(Reuters) – Content-sharing Internet service Megaupload.com has lost the help of one of the best-known U.S. defense lawyers as it begins to fight charges of copyright infringement, a person familiar with the matter said.
Robert Bennett was required to withdraw from the case because of a conflict involving at least one other client of his law firm, Hogan Lovells, this person told Reuters. The other client or clients were not identified.
Bennett initially advised Megaupload.com. The company and seven of its executives were charged in a 5-count, 72-page indictment unsealed on Thursday accusing them of engaging in a wide-ranging and lucrative scheme to offer material online without compensating the copyright holders.
Bennett’s long career includes past representation of President Bill Clinton. He was Clinton’s personal attorney in a sexual-harassment case brought by Paula Jones. He has represented a wide array of other prominent Washington officials and U.S. corporations, including former energy giant Enron Corp.
Under the ethics rules for U.S. lawyers, a firm generally does not represent two clients whose interests are at odds. Conflicts are especially likely to arise at law firms as large as Hogan Lovells, one of the biggest in the world, because of the number and variety of clients they represent.
Word is the porn crowd is still mourning in sackcloth and ashes. I mean, all that porn….gone! 😥 Anyhow, I am sure they will get themselves another lawyer, and if my suspicion is correct, they will end up either getting the charges dismissed or reduced to fines. Either way, it should be interesting to watch! 😀
Barack Obama’s 2008 Iowa New Media Director was arrested Friday for attempting to use the identities of Secretary of State Matt Schultz, and/or his brother Thomas, with the intent to falsely implicate the Secretary Schultz in illegal or unethical behavior. Zach Edwards, 29, of Des Moines, currently works for Link Strategies, a Democrat-affiliated organization with ties to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Edwards is the Director of New Media for Link Strategies.
The Secretary of State’s office discovered the alleged crime and reported it to authorities. Edwards turned himself in to the Iowa DCI agents Friday afternoon. He was charged with identity theft, a misdemeanor, and booked into the Polk County jail. Edwards posted $2,000 bail and was released later on Friday. He faces up to two years in prison.
Zach Edwards’ bio on Link Strategies website says he joined the Obama campaign in early 2007 as an intern in Nevada. He eventually joined the New Media department and directed their operations in five other primary states. He was the Iowa Director of New Media for Barack Obama’s general election campaign. After the election, Edwards joined Link Strategies, “where he provides innovative web-based research tools, video analysis and production, and web-based communication tools to assist our clients,” according to the bio.
Those clients include Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. On the Link Strategies testimonial page, Harkin credits the political consultant group for his electoral success. “The folks at Link Strategies have been helping me win campaigns since 1996. Whether it is managing campaigns or handling research, their specialty is doing quality work while finding smart, creative solutions to problems. In a tough fight, there is no question that I want Link Strategies in my corner.”
Jeff Link, the founder of Link Strategies, ran the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in Iowa in 2000. He managed Tom Harkin’s 2002 and 2008 reelection campaigns. Link also served as a media consultant for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.
I cannot criticize him for this one, he did hit the right note.
Quote:
Shortly after taking the stage tonight for a fundraiser at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, President Obama broke into song.
Obama, standing behind the presidential podium, thanked his hosts and the performers who preceded him, including soul singer Al Green.
“To know that Rev. Al Green was here!” Obama said.
Then, after a pause, he began to sing the opening line of one of Green’s hit songs from 1972: “Let’s Stay Together.”
“I’m…. sooo in love….”
The crowd of 1,400 supporters went wild.
He might be a socialist, he might be a Democrat and I might disagree with a good deal of what he is doing; but I cannot argue that the man can work a crowd. 😀
GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich faced a round of tough questions in a campaign event before an African-American church in South Carolina on Saturday.
Gingrich spoke with members of the Jones Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Columbia, S.C. for an hour according to media reports.
Many of the questions focused on a statement from the former House Speaker in December that “really poor children” have bad work habits, a remark which attracted criticism from civil rights groups.
“Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works, so they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich had said at a campaign event.
Since when does a white man, running as a Republican go down to SC and grovel before a bunch of blacks, who will most likely not vote for him anyhow? This reeks of nothing more than USDA choice desperation. I personally do not believe that Newt owes these idiots a thing at all. Gingrich spoke the truth, and if they do not like it — screw em. 😡
SUMTER, S.C. — Amid shaking hands and signing campaign posters, Mitt Romney did something he has never done before on the ropeline: He took out his wallet and handed a wad of cash to a woman waiting to shake his hand.
The woman, 55-year-old Ruth Williams, says she has been following the Romney campaign since he arrived in the state on Jan. 11, when she said she received a message from God to track him down.
“I was on the highway praying and said, ‘God just show me how to get [my] lights on,’ and I pulled up to a stop sign and his bus was there,” said Williams, who has been unemployed since last October. “And then God said, ‘Follow the bus,’ and I followed the bus to the airport.”
