Drivers warned of vandals throwing rocks at cars on I-75

Authorities in Saginaw County are asking for help to find whoever is putting driver's safety at risk.

Drivers beware! As you're cruising along I-75 in Birch Run Township, there could be someone lurking above that could stop you in your tracks. "It's pretty irresponsible. They could kill somebody," said Fred Schmunk.

The Saginaw County Sheriff's Department is looking for the person or people who damaged at least five vehicles by throwing rocks from an area overpass.

"One driver says he was riding along I-75 when he noticed a shadow on this overpass near mile marker 139. The next thing he knew, he says he saw something fall. He ran over it, it made a terrible sound and damaged his vehicle.

Schmunk says it's a simple act that could have devastating effects. "Even if they don't kill the person in the car, they might swerve or something, roll their car over, cause a chain reaction accident or whatever."

Detectives brought a K-9 unit to the area to help track down the culprits. They believe juveniles living nearby are responsible. But, so far they are still on the run.  "The kids, they just think they are having fun. They don't realize the consequences," added Schmunk.

Most of the reported incidents happened the weekend after Thanksgiving, the busiest travel weekend of the year. But, with many locals on this highway everyday, and with more holiday travelers expected to hit the road in the coming weeks, drivers are hoping whoever is responsible is caught soon, before they strike again.

"Real dangerous. People get killed that way. I don't know who's doing it. But they should catch them really soon I hope," said Ken Byron, a concerned driver. He says he'll be keeping a watchful eye until someone is charged in the crime.

If you have seen or know something that may help authorities solve this case call the Saginaw Sheriff's Department.

Source  http://www.wnem.com/story/20268745/drivers-beware

Newspaper columnist highlights value of international media watchdog's attention to Guyana

Guyanese newspaper columnist Freddie Kissoon, widely considered a harsh government critic, is among several Latin American media operatives featured as part of the International Freedom of Expression Network's (IFEX) International Day to End Impunity.

Kissoon told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) that his inclusion is part of a growing body of international opinion against the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration until it implodes like the Peoples National Congress (PNC) in 1992 when it lost Guyana's first free and fair elections in almost three decades.

"It symbolizes the international community's interest in growing depravities that are occuring in Guyana," he said, adding that the interest by IFEX and other organisations is long overdue. He said IFEX's intervention showed that efforts are being made to protect Guyanese media workers.

Government has targeted the privately-owned Kaieteur News,k Stabroek News, Demerara Waves Online News and the pro-opposition Benschop Radio.

It was a month-long campaign that recounts how reporters, human rights activists, and artists from around the world have been forcibly silenced for their advocacy on promoting freedom of expression. The campaign culminated on Friday, Nov. 23.

The campaign aims to raise awareness on what it describes as a culture of impunity, which “exists when those who seek to control the freedom of expression of others do so knowing that it is unlikely they will be held accountable for their actions.”

“At IFEX we chronicle free expression violations. We see journalists, bloggers, artists whose rights are being violated and are forced to live in fear, in jail or in exile, every day. While an International Day might not be the solution, it is the opportunity to bring a global voice together to demand authorities take responsibility and bring an end to the violations,” IFEX executive director Annie Game told the Knight Center for Journalism of the Americas.

Among the tools developed for promoting the campaign include a website, a short video, and 23 profiles of journalists and human rights activists from around the world telling their stories about the different types of threats they face from other people or from their countries’ government. IFEX featured the cases of the following four journalists in Latin America:

Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima was abducted and raped during a 2001 investigation into alleged arms trafficking ring at a Colombian prison that involved state officials and members of the AUC paramilitary group.

In a 2011 article written by the Atlantic, Bedoya described the dangers women who work as journalists face. She recounted her experience of being tortured and raped by three men, who then abandoned her in a garbage dump on the side of the road. The lack of action of Colombian authorities forced Bedoya to plea her case for justice to the Inter-American Commission in Washington, DC.

“Before there was the risk -- we always had a fear of something happening to us when we covered conflict, but now I have the additional fear of what can happen to me because I'm a woman, the specific vulnerability of what can happen to my body because I'm a woman," Bedoya told the Atlantic

Lydia Cacho is a prominent Mexican investigative journalist and author who was forced to leave the country in August 2012 after receiving threats following the publication of her book, "Slavery Inc: the Untold Story of International Sex Trafficking." Cacho had also been a kidnapping victim in 2005 following her investigations into a pedophile ring that linked several Mexican politicians and businessmen. The Mexican Supreme Court dismissed that case on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

"People come up to me sometimes and say I'm their hero," Cacho said in an interview with Amnesty International on Aug. 1. "But I’m not Superwoman… I realize that I still live in a culture of impunity and that honors on a wall can't protect me."

