Zebra Music Festival officially announced details for this year's event at a press conference last week. Voted best event two years in a row by Chengdoo Magazine readers, the Zebra Festival is unquestionably Chengdu's most anticipated music event.

The festival starts on April 30 this year, a day earlier than usual, to accommodate the May labor holiday weekend. Organizers are sticking to their formula of the last two years, holding the event at the Poly198 Park location and featuring all kinds of music but focusing on rock, with a few foreign acts and a final pop act at the end of each day.

However, fans of electronic music might find themselves a bit lost, as (for a multitude of reasons which can be read in Chengdoo's April issue) this year's Zebra won't include the Panda Stage, which has been a haven for electronic-music lovers the past two festivals. And don't even dare to compare it to this year's Beijing Strawberry Festival's lineup with 130 acts spread across six stages!

Below we've rounded up descriptions and links to tracks and videos of most of the artists taking part in Zebra Music Festival 2011, plus all the rest of the information you need to know.

Edison Chen and other pop stars
Apart from Sony-backed Singaporean pop wonder Yida Huang (黄义达), headlining Day 1 is Chen Chusheng (陈楚生), who, when not picking up awards from the national pop industry or MTV as "Superboy" champion or "National Pub Singer," contributes to the soundtrack of so-called "domestic blockbusters" such as The Message<<span class="highlight">!> and for the first time will perform on a big stage with a live band.


Day 2 sees
Wang Xiaokun (王啸坤), pop songwriter from Shijiazhuang who launched to fame during a Sprite-sponsored casting show.


If you missed legendary rock guitarist
Xu Wei's (许巍) Chengdu concert last year, the Xi'anese headliner has prepared a performance with a dedicated stage design to close out Day 2.


Headlining Day 3—you might know him from
action movies such as Infernal Affairs or having stumbled across his name in 2008 when his photo scandal, aka "Sexgate," was rotating in the yellow press, but like almost every star created by the Hong Kong entertainment industry, Chen is also involved with music. Following friend and fellow Asia pop star MC Hotdog, Chen will, for the first time, climb onto the stage of an outdoor music festival in China, marking a public comeback after three years of scandal-related absence. Expect a repertoire from his latest album Confusion>, and don't be surprised if the Cantopop beats are crossed by soft Chinese raps in a stretched interpretation of commercial hip hop.
youku

The foreign bands
The first day features four foreign bands, starting with Chengdu-based multinational Proximity Butterfly
(变色蝴蝶) whose prayers (or was it petitions, backed up by powerful performances the last two years?) have been finally heard by the Zebra gods, earning them not only a much-deserved spot on the main stage but also the honor of opening this year's festival—hopefully with their smashy "Kill the Popstar."
youku
Proximity will be followed by pop-rockers
Gemini
http://blog.sina.com.cn/gemini8900# (简迷离) from Beijing, allegedly the mainland's first Chinese-pianist-and-French-guitarist duo.

The festival's most controversial act might be
Your Favorite Enemies
, an indie-rock sextet from Canada whose frontman is involved with "Write For Rights" and other human-rights movements. He is not only a notorious spokesperson for Amnesty International, but the band is also regularly invited to play at AI's anniversary celebrations. While highly acclaimed in the West (1st place in the U.K.'s "Battle of the Bands" and word of approval by Beach Boy Brian Wilson), the band's strongest fan base commercially seems to be in Japan, thanks to Your Favorite Enemies' involvement on the chart-topping soundtrack of video game Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
youku
A certain Mister Eleganz fronts French electro-rock ensemble
Success
, which at first listen comes off as a substitute for last year's headlining Does It Offend You, Yeah?. But make no mistake: Success's fuller sound leans a bit more toward the likes of Daft Punk and Justice, while the band's aggressiveness worked well enough for them to contribute to the soundtrack of Zombieland. Combine that with their previous experience performing in front of Chinese audiences, and the four should stand by their name and rock the crowd.

What do you do the second day of the festival if you are
Good for Nothing
? If you happen to come from Osaka with your three best friends, the answer can only be "Play positivistic pop punk in a band that is named after a Japanese movie from the '60s."
youku
And if you don't hail from Kansai, their Australian counterparts
The on Fires
might answer the question the following day.
youku
If you are still unconvinced by this year's lineup, listen to the Beijing-based trio with French frontman Zhang Si'an, Dutch bassist Maikel and the Chinese drummer Maomao aka
The Amazing Insurance Salesmen
. Their experimental but melodic rock secured them the first place of the China Global Battle of the bands, and apart from making amazingly good rock music, they sure know how to sell themselves, representing China's rock-music scene at the GBOB WOrld Final in Malaysia despite being two-thirds foreign.
youku

Chinese Bands and the Zebra Star
It's not clear what their name refers to, but Bigger Bang finally found their way to the Four-chuan: Front woman Pupi seems to be Guangzhou's answer to Beijing's Kang Mao (Subs/杀不死), Fu Han (Queen Sea Big Shark/后海大鲨鱼), or Helen Feng (formerly of Pet Conspiracy/宠物同谋) and comes across as no less dancy or rockstarish than any of the aforementioned.

youku
With Beijing indie-rockers
Convenience Store
, China's rockopolist label Modern Sky pays tribute to ZMF on opening day.


Day 2
features three of Chengdu's most popular bands: Upbeat seven-piece ska and big band The Trouble (超热播) ...

... dance rockers
Mosaic
(马赛克) ...

...and old-timers
Soundtoy
(声音玩具).

The third day sees local band
Tongdang
(童党) upgraded to the main stage ...

... along with the dreamy Mr. Turtle/Chelonian (海龟先生) ...



... and
Ashura
(阿修罗), the satellite Little Bar first launched to explore the final frontiers of indie rock and commercial pop in China.

And if after that you wonder how long one can survive with
Brain Failure
, just stay in front of the main stage and listen to the punk rockers from Beijing who infiltrate Chengdu at least once a year.

Finally, ZMF's self-proclaimed "dedication to supporting original music" (or perhaps simply their attempt to follow in Strawberry Festival's footsteps) means a new festival feature in a "Battle of the Bands" contest. Preliminary competitions have started throughout the city's college and university campuses, and by the end of the month the acts will have been narrowed down to 15 bands who will attempt to show their worthiness on the smaller Sky Stage. A conglomerate of industry people, pop stars, media critics, and peers of Chengdu's music scene will select three finalists to perform on the main stage in the final battle. The audience will then decide a winner, and the last band standing will be invited to participate in a 2011 Zebra Music Festival held in another city, most likely the "fashion-themed music rock festival" with which Zebra threatens to invade Shanghai's Jinshan Beach later this year.

While the casting contest might be uninspiring to enter or to watch, there's another contest not to be missed: "Zebra Conquers the Landlord"—a contest for non-Chengduers to win the grand prize of free accommodation and a free return ticket back home.

But, if you don't win, at least you can show awareness with the festival's long-standing motto of "I care" by "enjoy[ing] a relaxed holiday in a pleasant and natural environment ... lov[ing] the earth and the sky and support[ing] a 'green' music festival by going barefoot." And by stopping by the panda-conservation tent run by NGO
Shanshui
, founded by the so-called "Jane Goodall of China," Lü Zhi (吕植). For those who get bored or need to play with their smart phones to give face, check updates and casting votes on
Sina's Twitter-clone Weibo
, download iPhone or Android apps to navigate the festival, or stay at home, save the RMB80 a day and watch the live broadcast on Tudou for free.
Earth Stage
Schedule
Day 1
Proximity Butterfly
(变色蝴蝶) (Chengdu, psychedelic rock)Gemini
(简迷离) (France/China, Pop-rock)Your favorite enemies
(Canada) (Indi-Rock)Bigger Bang
(Guangzhou, Dance-rock)Convenience Store
(便利商店) (Beijing, Brit-pop)#Yida HuangYida Huang
(黄义达) (Singapore, Pop)Success
(France, electro rock)Chenchu Sheng
(陈楚生)
Day 2
The Trouble
(热超波)Good for Nothing
(Japan, pop punk)Mosaic
(马赛克) (Chengdu, dance rock)local band t.b.a.
Soundtoy
(声音玩具) (Chengdu, Brit-pop)Xiaokun Wang
(王啸坤) (Singapore, pop)Xu Wei
(许巍) (Xi'an, pop rock)
Day 3
The Amazing Insurance Salesmen
(保险超人乐队) (Beijing, experimental rock)Tongdang
(童党) (Chengdu, emo rock)Mr. Turtle
aka Mr. Chelonian (海龟先生) (Chengdu, ska, reggae)The on Fires
(Australia, punk/rock)local band t.b.a
Ashura
(阿修罗乐队) (Chengdu, pop rock)Brain Failure
(脑浊) (Beijing, punk rock)Edison Chen
(陈冠希) (Hong Kong, Cantopop/hip hop)
Official Web site
In Chinese<<span class="highlight">!> and
English (not updated) Ticketing

Tickets are RMB80 for a single-day pass (no three-day passes this year)National ticket hotline 400-810-1887 | Chengdu booking hotline: 028-65920088 or 65920088 Internet booking
228.com.cn
or
ticketone Location

Poly 198 Tulip Park 保利198郁金香花卉公园 (Baoli 198 Yujinxiang Huahui Gongyuan) on Shulong Lu near the Third Ring Road northeast section, Giant Panda Breeding Research Base>, and Chengdu Zoo. A taxi from the city proper costs RMB40 to 60 and can take 40 to 60 minutes depending on traffic, or you can take bus line 107 or 902 (get off at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base Stop - 大熊猫基地站)
2010 photos:

2010 Day 1
, 2010 Day 2 or 2010 Wrap Up. 2009 photos: For our team's photos, click
here
, here, here, or here for everyone else's. 2009 videos are here. While you wait for the festival to get started, you can review what Zebra Music Festival CEO Scarlett Li promised of the festival last year.

*cgwu68

There's just a few days left of Amazon's celebration of heavy metal with their 50 $5 Metal Albums sale. For only $5 each in MP3 format, there are some insanely good must-have metal albums up for sale through the end of March, like Metallica's ...And Justice For All, Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance, Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell, Quiet Riot's Metal Health>, and many more, including some really great "Best Of" compilations.
I picked out a few here below, but be sure to check out the main sale page to see all the albums available now for only $5 each.


Metallica ...And Justice For All Danzig
Danzig Judas Priest
Screaming For Vengeance A Perfect Circle
Thirteenth Step Pantera
The Best Of Pantera Van Halen
Van Halen - Best Of Volume 1 Megadeth
Megadeth - Greatest Hits: Back To The Start Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell Cinderella
Night Songs Rainbow
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Testament
The New Order Anthrax
Spreading The Disease Kiss
Kiss Queensryche
The Best Of Queensryche […]

Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPhone Competitors, Features, Opinions and Editorials, Originals

Between the armageddon scenarios conjured up by the potential of no new hardware at WWDC, constant articles and opinion pieces on the pervasively disruptive nature of Google&#8217;s Android OS, and the politely tepid response to the BlackBerry Playbook’s recent discussion during RIM’s earnings call, it is getting hard to remember why mobile computing and apps are so exciting in the first place. It is the promise of innovation, of novel solutions to problems, the sheer brainpower being thrown at the latest and greatest thing we can do with our smartphones/tablets (Augmented reality! Angry Birds! Digital subscriptions!). Innovative ideas, lately, seem to be a dime a dozen, which makes you wonder: in this new world of mobile devices and constant connectivity, what separates the innovative leaders from the rabble of followers? 

App Tonnage:

noun; a marketing term meaning “We don’t really have our act together, so we’re crushing our potential users under a mountain of Android Apps. See also: crap, massive pile of, and garbage.”

In a frankly delirious statement during a conference call, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie answered a question with a long-and-rambling statement about the inclusion of a virtual machine to run Android apps as one of the BlackBerry Playbook’s features. The entire answer was an equivocal way of saying three things: 1.) that the PlayBook will not have many native apps, 2.) RIM realizes nobody would buy a tablet sans apps, and 3.) the performance will be dreadful and the apps are not optimized for tablets (being Android 2.3 Gingerbread, not 3.0 Honeycomb), but it should be good enough.

This strategy of pursuing a good enough, me-too product just will not fly if you want to be a global leader in consumer electronics (or in any industry for that matter).  The U.S. auto industry learned this the hard way, and has recently been (with varying degrees of success) pursuing a strategy of downsizing and targeting: shedding brands that are not essential (adios Volvo and Saab, RIP Saturn and Plymouth), while refocusing the remaining brands to deliver high-quality, innovative cars that really fit people’s needs. The iPad fits a need for a large percentage of the population who would like to experience the Internet and some casual games on the go. The PlayBook and Android tablets like the Xoom exist merely as additional choices to the iPad so their respective makers can check the “yeah we make a tablet” box. Before the iPad, the closest alternatives were cramped notebooks and too-tiny smartphones—RIM and Google may deliver unique features, but they will never blaze the trail of tablet computing.

“Genius is 1% Innovation…

...and 99% perspiration.” Following a me-too product strategy is enough to make you wildly successful, which carries with it the potential for great wealth and status as a captain of industry. Store brand groceries and generic pharmaceuticals are great examples—in many cases, both offer higher profit margins, and they put the same level of quality into the hands of people who are not able to afford the name brand equivalents.  But truth be told, nobody has ever lined up outside a store at 3 am every day for two weeks in the hope of scoring the latest generic antacid drug.&nbsp; And no designer of store brand toilet cleanser bottles is achieving international fame on the level of Jonathan Ive. 

To achieve that recognition takes more than the 1% innovation. Adding an SD card slot, or making your own brand X Oreo equivalent takes very little work. Building an entirely new product or product line that fulfills a basic need of a population and captures the imagination takes a lot of work, and that’s where the 99% perspiration comes in. It may be easy to become the biggest by hitting one need, like cheap (for generic drugs or store-brand products) or pervasive (like available-everywhere, buy-one-get-one-free Android phones), but there is a certain brand cache that will never be available to those products. Microsoft’s product approach lately bears this out: copying what your competitors are doing (Bing, WP7) and adding one or two innovative touches does not a runaway success make. Bringing something different that answers a fundamental question—like “How do I control my Xbox without a complicated controller?”—is how you “Kinect” with consumers.

Innovation

noun; Solving a problem in a new and better way.

Many Android fans like to point out the rebel underdog nature of their platform, and hold it up as a sign of superiority to the ubiquitous herd mentality of iOS, where one man’s word is law (as if Steve Jobs personally weighs each app and sends it over the rainbow bridge into the App Store or down a shrieking disposal of doom to rot in Cydia). Yes, Android is more flexible, and yes, if you are inclined to do things like rooting your device or manually managing everything, then Android is the way to go. Competition is healthy, even necessary, as there is no one-size-fits all solution. But the word “innovative” gets tossed around far too frequently when describing new devices.

