Ecuador President Correa Says U.S. `Extreme Right' May Be Behind Protests
By Nathan Gill - Oct 6, 2010
--bloomberg.com--

The “extreme right” in the U.S. may be behind recent protests in Ecuador and may have provided financial support to opposition political parties trying to destabilize the government, President Rafael Correa said.

The Obama administration, which supported Correa and called for an end to violence during a Sept. 30 police uprising, had nothing to do with the protests, Correa told reporters today at the presidential palace in Quito. The government has no evidence of ties between the protesters and U.S. groups and hasn’t accused any specific organization of involvement, Correa said.

Ecuador, South America’s seventh-biggest economy, remains under a state of emergency after police demonstrating against wage cuts trapped the president in a hospital for several hours as they demanded changes to a new public service law. Correa, who said he was the target of a coup attempt, accused former President Lucio Gutierrez and his brother Gilmar’s January 21 Patriotic Society Party, known as PSP, of fomenting the unrest that left eight people dead and 274 injured.

“The Patriotic Society and Gutierrezes are clearly behind this,” Correa told foreign journalists. Non-governmental organizations representing the “extreme right” in the U.S. may be financing opposition political parties and may have been involved in the protests, he said.

Chavez Accusations

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in his Oct. 3 weekly column “The Lines of Chavez,” said the U.S. was behind the failed uprising in Ecuador and that the U.S. administration is supporting coups against an alliance of Latin American left-wing countries, known as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA, which was formed by Chavez to counter U.S. influence in the region.

Gilmar Gutierrez, brother of Lucio Gutierrez and head of the PSP in congress, denied Correa’s accusations, saying the president was trying to eliminate his strongest political opponents.

“The accusations against us are absurd and ridiculous,” Gutierrez said today in a telephone interview from Quito. “They are pursuing innocent people. There wasn’t an attempted coup, this was a simple protest by police.”

No formal charges have been filed against either of the Gutierrez brothers, Gilmar Gutierrez said.

Correa said he will use the “victory” over the opposition to push political and economic reforms in the Andean nation, pledging today to “deepen and radicalize the citizen’s revolution.”

The Heart Sutra.
Translation by Edward Conze

Homage to the Perfection of Wisdom, the Lovely, the Holy!

Avalokita, The Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the Wisdom which has gone beyond. He looked down from on high, He beheld but five heaps, and he saw that in their own-being they were empty.

Here, Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness.

Here, Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness; they are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.

Therefore, Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form, nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness; No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; No forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables or objects of mind; No sight-organ element, and so forth, until we come to: No mind-consciousness element; There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so forth, until we come to: there is no decay and death, no extinction of decay and death. There is no suffering, no origination, no stopping, no path. There is no cognition, no attainment and non-attainment.

Therefore, Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainment that a Bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings. In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

All those who appear as Buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect Enlightenment because they have relied on the Perfection of Wisdom.Therefore one should know the prajnaparamita as the great spell, the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth - for what could go wrong? By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered. It runs like this:

Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all-hail!

World Giving Index,

First Annual

--mothernaturenetwork.com--

Sept.22.2010

According to the first edition of the World Giving Index (WGI) released this month. Compiled by the Charities Aid Foundation and based primarily on information gathered through Gallup polling, the list is being called the largest study ever carried out into charitable behavior across the globe.

The ratings are based on data collected from Gallup's WorldView World Poll, a project continually being carried out in 153 countries that represents 95 percent of the world's population. Respondents surveyed in each country number anywhere from 500 to 2,000 individuals depending on population size and access to polling infrastructure, and those polled are a representative sample of individuals living in urban centers.

Bush vs Obama Tax Cuts, Rich get Richer courtesy Washington Post

Motorcyclist wins taping case against state police
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
--baltimore sun--

A Harford County Circuit Court judge ruled this afternoon that a motorcyclist who was arrested for videotaping his traffic stop by a Maryland State Trooper was within his rights to record the confrontation.

Judge Emory A Pitt Jr. tossed all the charges filed against Anthony Graber, leaving only speeding and other traffic violations, and most likely sparing him a trial that had been scheduled for Oct. 12. The judge ruled that Maryland's wire tap law allows recording of both voice and sound in areas where privacy cannot be expected. He ruled that a police officer on a traffic stop has no expectation of privacy.

"Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public," the judge wrote. "When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation."

FBI agents cheated on exam using answer sheets
27 September 2010 Last updated at 12:40 ET
bbc.co.uk

The FBI is being pressed to investigate further
FBI agents cheated on an internal exam by conferring, using crib sheets, and finding answers on computers, a Department of Justice probe has found.

Staff were required to take a test on their knowledge of new unified guidelines on domestic investigations.

Suspicions were raised when many passed the 90-minute exam in just 20 minutes.

The authors of the report said "a significant number of FBI employees engaged in some form of improper conduct or cheating".

After the controversial guidelines were introduced, staff were required to take 16.5 hours of classroom tuition and then take a 51-question computerised exam that was expected to take most people between 90 minutes and two hours.

They were allowed access to the guidelines while taking the test, which was mostly sat between May 2009 and January 2010.

The Office of the Inspector General was called in to investigate after 200 workers passed the test in under 20 minutes.

After interviewing staff in a number of field offices, investigators found people taking the exam had conferred, and that direct cheating had been employed.

In one field office, staff had exploited a lack of computer security to call up the answers to the test.

In another office, of 11 workers interviewed, three supervisors and four agents said they had used answer sheets for the exam. Some tried to justify the usage on the basis that these were "notes".

They also found that tutors were "training to the test", indicating which part of lessons would be on the exam by stamping their feet loudly during the relevant sections.

The Office of the Inspector General is recommending that those who directly cheated be disciplined and that there be a wider investigation than the small sample they spoke to.

This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skilful,
not proud and demanding in nature.

Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove.
They should wish:

In gladness and in safety
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be,
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Let none deceive another, or despise any being in any state,
Let none through anger or ill-will wish harm upon another.

Even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings,
Radiating kindness over the entire world,
Spreading upwards to the skies, and downwards to the depths,
Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill-will.

Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down,
Free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection.

- Metta Sutta, from Pali Canon

when there is nothing left to burn, you must set yourself on fire - stars (from the song your ex-lover is dead)

"Vi veri universum vivus vici - translates-By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe"

Arcade Fire, We Used To Wait

IHMN

A man who had spent many years trying to puzzle out meanings went to see a Sufi and told him about his search.

The Sufi said, 'Go away and ponder this –IHMN
The man went away. When he came back, the Sufi was dead.

'Now I shall never know the truth!' moaned the puzzler.

At that the moment the Sufi's chief disciple appeared. '

If,' he said, 'you are worrying about the secret meaning of IHMN, I will tell you. It is the initials of the Persian phrase 'In Huruf Maani Nadarad' – which means, 'These letters have no meaning.''

viruscomix.com

Robert Nesta, Thank You Lord

Gorillaz, O Green World

Belle and Sebastian, Sleep the Clock Around

Israeli army admits three killed Gazans were civilians
bbc.co.uk
14 September 2010


A report published by an Israeli human rights group found that Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians were rarely punished. The B'Tselem report released on Tuesday said that the military investigated only 22 of 148 cases submitted by the group. No criminal charges were brought in any of the cases, which involved the killing of 288 Palestinian civilians between 2006 and 2009, it said. "This policy permits soldiers and officers to act in violation of the law, encourages a trigger-happy attitude and shows a flagrant disregard for human life," the report said. One Thai farm worker in Israel has been killed by rocket fire from Gaza in the past 18 months, while scores of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed over the same period. (cont...)

When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.

-- Abraham Maslow

Gorillaz, Melancholy Hill

Facing prison for filming US police brutality
By Chris Arsenault

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
15:54 Mecca time, 12:54 GMT
Al Jazeera

When police arrested Anthony Graber for speeding on his motorbike, the 25-year-old probably did not see himself as an advocate for police accountability in the age of new media.

But Graber, a sergeant with the Maryland Air National Guard, is now facing 16 years in prison, not for dangerous driving, but for a Youtube video he posted after receiving a speeding ticket.

The video, filmed with a camera mounted on Graber's motorcycle helmet designed to record biking stunts rather than police abuse, shows a plain clothes officer jumping out of an unmarked car and pointing a pistol at the motorcyclist.

It does not portray the policeman in a positive light.

After he posted the video on Youtube, police raided Graber's home, seized computers and put him in jail.

