Saturday, October 4, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Arrests made in Hong Kong demonstrations – CBS
AP October 3, 2014, 10:24 PM

HONG KONG - Hong Kong police said Saturday that they have arrested 19 people, some of whom are believed to have organized crime ties, after mobs tried to drive pro-democracy protesters from the streets where they have held a weeklong, largely peaceful demonstration.

At least 12 people and six officers were injured during the clashes, district commander Kwok Pak-chung said at a pre-dawn press briefing. Protest leaders called off planned talks with the government on political reforms after the battles kicked off Friday afternoon in gritty, blue-collar Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor from the activists' main protest camp.

Police struggled for hours to control the battles as attackers pushed, shoved and jeered the protesters. Those arrested face charges of unlawful assembly, fighting in public and assault, Kwok said, adding that eight men are believed to have backgrounds involving triads, or organized crime gangs.

The protesters urged residents to join their cause and demanded that the police protect their encampments. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people earlier this week, said they saw no choice but to cancel the dialogue.

"The government is demanding the streets be cleared. We call upon all Hong Kong people to immediately come to protect our positions and fight to the end," the group said in a statement.

They demanded the government hold someone responsible for the scuffles Friday, the worst disturbances since police used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters last weekend to try to disperse them.

Hundreds of people remained in the streets early Saturday in Mong Kok, one of Hong Kong's busiest shopping areas, after the clashes.

"Of course I'm scared, but we have to stay and support everyone," said Michael Yipu, 28, who works in a bank.

Well after midnight, the crowds stood peacefully, occasionally chanting and shouting, while police looked on.

The standoff is the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since it took over the former British colony in 1997. Earlier Friday, the students had agreed to talks with the government proposed by Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. But his attempt to defuse tensions fell flat as many protesters were unhappy with his refusal to yield their demands for his resignation.

The cancellation of the talks - prompted by clashes with men who tried to tear down the makeshift barricades and tents set up by the demonstrators - left the next steps in the crisis uncertain.

It was unclear if those scuffles were spontaneous or had been organized, although some of the attackers wore blue ribbons signaling support for the mainland Chinese government, while the protesters have yellow ribbons. At least some of them were residents fed up with the inconvenience of blocked streets and closed shops, and were perhaps encouraged to take matters into their own hands by police calls for protesters to clear the streets.

"It's not about whether I support their cause or not. It's about whether what they are doing is legal or not," said Donald Chan, 45. "It is illegal. It has brought chaos to the city."

The police appeared hard-pressed to keep order, and some people emerged bloodied from the fracas. Occasional heavy rain did not noticeably thin the crowds Friday.

But the tide turned after hundreds of people assembled and shouted at police to protect the protesters. Police ended up escorting some of the opponents of the demonstration out of the area.

The chaos prompted calls from police and other top officials for everyone to avoid violence and go home.

"We should not use violence or disrupt social order in any situation," Leung said. "All people gathering in those areas should disperse as soon as possible and restore social order, so that daily lives will be restored to normal."

The protesters have been in the streets since Sept. 26, pledging to preserve Hong Kong's Western-style legal system and civil liberties. They want the Chinese government to reverse a decision requiring all candidates in the first election for Hong Kong's leader in 2017 to be approved by a mostly pro-Beijing committee. The demonstrators want open nominations.

Leung had appeared at a news conference late Thursday night where he refused to resign and said he had asked Hong Kong's top civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, to engage in talks with protest leaders. Before those talks were called off Friday by the students, Lam said she had begun organizing the discussions.

China's government has mostly kept quiet during the crisis, other than to call the protests illegal and support the Hong Kong government's efforts to disperse them. On Friday, however, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily accused a small group of demonstrators of trying to "hijack the system" and said the protest effort was doomed to fail.

The front-page editorial said there is "no room for concessions" on the candidate screening issue, noting that Hong Kong "is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government; it is not a country or an independent political entity."

Some who are sympathetic to the protesters' demands for wider democracy said the police were not doing enough to protect the demonstrators. But others complained that the protests were disruptive and hurting their livelihoods.

"It affected my company, a perfume business, to deliver goods in the area," said Ken Lai in the bustling Causeway Bay neighborhood. "I really dislike the fact that they occupied so many areas, all scattered around the city. I'm a Hong Konger too. The occupiers don't represent all of us."




