was urgent to move out wounded patients requiring intensive care or specialized treatment. "Today we even brought out a newborn baby in its incubator," said Mr Schwaerzler.

On 11 October the ICRC evacuated 17 patients from Sirte hospital, most of them war casualties, accompanied by four close relatives and the baby of a patient. This morning, Libyan Red Crescent volunteers also brought seven patients who needed no further hospitalization, together with six family members, back to their homes on the eastern side of Sirte.

On 10 October the ICRC had evacuated eight wounded patients from the hospital.

The ICRC transferred the first group of evacuated patients to a hospital in Tripoli. The second group are being taken to a medical facility west of Sirte, for onward transport by helicopter to hospitals in Tripoli.

Four ICRC medical personnel, together with the remaining staff at the hospital, made sure the wounded patients were stable enough to be transported and willing to leave. All parties concerned agreed to this urgent evacuation.

The Libyan Red Crescent is transferring a further group of 18 foreign nationals (Egyptians, Palestinians and Lebanese), who had gathered at the hospital and wanted to leave the city, to Harawa, some 50 kilometres east of Sirte. From there they will proceed to a camp for displaced people in Benghazi. The evacuated foreigners, as well as the remaining foreign staff at the hospital and other foreign nationals there, were given the opportunity to make satellite phone calls to their loved ones, who had had no news of them since the outbreak of heavy fighting in Sirte.

"We saw hundreds of civilians fleeing Sirte yesterday and today, but thousands are still caught inside the city," said Mr Schwaerzler. "There is no electricity, and no food has reached civilians in the city for weeks. All parties engaged in the hostilities must take all possible precautions to spare them."

More than 20,000 people, among them many women, children and elderly people, have so far left their homes in Sirte. In addition, dozens of people have been arrested in recent days.

Three ICRC trucks and six lighter vehicles were used in the evacuations. An explosive ordnance disposal expert helped to make sure the road was safe. In total, 15 ICRC staff were involved in the two-day effort, which was carried out with the support of Libyan Red Crescent volunteers. This was the fourth time since the beginning of the month that the ICRC had entered Sirte to perform its humanitarian tasks.

For further information, please contact:

Dibeh Fakhr, ICRC Tripoli/Benghazi, tel: +88 16 22 411 614

or +218 9 923 304 560 or +218 913 066 198

Soumaya Beltifa, ICRC Tripoli/Benghazi, tel: +218 928 467 594

Steven Anderson, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 20 11 or +41 79 536 92 50

or visit our website: www.icrc.org

To preview and download the latest ICRC video footage in broadcast quality, go to

www.icrcvideonewsroom.org

Follow the ICRC on facebook.com/icrcfans and twitter.com/icrc english

Map: #Occupy protests across America - Occupy Wall Street - Al Jazeera English

2011-10-11T08:20:00.000-06:00

Map: #Occupy protests across America - Occupy Wall Street - Al Jazeera English

The Parapluies de Seattle

2011-10-11T07:43:00.000-06:00

Back in the Cold War days when there was trouble in Moscow, Americans turned to the Western media to try to find out the truth. Now the Russian media, and others, say the U.S. media is trying to black out our problems.

Le Monde reports today about parapluies being banned in Seattle, not Cherbourg during the days of the Algerian war. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said Occupy Wall Street protestors were using them to hide. They have been designated structures and therefore may not stand in parks.

Russian Television’s Website devotes a column to events throughout the U.S.

“When not maced in the face or dragged around during police arrests, a peaceful tone prevails at the Occupy Wall Street protests,” RT reported.

Much of it is live streeting … while another large part is live streaming. Sort of like in Cairo during the April Spring, screens carry messages from the Big Apple to Hollywood.

Even now an embedded media pays little attention to the two wars that consume American blood and money. The fact that our main ally, Pakistan, supports insurgents who kill American troops, is ignored.

How did Osama die? The story was widely told in Europe that a Pakistani intelligence officer sold him out after years of being supported by Saudi money.

The crowds do get attention, though. Hard to ignore. More than 25 tents were set up in the rain and snow on Columbus Day across from the state capitol in Denver. Troopers took no action as at least one of the protesters was a member of the Legislature. A young man yelled at my son, as we drove by, "I'm 29 and I have never lived in a democracy."

