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A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation -- $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported. The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty's remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people. Cafferty said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk with the lead paint on...

"Asked if China supported the action against CNN, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu characterized it as "spontaneous activity by Chinese civilians"." - Uh huh...

J. Leon Altemose, controversial contractor, dies at 68 By Sally Downey and Jane M. Von Bergen Inquirer Staff Writers J. Leon Altemose, 68, a contractor who gained national attention for his stand against building-trade unions, died in his Malvern home Friday after a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis. To his fellow "open-shop" builders, Mr. Altemose was a hero, paving the way for nonunion contractors in a heavily unionized area. He won their admiration by standing fast against unions in the face of vandalism, firebombings, and destroyed machinery and equipment at his sites. Mr. Altemose himself was beaten up at one...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday demanded that television news channel CNN apologize after one of its commentators said the Chinese were "goons" and that their products were "junk." Jack Cafferty made the comments earlier this month on CNN's political program, The Situation Room. "We are shocked at and strongly condemn the evil attack by the CNN anchor on the Chinese people," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference. "Cafferty used the microphone in his hand to slander China and the Chinese people, and seriously violated reporting ethics." Cafferty said the United States imported Chinese-made "junk...

Africa's leading thug, Zimbabwe's Mugabe, gives every sign of resorting to whatever it takes to hold on to power in that tortured country.

Ever since Super Tuesday a super debate has been raging on FR concerning John McCain. I was never a McCain supporter, in fact I penned the post Super Tuesday post "Official FR Drinking Thread" so we could together drown our common disappointments into oblivion. FReepers seem to be moving into three distinct groups. The first are those that have always supported McCain, a lot or partially. There are those that don't like McCain but are willing to support him because they believe they will get some of what they want or to defeat what the see as the more critical...

GOP goon squad can’t rattle McCain DL-Online Published Saturday, February 09, 2008 It’s been a kind of perverse pleasure to watch Sen. John McCain overcome the vitriol of talk radio’s conservative goon squad. Despite vicious daily broadsides from Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham (and their sycophants on regional and local talk radio), McCain emerged Tuesday as the front-runner among Republican candidates for president. On Thursday, the senator’s only credible competition, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, suspended his campaign, effectively handing the nomination to McCain. So much for the influence of the talkers with the base of...

It's a typical morning in the court system designed to protect California's children from abuse and neglect: Justice is being strangled by the clock. In this Sacramento courtroom, attorneys spend two minutes on the case of a 3-year-old sent to the children's shelter after being found in a filthy home.

The leftist outrage industry bagged a new trophy last week: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. The Soros-funded wing of the Democratic Party took down the rabidly antiwar and anti-Bush talk show host because he dared to tell the truth about the Shadow Party’s anointed presidential candidate. However, the media have ignored the role Hillary Clinton claims to have played in founding one of the main organizations doing the protesting. Last week, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” issued an odd semi-apology for allegedly “sexist” and dismissive comments he made about Hillary Clinton on the network’s early-riser show, The Morning Joe. Matthews told that...

A federal judge in Washington, DC, has handed the RIAA another setback in its campaign against on-campus file-sharing. In Arista v. Does 1-19, a case brought against 19 George Washington University students by the Big Four record labels, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ordered the RIAA to show cause why the ex parte subpoenas issued to GWU shouldn't be quashed. Judge Kollar-Kotelly's order comes in response to a motion filed by Doe number three last week. In that motion, the unnamed student asked the judge to quash the subpoena, arguing that the RIAA was relying on the wrong law to obtain...

November 13, 2007 -- CBS News writers could be joining their enter tainment colleagues on the picket lines. The writers, members of the Writers Guild of America, East, are expected to vote unanimously Thursday to authorize a strike on both the national and local levels. They've been working without a contract since April 2005. It doesn't mean we will automatically call [a strike], but it gives us the authority to call it," said WGA spokeswoman Sherry Goldman. "It's been almost a year since the last vote. Last November, the contract CBS offered was rejected by 99 percent of [the WGA]...

If I was a gambler, my money would be on Hillary Clinton being the guilty party in this one and I am seriously wondering if Sandy “The Burglar” Berger may have been spotted lurking around Davenport, Iowa. After all, he was convicted and disbarred for STEALING important Security documents from the National Archive to protect and cover up for the Clinton’s appalling approach to national security and their irresponsible defence of Americans from Islamic Terrorism during the 1990’s. DAVENPORT, Iowa The Davenport, Iowa, campaign headquarters for presidential candidate Barack Obama was burglarized Friday evening. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor says two...