Lest anyone think Google is really on the innovation fast track, two facts should be carefully considered: 1.) Google has no motivation other than selling ads. Full stop. Every service that Google provides is dependent on getting the users eyeballs on advertisements, so users’ needs will always exist in an uncomfortable balance with the need to track user behavior and sell more ads. 2,) Google is, in fact, constantly playing catchup to the market leader. After acquiring Android in 2005, Google worked to bring out a BlackBerry-like mobile phone. Then, Apple shook up the market with the iPhone, and suddenly multitouch and soft keyboards were all the rage. Then, when Apple delivered another true innovation with the iPad, Google was suddenly scrambling to get Android scaled up to do tablets justice. Though Android’s substantial gains in the market and popularity are no mean achievement, Google still does not really have the track record of a leader.

It seems that innovation can be easily identified in products that deliver truly novel functions to solve problems in a better way than what came before. In the early 20th century, “labor saving” was the all the rage in machines designed to make manual labor easier. Now, it seems that “innovative” is this century’s buzzword, but it is less descriptive than its last-century counterpart. “New” would be a more fitting description for the gaggle of me-too products that are unique, but not truly innovative, which seem to spring up around anyone or any company that delivers something truly innovative. How these companies, like Apple with iOS or Ford with Sync, go about the process of innovating is largely irrelevant. The fact that they put in the full 100% rather than just adding one small new idea to the mix is what makes them innovative leaders. Being a follower is fine, and may indeed be a very lucrative career path, but let’s save the word innovative as a reward for those who really do it, rather than those who merely chase it.

Full Story » | Written by Aaron Kraus for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

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On 22 May 2009 Mr Justice Arnold told us that he was referring a number of questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary reference in one of the most exciting and potentially important trade mark law disputes to be heard in England and Wales in recent times -- the titan struggle between luxury cosmetic kings L’Oréal SA and online auction host eBay (see IPKat post here for background). Today in Case C‑324/09 L’Oréal SA, Lancôme parfums et beauté & Cie, Laboratoire Garnier & Cie, L’Oréal (UK) Limited v eBay International AG, eBay Europe SARL and eBay (UK) Limited Advocate General Jääskinen delivered his keenly awaited opinion.

To refresh readers' memories, the questions referred were as follows:

‘(1) Where perfume and cosmetic testers (i.e. samples for use in demonstrating products to consumers in retail outlets) and dramming bottles (i.e. containers from which small aliquots can be taken for supply to consumers as free samples) which are not intended for sale to consumers (and are often marked “not for sale” or “not for individual sale”) are supplied without charge to the trade mark proprietor’s authorised distributors, are such goods “put on the market” within the meaning of Article 7(1) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 13(1) of [Regulation No 40/94]?

(2) Where the boxes (or other outer packaging) have been removed from perfumes and cosmetics without the consent of the trade mark proprietor, does this constitute a “legitimate reason” for the trade mark proprietor to oppose further commercialisation of the unboxed products within the meaning of Article 7(2) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 13(2) of [Regulation No 40/94]?

(3) Does it make a difference to the answer to question 2 above if:

(a) as a result of the removal of the boxes (or other outer packaging), the unboxed products do not bear the information required by Article 6(1) of [Directive 76/768], and in particular do not bear a list of ingredients or a “best before date”?

(b) as a result of the absence of such information, the offer for sale or sale of the unboxed products constitutes a criminal offence according to the law of the Member State of the Community in which they are offered for sale or sold by third parties?

(4) Does it make a difference to the answer to question 2 above if the further commercialisation damages, or is likely to damage, the image of the goods and hence the reputation of the trade mark? If so, is that effect to be presumed, or is it required to be proved by the trade mark proprietor?

(5) Where a trader which operates an online marketplace purchases the use of a sign which is identical to a registered trade mark as a keyword from a search engine operator so that the sign is displayed to a user by the search engine in a sponsored link to the website of the operator of the online marketplace, does the display of the sign in the sponsored link constitute “use” of the sign within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 9(1)(a) of [Regulation No 40/94]?

(6) Where clicking on the sponsored link referred to in question 5 above leads the user directly to advertisements or offers for sale of goods identical to those for which the trade mark is registered under the sign placed on the website by other parties, some of which infringe the trade mark and some which do not infringe the trade mark by virtue of the differing statuses of the respective goods, does that constitute use of the sign by the operator of the online marketplace “in relation to” the infringing goods within the meaning of 5(1)(a) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 9(1)(a) of [Regulation No 40/94]?

(7) Where the goods advertised and offered for sale on the website referred to in question 6 above include goods which have not been put on the market within the EEA by or with the consent of the trade mark proprietor, is it sufficient for such use to fall within the scope of Article 5(1)(a) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 9(1)(a) of [Regulation No 40/94] and outside Article 7(1) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 13(1) of [Regulation No 40/94] that the advertisement or offer for sale is targeted at consumers in the territory covered by the trade mark or must the trade mark proprietor show that the advertisement or offer for sale necessarily entails putting the goods in question on the market within the territory covered by the trade mark?

(8) Does it make any difference to the answers to questions 5 to 7 above if the use complained of by the trade mark proprietor consists of the display of the sign on the web site of the operator of the online marketplace itself rather than in a sponsored link?

(9) If it is sufficient for such use to fall within the scope of Article 5(1)(a) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 9(1)(a) of [Regulation No 40/94] and outside Article 7(1) of [Directive 89/104] and Article 13(1) of [Regulation No 40/94] that the advertisement or offer for sale is targeted at consumers in the territory covered by the trade mark:

(a) does such use consist of or include “the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service” within the meaning of Article 14(1) of [Directive 2000/31]?

(b) if the use does not consist exclusively of activities falling within the scope of Article 14(1) of [Directive 2000/31], but includes such activities, is the operator of the online marketplace exempted from liability to the extent that the use consists of such activities and if so may damages or other financial remedies be granted in respect of such use to the extent that it is not exempted from liability?

(c) in circumstances where the operator of the online marketplace has knowledge that goods have been advertised, offered for sale and sold on its website in infringement of registered trade marks, and that infringements of such registered trade marks are likely to continue to occur through the advertisement, offer for sale and sale of the same or similar goods by the same or different users of the website, does this constitute “actual knowledge” or “awareness” within the meaning of Article 14(1) of [Directive 2000/31]?

(10) Where the services of an intermediary such as an operator of a website have been used by a third party to infringe a registered trade mark, does Article 11 of [Directive 2004/48] require Member States to ensure that the trade mark proprietor can obtain an injunction against the intermediary to prevent further infringements of the said trade mark, as opposed to continuation of that specific act of infringement, and if so what is the scope of the injunction that shall be made available?’

The Advocate General -- whose recommendations are accepted on average around 75-80% of the time -- has advised the Court to rule thus:

(1) Where perfume and cosmetic testers and dramming bottles which are not intended for sale to consumers are supplied without charge to the trade mark proprietor’s authorised distributors, such goods are not put on the market within the meaning of Article 7(1) of ... Council Directive 89/104 ...and Article 13(1) of ... Regulation ...40/94 .... [this fits with the Court's ruling in Case C-127/09 Coty Prestige Lancaster v Simex, noted by the IPKat here]

(2), (3) and (4) The trade mark proprietor is entitled to oppose further commercialisation of the unboxed products within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Directive 89/104 and Article 13(2) of Regulation No 40/94 where the outer packaging have been removed from perfumes and cosmetics without the consent of the trade mark proprietor if, as a result of the removal of the outer packaging, the products do not bear the information required by Article 6(1) of Council Directive 76/768 ... on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products [in which case repackaging in non-fancy, information-bearing boxes would still be fine], or if the removal of outer packaging can be considered as such as changing or impairing the condition of the goods [but is the glamour of the packaging to be regarded as part of the 'condition of the goods'?] or if the further commercialisation damages, or is likely to damage, the image of the goods and therefore the reputation of the trade mark [This may not be as clear-cut as it sounds, since presumably evidence of damage to reputation must be tied to the circumstances of each type of sale and cannot be presumed in all cases. Thus ...]. Under the circumstances of the main proceedings that effect is to be presumed unless the offer concerns a single item or few items offered by a seller clearly not acting in the course of trade.

(5) Where a trader operating an electronic marketplace purchases the use of a sign which is identical to a registered trade mark as a keyword from a search engine operator so that the sign is displayed to a user by the search engine in a sponsored link to the website of the operator of the electronic marketplace, the display of the sign in the sponsored link constitutes ‘use’ of the sign within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94 [there's some interesting analysis in the Opinion; this is not identical to the Google France sort of situation, since the use here is by eBay as an electronic marketplace operator, not by an ordinary trader selling goods].

(6) Where clicking on the sponsored link referred to in point 5 above leads the user directly to advertisements or offers for sale of goods identical to those for which the trade mark is registered under the sign placed on the website by other parties, some of which infringe the trade mark and some which do not infringe the trade mark by virtue of the differing statuses of the respective goods, that fact constitutes use of the sign by the operator of the electronic marketplace ‘in relation to’ the infringing goods within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94, but it does not have an adverse effect on the functions of the trade mark provided that a reasonable average consumer understands [as is likely to be the case nowadays, but might not have been in the early days of electronic marketplaces] on the basis of information included in the sponsored link that the operator of the electronic marketplace stores in his system advertisements or offers for sale of third parties.

(7) Where the goods offered for sale on the electronic marketplace have not yet been put on the market within the EEA by or with the consent of the trade mark proprietor, it is none the less sufficient for the exclusive right conferred by the national or Community trade mark to apply to show that the advertisement is targeted at consumers within the territory covered by the trade mark.

(8) If the use complained of by the trade mark proprietor consists of the display of the sign on the website of the operator of the electronic marketplace itself rather than in a sponsored link on the website of a search engine operator, the sign is not used by the operator of the electronic marketplace ‘in relation to’ the infringing goods within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94.

(9)(a) The use referred to in point 5 does not consist of or include ‘the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service’ by the electronic marketplace operator within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31 ... on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market, whereas the use referred to in point 6 may consist of or include such storage.

(9)(b) Where the use does not consist exclusively of activities falling within the scope of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31, but includes such activities, the operator of the electronic marketplace is exempted from liability to the extent that the use consists of such activities, but damages or other financial remedies may be granted pursuant to national law in respect of such use to the extent that it is not exempted from liability.

(9)(c) There is ‘actual knowledge’ of illegal activity or information or ‘awareness’ of facts or circumstances within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31 where the operator of the electronic marketplace has knowledge that goods have been advertised, offered for sale and sold on its website in infringement of a registered trade mark, and that infringements of that registered trade mark are likely to continue regarding the same or similar goods by the same user of the website [there's an interesting point at stake here: is a person's knowledge actual if it relates to a likely but uncertain future event? If I now know that the rain which is currently falling is likely to be falling in an hour's time, do I have actual knowledge now of rain which may or may not fall then, or do I have actual knowledge only of a possibility or probability? And what did the legislature intend? And if I'm 60% likely to have actual knowledge of an event that is 60% likely to take place in the future, do I have actual knowledge of that event if it subsequently happens?] 

(10) Where the services of an intermediary such as an operator of a website have been used by a third party to infringe a registered trade mark, Article 11 of Directive 2004/48 ...on the enforcement of intellectual property rights requires Member States to ensure that the trade mark proprietor can obtain an effective, dissuasive and proportionate injunction against the intermediary to prevent continuation or repetition of that infringement by that third party [even if the identity of the third party infringer is unknown, the AG reminds us]. The conditions and procedures relating to such injunctions are defined in national law.

The IPKat keenly awaits the court's ruling.

Monday, 09 November 2009, 07:32
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000888
AF/S FOR B. WALCH
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR L.DOBBINS AND J. HARMON
COMMERCE FOR ROBERT TELCHIN
SIPDIS
EO 12958 N/A
TAGS PGOV, PREL, ASEC, PHUM, ECON, ZI
SUBJECT: ZIM NOTES 11-09-2009

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1. SUMMARY

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Topics of the week:

SADC Summit-MDC to Reengage... Warthogs Delay Ambassador's Arrival... ...And May Have Prevented Abduction of Labor Leader... Nkomo Nominated for VP Slot... Zim Can Still Export Diamonds, With Greater Oversight... Another Human Rights Lawyer Arrested... Prisons Conditions Remain Dire... RBZ Deputy Governor's Thugs Shoot Farm Workers... MDC Official Appears in Jail after Abduction and Torture... All Quiet on the Banking Front... Time for Another Indigenization Scare... Salary and Wagepge^Qk Cabinet. The Organ directed the parties to resolve outstanding issues, as contained in the Global Political Agreement and SADC Communiqu of January 27, within 30 days. The Organ also called for the lifting of all international sanctions. South Africa, represented by President Jacob Zuma who will travel to Harare next week, will facilitate the inter-party dialogue between ZANU-PF, MDC-T, and MDC-M. See Harare 885

3. Warthogs Delay Ambassador's Arrival... This week we are thrilled to welcome Ambassador Charles A. Ray to Post. He arrived on November 4 after his November 3 arrival was delayed because of a bizarre accident hours earlier. On takeoff to Bulawayo on the afternoon of November 3, an Air Zimbabwe flight struck a group of about five warthogs and veered off the runway, destroying some of the runway lights. Passengers on the Air Zim flight were stuck in the plane for about two hours; security authorities forced passengers to surrender any photographic evidence of the crash before they were allowed to leave. All night flights on November 3, including Ambassador Ray's South African Airways flight from Johannesburg, were cancelled. The government did not comment on the warthogs' fate.

4. ...And May Have Prevented Abduction of Labor Leader... The Secretary General of the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), Gertrude Hambira, was also scheduled to arrive in Harare on the cancelled November 3 flight. That night, a team of armed men in masks broke into her home, put a gun to her husband's head, and demanded to know where she was. They force-marched him through the house to look for her. When they discovered she was not there, they ransacked the home, stole photo albums and US$100 and left. Hambira is now in hiding and other civil society leaders fear this may mean a new round of abductions similar to Jestina Mukoko's abduction and torture in December 2008.

5. Nkomo Nominated for VP Slot... The Herald is reporting that Q5. Nkomo Nominated for VP Slot... The Herald is reporting that former PF-ZAPU members who sit in ZANU-PF's Central Committee met on Thursday and nominated National Chairman John Nkomo to fill the post of Vice President, left vacant following the death of Vice President Joseph Msika in August. According to the 1987 Unity Accord, the position must be filled by someone who belonged to PF-ZAPU before the merger with ZANU-PF. Last week ZANU-PF's Politburo directed former PF-ZAPU members in the Central Committee to nominate a candidate to fill the vacant post.

HARARE 00000888 002 OF 003

6. Zim Can Still Export Diamonds, With Greater Oversight... This week at the Kimberley Process plenary session in Namibia, the 37 members present agreed to a partial suspension of Zimbabwe's diamonds and a detailed work plan that will allow Zimbabwe to continue exporting diamonds from Chiadzwa, but only with the approval of a KP monitor. Local traditional leader, Newman Chiadzwa, surprised many by appearing in favor of the government when he read a letter to the plenary declaring that there had not been any rapes in Chiadzwa; previously he had spoken out against the government. We heard that he was escorted at the meeting by several suspected Zimbabwean intelligence officials. Civil society leader Farai Maguwu spoke out about the ongoing abuses; he was later berated by the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Namibia who accused him of "selling out" Zimbabwe. Human rights groups criticized the decision, saying it gives Zimbabwe a carte blanche for "business as usual."

