Teen Had Showed Up At His House With Friends, Allegedly To Attack His Son.

The magic of Disney meets the magical isle of Jamaica, as Walt Disney Records readies an album of classic Disney songs newly recorded by a cross-section of top reggae musicians. The Disney Reggae Club features songs from immortal Disney animated films - from The Little Mermaid to Jungle Book - recorded by such esteemed artistes as Grammy-winning reggae legend Toots (of Toots and the Maytals fame), five-time Grammy winner Ziggy Marley, reggae's most prolific and long-lasting production team Sly and Robbie, multiple-Grammy winner Cedella Marley, Grammy winner Burning Spear, legendary British band UB40 and Hasidic rapper Matisyahu. The album is set to arrive in stores and at online retailers on June 8.

"The genius of Disney songs is that they are timeless and adaptable to every musical genre," said executive producer Brian Malouf. "Reggae is so joyous and spirited, we knew these songs would lend themselves perfectly.

I'm happy to say the artistes, many of them true legends of reggae, all jumped at the chance to participate."

Artistes and tracks included on the album are:

1. Circle of Life (from The Lion King) performed by Matisyahu

2. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (from The Lion King) performed by Cedella Marley

3. The Bare Necessities (from The Jungle Book) performed by Steel Pulse

4. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Desmond Dekker's reggae classic also featured in The Lion King) performed by Morgan Heritage

5. What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong classic) performed by Ziggy Marley

6. True to Your Heart (from Mulan) performed by The Wailing Souls

7. You've Got a Friend in Me (from Toy Story) performed by Sly and Robbie

8. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (from Song of the South) performed by Toots

9. I Wan'na Be Like You (from The Jungle Book) performed by UB40

10. Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat (from The Aristocats) performed by Michael G and the Easy Star All-Stars

11. Kiss The Girl (from The Little Mermaid) performed by Burning Spear

12. Under The Sea (from The Little Mermaid) performed by Gregory Isaacs

13. Find Yourself (from Cars) performed by Yellowman

Former prime minister Lester Bird is among
seven members of the main opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) found
guilty of contravening sections of the Public Order Act.

Senior Magistrate Ivan Walter fined the seven EC$1,500 (US$555) each. The Magistrate told Bird, parliamentarians Gaston Browne and Molwyn Joseph, ALP secretary Mary-Claire Hurst, Vere
Bird Jnr, Sharon Kentish, and Jim Galloway that they pay two-thirds of
the amount, EC$1,000 (US$370) by Thursday or serve a nine-month prison
term

Browne, who is also Chairman of the opposition party, said an appeal would be filed against the ruling.

We are not appealing because of the dollar amount, but our appeal is based on principle," he said. "This matter goes to the heart of the principle of freedom of speech. We will appeal, and we
will get justice, he added.

Buju Banton - Contributed

An act of kindness by Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton while being detained in the Pinellas County Jail in Florida has resulted in him being confined in the maximum security wing of the penal institution and has contributed to him losing around 40 pounds, according to his lawyer David Markus.

That's the claim included in an eight-page bond application filed to the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, on Sunday by Markus.

The court will hear Markus' emergency application for bond on Friday. Markus said he hopes to have Buju returned to the non-maximum security unit or have him transferred to immigration custody.

Buju and two alleged co-conspirators have been in custody in the United States since last December when they were charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine and aiding and abetting the carrying of a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime.

SHARED A MEAL

The lanky Rastafarian, who is a vegetarian, reportedly shared a meal with a fellow inmate, which is a violation, and was sent to the maximum security wing for at least 30 days. Markus said he was made aware of the situation on March 18.

Since being transferred, Markus said Buju, born Mark Myrie, has been unable to prepare his own meals and "has not been provided with a diet in accordance with his religious views".

In the bond application, Markus also intimated that his client might be the victim of personal attacks by the warders.

"Mr Myrie has been moved from floor to floor in the jail without explanation and treated differently than the other inmates. The decision to place Mr Myrie in a maximum security wing weeks before his upcoming trial suggests that something else is going on," said Markus in his application, which included a footnote naming a corporal "who has had it out for Mr Myrie during his entire stay".

