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Viewer's discretion is advised:


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Despite Ban, Protests Continue Before Spanish Vote
Paul Hanna/Reuters
Protesters camped Saturday in Madrid's Puerta del Sol, a main downtown square, demanding judicial and electoral reforms.
By RAPHAEL MINDER
Published: May 21, 2011

MADRID — Tens of thousands of demonstrators across Spain continued sit-ins and other protests against the established political parties on Saturday. They did so in defiance of a ban against such protests and ahead of regional and municipal elections on Sunday.

About 28,000 people, most of them young, spent Friday night in Puerta del Sol, a main square in downtown Madrid, the police said. They stayed even as the protest ban went into effect at midnight under rules that bring an official end to campaigning before the election in 13 of Spain’s 17 regions and in more than 8,000 municipalities.

Fueling the demonstrators’ anger is the perceived failure by politicians to alleviate the hardships imposed on a struggling population. The unemployment rate in Spain is 21 percent.

Beyond economic complaints, the protesters’ demands include improving the judiciary, ending political corruption and overhauling Spain’s electoral structure, notably by ending the system in which candidates are selected internally by the parties before an election rather than chosen directly by voters.

The protests, which started May 15, have spread gradually across Spain. Spaniards overseas have also held some protests in front of their embassies to show their support for an alternative campaign that has almost eclipsed that of the established parties.

Although some of the protest groups have called for people to vote for smaller and alternative parties, or to cast a blank ballot, the movement could lead to a decline in voter turnout on Sunday. In the elections four years ago, 63 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Sunday’s election is expected to result in a countrywide sweep by the Popular Party, the main center-right opposition, at the expense of the governing Socialists, whose popularity has plummeted because of the economic crisis. The most recent opinion polls suggest that the Socialist Party may lose in regions and municipalities where it has been in power since Spain’s return to democracy in the late 1970s, notably Castilla-La Mancha.

Whatever the outcome, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced in April that he would not seek a third term, paving the way for the selection of a new Socialist leader before the general election, which is expected in March 2012.

As the campaign ban came into force at midnight, many of the Madrid protesters stuck tape across their mouths to signal that they would continue the demonstration, even if ordered to be silent. “The voice of the people can never be illegal,” read some of the banners, while others argued, “We are not against the system but the system is against us.”

Still, the government suggested that it would not order the police to use force to break up any protests and sit-ins in Madrid and elsewhere over the weekend, especially given that protests this week have not generated any violence. Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, speaking during a visit to the Murcia region, said that “the police are there to solve problems and not create new ones.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/world/europe/22spain.html

John Edwards charged in felony indictment

By MIKE BAKER and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Mike Baker And Nedra Pickler, Associated Press – 48 mins ago

RALEIGH, N.C. – A federal grand jury charged two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday with soliciting and covering up the secret spending of more than $925,000 to hide his mistress and their baby during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.

The grand jury's indictment in the case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contained six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of receiving illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.

The indictment said the payments were a scheme to protect Edwards' White House ambitions. "A centerpiece of Edwards' candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man," the indictment said.

"Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and the pregnancy would destroy his candidacy by, among other things, undermining Edwards' presentation of himself as a family man and by forcing his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from other campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy," the indictment added.

The indictment and an arrest warrant were filed in Greensboro, N.C., which is in the district where his campaign was headquartered.

Edwards, 58, was scheduled to make an initial appearance Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Auld in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Negotiations between Edwards' attorneys and federal prosecutors to settle on a charge to which Edwards was willing to plead guilty continued through Thursday, but proved fruitless, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. Prosecutors had insisted on a plea to a felony, which would endanger his ability to keep his license to practice law.

If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the six counts. First time white collar offenders usually don't receive prison terms in federal court, but the Justice Department typically presses for at least a short prison sentence for public officials. While Edwards was a private citizen as a candidate, he was receiving taxpayer money for his presidential campaign.

Edwards did not comment directly, but his attorneys issued statements from campaign finance experts advising him. The experts argued the Mellon and Baron payments were not campaign contributions. One, former Federal Elections Commission Chairman Scott Thomas, said if the FEC had investigated it would have found the payments did not violate the law, even as a civil matter.

"A criminal prosecution of a candidate on these facts would be outside anything I would expect after decades of experience with the campaign finance laws," Thomas said.

The indictment is the culmination of a federal investigation begun by the FBI more than two years ago. The probe scoured virtually every corner of Edwards' political career. That included his political action committees, a nonprofit and a so-called 527 independent political group. It even examined whether he did anything improper during his time in the U.S. Senate, which ended seven years ago.

But the centerpiece of the investigation has long been the hundreds of thousands of dollars privately provided by two wealthy Edwards supporters — his former campaign finance chairman Fred Baron and Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, the 100-year-old widow of banking heir Paul Mellon. That money eventually went to keep mistress Rielle Hunter and her out-of-wedlock baby in hiding in 2007 and 2008, during the apex of the Democratic nomination campaign.

The indictment refers to $725,000 in payments made by Mellon and another $200,000 made by Baron. It said the money was used to pay for Hunter's living and medical expenses and for chartered airfare, luxury hotels and rental for a house in Santa Barbara, Calif., to keep her hidden from the public.

Mellon sent her money through her decorator. The indictment said she listed items of furniture in the memo lines of her checks such as "chairs," "antique Charleston table," and "book case" to hide the true purpose.

It accused Edwards of lying when he told the media he never knew about any payments.

The indictment refers to Edwards' discussions with a former employee in summer 2009 in which they prepared a statement to the media in which he would admit he was the father of Frances Quinn Hunter. A person familiar with the investigation has identified the former employee as speechwriter Wendy Button. The indictment said Edwards told her that he was aware Baron provided money to hide Hunter from the media.

"Edwards further told the employee that this was a huge issue and that for `legal and practical reasons' it should not be mentioned in the statement they were preparing," the indictment said. The statement Edwards eventually issued seven months later claiming paternity did not mention the money spent on Hunter.

Former campaign staffer Andrew Young, who initially claimed paternity of Hunter's child, has said Edwards was aware of the private financial support that helped keep the mistress satisfied and secluded. Prosecutors believe the private gifts should have been considered campaign contributions since they aided his candidacy.

The case opens a new front in how the federal government oversees the flow of money around political campaigns. An attorney for Edwards said last week that the government's case was "novel and untested" and argued that the government's theory was wrong on both the facts and the law.

With one of Edwards' former campaign rivals now sitting in the White House, the case includes a measure of political intrigue. Greg Craig, who was previously White House counsel for President Barack Obama, emerged as a leading figure on Edwards' legal team just as Obama's Justice Department was reviewing the case that prosecutors in North Carolina had prepared.

Meanwhile, with the backing of North Carolina's two senators, Republican-appointed U.S. attorney George Holding stayed on the job in the Obama administration to finish the Edwards probe.

"Democracy demands that our election system be protected, and without vigorously enforced campaign finance laws, the people of this country lose their voice," said Holding. "The U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice are committed to the prosecution of individuals who abuse the very system of which they seek to become a part."

Edwards and Hunter began their relationship in 2006, just as the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee was plotting a second run for the White House. She was hired to shoot behind-the-scenes video footage of the prospective candidate. Edwards' political action committee and a nonprofit affiliated with him both paid Hunter's video-production firm about $100,000 for the work.

Edwards initially denied having an affair with Hunter but eventually admitted to it in the summer of 2008. He then denied being the father of her child before finally confessing last year. His wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in December.

Young has said that Edwards agreed in 2007 to solicit money directly from Mellon. And the long-time Edwards aide, now estranged from his former boss, has said he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from Mellon — some hidden in boxes of chocolate.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said, "As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws."

Mellon and Edwards are still friendly despite the glare of the federal investigation. They had lunch together at her Virginia estate last week even as the indictment appeared imminent.

Baron's support was even more direct. The wealthy trial lawyer said in 2008 that he helped Young and Hunter move across the country to protect them from media scrutiny. Baron, who died a few months later, said Edwards wasn't aware of the aid, but Young has said that Edwards did know.