7. Another Human Rights Lawyer Arrested...On November 2, Harare police, acting on instructions from Attorney General Johannes Tomana, arrested human rights and media lawyer Mordecai Mahlangu, who represents Peter Hitschmann in the upcoming Roy Bennett trial. Tomana subpoenaed Hitschmann to testify against MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett on November 9, when he appears in court on insurgency, banditry, and terrorism charges. Hitschmann has said that he will not testify as he has no evidence to implicate Bennett. Mahlangu wrote Tomana and challenged the subpoena on the ground that the evidence attributed to Hitschmann was obtained through torture. Within hours of writing Tomana, police arrested Mahlangu at his office and charged him with obstruction of justice. He was detained overnight. The court granted him bail on November 3 and remanded him to November 16 for trial.

8. Prisons Conditions Remain Dire... Despite some dramatic improvements in food availability in prisons, conditions remain dire, particularly for women and juveniles. A Red Cross feeding program has reduced malnutrition in prisons, but some local NGOs continue to contend that prison conditions are far from acceptable. Although the government has allowed greater access to prisons than in years past, the prison system remains cloaked in secrecy. See Harare 879

9. RBZ Deputy Governor's Thugs Shoot Farm Workers... On October 29, "Tichiona," who works for RBZ Deputy Governor Edward Mashiringwani, shot and injured farm workers at Friedawil Farm in Mashonaland West. Reports indicate he hired thugs to evict workers from the contested farm. When they refused to heed his warning shot, he fired rubber bullets, injuring more than 10 workers. Two sustained deep cuts to their heads. Friedawil Farm is owned by Louis Fick, a South African citizen and Vice President of the Commercial Farmers' Union. Mashiringwani, protg of RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, has been waging QMashiringwani, protg of RBZ Governor Gideon Gono, has been waging a violent campaign to evict Fick. This week Fick requested urgent help for his 1,000 pigs that have not been fed or watered in days.

10. MDC Official Appears in Jail after Abduction and Torture... On October 31, MDC Transport Manager Pascal Gwezere was taken to the Harare Remand Prison and to court, after being abducted on October 27. In the unusual Saturday court session, without the benefit of a lawyer present, Gwezere was charged with stealing 21 weapons from Pomona military barracks in Harare. He is due to appear in court again on November 13. During detention he was badly tortured and may have suffered a fractured rib. Throughout the week his lawyer has struggled to get court permission for access to a private medical doctor, but magistrates have refused, saying he should see a prison doctor. However, no doctor has yet attended to him.

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On the Economic and Business Front

HARARE 00000888 003 OF 003

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11. All Quiet on the Banking Front... A week has gone by since the press reported that the central bank had been spending the reserve deposits of the commercial banks. But so far, there have been no bank runs, and the bankers themselves seem not to be bothered by the news. Either they know something we don't, or they've become accustomed to life down the rabbit hole.

12. Time for Another Indigenization Scare... A ZANU-PF minister has been promoting a plan to give the GOZ authority to seize majority ownership of foreign-owned firms. Saviour Kasukuwere, Minister of Indigenization and Empowerment, recently met with bU[k]isxQQtation rules would only apply to new companies. As long as the MDC is in the government, Kasukuwere's proposed regulations will not be introduced. But even talk of implementing the Act is enough to make businesspeople nervous, and the inevitable headlines in the foreign press will be another reminder to the world that it is too early to invest in Zimbabwe.

13. Salary and Wage Negotiations Deadlocked... According to the Employers' Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ), most companies have failed to agree on salary and wage increases with their employees. EMCOZ told us that at a recent meeting held two weeks ago, employee representatives from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions proposed a minimum wage equivalent to 60 percent of the USD 500/month poverty line. EMCOZ says employers are unable to meet such high wage demands. Instead, they propose to negotiate annual adjustments rather than the current quarterly adjustments in exchange for monthly salary increases based on productivity gains.

14. Sweet Deal for Sable Chemicals... Having closed their electrolysis factory a month ago due to high electricity tariffs, Zimbabwe's sole fertilizer manufacturer, Sable Chemicals, has re-opened its plant. According to the general manager, Sable Chemicals eventually managed to strike a deal with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority for a lower tariff of US 3 cents per kilowatt hour instead of the normal US 7 cents paid by the other consumers. The development is set to improve the availability of fertilizers on the market.

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Quote of the Week

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"The countries of Europe and America want to dictate which way our politics should go and they talk about regime change. They want us to go down on our knees and beg. One day we should think about fighting them in the international courts." -- President Robert Mugabe, speaking at a funeral at Heroes Acre on Q-- President Robert Mugabe, speaking at a funeral at Heroes Acre on October 31.

RAY

In Germany, November 11th is St. Martins Day.

For St. Martins Day there is a story about a rich guy who was going somewhere and gave his coat to a cold, poor guy. It's a way more involved story than that of course... and I'm not even really sure how a Lantern fits in the storey, but the kids all make lanterns in school before hand and that night they take their lanterns and walk around outside with them. I think there is supposed to be a horse involved and a band.

UGH.... hold on....

here.... I hate wikipedia for unknown reasons... but here you can read ALL about it because I'm not doing the holiday justice.

So Scotty made a lantern at school. His wonderful mommy came in to school to help him while Andrea screamed in the background. :) It's a see through paper wrapped into a cylinder shape. It has a bottom and a hole on top. A stick attaches to the top and a little light hangs down into the middle of the cylinder and it lights up the "Lantern".

Back in the day people used candles and I'm sure some still do. No qualms about giving fire to kids here... I still remember the play group Scotty went to in Denmark where they gave each child a FLAMING candle to carry across the room to place on the windowsill. All. By. Themselves. I stress when my kid has a full cup of juice.

So all the kids met at school at night but it was too windy and rainy to go outside so they walked around the school with the lights off. : /

It was loud and chaotic and next year I'll do it with just my kids or a small group, but it was a fun little tradition. The lantern was cuter when it was outside and glowing. ...and I think there are songs involved too.

I tried to be a slacker parent and just buy a lantern for Andrea, but they don't sell them on Lantern Day. You have to buy them in advance. Whatever. This reminded me of not being able to buy a pumpkin on Halloween. I had these two incidents in mind when I bought three turkeys at the store today. Buy it when you see it. That's the new rule.


This is Scotty's best friend. They are both crazy... :)

For the past year, I've been writing about the sweetheart deal back in 1998 the DEA and DOJ gave David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, who this year pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. (McClatchy has as well.) It's good to see more of the mainstream media now following this aspect of the story. Three weeks ago Pro Publica and the Washington Post obtained some new details, mostly about an ex-wife of Headley's who had reported in 2005 after their break-up that Headley had terrorist leanings.

The New York Times today breaks more new ground , having obtained the transcript of his Nov. 16, 2001 hearing for early termination of supervised release. My favorite paragraph is the one describing what happened at the hearing, which took place one month after the first of three of Headley's ex-girlfriends/wives reported she suspected he had terrorist leanings: [More...]

The transcript... shows the government took great pains not to identify which agency was handling Mr. Headley, or whether he worked for more than one....

....According to the transcript, it was a rushed affair. The probation officer apologized for not being properly dressed, and the lawyers explained that they had not been able to make their case in writing. Mr. Headley was a potential gold mine, according to an official knowledgeable about the agreement to release him from probation. ...And it was clear from the conversations about him that the government was considering assignments that went beyond drugs.”

I previously posted the court's docket entries, including these:

07/20/1999 ORDER as to Daood Saleem Gilani, endorsed on letter dated 7/14/99 from Howard Leader to Judge Amon, requesting permission to travel to Pakistan from 8.10.99 through 9.15.99. Application granted. ( Signed by Judge Carol B. Amon , on 7/16/99) (Jean (Entered: 07/20/1999)

11/16/2001 CALENDAR ENTRY as to Daood Saleem Gilani ; Case called before Judge Carol B. Amon on 11/16/01 for Status Conf. ESR: Loan Hong. AUSA: Michael Beys; Howard Leader, Esq. for the Deft. Joint application for termination of Supervised Release granted. (Permaul, Jenny) (Entered: 11/20/2001) (my emphasis)

12/27/2001 ORDER as to Daood Saleem Gilani. It is ordered that the releasee be discharged from supervised release and that the proceedings in the case be terminated. Signed by Judge Carol B. Amon, on 12/18/01. (Entered: 12/27/2001)

All this for a guy who, while he cooperated with the DEA in 1997, was not a convincing witness for them in 1998 (the defendant he testified against, Ikram Haq, was acquitted.) On a guilty plea to a ten year mandatory minimum drug count, Headley got 15 months. After his release from a federal prison camp in 1999, the Government sends him to Pakistan. And then seeks his early termination from supervised release in a rush-rush proceeding at the end of 2001.

How to get the straight story? It's not easy. But here are some places to start and people to talk to (other than government officials now trying to cover their behinds and keep the egg of their faces). There's something odd in the Headley's original presentence report in the 1997-98 heroin case. (The report is not publicly available, so I haven't seen it, but the docket entries are.) It's not often that the Government agrees to give defense counsel portions of a cooperator's sealed probation report on grounds it contains information that could impeach the informant. Usually, the defense has to fight like like cats and dogs to get it. But, as I explained in my earlier post, that's what happened with Headley. From Ikram Haq's case:

07/28/1998 LETTER dated 7/28/98 from AUSA Eric A. Tirschwell to Sam A. Schmidt, Esq. that I am attaching two excerpts from Mr. Gilani's presentence report which Judge Amon today authorized to be released pursuant to Giglio v. United States. (Entered: 07/29/1998)

In other words, since Headley was a witness against Haq, the Government was obligated to turn over Brady and Giglio material. Brady is exculpatory information and Giglio is impeaching information. So something in Headley's report was impeaching as to his credibility, and had to be turned over to the defense. I wonder what.

Next, maybe the New York Times could send a reporter to FCI Schuykill to interview Maroof Ahmed. Maroof was Haq's co-defendant in the Brooklyn case in which Headley testified against Haq. Maroof pleaded guilty before trial because he had picked up a new case in New York's Southern District with his brother Shahzad, involving a million dollars of heroin from Pakistan. I would think if Ikram Haq knew Headley well enough that Headley was a witness against him, Maroof probably did as well. Maroof got 87 months, and sounds lonely -- he's looking for penpals. Maybe he'd be glad to talk to a reporter. (Maroof's brother Shahzad went to trial in the new case. He gave an incriminating proffer about the million dollars worth of heroin and then the Government wouldn't give him a deal. He was convicted and is serving a 262 month sentence. His habeas was denied in October, 2009. (Since Headley was not a witness in Shahzad's Southern District trial, there's no indication Shahzad would know anything about Headley, so unless you're the Government with an unlimited budget, there's probably no reason to talk to him.)

Or maybe the Times could track down James Leslie Lewis, Headley's co-defendant in his 1997 case, who ended up getting 100 months and has been released from prison. (He and Headley plead to the same thing. Headley got 15 months, Lewis got 120 months, later reduced to 100 months.) Or get Eric Tirschwell, Haq's prosecutor who turned over the impeaching information from Headley's presentence report, to talk off the record, if that's allowed. (Tirschwell, as I mentioned in my earlier post, is now a New York defense lawyer who has since represented both one of the freed Uigur Guantanamo inmates and Berie Kerik.)

Back to Headley: So Headley gets off supervised release in 2001, and here's the timeline according to the DOJ press release of his indictment, to which he has since pleaded guilty:

In 2002 and 2003, Headley allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar, and conspired with its members and others, including Rana, Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman, in planning and executing the attacks in Denmark and India. He allegedly conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 attacks that killed approximately 164 people and left hundreds more injured.

The CIA says Headley didn't work for them. So it seems like the ones with the most explaining to do about the embrace of Headley are the DEA and Justice Department, who sent him to Pakistan in 1999, and apparently sent him to infiltrate LeT in 2002, and unbeknownst to them, within months he is working with LeT instead of against them. For how many years were they fooled?

Of course that's assuming the CIA is being truthful, which may be a lot to assume since it seems a bit odd that the DEA would send an informant to infiltrate a group like LeT, whose primary focus in 2001 was terrorism rather than drugs. On the other hand, as Forbes reported, DEA has been recently been trying to connect al Qaeda and LeT to the heroin trade, so maybe their efforts did start that early.

Dawood Ibrahim is one of the world's most infamous gangsters, operating a 5,000-member criminal syndicate that engages in everything from narcotics to contract killing, working mostly in Pakistan, India and the United Arab Emirates. Ibrahim shares smuggling routes with al Qaeda, says the U.S. government, and has collaborated with both al Qaeda and its South Asian affiliate, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which pulled off the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, possibly with Ibrahim's help.

And, there is the DEA's focus on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which I dubbed their African vacation but others, like Forbes, take more seriously.

As I wrote in David Headley: Double Agent?, there is much suspicion, especially in India, that Headley was sent to Pakistan to infiltrate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and ended up either working both sides or quickly switching sides. The Telegraph had a good recap about how it was British intelligence that alerted the U.S. to Headley's potential involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Headley's half brother is Danyel Gilani, the Public Relations Officer to Pakistan's Prime Minister. In a statement, he disclaimed any knowledge of Headley's activities.

Seeking to de-emphasize the connection, the PRO said, “Being much younger to Daood, I have heard that he studied at the Hasan Abdal Cadet College for sometime and in the mid-1970s shifted to America to live with his mother. Since then, the family here only had occasional links with him. In fact, because of his involvement with issues related to drugs my father wanted the rest of the family to stay away from his influence.”

Headley, in an effort to avoid the death penalty, has been cooperating since shortly after his arrest and has pleaded guilty to the 12 counts against him, including:

...six counts of conspiracy involving bombing public places in India, murdering and maiming persons in India and Denmark, providing material support to foreign terrorist plots, and providing material support to Lashkar, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

According to DOJ's press release on his guilty plea:

Headley attended the following training camps operated by Lashkar: a three-week course starting in February 2002 that provided indoctrination on the merits of waging jihad; a three-week course starting in August 2002 that provided training in the use of weapons and grenades; a three-month course starting in April 2003 that taught close combat tactics, the use of weapons and grenades, and survival skills; a three-week course starting in August 2003 that taught counter-surveillance skills; and a three-month course starting in December 2003 that provided combat and tactical training.

And DOJ doesn't miss a beat. It lists Headley as one of its great successes in the war on terror.

David Headley, arrested in 2009 and charged in connection with a plot to bomb a Danish newspaper and his alleged role in the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, has provided extremely valuable intelligence regarding those attacks, the terrorist organization Lashkar y Tayyiba, and Pakistan-based terrorist leaders.

Too bad for Mumbai the DEA and/or whatever other agency thought he was working for them were so slow to figure it out.

Bottom line: Headley is a good example of why the DEA should stay out of foreign affairs under the guise of "narco-terrorism."

