Mysterious company gives pro-Romney group $1M, then dissolves

A mysterious corporation that was formed in Delaware in March gave $1 million in April to a political group backing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney -- and then dissolved in July, according to a report from NBC News' Michael Isikoff. It's unclear exactly who was behind the large donation.
The group Restore Our Future, a so-called "super political action committee," received a donation of $1 million from W Spann LLC on April 28, according to the super PAC's campaign disclosure report, filed last week. The group received $12.2 million during the first six months of the year, including gifts from four donors who gave $1 million each, the report showed.
One of the million-dollar donors was W Spann LLC, formed by Boston estate tax planner lawyer Cameron Casey, who specializes in "wealth transfer strategies" for high-end clients. Casey works for the firm Ropes & Gray's, which has done work for Bain Capital, the investment firm formerly headed by Romney.
Ropes & Gray's is also one of several major companies, Isikoff reports, that have offices at a Manhattan office building at 590 Madison Ave. -- the address listed for W Spann. Other companies there include UBS, IBM and Cemex. The building, however, has no record of a tenant called W Spann. On top of that, corporate records for W Spann give no information about the company's owner or the type of business it does.
Restore Our Future told Isikoff that the super PAC has complied with all Federal Election Commission disclosure requirements and said it did not ask W Spann for information about its business.
Restore Our Future is a super PAC that's independent of Romney's campaign but was founded by three former Romney aides with an interest in electing the former Massachusetts governor as president. The group is similar to Priorities USA, the super PAC founded by Obama allies Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney.
The 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allows for corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited money on political campaigns, though not by giving directly to candidates or party committees.
Lawrence Noble, former FEC general counsel, told NBC that the establishment of a company for the sole purpose of donating to a super PAC could raise a "serious" legal issue.
Stephanie Condon @'CBS' 

Firm gives $1 million to pro-Romney group, then dissolves

Here is the lawyers e-mail address that 'fixed' things for this asshat. I hope you all will drop her a line and express your appreciation for her dishonesty.

cameron.casey@ropesgray.com

Phone # is 1-617-951-7987 direct line - say hello and thanks...

Inside Story - The silent victims of rape

The mystery man behind Megaupload piracy fight

Internet Searches for a Specific Suicide Method Follow Its High-Profile Media Coverage

You Are My Symphonic - 'I Found Your Faces of Montreal' Album launch June 2011

MORE

The revolution will be...

Via

If it's good enough for 18 year old risk takers, it's probably good enough for you too!

lulzb0at lulz boat 
wikisend.com/download/56030… - Free Radicals - Anarchy of Science - ePub. #FREETOPIARY

Hopefully not a rhetorical question...

Is there actually ANY good news out there?

If you know of some please do send it to me...as I am starting to get even more depressed about the state of this fugn planet!
(Thanx Conscious!)

The American People Lost the Debt Ceiling Debate

The debt ceiling fracas was an insanity-inducing syllabus of everything that's wrong with the American political system. Everything.
The very serious cable news media (and a considerable chunk of the blogosphere for that matter) were preoccupied with safe, superficial sports and/or poker metaphors: who won, who lost, who "doubled-down" and so forth. After all, covering the wonky aspects of the policy itself is no fun and involves math.
The Republican Party, meanwhile, having been responsible for the bulk of the debt in the first place, was allowed to get away with sabotaging the stability of the global economy as the centerpiece of its plan to subsequently sabotage the president. At the same time, one of its congressional leaders, Eric Cantor, was short selling government bonds -- a blindingly outrageous conflict of interest that ought to vindicate Pete Rose for any comparatively trivial wagering sanctions he continues to endure.
The Democratic Party and the White House, paralyzed by fear (fear of taking an aggressive posture for fear of losing the fickle, insufferable middle), helped to push the Overton Window farther to the right.
Far-right conservatives and tea party activists continued to illustrate their willful inability to grasp an even grade-school level understanding of the economy and governing.
The progressive left was out-hustled by far-right activism yet again...

Continue reading

Bob Cesca @'HuffPo'

evgenymorozov Evgeny Morozov

Microsoft exec to be named new federal CIO http://flpbd.it/BV20 (I guess no one from Google was available)

♪♫ Medium Medium - So Hungry So Angry

Hangry???

Facebook Lures Lonely Russians as Internet Use Rises, Poll Finds

US seeks to counter extremism on Facebook & Twitter

A White House counter-terrorism strategy released on Wednesday says that Facebook, Twitter and other social networks aid in "advancing violent extremist narratives" and should be monitored by the government.
The 12-page strategy (PDF), which outlines ways to respond to violent extremism, promises that: "We will continue to closely monitor the important role the internet and social-networking sites play in advancing violent extremist narratives." President Obama said in a statement accompanying the report that the federal government will start "helping communities to better understand and protect themselves against violent extremist propaganda, especially online."
While much of the White House document is focused on Al Qaeda — which The Washington Post recently reported is on the "brink of collapse" — it also talks about domestic terrorists, neo-Nazis, anti-Semitic groups, and a broad "range of ideologies" that promote radicalisation.
Declan McCullagh @'ZDNet'

Al Gore: We need an "American Spring"

Former Vice President and Current TV chairman, Al Gore, made an appearance on his own channel Tuesday to decry the state of American politics.
He told "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann that we need an "American Spring" like the Arab Spring, with our own version of Tahrir Square, to reinvigorate political activism in America. However, Gore made clear with a number of qualifications that he was not calling for revolution. Rather than advocating taking to the streets, he seemed to be calling for more Americans to get online to make their political views heard -- a far cry from the revolutionary activity in the Arab world.
Gore also emphasized that he does not see the Tea Party as an example of grassroots political activism, largely because the movement has the support of billionaires like the Koch brothers pushing agendas in Washington.
Via

How many secret wars are the US fighting?

LOL!

UK government's e-petition website crashes on first day

'Friends With Benefits': The New Casual Sex?

The romantic comedy's rigid formula celebrates the burgeoning relationship between two straight, white, financially comfortable, bumbling, star-crossed lovers, who after numerous unavoidable disasters, finally achieve their love-like nirvana.  Wikipedia generously defines the genre as “films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount obstacles.”
So what is it about the romcom that draws in so many of us who do not identify with being white, skinny, straight or upper class? It rises from the dichotomy between acknowledging that idealistic love is in reality unattainable, and the masochistic longing for that “one true love” despite it all. Yet in 2011, the millennial's vision of the romantic comedy has shifted to a structured kind of free love, reflecting our generation's changing feelings about sex and flip attitude toward romanticism.
Generally, the overall framework remains unchanged—the romcom continues to reincarnate, with slight revisions that allow us to relate to its promise. New iterations reflect the progressiveness of time, but ultimately reinforce antiquated ideals of monogamous, heterosexual love. In the 1980s, there were a rash of films about (not so) liberated women “married” to their jobs—who, even with success, would be nowhere without the love of a man. (See Baby Boom and Working Girl.) The 1980s was the first full decade after a mostly white and middle-class feminist movement that focused on achieving equity for other mostly white, middle-class women in the workforce. The romantic comedies of the period reflected the realities of becoming working women, but reinforced the age-old necessity for a man’s love to provide true happiness. Progress—but only to a certain point...

Continue reading

Collier Meyerson @'AlterNet'

I wish...

What’s So Funny About Sex Addiction?

29,000 Somali children under 5 dead in famine

Matthew Shipp / Beans / William Parker / Hprizm – Half Amazed A/B

Info

Hard-Coded Password and Other Security Holes Found in Siemens Control Systems

Oh fer fuxake...

U.S. Sends Weapons to Help Somali Government Repel Rebels Tied to Al-Qaeda

HA!

Mexico arrests 'deputy financier of Zetas drug cartel'

The Mexican military says it has arrested the alleged number two financial operator of the Zetas drug cartel.

Valdemar Quintanilla Soriano was captured in the northern city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, where weapons and cash were also found.
Another Zetas suspect, Jose Guadalupe Yanez Martinez, was also detained.
The Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are in a bloody battle for control of drug smuggling routes to the United States.
"During the last months, Quintanilla Soriano often travelled to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Saltillo and Monclova in Coahuila to coordinate finance matters as well as the payment to authorities working for the criminal organisation," said Colonel Ricardo Trevilla, spokesman for Mexico's National Defence Secretariat.
Another key Zetas suspect, Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, was arrested a month ago.
The Zetas were formed by former Mexican special forces soldiers.
Mr Rejon was a member of the Mexican special forces but deserted in 1999, officials say.
The Zetas initially acted as armed enforcers for the Gulf Cartel.
The Zetas have since split with their former paymasters, and have been engaged in brutal turf wars for control of smuggling routes.
@'BBC'

Gabriella Coleman - Geek Politics and Anonymous

???

Facebook: “Anonymity on the Internet has to go away”

Gone...

Glowing Shark Wears Cloak of Invisibility

Red Dog (trailer and screentest)

Amateur scientist caught trying to split atoms in his kitchen

A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen says he was only doing it as a hobby.
Richard Handl said that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorised possession of nuclear material.
The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.
Only later did he realise it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden’s Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.
‘‘I have always been interested in physics and chemistry,’’ Handl said, adding he just wanted to ‘‘see if it’s possible to split atoms at home.’’
The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.
Although he says police didn’t detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn’t such a good idea.
‘‘From now on, I will stick to the theory,’’ he said.
@'The Age'

Pentagon to monitor social networking sites for threats

British government agrees that copyright has gone too far

The British government today pledged (PDF) to enact significant changes to copyright law, including orphan works reforms and the introduction of new copyright exceptions. And the tone of the comments was surprising: the government agrees that "copyright currently over-regulates to the detriment of the UK." CD (and perhaps DVD) ripping for personal use should become legal at last—and the government is even keen to see that the consumer rights granted by law can't simply be taken away by contract (such as a "EULA" sticker on a CD demanding that a disk not be ripped).
Responding to an independent study done earlier this year, the government has also endorsed the creation of a digital copyright exchange to facilitate licensing. Within limits, the government endorses the view that "the widest possible exceptions to copyright within the existing EU framework are likely to be beneficial to the UK."
The government's report is also significant for what it pledges not to do. The government says it will not bring forward the "site blocking" provisions of last year's Digital Economy Act. This is evidently not referring to the power of copyright holders to compel individual ISPs to block infringing sites after a lawsuit, but to a more comprehensive system whereby the government maintains a list of sites that all ISPs in the country would be required to block.
Probably the most important announcement is the expansion of copyright exceptions. Unlike the US, the UK does not have a broad, judge-made "fair use" doctrine that allows transformative uses of copyrighted works. Today's report doesn't use the phrase "fair use," but it endorses legalizing many of the same ideas. The government proposes to create "a limited private copying exception," to "widen the exception for non-commercial research," to "widen the exception for library archiving," and "to introduce an exception for parody."
Orphan works are out-of-print works that cannot be used by anyone because their copyright holders cannot be found. Legislation to address the problem has languished in the US Congress for years. The British government has now pledged to enact orphan works reform that would allow "both commercial and cultural uses of orphan works," once a prospective user has conducted a diligent search for the copyright holder and paid standard licensing fees.
The report devotes significant attention to the creation of a Digital Copyright Exchange, a centralized clearinghouse to improve the efficiency of copyright licensing efforts. The project is still in the planning phase and participation in the scheme would be voluntary. But the government vows to study ways to encourage and facilitate the creation of an exchange. One way it will do that is by ensuring that the government's own "Crown copyright" works will be available for licensing.
Patents receive only a brief mention in the report. The government pledges to "resist extensions of patents into sectors which are currently excluded unless there is clear evidence of a benefit to innovation and growth." It also promises to investigate the problems created by patent thickets, although it doesn't endorse any specific proposal for addressing the problem.
The report is significant not only for the specific policies it endorses, but also for the shift in tone it represents. For decades, policymakers around the world have steadily expanded the breadth of copyright and patent protections and ratcheted up enforcement. So the fact that the UK's official copyright agenda now consists mostly of creating new copyright exceptions and abandoning previously announced enforcement efforts suggests the pendulum may finally be swinging in the other direction. The individual reforms are important, but it is most significant as a barometer of the shifting political climate.
Timothy B. Lee @'ars technica'

Going down...

(Click to enlarge)

Via

???

New Player in Mexico’s Drug War: The NRA

phbarratt Paul Barratt 

David Hicks, abandoned by Howard Govt enters plea bargain under extreme duress. Gillard goes after his "proceeds of crime". Stay classy, JG.

Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture

The Wingnut Doughnut

Kicking off a new jobs campaign, Florida’s Governor Rick Scott went to work in a Tampa doughnut shop this morning. Apparently, Scott worked in a doughnut shop in his youth. Scott’s campaign slogan was “Let’s get to work.” For the unemployed in Florida that probably did not imply clerking in a doughnut shop, but here’s the message being sent to unemployed Floridians: “You better find something, anything, and get your lazy butt on a treadmill in a low wage, low skill job.” The move to do the doughnut gig comes as no surprise though. Scott’s ratings are in the basement and this jobs thing just so happens to coincide with a new media campaign clearly trying to clean up Scott’s tarnished reputation, but trying to put a shine on shit is tricky business. Honestly, with Florida’s unemployment at 9%, shouldn’t Scott try to put the focus on skilled jobs available in Florida and take to moment to tie in these jobs with the numerous workforce training programs available in Florida? For years, the administrations in Tallahassee have been courting the lucrative Biotechnology industry into the state and they have answered the call. Now, there is a need for trained lab techs, jobs available for those trained at the post-secondary certificate, associates, bachelors and higher levels. Florida high school graduates can land good work with just one year of college, but Scott says, “Start at a doughnut shop.” This just does not send a resonating message needed from a campaign designed to highlight work in Florida. All it says is “Look at me I still remember how to sprinkle doughnuts.”

UK Government Abandons File-Sharing Website Blocking Plans

Tom Watson: 'Phone hacking is only the start. There's a lot more to come out'

'Collar bomb' alert grips Sydney

Police and emergency workers at the scene of the 'collar bomb' drama in Sydney, Australia. Photograph: Paul Miller/EPA
Australian bomb squad officers are working to defuse a suspicious device found at a home in a wealthy suburb of Sydney, police have said. Surrounding streets have been closed to traffic and emergency services rushed to the scene.
New South Wales police said in a statement that an 18-year-old woman called them to the house in Mosman, on Sydney's north shore, at around 2.30pm Australian time and that the bomb squad was in the process of examining the device.
Reports that a "collar bomb" had been strapped to the woman by someone else could not be immediately confirmed. But police told the Associated Press the incident was "not being treated as self-harm".
Asked by the Australian Daily Telegraph whether the girl could move away from the device, Mark Murdoch, an assistant police commissioner, was quoted as saying: "No, she can't get away from it."
"I can't confirm whether it is strapped to the woman involved but she is still in the vicinity of the device," he said. The paper quoted an unnamed police officer as describing the device as a "collar bomb" and the incident as an extortion attempt. This could not be independently confirmed.
The house is in Burrawong Avenue, an exclusive road full of multi-million dollar properties including one belonging to the Scottish-born horse trainer Gai Waterhouse. Homes near the house involved have been evacuated.
Police said defusing the device demanded "a high level of skill and must be meticulous".
Lizzy Davies @'The Guardian' 

UPDATE