"The case is critical to the protection of democracy because I don't think you can have a free country in which public officials are able to criminally prosecute people who film what they are doing," David Rocah, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union in Maryland who is representing Graber, said.

Wiretapping

Even though he had never been arrested before, Graber is being charged with illegal wiretapping and could face 16 years in jail.

"This is about shielding the policeman, a public servant, from journalistic scrutiny," Steve Rendall, a media analyst with Freedom and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), told Al Jazeera.

The arrest happened in April and the trial is expected to begin later this year.

Rocah said his client "was charged under the wiretapping statute which prohibits taping oral communications without consent".

The statute, which does not mention video recording, is not supposed to apply to "conversations in a colloquial context, but in a private context" Rocah told Al Jazeera.

The encounter happened on a public street and, according to Rocah, police officers - public officials tasked with protecting the public interest - should not be able to hide behind such rules to avoid scrutiny.

"The value of documenting what is happening cannot be over-stated," he said.

Threat to privacy?

Supporters of the crack-down on filming police argue that citizen journalists pose a threat to privacy.

That is the logic Joseph Cassily, the prosecutor handling Graber's case, is likely to make at the trial.

In media interviews, Cassily presented a scenario where police stopped someone on suspicion of drinking and driving, asking for a breath test, and a random passerby filmed the encounter, putting it on the internet without consent from the driver or the officer.

"Is there some interest in protecting private individuals who may be having a conversation with the police? Yes," Rendall said.

"But in the end, I think that is out-weighed by the public's right to know."

"[Furthermore] you can't walk through Washington Square [a public space in New York] without being in the view of dozens of video cameras run by the police."

Recording ban

The wiretapping statute which bans "secret" recording of private conversations is legislated by the state of Maryland, not the US federal government.

Other US states, including Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts, have used similar laws against citizen journalists.

In 2007, police in Florida arrested Carlos Miller, after the journalist photographed the arrest of a woman.

"They [police] told me to leave the area, saying it was a 'private matter' and I said 'this is a public road'. They escorted me across the street and told me to keep moving. I had the right to be there and kept taking photos. They arrested me," Miller said.

He was charged with a series of misdemeanors and like many Americans arrested for filming police, Miller was eventually acquitted in court.

The arrest prompted the reporter to start the blog Photography is Not a Crimewhere he has documented more than eight similar incidents.

But the idea of winning court battles against journalists may not be the reason security forces prosecute journalists with wiretapping laws and other methods.

Intimidating journalists

"The whole reason for these laws is to intimidate people from filming," Rendall said.

And attempts to intimidate journalists into putting down their cameras reach far beyond the US.

In February the UK's Guardian newspaper ran the headline "Photographer films his own 'anti-terror' arrest"for a story and video about a man who was held by police for eight hours after taking pictures of Christmas celebrations in the small town of Accrington.

Rocah points to the example of the post-election protests in Iran. "The regime completely shut down the traditional media," he said.

"It was citizens' video posted on the web that allowed the world to see what was happening."

Barack Obama, the US president, went so far as to ask Twitter to hold-off on a maintenance operation because the social networking site was playing an important role in the protests.

Police assault

The most prominent US example of a citizen journalist filming police was arguably the case of Rodney King, a black man in Los Angeles who was assaulted by several police officers. His beating was filmed by a citizen standing at a nearby gas station.

Without video evidence, King, a convicted felon, may have stood little chance testifying against police officers in court.

But the video of King's beating flashed across news screens and helped spark the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which left more than 50 people dead and caused about $1bn in property damage.

The dynamics of video-tapping have fundamentally changed since then.

"I think that technology is making the issue [of arrests] arise with increasing frequency because the ability to record is more widely distributed than it ever has been," Rocah said.

The civil liberties lawyer, who believes the wiretapping law is unconstitutional and will eventually be struck down, says he is confident his client will be found not guilty.

Broader trends

But even if he is, this case is indicative of broader trends in media, and consequently, the exercise of power.

As technology outpaces the abilities of states to control the flow of information, governments in the US and beyond are cracking down on independent journalists.

"In the past, freedom of the press only really belonged to those who owned newspapers, TV stations or other major outlets," Miller said.

Now information is more diffuse; history easier to record and technology easier to afford.

Direct evidence, including video of police abuses, is the easiest way to hold the powerful to account. And that may be exactly why security forces do not want to be caught on tape.