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| Meida Bias Misleading Voters Says Chaldean Julie Kalasho |
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California, USA - The controversial presidential campaign has raised a number of issues about democracy. Concerns of voter registration and voter fraud list highest among the concerns. However, what seems to have captured the attention of most Americans is media bias. Calls by the Clintons and McCain campaigns of media bias in favor of Obama have proven accurate and some want the media meddling investigated for impacting national security. The latest being an NBC blackout of Biden’s guarded warning of dire attacks against the United States if Obama is elected.
Media bias has also drawn the attention of UCLA political science major, Julie Kalasho. “I have a relative in Michigan who openly is using his radio station to support Obama,” says Kalasho. “He got into some big trouble in the past with his political fund raising for Republicans and the Democrats scared him into supporting Obama. So I know first hand how the media is being used to influence politics. He openly admits he wants Obama to win and is trying to scare naïve Chaldeans to vote for Obama or they may be doomed.”
Kalasho sites fellow colleague Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist who co-authored a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.
The objective findings may shock some, while others see it as vindication of what many have long been complaining about. The reports finding objectively concludes that almost all major media outlets are biased towards the left.
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| Filed in: Government & Society By Neda Ayar |
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| Chaldean Protest Raising Awareness |
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Mosul, IRAQ— Shocking the conscience of anyone who would dare pay a few minutes of attention, Christians are being mowed down in Mosul. Community activists in Australia, England, US, Denmark, and Germany are begging world governments to do more than talk. Activists are protesting in front of city halls, holding meetings, getting petitions signed, attempting any and all efforts to raise the awareness and conscience of world leaders, turning a blind eye to the genocide of Iraqi Christians.
Nearly 10,000 Christians — roughly half the city's Christian population — have fled this month because of organized and targeted threats and attacks, according to Iraqi officials. Christians in Iraq are fast losing faith and trust with the Iraq government. Few Iraqi Christians are returning to the restive city of Mosul despite government pledges of financial support and protection, officials said Wednesday.
Attempts to bribe families back into the city have fallen on deaf ears. The prime minister offered every Christian family that returns to Mosul 1 million Iraqi dinars — about $865, said Jawdat Ismaeel, a local migration official. But less than a handful of Christians have returned, he said.
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| Filed in: Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends By Amer Hedow |
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| Obama on Iraq and Media Cover-ups Leading to Lots of Mistrust |
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Michigan, USA - Presidential hopeful John McCain is fast gaining momentum as more voters discover Obama's recipe for America. Obama was caught off-guard by a middle class plumber who helped reveal the disaster of Obama's tax plan, something the McCain campaign team says the media blackout is keeping them from doing. "It took 'Joe the Plumber' to show that Obama can't be trusted," says Iman Nalou, of Farmington Hills, Michigan. "I have many neighbors who were going to vote for Obama, and after hearing what he is really about, they all changed their minds."
Obama is worried as more of the truth emerges. He never wants to tell you the whole story, and the lies have Obama's campaign on the ropes as political pundits dig deeper into Obama's policies and find quite a bit of flip-flopping and hypocrisy. From promising to take public financing to the election to his stance on Iraq, Obama is losing ground on the trust factor.
For Issam Hanou of Novi, MI, Obama lost his vote a long time ago. "He lies and can't be trusted. How could you believe anything he says he is going to do when he lies? You can't trust him. He will promise you anything and give you some excuse why he breaks his promise." Hanou is really upset over Obama's Iraqi flip-flops. Hanou says a youtube video that his son showed him was really frustrating. Hanou's son Gino, a college student at Ohio State has long distrusted Obama. "I liked what he had to say early in his campaign about ending the Iraqi war, but he kept saying different things. I finally took the time to do some searching and what I found out was how much of a liar he really is."
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| Filed in: Government & Society By Sam Yousif |
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| Chaldean Controversy Over 'Guaranteed Fresh' Conceived Conspiracy |
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Michigan, USA – Chaldean business owners are disappointed over continued efforts to stain independent grocers. “This is bad. These people don’t speak for us. Our produce and foods are fresh. This is just another way to take money from stores owners and give them nothing in return,” says Kamal Dally, owner of Riverside Liquor in Detroit.
Dally is upset over an initiative announced at a private business meeting among Chaldeans, under the approving eye of Detroit’s new Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. that Chaldean store owners be asked to join a “Guaranteed Fresh” campaign for their stores.
