[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Kremlin reacted furiously on Wednesday after an obscene posting mocking liberal blogger Alexei Navalny, who was tossed in the calaboose in this week's protests, reappeared on President Dmitry Medvedev's Twitter feed.
"Last night an inappropriate retweet appeared on Dmitry Medvedev's Twitter account," the Kremlin said in a curt statement.
"During a planned change of password, a member of staff responsible for the account's technical support carried out an inacceptable intervention into the @MedvedevRussia account. The guilty will be punished."
The message by Konstantin Rykov, who has created websites for Medvedev and strongman leader Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... , said: "If someone writes the phrase 'party of swindlers and thieves' on a blog, he is just a fuckface."
Navalny, a charismatic opposition blogger, coined the phrase "party of swindlers and thieves" to describe ruling party United Russia. It was swiftly taken up by opposition parties and became a defining slogan of this month's polls.
Navalny was tossed in the calaboose on Tuesday for 15 days after taking part in the first opposition protest against the election results.
Rykov posted the message on his own site at 12:30 am Wednesday, and someone in charge of Medvedev's Twitter account retweeted it in an apparently deliberate act. Bloggers rapidly circulated screen shots before the post was deleted.
Medvedev has been a frequent user of Twitter since he sent his first misspelt message during a visit to Silicon Valley with Arnold Schwarzenegger, alternating brief chatty messages with links to press statements.
Up to this month's polls, Rykov was one of United Russia's youngest members of parliament at 32.
He created a website called For Putin, where members of the public could back Putin serving a third successive term from 2008.
More recently in November he created a site called Medvedev Yes!, although its purpose is unclear since the president has publicly said he would not stand for a second term, stepping aside for Putin's benefit.
Rykov previously also created several erotic entertainment sites and ran a publishing house.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The guilty will be punished," the Kremlin said.
Ooooo...you know that's going to leave a mark. That's one of those historical phrases.
#2
...someone in charge of Medvedev's Twitter account...
You too can have a career in social media. Picture your self working on the staff of famous Hollywood movie stars, billionaire industrialists or Kremlin dictators. This is the hottest job opportunity of the 21st Century!
[Pak Daily Times] A Kuwaiti opposition group called on voters Wednesday to boycott upcoming parliamentary elections over what it called a lack of political and legislative reforms necessary for fair polls.
The Ummah party, a group of religious and conservative politicians founded in 2005 but still not officially recognised, called in a statement for reforming the electoral system and establishing an independent election commission.
The group also called for legalising political parties ahead of the polls to guarantee a smooth rotation of authority and hold the government accountable in case it failed to carry out its programme. Political parties are not recognised in Kuwait but many political groups operate as de facto parties. Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah dissolved parliament on Tuesday following protests against the previous government headed by Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-al-Ahmad Al-Sabah over corruption allegations.
The new elections must be held within 60 days of dissolving the 50-member parliament but so far no date has been set. The oil-rich Gulf state has been rocked by a series of political crises over the past six years during which seven governments were forced to resign and parliament was dissolved on four occasions.
The Ummah party stressed that dissolving parliament will help defuse tensions, but the lingering political crisis in the country will not be resolved without allowing the Kuwaiti people to elect their own government. Under the current system, the ruler appoints the government headed by a member of the Al-Sabah ruling family which will continue to hold key posts regardless of the outcome of the elections. The Ummah party had boycotted the general polls in 2006 and 2009 but fielded candidates in 2008 although it did not win any seats. The group also had a number of supporters in the dissolved parliament.
Several political and youth groups and some former opposition MPs have urged fundamental political and constitutional reforms in Kuwait with some calling for a constitutional monarchy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Russian state-run television news channels on Wednesday turned a blind eye to the post-election protests in Moscow and other cities, leaving Internet sites as the only source of blow-by-blow coverage.
On Tuesday evening, as police tossed in the clink at least 300 people in a central Moscow square, the country's main news show turned to Angelina Jolie's directorial debut and a Russian woman tossed in the clink abroad for faking a $100 bill.
State rolling news channel Rossiya 24 even covered reindeer tagging in the remote northern Yamala region.
Neither made any mention of opposition supporters holding the second mass rally in two days contesting the results of parliamentary polls, marked by riot police detaining at least 300 people, according to police.
State-controlled Channel One's newsreader Yekaterina Andreyeva did cover rallies in Moscow, but only official ones held by pro-Kremlin youth groups.
"I can't remember a more total news blackout in recent times," television reviewer Arina Borodina told Kommersant FM radio station.
The radio station's political correspondent Stanislav Kucher angrily denounced journalists at state channels in remarks on the station's website.
