Are Punxsutawney Phil's days numbered after an Ohio prosecutor indicted him and said he deserves the death penalty? Is Punxatawney in Ohio?
With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Michael Gmoser, the prosecuting attorney in Butler County, filed court papers this week indicting the world-famous groundhog for "misrepresentation of early spring" and announcing his intention to seek the death penalty.
"This is a ground-breaking indictment," Gmoser said Friday as he fielded phone calls from around the world about the light-hearted legal battle. "There's a lot of people who want a piece of him. I know because I'm getting recipes from around the country."
On Feb. 2, Phil forecast an early spring when he emerged from his Pennsylvania home and did not see his shadow. Six weeks later, Gmoser looked out his window to snow, high winds and frigid air.
"I said to someone, 'Phil let us down. I ought to indict the little rascal.' They said, 'Why don't you?' and I said, 'I think I will,'" the prosecutor said.
He said he had to seek the ultimate penalty because otherwise the indictment would have had no teeth.
#2
Gmoser filed an indictment against Phil which reads accordingly:
On or about February 02,2013, at Gobblers Knob, Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that Spring would come early. Contrary to the Groundhog day report, a snowstorm and record low temperatures have been and are predicted to continue in the near future, which constitutes the offense of MISREPRESENTATION OF EARLY SPRING, a Unclassified Felony, and against the peace and dignity of the State Of Ohio.
SPECIFICATION: The people further find and specify that due to the aggravating circumstances and misrepresentation to the people that the death penalty be implemented to the defendant, Punxsutawney Phil
Gmoser said in a phone interview that waking up to snow and temperatures in the teens on the second day of spring motivated the indictment.
When he betrays us like this, something has to be done, Gmoser said.
A 19-year-old female sailor assigned to USS Essex was found with a gunshot wound aboard the ship Thursday and later died from her injuries, Navy officials confirmed.
According to Navy media operations officer Rick Chernitzer, the ships medical personnel responded to the scene and found the wounded sailor. She was transported to the UCSD Trauma Center and was pronounced dead a short time later.
The sailors identification is being withheld until her family is notified of her death.
It is unclear if the sailors wounds were self-inflicted or if any suspects were involved in the shooting.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2013 08:47 ||
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An active-duty Marine shot dead two fellow service members at a base at Quantico, Virginia, then barricaded himself in a building and killed himself, prompting a brief lockdown of the base, the Marines said on Friday.
The shootings took place late on Thursday near the Officer Candidate School at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, and all three people who died were identified as Marines, Marines spokesman Sergeant Christopher Zahn said.
"An isolated shooting incident has occurred at Officer Candidate School, Quantico," the base separately said on its Facebook page. "The suspect has been barricaded by law enforcement personnel."
The Marines did not name the service members who died, pending notification of their families. ABC News quoted a military official as saying the suspect had been identified as a staff member at the cadet school, as was one of the victims. ABC also said that the second person killed was a female Marine found dead in the barracks, but gave no further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2013 08:45 ||
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Tough week for the Marines. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/22/2013 9:17 Comments ||
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Yikes!
2 men, 1 woman. Love triangle? Yeesh.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/22/2013 9:20 Comments ||
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LAWRENCE, Ind., March 20 (UPI) -- Officer Friendly in Indiana said a beauzeau told officers he would have smoked the marijuana found in his car if he had known it was there. "Could you repeat that?"
Lawrence police said Eric Williams, 25, was pulled over for going at an unsafe speed early Wednesday and Officer Tim Christie detected the odor of poison hemp in the 2010 Honda, The Indianapolis Star reported Wednesday.
Williams said he did not have any pot in the vehicle, but a search of the car uncovered weed wrapped in brown cigar paper in the center console of the Honda.
Williams said he had been unaware of the Mary Jane. "Nope. Not mine."
"Williams stated that he would have smoked the marijuana if he knew it was in the vehicle," the arrest report states. "Keep digging; we can still see you."
Williams was read his rights on a marijuana possession charge and issued a citation for speeding.