Dally, and many other business owners feel the business group sold-out the Chaldean business community to gain political points with the new mayor and raise money for their own pet projects. “They don’t care about Chaldean businesses. All they care about is using the community name to take money from those who work so they can play golf,” says Dally’s son Thomas. “Why didn’t they propose the city start a ‘Guarantee Response’ from the police every time a Chaldean store calls for help during an armed robbery or theft?
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| Filed in: Business & Finance, Government & Society By David Najor |
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| Last Safe Haven for Iraqi Christians Taken by Al-Qaeda |
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Mosul, IRAQ - "Now the last safe haven for Christians is gone," said Canon Andrew White, the vicar of St. George's church in Baghdad. During the past week, twelve Christians have been killed and more than 3,000 have left the city of Mosul, once considered a safe zone for persecuted Iraqi Christians.
Mosul, on the plain of Nineveh in northern Iraq, has long been home to one of the largest remaining Christian communities in the nation. Furthermore, in recent years the city has been a destination for persecuted Christians.
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| Filed in: Law & Order, Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends, Chaldean Federation of America By Guest Reporter |
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| Iraqi Christians in Mosul Victims to Intense Violence |
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Mosul, IRAQ - Despite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledge yesterday to protect Christians in Iraq after mass killings in the northern city of Mosul, thousands of Chaldeans flee as Islamic radicals turn-up the violence.
Proving the weakness of Maliki’s government and the vulnerability of Iraqi Christians, a music store owner was shot to death in the northern city of Mosul. Police sources said on Monday gunmen entered the store late on Sunday and shot dead the Iraqi Christian store owner and his nephew, who was wounded.
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| Filed in: Law & Order, Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends By Amer Hedow |
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| Does Obama Really Support Infanticide? |
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California, USA – They were coming out alive. Born alive. Babies. Vulnerable human beings. Is it true that a leading presidential contender would allow them to be murdered? In what many, might otherwise include among “the least of my brothers,” some are alleging that Obama is an abortion extremist. How could the killing of millions of babies somehow not be among America’s greatest moral failings? Is the claim that Obama supports infanticide true?
The included video is for mature viewers. Watch at your own risk.
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| Filed in: Government & Society By Brenda Hermiz |
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| Kill Christians! Islamic Fundamentalists Chant in Iraq After Murdering Three |
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Mosul, IRAQ – Another tragic killing of Christians in Mosul today. Al Qaeda militants gunned down Chaldean Jalal Moussa, 38, and three other Chaldeans in front of their homes in the neighborhood of Noor. Islamic militants have been terrorizing the city with shouts and nailing posters urging attacks against Christians, threatening more slaughter and violence and urging U.S. military to leave.
Little has been covered by world media as major news outlets refuse to cover the ongoing Christian attacks. In less than seven days, nine Christians have been murdered because of their faith. Asia News reveals an organized campaign is underway to drive Christians out of the region. The news reports a car with a loudspeaker went around the streets in the neighborhood of Sukkar, ordering the Christians to leave." "Christians out of the city," the people on board were shouting, "otherwise you will be victims of more attacks."
On Monday, October 6, Ziad Kamal, a disabled 25-year-old shopkeeper in the city, was shot to death. The young man's store was in the neighborhood of Karam. Before him, armed groups assassinated Hazim Thomaso Youssif, age 40. The ambush took place in front of his clothing store in Bab Sarray. On the same day, 15-year-old Ivan Nuwya, also a Christian, was killed. The young man was shot to death in front of his home in the neighborhood of Tahrir, in front of the local mosque of Alzhara.
The Christian community lives in panic as the slaughter continues "to the indifference" of the media, which "do not even report the crimes that are committed."
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| Filed in: Law & Order, Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends By Amer Hedow |
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| Chaldeans Wonder Which Presidential Candidate Is Best |
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Michigan, USA – “Chaldeans will overwhelmingly vote on values,” says Roger Shamoun a legal officer with Oakland Courts. “Chaldeans know the root of so much evil in the world comes from what we as Americans value. That does not mean Chaldeans are oblivious to the suffering of Iraqi Chaldeans in Iraq. Both issues are important to the community, and it seems the community is leaning towards Senator McCain as the best candidate to address both of these important issues.”
