North Korea vows no softening despite new leader

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea warned the world Friday there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea's government after Kim Jong Il's death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir's authority with a new title: Great Leader.

North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission said that the country would never deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who stopped a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008.

The stern message also said North Korea was uniting around Kim Jong Un, referring to him for the first time with the title Great Leader ? previously used for his father ? in a clear message of continuity. It was the latest incremental step in a burgeoning personality cult around the son following the Dec. 17 death of Kim Jong Il.

The younger Kim on Thursday was pronounced Supreme Leader of the ruling party, military and people at a massive public gathering on the final day of official mourning for his father.

The top levels of government appear to have rallied around Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s, in the wake of his father's death. Still, given his inexperience and age, there are questions outside North Korea about his leadership of a nation engaged in delicate negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

"We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us," the National Defense Commission said. "We will never deal with the traitor group of Lee Myung-bak."

In a bellicose voice, a female news anchor for state TV read the National Defense Commission statement, saying the "evil misdeeds" of the Lee administration reached a peak when it prevented South Koreans from visiting North Korea to pay respects to Kim Jong Il, except for two delegations led by a former first lady and a business leader, both of whose husbands had ties to North Korea.

North Korea had said foreign official delegations would not be allowed at the funeral but that it would welcome any South Koreans who wanted to travel to pay respects to Kim.

"Even though we lost Kim Jong Il, we have the dear respected Kim Jong Un," Kang Chol Bok, a 28-year-old officer of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, told The Associated Press. "We will turn our profound sorrow into strength and courage."

The North's statement is a warning for Seoul not to take the new leadership lightly, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

"It is also raising the stakes in case the South wants better relations so Pyongyang can extract greater concessions" during any later talks, Koh said. He added that it's "too early to say the North is dashing hopes for reforms."

While blasting the South's leader, the North also offered a bit of hope for improved ties with the South, saying it "will continue to push hard toward the path of improved relations."

But it added that any better ties won't be "based on the deceitful ploys South Korea is employing by mixing 'toughness' and 'flexibility.'" Seoul has signaled a change in its approach toward Pyongyang in recent months, saying it will be more flexible in dealing with the North.

South Korea's Unification Ministry will maintain its North Korea policy and not react to every statement out of Pyongyang, according to a ministry official who declined to be identified citing the sensitivity of the relations between the countries.

On Thursday, a somber Kim Jong Un stood with his head bowed at the Grand People's Study House, overlooking Kim Il Sung Square, named for his grandfather, who founded modern North Korea. A huge crowd of mourners gathered below.

Kim Jong Un was flanked by top party and military officials, including Kim Jong Il's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband, Jang Song Thaek, who are expected to serve as mentors of their young nephew.

"The father's plan is being implemented," Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank, said of the transfer of power. "All of these guys have a vested interest in the system and a vested interest in demonstrating stability. The last thing they want to do is create havoc."

Titles are important in North Korea and part of the myth-building surrounding the Kim family legacy.

Kim Il Sung, the country's first and only president, retains the title Eternal President even after his death.

Kim Jong Il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defense Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defense Commission made him Supreme Leader of North Korea.

Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. Since his father's death, North Korean officials and state media have given him a series of new titles: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and now Great Leader.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Scott McDonald and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/APklug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-30-AS-Kim-Jong-Il/id-ac2fdf675db84880b30c862ffd590be7

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Knives are out over Team Canada?s goal-scoring song

EDMONTON - There?s a bit of a goal song controversy brewing at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Some fans and even sports broadcasters are questioning why Team Canada is using the same tune to celebrate each goal ? Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis ? as the Chicago Blackhawks play at the United Center.

Twitter was aflutter with cranky comments during Team Canada?s game against Finland, where the ?do do do. do do do? song was played eight times Monday at Rexall Place.

?I seriously can?t believe that every single Canadian isn?t rising up in outrage over Chelsea Dagger right now. NOW is when you riot, Canada,? tweeted @katebits, a hockey fan from Buffalo, New York.

?Blasphemy,? wrote Chris Boden, who hosts Chicago?s pre- and post-game TV shows on Comcast SportsNet.

?So @HockeyCanada is going to use Chelsea Dagger as the theme song for goals at the WJHC. Kill me now! #canucks,? tweeted @vancan19, a hockey blogger also known as Josh Hall from Burnaby, B.C.

The boppy, bratty rock number brings up bad memories for fans and players of the Vancouver Canucks, who were bounced by the Blackhawks in the second round of the 2009 and 2010 playoffs.

A Global B.C. reporter famously asked a few Canucks to listen to the song on an iPod to gauge their responses.

?Nightmare,? said defenceman Shane O?Brien.

?Worst song in hockey. I don?t even want to listen to it anymore,? snapped Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa, taking off the headphones in disgust. ?I was in the press box last game in Chicago, and I heard it six times ? and I was cringing every time. So we all know about that song in this room ? and we all hate it.?

Of course, not everyone is disgusted with the choice of Chelsea Dagger as Team Canada?s goal song.

Blackhawks fans and Canucks haters seem to be tops among those rallying to the tune?s defence on Twitter.

?Thrilled listening to chelsea dagger everytime canada scores. nothing like reminding your fella canadians how much the BLACKHAWKS rule,? tweeted @ImBlairCollins from Grande Prairie.

?I like that Chelsea Dagger is being used as the goal song. Only cause it will piss off those from Vancouver,? posted @TheRatTrick, also known as hockey blogger Frank Rekas from Plantation, Fla.

