Loughner, 23, is charged with 49 felonies arising from the Jan. 8, 2011, shootings.
In the context of criminal cases, incompetent and insane are legal terms, not diagnoses.
Incompetent means that a defendant is unable to understand the court proceedings and is unable to assist his or her attorney. A defendant cannot go to trial unless competent.
If a court finds a defendant unable to be restored to competence through mental-health treatment, the charges are dropped and the defendant is generally committed to a mental hospital.
Insane, by contrast, means that a defendant was not aware what he or she did was wrong at the time the crime was committed.
And, though it seems a paradox, a defendant can be seriously mentally ill and still be sane and competent.
And though, so far, Loughner has been found incompetent to stand trial, the court's expectation is that he can be restored to competency within "a reasonable" amount of time. Given the high profile of the case, "reasonable" could take quite awhile.
Insanity, meanwhile, will be difficult to prove in Loughner's case. In most criminal cases, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant is guilty. In order to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, as the federal verdict is known -- Arizona and other states call it guilty except insane -- the onus is on the defendant. Defense attorneys must convince a judge or jury that the defendant is insane.
By all accounts, Loughner is seriously mentally ill, but the evidence that has come to light so far suggests he did a great deal of planning and reasoning in carrying out his attack. He researched the death penalty and life imprisonment. He said goodbye to his friends. He talked his way out of a traffic ticket on the day of the shootings. Juries could interpret those acts as premeditation.
Unless found not guilty, Loughner will likely spend the rest of his life in some form of incarceration -- a prison mental-health unit or a mental hospital if he is found incompetent or not guilty by reason of insanity, or on death row if he is convicted.
The insanity defense, which, contrary to popular perception, is used in fewer than 1 percent of all criminal trials, is only successful about a quarter of the time it is used. It's also important to note that Muslims frequently use the insanity defense elsewhere to evade punishment for their violent crimes. America, however, faced with a spate of insanity pleas in the 1960s, tightened up the rules so much that it is a loser gamble. And even if you win, you lose, because incarceration often involves being placed in a drug induced coma for 23 hours in a day, for the rest of your natural life.
#2
Defense attorneys must convince a judge or jury that the defendant is insane.
"Your Honor. The defendant actually believes President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, that 'extending unemployment benefits creates more jobs than building the XL pipeline'. Clearly, he is insane"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2012 12:15 Comments ||
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#3
...or a member of the MSM. Then again one doesn't exclude the other.
#4
Scooter: Legally, the Supreme Court decided that the mentally ill may be forcibly treated in an effort to restore their competency for trial, but states are free to do so during detention in a state mental institution. Typically this involves administrating anti-psychotic medications called neuroleptic drugs. However, because such institutions are chronically understaffed, other drugs are used to achieve even greater passivity, though this is unethical.
Neuroleptic drugs such as Zyprexa, Abilify, Seroquel, Risperdal, Clorazil and Geodon cause tardive dyskinesia, which impairs their ability to walk and talk and causes uncontrollable facial twitches and drooling and rigidity of muscles and movement; neuroleptic malignant syndrome which causes muscle stiffness and rigidity, irregular heartbeat, high fever, high blood pressure, psychomotor inertia and, in some cases, death; shrinkage of the brain cortex (the seat of our reasoning abilities); reduced life expectancy; impaired immune system functioning; and increased risk of pituitary cancer and diabetes.
That is, by themselves they often greatly incapacitate the inmates. But add to that other drugs that tranquilize or are hypnotics and they in effect become comatose and far easier to maintain and manage.
The "23 out of 24" rule permits them the coherence to become conscious enough to eat and defecate, the purpose of which is to again, reduce staff work.
The whole system, nationwide, is pretty hideous, and even those who care about the mentally ill soon decide for the most part, it is better to let those that handle it do so, and to not think about it too much.
