Almost two hundred march for Mabo

On June 3, 1992, the High Court handed down its decision in the Mabo case; overturning 200 years of the common law assumption of terra nullius - the idea that Australia belonged to no-one when European settlers arrived.


Eddie Mabo, who had dedicated his life to winning the land rights to his and his ancestors' Torres Strait Island home of Mer, died seven months before the judgment was handed down.


The historic judgment was commemorated in Townsville, where 180 people marched through the streets and celebrated with traditional song and dance on the city's waterfront.


Indigenous academic Gracelyn Smallwood, who gave the welcome to country, said although it was a significant milestone, native title is causing dysfunction in indigenous communities.


She said land councils now work for mining companies and the government and not for the people.


"White lawyers have a lot of control and say on the current legislation, they are the ones getting all the money. Just opinionated native title applicants from each family are getting the money," she told AAP.


"By the time it reaches the grass roots level, in all those poverty-stricken communities, it's like showing a piece of raw steak amongst the pack of hungry wolves and everybody is fighting over the crumbs."


She also said because of the stolen generation, indigenous people are finding it difficult to prove ongoing connection to the land since 1788, as required for a determination.


Chairman of the National Native Title Council, Brian Wyatt, said the current process, where the onus is on the claimants, is far too onerous.


There are currently 450 unresolved claims.


"I think it is unjust that they have to prove who they are," he told AAP.


Mr Wyatt said, however, that after 20 years, Australians are more comfortable with Native Title declarations than they ever have been.


"But it has been quite a stormy ride," he said.


A total of 141 native title declarations have been made, representing 16 per cent of the Australian land mass.


Chairman of the National Native Title Council, Brian Wyatt, said the current process, where the onus is on the claimants, is far too onerous.


There are currently 450 unresolved claims.


"I think it is unjust that they have to prove who they are," he told AAP.


Mr Wyatt said, however, that after 20 years, Australians are more comfortable with Native Title declarations than they ever have been.


"But it has been quite a stormy ride," he said.


A total of 141 native title declarations have been made, representing 16 per cent of the Australian land mass.


Federal Indigenous Affairs minister Jenny Macklin said the Mabo decision was the turning point for reconciliation.

Remember nick name for Godaddy.com www.ez2.me Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Next time for Go Daddy: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

Eddie Mabo

Eddie Koiki Mabo, c. 29 June 1936 – 21 January 1992 was a Torres Strait Islander who is known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and for his role in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius ('land belonging to nothing, no one') which characterised Australian law with regards to land and title.
Mabo was named Eddie Koiki Malboy but he changed his surname to Mabo when he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Benny Mabo. He was born on Mer (Murray Island) in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea.




Mabo worked on a number of jobs before becoming a gardener with James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland at the age of 31. The time he spent on the campus had a massive impact on his life. In 1974 this culminated in a discussion he had with Professor Noel Loos and Henry Reynolds, who recalled Mabo's reaction:
"...we were having lunch one day in Reynold's office when Koiki was just speaking about his land back on Mer, or Murray Island. Henry and I realised that in his mind he thought he owned that land, so we sort of glanced at each other, and then had the difficult responsibility of telling him that he didn't own that land, and that it was Crown land. Koiki was surprised, shocked and even...he said and I remember him saying 'No way, it's not theirs, it's ours'".


Land rights advocate


In 1981 a land rights conference was held at James Cook University, and Mabo made a speech to the audience where he spelt out the land inheritance system in Murray Island. The significance of this in terms of Australian common law doctrine was taken note of by one of the attendees, a lawyer, who suggested there should be a test case to claim land rights through the court system.
Of the eventual outcome of that decision a decade later, Henry Reynolds said, "... it was a ten year battle and it was a remarkable saga really."


Mabo's death and legacy


Mabo relaxed by working on his boat or painting watercolours of his island home, however after ten years the strain began to affect his health. On 21 January 1992, Mabo died of cancer at the age of 55.
Five months later, on 3 June 1992, the High Court announced its historic decision, namely overturning the legal doctrine of terra nullius - which is a term applied to the attitude of the British towards land ownership on the continent of Australia.
"...so Justice Moynihan's decision that Mabo wasn't the rightful heir was irrelevant because the decision that came out was that native title existed and it was up to the Aboriginal or Islander people to determine who owned what land." Henry Reynolds.
That decision is now commonly called "Mabo" in Australia and is recognised for its landmark status. Three years after Mabo died, that being the traditional mourning period for the people of Murray Island, a gathering was held in Townsville for a memorial service.
Overnight Mabo's gravesite was attacked by vandals who spray-painted swastikas and the derogatory word "Abo" (Aborigine) on his tombstone and removed a bronze bas-relief portrait of him. His family decided to have his body reburied on Murray Island. On the night of his re-interment, the Islanders performed their traditional ceremony for the burial of a king, a ritual not seen on the island for eighty years.
In 1992, Mabo was posthumously awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Awards, together with the Reverend Dave Passi, Sam Passi (deceased), James Rice (deceased), Celuia Mapo Salee (deceased) and Barbara Hocking. The award was in recognition "of their long and determined battle to gain justice for their people" and the "work over many years to gain legal recognition for indigenous people's rights".

