Six people have been arrested on suspicion of stealing credit cards, personal information and banking details as part of a suspected online banking fraud.
On Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 August 2010, officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), assisted by the MPS Territorial Support Group and the Irish Garda Síochana Fraud Investigation Bureau, executed five search warrants across London and at an address in Navan, County Meath, Ireland.
Five men and one woman, aged 25 to 40, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit online banking fraud and Computer Misuse Act offences. They all currently remain in custody at a central London police station whilst enquiries are ongoing.
The arrests are part of Operation Dynamophone, an investigation by the PCeU into a network of suspects believed to have systematically obtained large quantities of personal information, such as online bank account passwords and credit card numbers. The network is suspected of using online phishing in order to steal money from those accounts and use credit card details fraudulently. The offences have been committed almost entirely online.
Enquiries indicate that more than 10,000 online bank accounts and 10,000 credit cards have been compromised. Attempted bank account take-over fraud amounting to approximately £1.14 million has been identified with £358,000 stolen successfully . The total amount stolen using compromised credit cards has yet to be established, but by using the industry agreed standard formula is estimated to be worth more than £3 million.
The online scam is believed to have stemmed from the gang sending large quantities of unsolicited spam emails, directing unsuspecting victims to spoof web sites, purporting to be legitimate online banking sites. Once victims reached the site, they were lured into providing their banking passwords and other personal information. This information was used by the suspected fraudsters to then unlawfully enter the victims' online bank accounts and transfer funds. Credit card details were obtained and exploited in the same way. The full extent of this network's profit has yet to be established.
Detective Inspector Colin Wetherill, from the PCeU, said: "We have taken this action to shut down an organised criminal network running an online phishing and account take-over operation. A great deal of personal information was compromised and cleverly exploited for substantial profit. By disrupting the operation we have hopefully prevented further loss to individuals and institutions across the UK.
"We are working to reduce the harm caused by organised criminals operating online and to bring to justice those committing these offences. However, we all have a role to play in protecting our personal information and I would urge the public to exercise great care when supplying their personal details online and to take the advice given at www.getsafeonline.org."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > JAPAN'S [missing]ELDERLY/SENIOR CITIZENS DO NOT EVEN EXIST, MASSIVE NATIONWIDE SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD [Pensions] BY JAPANESE FAMILIES.
Tokyo Govt-Police discovering that a large number of Japan's allged 100-YEARS-OR-OLDER SENIOR CITIZENS never were legit Octogenarians andor are no longer alive save in Name + usage by family members in various illegal or fraudulent, post-death Pension schemes.
It's hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red. If they aren't complaining, it isn't legal.
So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again. Shooting themselves in the foot. For the umpteenth time.
Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license. Congratulations, nazis. You've ruined another future entrepreneur! Gonna be a big help in another 20 years or so. Might as well let them know today what they can expect tomorrow.
Turns out that kids' lemonade stands -- those constants of summertime -- are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors. They're not so constant anymore. And things like this are the cause. Thanks, nazis, for ruining another bit of life. You all get my vote next time around! High five!
"I understand the reason behind what they're doing and it's a neighborhood event, and they're trying to generate revenue," said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. "But we still need to put the public's health first." How about the public's mental health? What's the last time you had an outbreak of cholera from a lemonade stand?
Julie had become enamored of the idea of having a stand after watching an episode of cartoon pig Olivia running one, said her mother, Maria Fife. The two live in Oregon City, but Fife knew her daughter would get few customers if she set up her stand at home. So she sent her off to the nazi lion's den.
Plus, Fife had just attended Last Thursday along Portland's Northeast Alberta Street for the first time and loved the friendly feel and the diversity of the grass-roots event. She put the two things together and promised to take her daughter in July. Careful, that place is populated by a bunch of idiots trying to prove the value of their phoney-baloney jobs.
The girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying "Yummy." She made a list of supplies.
Then, with gallons of bottled water and packets of Kool-Aid, they drove up last Thursday with a friend and her daughter. They loaded a wheelbarrow that Julie steered to the corner of Northeast 26th and Alberta and settled into a space between a painter and a couple who sold handmade bags and kids' clothing.
