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Republicans

Submission + - Mitt Romney silent about atheism (tpmelectioncentral.com)

Submitted by
A-Rex
A-Rex writes: "Mitt Romney talks about his own religion, and has mentioned a lot of religions, but have nothing (positive) to say about atheists. His only mention of non-believers came in a speech in which he addressed his own faith: "It is as if they're intent on establishing a new religion in America — the religion of secularism. They're wrong.""
Government

Submission + - US Deptt. of Justice okays 200k fine for 24 songs 1

Submitted by silverbyte
silverbyte writes: The US Department of Justice okays a 222,000 fine for 24 songs, imposed on Minnesota woman, Jammie Thomas, quoting that the offense is

not so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense.
Previously, Jammie Thomas had attempted to get the fine ruled unconstitutional (citing State Farm vs Campbell) , pleading that $9250 per song was... well.. a bit too excessive.
Moon

Submission + - Green: The Next Space Race (fixourpolicies.com)

Submitted by
dalporto
dalporto writes: "In 1961 JFK inspired a nation and a world with his challenge to reach the moon in 10 years. Now, it's time for an even more important and more inspiring challenge: "This nation should reduce its per capita production of climate changing emissions from the highest in the industrialized world to the lowest in the industrialized world by 2020.""
United States

Submission + - Pro-Kremlin Parties Win Russian Election (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "The Russian election concluded on December 2, and according to a report by Bloomberg, the pro-Kremlin parties appear to have won the election. "The Central Election Commission announced that with 19.5 percent of the vote counted, United Russia had 63.5 percent, the Communists 11.3 percent, the Liberal Democrats 10 percent and Fair Russia 7 percent." If these percentages are maintained until the final tally, then 69.2% of the legislators in the Duma will hail from United Russia; that percentage gives them the power to arbitarily change the constitution in accordance with the wishes of the Kremlin. Only the Communists oppose (in a very loose sense of the word) the policies of the Kremlin and, ironically, will now be the only opposition party in the Duma. In 2004, Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Communist Party, had warned, "This is not an election, it's a special [Kremlin] operation with a predetermined result." ("The Washinton Post", 2004 March 14)

On Saturday (December 1), the "Wall Street Journal" published a front-page story about Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for releasing the Eastern Europeans from the yoke of Soviet oppression. He has criticized the steadily eroding freedoms that he initiated in Russia in the late 1980s, but he has refrained from directly criticizing Czar Vladimir Putin."
The Courts

Submission + - Ballot Stuffing in Russia (iht.com)

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "According to an eye-opening report just published by the "Moscow Times" via the "International Herald Tribune", a senior election official in Russia has just leaked information, to the "Moscow Times", that the Kremlin has ordered state-supported organizations — clinics, universities, polling stations, and the like — to produce votes for United Russia, which is the party favored by Czar Vladimir Putin. "At Oryol State University, professors have told students to vote for United Russia or face dismissal, said a journalism student, who requested anonymity to avoid the risk of being expelled. He said the students had also been told to vote at an on-campus polling station, which is to be supervised by a teacher."

Yet, there is a silver lining. Like the United States, even Russia has people who volunteer to leak information when their conscience overwhelms them. Further, a few Russians have decided to defy the orders of the Kremlin and will vote against United Russia. Specifically, an employee of a Moscow food importer defiantly declared, "I'm going to vote because the boss can check, but I'm not casting a ballot for United Russia. I'm disgusted by this situation."

Here is an interesting question for the SlashDot crowd. Suppose that a similar situation occurred in the USA. For example, suppose that, under orders from Washington, the owners of SlashDot send an e-mail note to us users to order us to vote for Republican candidates in the Congressional elections. How would we respond?"
Privacy

Submission + - UK HMRC data loss (heise-security.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In all the fuss about the potential financial implications, who has considered the Child Protection angle?
United States

Submission + - Attempted Assassination of Russian Politician (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "According to a report just issued by Reuters, the leading political candidate representing the liberal anti-Kremlin Yabloko party has been shot by an unknown assailant. The candidate is now in serious condition in a hospital. This attempted assassination caps a year-long effort, by the Kremlin, to rig the parliamentary election on December 2. Under orders from the Kremlin, banks have refused to accept donations from supporters for deposit in the accounts of opposition parties. Owners of assembly halls have canceled contracts allowing opposition politicians to stage rallies. The police have seized the newspapers of opposition parties in a draconian attempt to prevent them from spreading their message.