Neuroleptic drugs such as Zyprexa, Abilify, Seroquel, Risperdal, Clorazil and Geodon cause tardive dyskinesia
CAN cause tardive dyskinessia after chronic use - but often don't. There are many long time users of Seroquel and Risperdal that have no such side effects. Abilify's newer on the market.
Clorazil has been a godsend to some schizophrenics who aren't helped by other drugs, but it does have significant potential side effects.
#1
"Airbus emphasizes that these cracks do not affect the safe operation of the aircraft."
" Gee, General Custer, what do you think all them Indians want?"
While I have repaired/replaced a fair number of little clips, as these brackets are sometimes called, it seems to me that for a new aircraft a little Root Cause Analysis is in order. Especially when the wing break test was marginal, at best.
(Full Dislosure: Airbus is currently putting a good portion of my bread on the table with each set of interior parts we ship)
Oh my goodness, where do I begin?
An in-development Microsoft smart phone app designed to help drivers and pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods is proving controversial among some minority rights groups that find the software potentially discriminatory. But I like to discriminate against criminals. It's supposed to be a free country, isn't it?
The as-of-yet unnamed product is being referred to as the "Avoid The Ghetto" app by those who are concerned with where it will guide users. Boy, that sure does sound racist. I wonder who coined it. I don't wonder why.
"I'm going to be up in arms about it if it happens," said Dallas NAACP President Juanita Wallace. You really ought to take that NAACP off your business card. It doesn't help being associated with a blatantly racist organization. She's up in arms and it hasn't yet happened. What will she do for an encore?
Wallace spent her afternoon at a rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and said she felt safe there, but fears the app may project otherwise. I live in Dallas. Not sure I would feel safe there. I'm not trying to avoid MLK Blvd, I'm trying to avoid crime-ridden areas. How could you possibly make this connection, you racist bi+ch?
"Can you imagine me not being able to go to MLK Blvd. because my GPS says that's a dangerous crime area? I can't even imagine that," she said. Yes, I can imagine that. I can also imagine turning it off if I think the statistics are incorrect. And I'm sure that Microslop will include an automatic "update" feature that will allow mistakes to be corrected as time goes on.
Microsoft says the app will use crime statistics to determine what parts of town are to be avoided. But it's unclear where the data will come from and how it will be interpreted. I wonder if Microslop could set up some kind of credit exchange system where mayors can buy and sell "Crime Credits" to offset negative crime statistics. Of course, Microsoft would get to distribute them to mayors who offer the most generous credit-sale kickbacks and political concessions, on top of getting a percentage of every trade. That wouldn't be unethical, would it?
Microsoft has filed a patent for the app, but the actual product is unnamed and not available yet. How about the "Never Access Any Criminal Places" button? That ought to get a few panties and handkerchiefs in a bunch.
Opponents like Wallace fear it could hurt minority communities. Most everything hurts minority communities... Or help people who don't like shooting people or being shot at.
"It's almost like gerrymandering," she said. "It's stereotyping for sure and without a doubt; I can't emphasize enough, it's discriminatory." My, aren't we sensitive about some area of town that in all likelihood is far, far away from where you live.
Michael McNally, who was visiting Dallas Tuesday, said an app shouldn't have enough power to label a community. I'd say the statistics label the community, and the community drives the statistics. Unless the problem-causing elements commute in from far away, of course.
"It may have a high crime problem but have some great cultural, social things you can do there," McNally said. As long as you or your kids don't wear something other than grey, maybe.
Dallas resident Chris Hurst said it sounds like a good safety tool. Surely Chris is white. Surely ....
"I'd be all for it because you can never be too safe," he said. Or too alive.
Tommy Jones, who works downtown, said an app like Microsoft's could hurt a city's economy. Like the drug trade? Somehow, I can imagine ways in which the app could end up helping the local "economy".
"From a business standpoint, it could be devastating," he said. "Especially in the area of tourism." "Tourism". Riiight. OK, everyone, from now on we're calling it "tourism". Snicker.