Even before her daughter had finished making the first batch of lemonade, a man walked up to buy a 50-cent cup.
"They wanted to support a little 7-year-old to earn a little extra summer loot," she said. "People know what's going on."
Even so, Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping everything covered when it wasn't in use, Fife said. Man, with all those precautions, it kinda makes you wonder how people even survived the 50's.
After 20 minutes, a "bitch lady with a clipboard" came over and asked rhetorically for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.
Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.
That's when business really picked up -- and two a$$hole inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.
Technically, any lemonade stand -- even one on your front lawn -- must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state's public health division. But county inspectors are unlikely to go after kids selling lemonade on their front lawn unless, he conceded, their front lawn happens to be on Alberta Street during Last Thursday.
"When you go to a public event and set up shop, you're suddenly engaging in commerce," he said. "The fact that you're small-scale I don't think is relevant." That's funny. The rest of the crowd thinks you're wrong. Maybe you need to think about your role in society. Go find some restaurant that is deep-frying rats in their french fries or something.
Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. "Our role is to protect the public," he said. Your "role" is to do what the public wants you to do.
The county's shutdown of the lemonade stand was publicized by Michael Franklin, the man at the booth next to Fife and her daughter. Franklin contributes to the Bottom Up Radio Network, an online anarchist site, and interviewed Fife for his show. Oops, bet you didn't count on the public having a say in the matter. How inconvenient they are. If you are trying to protect them, and they want you to go away, you are doing something wrong. Figure it out.
Franklin is also organizing a "Lemonade Revolt" for Last Thursday in August. He's calling on anarchists, neighbors and others to come early for the event and grab space for lemonade stands on Alberta between Northeast 25th and Northeast 26th. I wish people would put this much energy into getting rid of our current crop of legislators, and not waste their time toppling statues and whining about local officials who can be replaced later.
As for Julie, the 7-year-old still tells her mother "it was a bad day." When she complains about the health inspector, Fife reminds her that the woman was just doing her job. She also promised to help her try again -- at an upcoming neighborhood garage sale. "Just doing my job." Sounds a lot like Nuremburg.
While Fife said she does see the need for some food safety regulation, she thinks the county went too far in trying to control events as unstructured as Last Thursday. Obama thingks you're wrong. But he would like you to keep wasting your energy on little crap like this so he can continue with an agenda that will make this an everyday occurence.
"As far as Last Thursday is concerned, people know when they are coming there that it's more or less a free-for-all," she said. "It's gotten to the point where they need to be in all of our decisions. They don't trust us to make good choices on our own." Next time, don't vote for Obama.
#2
you're suddenly engaging in commerce," he said.
Commerce! Oh, the humanity!. The man's got a point. Without the watchful eye of Government, we'd have thespians in the public parks, people practicing celibacy and gawd knows what else. Where would it end?
#3
I doubt there would be a problem if the kid set up the lemonade stand and took donations for the donk re-election fund. Does this mean that blind beggars selling pencils are going to have problems too? It is time to jerk the politicians' permits to operate who make such laws that allow kids to be abused.
#4
I used to think that writing my congressman was a waste of time. I've done it twice in my life and both times, in two different states the guy came through for me as put some foot to ass. The first time was when I was having trouble with the University of Northern Kentucky, after writing him the President of the University called my directly to 'rectify' the problem.
I wonder what 15 people writing their congressman about an outrage like this could accomplish, especially if he were running for reelection this Nov.
#6
apparently they have too many regulators if they have time to go after this. this is what over-intrusive government looks like.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/05/2010 16:19 Comments ||
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#7
this is truly a disgrace for you to use Nazi language to describe this situation. Were you thrown into a concentration camp? Asked to live in unbearable conditions struggling for a sense of decency...raped, watching family murdered? Did you experience this? or your ancestors? It's truly disrespectful to think of this situation in a Nazi context.