[Fox News Denver] Investigators looking into the shooting death of the director of the Colorado Department of Corrections will look at the possibility that Tom Clements' murder may be tied to the recent decision not to grant a transfer of a Saudi man in a Colorado prison.
Homaidan Al-Turki was convicted in 2006 of unlawful sexual contact by use of force and other charges. Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted a housekeeper and kept her as a virtual slave for four years.
His conviction angered Saudi officials.
They have long-standing anger management issues...
The U.S. State Department sent Colorado Attorney General John Suthers to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... to meet with King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan and Al-Turki's family.
Last week, Colorado prison officials denied a request from the Saudi Arabian government to release Al-Turki to his home country to serve his life sentence.
Prosecutors opposed Al-Turki's transfer fearing he would be released upon return to Saudi Arabia.
Celments was the one who decided to deny the transfer. He wrote in a letter to Al-Turki that because Al-Turki refused to undergo sex offender treatment in prison, "I have decided not to support your request for transfer to Saudi Arabia at this time," reported the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Sources have told FOX31 Denver, Al-Turki has come from an influential Saudi family that has long pressured Colorado to release him.
A source familiar with the investigation who refused to be identified by name because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the Al-Turki connection right now is the main working theory behind Clements death.
#2
30 year old Colorado parolee driving a black cadillac that matches description of vehicle at the murder scene of the Warden just got wacked in a shoot out with Texas Lawmen down in Texas.
Posted by: George Clunk4883 ||
03/22/2013 1:18 Comments ||
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#3
The Details (link) Only 20 miles from where a Florida prisoner recently tried to make a run for it while being transfered across country to a prison and ended up shot up by the Texas lawmen.
Posted by: George Clunk4883 ||
03/22/2013 1:28 Comments ||
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Too bad we don't have an off-shore prison facility where we can incarcerate these mooslim foks.
[RADIO.FOXNEWS] Organizers of the University of Tennessee's first-ever "Sex Week" will have to find a new source of funding after embattled university officials reversed course and announced they will not fund the controversial program with state tax dollars. I'm sorry, but it's gotten so I gag every time I see something like this.
"We support the process and the students involved, but we should not use state funds in this manner," Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said in a statement. There's a difference between a "university" and a "brothel."
Cheek made the announcement after reviewing "Sex Week's" final agenda. As a result, the student-led event will be forced to find $11,145 in additional funding. The university will continue to let the group use $6,700 in student fees. I guess the diffo has to do with who does the paying.
UT System President Joe DiPietro said he supports the decision. "The University is accountable to the General Assembly, the governor and the people of Tennessee for the use of state tax dollars," DiPietro said. It doesn't appear to be accountable to anyone for the morals of the graduates it turns out.
"The University's three-part mission is to provide education, research and public service, and the state allocates this funding to help us fulfill the mission. Some activities planned as part of Sex Week are not an appropriate use of state tax dollars." Training young women (and men) in hookers' skills could be seen as a public service, I guess. I think sex is a nifty passtime, but surely there's something in the world besides sex? What does one do with the other 23 hours and 40 minutes of the day?
The university's turn-about came as Tennessee's governor and a host of lawmakers voiced their public opposition. Several lawmakers had already announced plans to defund the university unless they defunded "Sex Week." Gonna pull the plug on 'em, huh? Guess the governor and a host of lawmakers found something to do with part of the time they're not having sex.
A spokesman for Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam told Fox News that based on the information they had, "we believe this is an inappropriate use of university funds." Seems like the purpose of a university used to be teaching, research, and football. But that was thousands of years ago, before there was bowling.
Sex Week is scheduled for April 7-12 and includes 30 events including "Getting Laid," "Sex Positivity; Queer as a Verb," "Bow Chicka Bow Woah," "How to talk to Your Parents About Sex," "Loud and Queer," and "How Many Licks Does it Take..." -- a workshop about oral sex. No doubt the little darlings will get a certificate suitable for framing they can use to find a job upon graduation.
"We should be teaching these children what is important to learn so they can get jobs," state Sen. Stacey Campfield told Fox News. I just said that. See? Senator Stacey Campfield agrees with me.