<p>DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Davenport campaign headquarters for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was burglarized Friday night. Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said that two laptop computers and some campaign literature were taken.</p>

Business: Delegates from the United Auto Workers are meeting this week ahead of the upcoming contract talks with domestic automakers. If the UAW isn't careful, it could kill America's Big Three. While the union seems to be acknowledging that economic reality dictates that it cannot be as aggressive as it has in the past, it probably hasn't fully learned the lesson. Reports out of Detroit, where the convention is being held, indicate that the union will not give back any of the ground it won on health care and other core issues.

U.S. Reporter Attacked by Castro Goons in Argentina Humberto Fontova Thursday, July 27, 2006 For the first time in 50 years a U.S. reporter actually asked Fidel Castro a pertinent question. This journalistic landmark took place last week while Castro visited Argentina. Castro (naturally) freaked. Why, the NERVE!! "You're a mercenary paid by the Bush!" he shrieked. "Who pays you? You'll probably try to assassinate me with a bomb!" As Castro yelled and sputtered, his bodyguards sprang into Kung Fu mode and pounced on the offending reporter chokeholding him and threatening much worse if he persisted in his impertinence. Did...

Latin America: For a relatively small nation, Bolivia has an uncanny way of shaking up a continent, which it did last week with energy nationalization. For democracies like Brazil, it could be a turning point. In his surprise May Day announcement, President Evo Morales "nationalized" Bolivia's natural gas resources — not just by decree, but also by force. His leftist presidency was all of 100 days old as he moved in with a crude, 1960s-style seizure of 56 natural gas fields as well as private gas stations owned by Bolivians. All were taken as if by battle, with troops triumphantly...

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004. The men pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty. "This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men.

Tire-slashing boasts recalled Witness says 5 were 'excited' about vandalism By DERRICK NUNNALLYdnunnally@journalsentinel.com Posted: Jan. 11, 2006 The key state witness in the election day 2004 tire-slashing trial testified Wednesday that the five defendants had all come into his office "excited, kind of boisterous" that morning to brag about vandalism that stranded 25 vans Republicans had planned to use for taking voters to polls. Election Day Vandalism Photo/Jack OrtonOpel Simmons III, a Democratic Party consultant, testifies Wednesday in the trial over tire-slashings on election day 2004. More Information Criminal complaint Recent Coverage 1/10/06: Outside operatives blamed in tire case 1/9/06:...

MILWAUKEE — A U.S. lawmaker's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004. The men pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty. "This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men. The Wisconsin state Republican Party had rented more than 100 vehicles to give rides...

(AP) MILWAUKEE Four Democratic presidential campaign workers were sentenced to jail time ranging from four months to six months Wednesday for puncturing the tires of Republican vehicles on Election Day 2004. The men had pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty. Those who pleaded no contest were Sowande A. Omokunde, the son of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee; Michael Pratt, the son of former acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt; and Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad, both from Milwaukee. They originally were charged with felony property damage but accepted plea deals...

RUSH: Jerry in Long Beach, I'm glad you waited, sir, welcome to the program. CALLER: Uh, Rush, I'm a proud member of the longshoremen's union. RUSH: Yes, sir. CALLER: I don't appreciate you attacking our union, try to make this part of this debate. Are you telling us that Republicans don't care about our jobs? Are you telling us that Republicans want to break our union? RUSH: No. CALLER: Is that what this deal was about? RUSH: No! No. CALLER: Or is this about -- Or is this about President -- RUSH: There you go again! There you go stereotyping!...

MILWAUKEE, WI (AP) -- Witness testimony and cell phone records tie five Democratic presidential campaign workers to criminal damage at a Bush-Cheney office, a prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments Thursday. The five defendants, including the sons of a congresswoman and former mayor, are accused of puncturing tires on 25 vehicles to be used by Republicans to get out the vote on Nov. 2, 2004. The jury will return Friday after it did not reach a verdict after deliberating a little over two hours.Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney David Feiss told jurors that testimony from several national Democratic campaign workers...

In a possible sign one or more guilty verdicts could be coming this morning, the jury in the Election Day 2004 tire-slashing case sent a note to Circuit Judge Michael Brennan asking whether, when filling out their verdict forms for each of the five defendants, anything should be written in to indicate which of three possible theories of party to a crime a person was being found guilty under. The jury has now been deliberating for 4 ½ hours.