The members of The Fratellis, a band from Glasgow, Scotland, are currently pursuing other projects. Chelsea Dagger was the second single from their debut album, Costello Music, released in 2006. The Blackhawks started using the song ? about ?an androgynous groupie,? according to British music magazine NME ? during the 2008-2009 NHL season.

?You?re just happy for anyone to use something that you do,? frontman Jon Fratelli once told aolnews.com about Chicago?s use of the song. ?It?s really handy that (the Blackhawks) score so much.?

Hockey Canada did not respond to interview requests to explain why the song was chosen..

ssperounes@edmontonjournal.com

Twitter.com/Sperounes

? Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Source: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/world-junior-hockey/Knives+over+Team+Canada+goal+scoring+song/5916313/story.html

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Seismic shifts in Bay Area sports in 2011

Scott Anger / AP

As 2011 enters the last lap, here's a look at the top 10 Bay Area stories of the year.

1. Al Davis dies at 82: The death of Raiders owner Al Davis (above, in 1989) was the passing of a true icon - a word often overused, but not here.

The Raiders' long-term prospects became murky with the loss of the man who defined the franchise for 49 years. But their immediate future could fall in line with Davis' legacy of rebellion and creative chaos.

In a classically erratic season, his Raiders are threatening to take down both the NFL's single-season penalty record and make the playoffs anyway - perhaps at the expense of the league's newest icon.

If Tim Tebow and the Broncos miss the playoffs, network executives will be devastated. Yielding a spot to the Raiders would be a double blow to suits everywhere, vindicating Carson Palmer, the quarterback who stood up to his Bengals boss and forced a trade.

Davis died Oct. 8 without a hint that Palmer would become the quarterback of his team 3 1/2 weeks later. But he always did love the outlaws. One of his last acts was acquiring Terrelle Pryor, an NCAA miscreant, through the supplemental draft.

And for all his business savvy, Davis never, ever identified with the suits. He fought his fellow owners on issues large and small, once going to court to challenge the Panthers for encroaching on the Raiders' team colors and Tampa Bay for borrowing too much of his beloved pirate logo.

Other teams can claim three Super Bowl wins. None has a legacy that resembles what Davis left to the Raiders.

As 2011 enters the last lap, here's a look at the top 10 Bay Area stories of the year.

1. Al Davis dies at 82: The Raiders' long-term prospects became murky with the loss of the man who defined the franchise for 49 years. But their immediate future could fall in line with Davis' legacy of rebellion and creative chaos.

In a classically erratic season, his Raiders are threatening to take down both the NFL's single-season penalty record and make the playoffs anyway - perhaps at the expense of the league's newest icon.

If Tim Tebow and the Broncos miss the playoffs, network executives will be devastated. Yielding a spot to the Raiders would be a double blow to suits everywhere, vindicating Carson Palmer, the quarterback who stood up to his Bengals boss and forced a trade.

Davis died Oct. 8 without a hint that Palmer would become the quarterback of his team 3 1/2 weeks later. But he always did love the outlaws. One of his last acts was acquiring Terrelle Pryor, an NCAA miscreant, through the supplemental draft.

And for all his business savvy, Davis never, ever identified with the suits. He fought his fellow owners on issues large and small, once going to court to challenge the Panthers for encroaching on the Raiders' team colors and Tampa Bay for borrowing too much of his beloved pirate logo.

Other teams can claim three Super Bowl wins. None has a legacy that resembles what Davis left to the Raiders.

2. Jim Harbaugh revives 49ers' franchise: Simply winning the Harbaugh hiring sweepstakes in January would have pushed this story into the top five. As other teams lined up to court the Stanford coach, threatening to derail the 49ers' pursuit, the franchise found its first winning formula in eight years.

An indulgent honeymoon period seemed to be in order, given the hindrances of the NFL lockout. Instead, Harbaugh quickly flipped the 49ers' culture.

His early efforts seemed a bit gimmicky - alternating the stalls of defensive and offensive players instead of allowing groupings by position, and handing out blue auto-mechanics shirts to signify working-class sensibilities.

But the 49ers are 12-3, defying serious second-guessing. Harbaugh has coached the skittishness out of Alex Smith's game and, best of all, taken 49ers such as Frank Gore and Patrick Willis to the place where they always belonged.

3. Buster Posey's season ends in May 25 collision: Posey's dismantled ankle would have been big news under any circumstances. The absence of the 2010 Rookie of the Year kept the defending world champs out of the playoffs.

But the Giants' attempts to redefine how players can legally approach home plate elevated their catcher's injury to a cause. So far, their efforts have failed, but they inserted themselves into what is becoming the runaway sports story of the decade.

As head-injury research rewrites the conventions of the NFL and NHL, all safety practices are up for debate. Giants manager Bruce Bochy made his best case when he said he could envision a crash at home that caused brain damage.

4. Andrew Luck passes on NFL draft, stays at Stanford: Luck should be leaving college with the Heisman Trophy. He will have to settle for a valuable degree and the knowledge that he helped entrench his school among the college football elite.

5. Bryan Stow attacked in L.A.; two people injured in Candlestick shootings: The Santa Cruz paramedic and Giants fan continues to convalesce nine months after thuggery leveled him in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. The Raiders and 49ers suspended their preseason tradition of playing each other after the mayhem that accompanied their August meeting.

The blurring of civility boundaries became apparent in a subtler way when MLB had to suspend Atlanta pitching coach Roger McDowell for verbally abusing fans at the Giants' park.