Young, Hunter and Baron's wife were among many Edwards aides and supporters who were called to testify before a federal grand jury or have been interviewed by investigators.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_edwards_investigation

The French are so paranoid when it comes to defending their language against the Engligh cullture and language. Well, can we really blame them? Thank God I come from an English-speaking country!

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French TV, radio programs slapped with social media restriction

By Catherine Clifford and Saskya Vandoorne, CNNJune 6, 2011 -- Updated 2342 GMT (0742 HKT)

French programs can no longer urge viewers or listeners to follow them on specific sites, such as Twitter.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A decree bans "clandestine advertising": promotion outside standard publicity avenues
Programs will no longer be able to ask people to follow them on Twitter or Facebook
They can speak only in generalities, such as referring to "social networking sites"

Paris (CNN) -- A decree from the early 1990s, reimplemented by French regulators, is putting an end to French television and radio announcers naming social networking sites on air except for news purposes.

The decree banned "clandestine advertising": the promotion of a brand outside the boundaries of recognized publicity avenues.

The reimplementation of the ruling by France's Superior Audiovisual Council means that French programs will no longer be able to urge their viewers or listeners to follow them on specific sites, such as Twitter, as has become the norm in worldwide broadcasting.

The controversy began when an unnamed French TV channel approached the council to ask whether, under this decree, they had the right to direct viewers to social sites.

Christine Kelly, spokeswoman for the council explained: "Facebook and Twitter are commercial brands like Coca-Cola or L'Oreal or any other. There are many social networking sites on many topics -- cooking, animals -- why should we mention one and not others?"

From now on news anchors will be able to give only vague instructions as to where to find information online, such as "follow us on social networking sites."

French bloggers have been up in arms on Twitter and some have even composed tongue-in-cheek ways to get round the ban. One suggested: "find live coverage of the trial on our thread on the platform which spreads messages of 140 characters"

French commentators have been speculating on the real roots of this regulation. Matthew Fraser, a social networking expert and author of "Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom," a book looking at the online social media revolution, believes the ban could be a sign of defiance against Anglo-Saxon cultural domination.

"In my mind," he said, "if it had been a French social networking site then nobody would have wanted it to be regulated, but because these sites symbolize the United States, regulation is there."

This is not the first time anglicized, Internet-related vocabulary has been banned in France. In 2003 the use of the word "e-mail" was forbidden in all government literature. This was due to the Toubon law, which tries to protect the purity of the French language from anglicized words and phrases.

This time, however, the Superior Audiovisual Council insists that the ban is in no way linked to language purity.

"It's not at all related. It's true that we are very attached to the French language and defend it a lot, but ,  this is simply about reapplying existing regulations," Kelly said.

The council's decision did not cause much of a debate in the French media. Fraser believes that unlike cheese or wine there were no French interests involved and the French are simply used to regulation. "It doesn't faze them because it's part of their culture," he said.

Kelly emphasized the cultural differences that need to be taken in to account: "We have many, many rules which do not exist elsewhere. There is a very different context for this from one country to another. In the U.S., for example there are advertisements on TV every five minutes, whereas in France its more like every 20 minutes." She added that, similarly, in the United States product placement is commonplace, but it is forbidden in France.

Many are struck by the bizarre timing of the ban as it comes on the heels of the e-G8, an internet summit in Paris at which President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/06/06/france.tv.ban/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Democrats turn up pressure on Weiner, rally behind ethics probe

By the CNN Wire Staff
June 7, 2011 -- Updated 0807 GMT (1607 HKT)

Anthony Weiner ends week of lies
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
•House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calls for an ethics probe into Rep. Anthony Weiner's behavior
•He admits to having inappropriate relationships with women and lying about it
•Other Democrats have said they welcome such a probe, as does Weiner
•But a Republican calls Pelosi's move "hollow," saying she should have told him to resign

(CNN) -- Democratic leaders took the initiative Monday to go after one of their own, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, hours after he admitted to lying about posting an explicit photo on his Twitter account and carrying on inappropriate relationships with women he'd met online.

Two Democratic sources said that Weiner, in a brief telephone conversation Monday with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, made it abundantly clear that he was not going to resign. At his press conference later that day, the New York Democrat said that Pelosi was "not happy" but "also told me that she loved me and wanted us to , pull through this."

Pelosi, D-California, who until last January was House speaker, reacted by calling for the chamber's Ethics Commission to open an investigation into the seven-term congressman "to determine whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred."

Weiner apologizes for lying, 'terrible mistakes'

Such a probe is rare, especially when called by a member of one's own party, the Democratic sources said.

One question that is sure to be central to such an investigation is whether Weiner used congressional resources while sending -- as he admitted -- explicit photos and messages to "about six women" over a three-year period.

The New York Democrat claimed that his BlackBerry device is not paid for by the government, and added, "I don't believe that I used any government resources" in conducting the illicit, largely electronic affairs.

In a statement, Weiner said he will "welcome and will fully cooperate with an investigation by the House Ethics Committee."

Other Democrats, many of whom initially rallied behind Weiner and his initial claim that his Twitter account had been hacked, backed Pelosi's call for an investigation.

Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chastised his fellow New Yorker for what he called "a deep personal failure and inappropriate behavior that embarrassed himself, his family and the House." He threw his support behind the ethics probe "to remove all remaining doubt about this situation."

Katie Grant, the spokeswoman for House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, told CNN that "if there have been any questions regarding ethics that have been raised in the public sphere that the Ethics Committee should look at them."

But while some Democrats are touting the ethics probe as a bold and significant step, one Republican source calls it "hollow."

The GOP source said it is noteworthy that Pelosi called for an investigation but did not demand Weiner step down -- as happened with former Rep. Chris Lee. The married Republican from western New York resigned in February, following a report that he had tried to meet a woman on Craigslist.


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/06/weiner.political.fallout/index.html?hpt=hp_p1

Congressman Weiner apologised to his family and his constituents

New York congressman Anthony Weiner has admitted sending a close-up picture of his crotch to a young woman, but says he will not resign.

The Democratic representative also acknowledged "inappropriate" communications with women online.

Mr Weiner had initially said his Twitter account had been hacked when a photo of a man's crotch in grey underpants was sent from it last week.

On Monday he admitted this was not true, saying that he had "panicked".

A tearful Mr Weiner told a news conference he was "deeply ashamed of my terrible judgement".

"I'm deeply regretting what I have done and I'm not resigning," he said, apologising for any pain caused to his family, constituents, supporters and staff.

'Explicit photos'

He said he had intended to send the close-up picture of himself in his underpants as a direct message on Twitter.

Direct messages can only be viewed by the addressee, whereas normal Twitter messages are generally accessible.


"Once I realised that I had posted to Twitter I panicked, I took it down and said that I had been hacked," Mr Weiner said.

He then said he had had exchanges with women he met online both before and after he married Huma Abedin, a top aide to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, last year.

"I have exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years."

But he said he had not met the women, and had never had sex outside his marriage.

His admission came on the same day a conservative blogger posted what purported to be photos of Mr Weiner without his shirt on.

Andrew Breitbart said he had obtained the photos from a woman with whom Mr Weiner had flirted online.

Mr Weiner, a native New Yorker and former New York City Council member, is known for his outspoken liberal views and his fiery speeches on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

He was widely expected to run for New York mayor in 2013.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13676650

Scandals put a spotlight on France's hidden sexism, privacy laws
By Catherine Clifford and Saskya Vandoorne, CNN
June 3, 2011 -- Updated 1842 GMT (0242 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The Strauss-Kahn affair and the Tron incident have helped raise awareness
Former Education Minister Luc Ferry says he knows of an official who abused children
"I hope this will change things," a former minister's mistress says
Roselyne Bachelot: "How could I not rejoice the end of impunity?"

Paris (CNN) -- Fresh political sex scandals, following closely on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair, have France gripped by a debate on the nation's hidden culture of sexism and how its tough privacy laws, which prevent journalists from exposing sexual misbehavior, help perpetuate it.