The attorney added that the violation was a minor one not fitting the punishment and that "in sum, Mr Myrie is now in a maximum security wing for caring enough to offer food to another inmate who was hungry and genuinely believing there was nothing wrong in doing so".

DEFICIENCIES

Food and nutrition consultant Dr Heather Little-White said if Buju were not getting his desired meal, he could be losing an average of two pounds per week. This would result in his "mental frame not being as strong and he would become physically weak".

"He would also have deficiencies in vitamins and minerals and would need to be examined by a doctor. Until proven guilty, his likes and dislikes should be taken into account," said Little-White.

Markus said Buju's transfer to maximum security has been affecting his client mentally and physically and, by extension, the legal team's preparation for the start of his trial on April 19.

"For example, this week when counsel attempted to visit Mr Myrie, counsel was required to wait over two hours until he could see Mr Myrie," he stated in his application.

In a radio interview yesterday, Markus said the delay was a ploy to derail his team from winning the trial but that he was "optimistic and we are going to fight this".

Buju's arrest in Florida in December came at the tail end of a troublesome year, which included a number of cancelled concerts in the USA brought on by gay rights groups and an out-of-court settlement with former common-law wife Lorna Strachan after she filed a suit in the Supreme Court against him.

- LeVaughn Flynn

Buju Banton - Contributed

White Supremacist Group Calling For Boycott Of Movie 'Thor' Because A Black Actor, Idris Elba From 'The Wire' Has Been Cast As Heimdall

Were days away from the year 2011, yet ignorance and hate based on a persons skin color still exists.

A white supremacist group upset that actor Idris Elba, a black man has been cast as Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie, wants it boycotted reports UK Guardian.

The Council of Conservative Citizens, which opposes interracial marriage and also calls Martin Luther King a "left wing agitator" and Communist has set up a website, boycott-thor.com.

They accuse Marvel Comics of inserting social engineering into Greek mythology, casting a black man as a Norse deity. The group also claims the comic giant used Captain America to attack the Tea Party movement, in 2010.

Elba, an English actor who is quite familiar to American fans after starring in The Wire, Obsessed, and American Gangster, thinks the controversy is ridiculous.

We all know someone of a different ethnic background, we all mix, so its great to have a character who happens to be black in the central position, the actor said earlier this year. There has been a big debate about it, can a black man play a Nordic character. Thors mythical right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. Thats ok, but the color of my skin is a problem?

A year after a Sunday Observer investigation exposed dancehall music-laced sexual behaviour among high school students on some passenger buses plying routes in Kingston and St Catherine, a new and equally disturbing practice has taken root on some of those buses.

Conductors have confessed to the Sunday Observer that the new craze is all-inclusive parties, labelled Happy Fridays and Happy Mondays; and they feature heavy consumption of alcohol and energy drinks by students who skip classes to indulge in the revelry from which adults are excluded.

We have party bus where we have real party. On a Friday we have Happy Friday, and if we feel the vibes we all have Happy Mondays, a gleeful conductor on one of the so-called hot buses which operates within the Portmore and Spanish Town areas told this reporter.

The conductor, who asked not to be named for fear of being ostracised by his colleagues, explained that students would contribute money in advance, which the bus crew would use to purchase cakes and alcoholic drinks for the bus party.

When the Sunday Observer spoke with three policemen assigned to the Spanish Town Traffic Department, they were all surprised by the Happy Fridays development, especially after stating that there has been great improvement in the behaviour of bus crew and schoolchildren over the past year.

However, after a few phone calls, one of the policemen received confirmation of the conductors story from a female student.

This is the first time I am hearing about it, said the cop, who wished to remain anonymous. What I will now have to do is pass this information by my superintendent so that we can deal with the matter.

One of his colleagues, though, was not surprised.

If they have no draws Thursdays, then they will have Happy Fridays, yes! You think these school children easy? he asked. I have not personally heard of it (Happy Fridays) before, but its not strange.

Loud, graphic and x-rated dancehall music is the preference of the students, and the bus crew are only too happy to oblige because of the money the parties earn them.