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=5e7d7c1e2365f6722dacbafa66912a7e

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Perry Spends Most on Iowa Ads (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/179712568?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Nigerians fear more church attacks after 39 killed (AP)

MADALLA, Nigeria ? Women returned to clean the blood from St. Theresa Catholic Church on Monday and one man wept uncontrollably amid its debris as a Nigerian Christian association demanded protection for its churches.

At least 35 people died at St. Theresa and dozens more were wounded as radical Muslim militants launched coordinated attacks across Africa's most populous nation within hours of one another. Four more people were killed in other violence blamed on the group known as Boko Haram.

Crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the church's dirt parking lot Monday, angry over the attack and fearful that the group will target more of their places of worship.

It was the second year in a row that the extremists seeking to install Islamic Shariah law across the country of 160 million staged such attacks. Last year, a series of bombings on Christmas Eve killed 32 people in Nigeria.

Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ. Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties.

In the ensuing chaos, a mortally wounded man had cradled his wounded stomach and begged a priest for religious atonement. "Father, pray for me. I will not survive," he said.

At least 52 people were wounded in the blast, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.

Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bombing at his post-Christmas blessing Monday, urging people to pray for the victims and Nigeria's Christian community.

"In this moment, I want to repeat once again with force: Violence is a path that leads only to pain, destruction and death. Respect, reconciliation and love are the only path to peace," he said.

The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms" and called for the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors "of these reprehensible acts" to be brought to justice.

The African Union also condemned the attacks and pledged to support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism.

"Boko Haram's continued acts of terror and cruelty and absolute disregard for human life cannot be justified by any religion or faith," said a statement attributed to AU commission chairman Jean Ping.

On Sunday, a bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast. Three people died in those assaults.

After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.

"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

Last year, a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.

While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.

That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.

Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.

Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."

"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."

However, others don't remain as sure as the president. The northern state section of the powerful Christian Association of Nigeria issued a statement late Monday night demanding government protection for its churches, warning that "the situation may degenerate to a religious war."

"We shall henceforth in the midst of these provocations and wanton destruction of innocent lives and property be compelled to make our own efforts and arrangements to protect the lives of innocent Christians and peace loving citizens of this country," the statement read.

"We are therefore calling on all Christians to be law abiding but defend themselves whenever the need arises."

___

Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

___

Associated Press writers Ibrahim Garba in Kano, Nigeria and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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Iraq agrees to move Iran exiles; rockets hit camp (AP)

BAGHDAD ? The United Nations and the Iraqi government agreed to relocate several thousand Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq, potentially averting a showdown with its residents. The dissidents, who have not said whether they would agree to move, reported a rocket attack on the camp.

The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, one-time allies of Saddam Hussein in a common fight against Iran, said Katyusha rockets struck near housing units inside the camp on Sunday night, but did not report any casualties.

A representative of the camp's residents said Monday they were still waiting to see the agreement before commenting on whether they would decide to relocate or not.

"We hope that it would officially include the minimum assurances so that it would be acceptable to Ashraf residents," said Shahin Gobadi. "Ashraf residents have repeatedly emphasized that they would in no way accept forcible relocation."

Since Saddam's overthrow, Iraq's new leaders have improved relations with Iran and have sought to shut down the camp, home to 3,400 residents and located in barren terrain northeast of Baghdad about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Iranian border. The U.N. reported that at least 34 people were killed in a raid by Iraqi government forces in April.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq announced an agreement Sunday night that establishes a process to move the residents of Camp Ashraf to a temporary location. It did not give a timeline for the move or specify the new location.

A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the residents would be moved to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport.

At Camp Liberty, the U.N.'s refugee agency will interview the residents to determine their eligibility to get refugee status, before they can eventually be resettled in third countries, Clinton said.

"We are encouraged by the Iraqi government's willingness to commit to this plan, and expect it to fulfill all its responsibilities," she said in the statement. "To be successful, this resettlement must also have the full support of the camp's residents, and we urge them to work with the U.N. to implement this relocation."

The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran first moved to Camp Ashraf during the regime of Saddam, who saw the group as a convenient ally against Tehran. The group is committed to the overthrow of the Iranian regime.

The group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran's clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001. U.S. soldiers disarmed them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been determined to close down the camp by the end of December. His government considers the camp as an affront to Iraq's sovereignty.

Last week, an Iraqi government spokesman said the government was working out a solution to the situation at Camp Ashraf with the U.N. and would allow the camp to stay open into January as residents are being relocated. At the time, representatives of the residents suggested they would be willing to move, as long as their security was provided for.

Under the agreement outlined by the U.N., the international organization will monitor the relocation process and then a team from the U.N.'s refugee agency will be deployed at the new location to process the refugee claims.

Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will also visit regularly, the State Department said.

The Iraqi government will be responsible for the exiles' safety during that time, and will have a liaison officer from the Ministry of Human Rights involved in the relocation, the U.N. said.

"I would like to highlight that the government is exclusively responsible for the safety and security of the residents both during their transfer and in the new location until they leave the country," said Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Iraq.

The Iraqi government's vow to close Camp Ashraf had raised concerns that forcibly removing its residents would result in violence.

The People's Mujahedeen has been branded a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, a designation now under review by the State Department. It has been removed from similar blacklists in Europe.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_camp_ashraf

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Was That Santa Delivering Fuel to Troops in Afghanistan?