In the latest development, former French Education Minister Luc Ferry was talking to police as a witness Friday at the department for the protection of minors in Paris after suggesting on national television that a former government minister is known to have abused children in Marrakech, Morocco.

The comments arose during a discussion on whether former International Monetary Fund head Strauss-Kahn's supposedly well-known sexual impulsiveness had been kept quiet because it was seen as a private matter.

"All of us here probably know who I'm talking about," Ferry told the panel on the daily French political show "Le Grand Journal."

Asked if he had any proof, he said, "Of course not. But I have testimony from Cabinet members at the highest level, state authorities at the highest level."

He went on to say he had been informed "particularly by the prime minister."

Ferry refused to name the former minister because of the privacy laws, saying, "If I let his name out now, it's me who will be charged and doubtlessly convicted, even if I know that the story is true."

Since the comments were made Tuesday evening, rumors have been spreading about who Ferry was talking about, with the names of several high-profile politicians being mentioned.

Ferry's comments also followed the resignation Sunday of former French Secretary of Public Affairs Georges Tron after two female colleagues accused him of sexually assaulting them while giving them foot massages. The two women told French press that the Strauss-Kahn case had inspired them to come forward.

One of the women, identified only as Eloise, told French reporters, "We will not withdraw our complaint. I am determined to see it through regardless of unpleasant things that could be spread about me. "

The accumulation of affairs has brought out a flurry of personal testimony in France from highly placed women politicians and officials who now feel empowered to speak out on the issue of sexual harassment by men in politics.

Christine Deviers-Joncour, mistress of former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, told CNN, "In France we don't talk about that. It never happened. I have no example. Up until now it was very difficult.

"Imagine a woman who is sexually pursued by a politician, what can she do? Go to the justice and complain? Immediately they will laugh at her. So I hope this will change things."

Nicole Guedj, a member of the Council of State, told CNN: "Clearly it's an issue. I started my career quite a long time ago and throughout its course I was faced with sexist behavior, but I was lucky enough to overcome those difficulties."

Aurelie Filipetti, Socialist Party spokeswoman, told the French media: "In France, 80% of the political sphere is dominated by men and male political journalists. So yes, we suffer and you harden yourself to it. You have to when you hear 15 sexist jokes in a row. It is sexual harassment disguised as humor. Some can't come to work wearing a skirt."

Similarly Roselyne Bachelot, current Minister of Solidarities and Social Cohesion said: "Recently something big has been taking place: a real omerta is being lifted, reinforced by a judicial system that protects privacy. I think politicians have understood that respecting privacy has its limits now.

"Is this a good thing? Yes, of course. How could I not rejoice the end of impunity?"

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/06/03/france.sex.politics/index.html

Weiner photo row: How the Brits got there first
7 June 2011 Last updated at 01:10 GMT

Article written by Mark Mardell
North America editor

Perhaps it was years of teasing about his name that drove Congressman Weiner to tweet his underpants.

It could be taken by some as a moment in the country's decline. After all, the picture shows no evidence of American exceptionalism, let alone manifest destiny.

But then again, perhaps it is a testament to national purity and moral vigilance.

After all, posting pictures of one's undergarments is the sort of thing you expect 12-year-olds to get up to, not rampant politicos.

Still "lewd" has such a nice ring to it.

And I am rather ashamed to admit, we Brits, got there first. A Labour politician called Chris Bryant once did something similar.

He said it gave him many sleepless nights at the time of his exposure, but he now regards it as a "charming scar" on his career.

It didn't stop him rising to the dizzying heights of minister for Europe. But remember, it's not big , and it's not clever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13677357

Last Updated: Tuesday, 2 December, 2003, 12:58 GMT


MP 'sorry' over underpants photo

Labour MP Chris Bryant is openly gay

Labour MP Chris Bryant has apologised for e-mailing a picture of himself in his underpants via a gay website.

After the picture was published by a number of newspapers, the 41-year-old Rhondda Labour MP issued a statement on Tuesday apologising.

It read: "I'm sorry this has happened. I've always been open and honest about my private life but never sought to make an issue of it.

"I'm saddened that others have sought to do so. The important thing is the work that I do for my constituents as an MP.

"I will not myself be distracted from standing up for the people of the Rhondda."

Mr Bryant - a former Church of England clergyman - has admitted that the picture and e-mail messages are authentic.

Pat Brunker, secretary of the Constituency Labour Party, said there had been no calls for an emergency meeting and she does not expect there to be one.

"Rhondda Labour Party members are pleased to have a hard-working MP and fully support him in getting on with his job," she added.

At his end of term briefing on Tuesday, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said he did not know "what all the fuss was about".

Mr Bryant, he added, had never made a secret of being gay, and that it was a private matter for him and his constituency Labour party.

He added that it was "one of those stories that gay people have to put up with from time to time".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3256348.stm

Don't be deceived by the title of this story.

It is actually about politicians in Australia. Some of the politicians  believe that the whole climate change thing is false while others believe otherwise.

Gillard is the current Prime Minister while Abbott is the opposition Conservatives leader. 

They have decided to make the scientists the scape goats in their 'fight.'

Not funny at all!


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Australian Climate Scientists Go into Hiding After Death Threats
Adam Martin Adam Martin – Tue Jun 7, 8:42 am ET

It's dangerous to study climate change in Australia these days. So much so that many who do it are moving to more secure offices, de-listing their phone numbers, and deleting their Facebook pages after receiving threats of death and assault. And the kerfuffle that's got them on the run seems to stem from statements by Cate Blanchett in a television spot last week. If you thought climate change was a touchy political subject in the United States, it's nothing compared to the past week's dust-up in which an appearance by an actress in a commercial led to scientists being targeted for assault and death.

Australian politicians have been wrangling for weeks over the level of a carbon tax set to go into effect July 1. A report two weeks ago by the government's Climate Commission helped ramp up the intensity of the national debate. In a Sydney Morning Herald analysis piece, Adam Morton said both Abbot and Gillard had failed to deal with the report directly, instead building it into a pre-existing pro-carbon-tax agenda (in Gillard's case), or "misrepresenting" it entirely, in Abbott's case.

But once an ad featuring Blanchett calling for a higher tax rate aired on June 1, the vitriol started in earnest. Conservative opposition leader Tony Abbot (who has in the past said the idea that humans cause climate change was "crap," said, "People who are worth $53m have a right to be heard – but their voice should not be heard ahead of the ordinary working people of this country." Television host Andrew Bolt, who works for a network co-owned by a mining executive, called it "deceitful" and "crass propaganda," and said Tim Flannery was a "long-time global warming scaremonger," according to The Guardian.

It was after that broadcast and a number of other attacks in the national press that the threats against scientists started rolling in. The Canberra Times had the story on Saturday.

One scientist said he was advised by police to install a ''panic button'' security alarm in his university office after receiving death threats. Others have removed all contact numbers from their work websites, and deleted social media sites after these were defaced with abusive comments and obscene photographs. One researcher told of receiving threats of sexual assault and violence against her children after her photograph appeared in a newspaper article promoting a community tree-planting day as a local action to mitigate climate change.

It still doesn't make a lot of sense why an actress's political ad should inspire somebody to threaten a scientist for planting a tree, but that's the problem with this story: It doesn't take very many violent-sounding nuts to send out some very scary e-mails. As ANU's vice-chancellor said, "I think it is totally outrageous and the vast majority of Australians would think it is totally unacceptable for anybody in society to be subjected to this sort of behaviour."

Here's the offending ad:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZT5C3bcn0M[/flash]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20110607/wl_atlantic/aussieclimatescientistshidingdeaththreats38541

Where are the mavericks? Most legislators meekly vote along party lines. The nation is worse for it.
August 07, 2009|By Mickey Edwards


In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore, Sir Joseph, a former member of the British Parliament who has been appointed lord admiral of the queen's navy, recalls how he achieved such great success: "I always voted at my party's call," he sings, "and I never thought of thinking for myself at all."

