#CriticalAnalyst

Rothschild heiress splits from Goldsmith scion over rapper Jay Electronica

2012-06-04T02:08:00.001-05:00

(telegraph.co.uk)Ben Goldsmith had separated from his wife Kate earlier this year, but after a brief reconciliation their relationship ended last week with police being called after they had a confrontation over her late nights and secret romance with Jay Electronica.
(“Jay Electronica/ Fuck that/ Call me Jay ElecHannakah/ Jay ElecYarmulke/ Jay ElecTramadaan Muhammad Asalaamica/ RasoulAllah Watallah through your monitor.” Whatever the name you decide to call him, be on the look out for what he has in store in the very near future. MaShaAllah! -Carlos York)

The 31 year-old slapped his wife and kicked a child’s toy truck at her, later accepting a caution for assault.

He has now moved out of the family home in west London and fled to Italy with his mother Lady Annabel and his three children, and will now file for divorce.
“I’m pretty shell-shocked by everything. All I am thinking about now is my children,” Mr Goldsmith told the Mail on Sunday.
His estranged wife is believed to be saddened not only by their split but also by the fact that details have been released to the press, and is consulting lawyers. Meanwhile the rapper blamed for the marriage breakdown was due to arrive back at his London residence last night.
A spokesman for Mrs Goldsmith said in a statement: “Articles in today’s media contain false and inaccurate information which appears to have been given to the media in a deliberate attempt to damage Kate and her businesses as well as to deflect from the gravity of last week’s incident involving the police.
“Kate is devastated, she has had a very frightening time since she and her husband initially split five months ago, and this is just another sad development.
“Her main concern now is for her children who will remain with her at the family home.”
The couple come from two of the country’s most illustrious and wealthiest families and had appeared to enjoy an enviable life together.
Mr Goldsmith inherited an estimated £300million after the death of his father Sir James, who built up a £1.2billion fortune as a food magnate and then investor before becoming a vocal opponent of the European Union. His other children with his third wife are Zac, the environment activist and Tory MP, and Jemima, who married the Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan.
Meanwhile Mr Goldsmith’s wife, 29, inherited an £18m fortune after the death of her banker father, Amschel Rothschild, and is related to the Guinness brewery family on her mother’s side.
The couple have known each other since they were teenagers and were regulars in society publications such as Tatler before married young in September 2003, at a wedding attended by 600 guests. With homes in Kensington and Somerset, they now have three children.
Mr Goldsmith founded a green venture capital firm, Wheb Ventures, and recently produced an acclaimed documentary film about the West Indies cricket team, Fire in Babylon.
Last year there were tensions between the couple after Mr Goldsmith met the Barbadian pop star Rihanna at a party and posted a photo of her on Twitter with the caption “too hot”.
But it is his wife’s nascent career in the music business that is believed to have led to the breakdown of their marriage.
In 2010 Mrs Goldsmith set up a company called Roundtable Records, which has so far released just four singles by little-known bands.
The venture has led to her spending time at gigs and clubs in London as well as travelling to Los Angeles, while her husband remains in an office job and responsible for the school run.
“They’re leading very different lifestyles,” said one family friend. “He has to be at his desk at 8.15am and take the kids to school, but her lifestyle is increasingly nocturnal, going to clubs until the very late or early hours.”
It wasn’t until last autumn that Mrs Goldsmith got to know the rapper now blamed for the end of her marriage.
Jay Electronica, 35, was born Timothy Elpadaro Thedford and grew up in one of the poor areas of New Orleans that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
He became an underground success in 2007 after recording a nine-minute song called Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) that featured him rapping over a soundtrack taken from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
He became even better known in 2010 when he had a daughter with the singer Erykah Badu.
But despite becoming a protégé to the leading hip-hop mogul Jay-J, he has only released a handful of singles and his long-awaited first album is yet to be released.
Last October he visited London and wrote on Twitter afterwards a message of to “Kate”, among others, for having “opened my mind in ways it hadn't been for years, in just 2 weeks. I lov u”.
The following month he addressed a message on the social networking service to Mrs Goldsmith, her brother James, and Mr Goldsmith’s siblings Zac and Jemima.
He has described Mrs Goldsmith as one of his “direct points of contact” for press and business enquiries and gave her personal email address, while last month he posted a photo of her sitting in a helicopter.
The rapper also praised her husband’s film, writing on Twitter: “Fire in Babylon was Amazing! Job Well Done." Mr Goldsmith replied: “So happy you loved it Jay.”
More recently Mr Goldsmith developed suspicions about the amount of time his wife was spending with Jay Electronica, and last Wednesday confronted her at their home after allegedly discovering incriminating text messages and emails on her smartphone.
During the row she is said to have confessed to having an affair with the rapper, and her husband was arrested after lashing out at her.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed: “Police were called at 8am on Wednesday to reports of a domestic disturbance at an address in Kensington.
“Officers attended and a man, aged 31, was arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm. He was taken to a west London police station and later accepted a caution.”
A friend of Mr Goldsmith’s said: “Ben is heartbroken, devastated and thoroughly miserable. He suspected Kate was cheating on him because she has been behaving increasingly erratically for some time.
“She is obsessed with this chap called Jay Electronica who is one of her clients. She is always on the phone to him and out with him until four or five in the morning most nights. Sometimes she even stays with him.
“Ben was paranoid about their friendship months ago, but when he confronted her about an affair earlier this year she denied it.
“Then last week he found a series of texts and email messages. They were very intense messages planning sexual liaisons.”
However sources close to Mrs Goldsmith insist that the couple’s marriage had been on the rocks for some time.
It is claimed that they separated at the start of the year, and it was during their three months apart that she had a brief fling with the rapper.
The couple then made a further attempt to make their marriage work but Mrs Goldsmith is now said to accept it is “game over”, and is unhappy that details of their split found their way to the press.
Mr Goldsmith is now staying with friends and will file for divorce on grounds of adultery.
The couple are expected to agree joint custody of their children and, given their individual family wealth, may avoid a bitter dispute over the sharing of their assets.

Is a Rothschild screwing a Muslim? Wouldn't be the first time... Jemima?

Heaven Roots for the Yankees: Bill Maher buys shares of the Mets

2012-06-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

(Bill Maher is a new limited partner with Mets) The Mets announced that comedian Bill Maher is a new limited partner with the Mets. Maher currently hosts “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO

G-d Roots for the Yankees

Future Movie of the Week: Nazi Cannibal Porn Star: 'Canadian Psycho’ #LukaRoccoMagnotta

