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The day after the general election. John Kerry deliberated whether to hold or fold over the results in Ohio. What a privilege it is to be an American! The leadership of the executive branch hung in the balance and tanks were not rolling through the streets. Rather, journalists talked, and the people waited for the vote to be tallied.

In this climate of liberty I was confronted by an armed man on Pennsylvania Avenue. He demanded the film from my camera. In the name of the Law he proposed to relieve me of my work product. In his eyes I threatened the security of the United States of America. I had taken a picture in this public area that somehow trod on security concerns.

Note! There were no signs visible saying “no photography allowed.�? I was northeast of the White House.

At that moment I failed. Power should not emanate from the barrel of a gun, power should not be applied out of ignorance or fear.

How did I fail? I failed to politely request the officer’s name and agency. I failed to ascertain what law I had broken, I failed to ascertain by what authority (other than that of his gun) he was breeching my liberty.

(I guess that’s why there are no pictures with this story…)

For more photograph horror stories, check this.

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i don’t know what to do about this mess, but I know the answer is not more violence. if you look at these pictures and want more war you are not looking hard enough.

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Pleasanton is about to turn the fast into the furious.

In a move unprecedented in the Bay Area, the city’s traffic engineers have created a traffic signal with attitude. It senses when a speeder is approaching and metes out swift punishment.

It doesn’t write a ticket. It immediately turns from green to yellow to red.

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A television pool report by U.S. network NBC says that a U.S. Marine shot dead an unarmed and wounded Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Falluja.

The Iraqi was one of five wounded prisoners left in the mosque after Marines had fought their way in on Friday and Saturday. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon on Monday’s report.

U.S. forces launched an offensive one week ago on Falluja, and have gained overall control of the formerly rebel-held city, although scattered resistance remains.

The pool report by NBC correspondent Kevin Sites said the mosque had been used by insurgents to attack U.S. forces, who stormed it and an adjacent building, killing 10 militants and wounding the five.

Sites said the wounded had been left in the mosque for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment. No reason was given why that had not happened.

A second group of Marines entered the mosque on Saturday after reports it had been reoccupied. Footage from the embedded television crew showed the five still in the mosque, although several appeared to be already close to death, Sites said.

He said one Marine noticed one of the prisoners was still breathing.

A Marine can be heard saying on the pool footage provided to Reuters Television: “He’s fucking faking he’s dead. He faking he’s fucking dead.”

“The Marine then raises his rifle and fires into the man’s head. The pictures are too graphic for us to broadcast,” Sites said. No images of the shooting were shown in the footage provided to Reuters.

The report said the Marine, who had returned to duty after being shot in the face a day earlier, had been removed from the field and was being questioned by the U.S. military.

Sites said the shot prisoner “did not appear to be armed or threatening in any way”.

Here’s why you never send soldiers to war unless you absolutely have to – some soldiers will crack under the pressure and do things like this. I hope he gets good psychological care instead of (or in addition to) a court martial.

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The unusual case of a Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise, born two months ago in an incubator, made the headlines in various papers on Friday.

Owner John Jones, from Dorchester, who has 37 tortoises and has kept them for 55 years, said: “I was really surprised – I had never seen anything like it.

“It is perfectly healthy and is running around with all the other tortoises.

“I think each head has its own little brain because they do try to move in different directions.”

Although it is an unusual case, it is not unique. In 2003 another two-headed tortoise was found in South Africa.

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With not much original reporting, I discovered that the latest big fine by the FCC against a TV network — a record $1.2 million against Fox for its “sexually suggestive” Married by America — was brought about by a mere three people who actually composed letters of complaint. Yes, just three people.

I filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Oct. 12 asking to see all of the 159 complaints the FCC cited in its complaint against Fox.

I just received the FCC’s reply with a copy of all the complaints — and a letter explaining that, well, there weren’t 159 after all. William H. Davenport, chief of the FCC’s Investigations and Hearings Divison, admits in his letter that because the complaints were sent to multiple individuals at the FCC, it turns out there actually were only 90 complaints. It gets better: The FCC confesses that they come from only 23 individuals.

It is shocking enough that what tens of millions of us are permitted to see by our government can be determined by 159 … or 90 … or 23.

But it gets even better: I examined the complaints and found that all but two of them were virtually identical. In other words, one person took the time to write a letter and 20 other people then photocopied or merely emailed it to the FCC many times. They all came from an automated complaint factory like the one I write about here. Only two letters were not the form letter.

So in the end, that means that a grand total of three citizens bothered to take the time to sit down and actually write a letter of complaint to the FCC. Millions of people watched the show. Three wrote letters of complaint.

[..]

Note well that this is how the supposed army of “moral values” crusaders is inflated by media and government. Reading stories about the FCC’s actions, you’d think that millions are outraged by what’s on TV.

No, millions watch TV. Only three are outraged.

This is America’s “moral values” army: three strong.