Sir Joseph would fit in well in the United States' party-driven political system, in which loyalty to one's political club often seems to trump objective decision-making.

When a Senate committee voted in favor of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation for a seat on the Supreme Court, every Republican but one voted no, even though she was obviously qualified and even her most insistent critics could find few decisions to quarrel with over a long career. And not one Democrat voted no, even though Sotomayor had repeatedly indicated in speeches that a judge's background matters more than strict adherence to the law. There were party lines to be followed, and the senators followed them.

Last month, when another Senate committee became the first to pass a health-care reform bill, not a single Democrat thought questions about the proposal, which included a government-run plan, were sufficient to raise doubts. Not one Republican thought the current state of American health care justifies the legislation.

If legislators decided how to vote by weighing the concerns of constituents, their own philosophies, and a proposal's merits, one might assume that at least one or two Democrats would have balked, and a Republican or two would have voted to go forward. But we don't live in that kind of political world.

The Washington Post reviewed Senate voting records during the last Congress, which included important votes on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, billions of dollars in spending, and many other difficult issues. On average, Democrats voted with their party 87.5 percent of the time, and Republicans 80.7 percent of the time; 44 senators voted with their party more than 90 percent of the time, and 24 more than 95 percent of the time. So-called maverick John McCain voted with Republicans more than 88 percent of the time.

Granted, there are distinctions in political philosophy that draw people to one party or the other, but it is nonetheless clear that there is far less independent thinking going on than good governance would demand.

http://articles.philly.com/2009-08-07/news/25276033_1_vote-along-party-lines-political-club-republican-or-two

This is the 'academic' definition of the term party 'Whip':

WHIP, PARTY. The term "party whip" refers to a high-ranking member of the U.S. congressional leadership for both the majority and minority parties. In American politics of the early twenty-first century, the party whip was an increasingly active and influential party leader in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the House the party whip ranks immediately below the Speaker, who is the majority leader (if in the minority party, the whip is second behind the minority leader); in the Senate the whip is second in the party hierarchy behind the majority (or minority) leader. The whip's duties are to make sure that members are in Washington, D.C., and in the chamber during crucial votes; to forecast how members will vote; to persuade members to support the party leadership; to alert party leaders to shifting congressional opinions; and, occasionally, to distribute information on pending amendments or bills. Party whips usually attend important leadership meetings, including conferences with the president.

Party whips have been used in the British House of Commons since 1688 but were not employed in the U.S. Congress until 1899. Since the early 1960s the job of whip, although a party office, has become formalized, with offices, automobiles, staff, and office supplies, all paid for with public funds. Democratic and Republican parties in the House and Senate use differing methods of choosing whips and their assistants, but geography and party loyalty are important considerations. The post of party whip sometimes becomes a stepping-stone to a higher congressional party office.


http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401804530.html

This is the real meaning:

A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are party 'enforcers', who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip's role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term whipping in, i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack.

Official party whips are almost exclusively found in legislatures based on first-past-the-post electoral systems, as FPTP discourages the formation of small parties and therefore tends to create a few larger "big church" parties where the distance between members on the parties' right and left wings may be significant, which in turn can easily lead to internal rebellion against the official party view when certain issues are voted on. In legislatures based on proportional representation elections such party officials are rarely found, as PR increases the chances for smaller parties to be represented, which in turn encourages the formation of more parties with more homogeneous views where party discipline is less of an issue.

The term "whip" is also used to mean:

the voting instructions issued to members by the whip,[1] or
in the UK, a party's endorsement of a member of parliament; to 'withdraw the whip' is to expel an MP from his political party. (The elected member in question would retain his or her seat.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_(politics)

Our new speaker was the chief whip for his party in the last session of the house yet he went against party in getting elected speaker in the current session. How ironic!

@ johnie

My apologies for the stalking. I left you a message on the "Lekki Axis" thread at https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-367311.672.html, and was hoping to bring your attention to it. Let me know if it's too much trouble. Many thanks!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8GHKSTxyzQ[/flash]

Can you believe this ex-British MP?

He was a vegetarian, bothered about how animals are killed, but is "curiously" unconcerned about selling arms used to kill innocent people!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSacwhpLMjM[/flash]

Porn publisher Larry Flynt offers job to embattled ex-congressman
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 17, 2011 -- Updated 0949 GMT (1749 HKT)


Flynt offers Anthony Weiner a 20% raise
Offer "not made in jest," Flynt writes
The job offer comes within hours of the congressman's resignation

(CNN) -- Larry Flynt, porn publisher and erstwhile snoop into the sex lives of politicians, has offered a job to disgraced former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Flynt, founder of Hustler Magazine, made the job offer in a letter that was published in The Huffington Post on Thursday.

"This offer is not made in jest," wrote Flynt.

"Just as we do not undertake insincere political crusades, we do not make insincere job offers."



Bye-bye Weiner

Dr. Drew on what's next for Weiner

Resigning under pressure

Weiner could not be immediately reached for comment.

Where does Weiner go from here?

Flynt's job offer came within hours of the congressman's resignation on Thursday over a sexting scandal.

In the letter, Flynt offered to give Weiner a 20% raise above the salary he earned in the U.S. House of Representatives, ensuring the former congressman's medical benefits would match what he had received in office.

Flynt also offered to pay Weiner's moving expenses to Beverly Hills, California.

"While this employment opportunity is being offered in large part due to your qualifications and clear passion for making a change," Flynt wrote, "I feel that your unfortunate resignation is a prime example of unfounded political pressure and the hypocrisy that has invaded democracy in Washington, D.C."

The job offer was the second made by Flynt to a politician within the past year.

Recent political sex scandals

In October, he offered to hire Republican Carl Paladino after the socially conservative gubernatorial candidate garnered headlines over pornographic images circulated to friends and colleagues.

The tone of Flynt's purported job offer to Paladino was markedly different than Weiner's.

"It's clear that 'values purporting' Carl Paladino has a keen instinct for kinky sex," Flynt said in a news release at the time. "He is a natural pornographer who has a skilled eye for unusual views and acrobatics , It's clear he's better suited to join our team than be the governor of the state of New York."

Paladino lost the election to Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

In 1998, during the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, Flynt offered $1 million to anyone with evidence of sexual misconduct against Republican lawmakers leading the effort against Clinton.

He published some of the evidence he obtained.


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/17/weiner.flynt/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

American Republicans can't take a joke.

They laugh when Obama is the butt of the joke but drag Reggie Brown off the stage when he starts joking about their own politicians.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9-Oi2i62Qw[/flash]

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

Reggie Brown, Obama Impersonator, Yanked After Mocking Obama, GOP Candidates

.By PHILIP ELLIOTT   06/18/11 11:29 PM ET   

NEW ORLEANS -- A Barack Obama impersonator was ushered off the stage after he mocked the Republican presidential hopefuls and joked about the real president's biracial roots to a room full of conservative activists Saturday.

The Republican Leadership Conference turned the podium over to impersonator Reggie Brown, who drew raucous applause from the GOP's supporters when he projected lewd photos of Rep. Anthony Weiner, the New York Democrat who just resigned after the furor over his sexually charged online dalliances with a former indecency actress and other women.

Brown later played up the mass exodus of advisers to candidate Newt Gingrich's campaign and said Gingrich's supporters "are dropping faster than Anthony Weiner's pants."

The audience grew more uncomfortable when Brown turned to the candidates who are looking to make Obama a one-term president.

The impersonator took a shot at former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, saying Pawlenty missed the conference because "he's having his foot surgically removed from his
mouth."

"Don't worry: it's covered under Obamneycare ,  along with spinal transplants," Brown said.

Pawlenty has struggled this week after previewing his criticism of former Gov. Mitt Romney's health care overhaul in Massachusetts that was a model for Democrats' national plan. Pawlenty first called it "Obamneycare," a hybrid of "Romneycare" and "Obamacare." But when given the opportunity to use the term while sharing the stage with Romney during a debate Monday night in New Hampshire, he balked.

