The only way to stop this kind of crap is to stop buying DVD’s and CD’s.

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It’s an ingenious idea. Create a no-win situation for anti-choice protesters � the more picketers who demonstrate outside a Planned Parenthood clinic, the more donations the Planned Parenthood clinic receives.

A number of Planned Parenthood affiliates have created different versions of this scenario. Here’s how it works at Planned Parenthood of Central Texas (PPCT) in Waco, where the Pledge-a-Picket program is going strong: Each time a protester shows up at the clinic, a donation is made to PPCT. This campaign makes lemonade out of lemons by allowing Planned Parenthood supporters to pledge between 25 cents and one dollar per protester.

Despite the low pledge cap, which is designed to encourage donations, the money adds up, especially since the picketers never go away. Every month, participating donors get a short update on activities and a monthly billing for their pledge. It’s like sponsoring a runner in a charity marathon.

Once a week, PPCT puts a sign outside its clinic that says, “Even Our Protesters Support Planned Parenthood.” To date, the Pledge-a-Picket program has raised $18,000 for PPCT. While not a significant chunk of its overall revenues, Pledge-a-Picket contributes greatly to PPCT’s patient assistance fund, which helps clients who don’t have resources get the care they need.

Since Pledge-a-Picket was launched in January 2002 the number of supporters who are eager to do something positive for PPCT has increased. A sign indicating the amount of money raised is continually updated, so protesters know how much money they are making for the affiliate every time they show up, some with children who are also counted.

According to organizers, when the program was first launched, some of the protesters would shout, “Count me, count me!” not realizing apparently that they were raising money for the organization they were protesting.

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Vuurwerkhandelaren bedreigen bedrijven die sprinklers installeren. Dat zegt NCP-LPCB, de organisatie die toeziet op de kwaliteit van sprinklerinstallaties.

“Handelaren willen nog snel een installatie hebben, omdat ze anders geen vuurwerk mogen verkopen”, aldus een woordvoerder woensdagmorgen.

Een bedrijf zou volgens de woordvoerder zelfs beveiliging hebben ingehuurd om het personeel te beschermen, nadat een boze vuurwerkverkoper problemen had veroorzaakt. De stormloop op sprinklers heeft onder meer te maken met het bedrijf Potential Protection, dat de installaties inspecteert.

Veel vuurwerkverkopers hebben daarmee zaken gedaan. De certificaten voor sprinklerinstallaties die Potential Protection afgeeft, zijn niets meer waard. Het bedrijf moest zijn licentie inleveren “waarschijnlijk wegens wanprestatie”, denkt de woordvoerder van NCP-LPCB.

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A court has upheld European Commission�sanctions, including a record fine, brought�against Microsoft for abusing its market dominance.

The EU’s Court of First Instance has dismissed a plea for Microsoft to be freed from the penalties while�the software giant�fights them on appeal.

“The evidence adduced by Microsoft is not sufficient to show that implementation of the remedies imposed by the commission might cause serious and irreparable damage,” the court said.

The commission imposed the �497 million fine in March after finding that Microsoft had abused its overwhelming dominance in the software market for personal computers.

The company was also ordered to provide competitors with confidential coding information, and to offer a European version of its Windows operating system without its Media Player software, which offers access to audio and video content.

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Tony Blair flew into Iraq yesterday, promising democracy. But, outside the ring of security that escorted him, another day of gruesome violence was unfolding – including a rocket attack on a US base in Mosul that claimed at least 24 lives.

And, against a backdrop of continuing carnage, The Independent has learned a cross-party group of MPs has returned from Iraq convinced British troops may have to be deployed there for at least another 10 years.

Unlike the Prime Minister, the Commons Defence Select Committee was unable to visit Baghdad because the security situation was too dangerous.

One senior member of the committee said: “It will take 10 to 15 years at least [before troops can be fully withdrawn]. It is another Cyprus. The Iraqis just cannot cope with the security situation and won’t be able to for years.”

Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal (32) walks next to Denver Nuggets 5-foot 6-inch guard Earl Boykins (11) during a timeout in the second half Friday, Dec. 17, 2004, in Miami. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Just a kiss : British primatologist Jane Goodall is kissed by Pola, a young chimpanzee at Budapest’ Zoo.ZZ (AFP/Attila Kisbenedek)

In this photo released by the Loyola University Health System, Rumaisa Rahman, is seen next to a hand a few weeks after she was born at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill. Rumaisa, whose parents came from Hyderabad, India, weighed 8.6 ounces (243.80 grams) when she was delivered Sept. 19. She is believed to be the smallest baby in the world ever to survive. (AP Photo/Loyola University Health System, HO)

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

~ Lao Tzu

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Repeated references in an internal FBI email suggest that the president issued a special order to permit some of the more objectionable torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prison facilities around Iraq. The email was among a new batch of FBI documents revealed by civil rights advocates on Monday. Other documents describe the initiation of investigations into alleged incidents of torture and rape at detention facilities in Iraq.

The email, which was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, represents the first hard evidence directly connecting the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the White House. The author of the email, whose name is blanked out but whose title is described as “On Scene Commander — Baghdad,” contains ten explicit mentions of an “Executive Order” that the author said mandated US military personnel to engage in extraordinary interrogation tactics.

An Executive Order is a presidential edict — sometimes public, sometimes secretive — instituting special laws or instructions that override or complement existing legislation. The White House has officially neither admitted nor denied that the president has issued an Executive Order pertaining to interrogation techniques.

Will there be an independent counsel to investigate? I mean, the Executive branch authorizing torture ranks a little higher on the breach of ethics scale than a stained Gap dress, or have I completely lost it?

Is there anybody reading this still under the illusion that the European Union is a democracy?

Remember Software Patents? It looked like so many parliaments were against it that the best way to get them approved anyway was to have delegates nod off on the text in an unrelated committee, say the Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

But they forgot Poland!

Message to politicians: next elections you’re probably going to whine about people not showing up to vote. And when folks tell you “why should I? My vote doesn’t matter anyways” you’re probably going to claim that if they don’t vote, they shouldn’t complain. Well, go right ahead, but if you do it anywhere near where I’m standing, I’m going to punch you in the face until you wake up into the real world.

More info on this low trick to get software patents approved is here

If you want to send a thank-you note to Poland, this is the place.

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An elderly motorist driving along a 130km/h expressway in eastern France caused an accident when he followed the advice of his onboard GPS computer – and made a U-turn to drive into the high-speed traffic.

Police said the hapless 78-year-old driver, who was not named, and the occupants of the vehicle he ran into escaped unharmed from the collision late Sunday, but it could have been much worse.

The man told officers his car GPS had told him to “make a U-turn immediately” as he drove along lost on the autoroute near the town of Nancy in search of a hotel.

He did so, not realising the limitations of his satellite navigation device, which guides using verbal directions.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had a GPS incident,” one of the officers said, recalling the time a police vehicle found itself face-to-face with a motorist going the wrong way in accordance with his computer’s instructions.