While the point you wish to make is technically accurate, the word Nazi has degenerated in colloquial English into a simple pejorative. It has occurred because 'manners' were out the window sometime in the 60s. The value of the word has become debased and will soon be joined by the word racist as another word that once carried value, but which has been abused to such an extent that it no longer holds its original intent. Today its largely employed as a descriptive of an authoritarian figure or person of position who acts without any sense other than the exercise of power.
#9
"disgusted" that horse is already well out of the barn. You want to blame, point your finger squarely at the "Bush is a Nazi" drumbeat from the lunatic left for 8 years from 2000-2008.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
08/05/2010 17:39 Comments ||
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#10
Were you thrown into a concentration camp? Asked to live in unbearable conditions struggling for a sense of decency...raped, watching family murdered? Did you experience this? or your ancestors? It's truly disrespectful to think of this situation in a Nazi context.
Yes, actually. In fact, we're in Germany to watch my mother being honoured by several communities here for what she and her family endured at the hands of the Nazis. If you happen to wander into the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. you can read my grandmother's war memoir in the archive there. The curators are particularly fond of it because Mama provided a lovely English translation with photos, maps, and informative appendices -- it was, after all, the kind of project my little PhD mother enjoyed getting her teeth into, so she did herself proud.
Oh, and what Procopius2k said about common useage. As a life-long pedant myself, I appreciate the limitations of the outlook.
We're trying to communicate here. You need to figure out what I was trying to say and not nitpick. Everybody but you figured out what I was trying to say. Except you. You need to think about what this means.
And yes, I know about the part of the Nazi government that you seem to be obsessed with. In fact, part of my family owned a newspaper and pi$$ed off the Kaiser and had to hightail it out of Germany with only the clothes on their backs and came to the good ol' U.S. of A.
Another part of my family can tell you everything you want to know about the Nazi military. They had to flee Morocco because they were coming. I've got some train stories for you when you come out from hiding behind your new nym.
No, I don't use the term disrespectfully. I just take advantage of it's common meaning for ease of communication. There is more to the Nazi party than just their military, you know. Like the fact that they had total control of the population. Sort of like what Obama is aiming for but on steroids.
So, tell me, why are you up on your ear about use of the common term? What are you trying to accomplish, and what will that accomplishment buy you? Is it realistic, or just honorable? Are you planning on going through your whole life with this chip on your shoulder?
And if you don't like that, please go somewhere else to take a dump.
#14
FYI, my wife's side were refugees from Hungary, driven out by the Nazis. We still have the immigration papers, they were lucky, they got out in 1938.
A day after Bristol Babycakes Palin announced her engagement to Levi Baby Daddy Johnston was off -- again -- she said she wanted her ex to be more like her dad, who "works his butt off." Ummm... That doesn't sound a lot like Levi...
"It is true that I wanted Levi to be at home, complete his education and get a regular job," Palin told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive statement. "Levi told me he wanted the same thing." "... or maybe to start a band. Or join a commune..." He told you he loved you, too, dumbass...
The couple's tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship became decidedly off Tuesday when Palin, 19, said Johnston may have fathered a child with another teenage girl. "At least we think it's a child..."
The news, she told People magazine, came the same day last month that they went public with their rekindled romance. "Hey, there! You with the stars in your eyes...!"
Now, it seems, the war of words between the young parents has picked up again after a brief respite. "I suppose you realize this means war!"
"I see that Levi's representative said I expected Levi to be more like my dad. Exactly," Palin said in her statement to "GMA." "My dad works his butt off and always put his family first. Every woman should want a husband like that," she said. "That is what I expected from Levi." "She's too demanding for me," replied Levi.
Palin, mom to 19-month-old Tripp, didn't name the young woman she believes is pregnant with Johnston's child. "Actually I don't care who it is. I'm just happy it's not me..."
Rumors swirled last week that Johnston, 20, had impregnated his former girlfriend, Lanesia Garcia. But Garcia, 20, told Usmagazine.com Saturday that those reports are "not true at all." "Nope. Levi didn't validate his manhood on me!"