"You are hiding information from millions of people...," he told them. "In these days you are disgracing yourselves and your profession."
On Wednesday, the Channel One continued to ignore the story.
Its noon show led on an aeroplane that overshot a runway as it landed. No one was injured.
It also showed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... discussing plans to extend Moscow's Pushkin Museum and an item on radioactive Japanese baby food.
The show did air footage of rioters flinging Molotov cocktails and helmeted riot police -- but that item was filmed in Athens, not in Moscow.
NTV, owned by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, ran stories on Israel, Greece and the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor, with domestic coverage included a defective apartment block and football.
But its website did run stories about the protests.
Even state news organizations offered more coverage than the television stations. RIA Novosti won praise for running live coverage of the protest on its website.
A major source of coverage was from new and independent Internet television channel Dozhd (Rain). It had a correspondent at the scene from the start of the protest and ran live footage.
"Five riot police are just grabbing a single person, dragging and shoving him in," news hound Karine Orlova said by phone to the studio. "They just seem to have an order to detain a certain number of people."
She also visited one of the same official United Russia rallies that Channel One had touched on, but had a very different take on it.
"There are very few people," she said. "They were bussed in from Smolensk and Bryansk... they really have no idea what they're doing here."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A bit like the MSM having no mention of the second round of climategate leaks.
CAIRO: An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any "sexual thoughts."
A perennial concern among the overly religious set.
The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.
Oh brilliant! Set the menfolk to cutting up the symbolic pen1ses themselves, then serving their women as if they were not men but mere wives themselves -- the perfect recipe for a happy Muslim home.
He said that these fruits and vegetables "resemble the male penis" and hence could arouse women or "make them think of sex."
I guess it'll work if it's presented as foreplay...
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.
The sheikh was asked how to "control" women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.
Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.
The opinion has stirred a storm of irony and denouncement among Muslims online, with hundreds of comments mocking the cleric.
One reader said that these religious "leaders" give Islam "a bad name" and another commented said that he is a "retarded" person and he must quite his post immediately.
Others called him a seeker of fame, but no official responses from renowned Islamic scholars have been published on the statements.
#15
Nathan's has graciously offered to make their "Beyond Purchase Date..." Beef-Chicken-PORK blend wieners available at no cost, to Islamic clerics as rear-entry training-aids.
#16
I think I speak for a majority of women when I say, cucumbers, bananas, zucchini, and carrots make me think of . . . how bad I want a pizza and a pint of ice cream.
Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Germany's Deutsche Bank, was the target of a mail bomb sent to the firm's headquarters in Frankfurt, according to a senior U.S. law enforcement officer quoted by Reuters Wednesday.
The device did not detonate and there were no reported injuries. Reuters said the package carried a return address from the European Central Bank's Frankfurt headquarters.
NBC New York reports that the NYPD has warned banks to be on their toes in the wake of the discovery of the package targeting Deutsche Bank.
Wednesday's news comes with a big weekend looming in Europe. The ECB is meeting on interest rate policy Thursday, while political leaders are gathering in Brussels for an EU Summit that will focus on the region's response to a sovereign debt crisis that could spread into the financial system and threaten major firms like Deutsche Bank and its ilk.
During the House Judicial hearing today with Holder as witness, Wis Rep Sensenbrenner used the word "impeachment" and then there was a discussion of the difference between the words "lying" and "inaccuracies," with Sensenbrenner using the lying word, and Holder insisted on his "inaccuracies" word.
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, one of the first congressmen who demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder resign immediately, told The Daily Caller he's introducing an official House resolution to push for a vote of no confidence in Holder as attorney general.
The House resolution is a way to formalize the growing surge in calls for Holder's immediate resignation, and it sends a message to House leadership and to the administration that many members of Congress aren't happy with Holder's behavior throughout the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
Gosar told TheDC he has two goals with this resolution. "First, the reproval by Congress of an executive official, is a significant statement," Gosar said in an email. "Cabinet positions, including the Attorney General, are appointed with the consent of half of Congress, the Senate."
"There is clearly a role for Congress in evaluating executive branch officials," he continued. "When an executive branch official fails to act in the best interests of the country, acts illegally, or fails to uphold the faith and integrity the duties of the office demand, Congress is more than entitled to express its approbation, disapproval or censure. This resolution does that for the House."
The second goal, Gosar said, is to raise "public awareness" of what happened during Fast and Furious. TheDC reported on Wednesday that at least two Democratic members of Congress -- both members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus -- weren't aware of Fast and Furious until they were approached about the scandal.