There is less desire for a free vote among Hong Kong citizens than the protesters need, apparently. Business as usual and an undisturbed life seems to be enough. I would like to know what percentage of the population those who stood together on the issue of a free vote make up, and whether they are too afraid to continue to fight. China, unlike North Korea, seems to be taking care of its people's needs, so there may be little real call for democracy. They also may see their minority status as being a losing battle. Hopefully, there won't be bloodshed over their play for the promised voting rights.



Anti-Semitism spike in Germany raising old fears
By MARK PHILLIPS CBS NEWS October 3, 2014, 7:44 PM

FRANKFURT - Armed guards have been posted at synagogues throughout Germany for the start of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Anti-Semitism is once again on the rise in Europe, especially in Germany.

The tensions have been building in Germany since demonstrations against last summer's Gaza war exposed a clear anti-Jewish sentiment. Chants were heard that echoed from Germany's darkest times.

"Jew, Jew! Cowardly pig," they said.

"We haven't had this dimension at all before," said Deiter Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. "When you imagine in German streets, people here chanting - a roaring mob chanting - Jews to be gassed, to be slaughtered, to be burned."

He said he doesn't quite believe the sentiments have spiked because of passions that were stirred up by the events in Gaza.

"It is cited as a reason for that but I don't think it's a reason," Graumann said. "It's a pretext. It's an occasion to let it out."

Much more of the incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many of whom are recent immigrants.

But Monika Schwartz Friesel, of Berlin's Technical University, has studied thousands of anti-Semitic emails sent to German-Jewish institutions and made a disturbing discovery.

"We saw that more than 60 percent of the writers, who clearly evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes, come from the middle of society and many of them are highly educated," she said.

The memories of Jewish persecution -- of the November 1938 Kristallnacht when Jewish institutions were destroyed -- are burned into German memory. Frankfurt's main synagogue, badly damaged that night, is one of those now under armed guard.

Anti-Israeli protests that become anti-Semitic demonstrations may be taking place across Europe, but nowhere are the echoes more sinister than they are here in Germany. This may not be 1938, but once again the Jewish community here says it feels like it's under siege.

"They are worried," said Graumann. "And many Jews here ask the question 'Has our Jewish population a future in Germany?' I haven't heard that question for many, many years."

Now, though, the question is being asked again.




“Much more of the incendiary street rhetoric has come from German Muslims, many of whom are recent immigrants.... 'We saw that more than 60 percent of the writers, who clearly evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes, come from the middle of society and many of them are highly educated,' she said.” I would like for this spike in anti-Semitism to be caused mainly by the number of Islamic immigrants who are residing in Germany, but from this email study it looks like another case of old hatred dying hard. It must be so bound up in their social identity that they can't let it go.

Sometimes I do wonder if the human race is doomed to continue these same negative patterns until there is an end to our species. We are an “evolved” species only to a certain degree. Our instincts are those of small tribes fighting over a territory and killing all who aren't of our viewpoints and lineage. Only part of this is over differences in religion and views. The rest is an unintelligent “fear of the other.” It starts out on the playground among kids bullying the autistic child and ends up among adults as genocide. I hope those who agree with a liberal viewpoint will win out. Compassion and cooperation are the natural mode of many people. They are being tried to the extreme in the present day right wing trend that has taken over much of the US and Europe. We don't need another age of hatred.





Civil rights groups question recent Ferguson protester arrests -- CBS
AP October 3, 2014, 11:25 PM

FERGUSON, Mo. - A civil rights group and several clergy said Friday that police overreached when arresting 13 protesters outside the Ferguson station.

All 13 remained in jail Friday afternoon, more than 15 hours after they were arrested. The protesters face charges of failing to comply with police, violating a noise ordinance and resisting arrest, Ferguson city spokesman Devin James said.

Protesters have been a constant presence in the St. Louis suburb in the nearly two months since Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Protesters want Wilson, who is white, to be charged in the killing of the unarmed, black 18-year-old. A grand jury considering the case isn't expected to rule for at least another month.

Some who witnessed Thursday's protest that led to the arrests said it was small but peaceful. They questioned why arrests were necessary.

Just before midnight, officers began moving toward the chanting protesters, used plastic restraints on their wrists and put them in a van, according to Gabrielle Hanson, who was at the scene while her mother, freelance videographer Mary Moore, shot video. Moore was among those arrested, Hanson was not.