Guyanese writer and and human rights activist Freddie Kissoon was fired from his lecturer position at the state-run University of Guyana and is currently involved in a $40,000 libel suit with the former Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo. Kissoon wrote in an Aug. 12 op-ed piece for Guyanese publication Kaieteur News how human waste has been thrown at him and how his wife lost her job with a Guyanese state-owned company. He states that these actions are in retaliation for his criticisms against the government.

“I am a human rights activist like so many others. I write an analytical commentary that the Government frowns upon. But there are pro-government commentators all over Guyana and I don’t see the opposition targeting them and harassing them,” Kissoon writes in his op-ed piece.

Venezuelan journalist and political cartoonist Rayma Suprani started to receive threats following the publication of several cartoons for Venezuela’s El Universal where she criticizes the Venezuelan government and its policies. She even became the target on Twitter where supporters of President Hugo Chávez used the hashtag #RaymaApatrida (“Unpatriotic Rayma”) to post threats and insults.

In an interview with online magazine Sampsonia Way, Suprani describes how she criticizes the Chávez regime in her drawings even though she doesn’t specifically draw him in her cartoons.

“I have been threatened by pro-Chávez gangs, but the government does not punish them for their actions because it supports them,” Suprani said. “Sometimes it is difficult to express things, but the cartoonist’s commitment is always with the readers and with the facts.”

The International Day to End Impunity, started in 2011, marks the anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines, when 46 people, including 32 journalists and media workers, were murdered on Nov. 23, 2009. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called that massacre the single deadliest day for journalists since it began keeping records in 1992. Several events—including ones in Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela—are being held in conjunction with the International Day to commemorate that massacre promote impunity issues in those countries.

Source  http://www.demerarawaves.com/index.php/201211245027/Latest/newspaper-columnist-highlights-value-of-international-media-watchdogs-attention-to-guyana.html

Less than two years after the Pakistani military drew down its counterinsurgency operations in the picturesque Swat valley, Pakistan’s frontier region is once again being rocked by suicide attacks and targeted killings. While the country may appear to be locked in an entrenched conflict, Pakistan’s civil society could hold the key for a sustainable, peaceful future.
The World Organization for Resource Development and Education, a nonprofit, educational organization aiming to enhance communication and understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, recently completed a yearlong study to understand the capacity of Pakistan’s civil society for resolving conflict within its borders. The WORDE team traveled to over 35 cities and villages – from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to interior Sindh – to interview over 100 organizations countering radical narratives and fostering social harmony.
Our research indicates that Pakistan’s civil society has the capacity to promote peace and regional stability through five powerful mechanisms. First, activists are leading bold public awareness initiatives to educate the population about the threat of radicalization. Public rallies, such as “Save Pakistan Conventions,” have galvanized the population and forged unity against terrorism. In 2009, for example, conservative Muslim parties teamed up with the Christian Progressive Movement of Pakistan to hold a 25,000-man National Flag Day march in Islamabad to demonstrate national solidarity against violent extremism.
Following examples from the Arab Spring, Pakistani youth are also using new media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to promote peace – often at great personal risk. Just last month, Malala Yousafzai, a female teenage blogger and girls’ education activist, was shot by militants in the Swat valley for speaking out against the Taliban.
Second, concerted efforts are under way across the country to empower youth with alternatives to militancy. For example, schools such as the Dar ul Uloom Okara in Southern Punjab organize intensive two-week seminars on Quranic principles of peace and conflict resolution. Others, like the Dar ul Uloom Bhera, conduct individually tailored interventions for at-risk youth that refute the idea of violence in the name of Islam. Where possible, large schools are also offering advanced courses in English, sciences, mathematics and vocational training to prepare students for professional careers after graduation.
Third, public statements are also a powerful mechanism to counter violent ideologies. Since 9/11, dozens of fatwas in Urdu and local languages have been issued to denounce terrorism at the theological level. Given the high number of targeted killings in Pakistan, however, many scholars are hesitant to address the issue of extremism directly. Instead, they often embed their anti-terror messages within speeches on broader social issues.
Fourth, religious scholars are organizing public lectures and debates to deconstruct radical interpretations of Islam using the Quran, stories of the Prophets and historical examples. In regions like southern Punjab, where robust civil society networks exist, public debates and lectures are held on a weekly basis. Those featuring prominent speakers such as Sayyed Arshad Kazmi are televised or posted on YouTube.
Fifth, Pakistani faith-based organizations are using their social networks to distribute humanitarian assistance to impoverished communities at risk of militancy. For example, the Jamia Subhaniyya Rizvia, a school bordering the tribal regions, recently teamed up with the military and social welfare organizations to distribute emergency kits and over 30 tons of goods to internally displaced peoples in terrorism-affected regions.
In short, there are many examples of Pakistani civil society’s constructive efforts to create change, and Pakistan’s future hinges on replicating and expanding these efforts across the country. However, security and a lack of funding and resources prevent activists from creating a sustained national movement.
Today, with the public outcry following the attack on Yousafzai and other peace activists, the international community – especially the Pakistani diaspora – has been presented with an opportunity to provide training in capacity-building, technical assistance and material support to strengthen Pakistan’s civil society.
Ultimately, such support can further empower Pakistanis to peacefully push back against the tide of violent extremism.


Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/Nov-21/195733-civil-society-holds-the-key-to-peace-in-pakistan.ashx#ixzz2DON9mYZv
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

The weird, black, spidery things of Mars

See those weird, black, spidery things dotting the dunes in this colorized photo taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2010? Yeah. Nobody knows what the hell those things are.

What we do know about them just underlines how incredibly unfamiliar Mars really is to us. First spotted by humans in 1998, these splotches pop up every Martian spring, and disappear in winter. Usually, they appear in the same places as the previous year, and they tend to congregate on the sunny sides of sand dunes — all but shunning flat ground. There's nothing on Earth that looks like this that we can compare them to. It's a for real-real mystery, writes Robert Krulwich at NPR. But there are theories:

Source  http://boingboing.net/2012/10/03/the-weird-black-spidery-thin.html

Sugar Land runner completes Pure Austin Splash-n-Dash

Mark Daiber of Sugar Land completed the Pure Austin Splash-n-Dash in 30:47 in Austin on Tuesday, July 17.

A total of 185 runners finished the race, which was held at Quarry Lake in Pure Austin North. The race is composed of a 750-meter swim, and a 3K run.

The race is a USAT-sanctioned event.

Jamie Cleveland of Austin was the men's overall winner with a time of 20:46, while Andrea Fisher, also of Austin, was the winner of the women's division in 24:03.

Source  http://www.ultimatefortbend.com/stories/402518-sports-sugar-land-runner-completes-pure-austin-splash-n-dash

Innocence Project expresses caution on study of wrongful convictions in Virginia sexual assaults

The Innocence Project is expressing caution about the startling findings of an Urban Institute study on the rate of wrongful convictions in Virginia sexual assaults from 1973 to 1987.

"DNA testing eliminated between 8 and 15 percent of convicted offenders and supported exoneration," while past studies put wrongful conviction rates at 3 percent or less, said a news release about the institute's findings released last month.

But Madeline deLone, executive director of the Innocence Project, which helps exonerate wrongfully convicted people using DNA, sent a letter to supporters and colleagues last week questioning the institute's conclusions.

"While this study represents a valuable first step to explore the prevalence of wrongful convictions in Virginia, the researchers did not have sufficient information to make a definitive finding about the number of innocent people who were wrongly convicted by the state during the period studied," she wrote.

DeLone's letter "was really designed to address any audience that was kind of concerned about those (Urban Institute) figures," said Paul Cates, communications director for the Innocence Project.

The Urban Institute's study was based on the findings of Virginia's massive DNA post-conviction study that is testing evidence discovered in old forensic case files from the 15 years prior to the widespread use of DNA in criminal investigations.

Thousands of tests in hundreds of cases have been conducted since 2005, thus far exonerating a half-dozen people. Most of the testing was paid for by a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice.

The grant required the Virginia Department of Forensic Science to share its largely confidential findings with the Urban Institute for its study released last month. In a substantial number of cases, the convicted person's DNA was not found or was excluded.

Last week, in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, the Department of Forensic Science released the test results in more than 70 DNA exclusion cases.

A handful of those cases are under investigation by police and prosecutors, and all of them will be studied by the Innocence Project and affiliated projects in Washington and Virginia.

