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Howard Dean: ‘Radical Right’ Supreme Court ‘Bought and Paid For’

On Tuesday night’s edition of The Rachel Maddow Show, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean slashed at the “radical right” justices on the Supreme Court as “bought and paid for” by billionaires like the Koch brothers (who “don’t fundamentally believe in democracy”) and are “selling America to the corporations.” But what about the liberal justices? Dean didn’t think there were any: “Barack Obama has appointed two very solid middle-of-the-road justices” in Sotomayor and Kagan. Maddow raised the idea of the court ruling against remedial campaign subsidization in Arizona: MADDOW: To the extent that political institutions matter, that it is not just the preferences of the people sort of magically or directly translated into policy, to the extent that the way things run affects the outcomes, we just had the ruling from the Supreme Court this week that Arizona`s publicly-financed election system is unconstitutional, that the state — that the state of Arizona, according to the Supreme Court, is not allowed to give people public financing in a way that levels the playing field between publicly-financed candidates and self-financed rich guy candidates. Are we now — are we now looking at a position, though, in which not only we`ve got a Citizens United sort of corporate funded atmosphere, but the ability for public policy to sort of remedy that is being hampered, that there isn`t going to be a possibility for publicly financed elections as a way around this problem. DEAN: Well, you know, this is a very political Supreme Court. They are bought and paid for essentially by the same people that elected George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan who basically put the majority of the Supreme Court on. What do you expect them to do? They are basically selling America to corporations. But that can be fixed too, over time. Barack Obama has appointed two very solid middle-of-the-road justices, and hopefully, he`ll get a chance to appoint a couple more and we`ll have a Supreme Court that`s more in keeping with where America really wants to go. I don`t believe that this Supreme Court represents anything like what the average American believes. I do not believe that most Americans think that a corporation ought to have the same rights as a person. But that`s what this Supreme Court has given them. Earlier, he really laid into the Koch brothers, because apparently advocating for capitalism is the very opposite of democracy. Notice how Democrats always define “democracy” as “when Democrats win”? The Supreme Court, the four radical right justices, plus the conservative, Anthony Kennedy, have teamed up to really make it possible to buy America. What you see is the slow erosion of American democracy. These people are doing these things, the Koch brothers — they don`t really fundamentally believe in democracy. They really are stripping the votes. The New Hampshire speaker, for example, said that college students shouldn`t be allowed to vote in New Hampshire, because they`re too liberal and don`t understand what`s going on. Look, you can attack unions and we can argue about whether that`s a good thing or not. I obviously don`t think it is. But when you`re talking away fundamentally people`s right to vote, when you`re investing enormous amounts from anonymous billionaires in getting your people to vote and keeping other people from voting by influencing politicians — these governors that went out there, they`re bought and paid for by billionaires. And this does not help the ordinary American working people. It doesn`t even help most party people in the Tea Party, in the real Tea Party, the grassroots people. And I think this is going to — they`re going to get paid back for this, in this election, which is why I think Obama is going to win by a lot. Dean naturally regressed back to suggesting the Chinese communists were somehow behind FreedomWorks. Does that make sense to anybody? We know that foreign corporations — money was given to the Chamber of Commerce in the last election cycle. We can`t prove it was used in the elections. It was all mingled together, though. They could be. But I think there`s a greater danger than whether the Chinese is giving money to FreedomWorks. I think the Koch brothers are a danger to America. What they put together enough money in the Tea Party, so they won the Raleigh School District in North Carolina, and they got rid of the desegregation policy. This is not a group of people that are in favor of America. This is a group of people who want who take over America so they can get richer and they`re a fundamentally mean people that hate working people in this country. And I think we`re going to have to make some changes. And I think the American people are going to make changes.

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Justin Timberlake buys his own social network with Myspace investment