Pawlenty later said it was a mistake not to offer a stronger criticism.

The impersonator joked about Romney's Mormon faith and about polygamy, and Rep. Michele Bachmann's tea party support.

Organizers then cut off Brown's microphone and turned on music. He was shown off the stage.

The jokes came a day after Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour urged Republicans not to be distracted from a message honed solely on jobs and the economy.

"If we let people in the Obama campaign take America's eye off the ball, then that's their only chance to win," Barbour said.

Brown opened his routine with jokes about Obama's biography as the son of a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya.

"My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian," the actor said, referring to the reality television family. Khloe Kardashian is married to basketball player Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers. Other family members have had black romantic interests on the E! television series.

Brown also joked about rumors of the president's birthplace. Obama was born in Hawaii, "or as the tea partyers call it, Kenya," he said.

Brown highlighted photographs of past presidents such as George W. Bush at the beginning and end of their terms.

He showed a picture of George Washington at the start of his term and then projected an image of former first lady Barbara Bush as though it was the nation's first president as he left office.

Brown then projected a picture of Obama at the start of his term, followed by a picture of Fred Sanford of "Sanford and Son" as a representation of what Obama would look like when he leaves office.





http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/18/republican-leadership-conference-obama-impersonator_n_879783.html

California Legislators Lose Pay in Budget Jam

By VAUHINI VARA

California Controller John Chiang said Tuesday he would withhold legislators' pay for failing to meet a June 15 deadline for a balanced budget, dialing up pressure on Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers to close the state's remaining $9.6 billion deficit.

Mr. Chiang said a budget passed last week by state legislators and vetoed by Mr. Brown was short by $1.9 billion. Under the terms of an initiative passed last year by voters, legislators' pay is to be withheld for every day that they don't pass a balanced budget after the constitutional deadline of June 15.

"The numbers simply did not add up, and the legislature will forfeit their pay until a balanced budget is sent to the governor," Mr. Chiang said in a statement.

Lawmakers' monthly paycheck is due June 30. Pay will be withheld as of June 16 until a budget is passed.

The controller's move came amid a political impasse threatening to leave the nation's most populous state without a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. That could harm California's ability to pay bills and borrow money, potentially endangering the state's economic recovery.

The budget stalemate has placed California's credit rating is "at a crossroad," said Standard and Poor's analyst Gabriel Petek in a research note Tuesday. He added that a further delay could result in a cash crisis or the passage of a budget "that relies on as-yet unrealized sources of revenue, additional payment deferrals or legally questionable maneuvers."

California legislators were the highest paid in the U.S. as of last year, with an annual salary of $95,291, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That works out to a loss in salary of $261 a day. They will also lose a per diem of $142.

"The controller has made his determination," Mr. Brown said in a statement. "We should all work together to pass a solid budget."

The legislature can pass a budget with a simple majority, but raising taxes requires approval by two-thirds of legislators, which would require at least four Republican votes. Mr. Brown is still negotiating with a handful of Republicans to extend some tax increases scheduled to expire. When he failed to strike a deal by last week, Democratic legislators crafted and passed an alternate plan without the proposed tax-increase extensions.

While some legislators said they supported Mr. Chiang's move to withhold their pay, others opposed it. "I believe he was wrong," said State Assembly Speaker John Perez in a statement. He said the legislature passed a budget "reflecting all the options available to close the deficit without new revenues and without cuts so deep as to cost the state jobs and jeopardize our economic recovery."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070104576399973797850288.html

.

21 June 2011 Last updated at 12:02 GMT

Kenya's MPs ordered to pay higher taxes

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki (R) has a deal with MPs, exempting them from paying higher taxes

Kenya's tax office is demanding that MPs pay tax on their full salary and perks, accusing them of breaching the constitution by failing to do so.

The tax office also said it wanted payments to be back-dated to last August, when Kenya adopted a new constitution.

The arrears come to about $10,000 (£6,100) for each MP.

Kenya's MPs are among the highest paid in Africa, earning a total of about $9,300 a month.

The MPs pay tax on perks worth about $2,000, while the rest of their income is tax-free.

The BBC's Caroline Karobia in the capital, Nairobi, says the MPs have a gentleman's agreement with President Mwai Kibaki, exempting them from paying higher tax during the current parliamentary term.

'Legally compelled'

They intend to pay more tax after parliamentary elections next year, when their salaries will also go up, she says.

MPs voted last year to increase their after-tax annual salaries and perks to as high as $126,000 after the 2012 election.

Their decision sparked outrage, with critics accusing them of voting for salaries higher than their counterparts in the UK.

The MPs said they deserved higher salaries because they were over-worked, and were responsible for major decisions about the nation's economic and political well-being.

Our reporter says many Kenyans are waiting to see how MPs will now respond to the letter sent to them by the Kenya Revenue Authority, which are argues that the parliamentarians are legally compelled to pay tax on their total income.

The letter was sent after MPs ignored a recent plea by Kenya's tax chief, Michael Waweru, that higher taxes would boost the government's income, making more money available for poverty-alleviation programmes.

The average annual income in Kenya is about $730, while most of the population earns less than $1 a day.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13857480

Thai Elections 2011: The Surprising Rise of the Massage Tycoon
Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:09am — MsExPat

Soon after arriving in Bangkok earlier this week, I knew that Thai PM Ahbisit Vijayjiva was in trouble. Not because I spotted several of his election campaign posters with moustaches scribbled on his mug, or with tree branches poked up his larger-than-life nostrils. Not because his leading competition is a very pretty young woman with expensive and savvy image handlers, Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of Thaksin ("She's my clone," Thaksin has, helpfully, told the Thai press).

No, I knew that Ahbisit was in trouble when my new friend--let's call him Suphat--told me he was planning to vote for this guy, Chuvit Kamolsivit:

[the fold]
Chuvit is the protest candidate in this Thai election, which takes place on July 2. He's certainly the most colorful figure. His poster campaign reminds me a lot of my pal Long Hair in Hong Kong, except that Long Hair is an ideologue, a committed socialist and Chuvit is, well, for all the juicy details, you should check this excellent rundown  by Australian academic Chris Baker.

The short version is that Chuvit's made a fortune in Bangkok soap massage parlors, i.e. bubble bath brothels. His campaign message is simple: He's against corruption. Chuvit is an expert on the topic of corruption, because he had to pay the Bangkok police millions to keep his businesses open and running.

Right now, Bangkok has a real circus feel to it. Normally, when you ride down the streets, the only advertising images you see are commercial or nationalist in message--enormous posters of King Bhumibol and his family.

But now and for the next couple of weeks, every road, every corner, every blank space (except for the area around the King's palace) is plastered with long vinyl flat banners plugging the numerous candidates and parties that are trying to grab some of the 375 constituency seats and 125 party seats in Thailand's parliament.

The Thai system somewhat mimics the British one, with a small difference. Every Thai citizen gets two votes, one for their local Parliamentary rep, and another for a party. The election system, also, is British in its regulatory zeal. Campaign budgets are so strictly limited under the law that TV or radio media buys are impossible (I think they even may be prohibited, as they are in Hong Kong's election races).

And so, the Thai campaign theater takes to the streets. The image on your posters is the image that voters take to the polls. And so far, at least in Bangkok, the king of the posters is Chuvit.

To give you some context, here are some of the standard-issue politico posters I have spotted along Bangkok streets this week:







Contrast these with Chuvit's greatest hits (some with rough translations, courtesy of my not-quite-English speaking friend Song):



(Check the detail: he's shaking his pit bull's hand. Song says that the message of the poster is "trust"--you can trust your dog more than a politican these days)



(The government, says Chuvit, is steering the wrong way!)



(My personal favorite! Talk about a twist on the traditional politician baby-kissing. Chuvit's message is: the baby's diaper needs a change, and so does the Thai government).