Julie Hindoo, a college freshman at Oakland Community College disagrees and plans to vote for Barack Obama. “He is cool and hip. It would be sweet to have a black president in America. Plus look what Bush has done to Iraq,” she says.
“That seems to be the crux of the issue in the community,” says Shamoun. “Chaldeans who are voting on faith, family, and tax issues will be voting for McCain hands-down, but what about those who don’t care about those issues and instead care about the Iraqi war. How should they vote?”
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| Filed in: Government & Society, Chaldean Caucus By Chaldean Caucus |
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| Despite Criticisms of Alienating Christians Iraq Presidency Approves Provincial Election Law |
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Sulaimaniyah, IRAQ — Today, Iraq's three-member presidency council approved a delayed provincial election law, amidst strong criticism of legally marginalizing Christian representation in the country. “Again, Iraqi Christians are dealt a devastating blow,” says Issam Najed. “America’s revolution was ignited over taxation without representation. In Iraq, Christians are given no representation in the direction of their country.”
"I think that some political groups are pushing the remaining Christians to leave Iraq," worshipper Afram Razzaq-Allah said after services at a Catholic church in Baghdad. "They want us to feel that we are no longer Iraqis." Native Americans can empathize with the indigenous people of Iraq. Iraq's leaders feigned seeking safeguards for small religious communities in this mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament's decision for minority representation on provincial councils.
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| Filed in: Law & Order, Community & Culture, Government & Society, World News & Odds 'N' Ends By Amer Hedow |
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Some Firms Prefer to Practice Stealth Layoffs
When White and Case laid off 70 associates and 90 nonprofessionals, firm leaders decided not to take a stealth approach. Layoffs were needed to shed excess capacity in the economic slowdown, according to firm spokesman Nicholas Clarke, who said very few of the job losses were performance-related. But not all law firms are necessarily being so open. Some firms are quietly letting attorneys go but doing it in small numbers. And some firms are nudging associates toward the door rather than shoving them out.
Law School Deans, Professors Ponder Reasons for Decline in Minority Enrollment
The controversy surrounding Columbia Law School's documentation of a "disturbing" decline in minority student enrollment at law schools around the country has deans and professors discussing a perceived cultural bias in the LSAT examination, combined with the test's exaggerated importance in the annual U.S. News & World Report school rankings. One professor calls the dependence on higher LSAT scores "demonstrates crass hypocrisy," and others note that money is likely to be at the root of the problem.
Partners Can Help Associates Build Marketing Skills
The first priority of a young lawyer is to develop legal knowledge and skills, but learning marketing skills early can also be very fruitful in the future. Here are some steps partners can take to guide associates along the right marketing path, and also some tips to help associates be proactive in developing their own style and techniques for client development, as provided by Sharon Meit Abrahams, McDermott Will & Emery's Director of Professional Development.
First Steps: Baby Lawyers Set Off on Disparate Professional Paths
As political and financial leaders take extraordinary steps to revitalize the economy, the majority of the 2008 graduates from Texas' law schools are in the first few months of their professional lives as attorneys. A credit crisis, a volatile stock market and unpredictable global economy form the business backdrop for these grads. Five graduates who have chosen diverse careers are profiled by Texas Lawyer, which will check in with them annually for career updates over the next several years.
Legal Services Industry Trims 1,100 Jobs in October
New figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the legal services industry trimmed 1,100 jobs in October, leaving a total of 1,163,900 workers. Legal services includes attorneys, paralegals and other law staffers. October marks the sixth straight month in which the legal services industry has seen jobs shrink. In September, 1,600 jobs vanished, while August saw a loss of 2,200, according to the labor statistics.
WilmerHale Hits Frankfurt With Mayer Brown Hires
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr has secured a Frankfurt launch with the hire of four high-profile partners from Mayer Brown, including two practice group heads. The firm has recruited Mayer Brown's co-head of corporate, Rüdiger Herrmann, intellectual property head Reinhart Lange, litigation partner Christofer Eggers and regulatory partner Hans-Georg Kamann, and will also relocate Berlin corporate partner Christian Crones for the office launch.
Caution: Non-Billable Work Approaching
The Snark notes that although Big Firm associates often whine about the oppressive power of the billable hour, the non-billable "work" hour is far more painful. And as the economy continues to unravel, non-billable work "opportunities" for Cogs are increasing. The Snark warns that Cogs must carefully navigate the non-billable work world. Some non-billable work is important and vital to upward mobility, but be careful not to let the firm use your ambition to trick you into doing too much non-billable work.