"I don't know what jobs they plan on getting if they're having seminars on oral sex and bondage. I don't see how that will help someone in their professional career -- unless they plan on becoming a porn star." But really, we're just stodgy old people. We don't know what it's like. And we're probably racists and sexists and whatever other kind of -ist is fashionable this week. Don't be a hater.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2013 00:00 ||
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When I was in college every week was sex week.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/22/2013 7:25 Comments ||
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Maybe, Deacon, but you weren't doing it right unless you were taught in class by the faculty (I do know some who received peronal, one-on-one instruction...)
#3
"There's a difference between a "university" and a "brothel.""
There certainly is - brothels don't have such outrageous charges.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/22/2013 8:59 Comments ||
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There certainly is - brothels don't have such outrageous charges.
And a 'Women's Studies' major doesn't require as much self-loathing.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/22/2013 9:35 Comments ||
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"There's a difference between a "university" and a "brothel."
Brothels don't indoctrinate their customers, they want a returning business clientele. Thus they are far more in tune with the basics of capitalism than the vast majority of universities.
The only 'government' subsidy of a brothel is upon the participants' own time and own dime [see - US Senators, Secret Service Agents, 'New in town GI?', etc]. While state institutions of 'higher learning' expect to be subsidized upon people who have neither the interest nor inclination to use their services along with the usual voluntary attendees.
Many of these gals would get their PhD's in women's studies and discover the only thing they could do was ... teach Women's Studies or (if lucky) shake their booty to an all male audience.
One gal told me she never worked with so many PhD's as when she was dancing at a San Fransisco strip club.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/22/2013 22:33 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON -- Most physicians have a pessimistic outlook on the future of medicine, citing eroding autonomy and falling income, a survey of more than 600 doctors found.
Six in 10 physicians (62%) said it is likely many of their colleagues will retire earlier than planned in the next 1 to 3 years, a survey from Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found. That perception is uniform across age, gender, and specialty, it said.
Another 55% of surveyed doctors believe others will scale back hours because of the way medicine is changing, but the survey didn't elaborate greatly on how it was changing. Three-quarters think the best and brightest may not consider a career in medicine, although that is an increase from the 2011 survey result of 69%.
Forgive me but the survey is a crock.
The docs surveyed didn't say what THEY were going to do, but what they thought OTHER docs were going to do.
How the hell would they know?
I've been a doc for 32 years and I can't claim that I know what all my colleagues in our academic practice are going to do. I sure can't claim I know what's going on out in private practice land.
So 3/4 of the docs think the 'best and brightest' MIGHT not consider a career in medicine? News to me -- we keep getting the best and brightest to apply every year, if GPAs and MCAT scores are anything on which to rely.
In the computer biz they call an article like this 'click bait'.
[An Nahar] Egypt has granted the Muslim Brotherhood non-governmental organization status, a minister said on Thursday, a day after judges said the Islamist movement had no legal standing.
That's actually a change: here everyone thought the Brotherhood had government status...
The once banned movement, now in power, has come under increased scrutiny by the opposition and the largely hostile media, who say it is a secretive group with too much influence over President Mohamed Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader.
As a registered civil society organization, the Brotherhood would be forced to disclose its funding.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Relatives of Libyan former strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... who took refuge in Algeria in August 2011 left the country a long time ago, the Algerian envoy to Libya said on Thursday.
"The family of Qadaffy left Algeria a long time ago and there is nobody (from the family) on Algerian soil," Abdelhamid Bouzaher was quoted as saying by Libya's official news agency LANA.
He did not offer any information on the current whereabouts of Qadaffy's relatives, the agency said.
Contacted by AFP, Bouzaher refused to comment, as did the office of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2013 00:00 ||
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A three day visit to Moscow by Xi Jinping got off to a flying start on Friday with the signature of a clutch of agreements that will deepen energy ties between Russia and China.
As the Chinese president told news hounds after meeting Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... in the Russian capital, "We did not come to see you for nothing."
The fact that he was visiting Russia so soon after becoming Chinese leader was "testimony to the great importance China places on its relations with Russia," Xi told news hounds in Moscow.