According to Williams, she followed the campaign bus to the Columbia airport on Wednesday, the same day Romney was arriving from New Hampshire. When Romney wasn’t on the bus, aides told her to go to the rally scheduled in Columbia later that day. When she showed up, Romney found her to say hello and pulled over South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to say “hello” too.
“He was kind to me and he made Gov. Haley come see about me,” Williams said. “He stopped doing everything.”
I have a shiny twenty-dollar bill that says that the only thing this woman was thinking is, “I found me a stupid honky that will give me money!” Nice going Mittens. Try to buy the black vote; modern-day slavery, all that is. I figure Mittens does not own a plantation for her to work on and that stuff is illegal now, so he figures he will just buy her vote. 🙄 Smart, real smart Mittens.
In short: We….are….so…..screwed. 🙁
What’s next? Perry allows some black man to wash his car? 🙄
(Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced an Iranian-American man to death for spying for the CIA, officials said on Monday, a move likely to aggravate U.S.-Iranian tensions already high because of Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
The United States denies that Amir Mirza Hekmati is a spy and has demanded his immediate release. The White House said it was trying to verify the report on his sentencing.
“If true, we strongly condemn such a verdict and will work with our partners to convey our condemnation to the Iranian government,” said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Western nations have recently expanded punitive economic sanctions against Iran over suspicions it is trying to develop atomic bombs under the cover of a civilian atomic energy program. The Islamic Republic denies this.
But word from diplomatic sources in Vienna, headquarters of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, that Iran has begun enriching uranium in a mountain bunker protected from possible Western air strikes is likely to heat the atmosphere further.
Nice, Just want Barry needs right now.
Wow, reminds me of an ad I once saw:
Answer the phone, Barry! Answer the freakin’ phone! 😀
Anyone that reads the blog knows that, yes, I am a Christian. However, I find a good deal of the social Conservative movement to be troubling. Mainly, because of a big-Government statists that exist within those circles. A perfect example of this is Fox News and Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly.
Bill O’Reilly is also a social traditionalist or if you prefer a social conservative. While I believe that his intentions might be pure; he does have the mentality that the Government must protect its citizens from social perversion. I am afraid, as much as I enjoy watching Bill’s show and that Network; that this is a Statist mentality and files directly in the face of what true Conservatism is about. This video also shows that Fox News channel is, just like its socialist counterparts at MSNBC and CNN; pursuing an agenda that includes outright false information.
Enjoy the video:
Again, I do not feel Fox News or Bill O’Reilly to be overly evil or anything. (little strange at times, maybe! 😉 ) I just disagree with his statism very highly.
I was nosing around in my logs for my old blog and look what I happened to find:
I don’t know what is more disturbing, the fact that they were searching for that on my old blog; or that they actually searched twice and landed at my blog twice! 😮
Ugh…. Either way… You’re not going to find pictures of that sort around here or anything else related to such matters. 🙄
…and Gingrich does not disappoint with this shot across Romney’s bow: (Via CBS News)
Video:
Of course, the bad part was that Gingrich sort of stuck his own foot in his mouth, when he called Romney a liar and then turned right around and said he would support him if he were the GOP nominee. D’oh! 🙄
Lord Edward Morrissey, who knows this stuff better than anyone, I think, saith the following:
Hey, not to rain on Gingrich’s parade, but how is that different than any other PAC or super-PAC? I’m pretty sure that Gingrich-supporting PACs aren’t run by disinterested strangers, nor are those for Rick Perry or any of the other candidates in the race. That’s a problem in the structure of the campaign finance regulations that impose artificial divisions on contributions. If those were removed, the same money would flow into these races, but the candidates themselves would be responsible for its use instead of hiding behind PACs and super-PACs — and that includes Newt Gingrich.
As I’ve written earlier, there is nothing wrong with so-called “negative” campaigning. Candidates should draw contrasts between their positions and those of their opponents, and their records as well. As long as that is being done honestly, there is nothing wrong or dishonorable about it; in fact, that’s why we have primaries. Gingrich chose to eschew that strategy and now wants to claim some kind of victimization because the rest of the field chose not to follow in his footsteps. On top of that, Gingrich has descended to name-calling, which looks more like a dog-in-the-manger ploy than a way to gather support in the few short hours before Iowa voters trudge to precincts tonight. A confident candidate wouldn’t have sunk to the level of this conversation the morning of a caucus.
Indeed.