Chuvit recently sat for an interview in English with a reporter from the Bangkok Post. If the reporter seems a bit tentative in his questioning, well, there's a reason. Two years ago, in the middle of an interview with another reporter, Chuvit decided he didn't like the journo's line of questioning, so he punched him.



">


But surely, I hear you saying (or thinking) Bangkok's Chuvit-mania is mere sideshow, a down-the-card distraction to the main bout between incumbent Ahbisit and Thaksin's proxy Yingluck Shinawatra.

And I'd think so too. Except that Suphat, a well educated and hip middle class professional (whose brother is one of Ahbisit's top ministers!) told me he was planning to vote for Chuvit. And--to my astonishment--the Issan husband of my friend Song (a Red Shirt sympathizer) also told me the same thing! Chuvit love leaps across class boundaries.

Now, saying that you're going to vote for the outrageous, ex-criminal, maverick opposition candidate doesn't mean you're actually going to do it. Chuvit's poll numbers are running on the low side. There are three weeks still until the Thai election, plenty of time for anything to happen, for voters to turn to a "serious" candidate at the last minute

But the success of the Chuvit poster series with the Bangkok public means that people, at least in the capital, aren't going along with the official program. They're fed up with the corruption and lies from all the big guns in Thailand's political establishment: Red Shirts (yes, they're establishment, too), Yellow Shirts, Democrats, royalists. I believe that if Thailand is going to move forward, they do have to re-start the political clock at zero, and maybe a declaration that it's time to throw all the bums out is the first step.

http://www.correntewire.com/thai_elections_2011_surprising_rise_massage_king

Thaksin's sister shakes up tense Thai election

Yingluck Shinawatra, sister of toppled premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the prime ministerial candidate for the country's biggest opposition Puea Thai Party, gestures to her supporters during an election campaign in Udon Thani province, east of Bangkok May 25, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Sukree Sukplang
By Ambika Ahuja and Jason Szep

UDON THANI, Thailand | Wed May 25, 2011 10:09am EDT

UDON THANI, Thailand (Reuters) - With her telegenic good looks and powerful political support, Yingluck Shinawatra is shaking up Thailand's first parliamentary election since a wave of political violence last year.

The 43-year-old businesswoman, sister of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has vaulted swiftly into front runner status in the July 3 vote, tapping support in the rural north and northeast heartland where her brother remains a populist hero five years after he was toppled in a coup.

After a week of campaigning, she has a surprised skeptics and demonstrated she has Thaksin's star power as she seeks to become Thailand's first female elected leader.

A political neophyte, she is seen widely as a stand-in for her brother, a 60-year-old ethnic Chinese telecommunications tycoon who transformed Thai politics with landslide election wins before he was felled by corruption charges he says were politically motivated.

Yingluck has promised to revive Thaksin's populist policies and raise living standards, vowing to pursue reconciliation to end Thailand's bloody five-year political crisis without seeking vengeance for her brother's overthrow.

Asked by Reuters for details, she said: "The first priority is to help people with rising costs of living. Next, we will have to see how to bring about reconciliation , how we could bring unity to the country. "We have to move past this conflict before we can stand with stability," she said, her sentence interrupted by a screaming supporter.

"The prime minister is so beautiful," the supporter said of Yingluck.

It is still early days but poll numbers are moving in her favor. A survey by Suan Dusit University on Sunday showed 41 percent of those polled backed Yingluck's Puea Thai party, with the ruling Democrats of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at nearly 37 percent.

A Bangkok Poll on Tuesday showed 25.8 percent of the capital backed Puea Thai, with only 14.7 percent for the Democrats in their traditional stronghold. Half of those polled were undecided.

"This has worked out better than expected. We were expecting a proxy for Thaksin, but the fact that she is bringing something of her own is a major bonus," said Michael Montesano of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

"This is a shrewd move. She has Thaksin's name, she represents him, she appeals to women and it's generated excitement. If they play this right, it could draw in voters from the middle ground."

Thaksin has referred to her as his "clone," but while some lament her only qualification to lead the country is her name, she is invigorating supporters.

STAR TREATMENT

At her first appearance in the Thaksin stronghold of the northeast since her nomination on May 16, she was feted by a crowd of thousands, enjoying a rock star reception. Her supporters idolize Thaksin as the first leader to pay attention to the millions living beyond Bangkok's bright lights. They are putting their hopes on her to bring him back.

As cameras flashed, cheering crowds raised index fingers symbolizing the number one, her party's ballot number, as Yingluck rode in a "tuk-tuk" motorcycle taxi in Udon Thani on Wednesday, smiling as supporters greeted her with red roses.

"Here's our first female prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, pick number one, choose Yingluck," a canvasser shouted on a loudspeaker as she met traders at a market, her voiced drowned out by crowds chanting "number one." Later, she addressed a rally of tens of thousands of cheering supporters in the city, many wearing red shirts emblazoned with Thaksin's smiling face -- an image that raises alarm bells for the government, military and royalist elite, who see Thaksin as a terrorist and a crony capitalist.

[b]"I might not have political experience, but politics is in my blood," Yingluck told the crowd. "Do you still miss Thaksin's policies?" she asked as her supporters roared "yes."

"We'll bring them back," she responded.

Abhisit's Democrat Party has dismissed Yingluck as a political novice serving as a nominee to allow Thaksin to wrestle back power and return from exile, where he lives to avoid a two-year jail term for graft.

The urbane, Oxford-educated Abhisit has gone on the defensive and has said Puea Thai's call for an amnesty for those guilty of politically related offences is purely for Thaksin's benefit and could trigger a repeat of the protests and violence that killed 91 people in April and May last year.

But Yingluck's supporters believe the U.S.-educated president of property firm SC Asset Corporation could be the one to heal an intractable political malaise characterised by deadly street violence, military crackdowns and governments forced from office.

"She is pretty, smart and gentle and a woman like her can bring about reconciliation," said Kamsai Thongbai, a 56-year-old rice farmer who traveled to Udon Thani's airport to be among the first to greet Yingluck.[/b]

"She can show Thaksin's opponents that we don't want a fight or revenge. We just want the winner to govern. She is a capable businesswoman, let her help."

(Editing by Martin Petty and Robert Birsel)


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/25/us-thailand-election-yingluck-idUSTRE74O4D720110525

Thailand ousts government, elects 1st female PM

Thailand's prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, conceded defeat Sunday to rival Yingluck Shinawatra in the country's first general election after years of political unrest, and has resigned as party leader.

Abhisit congratulated Yingluck, the youngest sister of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown by a 2006 military coup and now lives in exile in Dubai to avoid a corruption conviction.

"It is now clear from the election results so far that the Puea Thai Party has won the election, and the Democrat Party concedes defeat. I would like to congratulate the Puea Thai Party for the right to form a government," he said on television Sunday.

With 98 per cent of the vote counted, preliminary results from the national electoral authority indicated Yingluck's Puea Thai Party had a strong lead with 264 of 500 parliament seats, well over the majority needed to form a government. Abhisit's Democrats won 160 seats.

The apparent election result paves the way for Yingluck to become the Southeast Asian kingdom's first female prime minister.

Speaking to a throng of cheering supporters at her party headquarters in Bangkok, Yingluck declined to declare victory until final results are released. But she said: "I don't want to say that Puea Thai wins today. It's a victory of the people."

From exile 4,800 kilometres away in the desert emirate of Dubai, Thaksin hailed the outcome. "People are tired of a standstill," he said in an interview broadcast on Thai television. "They want to see change in a peaceful manner." He had stated earlier in the weekend that he would not return to Thailand if it was seen to cause problems.

Yingluck was earlier quoted as saying if she wins the vote, she would attempt to address Thailand's growing gap between rich and poor.

Last year, dozens of Red Shirt activists, mostly from rural Thailand, were killed in clashes between protesters and troops in the centre of Bangkok.

The protesters were mainly supporters of Thaksin, whose ascent to power in 2001 changed Thailand forever, touching off a societal schism between the country's haves and long-silent have-nots.
The marginalized rural poor hail his populism, while the elite establishment sees him as a corrupt, autocratic threat to the revered monarchy and the status quo.