As the world's biggest and fastest growing energy consumer, China needs Russia -- one of the world's biggest producers of oil and gas.
For its part, Russia is eager to gain a bigger foothold in the vibrant Chinese energy market and diversify its oil and gas trade away from the west.After talks on Friday, Putin and Xi attended signing ceremonies of at least ten agreements including a number of oil and gas deals.
China appears to be willing to pay in advance for Russian oil, but is pushing for a share in upstream projects to bolster the security of supply deals.
Rosneft, after agreeing on Friday gradually to increase oil deliveries to China National Petroleum Corp to 31m tonnes a year -- more than double current levels -- also clinched a deal to borrow $2bn from China for 25 years.
Igor Sechin, Rosneft's president, who has been negotiating a series of loans to help pay for the $55bn take over of TNK-BP that was finalised this week, could barely conceal his glee. "We have obtained an additional credit line on very advantageous terms," he told Interfax.
h/t Instapundit
As shale gas fever sweeps through Beijing, analysts are looking at the costs and benefits of extracting what is increasingly a controversial source of energy. But for China, with its growing middle class, the immediate and long-term demand for energy has the potential to spark a revolution in shale gas before sufficient and safe technological know-how and regulations are developed.
A very vocal debate continues to rage in the U.S. and Europe as to the environmental consequences of shale gas extraction. Meanwhile, Chinas National Oil Companies (NOCs) continue to purchase and buy into North American oil and gas companies with specific expertise in shale gas extraction. For better or worse, Chinas shale gas revolution looks set to be thrust into the public spotlight, both at home and abroad.
#1
This will really wad the eco-panties in the Pac NW: for 2 years or more they have been railing (no pun intended) against the BNSF railroad and the Gateway Terminal for building a coal loading terminal that would generate a need for 18 trains a day from Powder River Basin coal fields for exporting all that coal to China. They are concerned about the burning of the coal and how that will impact the air quality in the US and want that as part of the EIS for the terminal project. So it will be interesting to see how they spin this.
#3
Well, when the Sudan gets some attention, I'll take Human Rights Watch and the UN seriously, however in the meantime, I am enjoying a good round of Buddhists vs. Muslims with a nice Merlot and a big bag of popcorn.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/22/2013 17:00 Comments ||
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Bill, that's a good choice, I'm enjoying my PC with a cheeky little Shiraz, Lindeman's Bin 50 ;^)
#2
Flip side of that coin: Decision to put Europe in this position in the first place not looking so smart about now...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/22/2013 12:04 Comments ||
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...ignoring the plebiscites that said "NO" and imposing yourself on them against their will* didn't foreshadow a tranquil state of affairs in the long run when do-do hit the fan.
* making repeat 'do-overs' till you got the results you demanded wanted.
#6
As with all the PIGGS, the EU set standards for economic responsibility, but never enforced them, so now they are stuck with these bankrupt systems.
The US is becoming one big Cyprus, too. When you let irresponsibility go on so long, there are no good solutions except large amounts of pain. Like bankruptcy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/22/2013 16:27 Comments ||
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D *** NG, does MALTA know???
As per FREEREPUBLIC, Russian investors are allegedly claiming "the US is already Cyprus", hhence their decision to instead put their $$$ in Crete.
NICOSIA/MOSCOW - Russia rebuffed Cypriot entreaties for aid on Friday, leaving the island's increasingly isolated leaders scrambling to strike a bailout deal with the European Union by next week or face the collapse of its financial system.
Nicosia angrily rejected a proposed levy on tax deposits in exchange for the EU bailout on Tuesday and turned to the Kremlin to renegotiate a loan deal, win more financing and lure Russian investors to Cypriot banks and gas reserves.
"The talks have ended as far as the Russian side is concerned," Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters after two days of crisis talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Michael Sarris.
Russians have billions of euros at stake in Cyprus's outsized and now crippled banking sector, a factor in the EU's unprecedented demand that bigger depositors take a hit in the interests of keeping Cyprus afloat.