Speaking on condition that his identity be withheld, another conductor working a route in Portmore, St Catherine admitted that parties have been held on the buses on which he worked.

However, he denied that high school students were served liquor on his bus. Alcohol, he said, is reserved for the bigger students from community colleges, the driver and conductor.

We cant give [high school students] liquor. You want them go inna school drunk or go home drunk? No sah, the conductor said, adding that the high school students are served a popular energy drink.

However, the Sunday Observer probe has uncovered that a range of energy drinks, rums and stouts are also among the popular drinks served on the party buses.

The bus parties appear to have surfaced after the Sunday Observers October 2009 report on the practice of lapping up (girls sitting in boys laps) and other sexual behaviour among high school students, as well as between female students and conductors. The story prompted an intense clampdown by the police traffic department on buses carrying schoolchildren.

Buses were stripped of their heavy window tints, others were seized, loud and lewd music prohibited, and fines were levied on offending bus operators.

The police received high praise for their efforts and for a while it seemed as if they were being rewarded with what appeared to be compliance among bus operators. Students also seemed to have fallen in line.

However, the bus parties, according to some conductors, began last year and are more prevalent on the buses plying the Naggo Head to Spanish Town route.

Taking off tints cyaan stop we, one of the conductors bragged. We just do we ting.

In addition to indulging in the bus parties, the Sunday Observer also found that some students opt to take what they term a spin absconding from classes and staying on a bus while it makes round trips. Some students even stay on the buses for the entire day, one conductor revealed.

Some children will pay mi all $1,000 and stay on the bus for the entire day, the conductor on a hugely popular bus plying the Portmore route told the Sunday Observer. Or some will do more than one spin, but they have to pay for each one.

He said students from just about all the high schools in Portmore are guilty of the practice.

The allure of the music and the vibes inside the buses are the main attractions, he said.

One of the policemen from Spanish Town with whom the Sunday Observer spoke said he was aware of students staying on the buses, as some, after leaving school at 12:30 pm, plant themselves on a bus until the evening shift ended at 5:30 pm.

According to a security guard stationed outside the gates of one high school in Spanish Town, he sometimes has to pull students from the buses as they prepare to spin rather than go to school.

You think dem easy? he said to this reporter. You hear the music? A dat dem want! Sometimes mi haffi literally drag dem out of the bus when the bus reach here so.

The lyrics spilling from the lips of many students as they stepped from the buses at the schools gate one Tuesday morning left two adults waiting at the bus stop at the entrance to the school shaking their heads in disgust. Three male staff members were at the gate busily trying to get the children into the schoolyard as soon as they disembarked the buses in an effort to prevent loitering. A security guard blocked the entrance, searching some students and ensuring that their uniforms conformed to school rules.

At times, the music coming from the buses could be heard in the distance, but for the most part was turned down or turned off abruptly as the buses pulled up at the school gate.

Jeesam! Dem yah pickney yah nuh easy. Listen to the song dat deh little bwoy a sing, said one woman. As discovered in our investigation last year, dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel was still the deejay of choice, and his recording Dumpa Truck was now the new schoolers anthem.

With pride, the boy chanted the lyrics of what is termed the raw version of the Kartel recording:

Set good like di ice inna freezer

What a p.... tight it a squeeze like a tweeza,

Baby oil mek di f... more easier,

If you p.... lucky mi will get back mi visa

The lewd music is obviously not the only lure for students as lapping up, though not as common as in 2009, is still being practised.

One conductor, who claimed his bus was among those identified as one of the hot buses in the October 2009 Sunday Observer report, said lapping up still happened among schoolchildren, but was in no way sexual.

It dont have nothing to do with sex; nobody not having sex on our buses, is just the vibes, he declared.

He said that lapping up was due to two main factors many buses refused to carry schoolchildren because of the reduced fares they were forced by law to accept from students, and because the bus crew had to meet the daily revenue targets set by their bosses.

As the Sunday Observer watched students being packed into a minibus at the gate of a high school in Portmore, the ease with which one female student hopped onto the lap of the conductor (the only person left in the bus without someone in his lap) made it appear a natural act for her.