RELATED TOPICS

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San Diego VA Hospital to Get Influx of Iraq War Vets

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Source: http://homepost.kpbs.org/jp/was-that-santa-delivering-fuel-to-troops-in-afghanistan/

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Video: Hacking group mounts major cyber attack

Hacking group ?Anonymous? claims to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of a U.S.-based security firm and then donated some of the stolen funds to charity. NBC?s Pete Williams reports and Mark Rasch, an internet security expert, discusses the case.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45795171/

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Microsoft's Visual Studio now has Achievements

Achievements are the only thing you need to keep a gamer striving towards their next goal. The premise of a few more virtual points for their effort seems to be enough to drive people to do much more. Channel 9 have realised this, and as WPCentral are reporting, are gleefully making the most of the opportunity, with their own achievement system.

While currently in beta, the idea shows a lot of promise. The coders responsible have created a Windows Phone application to go alongside their idea, and it even supports Live Tiles. This has led to the application offering a similar feature set to Microsoft's own Achievement infrastructure for the WP7, Games for Windows, and Xbox LIVE platforms. Appealingly, the service even allows you to compare the Channel 9 equivalent to Gamerscore with other users of the same service.

The app is only usable by those who have signed up to the beta for the system, but if you are not one of the beta entrants, then you still have an opportunity. The designer has invited people to get in contact via his blog, should they want to get into the beta and try the Visual Studio Achievements ahead of the pack.

The move is undoubtedly creative, but since it does have to monitor your code to verify that you have fulfilled the criteria it could lead to some questions being raised among more security-conscious coders. Images from the Windows Phone application are below:

?

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-visual-studio-now-has-achievements

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Will the surge in legal blogs be noise drowning out the signal ...

With the recent LexisNexis survey signaling a coming surge in the number of law blogs, there's been much discussion this week as to what will become of the valuable online legal commentary and dialogue we experience from law blogs.

Media consultant and attorney, Bob Ambrogi, expects law blogs offering little value to come and go as they have in the past. Lawyers publishing such blogs will quickly lose their excitement to do so.

New York City criminal lawyer, Scott Greenfield, offered his take again this morning.

If the blawgosphere is turned into a massive and fruitless marketing initiative by over-moneyed and under-mindful law firms, big, small or solo, it's conceivable that the noise will drown out the signal, turning off those who might otherwise be inclined to spend some time here. Nobody wants a channel showing only commercials.

There is room for new blawgs. There will always be room for great blawgs, assuming the blawgosphere isn't crushed under a pile of crap.

To which New York plaintiff's trial lawyer, Eric Turkewitz, replied in a comment to Greenfield:

Nah. You will never see them, as they will be islands unto themselves. Those that fail to engage others will be lost, and since engagement is counterintuitive to marketing (You want me to send my readers away?!), the vast majority will simply be pixels known only to their "writers."

The discussion reminded me of a post earlier this summer from Gideon Gartner, founder of Gartner, Inc., the information technology research and advisory company, as to whether social networking may be bad for your health.

What might have once been called 'intellectual networking' seems to have been displaced by today's 'social networking.' During my years living on our planet, ideas often led to deep thinking, discussions, and of course, arguments. I would often analyze these later, attempting to reach useful conclusions. But these days, a flood of brief spoken or published ideas, stated with little or no supporting evidence and followed by inane 'comments' from seemingly random observers with little or no stature, threaten my productivity.

If this is what we call 'social networking' (SN), the rapidly growing popular trend, I fear for our future. With the entire world seemingly jumping on the SN bandwagon, this may soon overwhelm us, impacting productivity to the point where society is threatened. Neal Gabler, the author of Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, has recently said that social networking is drowning us in information, as we have little time (or desire) to process it! Many other intellectuals, while still a minority, have reached similar conclusions, that social networking is drowning us in information, as we have little time (or desire) to process it.

SN has contributed to books being read less and less. We are too busy linking to Facebook and Twitter; LinkedIn may have marginally greater merit; Google+ is still untested and blogging continues to crowd out responsible journalists. Authors themselves may be trending towards posting rather than going through the agonizing process of book-writing, especially when publishing volume is contracting. All in all, books and magazines which are addressing the world's social networking issues are mostly supportive as they capitalize on the rapidly growing base of social networking addicts and fans.

I am not as pessimistic as Gartner, at least as it pertains to law blogs. Law blogs are advancing legal dialogue.

Rather than limiting legal publishing to academics writing for law school law reviews and the handful of lawyers who clear the gates to write for the major legal publishers, blogs have opened the door for practicing lawyers with niche expertise to share their practical insight and commentary.

Other social media, whether it be Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, enables amplification of the deeper blogged commentary. These social media also allow greater engagement between legal bloggers so to build and nurture relationships among legal bloggers.

Legal blogging benefits the legal profession as well as the public at large. Both have greater access to the law through insight and commentary they could never have experienced before.

With the good number of law blogs we have and the surge in the number of law blogs coming we're of course going to see a significant number of law blogs that contribute little, if anything, to legal dialogue. They'll amount to little more than noise.

But the body of valuable legal information, insight, and commentary is unquestionably going to grow. Not only will we benefit as we do today from reading and writing blogs, but we'll benefit in years to come from tapping into this knowledge via technology that is still evolving.

Source: http://kevin.lexblog.com/2011/12/articles/blog-basics/will-the-surge-in-legal-blogs-be-noise-drowning-out-the-signal/

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My letter to the Washington Post RE There?s no reason to redefine ?pro-Israel?

Letter to the Editor Published: December 23 There?s no reason to redefine ?pro-Israel?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-no-reason-to-redefine-pro-israel/2011/12/20/gIQAQxMMEP_story.html
& What ?pro-Israel? should mean By Jeremy Ben-Ami, Published: December 16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-pro-israel-should-mean/2011/12/15/gIQAlbaCzO_story.html

Dear Editor,

So far, from what I can see, you have had 'pro-Israel' argue with 'pro-Israel' in your opinion pages- with both one-staters and two staters doing what they can to dismiss the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands. All empower Israel each in their own way.

