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General Purpose

Secrecy
So there's a story on 60 Minutes about how a man spent 26 years in prison because a couple of lawyers couldn't reveal that their client had confessed to the crime he was convicted of. Oops.

(CBS) This is a story about an innocent man who has been in prison for 26 years while two attorneys who knew he was innocent stayed silent. They did so because they felt they had no choice.

Alton Logan was convicted of killing a security guard at a McDonald's in Chicago in 1982. Police arrested him after a tip and got three eyewitnesses to identify him. Logan, his mother and brother all testified he was at home asleep when the murder occurred. But a jury found him guilty of first degree murder.

Now new evidence reveals that Logan did not commit that murder. But as correspondent Bob Simon reports, the evidence was not new to those two attorneys, who knew it all along but say they couldn't speak out until now.

This is one of those situations that just sucks. On the one hand, it really sucks for this poor guy; it also would suck if your lawyer had to rat you out because the po-po were after someone else.

Really there should be a system in cases like this where the lawyers could come forward in private to a judge and their testimony used to exonerate innocent person A without implicating their client B.

But that would probably be pretty rife with issues itself.

Tricky and ugly mess.

Source: CBS News

Haiti
Still a craphole.

This time, they went from a customs system that inspected nothing, to one that inspects everything, and is so slow that a lot of the food that people send to Haiti to help out ends up rotting in the dock.

CAP-HAITIEN, Haiti -- While millions of Haitians go hungry, containers full of food are stacking up in the nation's ports because of government red tape -- leaving tons of beans, rice and other staples to rot under a sweltering sun or be devoured by vermin.

A government attempt to clean up a corrupt port system that has helped make Haiti a major conduit for Colombian cocaine has added new layers of bureaucracy -- and led to backlogs so severe they are being felt 600 miles away in Miami, where cargo shipments to Haiti are almost at a standstill

Geez what a mess.

Source: Detroit Free Press

Meanwhile, In the Part of Latin America That Works
War averted.

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a border dispute on Friday with a summit handshake after a week of regional diplomacy in the face of hostile rhetoric and troop buildups.

"And with this ... this incident that has caused so much damage (is) resolved," leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said before standing up and shaking hands with his U.S.-backed conservative Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had blamed the United States for the crisis as he sent tanks to the border with Colombia, joined in shaking Uribe's hand and applauded loudly and smiled.

The dispute erupted last Saturday when Colombia raided inside Ecuador to kill a rebel leader. It resolution brought the summit to a surprise ending after bitter exchanges, including Correa calling Uribe a liar.

The accord came after Uribe apologized to Correa under pressure from governments across the region, which worked to prevent the crisis escalating into Latin America's first armed conflict among states in more than a decade.

Aww, they could have had a costly and pointless war that only enriches defense contractors!

What are these people thinking?

Source: Raw Story

He's an Obamaniac
So it's been noted that US Weekly and Rolling Stone, owned by the same company, have been rather, err, fawning in their Obama coverage.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a fashion victim, but Barack Obama? Oh, he’s a good dancer, a cool dad, a regular guy who likes ice cream and chili, and who happens to be a pal of Bono and George Clooney even though he isn’t impressed by celebrity.

At least, that’s the view from Us Weekly. [...]

Ahh, isn't that sweet. He's such a great guy. It must be true, it's in print and they're paragons of unbiased virtue.

Or... hmm... wait a minute.

So with Mrs. Clinton’s campaign complaining that she gets grilled by the media and he gets hero worship, is Us Weekly’s treatment a case of media bias? [...]

Us Weekly is owned by Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone, which published a profile of Mr. Obama last year but has not had an article about Mrs. Clinton in this campaign. Jann S. Wenner, the company’s chairman, and Rolling Stone opposed the Iraq war, and people close to Mr. Wenner say he soured on Mrs. Clinton when she voted to authorize the war.

Aha, they're sucking up to the boss!