Palin claims she has only seen Johnston once in the past three weeks. What eventually pushed her away were his fame-hungry ways. "Yup. Yup. I'm gonna be a star!"
"The final straw was him flying to Hollywood for what he told me was to see some hunting show but come to find out it was that music video mocking my family," she told People. "He's just obsessed with the limelight and I got played." Picked right up on that, didn't she? No, not right away, but she finally got it, and good for her ...
But she hasn't lost hope that she'll find love and a man to be a father for Tripp. "I have faith that I'll find it," she told People. "Through this whole experience I know I need a man who's going to be completely honest with me and someone who loves me and Tripp and wants to be with him all the time. I also want someone who has religious beliefs and a good family." There are lots of nice fellows out there. Levi's not one of them. If she's smart her next move will be to stop talking with People, US and the other trash magazines ...
She's got support from her mother. ... who appears to be a paragon of patience...
"I wish for Bristol to be able to move forward in life with her same forgiving, gracious, optimistic spirit, but from henceforth she'll know to trust but verify," Sarah Palin said in a statement to People. "Bristol is strong, she is independent, and she knows what is right for her son." "She's just not real bright when it comes to fellows..."
While Sarah Palin didn't condone her daughter reuniting with Johnston, the now split couple ecstatically announced their second engagement in July via the cover of Us Weekly magazine. I missed it. I had to wash my hair that week.
"It felt right," Palin told the magazine at the time, "even though we don't have the approval of our parents." [gag]
She added that she planned for Johnston and Tripp to wear matching camouflage vests at their outdoor wedding. It's too much for me. I'll be spending the rest of the evening drinking...
In June, Bristol Palin told ABC's "Good Morning America" that she was reuniting with Johnston for the sake of their 1-year-old son, Tripp. "I am doing my best to raise a happy, active and healthy boy," Palin said. "I believe that wherever possible, if the parents can cooperate and co-parent in a positive way, the child will benefit. Levi and I are turning a new page here as co-parents to this wonderful boy and putting aside the past because doing so is in Tripp's best interest."
Palin and Johnston's first engagement fell apart in March 2009 after they appeared together throughout Sarah Palin's 2008 vice presidential campaign. Following the breakup, Palin became a spokeswoman for teen abstinence, while Johnston chose a decidedly different path: posing for Playgirl magazine and exploring his options in the reality TV realm.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2010 00:00 ||
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She's just young and stupid. At least she's a bit older and wiser now.
Posted by: Martini ||
08/05/2010 1:58 Comments ||
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#2
...Just had to deal with a moron along the same lines as young Levi here. Lad is the babydaddy for a young woman of my acquaintance, and he has ZERO motivation to do anything. I got him a job at our factory and he lasted three days.
Was complaining about the sweat in his eyes.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/05/2010 9:36 Comments ||
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#3
"A man may smile, and smile - and be a villan."
-- Wm. Shakespeare
#5
If Levi is going to continue to be a tabloid himbo and Short Attention Span Theater star, this photo can be easily merged with a goat body to form a satyr. Of course, with any luck his 15 minutes are finally over.
#1
A great example of what is happening throughout the contracting system in our Federal Government. The real tragedy is that our Marines are expected to launch successful combat operations from these piles of crap. I wonder how many (more) will die because of greed and cronyism.
The USS Murtha is a very fitting name for one of these crap wagons.
#3
A great example of what is happening throughout the contracting system in our Federal Government.
Based on personal experience:
1. Lack of contracting professionals and procurement experts on the government side hurts. It's traditionally been a thankless job, and even though the professional standards have been raised (and the salary as well- a bit), it continues to be a thankless job. You can make more money in the private sector and have fewer ulcers.
2. The article mentions lobbyists. Keenster mentions cronyism. Left out is the political interference (and outright threats). Remember who approves the promotions...
3. The Navy's long had a problem with shipyards. One ship I was on was the last built by a particular East Coast yard and contained every leftover from past projects (think 25 models of pumps, all doing the same job). It got accepted because it was desperately needed. My last ship went through a Navy yard as its last overhaul project; it went back into drydock less than a year later when an INSURV showed the hull to be dangerously thin in places (something that should've been caught).