2012-06-03T18:16:00.001-05:00

They say the Jeffrey Dahmer wanted the little boys to eat him when he was finished eating the little boys (Vancouver Sun) MONTREAL, June 3, 2012 (AFP) — The murder suspect dubbed the “Canadian Psycho” has worked as a bisexual porn star, as a gay prostitute called “Angel,” and is an alleged kitten killer with a string of fraud convictions.
Luka Rocco Magnotta is believed to be hiding in Paris and is suspected of filming himself as he dismembered his male lover whose body parts were then mailed to a series of addresses in Canada.
Importantly for police, he is accustomed to changing his appearance.
In addition to having had plastic surgery on his face — apparently to look more like James Dean — he often wears lipstick and make-up, has dyed his hair and worn wigs, and sometimes dresses up as a woman.
Described as handsome but narcissistic, the 29-year-old, who naturally has black hair and blue eyes, has also changed his name and used several aliases.
He was convicted under his birth name Eric Clinton Newman for defrauding several retailers and with stealing $16,900 from a woman in Toronto, culminating in a suspended sentence and probation in 2005.
A series of judge imposed conditions reportedly banned him from owning or using a camera or a computer, and from accessing the Internet.
Born in Toronto, family members told reporters they lost contact with him some time ago.
For years Magnotta built a profile through blogs, escort adverts in which he searched online for sex partners, and posted photographs showing himself as a fit, pouty-lipped model and traveler in cities, including Paris.
He used the name “Angel” when working as a prostitute and stripper at Remington’s, a well-known gay bar in Toronto, according to transsexual performer Nina Arsenault, who claims to have had a relationship with him.
The one-time supporter of white supremacists posted a video online of two kittens being suffocated in a plastic bag, according to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, ending an online hunt for the so-called “Vacuum Kitten Killer.”
At the same time, profiles he reputedly posted on online dating services conveyed an altogether different persona — on one website he listed beach volleyball as a hobby and stated that finding a long-term relationship was his priority.
He was granted a license to work as a stripper in Toronto in 2005 and also worked as a male escort.
Pierre Bonhomme, a Canadian filmmaker who recalled a meeting with Magnotta in Toronto in 2007 or 2008, told the Ottawa Citizen it was a “creepy” experience that he quickly decided to escape from.
“I left within about five minutes. It was a really uncomfortable, awkward situation. He was in the shady, druggy, gay-sex prostitution world. He was on a lot of the gay hookup sites,” Bonhomme said.
Magnotta used Russian names, including the alias Vladimir Romanov, on such sites, according to Bonhomme, who also attested to the suspect’s willingness to use fraud and deception.
“He was a hustler,” Bonhomme said. “He was definitely not a gay village kind of guy. He was more of a suburban guy on the Internet, scamming married guys, that kind of thing.”
With Magnotta now a fugitive, probably in France, a 2009 posting he made on the Internet offered advice on how to vanish and never be found.
“A minimum of four months is really necessary to carry out the heroic actions necessary to leave your old life behind,” he reportedly wrote.
He said a person must withdraw from all social circles, possess two sets of false identification papers, convert all assets to cash and then take a bus to a chosen destination, after selling a car somewhere else to mislead police.
Magnotta has apparently not done such a good job of staging his own disappearance: investigators believe he boarded a France-bound plane on May 26 in Montreal and police traced his cell phone signal to the suburb of Bagnolet on Saturday.
But he remains on the run. Psychologist Gilles Chamberland told Radio Canada that Magnotta exudes “narcissistic, anti-social,” behavior, having described himself as being “incredibly beautiful.”

The 'settler violence' canard

2012-06-03T18:00:00.001-05:00

(Carl)Look what being nice got the revenants of Gush Katif - seven years homeless and counting for many of them, not to mention that the land they vacated became a terror base. So the government needs a different straw man to whom they can attribute violence in advance, and the residents of Yitzhar are convenient whipping boys for that purpose.

Particular concern is with the settlement of Yitzhar which has seen an increase in violence in recent months between settlers and Palestinians. As a result, the Judea and Samaria Division has beefed up the number of troops stationed in the area to prevent future acts of violence.
“The pending evacuations could lead to an increase in settler violence,” a defense official said.
The IDF fears that radical right-wing activists will embark on a series of so-called “price tag” attacks against Palestinians in an effort to derail the government’s plans to evacuate the Ulpana as well as two other outposts – Amona and Givat Assaf.

How's that for a straw man? Oh yes, there's one other thing the government did: They invited a terror attack on Yitzhar.

Last week, the IDF confiscated a number of weapons from members of the Yitzhar settlement's rapid response team following two incidents during which they opened fire at Palestinians in violation of military regulations.

That's great. The people of Yitzhar are unprotected, and the government is advertising it. Brilliant.(MORE)

Shrillary lectures Euro-dhimmies on burqa-ban, minarets… and demands Turkey should be in the EU

2012-06-03T17:35:00.000-05:00

She declared she wants to see Turkey in the EU, slammed France Over Ban on Burqas, Switzerland for Banning Construction of New Minarets… and says “Israel Violates Muslims Religious Rights“

There are people in the US who believe this ridiculous female is presidential material…. (spit)

Ignoring Assad was Clinton's foreign policy. Now she's itching to waste Western blood to save the Muslims from themselves. "Why wouldn't she run? She's a magnificent secretary of state," Pelosi said when asked about Clinton's prospects in 2016. "She's our shot" that year, Pelosi said.

Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field.

2012-06-03T14:35:00.001-05:00

I hope this is true... in three years this would be awesome...(Other News) Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field.(INN).An Israel energy company announced Sunday it has discovered an off-shore energy field that may even surpass previous finds in terms of the possibilities of developing commercial grade oil. Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP announced that its Pelagic licenses indicate 6.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 1.4 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, the previously announced Tamar and Leviathan off-shore fields contain an estimated 9 and 17 TCF of natural gas. The amount of commercial oil, if any, has not been finalized, but estimates of possible oil in the Leviathan field have been downsized to 600 million barrels. Discoveries of oil and gas have made outdated the old joke that Moses took the wrong turn from Egypt, leading Israel to sand and leaving oil for the Arabs. After being chased by Pharaoh to the edge of the “Sea of Reeds,” which often if not correctly is called the Red Sea, Moses asked Heaven to save them, and He replied to step into the sea, which then was split by winds, allowing the Jews to cross and then burying the army of Pharaoh when it followed. Stepping into the sea now can be seen in retrospect as a sign of the treasures buried under the sea. “The quantity of gas discovered in the licenses, and the high probabilities, make it the third largest offshore discovery to date,” according to Israel Opportunity chairman Ronny Halman, quoted by Globes. He added, ”This quantity guarantees Israel's energy future for decades, and makes it possible to export Israeli gas, and boost the state's revenues without worrying about gas reserves for domestic consumption."The new discoveries make it more certain of a virtual revolution in the Israeli economy, with anticipation that Israel will be energy self-sufficient in three years and soon after will be able to export gas and possibly even oil.Read the full story here.

Why might Israel deport two young American women who landed at Ben Gurion Airport?

2012-06-03T14:20:00.001-05:00

Involvement with ISM and SJP should be a reason to deport someone from any Western nation... let alone Israel. Funny the way Reuters is shouting about this as if they just rejected peace protesters. ISM was who organized the Peace flotilla who were such pacifist that they cut a Jews ear off when he landed on the ship to insure no weapons went to Hamas. Israel will bar anyone affiliated or assisting a 'Palestinian' terror groups. Lebanon, Syria and a whole bunch of other Arab countries will bar anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport.

(Carl) The virulently anti-Israel Mondoweiss blog publishes an account from two young Arab women who were denied entry into Israel. There's a lot missing.
The account was written by Najwa Doughman and Sasha Al-Sarabi, two University of Virginia graduates from the New York City area, who are American citizens of Arab (I assume 'Palestinian,' although they don't say that) extraction. The account is about as unbiased as they get.

“Do you feel more Arab or more American?” she asked. I had answered the ten previous questions very calmly, but with this question I looked back at the security official confused and irritated. She couldn’t have been much older than me—her business attire and stern facial expressions did not mask her youth.
“I don’t know, I feel both. Why? Does this affect my ability to get in?”
She ignored my question. “Surely you must feel a little more Arab, you’ve lived in many Middle Eastern countries.”
I did not see the correlation. I have never felt the need to choose. “Yes I have but I also lived in the US for the past seven years, and was born there, so I feel both.” My response did nothing to convince her.
“Hm. Will you go to Al-Aqsa?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Will you go to Jewish sites as well?”
“Yes, why not? We want to see everything.”
“But you have been here two times already. Why are you coming now for the third time? You can go to Venezuela, to Mexico, to Canada. It is much closer to New York, and much less expensive!”
I realized the conversation was going nowhere. “Right, but I wanted to come back here again. Don’t you have tourists who come back more than once?”
“I’m asking the questions here,” she replied disgruntled.
“Okay, we are going to do something very interesting now!” Her face transformed from a harsh stare to a slight smirk. She proceeded to type “www.gmail.com” on her computer and then turned the keyboard toward me. “Log in,” she demanded.
“What? Really?” I was shocked.
“Log in.”
I typed in my username and password in complete disbelief. She began her invasive search: “Israel,” “Palestine,” “West Bank,” “International Solidarity Movement.”
...
She sifted through my inbox, reading every single email with those keywords. She read sentences out loud to her colleague, sarcastically reenacting and mocking old Google Chat conversations between Sasha and me about our future trip to Jerusalem. I squirmed in my seat.
The Israeli authorities have a notorious reputation for denying entry to Palestinians of all citizenships, and I had received all sorts of advice, solicited and unsolicited, on how to cope with the problem. The security officer opened an email from a friend living in Jerusalem who had advised me to remove myself from internet searches. “They are heavy on googling names at the airport recently,” he had written. “See if you can remove yourselves, not crucial but helpful.”
The security guard found this especially hilarious. With a laugh, she called her blonde colleague over and reread the sentence mockingly. “You can tell your friend, not only do we google you, we read your emails, too!”
Read the whole thing. Read the comments too - they're downright hostile to Israel. Look at the pictures of Najwa and Sasha. They look like they'd be stoned in Tehran or Gaza City. Perhaps they could take some fashion lessons from Catherine Ashton.
So why did Israel deny these two young New York professionals entry into the country? Here's what they're not telling you:
First, they don't discuss what those gmail searches produced but I'd bet there were a whole bunch of hits from the "International Solidarity Movement" search. I don't have to tell you all who the ISM is.
Second, a look at Najwa and Sasha's linked-in pages produces some interesting information (Thanks to Stephen L for the inspiration). Najwa worked for UNRWA in Tripoli, Libya from January 2010 through January 2011. I assume that was with a different passport than the one used in her two previous trips to Israel. You can't enter Lebanon with an Israeli stamp in your passport. At the University of Virginia, Najwa was also the President of 'Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine' (sometimes known as 'Students for Justice in Palestine').
'Students for Justice in Palestine' has an 'impressive' record.