But Siluanov said Russian investors were not interested in Cypriot gas and that the talks had ended without result. Sarris was due to fly home, where lawmakers were locked in yet more crisis talks.
Could be the Russians are holding out for a better deal. Or the Russian mafia and government (but I repeat myself) have decided that the natural gas reserves and the proposed naval base aren't worth it. Or maybe Putin doesn't have the cash.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/22/2013 08:42 ||
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All are a possibility, Dr. Steve. But having Cyprus in the center of the Med seems like a good move in the Great Game.
It will be interesting and revealing to see what happens in the coming weeks. Maybe Pooty Poot is just making the Cyprus govt squirm while he gets a better deal....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/22/2013 16:35 Comments ||
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OTOH DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > RUSSIA SAYS DOOR STILL OPEN ON CYPRUS RESCUE DEAL.
[An Nahar] About 1,000 mourners massed Thursday for the cremation of a co-founder of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, highlighting the stark divide between supporters and victims of the brutal communist regime.
Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, 87, died last week while on trial for war crimes and genocide, cheating Cambodians of a verdict over his role in the regime's 1975-1979 reign of terror.
Relatives and former Khmer Rouge fighters attended the cremation outside his home in Malai, a one-time regime stronghold near the Thai border.
The pyre was lit by Y Chhean, a provincial governor and former bodyguard of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. As smoke came out of the crematory, fireworks lit the sky.
Ieng Sary's tearful widow Ieng Thirith, the regime's former social affairs minister, was among the mourners but left before the actual cremation.
Initially a co-defendant alongside her husband, she was freed in September after being deemed unfit for trial due to dementia.
Many of the mourners wore black ribbons pinned to their chests.
"Although people from outside this area accused him of genocide, he did good things for the poor people here"
"He is a hero for the people of Malai," said former Khmer Rouge cadre Long Run, 78, describing the regime co-founder as a "patriot" who defended the country from Vietnamese invaders.
"I was shocked when I heard he was dead. We're sorry that we lost him now," he told AFP.
The death of Ieng Sary, one of the regime's few public faces, intensified fears the remaining two elderly co-defendants may also die before verdicts can be reached in their trial, which began in June 2011.
"Justice for the victims is fading little by little," said Bou Meng, 72, one of a handful of people to survive incarceration at the Khmer Rouge's Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh.
He reacted angrily to the mourning for Ieng Sary in his powerbase in the remote northwestern border area, where he held out with fellow Khmer Rouge members after the regime fell from power until his defection in 1996.
"Regarding him as a hero is totally wrong," Bou Meng said in Phnom Penh. "He is a killer."
At a funeral ceremony last Friday some mourners wept, according to witnesses, even though Ieng Sary as foreign minister was accused of overseeing purges and the murder of intellectuals.
"Although people from outside this area accused him of genocide, he did good things for the poor people here," said former regime cadre Nhem Preuong, 58.
The one-time radical student was the oldest of three former leaders on trial, along with "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, 86, and former head of state Khieu Samphan, 81.
All denied charges including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated two million Cambodians through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
So far the U.N.-backed court -- which has been dogged by allegations of political meddling and frequent funding problems -- has achieved just one conviction, sentencing a former Khmer Rouge prison chief to life in jail.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/22/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"Say what you will - at least he made the trains rickshaws run on time"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/22/2013 10:19 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
An active-duty Marine shot dead two fellow service members at a base at Quantico, Virginia, then barricaded himself in a building and killed himself, prompting a brief lockdown of the base, the Marines said on Friday.
LAWRENCE, Ind., March 20 (UPI) -- 
[RADIO.FOXNEWS] Organizers of the University of Tennessee's first-ever "Sex Week" will have to find a new source of funding after embattled university officials reversed course and announced they will not fund the controversial program with state tax dollars.
WASHINGTON -- Most physicians have a pessimistic outlook on the future of medicine, citing eroding autonomy and falling income, a survey of more than 600 doctors found.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
[An Nahar] About 1,000 mourners massed Thursday for the cremation of a co-founder of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, highlighting the stark divide between supporters and victims of the brutal communist regime.