Just because a convicted person's DNA is not found in crime scene evidence does not necessarily mean they are innocent — though consistent with innocence, such results are often irrelevant to the question.

The Urban Institute said 33 such DNA exclusion cases supported innocence.

The Urban Institute conceded that because its study contract ran out, it was unable to go to local courthouses where the crimes occurred to better assess the relevance of the DNA test results.

DeLone wrote in her letter, "Although the authors of this report make it clear that they did not have important case facts to make final determinations of innocence, they did calculate potential rates of wrongful convictions involving sexual assaults.

"Unfortunately, these suggested wrongful conviction rates have been widely interpreted as definitive, or at least highly probable," she wrote.

The Innocence Project believes it is premature to discuss potential rates of wrongful conviction because evaluating the impact of exclusionary results in post-conviction DNA testing is extremely complex, she wrote.

"This is especially true in cases involving multiple perpetrators, where it is not possible to conclude whether an exclusionary DNA result is supportive of exoneration prior to a comprehensive review of all case facts."

Reached by telephone Friday, John Roman, the lead researcher in the Urban Institute study, said, "We're doing a different (kind) of research than what they do — we're trying to answer a different question.

"They're trying to go case by case and figure out: Should this person be exonerated? We're trying to figure out: What percentage of the time did somebody get convicted who shouldn't have been convicted?" he said.

"Those are really quite different things," Roman said. "We want to know if all the evidence available today, including DNA analysis, had that been available at the time the case was tried, would that person have been convicted."

While the DNA results might not be strong enough to exonerate someone already convicted, it might have been strong enough to raise reasonable doubt and prevent a conviction, he said.

In her letter, deLone noted that Virginia already has had 15 DNA exonerations, seven as a result of the post-conviction study.

"There will most likely be other exonerations to come, as investigations into these DNA exclusions continue," deLone wrote.

Source  http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/09/tdmain01-innocence-project-expresses-caution-on-st-ar-2042763/

Check our failed parties

There is something deeply hypocritical about the way the civil society and the media are giving pass to one of the glaring failures of Pakistani democracy. Three parties in power and several others in opposition have turned Pakistan’s largest city and economic hub into Beirut. Karachi is a strategic port and a rich city. It has been home to Pakistani innovation in business, culture and arts. But today its best and brightest are moving to Dubai, Malaysia and even Bangladesh as the city’s control, indeed the country’s control, passes from the hands of innovative Pakistanis to a bunch of violent, criminal-minded mediocre politicians.

Instead of introducing democracy to the country, our political parties want to control the city’s riches and its multiple revenue streams that run into billions of rupees. They want to use the city to smuggle contraband inside and outside the country. And to do so they are ready to kill Pakistanis by the thousands and pitch them along fake and manufactured linguistic divides. They are ready to bypass the Pakistani state and talk directly to foreign governments.

For the right price, some of them are willing to guarantee safe passage to Nato and US military supplies from Karachi to Afghanistan. Stunningly, we have parties now that demand international intervention when their interests are threatened by other criminal parties.

Like a war zone, neighbourhood streets in Karachi have ugly ‘security gates’ that help political parties control and repel competitors. An ugly culture of identifying people by what Pakistani language they speak has been firmly put in place. If not stopped, these failed parties will poison the entire country at a time when the nation suffers from an acute leadership deficit. What European country has this kind of democracy? If we can’t tailor our own political system, we better be good at aping someone else’s.

The verdict of the Supreme Court over the weekend on the criminal activities of Pakistani political parties, though welcome, is severely constrained and only scratches the surface. While successfully identifying the criminal parties, the verdict fails to diagnose the full extent of the problem.

Karachi does not suffer from any ethnic problems. It is wrong to use the word ‘ethnic’ in the Pakistani context, where the nation is deeply intermixed in all respects. On the night of August 14, our Independence Day, over five thousand of the city’s young and old residents, representing all stripes of Pakistanis, gathered in open air to recite the national anthem and create a world record. Do these Pakistanis look linguistically-divided? Nearly seven decades after independence, Pakistanis are more intermarried and intermixed today than ever before. Many of them speak or understand several different Pakistani languages.

Pakistanis are not divided on language. Failed political parties are dividing them. These parties have nothing to offer so they divide and kill. Our problems – establishing a prosperous country with good governance and basic services – have nothing to do with language or sect, except when these parties play up divisions over real issues. Except that these divisions, and the parties advocating them, will destroy the country faster than any enemy.