All of TalkLeft's David Headley coverage is accessible here.

Update: In rereading another of my posts about Headley, I see another interesting factoid. Headley was busted years before his 1997 arrest and was a heroin addict at the time.

When you're offered the opportunity to talk with Jeffrey Tambor -- a.k.a Hank Kingsley, a.k.a. George Bluth Sr, a.k.a. Sid Garner for those who really...

I'm in Santa Clara this week at the Pacific International Quilt Festival, and am enjoying myself immensely, as usual. I arrived yesterday afternoon, checked into my room with it's fantastic view of the Santa Clara Valley (smog and all), spent the evening at the private preview of the show and vendors, open only to registered participants, and was able to view the show at a leisurely pace without the usual mob scene of the rest of the week. The show is quite impressive this year, with over 800 quilts and pieces of wearable art on exhibit, along with more vendors than I've ever seen before. As usual, the quilts were impressive, with the Best of Show being, in my opinion, one of the most stunning quilts I've ever seen. This picture doesn't remotely do it justice... while the design, colors and workmanship were fabulous, the quilting was absolutely breathtaking. It must be seen up close and personal to be truly appreciated.


This is the winner of the Judges' Choice award, which I particularly like. Again, the workmanship is exceptional, and this style of quilt appeals to me more than the traditional pieces.

This year my classes are with Australian quilter Sue Dennis. Today we spent the entire day working with Paint Sticks, exploring the wealth of possibilities for producing interesting, fun, and wonderful work. Here's a shot of us all hard at work...

...and here we are at day's end, tired, but filled with good mojo from a wonderful experience.

Here are three of the pieces I created using some of the incredible array of techniques Sue explained to us...





These are a few of the quilts in the show that have caught my attention so far...

Latino glitz and bling. I love this stuff!!

Bugs!!

More fun stuff...

Fur Kids...

Riley replied to Jennifer W's discussion 'Favorite Metallica Songs?' in the group Atheist Metalheads

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

RB@wolluf: "good day @NaturalDancer @harmony60 @lalunajade @fluffyboots @lillianwong @sabragirl @inkiemolletje @tuatara"

The normal course of affairs is that there is no situation a police officer prefers than one where he comes out a hero.  Saving a life, especially that of a child, is the chance to make the front page, get the gold shield, shake hands with the mayor and make a name for oneself.  So what if that's what they are trained and paid to do.  Glory is a wonderful thing.

Which is why the story of Briana Ojeda, an 11 year old in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, is so bizarre.  She died following an asthma attack, with her mother alleging that an NYPD officer she flagged down after hitting a car in an effort to get her daughter to the hospital, refused to perform CPR, claiming he didn't know how to do it.  The officer then drove behind her as she made her way to the hospital, rather than leading the way to expedite her arrival.  And then drove off. 

The story first appeared in the New York Post, and was picked up on cop website PoliceOne. 

Briana was playing in Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens on Friday when she suffered an asthma attack, according to the family.

Her mother managed to drive her within three blocks of the hospital when she hit a parked car and flagged down the white marked car for help.

Michael Ojeda said he has a radio scanner and heard the cop who stopped his daughter misrepresent what happened when he called other officers.

Scott Voloshin, a good Samaritan who performed CPR on Briana, later insisted the man who stopped the family was an NYPD officer.

But Browne noted that the family claimed the man denied knowing CPR, in which all NYPD officers are trained.

The department "has not yet determined whether he was an NYPD officer or some other uniformed individual, such as an auxiliary [cop] or a traffic agent or a lookalike entity," he said.

What sort of outrage, anger, mere sadness and condolence, did the fine officers have for the grieving family of this 11 year old child?

Posted by Baltoblue on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 08:01 PM Pacific  Report Abuse I could be wrong, but it sounds like mom did a hit and run on the way to the hospital, and if it was NYPD, they were trying to box her in as she appeared to be fleeing the scene. Either way, this reporting is horrible and makes no sense. Press members like these two should be fired. If only members of the press were responsible for true representation of facts in their "reports", just the same as police are...... Posted by louieo311 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 06:40 PM Pacific  Report Abuse Excuse me people..... have you not heard..... People are no longer responsible for their own actions ! It is our fault that they did something stupid because our badge allows us to control EVERYTHING. Posted by TravisLudlow on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 05:43 PM Pacific  Report Abuse I agree. And how does one officer box in a car? "I have you surrounded!" Bottom line is, we can't give people permission to violate traffic laws. They should have called the squad. Posted by vtdp3 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 05:10 PM Pacific  Report Abuse Probably didn't want to pay for the ambulance ride. Posted by Smeared1 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 02:52 PM Pacific  Report Abuse I know this sounds callous but this is most likely how it went - Mother not watching asthmatic daughter properly, later finds asthmatic daughter on deaths door, wrecks in a panic to get to the hospital, don't have money for the funeral, and now wants the PD to "ease their suffering" with taxpayer money, period. Posted by derb79 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 02:38 PM Pacific  Report Abuse Nothing about this story makes any sense... Posted by jhulme369 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 02:36 PM Pacific  Report Abuse ...and it took 2 reporters to come up with this so called report?? "By Michael Blaustein and Jamie Schram The New York Post" Wow, the media is far more irresponsible than any officer that they condemn. Posted by jhulme369 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 02:33 PM Pacific  Report Abuse I agree totally with arff... they can't even get the story straight, but somehow it's a cop's fault. the young child has, aparently, severe asthma. Why don't the parents have an "eppi" pen to slow the effects of asthma down while EMS responds to THEM, instead of attempting to drive as an emergency vehicle through N.Y. without anyone caring for the child? Why was the father listening to the "scanner"? Was he present when the daughter became asthmatic? Was he not present and the mother called him first instead of 911? Furthermore, how can the NYPD not know who responded? Surely, a medic was called to the location where the mother was "boxed in" by the officer. This "report" is missing a LOT of information, and just sounds like a grab for money by the parents who are themselves responsible for the delayed medical treatment of their daughter. Great now I have a headache... too many questions... Posted by arff312 on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 01:58 PM Pacific  Report Abuse Ok I dont normally respond but this is crazy. I got a headache reading this. First of all the article states that a Cruiser attempted to stop the car by boxing it in."Briana, died after a uniformed officer in a police cruiser tried to box in a car driven by his wife". Later in the article it says "Her mother managed to drive her within three blocks of the hospital when she hit a parked car and flagged down the white marked car for help" However it says that the farther was listening on the scanner when " the cop who stopped his daughter misrepresent what happened when he called other officers." But the wife admits she wasnt stopeed she hit a car and flagged the patrol car down. Is this whole story just a joke ? Why didn't they call 911 like a normal person would ? Espically when you are going to face NYC Traffic. Posted by DBPDMatt on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 01:51 PM Pacific  Report Abuse Im confused. What happened? Why were they stopped? More importantly, why wasnt an ambulance or LE called. Ambulance could have transported code...so could the PD if serious enough an the rig was too far out. As callous as it sounds, had they followed a common procedure, their daughter might have lived.

Granted, the story is less than informative in many respects, though it is the New York Post (the most knee-jerk pro-law enforcement paper in New York and, purely coincidentally, catering toward people who prefer short words and even shorter stories), yet there is no doubt that the story involves a dead child.  Nonetheless, not one demonstrated the slightest concern for the child.

Since this story, it's been determined that it was indeed an NYPD officer, a five year veteran, Alfonso Mendez, who was on the scene and refused to give CPR or otherwise help.  According to investigators, Mendez wasn't confident in his CPR abilities, so decided to do nothing.

After identifying Mendez from a gas station video when he filled up the tank of his cruiser, he was suspended without pay and stripped of his gun and shield.  Not for failing to help Briana, however.

That Officer Mendez never made a record of his actions is what led to his suspension, Mr. Browne said. “A police officer would be required,” he said, “to radio in the fact he had this pickup job.”

That's police lingo for a dying 11 year old child on the street.  A pickup job.  Don't forget to call it in or you could get in trouble.  Then, even your brother officers may not defend you.

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Metallica - ...And Justice For All @FireballWhisky<<span class="highlight">!> and @FireflyVodka Best Hard Rock RT if u feel it \m/

Heath Hines replied to Jennifer W's discussion 'Favorite Metallica Songs?' in the group Atheist Metalheads

[quote user="Opus"] Eh, it had a few good songs on it, ReLoad on the other hand..........that was crap.[/quote] anything after ...and Justice for all is just skid marks across the toilet bowl

@donnadontplay

As you pack for that fabulous Caribbean destination this summer, you might want to keep tabs on what's going on with regards to recent warnings about the spread of dengue fever. The near epidemic proportions of this disease are being blamed on the unusually warm weather and constant rains.

The disease-carrying mosquitos explode during rainy seasons and can breed in water-filled flower pots, plastic bags, and cans year-round. It only takes one mosquito bite to infect someone with the disease. The virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person. There must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway.

So far, there have been an alarming number of dengue-related deaths reported throughout the Caribbean and unfortunately, health officials worry, that more are expected as the rainy season advances.

Puerto Rico, a popular tourist destination particularly during the summer months is experiencing the worst dengue outbreak in more than a decade. Thus far, about five people have died and another estimated 6,300 cases of the virus is suspected. "We are having a really large epidemic," said Kay Tomashek, epidemiology section chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's dengue branch in Puerto Rico. In 1998, the island's worst dengue outbreak, by the end of that year, it had sickened 17,000 and killed 19.

In the Dominican Republic, 27 degue deaths have been reported thus far, four of them children. Senen Caba, the president of the Dominican Medical Association, reported more than 7,000 cases of dengue fever in his country to date. Caba tells the Associated Press, "Hospitals are flooded with fever cases. Emergency rooms are overflowing."

Trinidad health officials report one death so far and hospitals are running out of bed space for its dengue victims. Jamaica's Ministry of Health is keeping on top of the dengue incidences and states, that there is no cause for concern at this point in time. French Guiana, Guadeloupe and St. Maarten have also disclosed an alarming number of dengue cases.

According to the Pan American Health Organization there are nearly 17,000 cases of dengue cases across the Caribbean this year alone.

On these shores, health officials are on high level alert and concerned, that the virus which causes a rash, high fever, severe leg and joint pain, headache, low heart rate and blood pressure, which once disappeared from the U.S., may make a comeback in a big way.

In Miami, the city where over fifty percent of its residents are of Caribbean descent, someone was tested last week for dengue fever but the results came back negative.

...And so we wait....

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We were asked to join the pensionistas group in the village when it formed a couple of years ago and although we are not OAP's ourselves, although we are retired, we agreed to support them.

32 of us set off just after 8.00am from Torre del Compte by coach towards Zaragoza on what was going to be, according to the weather forecast, a very hot day.


Just after 10am we arrived at our first port of call at La Franca at the "International Centre for Water and the Environment", (or CIAMA in Spanish). This site, some 15 kms outside Zaragoza was chosen because of it's proximity to the Rio Ebro, which is a couple of fields away,and it was already home to the Palacio de los Marqueses de Ayerbe, (XVIII), with the Convento de San Vicente de Paúl, (1884), right next door. The Palace has historic gardens constructed between the 17th and 19th centuries with a French influence.


A more recent structure created in 2008 for Expo '08 is the viewpoint with the rock gardens.


A model shows the layout best, convent top-left, palace to the right with very neat gardens in front. The real gardens were a bit overgrown but they were working on them.


The rocks were brought from different places throughout the region of Aragón. At least they don't take as much looking after as plants.


One advantage of being on a trip with pensionistas is that you can stop for a photo and still not have fallen behind the remainder of the group!


And so into Zaragoza where the coach dropped us and a group of us popped into the Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar to catch the lunchtime mass - at least it was much cooler in there. Our lunch was at the Las Palomas restaurant situated in the Plaza del Pilar<<span class="highlight">!> and what a lunch it was. Everyone did it full justice. Highly recommended!


At 16.30 till 19.00 we had a guided tour of the Museos de la Ruta de Caesaraugusta. Caesar Augusta was the Roman emporer who during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD gave his name to Zaragoza as it is now known.


The tour started in the theatre...

...where the seating area and stage have been excavated and covered with a roof...



...and then went on to the Roman baths, the river port area and the Forum. The only problem is that we weren't allowed to take photos with flash and all of these places were underground apart from the remains of the theatre, so you will just have to take my word for it that all of these places were fascinating. A fantastic day out.

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - METALLICA

Power and Corruption.

So we're going to wait a little bit to give everyone a little time to see Eclipse for the first (and second and third) time before we start discussing the actual movie. Although I WILL say right now that we all thought it was great - you'd better get on that if you haven't seen already (and you have the means) because we're not going to wait long! Latchkey Wife may or may not have offered David Slade sexual favors so that she can truly express her gratification for his not fucking this up... Or maybe her tweet to him just said "Thanks!" and that she wanted to give him a big hug or something but we all know her and even if the "extras" were not specifically offered, they were certainly implied. Regardless, we had an AWESOME few days here at Twitarded Central and THAT we are ready to tell you all about! We've got a lot to say on this so expect lots and lots of details over the next few days...

You can consider this the pre-gaming of Eclipse!

As most of you probably already know, LKW trekked on down here to New Jersey to attend the Volturi Ventures Eclipse Experience with us in New York City (we were not allowed to announce this earlier or blog about it or we would have!). We had never met Latchkey in person before, although we all talk to each other a gazillion times a day in one way or another. I am in such constant contact with Jenny Jerkface that Mr. Snarky calls her "his second wife" [sans sexual favors] and LKW is... what? the slutty mistress [sans sexual favors]? Yeah that works...


Anyway, unfortunately JJ had to work on Monday (something about "billing" and "month/quarter-end closing" and some-odd bullshit like that - ugh!) and so did Mr. Snarky (blah blah "editorial deadlines" blah blah). So I was the only one here to greet LKW at the end of her journey. And I say "unfortunately" because I'm a tad...socially awkward. JJ And Mr. Snarky are my social buffers. I need them. You might not guess (or maybe you do?) given the fact that I willingly share intimate details of my life (and girly-parts) with thousands of people on a regular basis that I am actually sorta uncomfortable around people. But it's true. Perhaps I should have considered this before inviting a hundred and fifty or so of my Twi-besties to come hang with me in Forks, but I am convinced that with just the right mix of hand-holding, alcohol, anti-anxiety medication, and stunt doubles, I'll be just fine.


Things went so well with LKW that I am thinking I'll do fine! I've never had "online friends" before so I had no idea what to expect when we made the leap to standing-in-front-of-me friends. Seriously, she had warned us that there would be hugging and we'd warned her we're not big huggers and then I nearly swept her off her feet and leg-hitched her right there in my front hallway I was so excited to see her in the flesh (get your minds out of the gutter - she was fully clothed)! There was ZERO awkwardness. It was like a seamless transition from online to on-my-couch - like we were having a Skype video chat and she just stepped though the computer screen and into my living room without missing a beat. It was aweeeee-soooome.


And on Tuesday, things just got better.

I put my fair share into planning for Tuesday. Outfit picked out? Check. Much whining and cursing done over the fact that it would be 95 degrees and humid that day? Check.

