Three Korean citizens shot dead by Korean border guards for trying to leave the country

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1/3/12, "Three N. Koreans 'shot dead' during escape bid," AFP

"North Korean troops shot dead three countrymen who were trying to cross the border into China, a Seoul activist said Tuesday, as Pyongyang tightens border controls after the death of leader Kim Jong-Il.

Border guards last Saturday killed the men in their 40s who were crossing the Yalu river from the northern border city of Hyesan, said Do Hee-Youn, who helps refugees from the North.

"People waiting at the Chinese side across the river to help the three defect saw the scene. The guards took with them the bodies which were lying on the ice," Do told AFP, citing sources in China's border county of Changbai.

South Korea's intelligence service said it could not immediately confirm the reported shootings.

About 23,000 North Koreans have fled repression or hunger in their homeland for South Korea since the 1950-1953 war, the vast majority in recent years....

"They are trying to let people know that those trying to flee will be shot dead right away," said Do, citing sources in the North who communicate via mobile phones smuggled in from China."

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'Seismic collapse' of private sector pensions in UK-BBC

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1/2/12, "Private sector pensions in seismic collapse, says ACA," BBC

"There has been a "seismic collapse"in private sector pensions, and the gap between private and public pensions is widening, a report warns.

The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) says that nine out of 10 private sector defined benefit schemes

• are now closed to new entrants.

The ACA wants bold government action to reinvigorate workplace pensions.

Automatic enrollment, set to begin later this year, would enable millions of people to save, the government said.

But Stuart Southall, chairman of the ACA, said that while automatic enrollment should widen private sector pension coverage, "the fact that recently the government had to delay its introduction for smaller employers, because of the deteriorating economic climate, is discouraging".

Defined benefit schemes give members a guaranteed pension, based either on their final salary or their average pay over the length of their career, depending on the scheme.

There are some 23 million workers in the private sector in the UK,

• and six million in the public sector."...

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Usual billionaire foreign interests attempting to sabotage Canada econony are outed in ad campaign

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1/2/12, "BREAKING: New ad campaign reveals foreign interests sabotaging Canada’s economy," Kathy Shaidle, FiveFeetofFury

"OurDecision.ca documents puppetmasters behind anti-oilsands lobby"

VANCOUVER – January 2, 2012 – "Foreign special interests are paying millions of dollars to local front groups to sabotage Canada’s energy industry, according to an advertising campaign launched today.

“The federal government’s hearings into the Northern Gateway Pipeline begin next week,” says Kathryn Marshall, spokesman for EthicalOil.org. “Canadians will be shocked to learn that anti-oilsands lobby groups opposing the project have taken millions of dollars from foreign special interests.”

The ad campaign started this morning on more than a dozen radio stations across northern B.C., and will also appear in ten weekly newspapers over the month of January. Each ad in the series highlights a different Canadian front group being paid by a foreign special interest.

Factual documentation for the ads, as well as an audio clip of the first of five radio ads, can be heard at the website www.OurDecision.ca.

“Whether or not Canada decides to build this pipeline is a Canadian decision, based on Canadian interests — not the political interests of foreigners or their Canadian puppets,” said Marshall. “Let’s have a national discussion about this — but foreigner billionaires and their local lobbyists should butt out.”

Some of the foreign backed anti-oilsands groups highlighted in the ads include:

• The West Coast Environmental Law Foundation
• Corporate Ethics International
• Pembina Environmental Foundation
• Environmental Defence Canada
• Ecojustice Canada Society

“This ad campaign is 100% Canadian, paid for through grassroots donations by Canadians only,” noted Marshall. “We’ll never take money to undermine our country’s national interest.”"

via Atlas Shrugs

Occupy protester who stabbed police with scissors New Year's Eve has rap sheet with narcotics, burglary and parole violation in California

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1/2/12, "Scissors-wielding OWS protester charged with felony assault on cop," NY Post, Italiano, Auer

"A Berkley, CA-based Occupy Wall Street protester has been charged with felony assault for allegedly stabbing a cop in the hand with a pair of scissors as a crowd tried to retake Zuccotti Park on New Years Eve.

Officers had originally moved in to arrest Zachary Miller, 28, after watching him push a police barrier into a marked NYPD van, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Officer Christopher Vega was cut in the right hand by scissors as he arrested the struggling protester, causing him "substantial pain," according to the complaint. Vega also bruised both knees and suffered a back injury, according to a police source.

Miller already has Zuccotti-related disorderly conduct arrests from October and November, plus a

• record of narcotics, parole violation and burglary arrests in California,
  

the source said. For the New Years Eve arrest, Miller was additionally charged with weapons possession, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest.

• He was released on $500 bail."