"By filing this resolution, we are anticipating a debate on the House floor and a floor vote," Gosar said. "This will bring needed inquiry, exposure and transparency to the issue itself."
The measure is largely symbolic but is nonetheless a more official move than statements from members calling for Holder's resignation. It includes a breakdown of everything those in favor of the no confidence resolution allege Holder to have done to earn it. A floor vote isn't likely to happen any time soon, unless House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, or another member of leadership gets on board quickly.
#1
Holder:
"Despite the controversy over the inaccurate February letter from Justice, Holder also stated: "Nobody in the Justice Department has lied."
Then his pants caught on fire.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/08/2011 12:11 Comments ||
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Attorney General Eric Holder: Well, if you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that would be considered perjury or a lie. The information that was provided by the February 4th letter was gleaned by the people who drafted the letter after they interacted with people who they thought were in the best position to have the information.
#8
Issa declared Holder a "hostile witness" for false testimony and non-disclosure. He'll resign or be impeached
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2011 13:56 Comments ||
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#9
#7 Why not leave him there as incentive to get rid of Obean? He's the gift that keeps on giving.
Posted by: gorb 2011-12-08 13:50
Holder is the guy with his finger in the dike - when he goes the house of Obama begins to crumble.... I stand by my prediction of last week. He will be gone within 90 (er, 83) days.......
#10
What kills me is Holder says that the gun store guys kept coming back to the ATF to make sure the deal could go through, yet still insisted that these vast numbers of guns used down in Mexico were from America. Even if he goes down he wants to stamp that meme into cement.
#12
Attorney General Eric Holder: "...it all has to do with your state of mind and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that would be considered perjury or a lie."
George Costanza: "It's not a lie if you believe it."
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/08/2011 15:39 Comments ||
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#13
So, canwe stop saying Bush lied? He was only passing on information he got from others who he thought new what they were talking about.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/08/2011 15:55 Comments ||
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#14
I don't care if Holder resigns, I want to see him prosecuted. Perhaps he can share a cell with Blogo.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
12/08/2011 18:04 Comments ||
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#15
#14 I don't care if Holder resigns, I want to see him prosecuted. Perhaps he can share a cell with Blogo.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili 2011-12-08 18:04
Meh....Blogo will be pardoned by Obama on his last day in office (whenever that may be (shudder))....
[Dawn] Pak President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... is in Dubai for treatment for a heart condition, the government said on Wednesday, with one source saying he had suffered a minor heart attack and fuelling speculation that the leader may resign.
The statement from the prime minister's office said Zardari went to a Dubai hospital at the insistence of his children, who live there. It contradicted earlier reports from Zardari's own office that the tests were scheduled and routine.
"The president went to Dubai following symptoms related to his pre-existing heart condition," Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... 's media office said.
"The president will remain under observation and return to resume his normal functions as advised by the doctors."
A presidential front man later quoted Zardari's doctor as saying his condition was stable.
A Pak source in Dubai familiar with the 56-year-old president's condition told Rooters that he had suffered a minor heart attack.
"Two days ago, he had chest pain" and decided to go to Dubai, the source said.
Six years ago, Zardari had also had a minor heart attack, the source said. "Since then, he has been on medication."
"He had a minor heart attack on Tuesday. He flew to Dubai where he had an angioplasty. He's in good health now," Mustafa Khokhar, adviser to the prime minister on human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... who sits in the cabinet also told AFP.
"There's no question of any resignation," he added.
A Dubai-based member of Zardari's Pakistain People's Party (PPP), Mian Muneer Hans, said the president landed in Dubai around 7:30 pm on Tuesday.
"He walked to his car in the airport and was not on any ambulance," said Hans, adding that he was accompanied by his doctor and petroleum minister Asim Hussain. Zardari was taken straight to the American Hospital in Dubai, said Hans.
"He's taking rest in the hospital now. He may be there for two to three days," he added.
The hospital's chief executive officer Thomas Murray, contacted by Rooters, declined to comment on the reports.
The rumours about his health and possible resignation swirled on Twitter and other social media.
"Some elements blew up this to create unrest in the country," said Fauzia Wahab, a senior member of the PPP. "His visit to Dubai and having a medical check up is perfectly normal."
Zardari was due to address parliament this week after the Supreme Court admitted an opposition leader's petition demanding a judicial inquiry into the memo issue, including any role played by Zardari. That address has now been postponed.
If he were to leave office, he would become vulnerable to long-standing corruption charges in Pakistain by losing his legal immunity as a head of state.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
You're only the Great Satan until the heart attack strikes.