Note: not sure what worked or if it was the combo of all the products above, but my hair had NO frizz! And it was HOT! and HUMID! I won't go into details but parts of me might need medical attention to recover from the hours-long swampiness... But it's all good practice for Forks, right???

Our bloggy friend Munkee made us this amazing tote and I loaded it up with all the essentials! [Thanks Munkee!!!]



I loaded up some refreshments to keep up morale while we waited in line...

Dangrdafne sent me this thermos and it became my new fave flask! It kept our voddie all nice and chilled...

Oh wait--that's just a mysteriously suspended raspberry in the vodka infusion I was making for the big night!

I brought some good-for-me snacks...

...but didn't get to them because I had a super-healthy meal of chicken fingers and french fries at 5:00 and then didn't eat anything else but Skittles and alcohol until we got together for brunchy food and mimosas Wednesday morning...



I'm sticking with Crazy Cores from now on...

There was going to be a lot of apprehensive lip-licking going on, so I had to make sure I packed my favorite lip balm...

Just in case I needed a nice moist pucker that night for someone special who may have been in NYC at the time if his people didn't warn him about us and scare him off... or maybe I am just addicted to lip balm...

If I can go off on a small tangent for a moment, the super-nice folks at Lotions & Lotions sent JJ and me these organic, vegan, and handmade goodies a while ago - the lip balm is excellent and smells delish! Plus they have other great skincare products, too - check them out!

Loved all their stuff - go to HERE to take a look! They have "Bella Shimmer" lip balm too - yum (plus they are on sale now)!

We all added a few accessories (including the beaded heart bracelets that LKW made for all of us!) and we were on our way! SQUEEE!!!


So how did you get ready for The Big Night? Or how are you getting ready for it if you are still waiting for it to come out [and we are truly sorry for those of you who have to wait... but it's worth waiting for!]???

Email us your stories!! Email us your photos!! We've already received some pics from Twitards out and about, sporting Twilight or Twitarded gear, and we would love to see more so that we can write about them/share them in the days to come - you know where to find us (our emails are at the bottom of the page - get scrolling!).

Can't wait to talk about the details of the actual movie - hope everyone had an amazing night and loved it as much as we all did!

[quote user="10 Minutes of Bloodshed"] Metallica I still listen to them well their old stuff but in my opinion they would have been better off with Kirk Hammett staying with Exodus and I think it was good that Dave Mustaine was kicked out because he wouldn't have made the creation that he did in Megadeth so I thank Metallica in some way. Also Jason Newsted was smart in leaving and moving to Voivod because I do not know about Lars but James was a dick to Jason saying no you cannot have a side project band I don't want you to be anything but Metallica. Also Lars got money hungry just for fame and money. You all can like the new Metallica all you want but I tried to give them a chance many many times and they still disappoint me[/quote] Interesting notion... Kirk stays in Exodus AND Dave gets kicked out and forms Megadeth. Megadeth would be no less amazing AND both Metallica and Exodus would have always been dramatically better. One assumes as well that Exodus would have achieved greater popularity in their youth which would probably mean Paul Baloff staying with the band. As much as Steve Souza is well respected I don't care for the whole hissing like a snake style of vocals that he helped pioneer, although I prefer the hell out of him over his evil twin in Overkill. Potential drawback... Chuck Billy never joins Legacy, and Testament is never fully realized. Honestly If I were Jason Newstead I would have quit immediately after the Black Album. They deliberately drowned out his brilliant bass-work on Justice, by turning up the decibels of the bass frequencies on Jaymz' guitar up prior to the final mix-down, permanently marring the record of Jason's finest work, in his prime. Once the black album established beyond a doubt that he was a legit musician in his own right, he should have left for more aggressive and more credible pastures. The drama surrounding such a move could well have generated better popularity for metal in America in general during the shitty-ass early nineties. I do like Death Magnetic, however, a lot. ...And I kinda thought that the live in-studio DVD of St. Anger that came with the album was pretty good. The snare sounds much better and Trujillo is playing bass instead of Bob Fucking Rock (ugh)... ...and there isn't much, but the few lead licks Kirk plays are off the cuff and feel really natural, a rare bonus from Kirk. Here's a question for you tech geeks present. How do I make mp3's from the audio tracks of the DVD and use them as replacements for the CD version in my iPod? I would actually listen to that version.

I've lived in Boston. Went to school there for four years. Loved it. Great city.

But good lord, some of the sports fans are just incomprehensibly ignorant. This is true of sports fans everywhere, yeah, but Boston's worse. Or the ignorant voices are louder, at least. Exhibit A, from this morning's Boston Herald, where one man argues that the Boston Celtics should start roughing up Dwight Howard.

Oh, great. After the jump, we'll break this down, Fire Joe Morgan-style.

There is a time and place for everything.

Like a column designed to galvanize an insecure fanbase on the verge of a historic playoff collapse? By painting Dwight Howard—not age or injuries—as Boston's bogeyman? Sure.

Tonight is the time, and the Garden is the place. It is time for Dwight Howard to be Rambis-ed.

If the Kevin Mchale-Kurt Rambis clothesline happened today&mdash;and it involved Kendrick Perkins, instead—how long would the suspension be? Three games? Five? Seven?

Boston may be on the East Coast, but the time has come for the Celtics to employ some frontier justice...

"Frontier justice." So, like the bowling alley scene in There Will Be Blood>? And the Celtics are drunk, desperate, and frustrated? Sounds about right.

...on the Orlando center after two straight games in which he has felt free to decapitate one guy after another.

Dwight Howard, the Islamic extremist of basketball players. TIME FOR WAR.

He tossed Paul Pierce to the floor by his face on one occasion, rapped Kevin Garnett in the forehead with an elbow one time and gave him a face rub on another, and knocked two teeth and all the sense out of Glen Davis’ face in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

For the sake of consistency, this probably should have read "raped Kevin Garnett in the forehead." Nuns "rap" people in the forehead. Dwight Howard rapes foreheads. Clearly.

And those were just the felonious assaults. Never mind the misdemeanors; that rap sheet is longer than Howard’s inseam.

"Dwight Howard," "felonious, "and "rap sheet" in the same sentence. That's the joke.

Far be it from me to advocate gratuitous violence, but...

I'm about to do exactly that.

...in the case of the Magic’s elbow-swinging cheap-shot artist, two words come to mind: Why not?

It worked for Kermit Washington, after all.

Playing hard, banging bodies, pushing and shoving to gain position are all well and good. In those cases, Howard is just establishing himself in the post in the way it’s done these days.

Except he's ALSO taking cheap shots, decapitating Celtics, and raping foreheads.

It’s quite another thing to “accidentally” flatten Pierce in consecutive games, to “accidentally” leave Davis staggering around Amway Arena like a guy who just was drilled by a Mike Tyson combination, and to “accidentally” level Rajon Rondo when he drives with everything but an ax handle.

...And "accidentally" being bigger and stronger than anyone on the Celtics. "Accidentally" beating up Tommy Heinsohn in the tunnel after the game. And "accidentally" destroying BP's oil drilling operation. GUYS, THESE CAN'T ALL BE ACCIDENTS.

Frankly, the time for taking hits is over. It’s time to deliver a few. In the last two games Howard has taken the idea of physical play a bridge too far, and there is only one way to respond: Rearrange his bridge work.

See what he did there?

He's talking about his dental bridge.

The NBA has three officials on hand to police such things, but they haven’t. They seem more preoccupied with blowing whistles for jaw boning than jaw rearrangement.

Heh... So we'll show them! Tonight, we're going to BREAK DWIGHT HOWARD'S JAW.

Since the officials have decided to leave it up to the players then it is time for the Rambis-ing of Howard.

Because that totally won the 1984 Finals. It wasn't Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Cedric Maxwell, Dennis Johnson...

The clothesline decided it. WE REMEMBER. WE WERE THERE.

All Celtics fans remember Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals when Kevin McHale took down Kurt Rambis on a breakaway as if he was in the calf-roping competition at the National Finals Rodeo. Rambis got up spoiling for a fight but his team didn’t, and what had once seemed like a Lakers blowout turned out to be a Celtics victory. They tied the series at 2 and ended up winning it in seven games.

It all started with the clothesline...

At the time, Cedric Maxwell explained what resulted when he said, “Before Kevin McHale hit Kurt Rambis, the Lakers were just running across the street whenever they wanted. Now they stop at the corner, push the button, wait for the light and look both ways.”

Now, it's time for Dwight Howard to MEET THE CROSSING GUARD.

Now it’s Howard’s turn to learn physical play is a two-way street. It’s time for him to eat some bloody chicklets.

Damnit, I guessed the wrong traffic analogy. What are bloody chicklets?

He brought it on himself. Not by scoring and rebounding. Not by pushing and shoving. But by acting as if he has carte blanche to hurt people in the guise of “playing hard.”

Note: Dwight Howard has not injured anyone in this series.

But he could have.

“I never want a player to go down,” Howard said disingenuously after the Magic won Game 5, 113-92.

Trust me, he said it disingenuously. NO ONE DENIES THIS.

“We’re just trying to win. Our intent is not to hurt anybody, but basketball is a very physical sport.”

Yeah, bud? Well it's about to get more physical. BLOODY CHICKLETS.

Tonight it’s time for someone to remind Dwight Howard just how physical it can get. If the Magic beat you shooting 3-pointers so be it. When they start beating you up like Manny Pacquiao, a response is necessary.

Wait, Manny Pacquiao rapes foreheads too?

The last straw came when Howard’s oft-flying elbow leveled Davis, leaving him on the floor Wednesday night bearing a strong resemblance to Mike Tyson the night he was knocked out by Buster Douglas.

Please note: five paragraphs earlier Howard was Tyson in this analogy. See how confusing it can be to demonize someone?

There is only one way to respond to this kind of play...

By winning a series that should of been over in Game 4?

and it’s not by dribbling the basketball and shooting 3’s.

It's a little thing I like to call "Frontier Justice." And "Bloody Chicklets." And "Jaw Rearrangement." And, well, "Gratuitous Violence."

Shelden Williams, your time has come.

Have you heard of Kermit Washington, Shelden? YOU CAN TOTALLY BE THAT GUY.

Instead of taking one for the team Rivers needs to tell his backup big man to deliver one for the team. Enough is enough.

It's time to put the Boston Celtics to put their foot down...

Tonight, at some point, Dwight Howard needs to be given a reason to be glad he has full dental insurance because, hey, basketball is a very physical sport.

...And kick Dwight Howard in his funny f—king face. Who's smiling now, Dwight?

Just ask Kurt Rambis.

Because that happened 26 years ago. Boston won the title that year. Any questions?

#Tallicatuesday @eu_leticia tentar estudar um pouco de física agora, fashion girl. bom dia pra tu. =)**

Metallica - ...And Justice for All #TallicaTuesday \m/

Prepare yourselves for a week of unending superlatives. The most important primaries of all time will change everything tomorrow. That is until a series of earth-shattering financial regulatory amendments usher in a veritable sea change in American politics. These will be followed by a final vote on financial reform which will totally reconfigure the political and economic landscape. ARE YOU READY FOR THE MOST PROFOUND WEEK IN RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY??? This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, May 17th, 2010:

BREAKING

WALL STREET VOTE LIKELY WEDNESDAY - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is "likely" to file cloture on the Wall Street reform bill Monday evening, setting up a final vote on the legislation for Wednesday, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. Reid said from the well of the Senate earlier Monday that "as soon as tonight, we could file cloture on this and hold a final vote this week." Dozens of amendments have yet to be voted on, with senators jockeying for precious floor time. Reid's determination to finish the bill by the middle of the week makes it all the harder to get an individual amendment to the floor. "I do remind all my colleagues that the amendment process can continue after cloture is filed and after it is invoked," Reid said.

Senate Republicans are threatening to filibuster the so-called Volcker Rule that would prohibit banks from using taxpayer funds for their own financial gain. From HuffPost: "Only Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) credit-card reform amendment has so far needed 60 votes. The rest have required only a simple majority. The higher requirement is an indication of the high stakes in play for Wall Street. Levin and Merkley, meanwhile, have been in close negotiations with Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and freshman Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, sources say." Brown was working with Levin and Merkley to make sure Fidelity Investments wouldn't be harmed, a concession he won, two sources said. Hagan wanted to make sure the military insurer and credit union USAA would still be allowed to operate as it does currently and she was given that, as well. Both Hagan and Warner are fighting to protect third-party asset management firms that they worry could come under the umbrella of the Volcker Rule. http://huff.to/99ONDv

HARKIN WANTS TO CAP ATM FEES - The only way to beat an amendment to cap ATM fees is to make sure it doesn't come up for a vote. Tom Harkin offered it a week and a half ago but there's been little attention paid to it. Wall Street may run out the clock, considering ATM fees to be a serious threat to a major part of their business model -- taking money from people for nothing -- and is joined in fervent opposition by community bankers, who often have more pull with individual lawmakers than big banks. Harkin says an average transaction costs about 36 cents to perform and would set the cap at 50 cents.

CAPS ON CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES? - A federal loophole has long allowed credit card companies to headquarter in states with lax rules like South Dakota or Delaware and charge whatever interest rates they want. An amendment introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse would end that federal preemption. Once upon a time, individual states had usury laws that kept interest rates down. Whitehouse's amendment would let those laws come back. The community bankers don't necessarily hate it. "It might be disruptive to community banks that issue cards to customers that have moved out of state or who live in nearby states. But, community banks don't have programs that export high rates out of state," community bank lobbyist Steve Verdier told HuffPost Hill.

SCOOP: WHITE HOUSE 'OIL COMMISSION' IN THE WORKS - AP's Erica Werner: "An administration officials says the White House will establish a presidential commission to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama will establish the commission by executive order. It will be similar to panels created to investigate the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a public announcement. No current government employee or elected official will be eligible to serve on the commission, the official said. Other details weren't immediately available."

MORE: Top offshore drilling regular resigns. Chris Oynes, the associate director of Offshore Energy and Minerals Management at the Minerals Management Service, tendered his resignation today, effective May 31st. Juliet Eilperin in the Post: "Chris Oynes, who oversaw oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico for 12 years before being promoted in 2007 to associate director for offshore energy and minerals management, informed colleagues in an e-mail that he will step down. He has come under fire from former MMS officials for being too close to the industry he regulated." http://bit.ly/cQ4rwP

Photo of Oynes awarding Transocean a "Safety Award for Excellence" plaque http://bit.ly/dwcF3T

HuffPost's Sam Stein: "Senate Democrats on Monday rejected a Republican legislative counteroffer to the BP crisis that would raise an oil company's liability for economic damages in the wake of a spill to the equivalent of one-year's worth of profits."

A group of green activists will hold a press conference tomorrow, urging President Obama to adopt comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Officials from BlueGreen Alliance, Green for All, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn.org and the NRDC will be on hand to unveil their letter to the president. The event takes place at the National Press Club building at 11:00 am.