The SJP fomented new radicalism about the Palestinian-Israel conflict and gave a new energy and visibility to Palestinian propaganda. Even the progressive Forward quoted activists who claimed that the SJP moved “far beyond legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and its policies into complete delegitimization of the Jewish state.”[3]
The SJP equates Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with apartheid South Africa and calls for divestment from Israel and an end to the ‘occupation.’ It organizes demonstrations and political theater to dramatize the plight of the Palestinians whom it sees only as innocent victims. SJP chapters have set up mock checkpoints, mock “concentration camps” with barbed wire to demonstrate how Palestinians suffer, mock “apartheid walls” and even fake re-enactments of IDF soldiers beating up pregnant Palestinian women.[4] Some chapters even organize Deir Yassin remembrance day to mark what Palestinians have claimed was a massacre of Palestinians in 1948. In 2002, the Berkeley SJP staged this event on Holocaust Remembrance Day and directly competed with the commemoration Jewish students had organized.[5]
SJP also agitates to prevent pro-Israel speakers from visiting their campuses. The De Paul University SJP captured media attention in April 2005 because it protested against a pro-Israel professor who had argued with SJP members at their campus table. The University deferred to SJP and fired the professor, Thomas Klocek. He has brought a legal suit against the school.[6]
SJP chapters are only loosely affiliated with one another, and some are more radical than others, but as a whole, the group will not even condemn terrorism.
Obviously, there's enough there to make Najwa an undesirable from Israel's perspective.
There's not quite as much out there on Sasha, but she does list 'Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine' among her UVa activities, and the fact that she was traveling with Najwa undoubtedly opened some eyes.
I want to go back to the very biased account for a minute. Here's how they describe their call from the American embassy.

At 6:15, a guard came and told us that the US embassy was phoning for us. My parents had called them from Virginia after our two-minute conversation to inform them of what was happening. Sasha answered the phone. “Oh, thank God, we’ve been trying to get in touch with you! This is Sasha. We’ve been through a lot the past few hours.”
“As I told your friend’s parents yesterday, there is really nothing we can do. I’m just glad that you’re going to be able to get on the next flight.” the woman said dispassionately.
“This is ridiculous. They went through my friend’s email. Is that legal?”
“Well, they can do whatever they want. There is nothing we can do. They are their own country, and they make their own rules.”
“If only you could see the conditions we are in. I just wish you could come and smell the room.”
“Oh, I’m really sorry, but at least you’ll be getting on the next flight,” her voice was annoyingly monotonous.
That's the bottom line. Every country - including Israel - has the right to control who enters. If you want to come here, you have to play by our rules. And if the authorities suspect you're here to help a radical terror group, you won't be allowed in. Just like the US has its 'no fly' lists and insists on having name, rank and serial number on every arrival in advance, Israel will bar anyone it believes is affiliated or assisting a 'Palestinian' or Islamist terror group. And Lebanon, Syria and a whole bunch of other Arab countries will bar anyone with an Israeli stamp on their passport. Deal with it and stop whining.

6 New York cops claim they were demoted for being Republicans

2012-06-03T12:29:00.001-05:00

(fox) Six Long Island cops claim they were targeted by their commissioner for supporting Republican Party candidates in local elections last year.
Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney, a longtime Democrat, demoted the cops, cut their overtime, switched them to midnight shifts and even filed false internal charges against them for "political payback," the veteran officers claim in a $39 million lawsuit.
Tangney allegedly told one of the officers while demoting him, "It's just the way politics work in this town."
Officers James Canner, 44; Karl Hayes, 42; James McCormack, 55; John Radin, 53; Benjamin Tayne, 47; and Jose Miguez, 39, claim they turned to their union for help but that then-president Stefan Chernaski, another Democrat, ignored them.

why you don't want your money going to your government. support your right to bear arms.

Crude Oil Output Is Soaring in Iraq, Easing Markets

2012-06-03T08:27:00.001-05:00

We grew weary of explaining to the Left… and far too often to the Right… why the War in Iraq was not fought by the US for energy purposes, for as we euphemistically said in speech after speech after speech, the US got very little crude oil from Iraq when compared to its other suppliers, while in fact France got a much larger percentage of its total oil requirements from Iraq, and so too did Germany Profit.

THE MYTH OF US PROFIT FROM IRAQI OIL(NYTimes) BAGHDAD — Despite sectarian bombings and political gridlock, Iraq’s crude oil production is soaring, providing a singular bright spot for the nation’s future and relief for global oil markets as the West tightens sanctions on Iranian exports.

Right in time for Obama's election. The irony that the thing that he was so against is going to save his presidency. Bush's war will not directly help America as there are few contracts to American companies... save for the Kurdish Autonomous region which Iraq is punishing Exxon-Mobile for doing business with. However even if the projects are being bought up by Russian and Chinese business it will still help our American economy by decreasing the demand as Americans get their oil supply elsewhere. I also suspect... that the economic implications of attacking Iran are overblown... so we can expect another economic period of growth. Let's hope the Obama people can translate that into jobs this time instead of creating corporate welfare for the elite and unions.