That schism has played out through pro- and anti-Thaksin street protests since the 2006 coup. Many believe Sunday's vote was largely about the divisive legacy he left behind.

Puea Thai "is being led by his sister at the moment, who has absolutely no political experience. She's a complete political neophyte and her only popularity with the Red Shirts, with the rural poor, who are a slim majority of the population of Thailand, is that she's related to Thaksin," Canadian journalist Michael McAuliffe told CBC from Bangkok.

The Democrat Party — backed by big business, the military and circles close to the royal palace — continuted its losing streak in national elections since 1992. It only came to power in 2008 because a series of court rulings removed Thaksin's successors from the prime minister's office.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/07/03/thailand-vote.html

Goodluck

Yingluck

It's a season of luck?

Goodluck to us, Yingluck to them
GoodYing to everybody. . .

Jury Finds Blagojevich Guilty of Corruption

CHICAGO — A jury on Monday convicted Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, of a broad pattern of corruption, including charges that he tried to personally benefit from his role in selecting a replacement for President Obama in the United States Senate.

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat who former aides say once envisioned himself as a future presidential contender, was found guilty of most of the 20 federal counts against him: 17 counts of wire fraud, attempted extortion, soliciting bribes, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes.

As the verdicts were read aloud in court, one “guilty” following another, Mr. Blagojevich, who has always proclaimed his innocence, turned, his jaw clenched grimly, to look at his wife, Patti, in the front row. By then, she was already slumped back in the arms of a relative, eyes closed, wiping away tears.

The verdict appeared to be the conclusion, at last, to the spectacle of Mr. Blagojevich’s political career, which began its spiraling descent shortly after Mr. Obama was elected president in November 2008. A month after Election Day, Mr. Blagojevich, who was in his second term as governor and under state law was required to name a senator to replace Mr. Obama, was arrested, and federal agents revealed that they had secretly recorded hundreds of hours of damaging phone calls by him and his advisers.

Mr. Blagojevich, a lawyer and former state and federal lawmaker, was accused of trying to secure campaign contributions, a cabinet post or a high-paying job in exchange for his official acts as governor — whether that was picking a senator, supporting particular legislation or deciding how to spend state money. Mr. Blagojevich was acquitted on one charge of bribery, and the jury deadlocked on two counts of attempted extortion, but convictions came on the bulk of the counts and on those related to the Senate seat — the claims that had drawn international headlines.

[b]The outcome came as a victory for federal prosecutors, whose earlier trial resulted in a deadlocked jury on most counts and led people to wonder whether Mr. Blagojevich’s behavior would ultimately be deemed crass political deal-making or a lot of wishful, blustery talk, but not rise to the level of crimes.

Issuing their verdicts on the 10th day of deliberations, jurors said the accusations related to selling the Senate seat had been the clearest and easiest to resolve, in part because of the audio recordings of Mr. Blagojevich’s telephone calls. In the end, the jurors — 11 women and 1 man, all of whom declined to provide their names to reporters — said they believed they had sent a loud signal to corrupt Illinois politicians, past and future.

“There’s a lot of bargaining that goes on behind the scenes — we do that in our everyday lives, in business and everything,” said the jury forewoman, a retired church employee from the Chicago suburbs. “But I think in the instances when it is someone representing the people, it crosses the line. And I think we sent a pretty clear message on that.”

And she had her own conclusion about the unseemly political world she had seen close-up through about six weeks of testimony: “I told my husband that if he was running for politics, he would probably have to find a new wife.” [/b]

For Democrats here, in a state government they almost entirely control, the final chapter could not come soon enough. By turns, Illinois residents had been mortified by the saga, amused by its circuslike antics and, most recently, weary of the whole thing.

Mr. Blagojevich’s impeachment, removal from office and evolution into a punch line on late-night television threatened the Democratic Party’s political hold on the state, created an outcry to overhaul lax state campaign finance and public records laws, and led to added scrutiny of some of this city’s best-known politicians, including Mr. Obama, Rahm Emanuel (the president’s former chief of staff and now Chicago’s mayor) and Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr.

The scandal also reaffirmed an image that Illinois has long wished to shed: Mr. Blagojevich appears likely to be the fourth governor in recent memory to be imprisoned (one for acts committed after leaving office).

Mr. Blagojevich, 54, the father of two girls, was released until sentencing. His lawyers have until next month to pursue a new trial. The most serious of the counts carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

After Mr. Blagojevich’s first trial last year, jurors said the case had been too tangled and confusing, and it was clear that prosecutors took that message to heart. In the retrial, which began in April, prosecutors offered fewer, simpler charges, a notably boiled-down message and an emphasis on the thought that Mr. Blagojevich did not need to actually complete any deals to be found guilty of crimes for proposing them.

Prosecutors laid out five “schemes” in which they said Mr. Blagojevich tried to get campaign contributions in exchange for supporting a Senate appointee or legislation to help racetracks, a pediatric hospital or road projects. They also accused him of pushing for a campaign fund-raiser (from Mr. Emanuel’s brother in Hollywood, Ari) in exchange for supporting a school. The jury ultimately did not convict Mr. Blagojevich in connection to the school or the road projects.

The stakes of the retrial were apparent. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois (who may be better known nationally as having pursued the C.I.A. leak case against I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney) personally listened to parts of the trial and sat in the back row as the verdicts were read, later describing the outcome as vindication for the people of Illinois.

For his part at the trial, Mr. Blagojevich did what Mr. Blagojevich likes to do — talk. After offering no defense testimony at all in his first trial, he testified before jurors for seven days, proclaiming his innocence and portraying his taped conversations about matters like who he might appoint to the Senate as merely brainstorming, not some sinister plot.

Mr. Blagojevich defended himself against recorded calls and testimony that seemed to suggest he was pressing for a cabinet post in the Obama administration in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett, an ally of Mr. Obama, to the Senate. And he defended himself against calls and testimony that seemed to suggest he was considering a $1.5 million campaign contribution from supporters of Mr. Jackson if he were appointed to the Senate. He had not committed to any particular result, Mr. Blagojevich testified.

In a defense that some non-Chicagoans might have understandably viewed as closer to a confession, Mr. Blagojevich insisted that his favorite idea was not a financial trade at all, but a raw political exchange. He said he really wanted to appoint Lisa Madigan, the state’s attorney general, to the Senate seat in exchange for help getting his legislative agenda passed by her powerful father, Michael Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House.

While residents here seem to have grown inured by the Blagojevich story over more than two years, a curious city did watch as its new mayor, Mr. Emanuel, and Mr. Jackson were called to the witness stand by the defense team.

As it turned out, neither man’s testimony was particularly shocking. Mr. Jackson said he knew nothing of a financial offer by supporters to Mr. Blagojevich for the Senate seat, and Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Blagojevich had not solicited favors from him when he recommended Ms. Jarrett as a candidate for the Senate appointment. But Mr. Emanuel’s appearing at all — he had been sworn in as mayor only days before — seemed one more fitting moment in a story that has never lacked big names or drama.

As Mr. Blagojevich departed the courthouse on Monday, he spoke only briefly. Gone was the news conference fanfare.

“Among the many lessons that I’ve learned from this whole experience is to try to speak a little bit less,” Mr. Blagojevich said, soon adding, “I, frankly, am stunned. There is not much left to say other than we want to get home to our little girls and explain things to them.”




http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/28blagojevich.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Brazil's coalition shows strain as minister moans about 'idiots'

A new corruption scandal and a top minister's remark that he is surrounded by "idiots" have added to strains on Brazil's ruling coalition.

President Dilma Rousseff suspended two aides to Alfredo Nascimento, the Transport Minister, over the weekend.

The weekly news magazine Veja alleged that the two were charging a five per cent kickback fee on projects coming through the ministry.

A statement issued by Ms Rousseff's office said she "has confidence" in Nascimento and that he was responsible for investigating the problems but the saga could cause more friction within the 10 parties that she relies on to pass legislation.