PRIMARY BONANZA TOMORROW - Establishment candidates will butt heads with opponents from their parties' ideological bases. In Pennsylvania, political chameleon Arlen Specter faces off against Rep. Joe Sestak who has been locked in a statistical dead heat with Specer in recent polls. Blanche Lincoln will try to win 50% of the vote against Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter to avoid a runoff, though most polls suggest that will be unlikely. In Kentucky, polls give Tea Party darling Rand Paul, son of Ron, a comfortable lead over Mitch McConnel's pick, Secretary of State Trey Grayson. On the Democratic side, the left-leaning Attorney General Jack Conway has closed the gap with the more conservative Lieutenant Governor Dan Mongiardo. Analysis in Trending.

LATEST POLL NUMBERS - Pennsylvania Senate (D): Sestak 42%, Specter 41% (Quinnipiac). Kentucky Senate (R): Paul 52%, Grayson 34% (PPP). Arkansas Senate (D): Lincoln 46% Halter 37% (Research 2000). Pennsylvania House: Burns 48% Critz 47% (PPP).

WHITE HOUSE DOWNPLAYS ELECTIONS - Sam Stein: "[Robert] Gibbs refused to play ball. 'I'm happy to talk about the results when it happen,' he said, likening anything more than that to predict the results of the NBA finals before the first game's tip-off. But when pressed a bit further about what message would be sent if Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) were to lose or Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) were unable to get 50 percent of the vote, Gibbs acted as if the elections portended next to nothing for Obama himself. 'Obviously we have appeared in commercials [for Specter and Lincoln],' he said. 'But I don't think the two sides have argued about [the president] per se. Again we will have a chance to talk about the results and the outcomes and what they mean.'

OBAMA RELEASES FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE DOCS - The president raked in millions of dollars in book royalties, an inheritance from his grandmother valued under $1,000 and a Portuguese water dog of some renown from Ted Kennedy worth $1,600. http://bit.ly/d2iYHH

Apparently Obama warmed up a bit before throwing out the first pitch at the National's opener. Picture: http://bit.ly/aChFog

SCOTUS RULES ON MINOR PAROLE, RELEASING PEDOS - The high court handed down several hot button decisions this morning. Chief Justice John Roberts joined Anthony Kennedy and the court's liberal wing in ruling that minors convicted of non-homicidal crimes must be considered for parole. AP: "An estimated 111 defendants in the United States have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for crimes other than murder committed when they were under age 18. About 70 percent of them are imprisoned in Florida. The ruling in a case from Florida involved Terrance Graham, who was 16 when he committed armed burglary and another crime. He then committed an armed home-invasion robbery at age 17, and was sentenced to life in prison. His attorney had argued that such a sentence unfairly condemned adolescents to die in prison and rejected any hope that they could change and could be rehabilitated." http://bit.ly/cjhuum

ABC News: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal officials can indefinitely hold inmates considered 'sexually dangerous' after their prison terms are complete." Elena Kagan argued the case. That oughta do it for the whole detainee issue, if federal bureaucrats can deem a person "sexually dangerous" and imprison him or her without trial.
http://bit.ly/9ulukK

At least three senators who want to end the practice of secret holds on nominees and legislation have holds of their own, according to a survey by The Hill.

NEW HUFFPOST REPORTER - Lucia Graves, formerly of U.S. News and World Report, began today as a Hill reporter for HuffPost. Flaks, gadflies and trouble-makers: introduce yourselves to her at Lucia@huffingtonpost.com.

Kudos to Sara Jerome<<span class="highlight">!> and Mike Lillis who are joining The Hill to cover technology and healthcare, respectively. http://bit.ly/bGTPcQ

Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com

TRENDING

PRIMARY PREVIEWS - In Pennsylvania, with President Obama and VP Joe Biden refusing to stump for Specter, the Democratic primary may come down to the ground game. Sam Stein reports: "The congressman visited all 67 counties in the state in the course of hosting 500 separate campaign events - a rather Herculean effort considering just how wide a terrain had to be covered. He now has ten offices statewide and more than 5,000 volunteers, according to Jonathon Dworkin, the communication's director for the Sestak campaign.

"...

The institutional advantages for the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign all seem to be in Specter's favor. The Senator has the endorsement of many of the key lawmakers in the state as well as the major unions. While he has spent his entire career on the Republican side of the aisle, his intrinsic understanding of the politics of the state have provided him with crossover appeal. It is all but assured that he will win the populous Democratic enclaves in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. The question is by how much...Can Specter translate his well-tuned GOTV approach to a Democratic setting after years of running as a Republican? One top-D.C. operative said that he was not 'terribly impressed with Specter's ground game operation' days before the vote was held." http://huff.to/agBy2F

Down in Arkansas,

liberals will likely have cause to celebrate even if Blanche Lincoln defeats Bill Halter. Voter surveys suggest Lincoln will not earn the 50% needed to avoid a runoff in June. This means she will have to flaunt her progressive bona fides for a few more weeks as Congress finalizes financial reform. David Dayen in Firedoglake: "Halter received strong support from the netroots and the labor movement. The most likely scenario at this point looks to be a runoff...That runoff would take place on June 8. Lincoln positions herself as in the sensible center, disliked by the left and right, but in a potential second-round matchup it would be just her and Halter, and her fealty to wealthy and corporate interests would be on full display in an election likely to feature low turnout." http://bit.ly/a6nycI

Newsweek's Andrew Romano breaks down the GOP contest in Kentucky: "

The race has become a staging ground for the ongoing battle within the Republican Party between small-government purists and Beltway insiders who enabled George W. Bush's spending spree, so it's no wonder that Paul, a principled libertarian, is ahead of the very corporate-seeming Grayson. But this development has more to do with style and organizing than ideology...Except on foreign wars--which Paul tends to oppose--there's not much philosophical daylight between the two Kentucky contenders. But Paul has a lock on the protest brand, and protest is what's hot right now." http://bit.ly/dj34sZ

Despite the center-left showdown in Kentucky's Democratic primary, Marc Ambinder thinks the contest is moot: "

It will be difficult for either Democrat, former Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo and current Attorney General Jack Conway, to beat Rand Paul in a Republican wave election year. Paul seems to be a meaty target, but his supporters are fervent, and Kentucky ... well, it's just hard to see how Kentucky's Democrats and progressives enthusiastically turn out in November. Stranger things have happened, one of which is Paul's improbable candidacy." http://bit.ly/a9ZBzx

TPM's Eric Kleefeld examines other notable primaries including

two at-risk Dem seats and a Republican House contest, both in Arkansas, and a Dem gubenatorial primary in Oregon. http://bit.ly/9VFj3v

A new poll shows

83% of Americans think Ronald Reagan shouldn't replace Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill. GIPPER FAIL. http://bit.ly/9dULTC

MURTHA SEAT UP FOR GRABS - From NPR's Ken Rudin: "[Mark] Critz is a longtime Murtha staffer; Burns is a businessman...The district is strongly Democratic but culturally conservative; Murtha was less charitable when he described it in 2008, saying the area was 'racist' but later apologizing and downgrading his caricature to 'redneck.' It's the only district in the country that voted for John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008. It is fair to say that neither Obama nor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is especially popular in the 12th, and Burns is doing what he can to link them to Critz. For his part Critz -- who opposes abortion rights, says he would have voted against the health-care bill and supports gun rights -- argues his focus is less on Washington, D.C., and more on Washington, Pa." http://n.pr/avpSSX <<span class="highlight">!>Candidates aside, who has the most skin in the game? Politico's Alexander Burns says

Bill Clinton, Ed Rendell, Mike Huckabee, big labor and Kentucky's entire political establishment

. http://bit.ly/9PatWu Lest we forget, keep an eye on

the Alabama Agriculture Commissioner race

. Check out this patriotic throat-punch of an ad from Republican primary candidate Dale Peterson. It's about as American as a turducken loaded with fireworks. http://bit.ly/cAgH7n

OBAMA SIGNS PRESS FREEDOM ACT

- The measure requires the State Department to list in its annual human rights report the countries that don't uphold press freedom. The act is named after slain journalist Daniel Pearl, whose family was on hand for the Oval Office signing. ...after the signing, the president then exercised his freedom to

not take questions from the press

. http://bit.ly/blESFk

The President's Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, was granted aslyum today by a U.S. court

. http://huff.to/bluyva

NAPOLITANO ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON OIL SPILL

- The DHS Secretary appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. From Siobhan Hughes in WSJ: "'Since day one, the administration has engaged in an all-hands-on-deck response to this event--and DHS has played a significant role,' Ms. Napolitano said in testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 'We planned for a worst-case scenario from the moment the explosion occurred and now, almost four weeks later, we are continuing to sustain a strong and effective response.' The Obama administration has dispatched officials including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to cities around the Gulf as BP PLC works to contain the oil spill. More than 17,000 federal, state and local workers, along with thousands of trained volunteers, are responding, she said." http://bit.ly/99ltLb

TRANSOCEAN'S SLICK MOVE

- The Hill reports that TransOcean has stepped up its lobbying efforts in the wake of the massive oil spill: "Transocean Ltd. recently signed Capitol Hill Consulting Group, which includes a former Democratic congressman and a top energy advisor to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), to lobby for an undisclosed sum, according to federal lobbying records...In addition to Capitol Hill Consulting, Transocean has also hired FD Public Affairs to help it deal with the media onslaught. Transocean's lobbying team includes former Oklahoma Democratic Congressman Bill Brewster, who served in the House from 1991 to 1997, and Jack Victory, who handled energy policy for DeLay." http://bit.ly/c0boBC This as scientists voiced concerns that

the oil has entered a loop current that could drive it up the Florida Keys

. AP: "The loop current could carry oil from the spill east and spread it about 450 miles to the Florida Keys, while the Louisiana coastal current could move the oil as far west as central Texas. The depth of the gushing leaks and the use of more than 580,000 gallons of chemicals to disperse the oil, including unprecedented injections deep in the sea, have helped keep the crude beneath the sea surface. Officials report that more than 390,000 gallons of chemicals are stockpiled. Marine scientists say diffusing and sinking the oil helps protect the surface species and the Gulf Coast shoreline but increases the chance of harming deep-sea reefs." http://huff.to/aV1MRS

BERNARD KERIK REPORTS TO JAIL

- The former NYPD commissioner and W's botched Homeland Security nominee begins his four year term for lying to White House officials about his taxes during his DHS vetting. http://bit.ly/bgGq9p ...and a new Cornell study finds

ugly people are more likely to be convicted of crimes

. http://bit.ly/cRSemD

TODAY IN KAGAN

- The White House announced it will release the Solicitor General's senior thesis from Princeton. Stephanie Condon for CBS: "Right-wing blogs have pounced on the subject of the thesis Kagan wrote as an undergraduate at Princeton in 1981, entitled, 'To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933.' The conservative site RedState.com first published the thesis, but Princeton -- which charges $57 for a copy of the thesis, according to RedState blogger Erick Erickson -- asked for the document to be removed from the Web, citing copyright laws. Now, however, the White House plans to make the paper available, as well as the thesis Kagan wrote at Oxford, Politico reports." http://bit.ly/a18Nu7

McConnell knocked Kagan today for her views on campaign finance.

AP: "The Senate's top Republican is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan for backing limits on the ability of corporations and labor unions to influence elections.Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Kagan's argument in a Supreme Court case testing those restrictions was 'troubling to those who cherish free speech.'" http://huff.to/aXHBWR White House and congressional Dems are incredibly eager to have this fight over Kagan.

HAMP HEADACHE

- The latest numbers, from HuffPost's Shahien Nasiripour: "More than twice as many homeowners were kicked out of the Obama administration's signature foreclosure-prevention program last month as were granted permanent relief, new data released Monday show. More than 123,000 homeowners were bounced from the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program in April versus about 60,000 who were offered five-year plans of lowered monthly payments. This is the first month since the administration started reporting cancellation figures that the number of canceled modifications outpaced the number of new permanent modification offers. The number of canceled modifications skyrocketed 82 percent in April compared to March." http://huff.to/adVxW1

Kagan's deputy in the Solicitor General's office, Neal Katyal, officially took over today as acting Solicitor General.

http://bit.ly/bO9Pr4

By 49%-39%, Coloradans support legalizing and taxing marijuana

, according to a Rasmussen poll. http://bit.ly/bD2mld

COMFORT FOOD - A peeping Tom was scoping out the wife of a mixed martial arts fighter. Guess how that turned out for Tom. http://huff.to/aRwHAh

- For the gastronome whose self-loathing isn't fully sated by the Double Down, meet the Cheesesteak Pretzel. http://bit.ly/9l4uxH

- Move over Carrie Prejean, Miss Oklahoma thinks Arizona's immigration law is fine and dandy. http://bit.ly/9SRuQc

- As Miss Oklahoma lauded efforts to keep brown people out of Arizona, a Lebanese immigrant was crowned Miss USA, the first Muslim and Arab to ever receive the distinction. http://bit.ly/aRQt9y

- Details about the new MacBook model leaked to a tech site in Vietnam. http://bit.ly/bQAe5h

- Hipster or bureaucrat? http://bit.ly/bo7400

- Today YouTube celebrates its fifth anniversary. Conan O'Brien lists his five favorite YouTube videos. http://bit.ly/bkACuh

- Via Gizmodo, how to drop a deuce in a zero-G environment. http://bit.ly/98vzbw

TWITTERAMA @BarbaraJWalters: I am feeling great. Love you all

@downwithtyranny: Specter is so senile that he called Sestak "Toomey" 3 times in 1 minute in Erie today-- even after being corrected. PA Dem Party is pathetic http://bit.ly/a3Js86

@edatpost: May is National Hamburger Month, according to the friendly guy on the recorded messages at the #Census Bureau http://bit.ly/9dSVAu

@ricksanchezcnn: i want to know which one of you out there urinated in mr harpole's cereal http://bit.ly/bF6EtD

@pourmecoffee Did not like part in new Robin Hood where he sold poor CDOs of worthless rich equities, and then shorted it himself.

THE TUBE

Eliot Spitzer

filled in for Dylan Ratigan and spoke to Ed Rendell, Sheldon Whitehouse<<span class="highlight">!> and <<span class="highlight">!>Rand Paul. Chris Matthews chewed the fat with Joe Sestak on the eve of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. Ed Schultz talk to Raul Grijalva about oil politics. Ed Markey gives his two cents on oil on Countdown. Ted Kaufman discusses financial reform on Maddow. ON TAP

TONIGHT 5:30 pm- 7:30 pm: Is there nothing lawmakers won't fundraise around? Help

Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)

celebrate the 16th anniversary of his special election victory [National Association of Realtors Building, 500 New Jersey Ave. NW].

6:00 pm: Rock and Roll Ping Pong at Rock and Roll Hotel [Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H Street, NE]. 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: Martha's Table, an organization that provides food, clothing and education to low-income chlidren in the D.C. area hosts a happy hour and fundraiser. The event is being held at Cork, the District's tapas bar du jour [Cork, 1720 14th Street NW].

6:30 pm: Dollar movie night at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. Tonight the NOVA movie theater-cum-watering hole screens "Alice In Wonderland" and "Shutter Island" [Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, [2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington].