In early November, the election-monitoring arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) declined to send election observers to Russia to monitor the 2007 parliamentary election. This decision resulted from (1) the Kremlin's refusing to allow more than 70 OSCE observers to enter Russia and (2) the Kremlin's delaying the granting of visas to them. In 2003, the Kremlin had accepted 400 OSCE observers, but after the OSCE condemned the 2003 election as unfair, many folks in the Kremlin vowed to stymie OSCE's efforts in future elections."
The Courts

Submission + - Saudi Court Punishes Rape Victim (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "According to a report by CNN, a court in Saudi Arabia has declared that the victim of a gang rape shall be punished by (1) 200 lashes of a whip and (2) 6 months in prison. The U.S. State Department, which is normally quite vociferous in condemning human-rights abuses in Russia and other authoritarian states, issued a very restrained assessment of this outrageous judicial verdict against the rape victim. "In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials had 'expressed our astonishment' at the sentence, though not directly to Saudi officials. 'It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a look at the verdict and change it,' he added."

What kind of idiot is running the show in Washington?"
Privacy

Submission + - AnimalRights Activists Hit by DecryptionLaw in UK (techluver.com)

Submitted by
Tech.Luver
Tech.Luver writes: "Animal rights activists are thought to being the first Britons to be asked to hand over keys to data encrypted on their computers to the Police. Excerpts from the article: "The request for the keys is being made under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). Police analysing machines seized during raids on activist's homes carried out in May have asked for the keys. The activists could face jail if they do not comply and snub a further formal request to hand over the keys. Case law In early November about 30 animal rights activists are understood to have received letters from the Crown Prosecution Service in Hampshire inviting them to provide passwords that will decrypt material held on seized computers. The letter is the first stage of a process set out under RIPA which governs how the authorities handle requests to examine encrypted material. Once a request has been issued the authorities can then issue what is known as a Section 49 notice demanding that a person turn the data into an "intelligible" form or, under Section 51 hand over keys. ( http://techluver.com/2007/11/20/animal-rights-activists-hit-by-decryption-law-ripa-in-uk/ )"
The Military

Submission + - Aussies Fight to Defend the Whales (news.com.au)

Submitted by
reporter
reporter writes: "According to a report by the "Guardian Unlimited", a fleet of Japanese ships has just departed from Japan to begin hunting for about 1000 whales. Tokyo claims that this naval fleet is simply conducting scientific research, which is allowed under the terms of the whaling ban issued by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. Yet, "most of the meat from the [Japanese] scientific hunts is sold to markets and restaurants, and the profits are used to fund future expeditions." The British, the New Zealanders, and the Australians are quite displeased at the Japanese lies. According to a report by the "Herald Sun", one group of Aussies intends to use their ships to ram the Japanese vessels in a valiant attempt to stop the illegal hunting.

Just when we Westerners think that Japan is a Western nation, the Japanese conduct this sort of regrettable Asian shenanigan. The "Herald Sun" has provided a video which has some graphic scenes illustrating how the Japanese whalers butcher the sea mammals."
The Media

Submission + - Saudi Court sentences rape victim (yahoo.com)

Submitted by
dotancohen
dotancohen writes: "From TFA:

...Saudi court sentenced a woman who had been gang raped to six months in jail and 200 lashes — more than doubling her initial penalty for being in the car of a man who was not a relative...
Apparently, she did not have a very good defense:

...The court also banned the lawyer from defending her, confiscated his license to practice law and summoned him to a disciplinary hearing....
"
Censorship

Submission + - US Bridge Team to be blacklisted for antiBush sign (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.
Quickies

Submission + - UK to Claim A Million Sq Km of Antarctica (techluver.com)

Submitted by
JagsLive
JagsLive writes: "UK to Claim A Million Sq Km of Antarctica: The claim is one of five territorial requests planned by the country ahead of a May 2009 deadline and covers a vast area of the seabed around British Antarctica near the south pole, a spokeswoman said. "We are one of many coastal states who are submitting various claims," she told Reuters. She further said the four other claims would be for Atlantic seabed territory around South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, around Ascension Island, near the Bay of Biscay in the south-west Atlantic, and in the Hatton-Rockall basin off Scotland's coast. The claim to extend British sovereignty in Antarctica could spark disputes with South American nations such as Argentina and Chile, who are likely to make overlapping claims in the region. It also conflicts with the spirit of 1959 Antarctic Treaty, to which Britain is a signatory, which prevents all exploitation of oil gas and minerals, other than for scientific research. ( http://techluver.com/2007/10/17/uk-to-claim-a-million-sq-km-of-antarctica/ )"

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