This is why Karachi and Pakistan are not beyond hope provided that the Pakistani state moves in swiftly to restrict these parties and ban those that rebel.

Who gave any political party the right to represent all Pakistanis who speak Pashto? Who gave a single political party the right to represent all Pakistanis who speak Urdu (national language spoken by nearly all Pakistanis)? Who says the PPP is supposed to represent Pakistanis who speak Sindhi or the PML-N should be the representative of the Punjabi language?

The Pakistani state must seize back the right to represent all of its citizens. Educated Pakistanis, regardless of their spoken language at home, have been sidelined by failed and violent parties. Those are the people that should be brought forward by the state at the expense of failed parties and politicians.

Political parties are supposed to be the incubators of leadership and produce a steady supply of capable new blood. The Supreme Court verdict has to re-establish this fact. Merely asking these parties to disband their terror wings is not enough. No political party should be allowed to operate if its sole agenda is dividing Pakistanis on language or sect. Only national parties should exist with a clear mission statement. Parties should not be free to block streets and create public disorder.

In March, during the city government’s elections in one of Switzerland’s richest cities, Geneva, parties and candidates were only allowed to establish few neat and clean kiosks manned by a single volunteer. Swiss citizens interested in picking up pamphlets bearing candidates’ pictures and manifestos could do so. Few were interested. You could have mistaken these kiosks for a cell phone ad campaign. No messy street demonstrations. No wild party flags and posters. And no direct contacts between the parties and foreign governments. Local TV channels relegated local political news to the third or fourth slots. Sports, cultural events and news relevant to improving people’s lives took precedence in TV coverage.

In short, banning terror wings is not enough. To stabilise Pakistan, correct the failed political parties first.

Source http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=71867&Cat=9

IRS Relents on Two-Year Limit on Innocent Spouse Equitable Relief

After winning appeals in three federal circuit courts of its two-year limit for requesting equitable innocent spouse relief, the IRS said on Monday it will no longer observe that deadline.

In Notice 2011-70, the IRS said it will now consider taxpayer requests for equitable relief from joint and several liability under IRC § 6015(f) at any time if the limitation period for collection of taxes under section 6502 remains open for the tax years at issue (generally, 10 years after an assessment). If the taxpayer is seeking a refund as part of the request, the limitation period on credits or refunds under section 6511 governs (generally, three years).

In a number of cases, taxpayers have been denied equitable innocent spouse relief solely because the request was not timely. The Tax Court has declared the two-year limit, imposed by Treas. Reg. § 1.6015(f)-5(b)(1), invalid, but the Seventh, Third and, most recently, the Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeals have overruled the Tax Court and upheld the IRS’ authority to impose the two-year limit (respectively, Lantz v. Commissioner, 607 F.3d 479; Mannella v. Commissioner, 631 F.3d 115; and Jones v. Commissioner, 642 F.3d 459). In April 2011, members of Congress wrote IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman to urge the Service to revise the regulation.

On Monday, the IRS said it will do just that. In the interim, until the regulations are revised and the limit is formally removed, the IRS provided transitional rules for requesting relief or resolving cases currently in litigation.

Requests Pending with the IRS

For requests already submitted (normally, by filing Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief) but not yet ruled upon by the Service, taxpayers should not reapply. The IRS will consider the request even if it was submitted more than two years after the first collection activity was undertaken, if it is within the other applicable limitation periods noted.

Requests Denied Solely for Untimeliness

Taxpayers may reapply for equitable relief if their requests were denied solely because they made the request more than two years after the first collection activity and the case has not been litigated. If the request involves a claim for refund or credit, the IRS will use the date of the original request for that purpose.

Requests in Litigation

For cases currently before a court, the government will “take appropriate action consistent with the position” announced in the notice regarding any issues of timely filing of a request under section 6015(f).

Requests for Which Litigation Is Final

If, in a court case that is final, the IRS stipulated that a request for relief under section 6015(f) would have been granted except for the timely submission issue, the IRS will take no further collection activity after July 25, 2011, the effective date of the notice. No refunds or credits are available, however, for previous collections.

Future Requests

Requests for equitable relief under section 6015(f) filed after July 25 will be considered consistent with the other limitation periods noted above but without regard to when collection activity began.

Source http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Web/20114395.htm