And yes- both states the yards were in had political clout.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] The Libyan government was conned of $4 million (Sh320) by a Zimbabwean national who was overseeing its investments in the southern African country. The case now before a Harare magistrate is set to expose Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's shadowy investments in Zimbabwe.
Gaddafi has been rumoured to have strong business links with President Robert Mugabe and his family.
In 2002, Mugabe's eccentric wife Grace was said to have sold a mansion in of one of Harare's plush suburbs to Gaddafi for $5 million. The mansion known as Gracelands had been built using funds meant for poor civil servants.
The latest controversy surrounds a former employee of Zimbabwe's state broadcaster who was left in charge of businesses belonging to the Libyan government two years ago.
According to the state, sometime in 1999 the Libyan government invested in Zimbabwe's transport and property sectors. Tripoli registered a company known as Crieff Investments, which later changed to Aldawlia Investments. It bought 12 haulage trucks and properties, which included 10 flats in Harare.
In 2008, Stanely Masendo, a Zimbabwean national was left to manage the company after Libya's representative fell ill. Mr Masendo allegedly forged documents to collect income from the company and the offence was discovered early this year.
Harare and Tripoli have in the past tried to enter into joint business deals involving the importation of fuel to the landlocked Zimbabwe. However, most of the deals have fallen through because Zimbabwe did not have enough money to meet its part of the bargain.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION TOPIX > [ROK] KOREA CONFIRMS IT HAS TRADE PROBLEMS WID LIBYA, IRAN.
* RELATED > TOPIX/JOONGANGDAILY > KOREA TIES WID AFRICA BOTCHED + FOR SPY CASE, LIBYA ASKS US$1.0BILYUHN FROM SEOUL:SOURCE, + IRAN SANCTIONS A KOREAN CONUNDRUM.
* SAME > POLICE FEAR 60,000 CARS COULD EXPLODE [Missing Tonnes of cheap or illegal, imported CHINA-MADE AC REFRIGERANT].
A majority of people in the Arab world now hold a negative view of President Barack Obama and the United States in a substantial change from how he was seen at the start of his presidency, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday.
Sixty-two percent hold a dim view of Obama and the United States compared with 20 percent who view them in a positive light, according to the 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll released by Washington-based think tank The Brookings Institution.
In a survey early in his presidency, only 23 percent of respondents in six countries expressed a negative view of Obama and the United States, while 45 percent were positive about the new administration, which took office in January 2009.
In the latest poll, 63 percent said they were discouraged by Obama's Middle East policy and 16 percent said they were hopeful.
The findings also marked a reversal from the previous year, when more than half were optimistic about U.S. Middle East policy and only 15 percent were discouraged.
A majority (61 percent) of the nearly 4,000 people in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates said they were most disappointed with Obama's policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iraq was the second most disappointing issue, but it was a distant second with a mere 27 percent of respondents calling it a top priority.
More than half of those polled (54 percent) said an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement would improve their views of the United States the most.
In last year's survey, half the respondents said withdrawing troops from Iraq was the number-one thing the United States could do to improve its image in the Arab world.
Among other findings, a majority of the Arab public now see a nuclear-armed Iran as being better for the Middle East.
!?!?
Fifty-seven percent believe Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, about the same as in 2009 but up from 39 percent in 2008.
Fifty-seven percent said that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons the likely outcome would be more positive for the Middle East, compared with 21 percent who say it would be a more negative development.
What happened in the past year that made almost 30% of Arabs decide to embrace the idea of Ahmadinejad with nukes? This statistic, if accurate, would seem to demand an explanation. Back in the day, a reporter or two might have gone to the Arab countries and found out for themselves. These days, any explanation offered by most 'journalists' will consist of whatever interpretation is most convenient for their own personal ideological outlook.
Last year, only 29 percent thought a nuclear-armed Iran would be good for the region, while 46 percent said the likely outcome would be more negative.