The increased flow and vital port improvements have produced a 20 percent jump in exports this year to nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, making Iraq one of the premier producers in OPEC for the first time in decades.
Energy analysts say that the Iraqi boom — coupled with increased production in Saudi Arabia and the near total recovery of Libya’s oil industry — should cushion oil markets from price spikes and give the international community additional leverage over Iran when new sanctions take effect in July.
“Iraq helps enormously,” said David L. Goldwyn, the former State Department coordinator for international energy affairs in the Obama administration. Even if Iraq increased its oil exports by only half of what it is projecting by next year, he said, “You would be replacing nearly half of the future Iranian supply potentially displaced by tighter sanctions.”
For Iraq, the resurgence of oil, which it is already pumping at rates seen only once — and briefly — since Saddam Hussein took power in 1979, is vital to its postwar success. Oil provides more than 95 percent of the government’s revenues, has enabled the building of roads and the expansion of social services, and has greatly strengthened the Shiite-led government’s hand in this ethnically divided country.
Oil has also brought its share of pitfalls for the fledgling democracy, fostering corruption and patronage, and aggravating tensions with the Kurdish minority in the north over the division of profits, a festering issue that could end up fracturing the country.
The Iraqi government says it can add an additional 400,000 barrels a day of production by next year, and it has announced a goal of producing 10 million barrels a day by 2017, which would put it in a league with Saudi Arabia.
Few independent analysts say they believe the larger goal is realistic, but oil company executives have been impressed by Iraq’s progress and ambition.
“What the government is embarking on and the increase in production they are looking for under all of these contracts is unique in the world,” said Michael Townshend, president of BP Iraq. But, he cautioned, “Nobody has yet managed to increase oil production in their country to the extent Iraq is planning to. It’s hugely ambitious, and it will take a lot of things to work correctly.”
The country’s improving oil fortunes are well timed to compensate for Iran’s declining oil output, which according to OPEC fell by 12 percent in the first three months of the year as India, China and other Asian nations have gradually cut purchases under pressure from the United States and Europe.
With little if any progress achieved so far in negotiations between the West and Iran over its nuclear program, and Iran’s nuclear chief reaffirming last weekend that the country would continue producing higher-grade uranium, Western sanctions are set to tighten in July.
Iraq’s role in ameliorating the effects of those sanctions in the oil market could create tensions with Iran, a strong backer and ally of the Iraqi government. But oil experts say exports are too valuable for Iraq to allow its relationship with Iran to impede production.
The recovery of Iraq’s oil industry after decades of wars, sanctions and neglect began in 2009 and 2010 as security improved and Baghdad signed a series of technical service contracts with foreign companies like Exxon Mobil, BP, China National Petroleum Corporation and ENI of Italy. The companies brought in modern seismic equipment and modern well recovery techniques to resuscitate old fields.
The deals have been only modestly profitable for the foreign companies, but foreign executives express cautious optimism that Iraq can eventually produce oil in amounts that could put it in an elite group of exporters with Saudi Arabia and Russia sometime in the 2020s.
Iraq produces around three million barrels a day, and few analysts believe it can reach its goal of 10 million barrels a day by 2017, a target Baghdad recently reduced from a previous estimate of 12 million barrels a day by that year. But Hans Nijkamp, Royal Dutch Shell’s Iraq country chairman, estimates that Iraq could produce 6 million to 10 million barrels a day by early next decade, “which is really substantial.”
International oil executives say the government bureaucracy is still slow and poorly coordinated in building new port and pipeline infrastructure to get oil to the tankers from the fields. The political battle over divvying up profits has prevented the enactment of a national oil law, meaning that the companies need to follow myriad regulations, some of which date back to the Ottoman Empire. Electrical shortages are forcing politicians to choose between serving the oil companies or restive civilian populations that want more reliable utility service.
To increase output, the country will need to develop a huge water project to filter and pump seawater into old oil fields to increase the pressure required to coax crude out of the ground. Planning has begun, but the project is progressing slowly.
Iraq will also need to negotiate a sizable export quota within OPEC to accommodate its increasing potential, a nettlesome process that could produce tensions with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Some of the problems were on display at last week’s oil and gas auction, the country’s fourth postwar bidding round, where only 3 contracts were awarded out of 12 up for bid.
The auction, in an auditorium at the Ministry of Oil, had the trappings of a militarized movie premiere, with red carpets, velvet ropes, hordes of photographers and a white-uniformed honor guard carrying Kalashnikov rifles fixed with bayonets. The proceedings were carried live on state television. An elevator-music rendition of Lionel Richie’s “Hello” played over and over.
The room was packed with diplomats, politicians and foreign oil executives, but few actual bidders.
“There are three minutes left and it seems like no one wants to bid,” Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, the ministry official overseeing the auction, said at one point.
The disappointing auction was less a reflection of lack of interest in Iraq’s energy sector than of the tough terms demanded by the government, the location of some of the fields in dangerous and remote regions of the country, and the fact that many of the blocks up for bid were for natural gas, which is less attractive to foreign companies than oil.
Iraq also used the auction to slap Exxon Mobil’s hand for signing production sharing contracts for 850,000 acres in the Kurdistan region without getting permission from the central government, denying the company the right to bid.
But at the same time, Iraq has not touched Exxon Mobil’s oil contracts in the south, a sign of pragmatism, or perhaps paralysis, international oil analysts said.
Exxon Mobil has by far the largest stake of any American company in Iraq, but most of the major players are European and Asian, like Lukoil and Gazprom from Russia, and Chinese companies like China National Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
Despite the uncertainties, the foreign companies say they are staying.
“We are in Iraq because we think there is big potential, huge production growth,” said Claudio Descalzi, chief operating officer for exploration and production at ENI, the Italian oil giant. “In the future, things can only get better.”
Tim Arango reported from Baghdad Iraq in the Middle East, and Clifford Krauss from Houston.

Netanyahu agrees to expel Jews from their homes

2012-06-02T15:12:00.001-05:00

(CARL ) warned you all five years ago. Who listened?
Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening that the Netanyahu-Barak-Lieberman government is going to expel 30 Jewish families from their homes in Beit El (which means House of God) in Samaria. Netanyahu tried to throw a sop to the revenants saying that for every home that the Supreme Court asks him to destroy, the Netanyahu-Barak-Livni Lieberman government will build ten more, but apparently he's no better at Math than he is at telling it straight. He's destroying 30 homes and will build 50 new ones instead (maybe, eventually, if there's money and if he gets around to it and if Ehud Barak agrees and if the homes cannot be rebuilt elsewhere).

As part of Netanyahu's decision, the government will reimburse and relocate the settlers. The homes themselves will not be demolished, according the the Channel 2 report, but will rather be detached from their infrastructure and physically moved to a nearby settlement. In addition, Netanyahu will allow 50 homes to be built in Beit El - 10 times the number of homes being evacuated in Ulpana, Channel 2 reported.
"The settlement enterprise will be advanced through building," Channel 2 quoted Netanyahu as saying. "For every home we are forced to evacuate, we will build 10 in its place."
The prime minister came out against MKs calling for legislation that would legalize the settlements, calling the solution unhelpful and saying that it would harm Israel's standing within the international community.
And moving the homes elsewhere in Samaria (assuming they get there intact) will help our standing in the international community? And building 50 more homes (assuming Ehud Barak ever approves them - fat chance - will improve our standing in the international community? You've got to be kidding. Here's the Supreme Court's Knesset member.

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On congratulated the prime minister on his decision, stating that she hoped his intentions would be carried out. Gal-On, however, criticized Netanyahu's alleged desire to build 50 new structures in the Beit El settlement in place of those being evacuated in Ulpana.
"Netanyahu's promise to increase building in Beit El grants a reward to law-breaking settlers in the territories and encourages committing more crimes. The prime minister is applying a death blow to the peace process, leading to the establishment of one state, and exposing the unity government for what it really is," Gal-On stated.
Just like the Arabs, she takes any concession she's given and then reopens the point asking for more.
YNet adds:

MK Arieh Eldad (National Union) slammed the decision. "Netanyahu's behavior is befitting the 'liar' label that was given to him by his partner, (Minister Shaul) Mofaz," Eldad said. "Only legislation can prevent destruction.
"He is displacing Migron and Ulpana," he added. "All that's left for Netanyahu to do in order to achieve world peace is to shift Jerusalem to New York."
...
Peace Now Director General Yariv Oppenheimer [Googleheimer. CiJ] voiced similiar sentiments. Oppenheimer expressed contentment with the decision, but asserted that the decision to expand settlement construction is detrimental to Israel's interests.
"Netanyahu's decision to implement the High Court's ruling is in line with the founding principles of democracy, and should be obvious," he said. "His decision to apply a price tag and expand the settlements will hurt the State of Israel first and foremost, and will reward law-breaking settlers."
And the Times of Israel reports that the commitment to build ten new homes for each one destroyed will only go into effect if the homes being destroyed cannot be rebuilt. And if Attorney General Weinstein agrees. I guess Netanyahu is taking lessons from Hussein Obama in leading from behind.

Netanyahu said that if everything went according to plan, Ulpana’s five contested buildings — home to some 30 families, and built on what the state accepts is privately owned Palestinian land — would be transplanted several hundred meters away. However, in the event that the houses would have to be demolished rather than transplanted, 10 more would be built in Judea and Samaria, pending the approval of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
“The settlement enterprise will be strengthened by construction; in place of every house we are forced to evacuate, we will build 10,” said the prime minister.
And Israel Radio reports (11:00 pm) that the government is only 'investigating the possibility' of moving the homes someplace within Beit El.
But the biggest consequence is the one raised by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) as reported by Israel Radio: There will be dozens more claims brought to the Supreme Court (and under Israel's bizarre system they can be brought directly to the Supreme Court) that hundreds of houses are built on 'private Palestinian land.' What could go wrong?