Remember nick name for Godaddy.com www.ez2.me Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Next time for Go Daddy: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

Police discover body in bush grave during David Houston investigation

West Australian detectives have exhumed a body from a clandestine grave site in the state's southwest which could be that of missing Perth man David Houston.


WA police on Sunday said a body had been exhumed from the site overnight but no formal identification had yet been made.


A post-mortem examination would be conducted as soon as possible, police said.


Mr Houston, 24, who's been missing for three weeks, is believed to have been bashed to death at the South Fremantle home of his friend Samuel Walker.


Police on Friday arrested 26-year-old Walker - the third person to be charged with Mr Houston's murder.


He appeared in East Perth Magistrates Court on Saturday but proceedings were interrupted by a security-related incident, prompting an evacuation.


Walker is scheduled to appear in court again on June 27, as are 23-year-old Jonathan Robert Lee and his 19-year-old girlfriend Amanda Jane Kelly, who were present in the house when Mr Houston visited and have also been charged as part of the investigation.


Walker is scheduled to appear in court again on June 27, as are 23-year-old Jonathan Robert Lee and his 19-year-old girlfriend Amanda Jane Kelly, who were present in the house when Mr Houston visited and have also been charged as part of the investigation.


It is not known whether Mr Houston knew the couple.


In relation to the court incident yesterday, a 26-year-old male had been charged with improper use of an emergency call service, false statements on the existence of threats and disorderly behaviour in public.

Remember nick name for Godaddy.com www.ez2.me Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Next time for Go Daddy: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

Golshifteh Farahani

Golshifteh Farahani,: گُلشیفتِه فَراهانی‎, born July 10, 1983) is a Crystal-Simorgh winning Iranian actress and pianist.

Golshifteh Farahani was born on 10 July 1983 in Tehran, the daughter of actor/theater director Behzad Farahani and Fahime Rahiminia and sister of actress Shaghayegh Farahani. She started studying music and playing the piano at age of five. At 12, she entered a music school in Tehran. At 14, Golshifteh was cast as the lead in Dariush Mehrjui's The Pear Tree for which she won the Crystal Roc for Best Actress from the International Section of the 16th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran.
Career


Since then she has acted in 20 films, many of which have received international awards. For Boutique she won the Best Actress award from the 26th Nantes Three Continents Festival (France). In recent years she has acted in movies by some of Iran's best directors: Dariush Mehrjui's controversial film Santouri (The Santoor Player) and Bahman Ghobadi's Half Moon (winner of the Golden Shell at the 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival), the late Rasool Mollagholipoor's M for Mother (Iran's nominee for the 2008 Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film category) for which she won the special prize by the jury for the Best Actress from the 37th Roshd International Film Festival which was held in Tehran in 2007 and Asghar Farhadi's "About Elly" (Silver Bear for Best Director from Berlin Film festival and Best film from Tribeca Film festival). Golshifteh is highly involved in environmental activities and has also become the ambassador for fighting tuberculosis in Iran. Subsequent to her involvement in the U.S. film Body of Lies, she reportedly had been prevented by Iranian authorities from leaving Iran, but this was denied by her colleagues and she later appeared at the Body of Lies premiere in the U.S. As her last acting experience in Iran, she appeared in About Elly directed by Asghar Farhadi. The film has been selected at the Tribeca Film Festival and won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. She now lives in Paris, France with her husband Amin Mahdavi. In Iran, Golshifteh was part of an underground rock band named "Kooch Neshin" (Nomads) which won the 2nd Tehran Avenue underground rock competition. Since leaving Iran, Golshifteh has been able to continue her music career as well. She has teamed up with another exiled Iranian musician Mohsen Namjoo. Their new album  was released in October 2009. They have also started an international tour with 2 concerts in Italy. Since Golshifteh moved to Paris she has been working with directors Roland Joffe, Hiner Saleem and Marjan Satrapi. She has also been a member of the international jury at the 63rd Locarno Film Festival.
Her upcoming movie is Rumi's Kimia, a film in development which is directed by Dariush Mehrjui starring Golshifteh Farahani and based on a novel.