An American tradition. But the boss is still a paragon of virtue and full disclosure, right?

Not only did he sour on her, he sweetened Obama's campaign war-chest wish cash infusions. What the Times omitted was mention of Wenner's $3,000 in donations to Obama in 2007:

OBAMA, BARACK (D)
President
OBAMA FOR AMERICA $2,000
primary 10/24/07


OBAMA, BARACK (D)
President
OBAMA FOR AMERICA $1,000
primary 05/08/07

Clinton and her team of media advisers aren't likely to see any favorable coverage on her in any of Wenner's publications in the near future. And the Times would have made a stronger argument for bias from US Weekly's owner, if it had reported on Wenner's FEC files.

OOPS!

Source: Petrelis Files

And They Say Golf Isn't For Elitist Jerks

Pro golfer Tripp Isenhour said it was a "one-in-a-million" golf shot that killed a protected hawk and that he was only trying to scare the bird he now faces criminal charges for killing.

...

Investigators say Isenhour got upset because the hawk's loud chirps interrupted the filming of his instructional video. He was charged Wednesday in Orange County Circuit Court with animal cruelty and killing a migratory bird, charges that carry a combined 14 months in jail and $1,500 in fines.

...

Prosecutors say the 39-year-old player took several shots at the hawk, first driving to it in a golf cart after the bird interrupted filming from 300 yards away. When the bird later landed within 75 yards, Isenhour's shots got closer until he eventually hit and killed the hawk. It fell to the ground bleeding from both nostrils, witnesses told the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Now that the guy's in trouble, of course, he claims it was an accident.

Sure. He accidentally drove after the bird and accidentally hit balls at it until it was killed.

Riiiight.

Source: Raw Story

Microshaft
Get your mind out of the gutter, btw.

Analysis Earlier this month, word got out that Microsoft was funding its own intellectual property rights curriculum in schools.

The reaction was understandably negative.

The basis of Redmond's pitch was a small survey they sponsored where nearly half of the kids polled said they were unfamiliar with the rules and guidelines of using copyrighted media. Microsoft figured tots would be less inclined to steal someone's IP if they knew about the alleged consequences.

A lot of digital ink was used to slam Microsoft's scheme. People need Redmond telling them about IP rules like they need Pavorotti schooling them about a well-balanced diet.

Yeah, I don't need a convicted monopolist and serial privacy violator to teach me about the law, thanks.

Speaking of, how's that EU business going? Still not good, eh?

Nofsinger said Microsoft has been a "middle of the road" client. Redmond has reviewed everything Topics has done for the curriculum, but has not been "overbearing."

"We want our curriculum to be what the clients want it to be — but with the realities of what teachers will be looking for and perceive as a benefit for their students," said Nofsinger. "Teachers will smell a crass marketing ploy from a mile away."

Yes, they do smell them. And like flies, they swarm. Witness Channel One, the huge propaganda network beamed into most of the public schools in America.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is dropping bits of curriculum onto 'tweens via the social networking site MyBytes.com. Much of the material such as "testimonial videos" were supplied by Topics, although the site has been developed and is maintained by Microsoft's publicity firm, DDB.

This side of the program in particular was ripe for criticism. To be fair, its development team was tasked with challenging marching orders to make lobbying intellectual property minutia "cool" to the saggy-panted youth of America.

The hope is for classrooms to use the site as an additional resource for the teachings. Here, tots can submit their own personal anecdotes about intellectual rights. It also includes a rudimentary music program for children to create beats — and then formulate their own "rules" about how it can be used.

But tots should read the fine print:

(By uploading material to MyBytes, the user is granting Microsoft and its affiliated companies and sublicensees permission to use the submission in connection with any Microsoft service including rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat the submission; to publish the user's name in connection with the submission; and sublicense such rights to any supplier of the service.

No compensation will be paid for use of a submission.)