Hanson said Moore was shooting video of the arrests when one of the protesters handed her a cellphone. When Moore took it, she was arrested, Hanson said, and officers confiscated her camera.

Asked what the protesters were saying or whether they were being noisy, Hanson said, "They were chanting, 'Show me what democracy looks like.'"

The protesters were jailed in St. Ann, a neighboring community. Several clergy gathered Friday at the St. Ann police station to meet with those arrested and show support.

"These are students, scholars, living out democracy who are now being treated like prisoners," the Rev. Starsky Wilson said. "We see this as an attempt to break down peaceful protests."

The clergy also urged a municipal judge in Ferguson to order the protesters' release or at least lower their bonds. Some were as high as $2,700 for the misdemeanor charges.
Tony Rothert, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union office in St. Louis, said several complaints have been lodged about Thursday's arrests and the ACLU is investigating.

"There do appear to be, if not bogus, at least unnecessary arrests," Rothert said. "Holding people unnecessarily long, arresting them when it's not necessary - that's an indication of overreach. It certainly appears that the purpose is to discourage people from coming to Ferguson to protest."

Hundreds have been arrested in the unrest since Brown's death, including journalists and clergy. The Rev. Osagyefo Sekou was arrested Monday and charged with failure to disperse after sitting on a sidewalk with other protesters.

Meanwhile, St. Louis County police announced Friday that they will take charge of security detail related to protests in Ferguson, effective immediately. It's not clear if what happened Thursday played a role in that decision. County police said Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson asked the county to assume command, citing a "lack of resources and manpower."




“Asked what the protesters were saying or whether they were being noisy, Hanson said, 'They were chanting, 'Show me what democracy looks like.'". The protesters were jailed in St. Ann, a neighboring community. Several clergy gathered Friday at the St. Ann police station to meet with those arrested and show support. 'These are students, scholars, living out democracy who are now being treated like prisoners,' the Rev. Starsky Wilson said. 'We see this as an attempt to break down peaceful protests.'... 'There do appear to be, if not bogus, at least unnecessary arrests,' Rothert said. 'Holding people unnecessarily long, arresting them when it's not necessary - that's an indication of overreach. It certainly appears that the purpose is to discourage people from coming to Ferguson to protest.'... County police said Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson asked the county to assume command, citing a 'lack of resources and manpower.'”

Will the county police be more fair? I can remember in the Civil Rights movement when local people would be quoted speaking against “outside agitators.” I do think the Ferguson police chief is not going to step down, and that Darren Wilson will not be indicted until the end of October when the Grand Jury concludes deliberations. There is nothing really new in this report, and unless the black citizens of Ferguson do something like endless organized marches on the City Hall I don't think the city council will move to elect black members and black police officers. It was a thirteen month boycott of the city buses led by Martin Luther King that led the Supreme Court to make the segregated seated unconstitutional. That was a case of a long term focus of black citizens on the Jim Crow practices, and was well organized. Here we need some kind of Supreme Court ruling that overreaching by the police is unconstitutional. Ferguson is just one of thousands of city police forces across the nation that “overreach” in numerous ways. The public has always honored the police just as they do physicians and preachers, giving them the benefit of the doubt in all situations, and that is the real problem, in my opinion. The police need the backing of the public, but not in all cases. They need specific rules like the Miranda warning to define what are acceptable police actions. There is a right to peaceful assembly and a right to free speech. Peaceful marches should not be cause for arrest. See the Wikipedia article below. It describes the right to protest as a “perceived” human right.


Right to protest
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The right to protest is a perceived human right arising out of a number of recognized human rights. While no human rights instrument or national constitution grants the absolute right to protest, such a right to protest may be a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech.[1]

Many international treaties contain clear enunciations of these rights. Such agreements include the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, especially Articles 9 to 11; and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, especially Articles 18 to 22. However, in these and other agreements the rights of Freedom of assembly,freedom of association, and freedom of speech are subject to certain limitations. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights contains prohibitions on advocacy of "national, racial or religious hatred"; and it allows the restriction of the freedom to assembly if it is necessary "in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." (Articles 20 and 21.)