You see because nuff bus nah carry them, we lap them up and charge them $40 each. Normally is $50 for schoolers and $80 for big people so when we lap them up we still get back the adult fare for one seat, said the conductor.

He said, too, that while the small minibuses are licensed to carry 15 persons, when they lap-up, they can accommodate up to 45 passengers. In the end, they make more money than if the bus carried 15 adults.

The Sunday Observer investigation also found that contrary to our original belief that the practice of lapping-up was taking place only among the evening shift students who leave school at 5:30 pm, it was also happening during school peak hours, from as early as 6:30 am.

One of the Spanish Town Police Traffic Department cops said, however, that improvements have been made since last October when pictures appeared in the Sunday Observer showing schoolchildren from a high school in that town refusing to board buses that were not heavily tinted and that did not offer blaring, lewd music. This school, he pointed out, has been one of the trouble spots.

I have not been seeing buses with tints, students behaving badly nor hearing the loud music on these buses anymore, the policeman said. But I wouldnt be able to say if they turn down the music when they are passing the station or when they get into the town.

Singer Rihanna's racy X Factor performance, during which she undressed on stage and gyrated provocatively, has left many in the black community disgusted.

Millions watched in disbelief as the singer cheekily pulled aside her dress on the popular family show to reveal the crotch of her beaded Union Jack-inspired bikini outfit, before a male model ripped off the dress.

Performing her most current single, What's My Name? to a reggae beat, Rihanna, 22, gyrated and booty-popped her way to rapturous applause and a standing ovation. Judge Simon Cowell was left grinning from ear to ear.

But the Bajan beauty's Caribbean flavour proved too spicy for some who were shocked by her barely-there costume, which left little to the imagination.

Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook erupted as the controversy divided the black community over whether it was a great performance or one that dropped to new lows.

British comedienne and actress Angie Le Mar said: "I am glad this is being discussed. The idea of selling sex to sell music is going too far. It's not just Rihanna, but Lady Gaga and many more.

"Rihanna is so beautiful, she doesn't have to work that hard.

"Being sexy is not the issue. The problem I have is the sexual tone to her lyrics. Young girls love her and listen to her lyrics and think it is ok. Is that all we are now? When young girls who feel they have to act out her lyrics, find themselves in trouble, then what?"

Others hailed the performance as one of the best on The X Factor, and a video of the sexually-charged routine has had millions of views on YouTube in just a few days.

One enthusiastic viewer, Ejerome55, said: 'She was in good form. The dance might look suggestive to people who are not from the Caribbean but let me tell you that you have not seen anything yet. Come to Barbados and see the gals wukking up. You go RiRi.'

But Angela Birch, director of Creating Solutions UK, who works with young people to help them fulfil their potential and tackles issues such as teen pregnancy and attitudes to sex, was appalled by what she saw and dismissed the idea that it was a part of black culture.

The young people's champion said she was left even more red-faced when her eight-year-old stepson, confused by the sexy display, asked: "Why is she doing that?"

She said: "This is not what our culture is about. This would not be acceptable behaviour on a family show in the Caribbean. For anyone who is dismissive about this and says this type of dancing is a part of our culture, then it is a part of our culture we must change.

"The sexualisation of children is a real problem. Young girls can no longer distinguish between what is acceptable for the workplace or classroom and what should be worn in a club or at a party over a certain age. It might make them attractive to young men in the short term, but we still hear those old stereotypes from boys in sessions that girls who dress like that aren't 'wifey' material."

Minutes after it aired, ITV was inundated with calls accusing the channel of letting down its younger fans by not toning down the show, which also included an equally raunchy performance by Burlesque star Christina Aguilera.

Television watchdog Ofcom has since received more than a thousand complaints and are considering whether to launch a full-scale investigation into whether The X Factor broke a broadcasting code to protect children from sexualised content.

Be the role models

Labour politician Dawn Butler, former MP for Brent South, said: "In the face of real issues such as high teen pregnancy rates, I think we have to be mindful of what goes out on TV and at what time. As parents and adults, we have to make sure we are the role models our young people look up to - not celebrities."