Hamas Terrorist Sneaks Across Border Kills Israeli Soldier

2012-06-02T15:07:00.001-05:00

The aunt of Palestinian gunman Ahmed Nassir holds his picture at his family’s house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 1, 2012. A Palestinian gunman broke into Israel on Friday and killed a soldier before being shot dead himself in a rare cross-border attack that Israel blamed on the Islamist group Hamas.
Excerpted from REUTERS: A Palestinian gunman broke into Israel on Friday and killed a soldier before being shot dead himself in a rare cross-border attack that Israel blamed on the Islamist group Hamas.
Israel hit back, with a missile-strike killing one militant and wounding two others in the southern Gaza Strip. Militants also fired rockets out of the Palestinian enclave, but they did not cause any damage, the Israeli army said.
Sources in Gaza said the gunman killed in the cross-border attack was affiliated with the Islamic Jihad. However, the faction, which operates independently of Hamas, denied responsibility, suggesting the infiltrator might have been acting alone.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, had no immediate comment.

via patdollard.com

notice the link in Reuters doesn't mention who started the violence.

World-Class Pianist Charged with 'Insulting Islam'

2012-06-02T07:46:00.001-05:00

(h/t vinienco)
A Turkish court on Friday formally charged an internationally known pianist and composer with insulting Islamic religious values, in comments he made on Twitter.
The court in Istanbul voted to approve an indictment against Fazil Say (pictured), who has played piano with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, National Orchestra of France and Tokyo Symphony.
The 42-year-old Say faces charges of inciting hatred and public enmity, and insulting “religious values.” He allegedly mocked Islamic beliefs about paradise in April.
Say’s lawyer, Meltem Akyol, told AP the pianist has denied the charges. The trial will be held on Oct. 18, she said.
“We certainly do not accept the charges,” Akyol said. “He has stated in his initial testimony during the probe that he had no intention to humiliate any religion. He was basically criticizing those who are exploiting religion for profit.”
Akyol said Say’s tweets and retweets on social media cannot be considered as public remarks because only people who follow him can see them.
In one tweet cited in the indictment, Say said, “What if there is raki (traditional anisette drink) in paradise but not in hell, while there is Chivas Regal (scotch) in hell and not in paradise? What will happen then? This is the most important question!!”
Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists might consider such remarks unacceptable. In one of Say’s retweets, one excerpt questioned whether paradise was a “brothel?” according to the indictment.
Akyol claimed that line belonged to the wine-loving 11th century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, adding that Say “was merely expressing his ideas within free speech.”
She confirmed that Say closed his Twitter account before the court decision Friday, because he was annoyed with messages.
“He has lately incurred the wrath of some people,” Akyol told AP. “He has even been receiving death threats.”
Say could face a maximum 1 1/2 years in prison if he is convicted, according to the AP report.
Previously, the report noted, Turkey’s Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was prosecuted for his comments about the mass killings of Armenians, under a law that made it a crime to insult the Turkish identity. The government eased that law in an amendment in 2008.
In another incident in 2007, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received death threats because of his comments about the killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915, was shot dead outside his office in Istanbul.
–

Will Obama stand up for musicians against his pal Erdogan? No... how is that for Hope and Change?

Anti-America disillusioned with MSNBC?: No Time for Obama's Kill List?

2012-06-02T07:32:00.001-05:00

(fair.org) The New York Times' lengthy report (5/29/12) on Barack Obama's drone "kill list" should provoke serious questions: Is such a program legal? How does it square with Obama's criticism of the Bush administration's "war on terror" policies? What does it tell us about how the administration identifies "militants" who are targeted for assassination?
But those questions have been raised only in fits and starts–and are basically absent from the liberal cable news channel MSNBC. In fact, a far more interesting discussion of these questions can be heard on Fox News Channel.
It's not all good (LOL) on Fox, naturally. Host Bill O'Reilly and guest Dennis Miller (5/29/12) joked about whether they were on the kill lists . Geraldo Rivera defended the program on Fox & Friends (6/1/12). Fox "liberal" Bob Beckel did the same on Fox's The Five (5/29/12):

To even suggest that somehow there is something wrong with a kill list, for you to suggest that shows you how rabidly anti-Obama you are.

Part of that discussion focused on what the reaction would be if we were reading about George W. Bush's drone kill list–a contrast that was raised on other Fox shows, and a legitimate one.
That wasn't just that angle that Fox covered, though. On Special Report (5/30/12), James Rosen looked at the White House's "fuzzy math" at counting civilian deaths from drone strikes. A Special Report panel (5/29/12) used a soundbite from the ACLU to illustrate criticism from the left.
But what about the channel that would seem the natural place for some of that left-leaning analysis? MSNBC has been mostly quiet. A search of the Nexis news database turns up nothing on Obama's kill list. The program Morning Joe had one discussion (5/29/12) where the panelists mostly supported the program, though host Joe Scarborough expressed some reservations.
What was more newsworthy? MSNBC's prime time shows seemed to have plenty of coverage of "birther" Donald Trump.
And it is worth noting one left-leaning TV host who did present a critical take on the Obama drone program was Current host Cenk Uygur (5/29/12). Some might remember that he briefly hosted a show on MSNBC but left amidst disputes over whether management wanted him to tone it down. Draw your own conclusions.
*Also: Kevin Gosztola has a good piece about drones and media coverage at FireDogLake (6/1/12). And it should be noted that ABC correspondent Jake Tapper (5/29/12) asked some strong questions to White House press secretary Jay Carney, particularly about civilian deaths and how the administration was defining "militants." As best I can tell, Tapper's exchange with Carney was not included in any ABC broadcasts, but can be viewed at the link above (starting around the 13:00 mark) hilarious... click the link to (fair.org) and read the comments. There people who used to masquerade as liberals were just America and Israel bashers. Coming out of the closet now a bit because of Obama

Dismal job market pushes Dow into 275-point plunge

2012-06-02T06:30:00.001-05:00

(syracuse)The stock market suffered its worst day of the year Friday after a surprisingly weak report about hiring and employment cast a pall of gloom over the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 275 points(MORE)

Are the Negev Bedouin an Indigenous People?

2012-06-02T05:45:00.001-05:00

(crethiplethi) That no other Bedouin tribe in the entire Middle East has raised a claim to indigenousness raises questions regarding the motivations and authenticity of such an argument. Since the Bedouin in the Negev in some cases are from the same tribe as those found in neighboring countries, it is not logical that they can only be indigenous when they are on the Israeli side of the border.

Egypt's Mubarak sentenced to life in prison

2012-06-02T05:31:00.001-05:00

(Reuters) Total silence fell over the courtroom in the moments before Refaat announced his verdict. The crowd outside then erupted in joy. Anti-Mubarak demonstrators and a smaller crowd of his supporters threw stones at each other and at police.

The judge also sentenced Mubarak's former interior minister, Habib al-Adli, to life in prison. He sentenced Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal to time already served after convicting them on some corruption charges and acquitting them on others. Six security officials were acquitted. (MORE)

Palestine Airlines back to skies with statehood goal

2012-05-28T16:41:00.001-05:00

Hamas is part of the Muslim Brotherhood... What we now call Al Qaeda is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. How did the World Trade Center fall?