Protesting, however, is not necessarily violent or a threat to the interests of national security or public safety. Nor is it necessarily civil disobedience, because most protest does not involve violating the laws of the state. Protests, even campaigns of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance, can often have the character (in addition to using nonviolent methods) of positively supporting a democratic and constitutional order. This can happen, for example, when such resistance arises in response to a military coup d'état;[2] or in the somewhat similar case of a refusal of the state leadership to surrender office following defeat in an election.




Dog owner sentenced to prison in fatal mauling – CBS
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  October 3, 2014, 2:22 PM

LANCASTER, Calif. - A California pit bull owner convicted of second-degree murder after his dogs fatally mauled a woman was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in prison.
Alex Donald Jackson, 31, was convicted last month in the death of Pamela Devitt. The 63-year-old retiree was taking a morning stroll in the high desert town of Littlerock when four of Jackson's dogs leaped over a fence and attacked her in the street.

She was alone, didn't have a phone and no one was nearby. By the time help arrived, she had been bitten 150 to 200 times from head to toe and an arm was severed. She died from blood loss.

Jackson was initially arrested when deputies searching for the dogs discovered a marijuana-growing operation in his house. He was later charged with murder when Devitt's DNA was found on his dogs' bloody fur.

A murder conviction for a killing by dogs is rare.

The mauling of Diane Whipple in the hallway outside her San Francisco apartment in 2001 led to her neighbor's second-degree murder conviction.

A Michigan couple is facing trial on second-degree murder charges for the mauling death of a jogger in July by two cane corsos, an Italian mastiff-type breed, near their home about 45 miles outside Detroit.

The theory behind such cases is that the accused did something so reckless they had to know it was dangerous enough to kill someone - even without intending harm.

"His actions in this case show that he has a nearly psychopathic disregard for the lives and well-being of others," Deputy District Attorney Ryan Williams said of Jackson in his sentencing memo.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles County Superior Court sought a term of 24 years to life in prison for the murder and convictions on weapon and drug charges. The dogs guarded Jackson's pot-growing operation and he knew the animals were dangerous, Williams said.

In Jackson's case and others like it, prosecutors have said neighbors and others complained that the owners' dogs were vicious or dangerous and that the owners didn't do enough to control the animals.

The Devitts, who passed through the area during their walking routine, had never had a problem with the dog, Williams said.

But nine other witnesses, including several horse riders and a postal worker, testified about seven frightening encounters. One equestrian had offered to provide free fencing and help Jackson put it up to keep the dogs on his property, but Jackson did not accept the help.

Defense lawyer Al Kim said Thursday that the "nail in the coffin" for Jackson was that the number of other incidents made it hard to argue that he wasn't aware of the danger the dogs posed.

At trial, Kim conceded Jackson was a drug dealer, but also said he was a dog lover who took in strays that reproduced. While he should have kept closer watch of them, he never intended to hurt someone.

"He's not the evil dude he's being made out to be," Kim said. "He feels horrible about this. He's contrite."




“Alex Donald Jackson, 31, was convicted last month in the death of Pamela Devitt. The 63-year-old retiree was taking a morning stroll in the high desert town of Littlerock when four of Jackson's dogs leaped over a fence and attacked her in the street.... Jackson was initially arrested when deputies searching for the dogs discovered a marijuana-growing operation in his house. He was later charged with murder when Devitt's DNA was found on his dogs' bloody fur.... The theory behind such cases is that the accused did something so reckless they had to know it was dangerous enough to kill someone - even without intending harm. 'His actions in this case show that he has a nearly psychopathic disregard for the lives and well-being of others,' Deputy District Attorney Ryan Williams said of Jackson in his sentencing memo.”

“The dogs guarded Jackson's pot-growing operation and he knew the animals were dangerous, Williams said.” In the Diane Whipple case the owners of the two huge and vicious dogs had a relationship with a convict who bred and trained the dogs, as I remember, but had no police record on their own. They did have that insane “love” of their vicious dogs that so many of these owners do, and even though there had been prior incidents with the neighbors over the dogs the owner was taking them down the hall to go outdoors. The couple also had a grudge against Whipple because she was a gay woman who lived with her partner down the hall from them. First, even if there is a good use for such a dog – guarding a Nazi prison camp perhaps, or hunting bear – there was no proper place to keep them confined in a city apartment building. Second, as I recall, the dogs were not even on a leash, and the woman who owned them was “unable” to control them. It is not surprising that the couple is serving many years in prison as a result.