Be good to see someone who is honestly and intelligently pro-Palestine and pro-peace be given a chance to help empower Palestine... and peace.

Might I suggest you contact the American Task Force on Palestine (no I don't work for them, I just very much admire their pro-Palestine/pro-America efforts) in order to help shape a more relevant and helpful round up of perspectives focused in on actually ending the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Press Release about ATFP's Mission
ATFP President, Ziad Asali September 30, 2011 The raison d'?tre of the American Task Force on Palestine
E-mail: info@atfp.net

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American Task Force on Palestine President Ziad J. Asali: "The pursuit of peace, independence and reform is not a project for cowards..."

Hussein Ibish: How national identities are really formed: "There's nothing transhistorical or metaphysical about Palestinian nationalism, any more than there is about Zionism, or any other nationalism. This is so blindingly obvious even small children should have no difficulty grasping that whatever aspects of history, traditions, myths or legends a contemporary political movement wishes to privilege, foreground, highlight or deploy in order to legitimate it's agenda, what it is responding to is not anything ancient, transhistorical, metaphysical or inevitable, but rather the contemporary, immediate needs of constituencies that are themselves modern, and indeed "imagined," and the products of recent developments, not ancient history."

Palestine
Refugees and the Right of Return
Palestinian refugees must be given the option to exercise their right of return (as well as receive compensation for their losses arising from their dispossession and displacement) though refugees may prefer other options such as: (i) resettlement in third countries, (ii) resettlement in a newly independent Palestine (even though they originate from that part of Palestine which became Israel) or (iii) normalization of their legal status in the host country where they currently reside. What is important is that individual refugees decide for themselves which option they prefer ? a decision must not be imposed upon them.

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt

The Question of Palestine

KEY ISSUES IN A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT



In 1947, the United Nations proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized (General Assembly Resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947). One of the two States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed its independence as Israel and in the 1948 war it expanded to occupy 77 per cent of the territory of Palestine. 750,000 Palestinians, over half the indigenous population, fled or were expelled. In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the remaining territory of Palestine, until then under Jordanian and Egyptian control. The war brought a second exodus of Palestinians, estimated at more than half a million. (DPR study: The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988) General Assembly resolution 194 of 11 December 1948 states that: "...The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." Decades later, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) continues to provide education, health care, relief and development assistance and social services to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Living standards in refugee communities remain poor, and are characterised in some fields by high unemployment, falling household income, overburdened infrastructure, and restrictions on employment and mobility. See also: Reports of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, The Right of Return of the Palestinian People - a DPR study.


Water

Source: http://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-letter-to-washington-post-re-theres.html

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The Science of Santa

Scientific Inquiry into Santa Claus

As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help
from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) - I am
pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.

1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of
living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects
and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only
Santa has ever seen.

2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since
Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist
children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million
according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of
3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's
at least one good child in each.

3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different
time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west
(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is
to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has
1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney,
fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat
whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the
sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8
million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we
know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept),
we are now talking about.78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2
million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least
once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.

This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000
times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made
vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per
second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming
that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds),
the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably
described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more
than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could
pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even
nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even
counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison
- - - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air
resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as
spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer
will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short,
they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer
behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire
reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa,
meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater
than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be
pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's
dead now.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/OOmranRL8kw/the-science-of-santa

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Egypt Islamists want to stick to army vote timetable (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? The Muslim Brotherhood, whose party is leading Egypt's staggered parliamentary election, came out Thursday against bringing forward a presidential vote to end military rule, saying changing the timetable would wreak chaos.

Protesters who fought soldiers and police in central Cairo for five days before calm was restored this week want the army to cede power more swiftly.

Many Egyptians, suspicious of the military's stated commitment to democratic change, want a presidential vote by January 25, the first anniversary of the start of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. The vote is now planned for mid-2012.

Activists plan a mass march to Tahrir Square Friday to protest against army rule and the latest violence, which Egypt's prime minister said had contributed to billions of dollars of losses to the economy.

The once banned Brotherhood, keen to seal its place in mainstream Egyptian politics via the six-week parliamentary vote after generations of state repression, kept a low profile during the latest clashes in Tahrir Square that killed 15 people.

Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which had the most candidates fielded in second-round runoff votes Thursday, said his group backed the army timetable to hand power to an elected president by July.

"I think that is better than arranging it as soon as possible because this may create chaos," he told Reuters.

He said holding a presidential vote before both houses of parliament were elected and able to draw up a new constitution risked handing too much power to a new president. "We are not going to create a new Mubarak," he said.

Elections to both houses will not be completed until March.

Protesters, who have stayed out in Tahrir since November 18 despite several charges by police to clear the square, are angry at the army's fierce treatment of demonstrators and believe the military high command is trying to cling to power.

Many activists accuse the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists of betraying the protesters' demands by focusing on securing their own positions in the new power structure.

But analysts say an earlier presidential election would not necessarily eliminate the military's predominance in a new civilian-governed state, because all the viable candidates would likely have to have good relations with the generals.

They include Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and ex-head of the Arab League. He, like some other candidates, has joined a consultative council to advise the army, although the body suspended its activities in protest over the violence.

TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

A source close to the army told Reuters a popular mandate would not be enough to support Egypt's next president because it would also need the backing of the military establishment.