Exile from Iran

In January 2012, Golshifteh was banned from returning to her homeland after posing nude for a French magazine as a protest against strictures against women in Iranian society. Britain's Daily Telegraph reported that government officials told Farahani, 28, that "Iran does not need any actors or artists. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else." The picture on her Facebook page garnered over 14,000 likes and 1,500 shares, initiating a debate on the role of women in Iranian society. She also appeared topless in a short black-and-white film by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, called Corps et Âmes, or Bodies and Souls.In a past interview with Screen Comment she said, "I don’t consider myself a political activist. I try to say what I have to say through art.” 

Hostage Medair aid workers in Afghanistan freed

KABUL — It was a risky but successful operation: Before dawn Saturday, British and other NATO forces stormed a cave tucked in the mountains and rescued two foreign female aid workers and their two Afghan colleagues being held hostage by Taliban-linked militants.


Helicopters flying under the cover of darkness ferried the rescue team to extreme northeastern Afghanistan, where they suspected the hostages were being held. After confirming that the workers were there, they raided the site, killed several militants and freed the hostages, ending their nearly two-week ordeal.


The rescue occurred shortly after midnight in a remote, forested area reportedly inhabited by smugglers and bandits. The province borders Tajikistan, China and Pakistan. Abdul Maroof Rasekh, spokesman for the Badakhshan governor, said NATO and Afghan forces worked together on the 5½-hour operation, in which five of the captors were killed. There were no immediate reports of injuries among rescue team members.


The coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said in a statement that a rescue helicopter approached the area — reportedly after tips from Afghan sources — confirmed that the hostages were there, secured the area and carried out the rescue.


The mission reportedly involved U.S. and British special forces troops who had planned and rehearsed the operation, suggesting that they had some intelligence on the location.


Local police were quoted as saying that the captors were members of criminal gangs intent on taking advantage of the area's forbidding terrain and weak security to make money. Coalition officials labeled them part of an armed terrorist group with ties to the Taliban. The hostage takers were reportedly armed with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault weapons.


The British Foreign Office said in a statement that the rescue was authorized by Prime Minister David Cameron. "We pay tribute to the bravery of the coalition forces, which means that all four aid workers will soon be rejoining their families and loved ones," the Foreign Office said.


Briton Helen Johnston and Kenyan Moragwa Oirere were reportedly being cared for Saturday at the British Embassy in Kabul and the Afghan workers were in the process of returning to their families in Badakhshan.


"We are delighted and hugely relieved by the wonderful news that Helen and all her colleagues have been freed," Johnston's family said in a statement. "We are deeply grateful to everyone involved in her rescue, to those who worked tirelessly on her behalf, and to family and friends for their love, prayers and support over the last 12 days."


Medair said the team was abducted while visiting relief sites providing nutrition, hygiene and health assistance, and expressed relief that the rescue was successful.


"It's a joyful day," said Aurelien Demaurex, Medair's spokesman. "We're incredibly relieved."


Foreign aid workers in Afghanistan are under growing threat as the Taliban steps up attacks before a planned pullout of coalition combat troops by the end of 2014. Two years ago, 10 foreign medical workers, including six Americans returning from a mission to provide eye treatments in remote villages in Badakhshan were killed. Insurgents were blamed for the attack.

Remember nick name for Godaddy.com www.ez2.me Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Next time for Go Daddy: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

George Zimmer

George Zimmer (born November 21, 1948) is an American entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of the Men's Wearhouse, a men's clothing retailer that has more than 1,300 stores across the U.S. and Canada under the brands Moores, Men's Wearhouse and K&G Superstores.




Born in New York City to a Jewish family. Zimmer attended grade schools in Scarsdale, New York, before studying at Washington University in St. Louis where he received an A.B. in Economics in 1970. Upon graduation, he worked as a substitute teacher before joining his father in the clothing manufacturing business. Later in the early 1970s, he worked as a purchasing agent and salesman in Hong Kong.
[edit]Men's Wearhouse


He opened his first Men's Wearhouse store in 1973 in Houston, Texas.[citation needed] Zimmer narrates and appears in many of his company's television commercials, usually closing with the company slogan "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it." He owns 8.7% of Men's Wearhouse, a stake which, as of November 2004, was worth $94 million. On September 14, 2011 George Zimmer received the Kupfer Award by Mays Business school .
Management, Activism and Personal Life


Zimmer's style of corporate management (for example, the company's June 2004 nomination of spiritual guru Deepak Chopra to its board) is peculiar in the view of some, while others perceive his style as cutting-edge.
Zimmer's experience caring for his mother, who died of cancer, led him to support research into the therapeutic use of MDMA, and for his efforts to legalize cannabis (for instance, by making donations equaling $70,500 to support California's Proposition 19 in 2010).