[Dawn] A US magazine on Wednesday claimed that President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... who had gone to Dubai for medical check-up may have angioplasty on Wednesday and he may resign from his office on account of "ill health", DawnNews reported.
A former US government official told The Cable that Washington was informed that Zardari had a 'minor heart attack' on Monday night and he flew to Dubai via air ambulance.
The report posted on the website of foreign policy magazine further claimed that Zardari was 'incoherent' during his telephonic conversation with President Barack My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it Obama which took place over the weekend regarding the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... air strikes.
"The noose was getting tighter --it was only a matter of time," the former official said, expressing the growing expectation inside the US government that Zardari may be on the way out.
Senior analyst Shuja Nawaz told The Cable that "this is the 'in-house change option' that has been talked about."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/08/2011 00:00 ||
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The Swiss-based humanitarian group denies media reports that it was probing whether or not the Geneva Conventions would apply to computer games.
Gamers worried their actions on the virtual battlefield could land them at the Hague war crimes tribunal can relax.
The International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross says media reports that it is investigating whether the Geneva Conventions apply to video games are false. The Swiss-based humanitarian group assured gamers Thursday that "serious violations of the laws of war can only be committed in real-life situations."
The ICRC says it is nevertheless interested in working with video game makers to promote a better understanding of international humanitarian law because some companies also develop war simulations for armed forces. The group also trains armies in how to abide by the rules of war that forbid targeting civilians, medics and captured combatants
#1
Worth noting this is the International Committee of the Red Cross, a manifestation of Blair's Law, and NOT the American Red Cross which actually does good things, both at home and internationally in places like Haiti.
Bloggers beware! The new media and bloggers are not considered journalists. Judge says journalists have a code of ethics and protections. Who would have known journalists have ethics? This has been the traditional assault by newspapers against blogs: that 'freedom of the press' applies to them and not to blogs, since they own a printing press and bloggers do not. The counter-argument (and correct one, IMHO) is that the Framers intended freedom of the press to include the pamphleteers who papered our early republic with their issues. Bloggers are the latest version of those people.
A ruling by a federal judge in Oregon should send chills down your spine if you're a blogger.
Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., was sued for defamation by attorney Kevin Padrick when she posted online that he was a thug and a thief during the handling of bankruptcy proceedings by him and Obsidian Finance Group LLC. Crystal, by the way, did not do herself or bloggers any favors, since she insisted on representing herself in these legal proceedings. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Padrick, of Bend, Ore., was a trustee in a bankruptcy case involving Summit Accommodators, a company that helped property owners conduct real estate transactions in a way to limit taxes. Three executives face federal fraud and money laundering indictments.
Cox said she considered herself a journalist, producing more than 400 blogs over the past five years, with a proprietary technique to get her postings on the top of search engines where they get the most notice. All well and good, Crystal, but even if you're a journalist, you have to be careful not to defame people.
But last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez found that as a blogger, Cox was not a journalist and cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets.
Media experts said that the ruling would have little effect on the definition of journalism, but it does cast a shadow on those who work in nontraditional media since it highlights the lack of case law that could protect them and the fact that current state shield laws for journalists are not covering recent developments in online media. This is going to be appealed. Let's hope Crystal gets good help. The amicus curiae briefs will flood in. I expect the USSC or the Appeals court to rule in favor of bloggers.
#1
it will be overturned. All she had to do was say "IMHO" - or "in my opinion.....". Then it is not defamatory
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/08/2011 12:34 Comments ||
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#2
"cannot claim the protections afforded to mainstream reporters and news outlets"
And where exactly in our Constitution does it say news outlets get special privileges above those of ordinary citizens?
(Hint: it's not in the First Amendment.)
Who published it shouldn't matter. It's either defamation, or it isn't.
Posted by: Barbara ||
12/08/2011 13:03 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to mention the "personal opinions" concept at the top of this blog somewhere so some numnutz like Wronghaven doesn't try to make an example out of anyone here.
#5
I don't know... I really don't trust the reporting on this. It doesn't really sound like it's about blogging at all.
It sounds as if Ms. Cox made arguably libelous statements about Mr. Padrick, and then tried to invoke a 'shield law' to protect an 'anonymous source.'
Calling yourself a journalist shouldn't be a free ticket to defame a private person. If Ms. Cox had evidence that her statements were true, couldn't she have pleaded that?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Germany's Deutsche Bank, was the target of a mail bomb sent to the firm's headquarters in Frankfurt, according to a senior U.S. law enforcement officer quoted by Reuters Wednesday.
Asif Ali 
Asif Ali 