TOMORROW

12:00 pm:

Frank Lucas (R-Texas)

will generate some dough for his Longhorn PAC at the Capitol Hill Club (like the C Street House but with a much nicer grotto) [Capitol Hill Club, 300 First Street SE].

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Nico Pitney (nico@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e

rb all rock lovers need listen.

I have noticed that in my family and in the families of homeschooling friends, that sometimes these kids put too much on their plate.

They do Youth Group activities and take on church responsibilities.
They may have jobs.
They need to do household chores.
They have their academic studies
They have their arts (visual and performance art)activities and classes
They do sports. 
They may have scouts or other social group outlets

...and in the end, they drop the ball somewhere, or in a lot of places.

I don't know about your kids, but I know that my kids cannot balance all of the above and do any area any justice.  While it is good to expose them to all of these areas so they can find their niche, at some point, they are going to have to choose which activities they are most passionate about and limit the other activities.

In my house Academics and Arts are equally a first priority.  Next comes chores and church activities. This goes on the schedule first and all other things must fit around this schedule.  I realize it sounds limiting and maybe even unbiblical to some, but time and trial and error have taught me that there are always chores to be done and there are always church activities and opportunities to participate in, so if we put those things first, then academics and arts would never happen.  As for sports, scouts, and the like, these are not my kids' passions.  Education is a first priority in my home, and both kids have a passion is some aspect of the arts.

If we tried to create a more balanced schedule and worried about making sure the kids had a little of this and a little of that, then that is all they would get... a little.  I would much rather put first things first, and let the other things fall into line.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources

WEC IS DEAD; LONG LIVE ALDOVSFABER FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

"Everybody sees my style of fighting, I come in aggressive, I come in explosive, and I'm going to come in and always look for the knockout." - "World's featherweight champ" Jose Aldo (hard J), leading up to his fight with Urijah Faber at WEC 48 UFC 112.5 Aldo vs. Faber. Aldo looked as sharp as ever in a brutal and one sided decision over the former champ. (MMA Weekly)

"Had I not lost those two fights to Mike Brown, I'd be the guy that's invincible, and so on and so forth. In my head I'm still invincible, he's going to have to get in there and prove me wrong." - Faber. If he hadn't lost those two fights to Brown and the fight to Aldo, he'd still be invincible. (MMA Weekly)

"You could cut off a leg or do whatever you're going to do, and I'm going to keep hobbling after the guy, and try to take him out." - Faber, poignant.

"I had heard that he wants to move down a weight class, win that belt and then go to 155 to fight BJ in the UFC." - White, on Aldo's career aspirations. Wrong time to be fighting under 155 pounds. (MMAFighting.com)

"He's got a lot of personal problems, his girlfriend broke up with him, he skipped camp for like 14 days." - Aldovsfaber Fighting Championship President Dana White, on Manvel Gamburyan's KO upset over Mike Brown.

"[T]his isn't basketball or baseball where you lose and say 'Ah, we still got 130 games left so it's all good.'" - White

"I have a plan for this whole thing. What I'm doing today is based on my idea that all television is going to the Internet." - White, on his plans for Aldovsfaber Fighting Championship.

DANA WHISPERED SEDUCTIVELY IN JAKE'S EAR, "YOU'RE MINE."

"Jake Shields pulled off the impossible." - UFC President Dana White, on Jake Shields's upset victory over Dan Henderson. So Dan Henderson isn't good enough for the UFC to retain, but such a monster at 185 that Jake Shields's victory stands in the Hall of Upsets alongise the US victory at the 1980 Winter Olympics, Giants over Patriots at Super Bowl XLII, and Nixon vs. Justice in 1974. (Versus.com)

"If Strikeforce wants to keep him, they are going to have to pay him an ass load of money." - White

"He's very good at not getting hit standing up, he's a perfect mixed martial artist and he's going to have a long career." - UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, who missed round one during a late Big Mac Run. (Sportsnet Canada)

"As a proud champion, I want to fight the best and Jake Shields is the best right now." - St-Pierre. Um...Anderson Silva?

"Jake Shields is definitely going to leave Strikeforce, and he's definitely coming to the UFC." - White (All Headline News)

"They didn't even have him in their commercials for the fight." - White, lying. I saw him in the commercials.

"I think they sent (Miller) in there to challenge him, so that if Jake leaves, it looks like he doesn't want to fight Miller." - White, lying. Coker claims to have had no prior knowledge of Jason "Mayhem" Miller's actions.

"That‘s not the way you do it. You let the winner speak, then you ask him at the end about whether he‘s willing to fight Miller." - White, lying. (I think.) I don't remember Quinton Jackson being asked if he wanted to fight Rashad Evans before the latter stepped into the cage at UFC 96.

NASHVILLE FALLOUT

<<span class="highlight">!>"And what you saw on Saturday is the kind of thing that happens when you put a product like that on national television." - UFC President Dana White, who wants you to know that these sorts of shenanigans would never happen under the Zuffa banner. UFC fighters behave like civilized men who piss in each other's beds, pleasure themselves on to sushi rolls, and engage in alcohol-fueled brawls in the privacy of a Las Vegas mansion laced with surveillance cameras. (Yahoo!)

"Fights happen in every sport and it's really not a big deal but if a fight breaks out at a fight between fighters it seems like some people want to act like it's the end of the world and pretend they are outraged." - Cesar Gracie. I agree with this 100%. Was the brawl childish, reckless, and generally representative of a disgusting macho culture? Of course. But it was no worse than any number of bar room brawls which take place all over this great country. (Gracie Fighter)

"In retrospect, my timing could not have been worse to ask for my rematch with Jake Sheilds, and I take full responsibility for entering the cage and setting off a chain of events that cast a dark shadow on the sport." - Jason "Mayhem" Miller (MayhemMiller.com)

"I feel bad. There were girls in there with cameras. Everybody was swinging at everybody." - Nick Diaz (Cage Writer)

"As long as everybody did, because I didn't do anything different than anybody else. I felt like I got hit more than I was hitting." - Diaz, on the possibility of suspensions for those involved. Perhaps Nick got hit so much because his camp didn't discriminate where their blows landed.

...AND YOU KNOW THIS GUY HAD SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT

"Just no room for this kind of stuff in the sport. We are just feeding the ignorant critics, and on live TV no less." - Shane Carwin, ready to rear his head whenever someone needs a holier-than-thou quote. (The Underground)

"From what I read those guys should be ashamed of themselves. This is not a barn yard brawl. These actions are not needed in this sport!" - Carwin, insinuating that he didn't even watch the fight?

"This is not crips vs bloods it is a sport which requires SPORTSMANSHIP. Seems basic." - Carwin, from his Twitter account. (Sorry Anton!) So is Frank Mir a respected "UFC Hall of Famer" and former champion or the classless asshole wants to kill someone in the Octagon? If you want to be Babyface Hulk Hogan 1985, please be consistent about it. (Twitter)

LEFTOVER WHITE NOISE

"We're going to fly in, set this thing up as fast as we can and get the [expletive] out of there." - UFC President Dana White, on putting on a show for the troops in Afghanistan. Yeah, this seems like a good idea. (Las Vegas Sun)

PARTING SHOTS

"I don't consider myself a pro-wrestler, I consider myself an Olympic gold medalist." - MMA hopeful Kurt Angle, when kayfabe and real life collide. (MMADieHards.com)

"DREAM is a great organization. I just got to make sure they pay on time." - Newly crowned Strikeforce champ "King" Mo Lawal, on being invited to DREAM's light heavyweight grand prix. (MMA Junkie)

"I used to start slow; I don’t start slow anymore." - Donald Cerrone, started too fast. Ben Henderson submitted Cerrone early in the first round of their lightweight title fight at Aldo vs. Faber. (UFC.com)

"There are certain clauses in that agreement which haven't been lived up to." - M-1 Global head honcho Vadim Finkelstein. Clauses like Fedor fighting in Strikeforce. (Sherdog)

"Right now, I am in no position of asking for a (DREAM) rematch and I think it's best that I strive to raise the value of 'Shinya Aoki' so that Melendez can say, 'I do not mind fighting Aoki once again' on his accord. As things stand right now, I would cringe if I said, 'I want to fight him again.'" - Shinya Aoki (MMA Mania)

What's yours? I say from fav ablum because I can't choose just one song to be my favorite and I wanna here what you like from the greats :) Mine is... Kill 'em All- Whiplash or Motorbreath Ride the Lighting- Ride the Lighting or Trapped under Ice Master of Puppets- Master of puppets, Battery, or Disposable Heros (A hard one :P) ...And Justice for all- Dyer's eve

Metallica (Pre-Black Album) I've read interviews where they brag about recording cassette tapes of their friend's vinyl LP's, and now they're big time crusaders against digital file sharing. Hypocrisy at it's finest. Having said that, I'll still listen to ...and Justice For All turned all the way up.

Killer song! Thanx for the reblip \m/ @eggie: "#DamnTheMan: "Metallica – ...And Justice for All"

This list as well as thousands of other top ten lists like the greatest songs of all time, top credit repair services, best auto insurance companies, and top ten best Playstation 3 games.

An extremely rare demo recording of Metallica's "...And Justice For All" has been unearthed

All will be revealed, if you just read...

In my diary "A rule of thumb--leading to thoughts about phase transtions and social systems change", triangunation picked up on my metaphor from the earlier diary, "Assume we have a can-opener...", with a  comment that read, in part:

I believe that Democrats have had a can opener the whole time

But they were convinced it was a bad opener, compared to the nice new one that movement conservatives had assembled.  As a result, they ignored it, or even boycotted it long enough for it become a mass of rusty metal, that doesn't work very well, and simply requires some oil, steel wool and a good sharpening.

We have a lot of factions, from the green movement to LGBT issue politics, social justice and Public education, among many others.  What we need, more than a can opener, is the ability to get our two hands to work on one action.  

The can opener is urban America, and a little political Jujitsu reversing the momentum created by the "Culture War" waged by conservative America (or, as they say, "Real" America) on "the other" America is long over-due.  

All of the separate factions of the Democratic Party are united in large urban areas, whether they like it or not, it's where they live.  The little blue islands are our home "bases," in a physical sense, and they are in need of the focus of our National Party.  They are the fulcrum of the can opener, and, for that reason, are the most obvious cause for building a "movement."  

As it just so happened, I had already written my next diary, "Producers vs. predators--the difference between left & right" in which I wrote:

Liberalism primarily evolved out of the city-based "middle classes", based in trade, small-manufacture and the professions--the bourgeoisie, although skilled workers (Tom Paine, anyone?) and even freed slaves (Frederick Douglass) played a part as well. ?In turn, socialism/social democracy evolved primarily out of the working class, although disaffected members of the bourgeoisie (Marx & Engels, anyone?) played a significant role as well.

So I was generally pleased when JFQuackenbush replied:

i like this idea

"The real America is in the cities."

Of course, and this is the part that rankles a bit for my liberal sensibilities, to turn the culture war tide we would have to find ways to demonize the other side. granted there are ways to do that, but they are pretty ugly.

but your broader point I think is the right one, that the can opener exists, we just need to get the two hands working together. There is a huge progressive movement out there that lives and works together. It just is completely ineffective on the one hand at adequately including the working class because of its disconnection from organized labor, and on the other hand because there is so much single issue organizing going on. when really it needs to be clear that green activism, civil rights activism, public education activism, and anti-corporate anti-globalization activism are all part of one big team rather than a bunch of little teams trying to play different games on the same field.

But I do disagree regarding the supposed need to "find ways to demonize the other side."  First off, telling the truth about racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia should be quite enough.  But that should not be the central thrust.  The central thrust should simply be the positivity of the diversity, vibrancy, openness, agency and future-orientation of urban life. &nbsp;And this, naturally, made me think of Miley Cyrus--well, at least as referenced and framed by  Matt Yglesias earlier this week:

Miley Cyrus and American Exceptionalism

There's been a fair amount of attention lately to Ramesh Ponnuru and Rich Lowry's absurd article on American exceptionalism. More enlightenment can probably be obtained by considering Miley Cyrus' treatise on the matter, "Party in the U.S.A."

The setting of the tune is the sense of disorientation experienced by a heartland girl as she arrives in Los Angeles ("Welcome to the land of fame, excess, whoa am I gonna fit in") and her discovery of comfort in the form of popular culture:

   Got my hands up they're playing my song
  &nbsp;And now I'm gonna be okay
   Yeah! It's a party in the USA!

The paradoxical element here is that the patriotic evocations of Americanness are consistently undermined by the basic backdrop of alienation. "It's definitely not a Nashville party," she observes "cause all I see are stilettos." The United States, in short, is a massive, diverse, continent-sized country. It contains substantial differences in regional culture (at this point in the music video she gestures toward her cowboy boots) that insiders pick up on based on small clues of fashion and manners.

While hacks like Ponnuru & Lowry try to identify Americanness with a particular form of conservative politics, the fact of the matter is that America's geographic and ethnic diversity entails political diversity. Their effort to identity the United States with opposition to mass transit, for example, founders on the fact that our largest and most important city is also one of the most transit-oriented city in the world.

And, of course, American pop music is hardly limited to the USA, as Matt moves on to note:

"Party," more plausibly, invokes popular music as a source of unity, capable of transcending both regional and racial ("And a Jay-Z song was on," turned into "a Michael song" in her performance at the Teen Choice awards) divisions. The irony, however, is that American popular culture is famously global. The mere fact that a Jay-Z song is on does not, in fact, provide any particular reason to believe that a given party is taking place in the USA. Jay-Z will be playing in person in Germany, France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom this summer. What's more, the story of American popular culture is actually a story in which non-Americans play decisive roles. Rock and Roll is a quintessentially American cultural form, and yet arguably its most famous practitioners are from England. A Britney song was on, but was the song written by a Swedish guy?

This, however, is the sense in which America is truly exceptional in a normatively valorizable way, and not merely "different from other places" (as all places are).

Yes, folks, thanks in part to the 1965 immigration act, reversing the highly restrictive 1924 Act, what distinguishes America from everywhere else is precisely our leadership in multi-culturism and multi-ethinicity.  We are a world culture, despite our persistent tendencies towards incredible parochialism. &nbsp;And our music--itself a product of major contributions from every continent--is what most leads the way.

As they saw in the trade, free your ass, and your mind will follow.  Or was it the other way around:

Free Your Mind...And Your Ass Will Follow is the second studio album by American funk band Funkadelic, released in July 1970 on Westbound Records.[1] The inspiration for this album was, according to George Clinton, an attempt to "see if we can cut a whole album while we're all tripping on acid."[1]

The album and its title track, a feedback-drenched number taking a third of the album's length, introduces the subversion of Christian themes explored on later songs, describing a mystical approach to salvation in which "the Kingdom of Heaven is within" and achievable through freeing one's mind, after which one's ass will follow. Many of the songs (such as the title track and "Eulogy and Light") subvert Christian themes, including the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm.[1]

The album's gatefold cover forms something of a visual pun, echoing the sentiments of the album title. The sight of a woman holding her arms towards heaven in an ecstatic pose is subverted upon opening the sleeve to find that she is nude.