"This is a transitional period where one party hands power to another. A deal must be struck. This is politics," he said.

The violence of the past days, and an earlier flare-up in November when 42 people were killed, have shocked many Egyptians, although many still regard the army as the only institution capable of restoring order after months of turmoil since February, when Mubarak was ejected by a popular uprising.

Army-backed Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, appointed in November under pressure from protests to sack the previous government, outlined the challenges and appealed for unity at a news conference. His cabinet was appointed this month.

"I had wished that after two weeks, I would come and tell you about what we have achieved ... but I cannot," he said.

"Is this not of itself a testimony to the fact that we are facing a real problem and that we must sit down together and discuss it?" Ganzouri said. "The economic situation requires that we have consensus and dialogue."

He said that the economy had lost billions of dollars from the turmoil, but had received only $1 billion from Arab states, while world powers had not followed through on aid pledges. He said differences among Egyptians were to blame.

"In the first months (after the uprising), everyone raced to help Egypt, but when we disagreed among each other in the past few months, they turned their backs on us," he said.

The clashes in Cairo have driven a wedge between those determined to stay on the streets and other Egyptians desperate for a return to order to shore up the economy and entice back foreign tourists.

But many have been shocked by images of police and soldiers hitting protesters with batons even after they fell to the ground and, in one case, kicking, beating and dragging a woman by her black robe, exposing her bra, and then kicking her.

"I do not blame anyone nor do I defend anyone, I hope that everyone seeks to remove the appearance of violence. How can the state of Egypt, at the center of its capital, have these depressing events?" Ganzouri said.

"Is it not necessary for us to decide as a people that this must be eliminated, so the tourist may come back, so the joy of the Egyptian people may come back?"

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week responded with some of the strongest U.S. criticism of Egypt's new rulers, citing cases of women protesters being sexually assaulted.

The United States, for which Egypt under Mubarak was a crucial ally, gives Cairo $1.3 billion a year in military aid.

Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said Wednesday that Egypt would not accept meddling in its affairs, and did not take comments such as Clinton's lightly. Ganzouri condemned all forms of violence, particularly any directed at women.

Egypt's economy continues to take a beating. The credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Egypt's debt Wednesday and said it might knock it down another notch because political uncertainty was undermining investor confidence.

A large number of the individual - rather than party list - seats up for grabs in the run-offs were being contested between Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-Islamist Salafi candidates.

Run-offs are held after each of the three rounds of the vote where no candidate received more than 50 percent to win outright. Egypt's system involves allocating two-thirds of seats of party lists with the rest going to individuals.

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad and Omar Fahmy; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/wl_nm/us_egypt

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Richard Gere to receive George Eastman Award

FILE- In this Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 file photo, actor Richard Gere attends amfAR's annual New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Gere is getting a George Eastman Award in upstate New York for his contributions to movies and humanitarian causes. The star of such films as "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Pretty Woman" will be honored Feb. 16 during a ceremony at Rochester's George Eastman House, the restored home of the founder of photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, FILE)

FILE- In this Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011 file photo, actor Richard Gere attends amfAR's annual New York Gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Gere is getting a George Eastman Award in upstate New York for his contributions to movies and humanitarian causes. The star of such films as "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Pretty Woman" will be honored Feb. 16 during a ceremony at Rochester's George Eastman House, the restored home of the founder of photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, FILE)

ROCHESTER, New York (AP) ? Richard Gere is getting a George Eastman Award in upstate New York for his contributions to movies and humanitarian causes.

The star of such films as "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Pretty Woman" will be honored Feb. 16 during a ceremony at Rochester's George Eastman House, the restored home of the founder of photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co., according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper.

Gere has appeared in more than 40 films. In 1991, he founded the Gere Foundation, which gives grants for public health, education and emergency relief in Tibet. He has long been prominent in the fight against HIV-AIDS.

Past recipients of the George Eastman Award include Lauren Bacall, Martin Scorsese and Meryl Streep.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-23-People-Gere-Award/id-a20ffced1b5d449bb35fa9e3b701c3be

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Report: BlackBerry's Last Hope Is Totally Screwed [Rumor]

Not even RIM's top executives dispute that the company's had a rough few months. But just hold on, they say, until BlackBerry 10. That's the rudder that'll turn this ship around. But if BGR's insider report holds up, that new course might head right smack into an iceberg of suck. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DO2gX14LnRc/report-blackberrys-best-hope-is-totally-screwed

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Pakistan may tax ground shipments to NATO troops

Afghanistan-bound trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces parked as authorities close the border at Torkham border post in Pakistan, Nov 27, 2011.

(Credit: AP)

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is considering plans to slap millions of dollars in new charges on future supplies taken through the country's land route for U.S.-backed Western troops in Afghanistan, senior Pakistani government officials and a minister have told CBS News.

The payments are being considered in the name of costs such as for "inspection of cargo" and "maintenance of infrastructure" worn down by trucks.

Though the exact scale of funds planned to be earned remains unclear, senior Western diplomats warned that the move could further strain Pakistan's already troubled ties with the U.S.-led international security assistance force or ISAF in Afghanistan.

On Thursday, findings of a U.S. military investigation in to a helicopter raid on two of Pakistan's army posts near the Afghan border on November 26th, found a lack of trust between the U.S. and Pakistan.

U.S.: Mistrust and mistakes led to Pakistani deaths

The killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in that attack prompted an unprecedented wave of protests from the country's civil and military officials. A senior Pakistani government official who spoke on background and discussed the new charges under consideration, said "we want to have a productive relationship with the U.S. and other friends in the Western camp. But unlike the past, every service that we perform will have to be paid for at a realistic price."