Palestine Airlines back to skies with statehood goal.(HD)(Other).Palestinian Airlines is back in the skies after being grounded for seven years by deepening enmities in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Regional director of the airline said this is part of the independent state. On May 9, Palestinian Airlines, grounded since 2005, resumed operations, starting with biweekly flights between El-Arish and Marka Airbase in the Jordanian capital of Amman. The new route means residents of Gaza no longer have to travel to Cairo, some 350 kilometers away, to board flights. El-Arish is an Egyptian coastal resort in northern Sinai, about 60 kilometers from Gaza. “We have started with flights from Amman to El-Arish and from El-Arish to Amman,” Palestinian Airlines Director-General Zeyad Albad told Agence France-Presse. “We are going to have flights from El-Arish to Jeddah [Saudi Arabia] soon, and we are trying to set up some new routes to Turkey and the [United Arab] Emirates.” The airline hopes it will eventually turn a profit, but for now national pride and making life easier for the Gazans are more important, said regional director Azmi Samaan. “We want the Palestinian flag to continue flying,” he said in an interview at Marka Airbase, according to the Associated Press. “This is part of the independent state, to have an airline, no matter what it will cost us.” The carrier is a tiny operation, with just two 48-seat turboprop planes, two weekly flights and a borrowed hub in Egypt. The 15-year-old airline’s fortunes have been closely tied to the quest for a Palestinian state.But the airline was forced to suspend operations from Gaza after Israel imposed restrictions on the airport and then rendered it unusable by tearing up its runways and bombing it in 2001.Hmmmmm....Thanks to US taxpayer money from Obama?Read the full story here.

The New York Times and Janet Robinson’s $24 Million Exit Package

2012-05-28T13:00:00.001-05:00

Media companies will Cannibalize themselves like Palestinians.

(volokh.com)New York Magazine has a lengthy, fascinating – yes, even tantalizing, if, like me, you follow the business side of media and were once a NYT Co shareholder – article in the current issue on the inside process by which Janet Robinson, the ex-NYT Co CEO, was forced out in December 2011. Fired, however, with a goodbye kiss of almost $24 million, which, according to the article, was “nearly half the company’s profits in 2011.” Writer Joe Hagen says he interviewed more than 30 people “intimately familiar with different aspects” of the Times’ business, none of whom would talk for attribution – not surprising, but then leaving the reader in the position of essentially having to take the reporter on trust.
It’s a heck of a good read, and I suspect pretty much true overall, whatever quibbles other insiders might have over the details. Particularly so in its insider accounts of conflicts between the family members for whom the Times is a career, the family members for whom it is a trust fund, and the public shareholders (who, in keeping with the traditional but still peculiar newspaper ownership structure in America, have non-voting or reduced voting shares compared to the controlling family – the traditional structure at the NYT, the old LAT, the old WSJ, etc., though much altered now). As the article delicately describes the trust-fund family members, most of them “have admirable if low-wage jobs as academics, novelists, musicians, and psychotherapists, but the money [from NYT Co dividends] also funded second homes and hobbies such as underwater exploration.” Which is to say, without the dividends amounting to a trust fund, the extended family looks much like the lower tier of the New Class, which is suffering these days, and not the upper tier, which is doing fine, thanks very much.
Overall, however, the business prospects of the NYT Co. look to rest on whether it can make its digital paywall approach stick or not. I think that’s unclear, but I have divided views. On the one hand, I doubt the quality of reporting and product can be maintained without a digital subscription stream, otherwise it just dissolves into online media outlets cribbing each other for fewer and fewer tidbits of hard information with more and more cheap opinion enveloping it (if one thinks this describes the Times now, imagine a Times reporting the news from Syria as though it were Yahoo’s Your Tango – whatever one’s objections to the Times’ narrations, and I have many, things could be much, much worse). On the other hand, I’m not sure people are willing to pay for it online; I’m not sure there is a mass audience that, if put to the choice, actually cares that much – it would be convenient to say, that’s because they object to the Times’ content, but I doubt it’s that, I think people just don’t care about paying for news, period. The article notes that part of the internal shuffle involved a battle in which the former web development head, Martin Nisenholtz, fought for a free-digital model, and lost out to Robinson. She then lost out to elements of the family and to Sulzberger’s new girlfriend. Against the big picture of newspaper companies, the insider fight looks like this:

In the era of Arthur Sulzberger Jr., when newspapers have flailed under new digital realities, the New York Times Company has shrunk dramatically. Once it was a wide-ranging media empire of newspapers and TV stations and websites, and even a baseball team, that was worth almost $7 billion; today it’s essentially two struggling newspapers and a much-reduced web company, all worth less than $1 billion (for comparison, consider that the Internet music company Pandora is valued at almost $2 billion) … Over time, there was less and less for Robinson, and [family insider executive] Michael Golden, to manage. It was inevitable, say veteran Times executives, current and former, that the two would come into conflict as their respective portfolios disappeared and the struggle for influence over the tinier island of the New York Times came to a head.

bullshit. people paid for content on paper. they will pay for it online if it's worthy of their money. don't give the Times any credit. My family would gladly want a subscription if their news could be trusted. There simply are too many other sources... and I trust a multitude of sources more then I trust one.... and... I believe I just stumbled on how profits will come. Do you remember those Columbia records you could get in the mail? People would pay for subscriptions if the media were bundled together. Or say like cable TV.... no one would of paid for just CNN... but bundle CNN's biased reporting with a subscription to 100 other channels and there's the business model. Something for everyone... even if you don't like the media brown shirts.... and... oh shit... I really don't want to help these narrow minded short sighted people.

Google deliberately stole information but executives 'covered it up' for years

2012-05-28T12:27:00.001-05:00

(dailymail.co.uk) Google, pictured street-mapping in Bristol, has always claimed that it didn't know its software would collect the private information

Google is facing an inquiry into claims that it deliberately harvested information from millions of UK home computers.
The Information Commissioner data protection watchdog is expected to examine the work of the internet giant’s Street View cars.
They downloaded emails, text messages, photographs and documents from wi-fi networks as they photographed virtually every British road.
It is two years since Google first admitted stealing fragments of personal data, but claimed it was a ‘mistake’.
Now the full scale of its activities has emerged amid accusations of a cover-up after US regulators found a senior manager was warned as early as 2007 that the information was being captured as its cars trawled the country but did nothing.
Around one in four home networks in the UK is thought to be unsecured – lacking password protection – allowing personal data to be collected. Technology websites and bloggers have suggested that Google harvested the information simply because it was able to do so and would later work out a way to use it to make money.
The slow reaction of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to deal with the data theft is in direct contrast to the vigorous efforts of watchdogs in Germany, France and even the Czech Republic.
The fact that the Government was at the same time courting executives at Google opens up uncomfortable questions about its relationship with the company.

More...

IBM bans Siri over fears iPhone 'personal assistant' will send confidential data to Apple HQ

Google launches campaign to warn THOUSANDS of victims with infected computers they will be kicked off the internet in six weeks

Blocking internet porn would fail to protect children and only give parents false sense of security, says Google

STEPHEN GLOVER: Where's the full-blown inquiry into your snooping chums at Google, Mr Cameron?

Last month a report by the US media regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revealed that the Google programmer who wrote the Street View software repeatedly warned that it collected personal data, and called for a legal and privacy review.
Yesterday he was named as Marius Milner, 41, a British software engineer from Hove, East Sussex, who now lives in California. He has pleaded the fifth amendment against self-incrimination and refused to answer investigators’ questions.

CLAIMS OF INNOCENCE THAT SLOWLY UNRAVELLED

OCTOBER 2006: Computer engineer Marius Milner devises software for Google Street View vans which captures private information from personal computers. He warns there are privacy implications and the company should consult lawyers.
MAY 2007: Google Street View launched in the US.

2008: Milner again warns two colleagues – including a senior manager – that personal data is being collected.

MARCH 2009: Street View launches in the UK.

EARLY 2010: UK data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner (ICO) launches inquiry into Street View.

APRIL 27 2010: Google denies collecting information, only to admit a few days later: ‘We have been mistakenly collecting samples of data from open Wi-Fi networks ... Quite simply, it was a mistake’.

OCTOBER 22 2010: Google admits: ‘In some instances entire emails were captured ... as well as passwords.’

NOVEMBER 2010: ICO secures formal undertaking that Google will improve data protection compliance but concludes any collection of personal data was ‘inadvertent’.