The truth is that we need a ban on some dog breeds, because they are very large and powerful and they are unusually aggressive. My dog Butch, a 25 pound terrier, was sometimes a biter, but we kept her chained at night or when we weren't home, and she never gave a serious bite. She was protective of her yard, for instance against the garbage man. She loved the mailman, however. She wasn't “vicious.” In most towns and populated areas there are laws against exotic animals such as leopards for the same reason as the unusually dangerous dogs, so we need laws in this kind of case as well. Not all humans can be relied upon to use good old common sense in their behavior, and sometimes a jail term or a stiff fine are required to show them the right way to live.





How smart is your dog? – CBS
Anderson Cooper meets a dog who knows the names of over a thousand different toys
October 3, 2014

Your dog is a lot smarter than you think, though he or she is probably not as smart as Chaser, who may be the smartest dog in the world. Scientists are just beginning to understand how smart dogs really are. Chaser has a vocabulary more than twice that of a two-year-old child. Anderson Cooper reports on Chaser and some of the fascinating things researchers are learning about man's best friend in a story to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on the CBS Television Network.

John Pilley, a retired psychology professor, has worked with his border collie, Chaser, for several years and trained the dog to recognize the names of over a thousand toys. "My best metaphor is this is a two-year-old toddler," Pilley tells Cooper. "She's our child." The "child" is familiar enough with the names of 800 cloth toys, 116 different balls and over a hundred plastic toys to be able to pick the one named by Pilley out of a pile on the floor. Pilley demonstrates Chaser's skill with several different toys.

A two-year-old child generally knows about 300 words. Chaser is using the same skills a child would use to learn the names of her toys, say scientists

"This is very serious science," says Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University. "We're not talking about stupid pet tricks. Chaser is learning tons, literally, thousands of new things by using the same ability that kids use when they learn lots of words."

Researchers have begun to use MRIs and blood testing to learn more about dogs' feelings and intelligence. Hare says that when dogs look at their masters, scientists have detected oxytocin, which is also found in humans, that is known as "the love hormone," whose presence indicates warm or loving feelings. "What we know now is that when dogs are actually looking at you, they're essentially hugging you with their eyes," Hare tells Cooper.




“'This is very serious science,' says Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University. 'We're not talking about stupid pet tricks. Chaser is learning tons, literally, thousands of new things by using the same ability that kids use when they learn lots of words.' Researchers have begun to use MRIs and blood testing to learn more about dogs' feelings and intelligence. Hare says that when dogs look at their masters, scientists have detected oxytocin, which is also found in humans, that is known as 'the love hormone,' whose presence indicates warm or loving feelings. 'What we know now is that when dogs are actually looking at you, they're essentially hugging you with their eyes,' Hare tells Cooper.”

My first husband and I had a German Shepherd, also known to be a very intelligent type of dog, who became impatient as we stood by the door talking to his parents, putting off leaving. After a good ten minutes of that he simply lifted up his nose and jiggled the door keys that were hanging in the door. He might as well have said “Alright that's enough of this. Let's go.” Likewise several breeds have been trained – as also some monkeys have – to be the hands and body to do things for paraplegic patients. One such golden retriever was featured on a documentary, and when the man asked for a beer the dog got up, went to the kitchen and pulled on the towel that was tied to the refrigerator door for that purpose, and got his master a beer. The man just spoke in a conversational way to him, with no “coaching” or strong “command tone.” A dog that is raised from a puppy by a gentle and loving human will love that human deeply and consider him to be “top dog,” doing many things to cooperate and interact, including saving his life.

Even cats have been known to wake up their master in a house fire and the one so recently viewed by millions on the news as it fearlessly body slammed a vicious dog which was attacking his little four year old master was amazing. Cats are often considered to be unintelligent and “cool” rather than warm, but I'm sure that's incorrect. If you pay lots of attention to a cat he will warm up to you -- perhaps not as slavishly as a dog -- but with real affection. I really don't need a scientist to tell me that dogs understand many words and can solve some logistics problems. They weren't top predator as wolves for nothing. I wish the scientists would check out cats as well as dogs and make a judgment of their IQ.





Porn email scandal grips Pennsylvania Capitol
CBS/AP October 3, 2014, 2:13 PM

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Capitol is gripped by a widening scandal over the exchange of emails containing pornography by former members of the attorney general's office.