The unusual deal is part of a new United Nations initiative to persuade energy-rich countries not to drill for oil and gas in environmentally sensitive areas. Ecuador has therefore agreed not to touch three oil fields in the Yasuni region of the Amazon for the next ten years, if rich countries buy enough 'Amazon bonds'. Under the terms, donating nations pay an amount per year for a decade - receiving no dividend except an environmental one. I offer a better deal, for 100 bars of gold bullion, I will do nothing for the rest of my life.
#8
That could make for some spectacularly messy derailment situations. I can just imagine drivers freaking out driving on a clear, sunny day when one of those things suddenly passes overhead too--unless they're set to move much slower than the traffic beneath them.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/05/2010 13:42 Comments ||
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#9
Ummm, in the old days we called these "The El".
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
08/05/2010 14:17 Comments ||
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#10
I was thinking more along the lines of Grave Digger.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/05/2010 11:31 ||
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It must suck for AP since Bush left. Instead of dancing in the street, they gotta scramble for big words to find an excuse for this that gets Barry off the hook.
#2
Apparently, "unexpectedly" means "jobs went the opposite way than what we thought and the economy is still hurting and we have to spin this so teh 0ne doesn't look like more of an idiot".
#4
Those of us who live in fly-over land who don't work for the Federal government know the economy sucks and it is likely to continue to suck until the current crop of central-planning meddling big-government socialists are gone.
#1
make sure you drop the responsibility for this turd directly on the doorstep of the RINOs that let this not only get to a vote by killing the filibuster, but that also voted for confirmation.
thanks for nothing Ghramnesty you a$$-hat...
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/05/2010 16:31 Comments ||
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#2
Not really surprising. The idealogical make-up of the court is the same and it isn't worth expending political capital on this.
However, it really needs to be brough up again and again for the RHINOs in 2012 when they go to the voters and ask to be rehired.
#4
So ogabe got two mediocre legal minds on to the Court. Not like there weren't some of those before. Balance has not changed, time to sit back and watch the fun...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/05/2010 17:34 Comments ||
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#5
Could not have occurred without 5 Rinos and 2 so-called independents and a turncoat.
Black political activists who also call themselves members of the Tea Party movement on Wednesday rebuked charges of racism running rampant in the group.
At a news conference in Washington, the black members asserted that the Tea Party is not at all racist and that the accusations come from outsiders trying to discredit and sabotage the movement.
"The injection of race has come from those who want to destroy us," said Selena Owens, an regular speaker with the Tea Party Express, one of the many libertarian, anti-tax groups in the movement that organized the news conference.
Herman Cain, a radio talk show host, said the accusations are "hurled at us to divide us and to deflect attention away from the failed policies of this congress and this president."
Kevin Jackson, author of "The Big Black Lie" added, "There are two kinds of people I have never seen at a Tea Party: a racist and anyone who owns a yacht. And if they do own a yacht, they pay their taxes."
The Tea Party Express organized the news conference to refute accusations of racism that have been heightened by the recent split with former group leader Mark Williams. Recently, Williams posted a letter on his blog written from "Colored People" to Abraham Lincoln, which suggested that black people would choose slavery over having to do real work.
"Our slowness to split with Mark should by no means condone racism. It was just out of loyalty to our friend," said William Owens, a black conservative author who has also been a featured speaker on past Tea Party Express tours.
The letter Williams wrote on his blog immediately led to a war of words between him and the NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which specifically called Williams a racist and suggested there are many more inside the Tea Party movement.
The black activists at Wednesday's event were at some times dismissive of the NAACP, and at other times outright hostile toward the organization.
"I don't think the NAACP are even relevant anymore," said Tim Johnson, vice chairman of the North Carolina GOP. "I think they just did that to get some news coverage."
Niger Innis, a spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality was more direct.
"I have nothing but respect for the tradition of the NAACP, but I have nothing but contempt for the current leadership and tactics of the current leadership," he said. "There's still a need for the [group], but not if they continue to let themselves be prostituted by some elements of the Democratic party."