JANUARY to SEPT 2011: Google refuses four times to co-operate with US Federal Communications Commission, before finally giving some key information such as names of employees who created Street View software.

APRIL 16 2012: Google fined £15,000 by FCC after it found the company ‘wilfully and repeatedly’ failed to help with its investigation.

APRIL 30 2012: FCC report finds that rather than being ‘a mistake’ Google’s software was ‘intended’ to harvest information from networks.

MAY 27 2012: ICO indicates inquiry into Street View’s harvested data.

Yesterday at the family home, his stepmother said: ‘He has always had a love of computers, even from an early age I think. He is a brilliant mind.
'He got a degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. My husband is an elderly man. He is nearly 90 and he is rather distressed by this. We really don’t want to say any more.’
The report by the FCC attacked Google for inadequate oversight of Street View, and claimed it was planning to use the data collected for other internal projects.
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office said it would examine what Google knew at the time and whether it breached the Data Protection Act.
But critics said the ICO was doing ‘too little, too late’, and pointed to its earlier report into Street View which concluded that any collection of personal data was ‘inadvertent’.
As Britain’s privacy watchdog was accused of being lily-livered in its handling of Google, regulators in the US and continental Europe confronted it head on.
In Germany Google was forced to stop filming for Street View owing to privacy concerns by Hamburg prosecutors, who opened a criminal investigation.
In France Google was fined £87,000 by the privacy regulator CNIL, the largest it had ever handed out.
In the Czech Republic Street View was banned in September 2010 after negotiations between Google and the authorities over privacy concerns failed.
A Tory MP said he would raise the issue of Google’s information gathering when Parliament reconvenes.
Robert Halfon said: ‘The FCC report seems to indicate that there is far more to it than an innocent mistake. Clearly what happened is unacceptable.
'Google created the privatised surveillance society by hoovering up our emails and wifi data. Google has some serious questions to answer.’
Concern about links between the internet giant and the Government have emerged in recent weeks, with the Daily Mail revealing that Tory ministers have met Google executives an average of once every month since the General Election.

Google Street View swivels around Parliament Square looking towards Big Ben. The bank of personal data collected could have been used by Google to develop new products

Earlier this month Google was fined £15,000 by the FCC after it found the company 'wilfully and repeatedly' violated orders to hand over information it requested while investigating Street View

This week Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will face the Leveson Inquiry to face questions about his links to another multi-national company, News International.
His special adviser Adam Smith was forced to quit after text messages were published by the inquiry showing his closeness to a News International lobbyist. Mr Hunt has also faced repeated calls to quit.
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch said: ‘It appears Google deliberately and without remorse spied on people’s wi-fi networks and has now been caught trying to cover it up.
'The continued thirst of big-data companies for personal information is a serious threat to privacy and all too often consumers find themselves without redress when their rights are compromised.’

Guests of the Google bride: Close links between Google and the Conservative Party were on display this weekend at the society wedding of senior Google executive Naomi Gummer. Miss Gummer, a former political secretary to Jeremy Hunt, married Henry Allsopp, 38, in an Oxfordshire ceremony attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, as well as the embattled Culture Secretary, who came with his wife and their two young children

Big day: Bride Naomi Gummer, 27, with her husband Henry Allsopp, who married in Chadlington, Oxfordshire this weekend

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner said: ‘We are currently studying the FCC report to consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken.
Google provided our office with a formal undertaking in November 2010 about their future conduct, following their failure in relation to the collection of wi-fi data by their Street View cars.
‘This included a provision for the ICO to audit Google’s privacy practices. The audit was published in August 2011 and we will be following up on it later this year, to ensure our recommendations have been put in place.’
Google spokesman Anthony House said: ‘We have always been clear that the leaders of this project did not want or intend to use this payload data. Indeed Google never used it in any of our products or services.
‘Both the Department of Justice and the FCC have looked into this closely – including reviewing the internal correspondence – and both found no violation of law.’

yeah... but try to download a movie illegally and these guys get pissed

'Our friends the Saudis' ban use of English language and Gregorian calendar

2012-05-28T00:51:00.001-05:00

(Carl)The Saudi government has banned the use of the Gregorian calendar in all official state and business dealings, according to a report in the local daily al-Watan. The Saudis have also banned government and private agencies and businesses from using the English language to answer phone calls or to communicate in general.

According to the report, all ministries and agencies must use only the Islamic calendar and the Arabic language.
Al Watan said the Saudi Interior Ministry believes that some ministries and agencies could “sometimes” use the Gregorian calendar when, for example, coordinating flight schedules with foreign airlines, but only on the condition that it is associated with the corresponding Hijri (Islamic) date.
Here is a useful calendar conversion chart for those of you planning to visit Saudi Arabia soon.(MORE)

I actually don't have a problem with this if it were not for the fact that the Arabs project this behavior on the Jews in Israel. The Jews should be able to demand Hebrew, but guess what... they don't

Turks claim Israel offered $6 million to settle Mavi Marmara

2012-05-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

This doesn't prove anything. We already knew Israel was trying to do anything to show regret without accepting accountability for murder. I thought it was stupid then... and obviously now we all see why. Israel didn't do anything wrong then, but was very worried about losing it's only Muslim so called ally. It was an act of desperation... and now we see how stupid the move was.

(Carl) A Turkish lawyer claims that Israel offered $6 million last month to settle claims related to the Mavi Marmara takeover in May 2010, and that Turkey declined the offer.

Ramazan Ariturk, one of several lawyers representing 465 victims and victims' relatives, said that the Israeli government had made a proposal to him through an intermediary foreign ambassador in Ankara just over one month ago.
He said the money would have been paid to a Jewish foundation in Turkey for distribution, and been followed by a statement of "regret" for the raid by the Israeli government.
"I told the ambassador I did not think the offer was appropriate or moral and also discussed the issue with the victims and their friends and they also stated that they could not accept this," Ariturk said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry agreed with his decision, saying Israel should have contacted it directly, he said.
Ariturk declined to disclose the nationality of the ambassador or reveal the name of the Jewish foundation to which the payment would have been made.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry could not be reached for immediate comment, while Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.
(Carl) While Regev would not comment, another Israeli government spokesman did:

However, a senior Israeli official who declined to be named said that Israel, having indicated last year that it was prepared to indemnify victims without accepting blame, had not renewed its offer.
(Carl) That report came just a day after a report that Turkey has indicted four senior Israeli commanders in the Mavi Marmara case, including former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and is seeking ten life sentences against each of them.
The probability of Turkey getting a hold of any of those four commanders is somewhere between slim and none.

So...how'd being a pussy work out for Israel

If Only the Left Would Abandon Israel

2012-05-27T09:45:00.001-05:00

(Ted Belman) Shaul Magid, professor of Jewish Studies at Indiana U, asks, "What if the Left Abandonned Israel?" and suggests that Israel would go to hell in a handbasket. "Be careful what you wish for," he warns.

For him, the left are "basically liberal-minded and believers in civil rights and the rights of the oppressed -- at least in the abstract." He suggests that the "messianics and revisionists" of the right, on the other hand, aren't. Everyone believes in civil rights in the abstract. It's when you deal with reality other considerations and values come into place.