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

Removable media

In computer storage, removable media refers to storage media which are designed to be removed from the computer without powering the computer off.

Some types of removable media are designed to be read by removable readers and drives. Examples include:
Optical discs (Blu-ray discs, DVDs, CDs)
Memory cards (CompactFlash card, Secure Digital card, Memory Stick)
Floppy disks / Zip disks
Magnetic tapes
Paper data storage (punched cards, punched tapes)
Some removable media readers and drives are integrated into computers, others are themselves removable.
Removable media may also refer to some removable storage devices, when they are used to transport or store data. Examples include:
USB flash drives
External hard disk drives

Remember nick name for Godaddy.com www.ez2.me Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,s Approved affiliate

Next time for Go Daddy: Easy to you just www.ez2.me

Privacy, Please: This Is Only for the Two of Us

The secrecy was welcome. We weren’t cluttering up anyone else’s feeds on Twitter, and didn’t have to worry about random high school friends seeing and commenting on our exchanges on Facebook. In addition, there were gestures distinct to the app. It let us share information about our locations, and to exchange doodles, to-do lists and virtual nudges — all conveying that “I’m thinking about you.”


The app highlights the best elements of social networking — the warm, fuzzy feeling of being connected to people you care about when you’re physically nowhere near them. And it says it eliminates some of the worst — the worry about who can see the content you’re posting and how they may interpret it.


Apparently, venture capitalists also see the point: The company that developed Pair raised $4.2 million in seed funding from a group of early investors last month.


Pair is arriving as many of us are looking to use the Web and our phones much as we always have, but outside of the very public arenas of the social Web. It’s a natural evolution of social networking, especially as Facebook and Twitter have swelled.


The combination of privacy and intimate sharing has never looked so good — provided that it can be achieved. A handful of start-ups are appealing to users who may be tired of the social spotlight but still enjoy the whimsy of apps.


“We’ve spent the last decade struggling with this,” said Andrea Matwyshyn, an assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “Companies are trying to figure out the relationship of privacy to users while also trying to provide personalization and customization of their services.”


Even the largest social networking sites sense a rising tide of awareness about the need to protect delicate and personal information that is shared about users online. Last month, Twitter announced that it was introducing a “do not track” feature that lets users keep Twitter from collecting personal information as they move around the Web. The feature isn’t perfect — it works only on third-party sites that agree to acknowledge it.


“People can’t always foresee or understand what could happen to their data,” Professor Matwyshyn said. “But they know they don’t want it ending up in the wrong hands.”


Companies that do figure out how to embed privacy into a social service could gain a business and marketing advantage — positioning themselves as safer spaces to share and exchange information.


“We should encourage Web and mobile services to lead with their privacy practices and let users vote with their feet,” wrote Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist in New York, in a recent blog post. Mr. Wilson is an investor in Duck Duck Go, a search engine that says it doesn’t keep track of a user’s search history.


Gabriel Weinberg, one of the creators of Duck Duck Go, says it has been able to carve out a niche audience despite the dominance of juggernauts like Google and Bing. Last month, the site performed 45 million searches, and Mr. Weinberg predicts that next month the figure will inch toward 50 million.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

Microsoft's Major Bing Revamp Goes Live

Three years after its initial launch, Bing is getting the social media treatment, with a focus on its new three-column design and its "snapshot" feature. The upgrade was first announced last month, and goes live for everyone today.

Bing dramatically revamped its search results page last month, the first update since the site debuted three years ago.

Snapshot's center column is nestled between the standard Web results on the left and a new sidebar on the right. According to the Bing blog, it brings to the forefront relevant information and services related to your search.

"With snapshot, Bing does the heavy lifting by organizing useful information so you can act more quickly," the blog said.

"It provides people with a clear, visual reason why they should 'break the Google habit,'" a Microsoft spokeswoman said.

Users got a sneak peek last month at Bing's update through the search engine's preview link — previously available at bing.co/new — which showed integration with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Quora, Foursquare, and other social networks.

"We believe that delivering a superior product that actually solves customer problems will push Bing to the forefront," the spokeswoman said. "And this will come naturally as we continually improve and refine Bing."

Now searchers can visit Bing.com for direct access to the new site. Microsoft has been leaning toward a social media tie-up since 2010, when Microsoft connected Bing search results with Facebook "likes." Bing can detect if a user is logged into Facebook, and pull those "likes" to build Web search results.

According to a Bing survey, more than 90 percent of people reported that they tend to seek advice of family and friends as part of their decision-making process.

"With Bing, it's easier than ever to get that input and go from searching to doing," Microsoft said.

In line with that process, the Microsoft search engine designed its new social features to allow an easy exchange of ideas and sharing of opinions, building the same confidence someone may feel after bouncing an idea off of a friend, the blog said.

Today's announcement included the search engine's new advertising campaign, Bing Summer of Doing, "designed to inspire people to do amazing things this summer," the blog said.

"We feel our unique approach will be attractive to consumers because it provides social context to search without compromising the organic results — ultimately helping people do more," the spokeswoman said.

Days after the initial Bing reveal, meanwhile, Google unveiled what it called its "Knowledge Graph," which combines a Bing-like "snapshot" panel with results that appear closer to Wolfram Alpha's own knowledge engine.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

Biggest wildfire in New Mexico's history burns with only 15% containment

Fire crews have contained 15 percent of the Whitewater-Baldy Fire that has burned more than 227,000 acres in southwestern New Mexico.


On Friday, crews battled the state's largest fire in history along its perimeter near Mogollon, N.M. and expect to monitor that same area on Saturday.


Burnout operations also took place around the Black Mountain Lookout Tower.


The western portion of the fire will be highly visible this weekend as officials say the fire is expected to blaze along the Black Mountain.


Heavy smoke and flames will be visible in the Glenwood community, where some evacuees are located. Smoke is expected to move southeast, but stay above ground. Reserve and Silver City could also expect heavy smoke coverage.


Since lightning ignited the Whitewater-Baldy Fire Complex wildfire on May 9, flames have devoured 227,000 acres -- more than 354 square miles -- in the southwest portion of the state. Even though 1,257 personnel have been fighting the conflagration, only 15% of it was contained Saturday, U.S. Forest Service officials said.
For purposes of comparison, the burn area of 354 square miles is more than one and a half times bigger than the city of Chicago's 227 square miles.
Two separate strikes of lightning caused the mountainous fire: the Baldy Fire started May 9 in an inaccessible area of the rugged wilderness, and the Whitewater Fire was reported on May 16 several miles west of the Baldy Fire, Forest Service officials said.
The two fires in the Gila National Forest combined May 23, enhanced by drought and sustained winds of 40 mph to 50 mph, authorities said.
It was the May 16 event that led crews to try to suppress the entirety of the fire but "the extreme fire activity, coupled with incredibly rugged terrain and large boulders falling down the steep canyons forced fire crews to pull out of the area after the first day of fighting the fire," the Forest Service said.
The fire began 15 miles east of Glenwood, New Mexico, and has been fueled by conifers, ponderosa pines, pinons, junipers and grass, Forest Service officials said.
Continuing growth potential for the history-making wildfire was "high" Saturday, the Forest Service said.
CNN affiliate KRQE reported that 12 seasonal homes in the Willow Creek area were destroyed.
Because of the state's current extreme drought, smoke in the region could persist until the monsoon season, which typically begins in early July, New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres said in a statement.
On Saturday, the Catron County Sheriff Department said it will allow evacuated residents back into the community of Mogollon, effective Monday, but an evacuation order for the summer cabins of Willow Creek remained in effect Saturday, according to the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

5 bodies found in burned-out SUV in Arizona desert

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. -- Five dead bodies were discovered Saturday in a burned vehicle off Interstate-8 at milepost 151 in the Vekol Valley area.
Border Patrol said early Saturday morning they attempted to stop an SUV, but were unsuccessful. A few hours later they came across the burned vehicle with several bodies inside.
Investigators said that no one was found in the driver’s seat or passenger’s seat. There was one body in the back seat, and four more piled up in the back of the vehicle.
It is still too early to identify the bodies, and a possible motive has not been determined.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu did note that Vekol Valley is known for drug trafficking.


"That's when the Border Patrol agents went up to the vehicle with fire extinguishers and realized there were bodies inside, clearly deceased," the sheriff said.
None of the five killed was in the SUV's front seat. One was in the second row and the other four bodies were found "laying down flat in the cargo area," Babeu said.
A cause of death for the victims, who have not been identified, is not yet known.
The charred vehicle was the same make and model as the one spotted by the Border Patrol agent hours earlier.
Authorities are investigating whether the bodies found are linked to violence by Mexican drug cartels. The incident took place in the Vekol Valley, a hotbed of drug- and human-smuggling activity, according to Babeu, who said his department conducted 350 high-speed chases in the area last year in an effort to curb such crime.
"It looks like it's a cartel hit, where they exact revenge on people," the sheriff said, calling a drug connection "very likely" while noting there's been no definitive conclusion yet. "It happens all the time in Mexico; our fear and concern is that this violence is spilling over deep into the heart of Arizona.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

Thad McCotter

Thaddeus George "Thad" McCotter , born August 22, 1965 is the U.S. Representative to Michigan's 11th congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes portions of Detroit's northwestern suburbs, such as Livonia, Westland and Novi.
He is running for reelection. From July 2 to September 21, 2011, he was an official candidate for the Republican nomination for president in the 2012 election.

n April 2011, McCotter was the only member of Michigan's 15-member congressional delegation who did not confirm he was running for re-election. He indicated interest in running against incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan up for election in 2012, but in May 2011, he announced that he would not campaign for the position. After ending his bid for President, McCotter announced that he would seek the seat once more.

Wikinews has related news: U.S. Congressman Thad McCotter denied ballot in re-election primary race; announces write-in campaign
On May 25, 2012, Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced that McCotter had failed to submit enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the August 7 primary ballot. While McCotter had turned in 2,000 signatures--the maximum permitted by Michigan law for congressional primaries--a preliminary review indicated that fewer than the required minimum of 1,000 were valid. According to a spokeswoman with the Secretary of State's office, several of McCotter's petition signatures appeared to be duplicates. Michigan election law stipulates that if duplicates are found, both the original and duplicate are ruled invalid. McCotter would have the option of running as a write-in candidate in the primary election or as an independent in the general election if he fails to qualify for a primary ballot spot.

On May 26, a source with the McCotter campaign told the Detroit Free Press that McCotter has conceded that the signatures will be ruled invalid, and that he is considering mounting a write-in effort for the Republican primary.McCotter confirmed this to Nolan Finley of The Detroit News, and added that he doesn't understand what happened. According to Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, if McCotter is relegated to a write-in candidacy, he would be the first sitting congressman since the late 1940s not to qualify for his party's primary.
In an op-ed that ran in May 29's Detroit News, McCotter announced he will mount a write-in campaign in the Republican primary for his seat. He also acknowledged that the signatures in question were indeed invalid, based on his own legal team's review. Likening himself to George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, McCotter said that he was running a write-in campaign to "clean up my own mess."[24] Later that day, state officials announced in two separate reviews that more than 80 percent of McCotter's petition signatures were invalid. The Secretary of State's office said its review revealed only 244 of 2,000 signatures were valid. Numerous petition sheets appeared to have been copied--in some cases, as many as three times--and in some cases a different canvasser's name was attached to one of the copies. Michigan elections director Chris Thomas conducted his own review, and said there was evidence signatures from 2010 petitions had been cut-and-pasted onto the 2012 sheets. Thomas also said that McCotter had only turned in 1,830 signatures, and all but 344 were invalid. His office's review revealed that dozens of petition sheets appeared to have been copied in what he described as an "unprecedented level" of fraud.
Late on May 27, the Secretary of State's office announced that it is looking into the possibility of fraud or forgery in McCotter's petitions.


Seize Freedom!: American Truths and Renewal in a Chaotic Age, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2011


McCotter is a practicing Catholic. He is married to the former Rita Michel, a nurse. They have three children.
McCotter was once in a band called the New Flying Squirrels.
[edit]"Second Amendments" band
In December 2005, McCotter joined with several other Congressmen to form the "Second Amendments," a bipartisan rock and country band set to play for United States troops stationed overseas over the holiday season. He plays lead guitar. In June 2006, the band played for President Bush's Picnic on the White House lawn, where Bush was quoted calling McCotter "that rock and roll dude.


McCotter is a frequent guest on the late-night Fox News Channel television show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.
McCotter is also a regular guest on Dennis Miller's radio show, where the comedian-host refers to him as "young Thad" and "T-Mac" and frequently comments that he "likes the cut of his jib."
In June 2011, McCotter appeared on the Fox News Channel show Huckabee, where he performed in a musical number with his guitar.

Zimmerman credibility may be issue in Martin case

George Zimmerman's bail has been revoked after a judge said he misled the court about his finances. Trayvon Martin's killer must turn himself in by Sunday.


During Zimmerman's bail hearing in April, after which he was freed on $150,000 bond, his family testified they had limited funds, prosecutors said on Friday.


Zimmerman's wife "said she had no money, but in fact she did," said prosecutor Bernardo de la Rionda of the issue that led to Zimmerman's bail revocation.


"It was misleading ... I don't know what other words to use. It was a blatant lie."






He pointed to $135,000 in funds raised from the public that was not disclosed during the hearing. Defense lawyer Mark O'Mara said it was a misunderstanding.


O'Mara said Zimmerman did not lie, but was simply unclear about how he could use the money, and that his office has been keeping close tabs on the funds.


"We have kept an exact ledger of every penny that he spent," said O'Mara.


Prosecutors also Zimmerman did not disclose that was in possession of a second passport; he had replaced a passport he lost only to find the original later.




Zimmerman had not yet turned himself in Saturday after having his bond revoked a day earlier. He must do so by Sunday. Zimmerman went into hiding in the weeks after the shooting because of the tense debate surrounding the case, and his exact whereabouts since he bonded out of jail remain unclear. It also was not immediately clear exactly where Zimmerman would surrender.
Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the February shooting. The neighborhood watch volunteer says he shot Martin in self-defense because the unarmed 17-year-old was beating him up after confronting Zimmerman about following him in a gated community outside Orlando.
Witness accounts of the rainy night Martin was shot are spotty. There is no video of the fight, though photos prosecutors have released showed Zimmerman with wounds to his face and the back of his head.
Zimmerman's credibility would be important if O'Mara tries to get a judge without the jury to dismiss the charges based on the stand-your-ground law, said Orlando defense attorney David Hill.
"If he was in on something that was not truthfully revealed to the judge, when there is a 'stand your ground' hearing, of course you're going to second-guess him," Hill said.
Both McClean and Hill said O'Mara would be able to challenge the admissibility of the bond revocation at trial by questioning its relevance.
Zimmerman was arrested 44 days after the killing, and during a bond hearing in April, his wife, Shellie, testified that the couple had limited funds available. The hearing also was notable because Zimmerman took the stand and apologized to Martin's parents.
Prosecutors pointed out in their motion that Zimmerman had $135,000 available then. It had been raised from donations through a website he set up, and they suggested more has been collected since and deposited in a bank account.
Shellie Zimmerman was asked about the website at the hearing, but she said she didn't know how much money had been raised. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester set bail at $150,000. The 28-year-old was freed a few days later after posting $15,000 in cash — which is typical — and has since been in hiding.
Prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda complained Friday, "This court was led to believe they didn't have a single penny. It was misleading and I don't know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie." The judge agreed and ordered Zimmerman returned to jail by Sunday afternoon.
"Does your client get to sit there like a potted plant and lead the court down the primrose path? That's the issue," Lester said. "He can't sit back and obtain the benefit of a lower bond based upon those material falsehoods."
The defense countered that Zimmerman and his wife never used the money for anything, which indicated "there was no deceit." His attorney, Mark O'Mara, said it wouldn't be a problem to bring Zimmerman back into custody by the deadline.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

Rep. Thad McCotter ends write-in campaign

Michigan’s former Attorney General said Thursday that U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter “doesn’t care about Congress anymore.”


Mike Cox, who said he once assisted McCotter by going door to door in McCotter’s campaign for state Senate, was contacted by the Observer for his thoughts on the investigation by state Attorney General Bill Schuette into petitions which contained duplicate signatures and photocopied petitions that were turned in by McCotter’s campaign workers.


The petitions were turned in on May 15, the deadline for candidates to declare their candidacies for U.S. Congress.


Schuette began an investigation after his office was notified by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office of the duplicate signatures and photocopies.


“We will follow the facts, without fear or favor,” said Schuette in a prepared statement. “It’s our duty to maintain the integrity of our election process. We will conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation. If evidence of criminal violations is uncovered, we will not hesitate to prosecute.” 
A formal review by the Bureau of Elections revealed various discrepancies in the petition filing, including duplicate signatures and the appearance of altered petitions.