Gov. Tom Corbett was attorney general when the emails were exchanged by members of his staff, forcing him to defend his management as he campaigns for a second term. Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court chief justice demanded information on whether any judges were part of the exchanges.

Last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office  identified eight ex-employees who sent or received hundreds of pornographic images or videos in emails that were discovered during Kane's review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution.

Four of those officials followed Corbett from the attorney general's office into his gubernatorial administration. On Thursday, two of them resigned. And Corbett said Friday that his review indicated that another of the four -- state police Commissioner Frank Noonan -- did not open, originate, forward or reply to any of the emails.

"The information we have indicates that he was not an active participant in this at all," Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni said Friday.

The emails of the fourth man -- former agent Randy Feathers, whom Corbett appointed to the state Board of Probation and Parole -- and the ex-employees who no longer work for the state were expected to be released Friday.

All eight men worked under Corbett while he was the state's elected attorney general from 2005 to 2011. Corbett had requested details on the emails in question before determining if the four men employed in his administration should keep their jobs.

On Thursday, Corbett disclosed the resignations of Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and Glenn Parno, a top lawyer in the Department of Environmental Protection, in separate announcements hours apart, just as the attorney general's office was releasing copies of their email messages to the governor's office and news organizations.

Kane is a Democrat who took office last year. Corbett, a Republican, is in the closing weeks of an uphill re-election campaign against Democrat Tom Wolf.

Wolf and Corbett addressed the scandal during a debate Wednesday, according to CBS Philadelphia.

"Culture starts at the top. If there's a culture that somehow makes it seem that kind of thing is permissible, that's a problem," Wolf said.

Corbett said he wishes he was made aware of the emails sooner.

"I can't tell you how disappointed I was because we had strict rules against it, and I did not receive any of those emails," Corbett said. "I wish they would have sent me one. I wish they would have because it would have stopped right then and there."

The heavily redacted emails revealed an abundance of comments that were sexually suggestive, mostly about photographs that were originally attached to the emails but were not included in the released material.

Some of the more than 300 emails that the attorney general's office says Noonan received bore sexually tinged subject lines, such as "Bikini Wax Job."

Another message, received by some but not all of the participants, included a slur used against people of Arab descent and others who wear headdresses. Others expressed insensitive remarks about gays.

Abruzzo did not mention the emails in his resignation letter, which was released by Corbett's office. He wrote that he had not been given an opportunity to review any evidence to support the assertions against him but that he did not want the allegations to become "a distraction" for the administration.

"While I have no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media, I accept full responsibility for any lack of judgment I may have exhibited in 2009," he wrote. "I do not condone that behavior and it is not a reflection of the person or professional that I am."

The letter was Abruzzo's first public comment on the emails.

Abruzzo, 48, started in the attorney general's office in 1996 and advanced to oversee its drug-related prosecutions. When Corbett became governor in 2011, he made Abruzzo one of his deputy chiefs of staff and, later, environmental protection secretary, a Cabinet post.

Noonan, who is directing the manhunt for a fugitive suspected of killing a state trooper and wounding another in an ambush at a northeastern Pennsylvania barracks, has not commented.

"It is important that Commissioner Noonan remain focused on the critical public safety mission he is leading," Corbett said Thursday.

No reason was given for Parno's resignation.





“Last week, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office  identified eight ex-employees who sent or received hundreds of pornographic images or videos in emails that were discovered during Kane's review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution.... state police Commissioner Frank Noonan -- did not open, originate, forward or reply to any of the emails.”

“Abruzzo did not mention the emails in his resignation letter, which was released by Corbett's office.... 'While I have no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media, I accept full responsibility for any lack of judgment I may have exhibited in 2009,' he wrote. 'I do not condone that behavior and it is not a reflection of the person or professional that I am.'” How's that for not taking responsibility for his actions? What does it “reflect?” Did somebody else do it to him? This level of sexual misconduct is not a very dangerous behavior pattern, but if any women were exposed to these emails it would be deeply disrespectful and initiate a poisonous work atmosphere. I do fear that an addiction to pornography can lead to sexual assault in some individuals who are mentally unstable. It's a shame that this amount of misconduct is going on at the upper levels of the government. I suppose no one was watching their emails for content.





