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I'm the kind of guy who gets Secretary Appreciation Week, Birthdays and Great Boss Week all mixed up!
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quizzicalThe Guardian paper in London is reporting on a $12 million BAE bribery scandal brewing in Tanzania. According to the article, Robin Cook the former foreign secretary under Blair, has written his memoirs in which he notes that "I came to learn that the chairman of BAE appeared to have the key to the garden door to No 10. Certainly I never knew No 10 to come up with any decision that would be incommoding to BAE." In the United States, despite a law criminalizing foreign bribery, the case load at the Justice Department’s Fraud Section is overwhelming. The bare bones staff there can barely keep up. And while no instance of a corporation slamming shut a prosecutor’s case the way BAE apparently has in the UK has surfaced in the United States, federal prosecutors here rarely bring criminal prosecutions against major American corporations. Clearly the corporations have us where they want us. You or I commit a crime – we are off to the slammer. They commit a crime, they call the head guy and the investigation is shut down. Res ipsa loquitur. - - Scary stuff isn't it? http://www.jacno.com
BAE faces action on anti-arms group's papers
By Michael Peel,Legal Correspondent
Published: January 26 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 26 2007 02:00
BAE Systems, the weapons maker, faces a court challenge from anti-arms trade campaigners who want to know how private documents belonging to them ended up in the company's hands.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade wants to force BAE to reveal the source of the documents, which relate to a legal challenge the campaigners are mounting to the Serious Fraud Office's decision to end an investigation into alleged bribery by the company in Saudi Arabia.
The row over the documents, which BAE representatives returned voluntarily, is the latest twist in the controversy over the scrapping of the SFO investigation last month amid public lobbying by the company and Saudi anger.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade said it had successfully persuaded a judge to allow a High Court hearing next week over whether BAE should reveal how the "confidential and legally privileged material" arrived in the company's possession.
BAE declined to disclose what the documents were, or how it obtained them.
It said it would make no further comment ahead of the hearing, other than that no wrongdoing appeared to be alleged by the campaigners.
"CAAT has made an application simply to obtain certain information which they believe BAE may have," the company said. "This type of application is commonly used to obtain evidence from parties against whom no wrongdoing is alleged."
This is not the first time controversy has surrounded the relationship between the Campaign Against Arms Trade and BAE. In 2003, newspaper reports claimed the campaign's offices had been spied on and confidential information passed on to the company by third parties.
BAE declined to comment yesterday on those allegations, although it was quoted at the time as saying it would never encourage anyone to do anything illegal.
The campaign said it planned to go ahead with its court challenge to the scrapping of the Saudi investigation, although this would be put on hold until after the hearing over the documents.
The challenge, brought jointly with Corner House Research, an anti-corruption group, is likely to argue that the Serious Fraud Office's action breached an international anti-bribery convention to which Britain is a signatory.
The campaign and Corner House said a letter defending the decision sent to them late last week by the government's solicitors had not persuaded them the decision was lawful.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development convention forbids countries to take into account commercial considerations or relations with other states when deciding whether to investigate or prosecute bribery.
Last week, the OECD's 36-nation anti-bribery group said it had "serous concerns" Britain might have breached the convention.
The investigation was examining whether BAE had paid bribes to Saudi officials while winning tens of billions of pounds worth of work since the 1980s.
BAE has denied any wrongdoing.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
caffeinated
Democracy NowPolice Entrapment in Terror Case? NYC Subway Bomb Plotter Says He ...
Democracy Now, NY - 10 Jan 2007
On Monday, 24 year-old Pakistani immigrant Shahawar Matin Siraj was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to bomb the Herald Square subway station in ...
Police Entrapment in Terror Case?
Melbourne Indymedia, Australia - 10 Jan 2007
Matin put on an entrapment defense, and it was a legitimate entrapment defense. It was unfortunately rejected by the jury, and that has a lot to do with the ...
Uzbekistan: Release Human Rights Defender
Human Rights Watch (press release) - 26 Jan 2007
“Niazova is the victim of political persecution and apparently of entrapment,” said Cartner. “There is no reason whatsoever why she should be in custody. ...
How you spell ENTRAPMENT? Don't be confused now. This is not a contest.
Consumer AffairsHome Decorators Collection Recalls Storage Trunks
Consumer Affairs - 25 Jan 2007
Home Decorators Collection is recalling about 500 leather suitcase trunks because of an entrapment and suffocation hazard. ...