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"What confounds me is Rick Moran's position of power and influence at AmericanThinker.com, a site that otherwise seems to have its head on straight."

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Explaining how a person named Rick Moran earned a dubious 2011 blog award. Were Moran normally featured at Daily Kos rather than American Thinker there would have been no need for the award.

12/31/11, "Presenting: the 2011 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners! #fab50," Doug Ross @ Journal

Among 50 awards was this:

"The Douglas C. Neidermeyer Award for defending America against right-wing Visigoths:" Rick Moran (The link at Mr. Moran's name takes you to the post that explains the award followed by 10 comments. Comment #9 mentions American Thinker, posted below).

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5/7/2011, "Rick Moran: Keystone Word-Cop," Doug Ross @ Journal

"Rick Moran, proprietor of Right Wing Nuthouse, seems to have designated himself the righteous Ayatollah of diction for the conservative blogosphere. How else to explain this screed, which devotes numerous paragraphs to demonizing moi, your lovable, centrist narrator? ....For a man who prides himself on verbal precision, Moran slings invective with the best of any "right wing Visigoth". But that said, Moran seems to have been in suspended animation since the thirties, when the Democrats launched their first major attack on the Constitution with Wickard v. Filburn."...

-------------------

Among comments to above post about Rick Moran is one wondering how Moran holds so much power at American Thinker:

"At 9:29 AM , Anonymous said...

What confounds me is Moran's position of power and influence at AmericanThinker.com, a site that otherwise seems to have its head on straight.

Moran (it should be spelled Moron) is a stealth apologist for-, and enabler of, those who are actively trying to destroy our great country and system (and who seem to be succeeding).

• He does so by trivializing their sins and ridiculing their critics.

What drives Moran? Read enough of his stuff and you'll see that he and Obama appear to be, among other things, brothers in narcissism."

----------------------

Ed. note: I also can't imagine why his name ever appears at American Thinker or anyplace for that matter (with the exception of Daily Kos as a commenter mentioned).
I visit AT less frequently since they continue at this late date to feature his poison prominently.


via Instapundit

Occupy Wall St. member stabbed police officer in the hand with scissors New Year's Eve

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Update: 1/2/12, Occupy protester who stabbed officer with scissors New Year's Eve has arrest record in California for narcotics, burglary, and parole violation: "Scissors-wielding OWS protester charged with felony assault on cop," NY Post, Italiano, Auer

"One officer was stabbed in the hand with a pair of scissors." Occupy protesters surrounded the ambulance carrying the officer to the hospital so it could not move.

1/1/12, "OWS mob in clash with cops," NY Post, Conley and Fagen

"Some 800 Occupy Wall Street protesters surrounded the ambulance as it tried to leave with the wounded officer, the source said.

The officer, who was not identified, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.

Shortly before midnight OWS protesters took to Twitter to proclaim their assault on Zuccotti — from which they were booted by cops in November.

“Barricades being torn down at liberty [Zuccotti] park,” they wrote. “Happy new years!!”

They later tweeted: “Big crowd at liberty square. We have taken back the park.”

Some 100 cops initially responded to the scene, including mounted police to maintain crowd control.

At one point, some of the protestors surrounded the circle of cops, before reinforcements were called in.

Police in riot gear started to attempt to clear the park at about 1:30 a.m. today."

---------------------------

12/14/11, "In many places the homeless have joined the (Occupy) encampments. That is a beginning. But it’s not enough. To fully realize an ethic of inclusion, the poorest and most benighted Americans should become part of our protest movement."...(2nd parag.)

"A Proud, Angry Poor," The Nation, Frances Fox Piven, Jan. 2, 2012 edition of The Nation

via RedState twitter column

Occupy protesters seek meeting with Democrat National Committee Chair Wasserman Schultz-AP

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1/1/2012, "Occupy protests seek meeting with Dem official," AP, GlobeGazette, Des Moines

"Occupy Des Moines demonstrators want to meet with the Democratic National Committee chairwoman before the Iowa caucuses get started.

A couple dozen Occupy protesters took a letter on Sunday to a downtown Des Moines hotel where the Democratic National Committee has set up operations.

The protesters say they want to meet with chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Monday to talk about putting the majority of Americans at the top of the party's agenda.

An Iowa Democratic party official said Wasserman Schultz wasn't in Des Moines on Sunday. National committee spokesman Michael Czin (zihn)

• picked up the letter and said he would be back in touch with the Occupy protesters.

The Iowa caucuses are being held Tuesday."

via Lucianne

Virginia third graders indoctrinated with Occupy sing-along

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12/31/11, "Virginia Elementary School Indoctrinating Third-Graders With Occupy Sing-Along: “They Want More Money, They’re The 1%. . . I’m Happy To Be Part Of The 99%”…," Weasel Zippers

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