Education campaigner Paul Phoenix, who fights for equality in schools, said: "In the year 2010 when black boys are still under-achieving, I cannot believe this much uproar has come from a cheeky bit of bottom. Rihanna is not the first, or the worst, to perform in next to nothing. I'm sure Kylie and Madonna are guilty of the same thing."

Will Gramps, an established reggae crooner who has performed at sold out stadiums around the world, trade his career in music for an opportunity to play pro ball? If Gramps has his way, he could be suiting up for a team and a shot at a championship for the 2011 season. Apparently the singer who grew up playing high school football in Springfield, Massachusetts with his parents and 29 other siblings will try out for Semi Pro American football teams in Georgia and Orlando.

I actually started training about six months ago but I have not gone full steam as yet as I will have to increase my strength to get in football condition he told the Weekly Star. The big question fans will no doubt want answered is how will his football schedule impact his music career? It wont at all he declared. I will schedule my solo projects so it will be a non issue. In fact I plan to get back in the studios soon, for the next Morgan Heritage album. He confessed that the urge to get back on the football field started when he went in the gym to lose weight a few months ago.

As we reported yesterday, 2 burglars broke into 50 Cent's Connecticut Mansion and were caught hiding in the closet drinking wine.

Barcelona's new arrival Ibrahim Afellay admitted to a few nerves at joining such an illustrious club after jetting into Spain to sign a four-and-a-half year contract.

The Dutchman arrived at the Camp Nou on Thursday to complete his move from PSV Eindhoven and was immediately struck by the size of the step up he is about to take.

"It's very special to be here, I'm very happy,'' he said. "I'm a little nervous, but that's okay. I'm at the best club in the world, an awesome club, and I'm enjoying the moment.''

The 24-year-old, who came through the ranks at PSV, added: "I still have not fully realised everything I have got here. I just arrived, it's my first day in town, and I think it may take a while to sink in.

"This is a big dream. All players want to play for Barca. Any player will tell the world he wants to play here, where we practice the best football in the world.''

Barca have paid a fee reported to be around 3 million euros for Afellay, who is expected to wear the No.20 shirt, in a deal that was agreed back in November.

Source: ESPN Soccernet

by Sir Ronald Sanders
(The Writer is a Consultant and former Caribbean diplomat)

As the sun began to set on the closing days of 2010, Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), the airline owned by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, has been the major headline story in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a story that has serious implications for the operations of Air Jamaica and, once again, makes a regional airline an elusive ambition.

There has been a very public squabble between the Minister of Transport and powerhouse, Jack Warner, and the newly appointed Board of Directors of CAL. The squabble is a turf war over who makes decisions for the airline. Warner has proclaimed that either he or the Board must go and that the government must make a choice.

At issue is whether the new Board of Directors had the authority to re-evaluate a major decision, which had been made by the airlines CEO in the absence of a Board of Directors after the old one had resigned, to purchase a dozen turboprop aircraft to replace and expand its fleet which services the Trinidad to Tobago air bridge. The CEO, Ian Brunton, sought and received Cabinet approval to proceed with the transaction which had not been finalized by the time the new Board was appointed although a good faith deposit had been paid to the aircraft manufacturer.

Enter, then, the new Board which took the view that the decision to spend a quarter of a billion US dollars should await its overall review of the airlines strategic plan to ensure that the aircraft chosen and the number ordered were compatible with the plan.

The public squabbling became so frenzied that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the Attorney General have imposed a time out on the issue in an effort to find a solution.

This summation of the power struggle over CAL sets the scene for the troubling reason for this Commentary which is: what are the implications for Air Jamaica and the notion of a single Caribbean-owned airline?

The CAL Board of Directors in a Press Release on December 12 raised the possibility that CAL might not proceed with its acquisition of Air Jamaica.

This represents a huge change on the part of Brunton, the CEO, who in a newspaper article on November 11 reaffirmed his support for CALs acquisition of Air Jamaica and went further to say that it was part of CALs mandate to have one Caribbean airline which included LIAT, the carrier owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Brunton is no longer the CEO. Dismissed by the Board, he is collateral damage in the ongoing turf war and is seeking his own redress.

After the May 24 general election that swept in the new, coalition government, the Minister of Finance, