http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=88 Sat, 25 May 2013 09:37:41 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=88 Fri, 24 May 2013 16:52:02 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=55a_1369428352 Ruptly More than 80,000 people took part in the German 'Turn-Fest' in Mannheim on Friday, the world's largest 'sports-for-all' competition. Among the stars of the festival was a group of elderly participants showing their skills on the gymnastics bars. The 'Turn-Fest' takes place in conjunction with the 2013 German Gymnastics Champions running from May 18 to 25. Despite their old age the gymnasts are in great shape. Johanna Quass, an 88-year-old sportswoman complains that most people of her age do not exercise enough: "Elderly people are often too inactive. They find it more convenient to have a coffee and cake while sitting on their sofa. This is not healthy at all." Quass started doing sports when she was a child, but the second world war and motherhood prevented her from continuing. At the age of 56 she decided to start practising gymnastics again. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=55a_1369428352 Ruptly Germany: Nothing wrong with the balance as OAPs take to the bars Germany, gymnastics, sport, fitness, health, champion, festival, event, shape, exec rise, competition Fri, 24 May 2013 14:22:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c57_1369419664 omniradar From Iraq to Syria: US Political Impotence in the Middle East by Ramzy Baroud , May 24, 2013 Print This Share This In an article published May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, "Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in Syria." Those limitations are palpable in both language and action. A political and military vacuum created by past US failures and forced retreats after the Iraq war made it possible for countries like Russia to reemerge on the scene as an effective player. It is most telling that over two years after the Syrian uprising-turned bloody civil war, the US continues to curb its involvement by indirectly assisting anti-Bashar al-Assad regime opposition forces, through its Arab allies and Turkey. Even its political discourse is indecisive and often times inconsistent. Concurrently, Russia's position remains unswerving and constantly advancing while the US is pushed into a corner, demonstrating incapacity to react except for condemnations and mere statements. This is to the displeasure of its Arab allies. Russia's recent delivery of sophisticated anti-ship missiles and its own buildup of warships in the eastern Mediterranean is a case in point. The move was condemned by the Obama administration as one that is "ill-timed and very unfortunate," according to a statement by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported in the LA Times on May 17. But this American attitude in the region is fairly new. Behind it stands a history so bloody and filled with imprudent foreign policy. Regardless of how the US decides to move on Syria, the chances are that a return to its old dominant approach is no longer an option. Indeed, the current American political impotence in the Middle East is unprecedented, at least since the rapid disintegration of the Soviet bloc in the early 1990's. The dissolution of the Soviet Union had ushered in the rise of a unipolar world, wholly managed by the United States. The rise of the uncontested American hegemony represented a shift in historical dialectics, where great powers found their match and the rest of the world, more or less, accommodated the ensuing competition. Then, the US acted quickly to assert its dominance starting with hasty military adventures such as the invasion of Panama in 1989. A much more calculated move followed with a devastating war against Iraq in 1990-91. In Panama the objective was to remind the US's southern neighbors that the region's cop was still on duty and was capable of intervening at a moment's notice to rearrange the entire political paradigm in any way that Washington deemed necessary - As this has been the case since the CIA-orchestrated coup and war in Guatemala in 1954 and even earlier. The US's massive military involvement in Iraq, however, was that of a conqueror who arrived with an entourage of many countries - regional and western allies - to claim the spoils resulting from the end of the protracted Cold War. It was an arrogant show of force since the target was a single Arab country with humble military and economic means vs. major military powers from near and far. The war devastated Iraq, as its initial aerial bombing campaign alone involved the dropping of 88,500 tons of bombs. Many new weapons were used and tested, while the US media and public celebrated the prowess of their military. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died or were wounded as a result of one of the most asymmetrical wars in history. Trying to capitalize on its military triumph, Washington quickly pushed for a political settlement between its closest ally, Israel, and Arab countries. The logic behind the Madrid Conference in 1991 was achieving pseudo peace that catered to Israel's interests, while opening up the gate of normalization between Israel and its neighbors. Moreover, the US hoped to achieve some sort of 'stability' that would allow it to manage the Middle East region and its ample resources in a less hostile environment. Eventually, Israel managed to negotiate its own political deal with the Palestinians, thus dividing Arab ranks and ensuring that the 'peace talks' outcome was entirely consistent with Israel's colonial ambitions. As years passed, the US and Israeli political visions moved even closer, but with Washington eventually becoming a mere conduit to Israeli colonial objectives. This fact was underscored repeatedly under the George W. Bush administration, which compounded US failure in the region with even more disastrous and dangerous wars. A major fault in US foreign policy is that it is almost entirely reliant on military power - as in the ability to blow things up. The US war on Iraq which, in various forms, extended from 1990 to 2011, included a devastating blockade and ended with a brutal invasion. This long war was as unscrupulous as it was very violent. Aside from its overwhelming human toll, it was placed within a horrid political strategy aimed at exploiting the country's existing sectarian and other fault lines, therefore triggering a civil war and sectarian hatred from which Iraq is unlikely to cover for many years. But limitations of US military power became quite obvious in later years. The empire was no longer able to bridge the divide between translating its dominance on the ground - itself increasingly challenged by local resistance groups - into a level of political progress required to achieve the minimum amount of 'stability'. Moreover, an economic recession, coupled with the Iraqi retreat and an equally costly debacle in Afghanistan - forced the new administration in Washington, under the leadership of President Barack Obama to rethink Bush's earlier quest for global hegemony. Massive military cuts were soon to follow. Concurrently, the imbalance of global power was slowly, quietly but surely being equalized with the rise of China as a new possible contender. In the midst of the US transition and policy rethink, an upheaval struck the Middle East. Its manifestations - revolutions, civil wars, regional mayhem and conflicts of all sorts - reverberated beyond the Middle East. Shrinking and rising empires alike took notice. Fault lines were quickly determined and exploited. Players changed positions or jockeyed for advanced ones, as a new Great Game was about to begin. The so-called 'Arab Spring' was rapidly becoming a game-changer in a region that seemed resistant to transformations of any kind. The transformation of the Middle East - promising at times, very gory and bloody at others - arrived at a time when the US was making forced adjustments in its military priorities. Putting greater focus on the Pacific region and the South China Sea are such examples. Without much notice, it was forced to reengage with the Middle East, as a whole - not a country at a time. Only then, its weaknesses were seriously exposed and its lack of influence became palpable. Bankrupt is maybe an appropriate term to use in describing the current US policy in the Middle East. Imprudent military adventures devastated the region but achieved no long term objectives. Reckless policies that are predicated on trying to exploit, as opposed to understand the Middle East and its complex political and historical formation and the insistence on keeping Israel a main priority in its approach to the vastly shifting political lines, will unlikely to bode well for US interests. However, unlike the early 1990's, when the US moved to reshape the entire region and established permanent military presence, new dynamics are forcing US hands to change tactics. In this new reality, the US is incapable of reshaping reality but merely trying to offset or control its unfavorable outcomes. "What the United States (and western Europe) want to do is 'control' the situation,' Immanuel Wallerstein argued. "They will not be able to do it. Hence the screams of the 'interventionists' and the foot-dragging of the 'prudent.' It is a lose-lose for the west, while not being at the same time a 'win' for people in the Middle East." This 'lose-lose' scenario might not necessarily translate to a complete American foreign policy meltdown in the near future, but will certainly open the possibility for new/old players to main serious gains, Russia being a lead example. This will likely compel the US to change tactics, despite the incessant objections of neoconservative forces and the Israeli lobby.Read more by Ramzy Baroud Hungry For Freedom In Guantanamo - April 26th, 2013 Deir Yassin, Beit Daras and the Buried History of Massacres - April 17th, 2013 Iraq Back at the Brink - February 15th, 2013 The Imagined, 'Sinister' Iranian Threat in Latin America - January 3rd, 2013 Iraq War's Lessons Lost on US - October 28th, 2011 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c57_1369419664 omniradar US Political Impotence in the Middle East USA, Middle East Wed, 22 May 2013 17:26:42 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f78_1369257797 Diverdanm 1. Reneged on pledge to filibuster FISA Amendments Act (July 2008) 2. Lobbied for $700 billion Paulson TARP bank bailout 3. Pushed for no sanctions against Lieberman despite his support for John McCain 4. Nominated healthcare company lobbyist Tom Daschle as Secretary of HHS 5. Had neoliberal Robert Rubin as his chief economics adviser 6. Then had the equally neoliberal Larry Summers assume this role 7. Chose the failing upwards Timothy Geithner to head Treasury 8. AIG bonuses and money to Goldman under Obama 9. Doubling down in Afghanistan 10. Delay and reduction of withdrawal from Iraq 11. Moving Guantanamo activities to Bagram 12. Military commissions for some detainees 13. Support for indefinite detention 14. Refusal to release torture photos under FOIA 15. Refusal to investigate and prosecute Bush era criminality 16. Geithner's DOA economic rescue programs: the PPIP and TALF 17. Minimal help for homeowners and no cramdowns 18. Treatment of Chrysler and GM with bankrupcy compared to bank no fail "stress tests" 19. Kabuki of TARP repayment by banks while still dependent on government credit lines 20. Extra-Constitutional use of the Fed by the Executive for fiscal policy 21. Credit Card bill without usury caps and with 9 month delay for other reforms 22. Business friendly Mary Schapiro named to head SEC 23. Gary Gensler who helped deregulate derivatives named to head CFTC 24. $787 billion stimulus: too little, too late, poorly structured 25. Use of financial crisis to attack Social Security and Medicare 26. The great healthcare non-debate 27. Continued use of state secrets argument in ongoing Bush era cases 28. Use of signing statements, including one to punish whistleblowers 29. Vetting process problems, especially tax related ones 30. Leaving Dawn Johnsen's nomination to head OLC twisting in the wind 31. Eric Holder, failure to reform DOJ, not removing worst of Bush USAs 32. Failure to move against new oil bubble 33. Retention of Bush Defense team: Gates, Patraeus, and Odierno 34. Continued missile strikes inside Pakistan 35. Keeping Bush's domestic spying programs and adding a new one, cybersecurity 36. Choice of Elena Kagan who favors expansive Presidential powers as Sollicitor General, her subsequent nomination to the Supreme Court 37. Leaving EFCA (to help counter anti-union companies) to wither in Congress 38. Welcoming Arlen Specter who brings nothing to the Democrats into the party 39. Weak ineffective proposals for financial reform 40. Obama wanted John Brennan at CIA but settled for making him his counter- terrorism adviser 41. Chas Freeman with broader Mideast perspective done in by AIPAC 42. Dennis Blair made DNI; failed to act to stop atrocities in East Timor 43. Choice of McChrystal involved in torture in Iraq to head Afghanistan command 44. Obama threat to suspend intelligence cooperation with UK over Binyam Mohamed case 45. Efforts to keep Bush and Obama White House logs secret 46. Playing games with "Don't ask, don't tell" 47. Filing a brief to overturn Jackson (access to lawyer) in the Montejo case 48. Not withdrawing Bush brief in Osborne DNA case 49. Egregious brief in challenge to Defense of Marriage Act 50. The Supplemental which made Iraq and Afghanistan Democratic wars 51. Choice of Rahm Emanuel as the President's Chief of Staff 52. Choice of Dennis Ross as Iran envoy and then his move to the White House 53. Politically embarrassing processes to fill Obama and Clinton's Senate seats 54. Choice of Bill Richardson, then Judd Gregg to head Commerce Department 55. Reneging on pledge to re-negotiate NAFTA 56. Obama's throwing his pastor Jeremiah Wright to the curb, then reaching out to religious conservative Rick Warren 57. Continued challenges to habeas corpus petitions over indefinite detention, the Janko case 58. The Obama White House website 59. Continuing an ineffective program that Iran can exploit politically 60. Going slow on climate change when there is no time to 61. Not withdrawing a Bush-era amicus brief in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case and supporting a rollback of Title VII 62. Appointment of a CIA General Counsel who doesn't know if waterboarding is torture 63. Appointment of a DNI General Counsel who doesn't know if waterboarding is torture 64. CIA delay in a FOIA request concerning torture 65. The influence of Goldman Sachs in the Obama Administration 66. Attempt to keep secret the Cheney interview on the Plame affair 67. Mountaintop removal under Obama 68. Attempt to restrict Congressional notification on intelligence matters 69. Opposition to a second stimulus 70. Another egregious attempt to fight a habeas corpus petition in the Jawad case 71. Continuing charter schools and standardized tests 72. Holder's decision to support a weak, narrow review of torture 73. Re-appointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman 74. Continuing renditions 75. Politically dubious company was used to vet reporters in Afghanistan 76. Judge vetoes a too weak SEC plea bargain with Bank of America 77. Justice's argument for making Bagram a new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case 78. Defense to turn over databases to poorly controlled fusion centers 79. Obama changes but keeps Bush's Star Wars program 80. Failure to win an Israeli freeze on settlements 81. White House refuses to back its own staffer environmentalist Van Jones 82. Politicized US Attorney in the Siegelman case cleared by Office of Special Counsel 83. Criticism of Iranian nuclear program; support of Israeli nuclear weapons 84. Support for a weakened reporter's shield law 85. Use of the Zazi case to retain broad Patriot Act surveillance provisions 86. Wilner v. NSA, continuing the coverup of warrantless surveillance of communications between attorneys and detainees 87. Attempt to spike the Goldstone report on Israeli-Hamas war crimes in Gaza 88. Slowness in filling federal judgeships 89. Inadequate aid to overwhelmed state budgets 90. Attempting to dodge the Supreme Court deciding whether innocent Guantanamo detainees can be resettled in the US 91. Allowing drilling in the waters off the north coast of Alaska 92. Keeping detainee accounts of CIA torture secret 93. Current FBI manual allows for widespread domestic spying 94. Securitization invalidates most foreclosures 95. Geithner wanting unlimited powers to save large banks 96. Another state secrets defense to conceal domestic spying 97. Circuit Court dismissal of Maher Arar suit 98. Weakening Sarbanes-Oxley and calling it financial reform 99. Unemployment 100. Inspector General for Fannie and Freddie ousted for investigating fraud 101. Gaming courts to convict Guantanamo detainees 102. White House counsel removed for his principled stands on torture and Guantanamo 103. US seizes mosques claiming Iranian connection 104. Howard Dean removed as head of the DNC 105. Scientist with close ties to Monsanto put in charge of all governmental agricultural research 106. Pesticide lobbyist nominated as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for trade 107. Effort to let some government contractors avoid paying taxes 108. A bad US Attorney nomination for Northern Iowa 109. Hunger in America 110. The breast cancer recommendations fiasco 111. Ongoing confusion and disorganization in the military commissions process 112. Phillip Carter another official in closing Guantanamo resigns 113. Refusal to sign anti-land mine treaty 114. The Ghizzawi case and the legal limbo of "cleared for release" 115. Black prisons at Balad and Bagram 116. Delay in declassifying historic documents 117. Max Baucus' conflicts of interest in healthcare and with his girlfriend 118. Major security breach at a White House party and a ridiculous assertion of "executive privilege" 119. Dana "Pig Missile" Perino nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors 120. Cass Sunstein, an anti-regulator in a regulatory position 121. Warrantless for profit electronic surveillance by telecoms and search engines 122. The government sides with torture lawyer John Yoo and attacks Bevins actions again 123. The TSA publishes its security manual online 124. Toxic legal arguments in al Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, yet another Bevins action 125. The Nobel Peace Prize and a neocon acceptance speech 126. Blackwater's involvement in military and CIA assassination and drone programs 127. Congressional Research Service censorship in the firing of Morris Davis 128. AIG writes off $25 billion in debt and sticks taxpayers with the bill 129. The Administration plays hardball to kill an amendment that would lower drug costs 130. A poorly considered blank check to Fannie and Freddie 131. Continuing a Bush botch in the Nisoor Square massacre case 132. Jonathan Gruber, a major defender of Obamacare was also a paid consultant for it 133. A Geithner related cover up of the AIG at par payments on swaps 134. Adoption of stealth signing statements 135. al Bihani, more bad legal reasoning in another Guantanamo habeas case 136. Cutting Medicare and Social Security by deficit commission proposed 137. A 3 year non-freeze budget freeze proposed 138. NASA flights privatized 139. OPR report on Yoo and Bybee watered down and its relation to the Padilla case 140. Government targeting of US citizens for assassination 141. Abuse of informants by ICE agents 142. Obama leaves Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board empty 143. Obama backs firing of teachers in Rhode Island 144. Irish human rights advocate Edward Horgan has US visa pulled 145. Threatened veto of 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act over Congressional notifications 146. Obama Administration intimidation of whistleblowing site: wikileaks 147. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to ignore science on endangered species 148. Senate vacation more important than jobless benefits 149. Government seeks to compel turnover of emails without a warrant 150. Obama goes after an NSA whistleblower: the Thomas Drake case 151. Obama goes after a CIA whistleblower: the James Risen case 152. Weakening Miranda rights in national security cases 153. Advocating the privatizing of public housing 154. Another step in making Bagram the new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case, the appeals court edition 155. Massey mining disaster, 29 die because of corporate greed and poor regulation 156. Obama proposal for a line item veto 157. A military commander allowed to use military forces for intelligence operations without Presidential approval 158. Political pandering in sending 1200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest border 159. A sad record on resisting Guantanamo habeas petitions 160. Israel attacks an aid convoy for Gaza; Obama punts 161. A further erosion of Miranda: Berghius v. Thompkins 162. Naming James Clapper, a Bush appointee, to be the next DNI 163. DOJ seeks to protect Vatican in sex abuse scandal 164. Yahya Wehelie, an American exiled without charge 165. Failure to replace National Labor Relations Board members means hundreds of decisions must be reviewed 166. SCOTUS opts for overly broad definition of material support to terrorist groups 167. Speaker Pelosi backstabs Social Security 168. Complaints by government scientists of political interference at Bush era levels 169. Flip flop on free trade agreement with Colombia 170. SEC declares major victory but lets Goldman off easy 171. Private contracting of intelligence continues under Obama 172. Two Guantanamo prisoners to be deported back to Algeria against their will 173. The Shirley Sherrod affair: trumped up charges of racism and a bungled response 174. Whitewash report on Bush era US Attorney firings 175. Despite its record, Blackwater still gets big US government contracts 176. Wikileaks releases government files showing Pakistan involvement with Taliban and admission that things are going poorly in Afghanistan 177. Obama seeks to get access to everyone's web histories without a court order 178. Teacher funding sacrificed to keep Education Secretary Arne Duncan happy 179. State's top Iran hand resigns over Obama's Iran policy 180. Citizens United: validation of unlimited corporate political funding 181. Push to expand US arms sales around the world 182. Project Vigilant, Infragard and "volunteer" corporate spying for the government 183. Obama's approval hits Bush levels in Arab world 184. Effort to pre-empt state environmental lawsuits involving green house gases 185. Justice's Anti-trust division asleep at the wheel 186. Kagan's recusals render her even more ineffective on the Supreme Court 187. Poverty level highest since 1994 188. Courts run interference for corporate violators of international law 189. Warren named to set up but not to run Consumer Financial Protection Board 190. Chief economic adviser Larry Summers leaves; Obama looks for someone even more pro-business to replace him 191. DOJ IG report goes soft on Bush era surveillance against peace groups and other activists; meanwhile the Obama Administration conducts raids against similar groups 192. Move to put backdoors in the internet to facilitate spying and more requirements on banks on international money transfers of any size 193. HHS Secretary Sebelius delays for at least two years required insurance coverage for contraception 194. Americans on Medicaid increased to 48.5 million in 2009 195. Big home lenders suspend foreclosures as their documentation gets challenged in court 196. HR 3808, a bill passed by Congress, to facilitate the acceptance of false documentation by banks in foreclosure proceedings 197. ICE raids and deportations increase under Obama 198. Social Security COLA frozen for second straight year; no action taken 199. Waivers for military aid to countries with child soldiers 200. Big and deserved losses in the 2010 elections 201. 42 million Americans on food stamps at the end of FY 2010 202. No indictments for those involved in the CIA destruction of the torture tapes 203. The Bowles-Simpson Cat Food Commission proposals 204. $3 billion in aid for Israel for a 90 day settlement freeze 205. No change in Democratic Congressional leadership after 2010 election disaster 206. Forced proselytizing still prevalent at US Air Force Academy 207. TSA harassment and violation of the 4th Amendment 208. More TSA idiocy: full body scans and invasive pat downs 209. The response to the 2009 coup in Honduras 210. Use of diplomatic personnel to spy at the UN 211. Fed proposes rule change to Truth in Lending Act to protect bank fraud 212. FCC head Genachowski takes an axe to net neutrality 213. Lieberman and Amazon.com seek to censor wikileaks 214. Pressuring the Spanish government into dropping torture prosecutions against 6 high level Bush officials 215. Neoliberal free trade deal with South Korea at a time of high unemployment 216. Hamfisted banning access to wikileaks by government departments 217. Massive screwup in printing $100 bills 218. Extending tax cuts for the rich in a poor compromise on jobless benefits 219. Dancing boys of Afghanistan paid for by US contractor Dyncorp 220. EPA backtracks on smog standards 221. Former OMB director Peter Orszag goes to Citigroup 222. Obama breaks the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to supply Israel with nuclear fuel 223. DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants done in by Senate Democrats 224. DOJ drops investigations of corrupt members of Congress 225. The FBI's Guardian database, another useless, intrusive surveillance program 226. Pentagon weakens rules on contractor conflicts of interest 227. Investigation by state Attorney Generals into foreclosuregate: no criminal charges 228. Obama names Mr. NAFTA Bill Daley as his new Chief of Staff 229. Obama names neoliberal free trader Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers 230. Executive Order to make regulations more business-friendly 231. Gulet Mohamed: Detention and torture of US citizens by proxy 232. Nelson v. NASA: government can demand intrusive, unnecessary information about its employees 233. Choice of GE's outsourcing CEO Jeffrey Immelt as Obama's Jobs Czar 234. Failure to weaken or eliminate the filibuster 235. Corporate targeting of Wikileaks and liberal organizations 236. Reaction to the popular revolution in Egypt 237. HHS Secretary Sebelius helps states cut Medicaid rolls and funding 238. Petraeus accuses parents not US attacks for burns to children in Afghanistan 239. US general in Afghanistan sets up illegal propaganda program targeting Americans 240. Obama plans to devastate small block grants program for the poor 241. Silence on the Wisconsin labor protests 242. Former Senator Christopher Dodd quickly becomes lobbyist after promising not to 243. Obama reinstitutes sham review tribunals at Guantanamo 244. DOJ colludes with Bush era official Scott Bloch to keep him out of jail 245. The treatment of Bradley Manning 246. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley forced to resign over Manning comments 247. Massive conflicts of interest in David Stevens at HUD and soon to be head of main lobbying group for the mortgage industry 248. Mild reaction to bloody anti-democratic repression in Bahrain and Yemen 249. Torture psychologist appointed to White House task force 250. FBI program which allows them to investigate anyone doesn't work (surprise) 251. In his Libya war, Obama has completed the unconstitutional process of Presidents' usurpation of Congress' power to make war 252. Obama accepts award for transparency in secret 253. Democrats create PACs to receive unlimited contributions from anonymous donors 254. 2011 government shutdown threat as Shock Doctrine 254. The 2011 "great" biprtisan budget deal 255. The OCC deal to cover for banks in foreclosuregate 256. Reshuffling neocons at DOD and the CIA 257. Leak of Detainee Assessments shines light on the weakness of cases against many Guantanamo inmates 258. Geithner shields foreign exchange derivatives from Dodd-Frank regulation 259. Crazy new application for some US passports 260. DOJ wants SCOTUS to allow for GPS tracking without a warrant 261. An industry stacked panel to study fracking 262. SCOTUS attacks small claim class actions 263. SCOTUS okays fraud in financial presentations 264. SCOTUS attacks large class actions and Title VII 265. DOJ's non-investigation of torture produces few results 266. Department of State threatens participants of Gaza flotilla with terrorism charges 267. Detainees now held on ships to avoid judicial scrutiny 268. CIA operating a black site prison in Somalia 269. SCOTUS and DC Appeals Court torpedoing detainee habeas petitions 270. SCOTUS greatly expands warrantless searches; Obama DOJ approves 271. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the 2011 spike in gasoline prices 272. Christine Varney, head of DOJ Anti-Trust Division, goes to law firm that had case before her 273. Senseless 2011 debt ceiling crisis, budget cutting, and attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid 274. TSA closes US airspace to Mexican human rights activist 275. DHS guts its unit monitoring right wing terrorism in US 276. "Recovery" benefited corporations, not workers 277. Harassment of a government scientist Charles Monett because his work clashes with drilling in the Arctic 278. African Americans and Hispanic wealth took hardest hit from financial crises 279. Cass Sunstein sitting on labor rules to protect child workers 280. Oil leasing in Gulf resumes 281. Administration pressures NY AG Schneiderman to go along with bogus mortgage settlement 282. DOJ dumps responsibility for its bungled gun running sting on handy US Attorney 283. US ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality 284. White House engages in selective prosecution of Dan Choi over DADT protest 285. COBRA extension ditched 286. Obama spikes EPA ozone limits 287. 2011 Obama fictional jobs plan 288. Contractors cost twice as much as unionized federal workers doing the same work 289. New EPA greenhouse gas limits also being drawn out 290. CFTC proposes ineffectual limits on commodity speculation 291. State Department targets career officer Peter Van Buren for writing critical book 292. Secret Law and the OLC legal justification for killing a US citizen abroad 293. US incomes fall more after recession than during it 294. Another Afghanistan fail: torture rampant in Afghan prisons 295. Bank of America dumps derivative exposure on to the FDIC with Fed approval 296. New rule to legitimize government lying in response to FOIA requests 297. Cronyism and the Keystone XL pipeline 298. Despite pledge, Obama still taking money from lobbyists 299. Secure Communities and deportation as a business 300. The Occupy movement and the attacks upon it 301. DOJ prosecuting financial fraud at the lowest rate in 20 years 302. US stops funding of UNESCO 303. 42% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck 304. The Post Office facing cuts because of unnecessary prefunding mandates http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com/2009/10/table-of-contents.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f78_1369257797 Diverdanm Obama Scandal list... update May 2013 obama, corruption, politics, president, liar, scandal, list, kenya, Fri, 10 May 2013 09:23:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=86d_1368191318 psychhead1989 The Iran-Iraq War, also known as the First Persian Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the 20th century's longest conventional war after the Second Sino-Japanese War . It was initially referred to in English as the "Persian Gulf War" prior to the Persian Gulf War of the early 1990s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=86d_1368191318 psychhead1989 Rare Iran Iraq war footage 1980-<span class="highlight">88</span> War, Gore, Iran, Iraq, News, Battle, Terrorist, Terrorism, Guns, Bombs, Tanks, Explosion Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:16:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=024_1366971363 Adele319 LS TOUR http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=024_1366971363 Adele319 NY <span class="highlight">88</span> - PART3 ROCCO Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:14:42 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=44e_1366965056 Adele319 LS TOUR http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=44e_1366965056 Adele319 NY <span class="highlight">88</span> PART 2 ROCCO Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:25:27 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=372_1366955181 Adele319 LS TOUR http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=372_1366955181 Adele319 NY <span class="highlight">88</span> - PART1 ROCCO Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:39:04 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e96_1366890114 Adele319 ls tour http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e96_1366890114 Adele319 toronto <span class="highlight">88</span> part1 rocco Mon, 13 May 2013 02:40:26 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a35_1368426910 Mark-3-Zephyr Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8662224/Chinese-cheats-rort-NZ-universities-with-fakes An investigation has uncovered a well-organised commercial cheating service for Chinese-speaking students in New Zealand. >> Read the essay Fairfax bought The long-standing business uses a network of tutors, some outside New Zealand, to write original assignments ordered by Chinese-speaking students attending New Zealand universities, polytechnics and private institutions. The tutors are paid by assignment and have specialist subjects. The assignments go up to masters level but the service claims to have tutors up to doctorate level. Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce last night said the police and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) were launching an inquiry into the service following the investigation. Joyce said the NZQA was anonymously tipped off three months ago and took action to inform universities and polytechs, but failed to tell him. He said it was now an "open question" whether NZQA's response had been adequate, and chief executive Karen Poutasi was conducting an internal investigation. The revelation of the cheating service has serious repercussions for the New Zealand international education sector, which earns about $750 million a year from about 93,000 students. China is New Zealand's biggest education market, last year accounting for 27 per cent of this country's international students. The Sunday Star-Times, using the name of a fictitious Chinese student, successfully ordered an essay for a first-year university course subject from the company, which markets itself under a Chinese-language website called Assignment4U and is run from a unit at 88 Cook St, Central Auckland. The signage in the office says Ateama Ltd in large, bold letters. The company also offers tutoring, counselling, help and academic "solutions" for overseas students. A ghost writer, who wrote assignments for Assignment4U in 2007, told the Star-Times about completing assignments for students who were enrolled at Auckland University, Massey University, Auckland University of Technology and AIS St Helens (a private tertiary education provider). He said he was coming forward now because he wanted to do "the right thing". Pengju Chen, who is listed as a director of Ateama in Company Office records, initially denied being in charge of the operation when approached in the Assignment4U office on Friday. He then agreed he was the director of the company and said the business did not help Chinese-speaking students to cheat. The company provided only face-to-face tutoring and counselling. It supplied students with "examples" or "solutions" on academic assignment questions but made it clear the student could "not hand it in" because the company retained copyright. The examples helped with ideas and structure, he said. No such warning was provided to the fictitious student used by the Star-Times and the company provided its "solution" just three hours before the indicated deadline. About 24,500 students from China were enrolled in New Zealand institutions last year; about 10,500 at universities or polytechnics. Although it's impossible to say how many students have paid Assignment4U for academic assignments, the service has been available for at least five years and hundreds, if not thousands, of students may have used it. A large network of ghost writers both in New Zealand and overseas has also assisted in what could be one of the largest examples of cheating to hit the New Zealand international education system. Most education institutions have introduced systems to detect plagiarism but it is still very difficult to check if an assignment is the student's work. The ghost writer, who asked not to be named and now works overseas, believes universities and polytechnics must have turned a blind eye to the cheating. He said staff should have been alerted when students with poor English produced competent and grammatically correct essays. "It would take a colossal amount of looking the other way by the complete legion of tutors, lecturers, course facilitators and teaching assistants to let pass such well-constructed essays and such exquisitely prepared assessments submitted by those whose written and spoken English skills are far from polished." Safeguards such as plagiarism buster turnitin.com did not detect a well-prepared, well-researched, ghost-written, electronic-based assignment, he said. "New Zealand, of all the Western nations, is now widely known in the Chinese community as the easiest way to get a bachelor's or master's degree," he said. In February he sent a letter with his concerns and evidence to a number of New Zealand universities including Auckland University, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Unitec, Massey University and the police but had heard nothing back. Last night, both Massey and Auckland universities said they were not aware of having received tip-offs. However, Joyce said NZQA had received some "information" anonymously three months ago, but had not informed him about it till last week. Joyce said NZQA had informed the umbrella group Universities New Zealand at the time, and the chair of a polytechnic advisory group, but "it is an open question as to whether they followed it up hard enough". The 1500-word essay commissioned by the Star-Times was for a first-year communications paper at Canterbury University and cost $270. It was delivered by email only hours before it was due. Just days before the deadline, Assignment4U asked for lecture notes and the student's login number at Canterbury University so it could check lecture notes. The fictitious student requested an essay