In an unexpected twist in the Election Day tire slashing trial, four former Kerry-Edwards campaign staffers, including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, have agreed to plead no contest to misdemeanors. The plea agreements came in the middle of jury deliberations after an eight-day trial on felony property damage charges that carried potential 3 1/2 year prison terms upon conviction. Michael Pratt, 33, Sowande Omokunde, 26, Lewis G. Caldwell, 29, and Lavelle Mohammad, 36, have all pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property. Omokunde is Moore's son. Prosecutors...

MILWAUKEE — It started out with an alert security guard noticing a man urinating on a wall. Then the distinct sound of tires deflating. Now, two sons of prominent Wisconsin politicians and their three friends could end up in prison for allegedly attempting to sabotage a Republican effort to drive voters to the polls for the 2004 presidential election.Jurors began deliberating this afternoon in the politically charged trial of five Democratic activists who are accused of slashing the tires of 25 vans rented by the Republican Party to shuttle voters to the polls for the Bush-Kerry presidential election.In what is...

For all the overheated talk of fraud in Wisconsin's last presidential election particularly in Milwaukee one incident stands out and demands significant punishment. Those who slashed the tires of 25 rented vans and cars at the GOP headquarters in Milwaukee the morning of the 2004 election may have prevented hundreds of people from voting.

For all the overheated talk of fraud in Wisconsin's last presidential election particularly in Milwaukee one incident stands out and demands significant punishment. Those who slashed the tires of 25 rented vans and cars at the GOP headquarters in Milwaukee the morning of the 2004 election may have prevented hundreds of people from voting. Five men, including the sons of two prominent Democrats, are on trial for felony property destruction. Testimony resumes today in a Milwaukee courtroom. This is not just another run-of-the-mill case of vandalism. It's an affront to our democratic system. The Republican Party of Wisconsin had rented...

Democratic worker soured on city Police surrounded woman after Nov. 2 tire slashings By DERRICK NUNNALLY dnunnally@journalsentinel.com Posted: Jan. 13, 2006 The defense in the election day tire-slashing case tried Friday to deepen a furrow between the defendants, all Democratic staffers from the Milwaukee area, and their out-of-state colleagues who had come to town to help the party win Wisconsin. Under extensive cross-examination, Alicia E. Smith may have helped sell the idea. She bluntly described how she felt going home to Virginia after being surrounded by police who thought she might have had something to do with the crippling of...

Five Democratic activists accused of slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans on Election Day 2004 are now charging that "professional political operatives" with the Democratic Party actually damaged the tires and then set up the activists to take the blame. Attorney Sheldon Shellow, who is representing accused tire-slasher Sowande Omokunde – son of Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) – said the operatives' loathing of Republicans and President Bush motivated the slashings. The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles for a get-out-the-vote campaign in Milwaukee on Nov. 2, 2004. The vehicles were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush...

MILWAUKEE - Five Democratic presidential campaign workers, including the sons of a congresswoman and a former mayor, were wrongly implicated in Election Day vandalism by national political operatives from their own party, defense attorneys argued at their trial Tuesday. Prosecutors accused the five of slashing 40 tires on get-out-the-vote vans at a Republican campaign office in the early hours before the Nov. 2, 2004, election, causing more than $5,000 in damage.

Fourteen months after John Kerry narrowly carried Wisconsin in the 2004 presidential election amidst allegations of voter fraud, five campaign workers for the Kerry-Edwards campaign team are set for trial Tuesday in Milwaukee on felony charges of damage to property.The "Milwaukee Five” is charged with slashing 40 tires on 25 separate Republican vehicles on the morning of the 2004 presidential election. The vehicles were rented by the Wisconsin Republican Party to transport less-mobile voters to the polls on Election Day. In total, the vandals disabled 25 percent of the Republican Party’s "Get Out the Vote” fleet. The defendants include Sowande...

THE MILWAUKEE 5 ON TRIAL By Michelle Malkin   ·   January 09, 2006 06:22 PM If these dudes were Republicans, their faces would have been all over the news today as their trial on felony counts of vandalism in the Election Day 2004 tire-slashing of more than 20 vehicles rented by Republican campaigners finally got underway: Sowande Ajumoke Omokunde, son of congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee). (Credit: Milwaukee County Police.) Michael Pratt, son of former Milwaukee mayor Marvin Pratt. (Credit: Milwaukee County Police.) Three other alleged tire-slashers: Lewis Caldwell (top-left), Justin Howell (top-right), and Lavelle Mohammed (bottom). (Credit: Milwaukee County Police.) The...

Five Democratic campaign operatives charged with felony counts of property damage in the slashing of tires on Republican Party get-out-the-vote vehicles before polls opened Nov. 2 will be tried early next year, under a schedule laid out Monday. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jean W. DiMotto, who has handled the case, authorized switching the case to Judge Michael Brennan because she will move to small-claims court duty in August. Attorney Robin Shellow, who is representing Sowande Omokunde, the son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), had requested that the cases remain with DiMotto, but attorneys for the other defendants had asked...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with attacks on two West Oakland liquor stores, police announced Thursday. Yasir Hakeem Azzem, 19, and Kahlil Ali Raheem, 24, were arrested Wednesday for their alleged involvement in Nov. 23 attacks on the New York Market and San Pablo Liquor Store, authorities said. A group of about 11 black men dressed in dark suits and bow ties were seen smashing liquor bottles and toppling food racks while demanding that both stores stop selling alcohol to black people. A plea hearing scheduled for Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court...

Police, baffled by attacks on liquor stores, add patrols Dressy appearance of vandals consistent with Nation of Islam, official in West Oakland says. A surveillance video showing a dozen men in suits and bow ties filing into a West Oakland liquor store and confronting the manager before destroying rows of liquor bottles provides detailed images that could pinpoint the culprits and lead to hate crime charges, police said Friday. The men who smashed up San Pablo Liquor at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday staged an almost identical attack about 10 minutes later at another West Oakland corner store, New York Market, police...

DIMONDALE - Can we all agree that the coach-ordered fistfighting Bob McClean believes he witnessed at The Summit ice arena last week is a bad thing? We cannot. Gordon Allington has no objection to it. His 17-year-old son, Chase Allington, plays in the local Capital Centre Pride league. The kid says he fights when the coach says "fight." The father accepts it as an occupational hazard. Calling Tuesday from Wasilla, Alaska, he said: "They must learn how to protect themselves. It's a way to get the kids to the next level."Al Harris agrees. He lives in East Lansing and has...

Jesse Jackson's traveling circus reportedly flew to Caracas yesterday for a grandstanding visit with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The announced visit came in the wake of ill-considered remarks from televangelist Pat Robertson who declared that the U.S. ought to try to assassinate Chavez. Jackson went there to show Chavez he's a 'man of peace and goodwill' and probably wanted to curry favor with him, given the opportunity presented by Robertson. And what better way to look good for his U.S. domestic constituents than to be seen in an abrazo embrace with telegenic Hugo Chavez? But a funny thing happened on...

(A) Five Democrat Operatives In Milwaukee Charged With Slashing Tires Of Republican Vans On Morning Of Election Day (60) (Exhibit E) On Monday, January 24, 2005, five Democrat operatives were charged with felony counts of “criminal damage to property” for slashing the tires of 25 get-out-the-vote vans rented by Republicans early on the morning of Election Day. The vans had been rented by Republicans to help transport observers and voters to the polls on Election Day. The five individuals charged in the case were all paid Democrat operatives. Two defendants in the case are the sons of prominent Milwaukee Democrats:...

This Land is My Land (Hebei Edition) For two years, villagers in China's Hebei province have refused to leave 67 acres of their land that the local government granted to a state-owned power company. On June 11, six villagers were killed in a confrontation between hired thugs with pipes and locals wielding pitchforks. This week, government officials backed off. The Washington Post report suggests it may have been video of the brutal June riot, recorded by one of the local farmers and distributed over the internet, that led to the about-face.Violent video here.

Workers were trying to unionize, and they wore buttons showcasing their cause. Supervisors demanded the buttons be removed, and they disciplined a half-dozen employees who didn't listen. The workers filed a complaint with the federal government, saying their rights were being violated. Dissidents also claimed later that three ringleaders of the organizing effort were let go because of their activism. Employees trying to unionize often face resistance -- or retribution -- from bosses. But the employees in this instance weren't working at some factory or warehouse. They're actually employed by a union. They're organizers and clerical staff for the fast-growing...

Freedom: Like a green shoot improbably breaking through dilapidated concrete, something extraordinary is happening down in Cuba. It's not one of those showy people-power street revolutions we see all over on CNN in the post-Iraq war era. It's more like letters John Adams might have written to Thomas Jefferson concerning the nature of government. Citizens from 365 groups across the island are gathering this weekend to hammer out a compact for the creation of a free post-Castro Cuba. This Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is meeting for the first time under the most incredible of conditions — inside...