It’s like a scene out of an old French Foreign Legion movie in which the tiny band of soldiers put helmets on sticks over the wall of the fort to make the stupid enemy think that they are facing not a handful but hundreds. Well, the FCC is that stupid enemy — and so are we. We swallow the notion that the “moral values” army huge and is winning elections and ruling America and demanding radical change in our own culture. Wake up: It’s three people with empty helmets sticking up over the wall thanks to email and Xerox.

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Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to push through during a lame-duck session that begins this week.

The Senate might vote on HR2391, the Intellectual Property Protection Act, a comprehensive bill that opponents charge could make many users of peer-to-peer networks, digital-music players and other products criminally liable for copyright infringement. The bill would also undo centuries of “fair use” — the principle that gives Americans the right to use small samples of the works of others without having to ask permission or pay.

The bill lumps together several pending copyright bills including HR4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, which would criminally punish a person who “infringes a copyright by … offering for distribution to the public by electronic means, with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement.” Critics charge the vague language could apply to a person who uses the popular Apple iTunes music-sharing application.

The bill would also permit people to use technology to skip objectionable content — like a gory or sexually explicit scene — in films, a right that consumers already have. However, under the proposed law, skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited. The proposed law also includes language from the Pirate Act (S2237), which would permit the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers.

Also under the proposed law, people who bring a video camera into a movie theater to make a copy of the film for distribution would be imprisoned for three years, fined or both.

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3Yen has some pics of a bunch of billboards they’ve just installed in the Toyko subway with actual working models of the PlayStation Portable behind plexiglass. And yes, they already anticipated that someone might be tempted to do a smash-and-grab, and so despite Japan’s notoriously low crime rate they’ve hired three security guards to keep an eye on things just in case.

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John Kerry’s supporters dreamed that if he were elected, he would reach out to France and other disgruntled European allies and work with them on Iraq and the Middle East peace process. It turns out that a version of this rapprochement is emerging with a victorious George W. Bush.

The Bush team has been preparing its transatlantic olive branch for the past few months, even as the president’s campaign managers were out bashing Kerry for his supposed pro-French leanings. One strategist who is familiar with the transition plans for Europe prepared by Kerry and Bush advisers in October says he was struck by how similar they were in describing the challenge: Both plans recognized that there was a crisis in transatlantic relations that had to be repaired soon after the election.

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“Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid…As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some other country where they make no pretense of loving liberty…where despotism can be taken pure, without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

– Abraham Lincoln

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Mannen en drempel-vrees voor lingerie-zaken. Het is niet meer per definitie een vanzelfsprekende combinatie.

Want heren kopen vaker zelf hun ondergoed. En goed nieuws voor verkopers: Ze geven zelf ook meer uit.

Een paar jaar geleden kocht slechts eenderde van de heren hun eigen ondergoed. Marktonderzoeker GfK heeft vastgesteld dat nu bijna de helft van de mannen (48 procent) dat doet. Dat percentage geeft bovendien 20 procent meer uit, dan wanneer de vrouw het voor hen zou kopen.
Een mannelijke ‘lingeriefan’ koopt gemiddeld 12 strakke boxers per jaar. Hij geeft daaraan 84 euro uit, tegenover 72 euro van het totale aantal kopers.
,,Heren worden modebewust. En dat uit zich niet alleen in cosmetica-aankopen en bezoeken aan de sportschool. Ook onder de zichtbare laag willen ze er goed uitzien”, verklaart Rob Brand, directeur van Sloggi.
Hans Spaen, directeur van Schiesser, beaamt dat. ,,Er is ook meer variatie. Vroeger waren alleen standaardmodellen in drie kleuren verkrijgbaar. Ook was er niet veel verschil in stof. Nu is er veel meer keuze. Met de strakke boxershort als populairste model.”

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Premier Berlusconi van Italië wil de belasting-inkomsten van zijn land vergroten door sms’jes te belasten.

Mobiele bellers in het land hebben furieus gereageerd op het plan van de premier om elk verstuurd tekstbericht met één eurocent te belasten.

Berlusconi hoopt met deze maatregel zijn doorgevoerde belastingverlagingen van de afgelopen jaren te kunnen bekostigen. De Italiaanse economie bevindt zich in een diep dal en de belastingverlagingen doen de economie verder afglijden.

Italiaanse bellers versturen jaarlijks zo’n 270 miljard sms’jes. De belasting zou de staatskas daarmee 2,7 miljard euro per jaar kunnen opleveren.

Eerder voerde de Filipijnen al een sms-belasting in, dit leverde het land miljoenen euro’s op.

Indien Nederland tot hetzelfde voorstel zou overgaan, zou dat minister Zalm zo’n 3 miljard euro opleveren. Volgens de meest recente cijfers versturen Nederlanders op jaarbasis zo’n 300 miljard mobiele tekstberichten.