Also too, I say this as a kid, who grew up in the inner city of Detroit; there is nothing funnier than watch to rich, white old guys fighting it out like school kids. I find it quite amusing. 😉 😛
Again, as it is has been written many times over in the right-wing political blogosphere and also said by others on Fox News; Gingrich is a thinker, a Conservative intellectual, if you will — but he is also a bomb thrower, who is not apt to thinking on his feet. This video above proves that. In other words, it is okay to be a bomb thrower, you just have to be able to run from the bomb, in the right direction! 😯 😛 😉 😀
Some items are not restricted to 2011 but all are since President Obama took office in January 2009. So without further ado:
10) – Golf Outings
President Obama played 32 rounds of gold in 2011, besting his previous record highs of 2010 and 2009. Not a big deal by itself and certainly he is as entitled to some relaxation just like the rest of us, but maybe he should consider just a little less time on the greens and a little more focused on real problems.
9) – Air Force One
President Obama has flown more miles on Air Force One than any previous president, at an average of $181,757 per hour. In 2010 alone, Obama used Air Force One 172 times. That’s a lot of mileage.
8 ) – Fast and Furious
Attorney General Eric Holder and the DOJ through the BATF put 2,000 guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartel members which have been used in more than 180 violent crimes including the murder of a US Government agent. There are still 1,400 unrecovered weapons floating around Mexico.
7) – Food Stamps
In January 2009 when Obama took office there we approximately 32,000,000 people collecting food stamps. As of August 2011 that number had swelled to approximately 46,000,000 people for an increase of 43.8% in less than 3 years. This is just one indicator of the failure of the liberal economic agenda.
6) – Regulatory Burden
Since January 2009 government regulations have added $38 billion in new costs. Total regulatory costs are now estimated at $1.75 trillion per year. In the same time period the enforcement workforce is up 13%, and enforcement budgets are up 16%.
5) – Personal Income
When Obama took office personal income was $12.1 trillion in January 2009, and has risen to $13.0 trillion as of November 2011. That’s a whopping 7.4% increase (not adjusted for inflation), if only the other economic numbers were held to such a low increase we’d actually be okay. Alas, they’re not.
4) – Unemployment
The U3 rate was 7.7% in January 2009, rose to 10.0% by year end 2009 and is now 8.6%, that’s an 11.7% increase, while the U6 was 10.4% in January 2009, rose to 17.3% by year end 2009 and is now 15.6%, for a 50.0% increase. Remember that stimulus plan that was going to cut unemployment by 1.5-2.0%. Oops.
3) – Deficit Spending
The liberal attitude toward spending has run completely unbridled under President Obama with an FY2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion, an FY2010 deficit of $1.3 trillion, an estimated deficit for FY2011 of $1.3 trillion and an estimated deficit for FY2012 of $1.1 trillion. As an added bonus, that 2012 estimate is already being acknowledged as considerably lower than the real numbers will be eventually.
2) – National Debt
When Obama took office the US Debt was $9.9 trillion and today, thanks to the deficit spending noted in #3, it is above $15.5 trillion and will hit $16.4 trillion by the end of September 2012. Liberal economists assured us that incurring new debt was essential to a recovery – but we have no recovery, only a 56.6% increase in the total debt. If only this was the same percentage increase as personal income we might be okay but it’s not and now we’re screwed.
1) – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Nothing needs to be said except Obamacare is nothing but a foundation on which to build a disaster of epic proportions and has already had large parts declared unconstitutional by the Courts.
So there you have it, our abbreviated list of things you can thank President Obama and the liberal intelligentsia for as we head into a new year. If only we could hope for better in 2012, but it’s just not in the cards. Unless fiscal sanity is restored, the welfare state is reduced and the size of government is trimmed we, regrettably, have little to look forward to in 2012.
Best President since JFK? Lincoln? FDR? According to whom? More like since or worse than, maybe Carter!
For what it is worth; and I really should not have to even mention this — But, because I know how black Liberals minds work — This has zero to do with skin color. I do not dislike Obama because he is black. In fact, I am very glad that America elected a black President. However, I dislike the man’s polices and it is proven fact that President Barack Obama has been a abysmal failure, not just to the business community, but to the general public as a whole and to the Country. The very people he played like a fiddle to get elected, are the same very one’s who are STILL suffering, even after his election.
So, this statement is, in fact, one of his worst; so much in fact, that the program that he gave this interview for, did not even broadcast it. But rather, put it on their website. Because they knew how horrible it sounded. It is pretty bad, when the very liberal media that went into the tank for this man, has to hide idiotic things he has said, all to protect him and his moronic image that everyone by now knows, is nothing more than a silly lie.
Happy New Year Mr. President — Keep the stupidity coming — I need the content.
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Barack Obama’s 2008 Iowa New Media Director was arrested Friday for attempting to use the identities of Secretary of State Matt Schultz, and/or his brother Thomas, with the intent to falsely implicate the Secretary Schultz in illegal or unethical behavior. Zach Edwards, 29, of Des Moines, currently works for Link Strategies, a Democrat-affiliated organization with ties to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Edwards is the Director of New Media for Link Strategies.
However, some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth? 
Not so much. 