The Two Koreas Agree To Hold High-Level Talks This Autumn – NPR
by BILL CHAPPELL
October 04, 2014

In a sign of potential improvement in their frosty relationship, North and South Korea will engage in high-level talks by early November. The revelation came as a delegation of North Korean officials ventured south to Incheon for Saturday's closing ceremonies in the 2014 Asian Games.

That trip brought a chance for South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won to meet with the military and political leaders, in what the Yohhap News Agency says is "the first time that a sitting South Korean prime minister has met with high-ranking North Korean officials since their prime ministerial talks in 2007," when Kim Jong-Il was still in office.

The news emerges as a survey found more than half of South Koreans support reunification with the north. The Chosun Ilboreports that in the survey of 1,200 South Koreans, only 14 percent said they view North Korea as an enemy. But nearly 90 percent also said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons, and three-quarters of respondents said North Korea might "launch an armed provocation."

Before today's meeting, the health of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Un, had been a subject of rampant speculation, after a video showed him limping.

"North Korea's state media confirmed that he suffered from discomfort. I think there is no reason to disbelieve it," South Korea's Ministry of Unification spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol tells The Korea Times. The agency goes on to report that Kim has edema in at least one ankle joint, requiring surgery.




“The news emerges as a survey found more than half of South Koreans support reunification with the north. The Chosun Ilboreports that in the survey of 1,200 South Koreans, only 14 percent said they view North Korea as an enemy. But nearly 90 percent also said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons, and three-quarters of respondents said North Korea might 'launch an armed provocation.'”

North Korea is also a hardline dictatorship. Why would the South Korean people consider reuniting with them? It sounds risky. Of course there have been news reports of family members in both countries trying to get across the DMZ to see each other. It looks like the tie of kinship between them is the reason for this reunification. Of course it isn't an established fact yet.

I wonder what kind of politics there is in South Korea? Let's see what Wikipedia says.


Politics of South Korea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Politics of the Republic of Korea takes place in the framework of apresidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises a Supreme Court, appellate courts and aConstitutional Court. Since 1948, the constitution has undergone five major revisions, each signifying a new republic. The current Sixth Republic began with the last major constitutional revision in 1987.

Political parties and elections[edit]

For other political parties see Political parties in South Korea. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in South Korea.

South Korea elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly (Gukhoe) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 244 members in single-seat constituencies and 56 members by proportional representation.

The main political parties in South Korea are the Saenuri Party(NFP), the New Politics Alliance for Democracy(NPAD, former Democratic Party), the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and the Justice Party. The conservative Saenuri Party and the more liberal Democrats(NPAD) are the dominant forces of South Korean politics. The socialist UPP is aligned with labour unions and farmers groups. But UPP was torn into two parties after 2012 election, and 6 of 13 MPs of UPP formed the Justice Party.

Structure of National Assembly as of 15 August 2014.
Conservatives(NFP) : 158(+1)
Liberals(NPAD) : 130(+3)
Progressive(UPP, JP) : 10(-3)
Independents : 2(pro-NFP)



Korean reunification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Korean reunification refers to the potential future reunification of theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly known as North Korea), the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea), and the Korean Demilitarized Zone under a single government. The process towards this was started by the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration in June 2000, where the two countries agreed to work towards a peaceful reunification in the future. However, this process has always been met with many difficulties due to continuous tension between the two countries, which have become vastly different through over six decades of separation.

In June 2000, North and South Korea signed the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration, in which both sides made promises to seek out a peaceful reunification:[7]

The north and the south agreed to solve the question of the country’s reunification independently by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation responsible for it.

The north and the south, recognizing that the low-level federation proposed by the north and the commonwealth system proposed by the south for the reunification of the country have similarity, agreed to work together for the reunification in this direction in the future.

The north and the south agreed to settle humanitarian issues as early as possible, including the exchange of visiting groups of separated families and relatives and the issue of unconverted long-term prisoners, to mark August 15 this year.

The north and the south agreed to promote the balanced development of the national economy through economic cooperation and build mutual confidence by activating cooperation and exchange in all fields, social, cultural, sports, public health, environmental and so on.

The north and the south agreed to hold an authority-to-authority negotiation as soon as possible to put the above-mentioned agreed points into speedy operation.

A unified Korean team marched in the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004, and 2006 Olympics, but the North and South Korean national teams competed separately. There were plans for a truly unified team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but the two countries were unable to agree on the details of its implementation. In the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan, the two countries formed a unified team.