Western diplomats warned that Pakistan's demand for charging large sums of money on cargo for Afghanistan will not help improve its trust with its partners, including the U.S.

"The issue is not just financial. The problem is, we don't know how this plan (for higher charges) will play itself out diplomatically," one senior Western diplomat in Islamabad told CBS News on condition of anonymity. "I fear this plan will keep Pakistan locked in its currently strained relationship (with the U.S.-led western alliance) because the message from Pakistan will be a negative one."

Though Pakistan hasn't specified a timeline for resumption of the truck facility, the Pakistani government officials and a minister who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said they expect it to be resumed within weeks.

"Nobody wants to keep the facility shut forever. The bigger question now is, what will be the conditions attached for the future," said a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pakistani government minister who also spoke on condition that he will not be named said "a decision has been reached in principal that when the supply route is re-opened, the trucks will have to bear a realistic cost which will go to the Pakistani government. In the past, each supply truck contributed less than $10 for passage through Pakistan. This is not realistic any more."

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign ministry officials defended a parliamentary review of the truck facility for Afghanistan. "Obviously, one thing is very clear that this exercise is not to wreck our relations with any particular country. This exercise is to streamline our cooperation on such a sensitive issue," said Abdul Basit, the spokesman of the foreign ministry in Islamabad.

In recent days, Pakistani officials have complained privately that Islamabad's hardening attitude towards the terms for future relations with its Afghanistan-based Western allies is driven in part by what it sees as punitive steps taken by the U.S.

"You have the United States tying future assistance to conditions like the secretary of state certifying that Islamabad is cooperating fully on counter-terrorism measures," said the Pakistani minister who spoke to CBS News. "We have lost about 40,000 people in our decade-old war on terror which we began when the U.S. attacked Afghanistan. The Americans still want us to prove that we are genuine in our efforts. What could be bigger nonsense than this?" asked the Pakistani minister.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsWorldWatch/~3/CS4Vs4F5bWo/

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Russia's Medvedev tries to appease protesters (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? President Dmitry Medvedev called on Thursday for comprehensive reform of Russia's political system to try to appease protesters staging the biggest demonstrations since Vladimir Putin rose to power 12 years ago.

In his last state of the nation address to parliament as president, Medvedev outlined plans that would ease the Kremlin's tight grip on power, including restoring the election of regional governors and allowing half the seats in the State Duma lower house of parliament to be directly elected in the regions.

His opponents, preparing for new protests across Russia on Saturday, dismissed his offer as the empty promises of a lame-duck president who is stepping aside for Putin to return to the main seat of power next year after four years as premier.

"Today, at a new stage in the development of our state, supporting the initiative proposed by our prime minister, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, I propose a comprehensive reform of our political system," Medvedev told rows of deputies in an hour-long speech which was greeted by occasional applause.

"I want to say that I hear those who talk about the need for change, and understand them. We need to give all active citizens the legal chance to participate in political life."

The moves were intended to address calls for change by tens of thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets since a December 4 election which they say was rigged, but Medvedev and Putin have ignored their main demand - to rerun the poll.

An aide said the proposals would be sent to parliament in the next few days.

But the opposition dismissed them as more empty words by a man who had failed to carry out his promises since he was ushered into the presidency by Putin in 2008 because the constitution barred his mentor from a third successive term.

"It's an answer to the protests, but it's not enough. It's half-hearted," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, who took part in a big protest on December 10 at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square and is helping plan another rally on Saturday at the capital's Sakharov Avenue.

"The main demand at Bolotnaya was to scrap the election results and call for new elections to be conducted according to new rules. Instead, he is trying to preserve the illegitimate Duma. This will not be accepted by society and will not be accepted by those on Sakharov Avenue."

NO WAY TO GET TOOTHPASTE BACK IN THE TUBE

Medvedev, 46, had already called for an overhaul of the political system at a meeting with his United Russia party on Saturday but provided few details of his plans.

Putin said last week that he was ready to consider allowing the election of regional governors, provided their candidacy was approved by the Kremlin. The former KGB spy had abolished the direct election of regional governors in 2004 to tighten his control of Russia's often independent-minded regions.

In his speech in a gilded Kremlin hall to members of the Duma and the Federation Council upper chamber, Medvedev said there should be a simpler process for registering parties - allowing more parties to take part.

He also proposed scrapping the requirement to gather signatures to participate in elections to the Duma and regional legislative organs, and suggested reducing the number of signatures required to run for president.

Medvedev called for the creation of an independent "public" television channel. Putin has closely controlled state television and Russian media have been criticized for all but ignoring the mass protests against his rule.

The protesters, many of them young professionals who have answered calls to protests on social network sites, say Medvedev and Putin, 59, are out of touch and cannot get away with just tinkering with a political system the prime minister dominates.

"All this was necessary to legitimize the results of the December 4 election and the coming presidential election ... It is an intentional lie and it is misguiding," said independent political analyst Sergei Belkovsky.

Comparing the proposals to the "perestroika" reforms that failed to save the Soviet Union, he said "you cannot get toothpaste back in the tube ... The system is decomposing. They are frantically trying to find ways to preserve it, but these chaotic measures just bring it closer to the end."

(Reporting By Timothy Heritage; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/wl_nm/us_russia_medvedev_reform

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A Day with the Elephants (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/175970709?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Is Dell dropping netbooks?

Dell

By Athima Chansanchai

In what could signal the beginning of the end for netbooks, it looks like Dell is pulling away from them and shifting focus to a thinner, more powerful line of laptops, according to a statement from the manufacturer.

Matthew Hutchison, director of Dell Global Consumer PR, told CNET that the company is moving in the direction of "highly portable space" and focusing on "delivering thin + powerful solutions" like the XPS 14Z and XPS 15Z.?

Checking out Dell's site for the Inspiron Mini line, none of the models come up after clicking "Check Price." All that appears are messages about it not being in the inventory:

Dell

That goes for all three Inspiron Mini models: 1012, 1018 and 9.?

Acer looks like it's still going strong with its line of netbooks, though having had one that went kaput after about a year, I can see why others might want to jump ship. Will Dell's move be the beginning of the end of the netbook?

It's not like we haven't seen this coming. In October, more tablets than netbooks shipped to consumers, signaling a tipping point to industry watchers that the end was nigh for the mini laptops. Once the hot must-have for business travelers and coffee shop surfers alike, the netbooks started to fade into the background once super thin laptops like the MacBook Air (and now, the Ultrabooks) and then tablets stormed onto the market, and right into the hands of eager users.

We've reached out to Dell and we'll let you know what they say if and when they get back to us.?

More stories:

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9496857-is-dell-dropping-netbooks

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Ariz. prosecutor wants immigration checks restored

FILE - In a Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio discusses the latest in the document release on his office's handling of many sexual assault cases over the years in El Mirage, Ariz., during a news conference, in Phoenix. Federal authorities plan to announce their findings Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 in a civil rights investigation of Arpaio, who has been accused of using discriminatory tactics in its signature immigration patrols. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - In a Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 file photo, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio discusses the latest in the document release on his office's handling of many sexual assault cases over the years in El Mirage, Ariz., during a news conference, in Phoenix. Federal authorities plan to announce their findings Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 in a civil rights investigation of Arpaio, who has been accused of using discriminatory tactics in its signature immigration patrols. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Protesters Sergio Juarez, right, and Rafael Guerrero, both of Phoenix, wait to get into a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, in Phoenix. Roughly 100 opponents of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio turned out at the meeting to urge the officials to call for Arpaio's resignation amid reports of botched sex-crime investigations and other problems in his department.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

FILE - In a Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 file photo, protesters hold up signs calling for the removal or resignation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, during a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting, in Phoenix. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. Federal authorities plan to announce their findings Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 in a civil rights investigation of Arpaio, who has been accused of using discriminatory tactics in its signature immigration patrols.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Department of Justice Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez announces the department's findings following an investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, lead by controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, during a news conference Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 in Phoenix. The Justice department says it has reasonable cause to believe Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that violates federal and Constitutional law. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

Department of Justice Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez, left, gestures as he announces the department's findings following an investigation into the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, lead by controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, during a news conference, as Deputy Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Roy Austin, right, looks on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 in Phoenix. The Justice department says it has reasonable cause to believe Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has engaged in a pattern of misconduct that violates federal and Constitutional law. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

PHOENIX (AP) ? The federal government's decision to stop an Arizona sheriff from checking inmates' immigration status will allow criminals to be released into the community, Maricopa County's top prosecutor said Friday as he asked the president to order Homeland Security officials to restore access to federal systems revoked a day earlier.

The Obama administration action came after the Department of Justice determined that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office participated in a "systematic disregard" for the Constitutional rights of Latinos while targeting illegal immigrants.

The fallout from the report was swift. Homeland Security officials announced the department is severing ties with Arpaio, stripping his jail officers of their federal power to check whether inmates in county jails are in the county illegally. Department officials also are restricting Arpaio's office from using a program that uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants.

"They don't need to do this. This effort at leverage is placing Arizona citizens at risk," Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said. "Preventing us from being able to get the necessary information to provide a court with the non-bondable status for serious offenses jeopardizes the community's safety, and limiting our ability to get information in order to comply with international treaty obligations for consular access calls into question future prosecutions."

The Justice Department comments' Thursday that Arpaio's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a disregard for the Constitution brought the most bruising criticism yet to the lawman's boundary-pushing foray into Arizona's immigration enforcement over the last six years.

Montgomery on Friday questioned the timing of the Justice Department's findings, because a civil rights case that raises similar issues is currently before a federal judge in Phoenix.

But he acknowledged the findings raised significant issues, although he "is not going to accept the findings at face value.

"Nor am I going to reject them," he said.

Montgomery said the federal government's actions will prevent his office from enforcing an Arizona law denying bail to illegal immigrants charged with serious felonies.

Arpaio, defiant and caught by surprise by the report's release on Thursday, called the allegations a politically motivated attack by President Barack Obama's administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping illegal immigrants on the street.

The Obama administration "might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-New Mexico border saying welcome illegals to your United States, my home is your home," he said.

The government found that Arpaio's office committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including unjust immigration patrols and jail policies that deprive prisoners of basic Constitutional rights. "We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department, a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections," said Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division.

The report will be used by the Justice Department to seek major changes at Arpaio's office, such as new policies against discrimination and improvements of staff and officers. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement to make the changes. If not, the federal government will sue him, possibly putting in jeopardy millions of dollars in federal funding for Maricopa County.

Arpaio has long denied the racial profiling allegations, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many of them are illegal immigrants. He also said the decision by Homeland Security to sever ties will result in illegal immigrants being released from jail and large numbers.

Montgomery said he will ask the Justice Department to provide him with more specific information so he can do his own review of cases now in his office.

___

Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-16-Arizona%20Sheriff-Civil%20Rights/id-cc7736a5f3de497c8a3511e5244e3e5f

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