Singer turned actor Justin Timberlake takes a stake in $35m purchase of Myspace from News Corp Justin Timberlake is to take a “major role” in the new direction of Myspace after he emerged as one of those behind a $35m deal for the ailing social network . The singer turned actor, who starred as Facebook investor Sean Parker in the Hollywood hit The Social Network, took a stake in Myspace along with the online advertising company, Specific Media. The unlikely entrepreneur will “lead the business strategy” for the fallen social network, the Specific Media chief executive Tim Vangerhook, said on announcing the $35m deal on Wednesday evening. Myspace has shed billions of dollars from its price tag since it was dethroned as the dominant social network in 2008. Ruper Murdoch’s News Corporation agreed on Wednesday to sell Myspace for a fraction of the $100m it was seeking – a sign of the site’s dramatic fall from greatness. In an interview with AdAge , Vanderhook said Timberlake, 30, had put his own money into buying Myspace, but refused to disclose how much. He confirmed that the former N Sync singer will have an office in Myspace but that he was “probably not going to be there every day”. Asked whether he thought Timberlake had been inspired by his star turn in The Social Network, Vanderhook said: “I don’t think it was so much that – that was just ironic. He’s really passionate about how can he create a better community.” Timberlake said in a statement: “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place. “Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there’s a natural social component to entertainment. I’m excited to help revitalise Myspace by using its social media platform to bring artists and fans together in one community.” Just this week, Parker said Myspace’s fall from grace was down to it being a “junkheap of bad design” , while Facebook blossomed with lots of new features. He told TV host Jimmy Fallon at the NExTWORK conference: “They weren’t successful in treating and evolving the product enough, it was basically this junkheap of bad design that persisted for many many years. There was a period of time where if they had just copied Facebook rapidly, they would have been Facebook. They were giant, the network effects, the scale effects were enormous.” Myspace is expected to shed more than half of its 500 remaining staff as part of the deal. The layoffs follow a 30% staff reduction in April last year, and a further 47% cut in January. Two years ago Myspace employed more than 1,400 people. Myspace Internet Social networking News Corporation Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk

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Pakistan orders US out of drone base

US told to stop drone attacks from Shamsi, in western Pakistan, and leave airbase Pakistan has stopped US drone flights from a remote airbase in the western province of Balochistan and ordered US personnel to vacate it, the defence minister has said. “We have told them to leave the Shamsi airbase,” Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said on Wednesday night, adding that US personnel had already started to shift equipment from the base. A US embassy spokesman declined to comment, referring queries to Washington. Shamsi is located in a remote valley 350 miles south-west of Waziristan, where most of the CIA-directed Predator and Reaper drone strikes against al-Qaida and Taliban targets take place. The closure of the base is a blow to a covert programme that has killed up to 2,500 people since its inception seven years ago and forms a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s strategy to flush al-Qaida from its Pakistani havens. The US insists it will press ahead with the strikes. In unusually direct comments, Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said on Wednesday that the US would continue to “deliver precise and overwhelming force against al-Qaida” in the tribal areas. The attacks are likely to continue from CIA bases in Afghanistan – the latest took place on June 20 in Kurram tribal agency. A senior Pakistani military official said the US had not used Shamsi for “several months” and was already flying drones across the border. Senior civilian officials said they closed Shamsi in retaliation for an American reduction of coalition support funds, a multibillion-dollar subsidy for Pakistani military operations. The defence minister said US forces had already vacated Ghazi airbase, 40 miles north-west of Islamabad. A US official in Pakistan accused the government of engaging in “diplomacy by headline” but refused to comment further. The spat marks another low point in Pakistan-US relations after the raid to kill Osama bin Laden on 2 May and the furore over a CIA agent, Raymond Davis, who shot dead two men in Lahore in January. Pakistan’s military and the ISI intelligence service have sought to restrict CIA activities by seeking lists of spies, closing intelligence cooperation centres, and restricting visas for US personnel. The US, meanwhile, is trying to repair the relationship, recognising Pakistan’s importance in fighting al-Qaida and, perhaps, reaching a peace settlement in Afghanistan. Although at least 120 military trainers have been ordered to leave the country, the US recently agreed to replace two Orion surveillance planes that were destroyed in a militant assault on a Karachi naval base in May. The CIA use of Shamsi is controversial in Pakistan, where drone strikes are extremely unpopular. A recent Pew poll found 97% of respondents viewed them negatively. Shamsi was built by Arab Sheikhs from the United Arab Emirates to facilitate hunting falcon trips for the houbara bustard, a rare bird some Arabs believe has aphrodisiac properties. The CIA presence was detected in 2004, when the first drone strikes occurred. Google Earth images showed Predator drones parked on the runway. Since then CIA contractors have been stationed at Shamsi, fuelling and arming Predator and the newer Reaper drones. Operators at the base control the pilotless planes during takeoff but control quickly passes to a “reachback operator”sitting at a video screen thousands of miles away at the CIA headquarters in Langley Virginia. The drones use different warheads, from Hellfire missiles that travel at supersonic speeds to laser-guided Stingers and other missiles using thermobaric warheads that create percussion waves which can penetrate deep bunkers and caves. According to the New America Foundation, which tracks drone strikes, there have been 253 since 2004, with 42 so far this year. Various press reports put the death toll from the strikes at between 1,557 and 2,464. The varying figures highlight the difficulty of obtaining accurate information from the tribal belt, which is out of bounds to foreigners and most local reporters, and where Taliban fighters take control of drone attack sites immediately after the strikes occur. The most contentious issue is civilian casualties. The New American foundation, based on press reporters, estimates non-militant deaths at 20% of the total, although in 2010 this fell to 5%. Pakistan’s military has previously tried to distance itself from Shamsi by claiming that the airbase was the territory of the United Arab Emirates. However base security and other logistics have been provided by Pakistani forces. Pakistan US military United States al-Qaida Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk

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Iraq rocket attack kills three American soldiers

Fifteen US troops killed in June, the highest toll in two years, with latest strike blamed on Iranian-backed militia A rocket attack on a US base near Iraq’s border with Iran has killed three American soldiers, according to an official who blamed the strike on a Shia militia linked to Tehran. The deaths came at the end of the bloodiest month for US troops in Iraq in two years, and with six months before the American military is scheduled to leave after more than eight years of war. Wednesday’s rocket attack struck a US base in southern Iraq that is located a few miles from Iran, the official said, saying the Iranian link was evident from the type of rockets used. American intelligence officials believe the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, is one of the only militias to use weapons known in military jargon as Irams, or improvised rocket-assisted mortars, against US troops. They are made in Iran. Kataib Hezbollah has links to the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group and is solely focused on attacking US troops and other American personnel. The US military is preparing to leave Iraq by the end of the year, as required by a 2008 security agreement between Baghdad and Washington. But as both governments consider extending the deadline to have thousands of troops remain in Iraq into 2012 – in part to counter Iran’s influence – at least three major Shia militias have stepped up attacks on soldiers to force the military out. Kataib Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a 6 June rocket attack on a US base in Baghdad that killed five soldiers. Fifteen US troops have died this month in Iraq, all but one in hostilities. It is the highest number of American military deaths in Iraq since June 2009. There have been 4,469 American troops killed in Iraq since the invasion, according to an Associated Press count. Iraq Middle East Iran US military United States US foreign policy guardian.co.uk

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Skype 2.0 brings two-way video calling to Nexus S, Desire S, Xperia Neo and Xperia Pro

The latest update to Skype’s Android application has just been rolled out and a big part of its goodie delivery is two-way video calling. Only a quartet of phones are supported right now: Google’s own Nexus S, HTC’s Desire S, and the Xperia Neo and Pro from Sony Ericsson, all handsets that shipped with Android 2.3 installed. We suspect the rest of the Android world won’t be far behind — Thunderbolt users will surely be wondering why they’re not included in this first batch — but for now it’s just that fearsome foursome. Also included in Skype v2.0.0.45 is a UI overhaul and support for SMS messaging, neither of which suffers from any handset restrictions. Hit up the Android Market on your phone (the web Market still lists version 1) to get at the latest software. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Skype 2.0 brings two-way video calling to Nexus S, Desire S, Xperia Neo and Xperia Pro originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Snake breeder’s death sparks investigation

Luke Yeomans killed by bite from one of his king cobras An investigation is under way into the death of a snake breeder who was killed by one of his venomous reptiles. Luke Yeomans, 47, died after being bitten at his home in Eastwood, Nottingham, on Wednesday. The conservationist was due to open the King Cobra Sanctuary breeding colony to the public this weekend. Nottinghamshire police said officers were called at around 2pm to a property in Brookhill Leys Road, near Eastwood, where a man had suffered a suspected heart attack and was pronounced dead at the scene. A snake had been contained and there was no danger to the public. The RSPCA, Health and Safety Executive and Broxtowe borough council had been informed, police said.”Nottinghamshire police will investigate the circumstances surrounding the death in conjunction with the appropriate agency and will liaise with the coroner’s office.” The King Cobra Sanctuary, based at Brookhill Leys Farm, offers open days to allow people to see the reptiles. Yeomans wrote on the sanctuary’s website that it was “born from my lifelong love for this amazing snake species and my concerns that it could eventually disappear from the wild. “Until mankind changes the way he treats the natural world, a living ‘ark’ is required for the survival of many animal species. “The king cobra ( Ophiophagus hannah ) , an end of the line apex predator, is certainly one of them. “With 30 years experience of the king cobra, myself and my daughter Nicole – now in our third year of the project – will maintain a breeding colony of this large and dangerous, but also misunderstood venomous snake.” Yeomans recently told the BBC he was keeping a colony of adult and juvenile king cobras in a compound behind his house as a “safety net” to protect the species from possible extinction. He said he started the project in 2008 in reaction to the depletion of the snake’s natural habitat in forests of south-east Asia and India, and planned to breed another 100 snakes by the end of 2011. “People do say that I am mad but I say it’s better than people saying you’re bad,” he told the BBC. “I think everything I am doing is good.” Animals guardian.co.uk