“What we here is now over 250,000 people have signed a pledge of support for the occupiers saying we’re with you, we stand with you, we are united in the fight for real democracy and against corruption and for a government that’s truly accountable to the people and not corrupt elite,” campaigner Cambronero told RT.

Protesters keep busy with meetings and reading, not so much TV.

“99 percent of the country don’t have control of the wealth as they should _ it’s not evenly distributed. One percent of the country owns 42 percent of the wealth,” poet and hip hop artist Talib Kweli said.

The government seems at a stalemate. Is this the party of the late Republican President Ronald Reagan. He denounced the rich getting breaks on taxes.

America Loses Its Leonardo

2011-10-10T11:48:00.000-06:00

The only thing I regret about Steve Jobs is that I came to know his products too late. He truly was America’s Leonardo da Vinci.

My first Apple product was an iMac. To say it was aesthetically pleasing is an understatement. I was curious. Where was the rest of it?

Then came the iPod, laptops, a new iMac, an iPad.

And the Apple stores. Instead of driving myself nuts trying to make my other computers work I would make an appointment at the Genius bar.

Yes, their hardware was expensive. But their software was cheap.

Even with all the newfangled things this baby boomer saw in his life nothing was so grand.

He was Mr. MacIntosh.

The Problem With Some Citizen Journalism

2011-10-08T18:00:00.000-06:00

I hadthought citizen journalism would be out-of-the-box writing.

Havingspent more than 35 years with AP and others, including overseas, I had foughtand fought against gate-keepers.

Godforbid anything should be original. Put the original material at the bottom sowhen the news got to its outlets editors there would remove it.

Timeafter time we were told to include context in stories. When we did it wasremoved. One editor wrote me up for reporting that the Germany Army had usedmustard gas in World War I.

At thesame time we were pushed to Murdock journalism. Get quotes from victims ofterrible tragedies.

Theimpact it has on writers is similar to what happens to firefighters or police.

I onceasked why I was so often the asked to do it, Columbine for example. Because youare so good at it, I was told.

Sowhen doing so much of this resulted in early retirement due to PTSD and otherissues, I was surprised that my psychologist and psychiatrist (both ex-Army lieutenantcolonels) urged me to keep writing.

Therewere plenty of people who wanted me to write. I went in several directions andultimately was invited to write for Allvoices. It was an organization thatclaimed was founded to make it possible for people in the Third World andelsewhere to get to tell their story.

Ienjoyed it at first because I could put my spin on stories about Afghanistan,Libya and science, art, and history.

Aftera time it became clear to me that I was merely creating a diversion for theirpornography and plagiarism. They couldn’t even get the plagiarism right.

Insteadof bringing us stories from their homes that the mainstream media never coveredthey focused on Charlie Sheen and the likes. Often their writing wasincoherent.

Therewere no editors.

Pornographyfrequently was the best seller.

Thereare Websites that include writing fromcitizen journalists, but the biggest ones carried old, badly written,disgusting and hoax stories.

Makeup your own mind. Google Allvoices and Amra Tareen. Read of the plans they madethat never came true.

Tax Cuts Helping Kansas Wife-Beaters

2011-10-07T11:40:00.000-06:00

Aroundthe nation inmates are being released from jails because they are too crowded.Topeka, Kansas is taking it to a new level.

Thecity is considering no more prosecutions for domestic abuse because it isbroke.

Thecounty, Shawnee, had been handling them but it stopped because it can’t affordthe cost either. It has already released 16 accused spouse beaters.

Thisleaves abused women in a real perilous situation. Kansas law requires that aspouse accused of abuse be arrested.

But ifthe abuser is not going to be punished then upon release the victim may facemore assaults.

"Women are in increased danger after they have calledpolice and after there is an arrest, because often times the abuser will blamethe victim for his arrest," said Becky Dickinson, of the YWCA Center forSafety and Empowerment.

"When an abusive partner is arrested, the victim'sdanger level increases," Dickinson told The International Business Times. "The abuser will often become more violent in anattempt to regain control. Letting abusive partners out of jail with noconsequences puts victims in incredibly dangerous positions.

Meanwhile, the feds have launched a big operation in California, which no doubt will cost many millions, to shut down marijuana operations. A small fraction of that likely would pay for all the domestic abuse cases in the entire Sunflower state.