of B or B- grade and when we had it marked by Canterbury University media and communications lecturer Donald Matheson, he gave it a B+. "This is a workmanlike essay which shows that the writer understands news values and can apply the ideas to an example," Matheson said. "Because of the mastery of essay-writing and the effort that's gone into using the academic readings, this would probably get a B+, which is a bit sobering. I'd not have picked this as cheating, other than a sense it was a bit weird that the student was so good at writing but didn't use those skills to really say anything." Chen appears to have been involved with the business since at least 2007 when a standard agreement for so-called tutors mentions his name as the office manager of Assignment4U. From 2003 to 2008, Assignment4U Consultant Ltd was a registered company directed and owned by Steven Quan Li, who works from the same apartment block as Chen. Chen and Li own, either personally or through companies, five apartments in the building. The shares in Ateama are owned by Xiaohu Ren who, according to company records, also lives at 88 Cook St. Joyce said the Government had amended the Education Act in 2011 to make it an offence to advertise or provide cheating services. The amendment hasn't yet led to a prosecution, but Joyce said police and NZQA would now "work together to ascertain the veracity of the issues and then work together with the appropriate agencies for a prosecution if that was required". Joyce said New Zealand took its reputation as a provider of tertiary training for international students "very seriously". THE REACTION Massey University spokesman James Gardiner said he wasn't aware of any recent correspondence alerting the institution to Assignment4U's activities, but "we take this sort of thing very seriously and would like to hear from this person again". He said the university had rigorous procedures in place to identify cheats, and uncover some every year, including exam cheats and plagiarists. He said that assignments were just one of a range of assessment processes, including exams. "It's not possible to get a qualification from Massey simply by handing in other people's assignments. There are multiple outputs expected from students, including exams." Gardiner rejected the idea that the university might feel under pressure to enrol international students even if their language skills were not up to completing a degree taught in English. He said it was not in the university's interest to allow students to start a degree they couldn't complete, and "if anything, there is more rigour applied to international students". A spokesperson for Auckland University said yesterday was the first time the university had heard of the alleged cheating, and it would need to know more details so "we can look into it". - (c) Fairfax NZ News http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a35_1368426910 Mark-3-Zephyr Chinese cheats rort NZ universities with fakes china, chinese, fake, cheat, new zealand, education Mon, 06 May 2013 06:35:04 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=661_1367831404 RasputinFTW The damaspost.com news portal has quoted Syrian sources as saying that Israel's nighttime air raid on Syrian military facilities near Damascus has left some 300 Syrian soldiers dead and hundreds others injured. Four targets came under attack: two brigades of presidential guards, an arms depot and a military research center. http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_05_05/Israeli-strike-killed-300-Syrian-soldiers-news-portal/ The Source in Arab http://www.damaspost.com/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A9/%D8%AD%D8%B5%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-300-%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%89.htm ________________________________ I can not confirms this quantity of death people because I no see pictures yet from the bodies but is very clear the fucking Zionist are a Coward evil Machine. The FSA share the responsibility there because that is a obviously consequence after the Destruction of the Syrian Air Defense by the terrorists. Jewish Zionists are the worts Scum in the middle East Since Assad Junior is in the power Syria NEVER attack Israel in 2004 the Syrian government was working in a total normalization with Israel but now they attack Syria at least two times in the moments when the country is more weaker. Israel do that with the Obviously objective for help Al Qaeda. - Israel want Syria a post Assad Syria Ruling by Al Qaeda Pedophiles. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=661_1367831404 RasputinFTW More than 300 people killed is the inicial Estimated After Israel Air Strike Syria, Israel, FSA, Al Qaeda, Israel Air Force Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:04:30 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=11d_1363525307 Aleksei Durakov Nana dancing to the car has a big surprise for you )) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=11d_1363525307 Aleksei Durakov Nana <span class="highlight">88</span> year old grandma dances her way out the door Nana 88 year old grandma dances her way out the door Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:35:31 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3cc_1363367945 JustinTime Awesome 88 year old woman dancing and enjoying her life despite health problems. She should be an inspiration to us all. We should enjoy our lives. Wait till the end for the best part and see how long she could dance for.. 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