A great white shark breaches the water in False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, in this undated file photo. A shark of the same species attacked and presumably killed an elderly woman, Tyna Webb, as she swam Monday Nov. 15, 2004 off Sunny Cove in Fish Hoek as she had for 17 years. About 15 people witnessed the attack and she was presumed dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Chris Fallows, Die Burger, File)

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Geachte Premier Balkenende
Geachte Minister Brinkhorst
Geachte Staatssecretaris Van Gennip

Het Europa van vandaag is een dynamische unie. De uitbreiding, de Europese grondwet: zowel overheid als burger worden er dagelijks mee geconfronteerd. In tijden van verandering is het heel belangrijk overgangsregelingen strikt te volgen en respectvol om te gaan met de intenties die aan de basis van de aanpassingen liggen.

We zijn er vast van overtuigd dat u deze zorgen deelt. Daarom willen we u graag tijdig op de hoogte brengen van een probleem dat zich voordoet tijdens het Nederlandse EU-voorzitterschap.

Op 18 mei 2004 bereikte de Europese Raad van Ministers een politiek akkoord over de Europese richtlijn over de octrooieerbaarheid van “in computers geïmplementeerde uitvindingen”. Het Ierse EU-voorzitterschap slaagde er toen in – na een uitvoerig debat – voldoende lidstaten te verzamelen voor een gekwalificeerde meerderheid.

Normaal gezien wordt deze informele overeenkomst na vertaling en juridische controle van de tekst vrij snel formeel bekrachtigd. Door omstandigheden laat de formele bekrachtiging van het bereikte politiek akkoord in dit geval al lang op zich wachten. Minister Brinkhorst meldde onlangs dat dit op de agenda staat van de Raadsformatie concurrentievermogen van 25 november aanstaande.

Zoals u weet heeft een politiek akkoord geen enkele wettelijke waarde. Het is een soort van informeel akkoord om bij een volgende EU-ministerraad een dossier zonder uitvoerige discussie officieel goed te keuren. Pas op dat moment krijgt het standpunt van de Raad officieel gestalte. Dat is onder normale omstandigheden geen probleem: zowel de lidstaten als de stemverhoudingen zijn gelijk bij de eigenlijke discussie en de formele goedkeuring.

Op 25 november 2004 zal die continuïteit met betrekking tot het politiek akkoord van 18 mei 2004 er echter niet meer zijn. Sinds 1 november 2004 is het toetredingsverdrag van toepassing, met als gevolg dat de stemgewichten van de lidstaten tijdens EU-ministerraden drastisch gewijzigd zijn. Concreet betekent dit dat de gekwalificeerde meerderheid van mei 2004 vandaag niet meer bestaat.

De gekwalificeerde meerderheid van mei 2004 bestond uit 89 voor-stemmen (met een noodzakelijk minimum van 88). Met de andere stemverhoudingen vandaag zou bij dezelfde stemming 216 stemmen gehaald worden, waar er 232 nodig zijn om een van gekwalificeerde meerderheid te kunnen spreken. (Een precieze berekening vindt u in de bijlage.)

Het mag duidelijk zijn dat de resultaten van de vorige stemming vandaag onvoldoende zijn om van een gekwalificeerde meerderheid te kunnen spreken. Op 25 november moet bij een eventuele goedkeuring immers rekening gehouden worden met het dan geldende wettelijke kader, inclusief passende stemverhoudingen. Daarom is opnieuw stemmen (rekening houdend met het toetredingsverdrag) de enige goede oplossing om de gewijzigde omstandigheden gepast op te vangen.

In uw rol als voorzitter van de EU rekenen we op u om een dergelijke nieuwe stemprocedure op de agenda te plaatsen van de volgende raadsformatie concurrentiebeleid. De Europese democratie zou ernstig geschaad worden als de stemming van mei 2004 als alibi gebruikt wordt om vandaag een voorstel goed te keuren. Dat zou funest zijn voor het geloof van de burger in een behoorlijk bestuur en een toestand van rechtsonzekerheid scheppen, met alle mogelijke gevaren vandien.

Europa verdient een transparante besluitvorming, zeker in deze tijden van verandering. We rekenen op u om dit waar te maken.

Met de meeste hoogachting

Dieter Van Uytvanck
in naam van FFII, Vrijschrift en meer dan 360.000 bezorgde Europeanen

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Authorities in Pennsylvania are dropping charges against a woman who used a phoney 200-dollar bill featuring President Bush.
The fake bill has the current president’s face on the front with the serial number DUBYA-4-U-2001. There’s a picture of the White House on the back with several signs erected on the front lawn, including those reading “We Like Broccoli” and “U-S-A Deserves A Tax Cut.”

The charges were dropped after the woman repaid the store in full.

Her attorney says she was unaware the currency was fake. The clerk at the store where she used it was also fooled and gave the woman more than a hundred dollars in change.

Wow. There’s stupid people everywhere, but this…