That's right; in their campaign to protect IP rights, they knowingly market a site to minors, then trick them into giving away THEIR IP to Microsoft for free.

Wow.

With the TOS in mind, just a click away are contextually humorous quotes from musicians, artists and writers who flourish under intellectual property restrictions.

"All the artist really has is the intellectual property which results from years of aesthetic struggle and dedication," wrote abstract painter Herb Jackson for the site's Viewpoints section. "If that work is to be reproduced and disseminated, it should be with the artist's control and he/she should be materially rewarded so that process can continue. It is in society's best interest to honor the intellectual wealth that artists create and sustain it."

(User license agreements notwithstanding.)

Source: The Register

A Word for Tobacco Haters
Misocapnist!

Pink PR
So a woman looking for PR to promote Breast Cancer Awareness (and, not coincidentally, her upcoming line of pet fur dyes), has dyed her poodle pink.

Then the city of Boulder, Colorado, right on cue, fined her for dying her pet, thus giving her free national press so that she can avoid paying advertisers.

Great job stopping this plan in the bud, Boulder!

Source: Denver Channel.com

What Manga Was He Reading?
There's a sad story out of Seattle that got me to wondering.

According to KOMO-TV, the ABC affiliate in Seattle, Washington, 10-year-old Codey Porter died at 3:35 p.m PST today. The boy was hospitalized on Saturday after suffering respiratory failure when he was buried, headfirst, in a sandbox. He had reportedly asked his playmates to bury him in order to recreate the attacks used by the fictional ninja from the Naruto anime's fictional Village Hidden in the Sand.

Porter had been resuscitated with CPR and taken to an Everett hospital and later transferred to the Children's Hospital in Seattle where he died.

Ok, I've read 28 volumes of Naruto now, something on the order of 3000 pages. Nowhere in that do I recall the sand manipulating ninja Gaara sticking his head in the sand.

Gaara is, for those who are unaware, a character from Naruto who has the power to psionically control and manipulate sand, as well as types of rock that can be made into sand. He often creates a variety of shields made of sand to protect himself, usually in the form of a sphere about 20 feet across, or a thin second skin over his body that acts like armor.

He doesn't ever, though, stick his head in the sand, that I recall.

So, not to be too crass, but.. before anyone starts blaming Naruto, you might blame reading comprehension.

Or, you know, a lack of parental supervision.

Source: Anime News Network

GIMME
GIMME GIMME GIMME

BATMAN AS GREEN LANTERN

IT'S MINE

GIMME

Source: DC Comics

Zimbabwe
So Zimbabwe, famous for its current and rather dictatorial President's plan to take all the white land from white farmers and hand it over to untrained groups of black collectivists who, err, aren't actually any good at, or necessarily even in favor of, farming as a career.

How's that working out?

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — President Robert Mugabe, campaigning for upcoming elections, has signed a new law requiring foreign- and white-owned businesses to hand over 51% control of their operations to blacks, state media reported Sunday.

Cranking up his campaign theme of "economic empowerment" in the impoverished African nation, Mugabe also unveiled plans to distribute tractors, generators, gasoline and cattle to black farmers who have resettled on white-owned land seized by the government since 2000.

...

Since the government began ordering the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000, production of food and agricultural exports has slumped drastically. Zimbabwe has the world's highest official rate of inflation: 100,500%.

One-third of the nation's 12 million people received emergency food aid in January, U.N. food agencies said. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization predicted shortfalls in local harvests in coming weeks and said just 10% of fertilizer needed in the last planting season is available to farmers.

Since December, the Central Bank has spent at least $43 million to import corn, Zimbabwe's staple food, from neighboring countries, bank Gov. Gideon Gono said Saturday.

So, about how you'd expect then.

Moron.

Source: USA Today

Carry On
On the one hand, I like it, on the other hand, I don't want to die in prison.

Ladies and gentlemen; the laptop bag that looks like it has a gun inside!

Source: boingboing