Australia moves forward with internet censorship

What a horrible move in the wrong direction.

The government's $128.8 million Cyber Safety policy includes forcing internet service providers to block access to a secret blacklist of website pages identified as ''refused classification'' by Australian government bureaucrats.

Web pages will be nominated for blacklisting by Australian internet users who come across illegal or ''unacceptable'' websites.

''This is a policy that will be going ahead,'' Senator Conroy said. ''We are still consulting on the final details of the scheme. But this policy has been approved by 85 per cent of Australian internet service providers, who have said they would welcome the filter, including Telstra, Optus, iPrimus and iinet.''

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Vatican talks fire and brimstone for child rapist priests

Monsignor Charles Scicluna is going old school. He's also in charge of catching pedophile priests, so it's an interesting development.

"It would be really better for him that his evil deeds cause him death" under secular laws, he said.

Scicluna added that those who hurt children should be thrown into the sea with a millstone around their neck.

In his sermon, he also suggested that priests who covered up abuse committed by colleagues would also face the fires of hell.

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BP sued by pension fund for falling value due to Gulf disaster

I hear these lawsuits can be expensive. And damaging. And they might even trigger additional lawsuits. Oh dear. Investors really don't like to see waves of legal actions when they're trying to make money.

A UK pension fund alleges that it lost money because of falls in the BP share price after a pipeline leak in the Prudhoe Bay field four years ago. Lawyers for the fund say the latest spill is providing further ammunition for its case.

"It is too soon to tell exactly what went wrong in the gulf, but what is clear is that they [the accidents] both reflect a corporate culture and series of operating procedures that need to be reformed," said Thomas Dubbs, a partner at New York law firm Labaton Sucharow, which is handling the case against BP for the Lothian pension fund, claiming tens of millions of dollars. The fund, an investor in BP, looks after the retirement benefits of 67,000 workers employed by councils in Edinburgh and the Midlothian area, and also by the local bus company.

The pension providers are taking the company to court for the stock market losses attached to pipeline fractures that resulted in 200,000 gallons of oil being spilled and the Prudhoe Bay field being temporarily shut down. Accidents in March and August 2006 knocked billions off the BP share price, and Lothian is arguing that its funds have paid the price for management ineptitude.

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BP - Beyond Petroleum images

Lots more images of Beyond Petroleum here. Read More......

David Gergen: Mr. President, take command

The left of the left can be so annoying and extreme sometimes. Oh wait...

What can the White House do? For starters:

-- Set up a daily command center in Washington where a presidentially appointed leader runs the show, calls the shots, coordinates the overall effort, briefs the president and briefs the country

-- Have two deputies, one to direct the leak-stoppage and the other to direct the clean-up. Ex-CEOs and generals would be excellent candidates

-- Summon all the major oil and drilling companies to the White House for emergency efforts to get the hole plugged

-- Get BP out of the picture for clean-up; just send it the bill. If it is still needed for hole-plugging, okay, but ensure that it answers every day to directions from the government. If BP needs new internal leadership, figure out how to get that done

-- Employ the U.S. military for organizational coordination and where needed, for anything else such as clean-up

Lots more good suggestions in the link. Read More......

Report: BP confiscated cleanup workers clothing, refused to give back

If anyone is looking for yet another reason why BP needs their butts kicked out of the process, here's another. The cleanup worker is now suing BP though it's unimaginable that it had to come to that. The federal government should control this process and send BP the bill. Does BP own the country or do the people of the US own it?

In his affadavit, Wutstell described his experience at the hospital.

"At West Jefferson, there were tents set up outside the hospital, where I was stripped of my clothing, washed with water and several showers, before I was allowed into the hospital," Wutstell sais. "When I asked for my clothing, I was told that BP had confiscated all of my clothing and it would not be returned."

The restraining order requests that BP refrain from "altering, testing or destroying clothing or any other evidence or potential evidence" when workers become ill.

Graham MacEwen, a spokesman for BP, said he could not comment on the restraining order, or on allegations that BP confiscated clothing.

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Monday morning open thread

It's Memorial Day. And it's going to be hotter than hell again in DC. All week in fact. It's usually not this hot this soon in this town - and we hit the 90s like a month ago (though only for a few days). In other news, my puppy Sasha discovered what a kitchen pot was yesterday. Apparently, pots are quite scary things in puppyland.

We typically try to be a bit lighter with the news on holidays, so let's start the day with the video I grabbed of Sasha encountering her first kitchen pot.

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Scientists encouraged by breast cancer vaccine

This would be fantastic news if the vaccine turns out to be as successful as they believe it will be.

American scientists say they have developed a vaccine which has prevented breast cancer from developing in mice.

The researchers - whose findings are published in the journal, Nature - are now planning to conduct trials of the drug in humans.

But they warn that it could be some years before the vaccine is widely available.

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Israel sinks Gaza aid ship leaving 10 dead

What was Israel thinking? Even if stopping the ship was the mission, killing 10 people in the process is a complete disaster and will only hurt Israel's already poor public relations standing. BBC:

More than 10 people have been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army says.

Armed forces boarded the vessels overnight, clashing with some of the 600 protesters on board.

The exact location of the interception is unclear. Israel had warned the ships not to enter its territorial waters.

The ships are carrying 10,000 tonnes of aid to try to break a long-standing Israeli-led blockade.

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Malawi frees gay couple sentenced to 14 years following UN visit

A very positive move by Ban Ki-moon after one of the most disgusting cases on the continent. Well done by Jacob Zuma as well for speaking out against the case and the sentence. Shouldn't Malawi be more focused on irrigation and farming to feed its population instead of hateful actions like this? The Guardian:

A gay couple sentenced to serve 14 years in jail in Malawi have been pardoned after their country's president met Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general.

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were tried and found guilty of sodomy and indecency earlier this month in a move that sparked international condemnation.

But after talking with Ban today, Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, announced the pair would be freed.

"These boys committed a crime against our culture, our religion and our laws," he said after the meeting, at the southern African country's State House. "However, as the head of state, I hereby pardon them and therefore ask for their immediate release with no conditions.

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