I also believe in the "rights of the oppressed," but I differ with the left in that I see the Jews in Israel as the oppressed ones, not the Palestinians (at least, the Palestinians are not oppressed by the Jews).
We Israelis are oppressed by everyone, including the U.N., the State Department, the EU, and the Muslims, including the Palestinians. We are oppressed by 60,000-plus rockets aimed at us by our immediate neighbors and by threats of annihilation. And for what? It's either because we exist, which the left and the Arabs think is a crime, or because we are "occupiers," which much of the world finds unconscionable. They forget that UNSC Res. 242 authorized Israel to remain in occupation until she had recognized and secure borders. They argue that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies, even though Israel is not occupying the land of another signatory to the treaty as provided therein.
But even if the Fourth Geneva Convention does apply, Israel's primarily obligation is to treat the people occupied humanely. In this regard, 95% of the Palestinians are totally governed by the Palestinian Authority. Nowhere in the treaty does it say that the occupier must end the occupation. In any event, the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is fully set out in the Oslo Accords or 1995. There is no suggestion in it that Israel must end the occupation without a negotiated agreement. So spare me the crocodile tears about the "occupation."
The condemnation of Israel is based on the belief that the disputed territories are Palestinian. How so? They have never exercised sovereignty over said lands.
The Arabs rejected the Partition Plan in 1948 that would have led to their sovereignty and invaded Israel instead. For the next nineteen years the West Bank was under Jordanian control, and no one ever called for a Palestinian state. In 1967, the Arabs were utterly defeated in a war they began. As a result, the UNSC passed Res. 242, which does not require Israel to withdraw from all the territories. At the Khartoum Conference, the Arabs rejected Res. 242 and agreed on the three nos: no recognition, no negotiations, and no peace. Arafat accepted Res. 242 because such acceptance was a precondition to entering the Oslo Accords, but he never agreed to its terms. And now they reject negotiations.
Israel, on the other hand, can claim sovereignty over these lands, pursuant to the San Remo Resolution of 1919 and the Palestine Mandate of 1922 which granted the Jews the right to reconstitute their homeland in Palestine and the right to close settlement of the land. She can also claim sovereignty over these lands by virtue of a continuous presence in the land for 3,000 years, by virtue of 1,000 years of sovereignty, by virtue of acquiring the land in a defensive war, or by insisting that only the Jordan River would constitute secure borders.
Magid quotes Zachary Braiterman with approval:

I used to think that American Jews had the right and obligation to stake ideological claims in Israeli politics. I was wrong. I don't have anything to say. Legalize outposts? Go ahead. Beat the hell out of Hamas or Hezbullah? I won't object. Hit the Iranians? I hope you all know what you're doing, because the mess is yours if you make it, and there is not a lot that the American Jewish community will be (able) to do if things go south. Desecrate mosques, uproot olive trees, beat up a Danish demonstrator, pass racist legislation, muzzle criticism, harass people at the airport?
Each one of these complaints shows a profound ignorance of the law or the context. Each one can be rebutted to the satisfaction of a fair minded person.

Historically, the Zionism of Braiterman was the norm. Even given the less-than-charitable things Ben-Gurion had to say about the Arabs and the ways in which Israel treated its Arab population during times of conflict, the Zionist mainstream was committed to a humanistic and liberal ethos, even as it failed in significant ways.
This is true, but why did it fail? Because the Arabs would have none of it. And that's the point: why it is no longer the norm. The Jewish left prefer to ignore the reality. The Arabs are dedicated to destroying the Jewish state, in phases if necessary. The charters of both Hamas and Fatah say so. Sharia says so. The incessant preaching of hatred says so. The support for terrorism says so. The unwillingness to compromise their maximalist demands says so. Yet the left blame Israel for the lack of peace.

Megid complains:

The unspoken merger of the messianic and neo-revisionist right, coupled with the politicization of the haredi has given rise to an increasingly uncompromising ethnocentrism and, arguably, a redefined Zionism.
True enough. But by characterizing the new Zionism as "ethnocentric," Megid is opening up a can of worms. He is embracing the canard that Zionism is racism. He is arguing against the Jewish particular in favor of universalism or multiculturalism. Those values might be appropriate for America, though I prefer the melting pot to multiculturalism. In fact, so do most Americans and Europeans. Multiculturalism has proven a failure, and its bitter fruits have yet to be realized in full.
Megid regrets that Israel was not able to "attain a balance necessary for its rightful place as a society among the nations of the free world." But why must Israel be like everyone else? Why can't it remain a pumpernickel in a store of white bread? Besides, Israel is in the Middle East, which is not part of the free world. The Arabs are barring Jews and Christians from Arab countries. In Egypt and Nigeria and elsewhere, they are killing Christians and burning churches. No multiculturalism for them. No universalism for them, except when Islam dominates the world.
While the Jewish left embraces the Muslim Brotherhood at home and abroad -- and, I believe to America's detriment -- Israel prefers to keep her distance from the forces which are bent on destroying her. In order to defend herself, she must embrace her ethnicity, not eschew it.
I accept that many Jews who embraced the Zionism of their youth "understand quite well and are deeply informed -- not only about the political realities but about the underlying history of the conflict." But so are the Jews who embrace the new Zionism. The difference being that the former want Israel to be a state of all its citizens rather than a Jewish state.
The latter apparently is too Jewish for them.
In the end, it's not about old and new Zionism, but rather about survival. The left wants Israel to give in to the demands of the Arabs and the international community in order to survive, though history does not support this belief. The right believes that doing so would lead to Israel's destruction. The right prefers peace through strength.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/if_only_the_left_would_abandon_israel.html#ixzz1w519464x

via docstalk.blogspot.com

Anyone left in the left who isn't dealing with these issues is in denial.

Obama -Funded Palestinian Authority To Announce Formation of Unity Government With Terrorist organisation Hamas.

2012-05-27T08:41:00.001-05:00

Obama -Funded Palestinian Authority To Announce Formation of Unity Government With Terrorist organisation Hamas.(TOI)(other).Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to announce the formation of a new Palestinian unity government, Israel Radio reported on Saturday. The two will commence consultations for establishing a joint government on Sunday, and within ten days they will announce its foundation. Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said Fatah and Hamas representatives will meet in Cairo this week to discuss the composition of the government and the date Mashaal and Abu Mazen will meet. In an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper, Mashaal said that the events in Syria have affected relations between Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah but did not specify how. He confirmed that the Hamas leadership left Damascus and is now dispersed between several countries. Mashaal called on the US earlier on Saturday to stop hindering reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.Hmmmm....Will Obama keep ignoring the will of Congress and keep funding terrorists with Taxpayer money?Read the full story here ....Also ...(other) news.... Obama has just unified himself with Hillary Clinton's testicles which said in pubic hair to kill the Jews behind the Tree of the Jews.

Libel Laws Force JC To Lie

2012-05-27T03:44:00.001-05:00

(Hurry Up Harry) Here’s an apology in today’s JC:

On May 13 2011, we published an article entitled “Pears funded charity which hosted jihadist” which related to the Pears Foundation, a charity called Forward Thinking, and an individual called Tafazal Mohammed.
We have since accepted that Mr Mohammed is not a jihadist and have apologised to him, the Pears Foundation and Forward Thinking for this error. It follows that there was no basis for linking Forward Thinking’s director, Mr McTernan, to any jihadist. We apologise to Mr McTernan for the distress caused.
This is a lie.
The entire purpose of Forward Thinking is to advance the cause of jihadist groups from the Middle East. Have a look through our archives, and you’ll see. In particular, these three items.
Forward Thinking is run by Oliver McTernan – an ex-Catholic priest whose interests include having sex with women and helping jihadist groups which want to kill Jews.
I was told an interesting story by a prominent pro-peace individual who had spoken on platforms with Forward Thinking. He stopped when it became clear to him that this was not simply an organisation which supported peace talks with Hamas. It actually supported Hamas, itself.
The problem with British libel laws is that it allows public figures and those engaged in high level political campaigning – like Oliver McTernan – to force small poor, small circulation newspapers to withdraw allegations which are transparently and demonstrably true.
Why?
Because if you sue – particularly on a “no win no fee basis” – it will almost always be cheaper to settle than to fight to trial: even if you win.
Claimants know this. They therefore routinely fire off letters before action, with the sole intention of preventing critical coverage of their activities. The worse you behave, the greater the opportunity to cry “libel” when your conduct is reported.
This is “Lawfare”: the use of litigation by supporters of extreme and vicious politics to advance their disgraceful cause.

ah... but obviously they can't do the same for a not for profit blogger. I guess Harry got 'em

Jon Stewart In 2000 Interview: “I Would Say I’m More Of A Socialist”

2012-05-25T13:47:00.001-05:00

This is the same guy who swore to Bret Baier he wasn’t a Leftist? He's a snide arrogant guy. Do you think he would want to increase the freedoms for people around him? Think about it