Economic development is a major initiative that Mayor Mike Rawlings is pushing in parts of the city that the app may suggest against visiting. Pushing police patrols, maybe?
Wallace is concerned this type of technology would continue to perpetuate stereotypes in Dallas and beyond. Anything but fix the problem. Anything.
"What happens in North Dallas certainly ought to be no different than what happens in South Dallas, so we can't keep on doing this," she said. "This type of technology is certainly going to pronounce and heighten it to some degree." Yeah, North and South Dallas certainly ought to have similar statistics. Whose statistics would you rather have where you live? But that is neither here nor there, since this isn't a liberal Utopia. this is reality. And when drugs offer a better living than the economy can provide, people will go there. And if they have to go there, I prefer that it be contained in some place that I can easily avoid. And if you don't think it's fair, then go live in that neighborhood and vote accordingly.
Microsoft declined to comment, issuing a statement that said the company "does not comment on filed or awarded patents." I guess we'll never hear about any other products they ever intend to make or have made, either.
#2
How soon before the Department of (in)Justice argues that it is racist to consciously attempt to avoid being a victim of violent crime?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/19/2012 7:59 Comments ||
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#3
So what they are basically saying is:
High Crime Neighborhood == Black Neighborhood
(I'm not saying it - they are saying it)
This just extends what the local people already do anyway - Avoid the crime ridden areas. I don't know which neighborhoods of LA or Detroit I should avoid at night because I don't live there.
#4
I live near Chicago. I know perfectly well which neighborhoods to avoid, and I don't need an app for that.
I don't live near Detroit but I've figured out, based on news reports, which parts to avoid: all of them.
As to Dallas, the app sounds handy. All it is in the end is a crime map, and all that does is overlap publicly available statistics on a map. Ms. Wallace may not like it, but those are the facts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2012 8:57 Comments ||
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#5
Whites, Asians have their gangs too ya know.
Besides, ever do something like drive a blue car through a red neighborhood...its awkward.
Besides, if it avoided all crime areas, nobody would be able to drive to DC.
#6
Microsoft could make a witty reply to this by saying that the NAACP should instead spend its time criticizing city governments for naming streets in high crime areas after MLK, and forcing black people to live there.
#7
Back in the late 90s I worked for a mapping compay. We made maps intended for auto navigation. This was before it really took off. We created very detailed maps, had teams scouring the nation double-checking maps and addresses. A few of these maps came back for correction with notes "Man flashed gun at us" "Crack house" "Did not feel safe to make a second pass for addresses".
At the time we had an icon we would place on the map that would ensure mapping software didn't route someone through a private neighborhood. A rich area. Because those areas didn't want the extra traffic. I suggested why don't we use the same icon to ensure no routing past these clearly dangerous areas with crack houses and warnings that our own people felt were pretty scary. My suggestion seemed reasonable enough but it was quickly ignored and it was suggested that although I didn't mean it the suggestion was a bit racist. ??????
I just thought to myself eventually someone is gonna get killed because the mapping software sent them somewhere scary (there was a case of a German driving his car into the water because mapping software put a road there, long before Michael Scott on the office did so) and our maps are gonna end up in court showing that we also thought they were scary areas and yet we did nothing. The whole thing was really eye-opening to me.
#8
Oh and lastly our program would have made the decisions to route through bad parts invisible to the user. Mapping software would have routed you around unless your destination was actually there. And still they shot it down. Guess some folks at my company understood this mindset better than I did at the time.
#9
LOL, 'moose. Glad I'm not the only one who, out of an abundance of caution, won't pee or get gas at any exit for MLK Jr. Drive/Blvd/etc. I feel bad, but not enough to risk getting carjacked or otherwise accosted.
I see why the app is controversial, but it just adds precision to an unpleasant reality people already take into account. Certainly it will be useful for foreigners. I know several who have been chased out of such areas by frustrated police who pulled them over to ask if they were bleeping crazy.