Nascimento's Party of the Republic is small, but Rousseff's relations with bigger parties such as the PMDB have frayed due to disputes over budget cuts and appointments to plum government jobs.

Adding to the feeling of drift and dissension in Rousseff's six-month-old government, Nelson Jobim. the Defence Minister, lamented before a roomful of legislators last week that he has to tolerate an ever-greater number of "idiots."

Jobim, a leader of the PMDB party, made the comments at an 80th birthday celebration for former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso - a figurehead of the main opposition party. Jobim served as Cardoso's justice minister in the 1990s.

Jobim also lauded Cardoso for "never raising his voice toward anyone" and "never creating tension among his advisers" - which many observers interpreted as a direct criticism of Rousseff, who has a reputation for dressing down subordinates in a loud and public fashion.

After a long meeting with Rousseff on Friday, Jobim said his comments were misinterpreted, and that the "idiots" were journalists who disparaged Cardoso's legacy.

The sour mood in Brasilia, highlighted by the resignation of Rousseff's chief of staff last month amid a separate scandal, has already paralysed key reforms such as an overhaul of the tax code and efforts to prepare Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/8617167/Brazils-coalition-shows-strain-as-minister-moans-about-idiots.html

July 6, 2011 7:28 pm

India telecoms scandal embroils minister
By Rahul Jacob in New Delhi
The government of Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, came under fresh pressure on Wednesday as a multibillion-dollar telecoms scandal embroiled another member of his cabinet.

In a deposition to the Supreme Court, Indian investigators alleged that Dayanidhi Maran, the textiles minister and former telecoms minister, had delayed granting licences to Aircel, one of India’s top seven mobile operators, five years ago. The investigators said the delay eventually forced its owner to sell the company to a Malaysian business.

The Central Bureau of Investigation’s deposition increases the pressure on Mr Singh to drop Mr Maran, who served as telecoms minister between 2004 and 2007, from his cabinet in an impending reshuffle.

Over the past year India has been hit by a series of high-profile corruption scandals affecting the telecoms sector, the top brass of the military and the Commonwealth Games.

Mr Maran has vehemently denied the allegations made last month by entrepreneur C. Sivasankaran, the former owner of Aircel, who told the CBI he was forced to sell his stake in the mobile operator to the Malaysian company Maxis in 2006 after his applications for mobile licences were repeatedly delayed. Months after Mr Sivasankaran sold Aircel to Maxis, a sister company of Maxis bought a $157m stake in the Sun TV company owned by Kalanidhi Maran, the minister’s brother. Aircel then received telecoms licences from the government.

Mr Maran’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party has 18 members of parliament and is allied with Mr Singh’s Congress party.

J. Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the ADMK, which routed the DMK in state elections in May after the telecoms scandal became an issue in the polls, urged Mr Singh to dismiss Mr Maran. “There is no use expecting Dayanidhi Maran to take moral responsibility and resign. It is time the prime minister dropped him,” she said.

● Critics of Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Indian health minister, on Wednesday attacked his comment that homosexuality was “unnatural”, saying his prejudices made him unfit to head the ministry, Reuters reports from New Delhi.

Mr Azad made the comment on Monday at a meeting between leaders from rural communities and groups fighting HIV/Aids.

Additional reporting by Girija Shivakumar
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/adb5b4de-a7fc-11e0-afc2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1RVGUvx8Q

Obama’s motorcade fined for London congestion fees

Political Reporter
By Rachel Rose Hartman | The Ticket – 13 hrs ago

London Mayor Boris Johnson is raising a stink over minor congestion charges he says President Obama's motorcade incurred while visiting his city, the London Evening Standard reports.

Johnson has fined the United States 120 pounds (nearly $200 U.S. dollars) in congestion levies--10 pounds per vehicle--for the presidential motorcade used during Obama's state visit in May.

The sum may seem to be a pittance, but it is part of a much larger problem, Johnson and others say.

London officials told AFP that the American Embassy owes 5.3 million pounds ($8.7 million dollars) in unpaid congestion fines--known as C-charges--which were first established in 2003. Since the roads weren't closed during the president's visit, he is subject to the fines, Johnson says.

In speaking with the Standard, the Embassy defended its refusal to pay, citing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which prohibits "this sort of tax on diplomatic missions."

The Standard reports that Obama's personal armored Cadillac--nicknamed "The Beast"--first escaped a fine because congestion charge cameras were unable to record its license plate number.

As you may remember, "The Beast" encountered problems of its own on that UK trip. During a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, Obama's car got stuck on the driveway in front of crowds of onlookers.


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-motorcade-fined-london-congestion-fees-173333994.html

UK riots: top cops round on David Cameron over riot slurs

TWO of Britain’s most senior cops yesterday slammed David Cameron for claiming credit for quelling the riots, as the PM went on a whistle-stop tour of violence-hit areas.

Police chiefs leader Sir Hugh Orde and acting Met Commissioner Tim Godwin were livid with the PM and Home Secretary Theresa May for saying THEY ordered the crackdown on thugs.

Mr Godwin pointed out Mr Cameron and Mrs May were still on holiday at the start. He said: “I think after any event like this, people will always make comments who weren’t there.”

Mr Cameron was in Manchester and Salford yesterday visiting police who tackled rioting but he still refused to reconsider his plans to cut 16,000 officers over the next four years.

Angry Sir Hugh, the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the politicians had made no difference to the police operation to end the mayhem on Britain’s streets.

He said: “That politicians chose to come back is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing.”

He added: “The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference – they were a function of numbers being available.”

Police are appalled at the way the Government has tried to take credit for tackling the disorder after officers worked round the clock and put themselves at huge personal risk to take on the thugs.

Mrs May has claimed she ordered the “robust approach” and cancelled all leave but Sir Hugh said last night that she has “no power whatsoever” to do that.

Mr Godwin also played down the Home Secretary’s involvement in the policing operation.

He said: “What I can say is that I have some of the best commanders in the world, they showed great restraint as well as great courage.

“As a result of that we were able to nip this in the bud after a few days.

“The issue around the numbers, the tactics – they are all police decisions and they are all made by my police commanders and myself.”

Police are already at loggerheads with the ministers over cuts plans and Sir Hugh pointed out that fewer officers would make more difficult to maintain public safety.

He said: “We need to have very honest conversations with the Government about what we are to stop doing if we are to maintain front-line service delivery at current levels.”

Mr Cameron, who came under fire for not returning from a holiday in Tuscany immediately when the riots began, praised local officers – but refused any suggestion of going back on police cuts plans when speaking to reporters.

He said: “I pay tribute to the incredible bravery of the officers involved. The bravest of the brave. It is an incredibly difficult thing we ask the police to do.”

Mr Cameron said there was a real sense of anger among law-abiding people who were left “sickened” by the rioting but the “swift justice” being handed out by the courts was a silver lining to the troubles.

He said: “I have been impressed that there have been some quite exemplary sentences.

“I saw one newspaper this morning complaining that someone had stolen some water bottles and got six months in prison. I have to say, I was cheering. Swift justice is good justice.”

In a Lidl supermarket which was looted of £200,000 stock and then torched, he shook his head and said “unbelievable”.

Firefighters had raced to the store but had to withdraw after coming under attack from the mob.

SPINNING

Police Federation vice chairman Simon Reed said the Government’s efforts to take credit for quelling the riots were “a slight on the professionalism of the police service”.

Shadow Minister for Policing Vernon Coaker added: “Instead of the Prime Minister and Home Secretary spinning the police they should be supporting them.

“It is incredible that this government is hell-bent even now in cutting over 16,000 police officers at the very time that they are needed more than ever.”

3SOME 71% of people oppose the Government’s plan to cut the number of frontline police, a ComRes poll reveals today. It found 54% believed David Cameron had failed to show “necessary leadership” in the rioting while just 36% had confidence in his ability.



Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/08/13/uk-riots-top-cops-round-on-david-cameron-over-riot-slurs-115875-23340604/#ixzz1V51FE149