Unions are losing members and clout at the bargaining table, but that doesn't mean they aren't still powerful players on the political scene. Now, Big Labor is trying to stop Social Security reform, even if it hurts union members. Unions are supposed to represent their members' interests by negotiating higher pay and better benefits, including pensions. In fact, union pension funds are the single biggest source of investment in the stock market, amounting to an estimated $6 trillion in 2003. Now, the AFL-CIO and individual unions are threatening some investment firms and corporations with pulling out their pension fund investments...

PORT ANGELES -- Authorities and Republican Party leaders are investigating -- and wondering why -- pieces of concrete were thrown through the window of party headquarters. County Republican Party Vice Chairman Fred Norton said the vandalism must have occurred between 9 p.m. and midnight on Thursday. He received a call from Port Angeles police about 12:30 a.m. Friday, and reached the storefront office at 509 S. Lincoln St. about 1 a.m. The police told him someone had thrown what looked like sections of concrete curb through the window, Norton said. Two of them went through the windows and hit the...

A Knox County Republican political operative and county employee resigned Thursday, saying he has been harassed by county law enforcement officers and become an enemy of the now-former chairman of the local party. In a lengthy e-mail to Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, Tyler Harber, 24, accused the Knox County Sheriff's Office of "vengeful and illegal actions" in recent days. "Last night, after I was followed by undercover officers and then forcefully removed from my vehicle, I was handcuffed and confined in the back of a Knox County Sheriff's vehicle, officers refused to show proper identification, read me my rights,...

Imagine that your local government makes it a crime to engage in an activity that you believe to be constitutionally protected -- like possessing a handgun in your home for self-defense. Imagine further that the weight of legal scholarship, from liberals and conservatives alike, holds that the Second Amendment secures an individual right to keep and bear arms. Too bad if you live in Washington, D.C., where you may be faced with a Hobson's choice. You can forego possessing a gun for self-defense, and perhaps suffer personal injury. Or you can defy the law, illegally own a gun, use it...

It's not enough that Senate (Permanent) Minority Leader Harry Reid called him a "political hack," now the Left's cyber-hatchet men at The Daily Kos are advocating a smear campaign against Alan Greenspan. Here's Kos contributor "DavidNYC": "As you've probably noticed, there have been several Alan Greenspan-related posts on the main page in just the past day or so. In one of those threads, blogswarmer Bob Brigham suggested that we "unleash the blogosphere" on Greenspan. It's a brilliant idea - no one is more worthy of having a halo-ectomy than St. Alan - so let's have at it. If you're interested...

Babalu blog's Val Prieto, who was profiled recently on the front page of the Miami Herald as a brilliant new voice of the often-dismissed Cuban-American community, has a striking update about the Elian Gonzalez case. Back in 2000, the rescue of the 6-year-old Cuban refugee by fishermen off the coast of Florida triggered a three-way tug-of-war between Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the cowardly Clinton Administration, and the Cuban-American community over custody of the child. The Clinton administration resolved the question with a savage pre-dawn raid, grabbing the terrified child at gunpoint from his Miami relatives and delivering him straight to...

MILWAUKEE (AP) Five Democratic campaign staffers talked excitedly about how they carried out a plan to vandalize Republican get-out-the-vote vans early on Election Day, according to witnesses who testified at their preliminary hearing Tuesday. Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Barry Phillips ordered the five, including the sons of Wisconsin Congresswoman Gwen Moore and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, to each stand trial on a felony charge of criminal damage to property. Two Democratic presidential campaign workers who were sent to Wisconsin in the final weeks leading up to Nov. 2, Levar Stoney and Opel Simmons, testified they were in the Milwaukee...

(Updated) A few weeks ago I posted an entry titled The Final Stages where I described the stages of castro's revolution vis-a-vis Venezuela. I wrote: One: Convince the have nots that the haves are evil. Two: Decry the evils of foreigners. Three: Manipulate an election. Four: Nationalize all media sources. And the fifth stage: Expropriations. I also mention the sixth stage, the Nationalization of Banks, which, if I am not mistaken, has already begun in castro's Venezuela. In the comments of that post, I had a run in with a person named Martin who stated, among other things, the following:...

The headline in the New York Sun reads like a bad joke but makes perfect sense: "Venezuela Outsources Intelligence Activities To Cuba." In a global society, where what economists call 'comparative advantage' rules, each country does the most of its specialty. And in Cuba, its only production of note is its repressive police state. This is the only product it can credibly export, and quite an economically damning fact. But the substance of its number one export is very disturbing. It has a buyer in Venezuela's Marxist dictator, Hugo Chavez. The details of this new law that Chavez has passed...