#11
Just allow th alogrithm to be reverseable and it can be used as a "Good Places to Buy Crack" app - or a "Places That Need Social Investment" app for local governments. Everybody wins!
#12
So is it not OK even to verablly tell a family member or friend to avoid an area? Just asking?
Posted by: jack salami ||
01/19/2012 12:32 Comments ||
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#13
Having a chat about 'positive discrimination' earlier and the surmise was an ethnic person gets away saying a lot more racist comments than a white person with NO implications to them (see Diane Abbotts recent BLATANT RACIST statements).
What we are effectively saying is; RACISM EXISTS AND WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST so let's have it the other way for a while and make whitey suffer in whiteys house.
What we should be saying is NO TO RACISM, NO EXCUSE!
The liberal 'PC' troop are just perpetuating racism.
#16
Can you imagine me not being able to go to MLK Blvd. because my GPS says thats a dangerous crime area? I cant even imagine that." Dallas NAACP President Juanita Wallace
If a friend calls you on the telephone and says theyre lost on Martin Luther King Boulevard and they want to know what they should do, the best response is Run! Comedian Chris Rock
Remember the old days when Jerry Springer was a trashy TV host and facilitated arguments between moms and step-daughters that inevitably turned to fist fights?
I remember when he was effective as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Then the idiot paid that prostitute in Kentucky with a personal check...and it turned out she knew someone in the local media.
. Well on Wednesday, in a fit of irrelevance, Springer got back in touch with his controversial side and decided to challenge Fox's slogan of "fair and balanced" while on the set of a Fox segment. And host Gretchen Carlson wasn't having any of it.
"We're here on Fox News," Springer -- the former mayor of Cincinnati -- began during a segment on the controversial Newsweek cover regarding Obama's critics. "Every single day, in fairness, you guys, every single day, bash President Obama. Every day!" Well, if he'd stop doing stupid shtuff every day, they'd stop bashing him every day.
Carlson wasn't too pleased.
"I'm going to take you to task on that. I'm going to take you to task on that," she responded. "Because on this panel right here, we have a fair and balanced panel right here. And I'm the independent."
"For this panel!" Springer replied. "What's the rest of the show? The rest of the show, every single morning, you guys are slamming Obama. You know you are. And I'm not saying you don't have a right to, but every single conversation is something bad about Obama."
After another guest chimed in about the actual topic, Carlson came back: "And, by the way, Jerry, you obviously don't watch our show, because you do not understand that there's a reason -- I'll speak for myself, I sit in the middle, as the independent on the panel -- and quite frankly, we present both sides of the story and we leave it up to our viewers to decide where they fall." And if it sounds like he's stupid, well, it's because you left your bubble, if only for a moment, and came to your own conclusion.
She then cut to a break. And Jerry offered to teach Gretchen a few dance moves.
PRETORIA: A top US envoy on Wednesday urged South Africa to use its influence to help prevent a humanitarian disaster in a violence-wracked region in Sudan that borders the new nation of South Sudan.
Princeton Lyman, the special US envoy on Sudan, said civilians caught up in fighting in Sudans Blue Nile and South Kordofan states are running out of food and medicine. He said South Africa should pressure Sudan to allow in international humanitarian agencies.
The prospect of hundreds of thousands of people dying with no access to food or medicine is something we cant accept, Lyman said in a speech Wednesday in South Africas capital. We can prevent it. Theres time to do it.
South Africa has long been a mediator in Sudan, and a former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, chairs a special African Union committee on Sudan.
Sudans ambassador to South Africa, Ali Yousif Alsharif, said Wednesday his government might yield if Mbeki were to call for international aid groups to be able to work freely in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. But Alsharif, who appeared alongside Lyman at a forum organized by South Africas foreign affairs department, added: There is no famine in these areas. There is fighting, but it is caused by the attacks by neighboring South Sudan. Shades of Baghdad Bob...
Fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels who want to topple the Khartoum government started last year in the states, and has raised concern about a larger north-south war erupting again. Groups in both states, which border the new country of South Sudan, sided with the south during a lengthy civil war but remain part of the north.
South Sudan has faced a host of problems since gaining independence in July. Some 80,000 people fleeing the fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan have sought refuge in impoverished and underdeveloped South Sudan. South Sudans Jonglei state has seen deadly ethnic violence. And tensions have risen between Sudan and South Sudan over sharing oil.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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KIGAL: Rwanda has arrested four generals, accusing them of illegal business dealings across the border in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo, an army spokesman said on Wednesday.
They are under investigation for acts of indiscipline with respect to getting involved with civilians in business dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Col. Joseph Nzabamwita, a spokesman for the Rwanda Defense Force told Reuters.
A diplomat said the detentions might be linked to the publication of a UN report last month on illegal smuggling of minerals between Congo and Rwanda using illegal border crossings.
Nzabamwita named the four as Fred Ibingira, Richard Rutatina, Wilson Gumisiriza and Dan Munyuza. These are among the most high profile military arrests since two generals were arrested for corruption and misconduct in April, 2010. Other top brass and officials have fled into exile after falling out with President Paul Kagame.
The UN report said Rwandas recorded level of domestic production of tin, tungsten and tantalum ores was higher than industry analysts believed actual production to be, suggesting material from Congo was being smuggled into Rwanda and then labeled as Rwandan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A police officer was killed and six others were maimed during a shootout between law enforcers and criminals in Moheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar yesterday morning.
The dear departed was identified as Paresh Kumar Karbari Tripura, 50, a sub-inspector of Moheshkhali Police Station, while the injured are a police constable and five locals.
A team of police led by Paresh went to Kaliachhara village around 8:00am following information that criminal Jonab Ali and his 31 associates were hiding in a hilly region of the village to avoid arrest, police said.
Earlier, a murder case was filed against Jonab and his accomplices on charge of killing Kala Banu, a housewife of the village. Kala Banu died being hit by a bullet during a shootout between Jonab's gang and his rivals on December 27 last year.
As the police team reached the eastern part of the village in the morning, the criminals encircled them and opened fire. This triggered the shootout.
Paresh and a police constable were hit by bullets, police said.
Five locals, who were passing the area at that time, also suffered bullet wounds.
The gang managed to flee the scene. ... as though they had never been... when another team from Moheshkhali Police Station rushed to the spot after being informed by the locals.
The law enforcers took the seven bullet-hit persons to Moheshkhali Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared Paresh dead around 9:30am, said Ranjit Barua, officer-in-charge of the cop shoppe.
Paresh, of Ramgarh upazila in Khagrachhari district, was hit by 22 bullets, hospital sources said.
Later, the body was taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue for his appointment with Doctor Quincy.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Hopefully there will be boucoup payback by the police for this affront. Involving *lots* of crossfire.
For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
By Chris Covert
Suicide among the Tarahumara Indians of far western Chihuahua is rare, according to Chihuahua state and church officials.
News reports had surfaced last weekend saying that 50 Tarahumara Indians in western Chihuahua had thrown themselves over cliff in the Tarahumara region over despair from the lack of food.
The news was recounted by a local peasant leader, Ramon Gardea, in an interview on an independent Chihuahua television station last Sunday.
Later press reports have Gardea walking back the mass suicide aspect of the story saying the 50 Tarahumara deaths were a cumulative number for 2011 and did not occur as a single event.
Gardea is also quoted as distinguishing between despair and the lack of food.
"Spiritually, the Tarahumara are strong, " Gardea is quoted as saying.
Gardea's evidence of the large number of suicides rests in an apparent story that a number of Tarahumara families had been asking for money for funeral expenses.
Gardea's contention was relayed by social media sites and picked up later by Mexican national media. Since Tuesday, however, Chihuahua state officials have vehemently denied the story.
So far no bodies of the presumed dead have been found.