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Anything You Want

Type: Book Title: Anything You Want See all customer reviews Amazon.com Review: Tim Ferriss Reviews Anything You Want Tim Ferriss is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Workweek . He has a diverse background of experience, including working as an actor, speaking seven foreign languages, holding a world record in tango, and being a national Chinese kickboxing champion. He has written for Maxim and the Philadelphia Inquirer , has appeared on MTV and CBS radio, and has been interviewed or featured in such major publications as the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , and more. Read his review of Derek Sivers’s Anything You Want : I love this book! Derek is the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. Just as important, perhaps more so–he is a phenomenal teacher. Whether detailing the fascinating rise of CDBaby, explaining catastrophic (but common) founder mistakes, or teaching me about relational databases in two minutes using analogies, he makes the complex simple. Moreover, he makes it all actionable . If you want a true manifesto, a guidebook with clear signposts, and a fun ride you’ll return to again and again, you have it here in this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. –Tim Ferriss Derek Sivers’s Recommended Reading   We asked author and founder of CD Baby Derek Sivers to tell us about the books that have influenced him the most as an entrepreneur. His list includes everything from What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful to The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World . Check out Derek’s complete list of recommended reading for those aspiring to follow their passion to build a successful business–and a rewarding life. See the complete list of Derek’s recommended reading See the details

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VH1access says: thagossip.net: 2011 Teen Choice Awards Nominations Announced http://bit.ly/mCqcei

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NYPD Uses Excessive Force To Shut Down Smif-N-Wessun and Pete Rock Party in Brooklyn

I heard whispers about this but had no idea of the magnitude of the f*ckery put on by the NYPD last night in Brooklyn. Hip-hop vets Smif-N-Wessun and Pete Rock were celebrating the release of their new project, Monumental Experience when the scene turned ugly. Things were reportedly going great until a fight broke out Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : MissInfo.tv Discovery Date : 29/06/2011 17:19 Number of articles : 5

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Neil Entwistle fights US murder verdicts

British man jailed in 2008 for shooting his wife Rachel and their nine-month-old Lillian has filed an appeal A British man serving a life sentence in the US for murdering his wife and baby daughter at their Massachusetts home has filed an appeal against his conviction. Neil Entwistle, 32, was jailed in June 2008 for shooting Rachel, 27, and nine-month-old Lillian in Hopkinton on 20 January 2006. He is now arguing he should receive a new trial because police searched his home without a warrant when they came to check on the wellbeing of his family. In his appeal brief filed at the state’s supreme judicial court, his lawyer Stephen Paul Maidman argued that evidence taken from the home was seized illegally. Maidman argues in the appeal that two searches were done without warrants and that the evidence seized as a result should have been suppressed during Entwistle’s trial. “The two warrantless entries into the defendant’s house by the police violated the federal and state constitutions,” he wrote in the brief. But prosecutors have said police were justified in entering the home because they were responding to the pleas of concerned relatives and friends. They say Entwistle had become despondent after accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in debt and had complained about his sex life with his wife. Entwistle’s lawyer also argues that judge Diane Kottmyer did not thoroughly question potential jurors to determine whether they were biased against Entwistle after the case received intense local and international news coverage. “That there was extraordinary prejudicial pre-trial publicity in this case that was both saturating and inflammatory, by Massachusetts and even national standards, cannot be legitimately disputed,” Maidman wrote in the appeal. Kottmyer denied Entwistle’s request to move the trial out of Middlesex county. “The defendant is entitled to a new trial utilising a jury selection process where there can be no question that the seated jurors are fair and impartial,” Maidman wrote. Middlesex district attorney Gerry Leone, whose office prosecuted Entwistle, said he received a “true and just” trial however. “The crimes committed by Neil Entwistle against his wife Rachel and daughter Lillian Rose are to be condemned as horrific and unspeakable acts,” Leone said in a statement. “He received a commendable defence and a fair and just trial under our laws.” Entwistle, a former IT consultant from Kilton, Worksop, left the US the day after the killings and later told police he had departed because he wanted to be consoled by his parents in the UK. He said he found his wife and daughter cuddled together in bed, dead of apparent gunshot wounds, after he returned home from running errands. Friends giving evidence said that the couple appeared to have had a happy marriage and were both thrilled with their daughter. Entwistle was sentenced at Middlesex county superior court in Woburn, Massachusetts, for what Kottmyer described as “incomprehensible” crimes. She imposed a 10-year probation sentence for two firearms offences and ordered that Entwistle should not profit from his crimes by writing a book. United States Massachusetts Crime guardian.co.uk

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