The onetime GOP policy chairman had previously promised to run for reelection with a write-in campaign. But he was considered to be an outside contender when, before the controversy, he would have been a certainty to regain his seat.
Kerry Bentivolio, a teacher and Vietnam War veteran, will run in the Aug. 7 primary against former GOP state Sen. Loren Bennett, who announced Friday he will run as a write-in candidate.
The congressman was subject to widespread sniping about how he failed to gather the signatures.
A flamboyant figure and avid Tweeter known for his guitar playing and love of rock music — and who is generally well regarded on Capitol Hill for his genial disposition — McCotter surprised many when he announced his run for the Republican presidential nomination in June 2011. His presidential bid lasted about six weeks.
On Thursday, former GOP state Attorney General Mike Cox told reporter Ken Abramczyk of the "Observer and Eccentric," a unit of Gannett Co. “It’s clear that he doesn’t care about Congress anymore. It’s clear that he isn’t engaged anymore.”
McCotter added in his statement: “One can’t clean up a mess multitasking. Honoring my promise to the sovereign people of our community only allows me to finish the official duties of my present congressional term; and aid the state attorney general criminal investigation that I requested into identifying the person or persons who concocted the fraudulent petitions that have cost me so dearly,” he said.
“Honoring this promise does not allow me to continue a political write-in campaign. This decision is final, regardless of how swiftly the investigation is concluded.

New Easy ad campaign name for Godaddy:Next time for Go Daddy.com: Easy to you justwww.ez2.me

See All Go Daddy Products

Tell your friends about Easy To Me, Go Daddy,sApproved affiliate

Look more Products from Go daddy just log on 

ez2.me

The Mets waited 50 years for this throw

Casting shadows upon the afterglow of Johan Santana’s no-hitter were concerns about the effect the effort may have on his surgically repaired left shoulder.

To become the first pitcher in Mets history to record a no-hitter, Santana had to throw 134 pitches Friday night — far more than his previous high this season, 108, and considerably more even than his previous career high, 125, which he produced in 2008, well before his arm began to bother him.

Santana’s workload was an inescapable concession to the significance of the moment. But on Saturday, Terry Collins, the Mets’ manager, was still dealing with his fear that the rewriting of history could come at some cost.

And so, on Saturday afternoon, even as an aura of celebration lingered inside the home clubhouse at Citi Field, Collins was holding his breath, waiting to see how Santana would recover, and formulating a schedule to provide him some extra rest.

“He’s still wound up with adrenaline,” Collins said of Santana. “We’ll wait till that’s out and see how he’s feeling. There is right now a real plan to back him up a day or two.”

Santana had an operation in September 2010 to repair a torn anterior capsule in his shoulder, and his return to action this season had until Friday been handled with extreme care.

He was ready to take on a monstrosity of a curse – an 8,019-game drought during which the Mets had failed to throw a no-hitter. Even the game’s giants were no match for this jinx, including Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, Dwight Gooden and Pedro Martinez. Yet there was Santana, ready to finish off David Freese and, with him, history.

You knew it had to be a change-up. You knew it would be Santana’s signature pitch that would bestow upon the Mets a gift that’ll last forever. Just as he’d done thousands of times before, Santana unleashed what looked like a fastball to Freese, tricking him with perfect arm-speed, perfect follow-through, front-to-back shoulder rotation that cloaked the ball’s actual velocity.

This was no 89-mph four-seamer; it was Santana’s 82-mph change-up that Freese swung at. Last year’s World Series MVP coiled like a snake, hacking powerfully at the ball – which was no longer there.

The change-up had dropped just under the trajectory of Freese’s bat; he connected with nothing but the cool, dry air that’d made the night feel more like October than June. And for a moment, Santana froze, too, unable to process the fates that’d finally been generous.

“It was the most unbelievable feeling in the world,” Santana said, describing the riot of his teammates, the human cluster on the mound. The scene was lifted straight out of Animal House, only these were grown men using back-slaps and high-fives as substitutes for tears.

So much had to go right for Santana. So much was reliant upon sheer good luck. Carlos Beltran, for one, had slashed a line drive over third base in the sixth inning – called foul by umpire Adrian Johnson, but, as TV replays showed, was clearly fair.

The ball had kicked up the chalk on the foul line, although Johnson later told reporters, “I saw the ball hitting outside the line, just foul.”

When pressed, Johnson said, “Yes, I saw the replay,” but declined further comment. With a better, more experienced umpire, the no-hitter would’ve been over right then and there.

Beltran later said, “When things aren’t meant to happen, what can you do. I thought it was a fair ball ... the way I saw it, the ball was over the bag, and the replay showed it landed on the line.”

The Mets are professional enough to know the authenticity of Santana’s achievement is open to debate, but that’s not to say they dwelled on its blemish. After a half-century, this was Santana’s night – virtual asterisk be damned. In fact, if you didn’t believe in karma, the last remaining evidence was Mike Baxter’s full-sprint catch of Yadier Molina’s line drive to left.

Baxter caught the ball at the wall, crashed into it with such force his shoulder all but exploded; he was escorted off the field and would later be treated for a contusion.