According to a news story appearing on Milenio's website Wednesday night, suicide among the Tarahumara is rare. When it does happen, those deaths are the result of alcohol consumption, not depression due to economic circumstances.
Alcoholism is rampant in Tarahumara communities, according to a news article appearing on an Organizacion Editorial Mexicano (OEM) news story last Monday evening, running as high as 67 percent among adult males in some communities.
According to a published interview of an unidentified spokesman with the Chihuahua state attorney general's office (FGE), in 2011 for the 23 municipalities which comprise the Sierra Tarahumara region of western Chihuahua, 26 deaths occurred which were ruled suicide. Of those, three were deaths of Tarahumara Indians, and at least two of those were from excessive consumption of alcohol.
According to the article, the 60 suicides that were reported in a news release by an unidentified subprocuradoria or district attorney earlier in the week, were apparently the 2010 death by suicide statistics for the region.
Of the 26 suicides occurring in the Sierra Tarahumara, the remainder -- 23 -- were mestizos, which is a Mexican term for mixed race Mexicans. Those deaths were attributed to alcoholism, mental illness and other factors.
According to the Chihuahua FGE, no deaths have taken place in 2011 that can be traced to starvation.
According to the official, in the Sierra Tarahumara region, 1,200 individuals are suffering from malnutrition, while that number is doubled due to the current food shortage crisis.
The denials still do not address reports two weeks ago by Proceso, the Mexican leftist news weekly -- distributed by APRO, Proceso's wire service -- detailing a report which recounted no fewer than three Tarahumara Indian children dying from complications due to starvation while the reporter, Marcela Turati, was present around Christmas time. In that report, nothing had been discussed of the December 10th mass suicide Gardea retailed in his interview over the weekend
The report was graphic enough at the time, and dramatic, characterizing the food shortage a "Somalia-style" famine, a characterization which was parroted by some Mexican mainstream national media, such as Milenio.
The report also quotes a Jesuit priest and head of the Comision de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (COSYDDHAC) or Commission of Solidarity and Defense of Human Rights stating that starvation is a constant problem in the Sierra Tarahumara region, and that the current raft of media reports seem to have a partisan purpose.
A national election to elect a new president takes place in July, 2012.
However, even the Tarahumara diocese has warned against sensationalizing a food shortage. The Bishop of the Tarahumara Diocese, Rafael Sandoval Sandoval issued a press briefing Tuesday evening through an OEM news daily El Occidental.
According to Bishop Sandoval Sandoval, Tarahumara Indians "can always find meaning in life even in difficult circumstances."
"Hiding the truth and looking at the Tarahumara culture in an unreal way is always detrimental to the Tarahumara's culture," paraphrasing the translation.
"They are a people who resist and struggle to be self-supporting, to the emergency, go to get the necessities of life without some despair. (They) do not sit waiting, but walk to find food for his people still alive," according to Bishop Sandoval Sandoval.
#2
Good for the FBI. As an investor, I have an interest in a fair marketplace. With great wealth comes great responsibility. Something that Wall street seems to have forgotten in recent years.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/19/2012 13:09 Comments ||
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Adolf Hitler's Wolf's Lair, an enormous fortified base in the quiet Polish countryside, has been put up for rent.
Known locally as the Wolfsschanze, the 13-hectare site, situated in the Masurian woods near the town of Ketryn, is on the market for £90,000 a year.
During the Second World War, the site, then part of Eastern Prussia, was used as a command post for Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. It housed more than 2,000 security personnel, as well as members of the Nazi high command, including Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann, Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl.
The lease on the land, which is owned by the Polish Forestry Commission (PFC), has recently expired and new tenants are being sought.
Reported by the Telegraph, Zenon Piotrowicz from the PFC said: "There is no way you can rebuild the bunkers."
"We are concerned more about having the place made more attractive to tourists, including the renovation of the hotel and restaurant," he said.
Though the Nazis dynamited most of the buildings as they retreated from the Red Army advance, the huge toppled concrete bunkers have become a popular tourist destination with more than 180,000 people visiting the shattered ruins each year.
Built in 1941, the site was occupied by the Fuhrer for much of the Eastern Campaign, until its eventually evacuation at the end of the war. In 1944, the complex was the focal point of Operation Valkyrie, culminating in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg and a cabal of high-ranking conspirators.
Greek police arrested a 35-year-old woman in Thessaloniki, Greeces second-largest city, for non- payment of taxes amounting to 48 million euros ($62 million), in an effort to clamp down on tax evasion.
The woman operated a clothing company between 2006 and 2010, according to a statement released on the police forces website.
Greeces government has been stepping up efforts to fight tax evasion, by arresting citizens that owe taxes. Total unpaid taxes amount to 42 billion euros, according to a statement released on Sept. 8 by the Greek Finance Ministry.
On Dec. 28 a 70-year-old man was arrested in Athens by the Greek police for unpaid taxes that amounted to 1.1 million euros, while a 47-year-old man was arrested on Dec. 12 for non- payment of 7 million euros.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Oct. 18 Greece had to step up the fight against tax evasion which will help heal societys wounds.
#1
Ha! Greece's extortion funded sector will squander every penny of tax.
IF Greece wants to be competitive it needs to cut down the size of the government, and stop punishing people for creating wealth, and tax land values instead.
[Iran Press TV] Greece and its international creditors have started a new round of talks to avoid a default by the country, with both sides under increasing pressure to work out their differences.
The two sides said little on Wednesday after an over-two-hour-long meeting except that they would meet again on Thursday. Greece has to strike a deal within days to avoid defaulting on the debt when bond redemptions, equaling EUR 14.5 billion (USD 18.5 billion), are due in late March.
Greece's debt stands at EUR 340 billion (USD 440 billion) -- a sum, which equals around EUR 31,000 debt per person in the country of 11 million people. The country has the highest debt burden in proportion to the size of its economy in the entire 17-nation eurozone.
Investors fear a default could mess with the international financial equation and send the global economy into recession.
Greek officials and international bankers have expressed optimism that a deal could be reached in the coming days, despite the fact that talks broke down last week over the issue of the interest rate Greece will offer on new bonds and a plan to enforce investor losses.
An agreement with banks and other institutional investors would open the door to a funding deal from the International Monetary Fund and European lenders and help stabilize the markets within the eurozone.
"They are working hard to breach differences and they will continue tomorrow," said a source close to the talks.
Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, the country's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, and Charles Dallara, the head of Washington's International Institute of Finance, who is also representing private money lenders at the talks, discussed both the issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Update
See ya in court.. Ooman Rites Court, that is. Hedge Funds May Sue Greece if It Tries to Force Loss
Hedge funds have been known to use hardball tactics to make money. Now they have come up with a new one: suing Greece in a human rights court to make good on its bond payments.
The novel approach would have the funds arguing in the European Court of Human Rights that Greece had violated bondholder rights, though that could be a multiyear project with no guarantee of a payoff. And it would not be likely to produce sympathy for these funds, which many blame for the lack of progress so far in the negotiations over restructuring Greeces debts
[Dawn] Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Wednesday vowed that he would establish "a new Pakistain" if he gets another chance to rule, DawnNews reported.
"I have always talked about Pakistain's progress," he said while addressing a public gathering in Sargodha.
He said it is not easy to become prime minister and serve the nation.
Sharif said 'people' have arrived to deceive youth of the country. "I had never deceived the youth," he added.
The PML-N chief said that "a military dictator had wasted 10 precious years of his and people's life."
He said that he has never been involved in politics of interests and vowed to change the fate of the country if gets another chance.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
with "new boodle" to steal
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2012 12:26 Comments ||
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Germany was the first to make large-scale use of gas as a weapon on 31 January 1915. Though rarely mentioned, the hope is that the world will be rid of chemical weapons in time for the 100th anniversary of this event.