Two California Attorneys on Obama's Legal Transition Team
President-elect Barack Obama on Friday named two California attorneys to panels that will help shape his new administration's policies. Alejandro Mayorkas, a former U.S. Attorney for California's Central District, was named one of five leaders on the Department of Justice Review Team. Former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso will serve on a group reviewing the Commission on Civil Rights. Mayorkas was the youngest U.S. Attorney in the nation at 38 years old, when appointed in 1998.
Former DuPont GC heads to Dickstein Shapiro
Former DuPont general counsel Stacey J. Mobley, who retired from the company earlier this year, has joined Dickstein Shapiro as senior counsel. Mobley will work with the firm's state attorneys general practice and sit on Dickstein's diversity committee. Mobley was DuPont's first African-American lawyer and became the company's general counsel and chief administrative officer in 1999.
Advice for the Lawlorn
Do you think second- and third-tier law schools attempt to attract students by failing to paint an accurate portrayal of the job prospects of those not in the top 15?
1st Circuit Upholds N.H. Law Barring Marketers From Using Data on Doctors' Prescriptions
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New Hampshire state law barring marketers from using information about doctors' prescription habits. The Nov. 18 ruling, which followed a de novo review of the issues by a three-judge panel, rejected the argument that the law violated the First Amendment by illegally restricting commercial speech.
SEC Charges NBA Owner With Insider Trading
The owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading on Nov. 17. The SEC alleges that in June of 2004 Cuban told his broker to sell all 600,000 of his shares of stock in Mamma.com, an Internet search engine company, after he allegedly knew the stock price would become diluted before the company announced it was issuing more shares. The agency estimates Cuban avoided more than $750,000 in losses.
Court: Electricity Consumers Can't Bypass Duty to Help Low Income Users
Pennsylvanians who were required to help pay for low income customers' electricity prior to deregulation of the industry are still responsible to pay those costs now, but customers who didn't have that obligation before still don't. A unanimous en banc Commonwealth Court panel has ruled that "nonbypassable" costs, as described in the state Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act, refer to costs that were paid by a customer class prior to deregulation of the electric utility industry that must still be paid by that class after deregulation, regardless of the electric generation supplier the customers in the class choose to use.
The 547(c)(4) New Value Defense: Paid or Unpaid
It will come as no surprise that there is a long-standing split of authorities among the courts concerning whether or not subsequent new value must remain unpaid for the purposes of § 547(c)(4). This article discusses where the courts stand today.
Three LCD Makers Plead Guilty in Antitrust Probe
Three corporate guilty pleas in a long-running Justice Department antitrust investigation sent white-collar lawyers scrambling on Nov. 12 to figure out what it might portend for other companies, and for individual executives. San Francisco-based federal prosecutors joined their superiors in a Washington, D.C., press conference to announce big fines for price fixing in the LCD computer and television screen industry. South Korea's LG Display got hit hardest, agreeing to pay $400 million in what the government described as the second-biggest antitrust fine ever.
Billing Gets Creative in Souring Economy
Large corporations like the $2 billion fast food giant Burger King are finding they can have their legal services their way. The company, which spends millions on legal fees every year, has negotiated with the firms that provide their outside counsel for a variety of alternative billing methods, including fee caps, blended rates and monthly retainers. And they are not alone.
null: In re Ballard
Federal law did not preclude auto manufacturer from filing unsecured deficiency claim based on state law where Chapter 13 consumer debtor proposed to surrender "910 vehicle" whose value was less than balance remaining on auto loan (applying "hanging paragraph" to cases involving surrender of 910 vehicle).
null: Siepel v. Bank of America, N.A.
Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act preempted state-law claims that trustee breached fiduciary duty by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in selection of nationally-traded investment securities.
Expanding the Scope of the Consumer Fraud Act in Real Estate Transactions
In Matera v. M.G.C.C. Group, Inc ., the Law Division has recently held that a cause of action can be alleged under the Consumer Fraud Act absent any contact between the parties, as long as there is a causal nexus between the alleged violation of the CFA and the alleged ascertainable loss. This holding marks a dramatic expansion of the CFA, threatening a new unforeseen and unwarranted breed of liability for real estate developers, lending institutions, and any entity which falls under the ambit of the CFA.
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