When asked about an incident where Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a black Democrat from Missouri, was allegedly spit on during a Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill last march, Robert Broadus, who is running for a U.S. congressional seat in Maryland, said, "It never happened."
Innis added:"There's no evidence, and we are a country of laws."
#1
Black political activists who also call themselves members of the Tea Party movement
You are in danger of being called racists, Uncle Toms, crackers, or right-wing extremist red necks by those in power. In other words, "We have a good scam/shakedown going for us, don't mess with it."
[Straits Times] A MALAYSIAN state is to allow Muslim girls under the age of consent of 16 years to wed in a bid to stem unwed pregnancies, angering the country's women's activists and politicians.
The Islamic council in the southern Malaysian state of Malacca on Tuesday announced that it would to allow marriage for Muslims below the current minimum age of 16 years for females and 18 for males.
'This is an outrage. We're turning back the clock when there's ample evidence to show that we should not condone child marriages,' said Ivy Josiah, executive director of Women's Aid Organisation, a rights group.
Muslims make up about 60 per cent of the 28 million population of the South-east Asian country and fall under Islamic family and criminal laws individually drafted and run by each of the country's 13 states. Non-Muslims come under federal civil laws. The chief minister of Malacca, Mohammad Ali Rustam, said permission would only be granted after consent by the teenager's families as well as the state Islamic courts. 'For the state government, this is the best step to deal with the problem of abandoned babies and unwed pregnancies,' he was quoted as saying by the Utusan Malaysia newspaper.
Malacca earlier announced that the state would open a special school for Muslim girls who become pregnant out of wedlock, a move that also came under fire from rights groups. 'This is a knee-jerk reaction, and such policies should not be carved out by state religious authorities but the federal Ministries of Women, Education, and Health,' said Ms Josiah.
Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said that underage marriage was 'morally and socially unacceptable'. The number of underage pregnancies in Malaysia rose to 111 in the first four months of this year from 107 in 2008, according to government numbers. UN data showed that in 2006, the latest for which numbers are available, the rate per 1,000 births was 12 in Malaysia compared with 52 per 1,000 in neighbouring Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2010 00:00 ||
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UN data showed that in 2006, the latest for which numbers are available, the rate per 1,000 births was 12 in Malaysia compared with 52 per 1,000 in neighbouring Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
No need for a moral judgement here.
Posted by: Spearong Prince of the Bunions9034 ||
08/05/2010 1:55 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] A MALAYSIAN woman lost a court battle on Wednesday to nullify her conversion to Islam when she was a child, but vowed to fight on to be recognised as a Hindu.
The interfaith dispute could further anger non-Muslims who have long complained that their religious rights are being sidelined in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and may erode minority support for the government.
Malaysia's secular High Court ruled it had no jurisdiction to hear the case as Banggarma Subramaniam is a Muslim and should refer to the Islamic Syariah court, said her lawyer Gooi Hsiao Leung.
Mrs Banggarma has said she and her three siblings were under the care of a government orphanage in northern Penang state when she was converted to Islam by welfare officials in 1989 when she was seven years old.
She ran away when she was 16 and got married two years later in 2001 in a traditional Hindu ceremony. When she returned to the home to collect her identity card and other documents, she was given the Muslim conversion certificate which listed her name as Siti Hasnah Vanga-rama Abdullah.
She has been unable to register her marriage or name her husband as the father of their two children in their birth certificates as she is listed a Muslim. Mrs Banggarma's husband must convert to Islam to legally wed her as marriage between Muslims and non-Muslims is not allowed in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2010 00:00 ||
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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.
It's hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.
A day after 
Hey, there! You with the stars in your eyes...!"
A majority of people in the Arab world now hold a negative view of President Barack Obama and the United States in a substantial change from how he was seen at the start of his presidency, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday.
[Straits Times] A MALAYSIAN state is to allow Muslim girls under the age of consent of 16 years to wed in a bid to stem unwed pregnancies, angering the country's women's activists and politicians.