He can set it between his Obama and Carter bobbleheads.
An Iranian non-profit company says it will honor U.S. President Barack Obama's request that Iran return a drone that crashed there last year.
But instead of the actual drone, the company says it will send miniature toy versions. A lot of them.
"We plan to send a full squadron of 12 to the White House for President Obama as a present," said Reza Kioumarsi, a spokesman for the Aaye Art Group, a Tehran-based non-profit, non-governmental company that makes novelty items.
The company is trying to determine what Obama's favorite color is before sending the drones, which are 1/80th the size of the real drone, Kioumarsi said.
Did Iran hack downed U.S. drone?
In December, Obama said the United States has asked Iran to return the highly classified RQ-170 Sentinel drone.
"We've asked for it back. We'll see how the Iranians respond," Obama said at the time.
This is probably not the response Obama was seeking. He obviously didn't really give a rat's a$$.
Iran has said the country's armed forces had downed the drone near Kashmar, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the border with Afghanistan on December.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave a speech in December that seemed to suggest that Iran wouldn't return it.
"The North Americans at best have decided to give us this spy plane," Ahmadinejad said.
The RQ-170 Sentinel is one of the United States' most sophisticated drones and flies at up to 50,000 feet. It is designed to evade sophisticated air defenses. Ahh, but was it designed to evade simplistic air defenses?
One former intelligence official said it's "impossible to see" and discounted Iranian claims that it had been brought down by some form of electronic counter-measures. "It simply fell into their laps," he said -- after satellite communication was lost. And while they're at it, since we've given away most of our manufacturing capacity, why not make us some Reagan bobbleheads? We can buy them from you and make a gift of a few of them to your mullahs right before the upcoming election.
#1
She says, "I was told by a Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guide official that Iran does not need any actors or artists. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else."
Good riddance. Learn French, then you can blow your nose in their general direction.
#3
I'm truly surprised they haven't put a death fatwa on Catherine Bell, who is both hot and played a US Marine Corps officer on J.A.G., while looking great in a bikini.
[An Nahar] Protestors linked to the "Occupy" movement apparently threw a smoke bomb over the White House fence on Tuesday, capping a day of protests in Washington, the Secret Service said.
No arrests were made after demonstrators from the Occupy DC group marched on the White House, and protesters were peacefully dispersed, as officers dealt with the device, a Secret Service front man said.
Witnesses said streets around the area were cordoned off as is normal on the frequent occasions when there is a minor security alert around the presidential mansion.
President Barack Obama The Cambridge police acted stupidly... and his wife Michelle were not in the White House compound at the time as they were at a nearby restaurant with friends celebrating the First Lady's 48th birthday.
Earlier, politicians returning from a three-week winter break were greeted by hundreds of protesters from the "Occupy" movement, who gathered outside the U.S. Capitol building to decry the corrupting influence of money in politics.
Protesters from the self-proclaimed Occupy Congress group -- met by scores of uniformed coppers -- were denied entry to congressional corridors.
As they chanted amid a steady winter drizzle, the protesters wielded signs urging politicians to "Come out of your ivory tower and hear the people."
Another told politicians that "We are here to be heard."
By late afternoon, four people had been jugged. Three were charged with illegally crossing police lines and the fourth with assaulting a police officer, a Capitol Police front man told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2012 00:00 ||
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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.
Remember the old days when Jerry Springer was a trashy TV host and facilitated arguments between moms and step-daughters that inevitably turned to fist fights? 
"I'm going to take you to task on that. I'm going to take you to task on that," she responded. "Because on this panel right here, we have a fair and balanced panel right here. And I'm the independent."
After another guest chimed in about the actual topic, Carlson came back: "And, by the way, Jerry, you obviously don't watch our show, because you do not understand that there's a reason -- I'll speak for myself, I sit in the middle, as the independent on the panel -- and quite frankly, we present both sides of the story and we leave it up to our viewers to decide where they fall."
Nawaz Sharif