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Columbia Pictures has given the 'unofficial site for film composer Christopher Young' permission to host five tracks from the upcoming Ghost Rider
Listen to the Ghost Rider Soundtrack!
CanMag, CA - 24 Jan 2007
For those of you who do not know Christopher Young, the composer's music has been heard in films such as Rounders, Entrapment, The Gift, Swordfish, Shade /..
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I heard about some authorities in Texas who had banged down the door of an Assistant DA accusing him of such net crimes as below. He killed him self first. Clickable story link below.
In November 2006, Perverted Justice announced that another To Catch a Predator sting had been conducted with law enforcement in Murphy, Texas. Twenty-one men arrived at the filming location over four days, with law enforcement investigating additional suspects. Most notably, these additional suspects, who conducted chats but did not arrive at the undercover house, included Rockwall County assistant district attorney Louis W. Conradt Jr., who shot and killed himself on 5 November 2006 at his home when police attempted to serve him with a search warrant.[6] The investigation is scheduled to air immediately after the Long Beach episodes, on 13 February 2007 and 20 February 2007.
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http://www.businessportal24.com/en/What_Entrapment_98745.html
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irritated
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Charlotte lawyer Jim Cooney is handling the highest-profile case of his career: defending one of three Duke lacrosse players charged with sexually assaulting an exotic dancer a team party last March. The three men -- David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann -- are white. The woman is black.
Cooney, for the first time since being hired to defend Seligmann, talked in depth about case that fueled racial tensions in Durham, led to the suspension of Duke's lacrosse program and left Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong facing ethics charges.
Q. How have these three men been affected by the publicity and the allegations?
The best way to answer this question is to ask everyone who may be reading this to imagine how they would feel if their picture -- or a picture of their sons or daughters -- appeared on the cover of Newsweek accused of a crime as heinous and vile as rape. Then I would ask everyone to consider that if the district attorney had succeeded in convicting these young men of all of the crimes with which they had been charged, none of these young men would have been released from prison until they were well into their 50s. They literally would have never seen their parents alive again outside a prison visiting room. It does not take much imagination to understand the daily pain that these young men and their families go through each day these cases are permitted to continue.
Q. Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been accused of withholding evidence favorable to the defendants. The DA eventually dropped the rape charges after the victim changed her story. He now faces ethics charges levied by the N.C. State Bar. What is happening in this case? I think my answer to this question is better left until the resolution of these cases. Moreover, Mr. Nifong is now the subject of ethics charges by the State Bar, and I think it is important to accord him something that was not given to these young men -- due process and a fair trial.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16564477.htm
http://www.utpjournals.com/product/chr/793/shingwauksvision.html
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Regina: 'It's not the worst neighbourhood'
City paves way for urban reserve
Macleans Magazine recently tried to lead the world accidently astray by saying in print that Clint Eastwoods Man with No Name films were The Mans own Productions. WE know he was not the producer but the star.
At least they shot down Mel Gibsons film from the sky, but not before making ill apt comparisons between The Man and Lethal Weapon, claiming they were released about the same time.
WE KNOW, first came The Man, and then came Mel.
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If Macleans refuses to print a retraction to correct its error, they are not GUILTY of anything by rote automatically.
But no one would believe them in excusing their credibility gap even if they protested with a proclomation of their very own innocence.
caffeinated
It isnt easy keeping your hip mountain town a secret when everyone keeps talking about it.
Rolling Stone Magazine has dubbed it: ..."the Coolest Town in North America."
Outside Magazine ranked it in its Top 20 of Dream Towns.
Writers and journalists from Conde Noste Traveler to National Geographic Adventure have found words to sing this towns praises.
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Over one-hundred years ago....this town was once cursed.
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Special thanks and hats off to Anita Willis, Shanna Baker and Robyn Swanson for a superb terrifically written article about this picturesque town that is rife with legend and lore.
Remember: Google is your friend.
"Only idiots and Europeans would live here year-round"- Town Museum curator, speaking on the areas early centuries hardships
not sureHow come they do not have a mood choice for LAZY? I am pretty sure that is how I feel today!
Visit here to learn about the 5 Smallest Countries in the World.
Top o' the list is Vatican (City???) which is apparently about the size of your average 18 hole golf course.
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On other news, Sealand is for sale. Apparently.
Funny, is not Sealand a recognized country?
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Take care out there!