---

So, what is Miley Cyrus doing here?  Opening for Funkadelic, obviously:

“BCCI's activities in Nigeria were so profoundly, overwhelmingly, corrupt as to suggest a very significant level of corruption in Nigerian officialdom generally. Whereas BCCI's activities in most countries merely involved corrupting a few, key people, in Nigeria, the corruption was systemic and endemic, and touched nearly every operation of the bank…According to BCCI officers, this was not the consequence of BCCI applying its practices to Nigeria, but rather, BCCI adapting itself to the conditions already present in Nigeria…”

Thus begins a United States Senate report, published in December 1992, which details an investigation into the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, BCCI, and its activities in Nigeria.

BCCI was a unique institution. It was affectionately referred to as the “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International” by lawmakers, and during its 19 year history, more than lived up to that name. By the time of its collapse in 1991, it had become a key player in international financial crime on a massive and global scale. Its criminality included money laundering (on all continents), bribery of Government officials (on all continents), the financing of terrorism, arms trafficking, the sale of nuclear technology, involvement in prostitution, facilitation of tax evasion, smuggling and illegal immigration. You name it – they did it.

Ironic then, that BCCI, on entering the Nigerian market, had to become “more” corrupt in order to successfully develop its business. Or maybe not ironic…just sad, considering that report was written 17 years ago.

But why? Why has Nigerian officialdom remained so corrupt? The answer is deceptively clear – low wages. The solution, unfortunately, seems more complex – or so one would assume given the number of failed attempts at reform. But that would be ignoring the obvious. Corruption is an effect of a cause. Cease the cause and the majority of corruption will recede. Too simple? Let me explain.

The main point of entry into the Nigerian Civil Service is known as Salary Grade Level 08 (GL.08). This level of entry is specifically for those who hold a first degree. On joining, your base salary is NGN 35,610 a month – around $2,850 a year or $8 a day. Under the service rules, it would require a minimum of 27 years to attain the level of Director (GL.17), the second highest post in a ministry. The current salary of a Director is a maximum of NGN 189,273 a month – around $15,000 a year or $40 a day. The average age of a Director is 50.

To say Civil Service remuneration is poor would be an understatement. Contrast their earnings with the cost of living and the amount required for a reasonable quality of life and it becomes clear that Civil servants are actually the most disadvantaged of the “professional” classes in Nigeria. Even worse, despite their low wages, on occasion they are paid late.

Yet, it is from these particular Government employees we have to obtain the approvals, licenses, and permits which are critical to our existence and the operations of our businesses. There is an ancient Sanskrit word for the ensuing situation - Karma.

You see, what BCCI discovered, was that in Nigeria, Government employees left home every morning looking to be bribed. This was not a situation where officials waited passively for your winks and sly suggestions – no, Nigerian officials actively helped you in corrupting themselves and the more clean you appeared, the less they wanted to do business with you. And who could blame them – due to the unique aspects of our culture, some of these officials were largely responsible for supporting half of their villages.

But our propensity to be corrupted was just half of the story. There was something even more profound that BCCI realised. Something that made corrupting Nigerians unbelievably easy and inherently profitable – we were a cheap date. It is the proverbial no-brainer, Mr Oyinbo Esq., frustrated at the slow pace of his discussions, the discomfort of the 2-star hotel he is paying 5-star prices for, the weird food, the funny smells and the mosquitoes, realises it may be wiser to speed things up with a carefully placed bribe – and when he discovers how cheap it is, he wonders why he didn’t try that earlier.

Many before and after BCCI have exploited this fact. In February of 2009, the US Department of Justice entered into a plea agreement with Halliburton and KBR, the US Oil services companies, where both companies admitted to violating the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act of the United States. Their crime was bribing Government officials in Nigeria to the tune of $180 million in exchange for contracts valued at $6 billion. Halliburton was fined $579 million for its transgression.

$180 million might sound like a lot of money – but that is just 3% of the value of the contracts awarded and less than a third of the eventual fine. It is likely that Halliburton would have paid at least that amount in fees to genuine professional advisers (legal, financial etc.) on the transaction. The fact that $180 million was sufficient to bribe three of our Heads of State, a large number of our Government officials, our oil industry executives and a main political party, shows just how cheap a date we are. Especially when it was our own money we were being bribed with.

Contrast that with the tens of billions reportedly paid by BAE Systems, the British arms company, as kickbacks in its arms for oil barter deal with Saudi Arabia, a transaction known as Al-Yamamah. One Saudi prince alone is reported to have received $2 billion. One wonders how much their Head of State got.

So how do we fix it? Well low wages (across the board) are just an output of a larger problem – the underdevelopment of the Nigerian economy.

Let us pretend we are the manufactures of an imaginary product. It sells for $1,000 and it costs $400 in raw materials, and $300 in labour to produce. Theoretically, assuming all our inputs are locally sourced, we contribute at least $700 to the economy for every item we produce.

But in the Nigerian economy, things happen differently. For various reasons including power, availability of raw materials, availability of skilled staff etc., we are forced to import this fictional product. So the $700 goes into someone else’s economy. But that’s not our only loss. We lose the potential skills development, the wage competition, the tax revenue, the capital investment and we even have to sell our product at a higher price to compensate for the increased production costs.

It’s lose-lose for everyone. And we have elevated it to an art-form. The leakage from our economy is astounding – $45 billion in 2008 alone – we literally support millions of jobs – just not in our own country.

Which brings us to the unpalatable suggestion – aggressive incentive based pay for public servants. There is a saying – if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys – to meet the challenges ahead and create a viable Nigerian economy, we need to upgrade our public servants. Without a viable Civil service, the reforms, changes and policies that we need to address our dysfunctions will be impossible to implement.

Most will agree that there is a clear and proven linkage between the profitability of a career option and its ability to attract talent. Most will also recognise that there is also a clear and proven linkage between the needs of a business and its willingness to invest in skills development and the training of its employees to enable it to keep its edge in the market place. Making Government service a career path that can deliver legitimate wealth may do more for addressing corruption than further empowering our anti-corruption agencies – reducing the incentive to steal is likely to be just as effective as punishing theft.

But this is surely voodoo economics you must be thinking. Where will the money come from? How will we ensure the desired outcomes are achieved? Why not just focus on the private sector to provide the solutions?

All are good questions – but somewhat miss the point. We are already there – just not legitimately – our senior Civil servants are already making themselves intensely rich but with zero accountability. Introducing a proper and realistic incentive system would not only attract a better breed of civil servant, it could drive results – deliver 6,000 MW of power – receive substantial bonus for the entire department. Don’t deliver – you’re fired.

In Chinua Achebe’s legendary book “The Trouble With Nigeria”, he recounts how on the first morning of the Murtala Mohammed regime, the notoriously tardy Lagos Civil Service staff managed to find their way into work on time – regardless of the traffic and transport problems they had always complained about. Their new Head of State’s ferocious reputation was such that no one wanted to cross him on his first day in office.

Incentives work – positive or otherwise. Running Nigeria is a difficult and sometimes thankless task – a de-motivated workforce is the last thing the leadership needs. As we approach our fiftieth year, perhaps it’s time to try a new approach – after all, what more do we have left to lose?

* Justice John Paul Stevens hedges on retiring this year. [New Yorker via BLT]

* If Obama were to follow in Roosevelt's footsteps in his battle with the Supreme Court, he would propose upping The Nine to The Fifteen... [New York Times]

* ...and the battle is definitely not over yet. [Washington Post]

* The University of California owes alumni $38 million for illegally raising their tuition. [Los Angeles Times]

* An Indiana valedictorian sues to prevent prayer at his high school graduation. [Courthouse News Service]

* City workers in Detroit can't wear perfume or cologne after a $100,000 settlement in this suit. [Associated Press]

United States - Supreme Court - New York Times - John Paul Stevens - Government

With the U.S. Senate Dem majority hanging by a thread, each and every race in 2010 is critical for all of us to pay attention to. In North Carolina, the sleazy conservative Republican Richard "Bank Run" Burr is up for re-election, and on the Dem side we have three viable candidates who have declared public support for LGBT issues in various ways, something that was almost completely missing in action from  Kay Hagan's campaign in 2008.

On Monday, Durham for Obama is holding a candidate forum (along with an endorsement straw poll), featuring these Democratic Senatorial Candidates from North Carolina: Lexington native and former State Senator and Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, Cal Cunningham, Durham Attorney Ken Lewis>, and Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Currently Marshall has a healthy polling lead over Lewis and Cunningham, but it's still early and the big media push hasn't hit the airwaves. That's when the rubber hits the road.

Also at the event, and behind the better-known pack of three, is Lumberton attorney Marcus W. Williams, a perennial candidate for office, always with a campaign on a shoestring. He has previously run unsuccessfully against Jim Hunt in the 1992 gubernatorial primary, against U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre in the 1996 primary and for the N.C. Court of Appeals twice. He is currently running in the Democratic primary to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

At his web site, there isn't much to peruse on the issues related to LGBT matters. His interest is ensuring representation of the economically disadvantaged and the working poor. In case you're wondering, out of the top three, so far only Lewis has

given an interview to the Blend. That was back in December. I did meet up with Cal Cunningham while I was covering the HRC Carolinas dinner a couple of weekends ago, and he was eager to connect with Blenders, in a live blog. The Blend has also been contacted by the Marshall campaign (not the candidate directly, and there's been expressed interest in an interview or liveblog). I'll definitely hold both of them to that, given the importance of the LGBT community both here in NC and around the country in learning just where they stand -- and how they would vote, on legislation that is likely to be before them if elected. The candidates all filled out a questionnaire in advance of this forum. You'll definitely see a gap between the candidates when called upon to give a response in under 100 words to the question:

The Democratic Party has historically placed a high priority on achieving equality among races, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and age. Please identify from your personal life and work experience what you have done to further equality amongst any of these groups.

You can review the answers here. When it comes to the candidate web sites regarding LGBT equality issues, there's also a gap. Take a look below the fold.

Remember, Kay Hagan studiously avoided speaking to LGBT media, never committed to anything other than saying she didn't believe in discrimination of any kind. You never saw anything about LGBTs on her web site, yet she bellied up to the gAyTM, and in fact, headlined the HRC Carolinas dinner then.  Now in office, she hasn't stepped up to co-sponsor anything in the hopper and is a question mark.  
This time around, we have all three top Dems willing to discuss our issues and take positions, but there is definitely not consistency if you're looking for positions online.

As far as the web sites of Cunningham, Lewis and Marshall go, only Ken Lewis, who recently

received the endorsement of ally Congressman Mel Watt,  explicitly states his position, and you'll like what he says in his "Justice" issues section. I am opposed to discrimination in any form. That includes discrimination against persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered. In addition, I support full and equal legal rights for same-sex couples -- all the same rights afforded married heterosexual couples today. That includes full recognition of the rights of same-sex couples across state lines, and full enforcement of federal benefits for same-sex couples.

As a lawyer, I feel strongly that upholding the full rights of same-sex couples is simple justice. I'm also a bit of a traditionalist, and I believe the word "marriage" best applies with its traditional definition. I believe governments should fully and fairly enforce the civil rights of all persons, while religious denominations and churches should serve their members as church leaders and members themselves decide.

I support President Obama's call for an end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting lesbians and gay men from serving openly in the military. I think Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen was right when he testified recently before Congress, "No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."
In the civilian workforce, as in the case of employment discrimination against women I oppose discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Hate crimes -- criminal acts in which the victim is chosen because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability -- are particularly destructive, because their effects go beyond the individual victim and victimize an entire community. If I had been in the US Senate, I would have voted for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that was signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009.

I surfed over to Marshall's site, and these were the only categories listed under

"Issues": Economic Recovery; Health Insurance Reform; Financial Services Reform; Our War In Afghanistan; On Public Education; National Security. Nothing else.

What I can tell you is that Blender Jake Gellar-Goad asked Marshall, during a BlueNC liveblog, what her positions are,

and she said this:Jake asked about equality issues. I oppose discrimination, support abolishing DADT (if people will serve, we should honor them. Period), oppose DOMA because I don't believe this is the duty of the Federal government and believe it puts the Full Faith and Credit concept in jeopardy, and support the concept of ENDA as described by Jake.

Clearly she needs to bone up on the details of ENDA...

Over at Cunningham's site, there's still nothing about LGBT issues (I did bring that to the campaign's attention a while back when the site was still being implemented. I was assured a section would be added...(will...keep...waiting...and...looking). As I said, he was there at the HRC Carolinas Dinner (Reps. David Price and Brad Miller were also there), and does want to engage with the community on the issues, but for people surfing to compare, to get in the game, you need to have this up on your site -- even in NC.

The candidate forum will be held right here in the heart of Durham on Monday, so it will be a great opportunity to see how each candidate presents themselves in an open forum and see how well versed they really are on our issues. Your blogmistress will be juggling the gear for sure. I'll probably Tweet it or do a one-way Cover It Live.

The basic info:

Time: Monday, March 15 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Host: Faulkner Fox
Location:
St. Joseph's AME Church (Durham, NC)
2521 Fayetteville Street
Durham, NC 27712
Immediately following the Candidate Forum, there will be Endorsement voting. All residents of Durham of legal age (18) who are registered to vote as Democrats or Unaffiliated, or unregistered to vote, are eligible to vote in this Durham for Obama endorsement proceeding.

If you have any questions in particular that you want to the candidates to address (

check the questionnaire to see if they answered them), make note in the comments. Related:

*
NC: pro-equality U.S. Senate candidate Kenneth Lewis - The Blend interview*
On the Record...2010 NC Democratic Senate Candidates

Even staunch conservatives lately have been calling Liz Cheney out for going too far: calling the DOJ the "Department of Jihad" for having the poor judgment to provide legal defense to Gitmo prisoners. (So much easier to just drown them.) Ken Starr and Lindsay Graham have been trying to distance themselves from the Cheneys, explaining that legal representation is an essential part of the US criminal justice system. I remember Liz and Dick in that brilliant film version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" They played a twisted, foul-mouthed couple in a spectacular insult marathon. You can't look...and you can't look away.

No offence Facebook, but I'd like to respectively decline your invitation for swedish meatballs, PuPu Platters or any other cafe world dish.

I appreciate the offer, but I'm not sure I like real farms...so I'm probably not going to milk a cow in Farmville.

It sounds tempting, but I won't raise a child in chocolate town Candyfield

I like where you're going, but I won't wrestle the Junkyard dog Wrestling Planet.

If my schedule wasn't so full, I'd probably consider kicking Pauly Shore in the elbow Kicksville...

I'm just not 100% sure I understand all of the intricacies of the Facebook.  I just had an invite to become a fan of "I bought a bag of chips, not a half bag of air".  There's apparently a group of fans that decided they needed to go public.  This is how social justice is achieved.  You start with a march, you refuse to move on the bus, you stop eating and chain yourself to an object...and then you start a fan page.

You're a fan of that?  You're fanatical about buying chips that are sealed in an airtight container?  OK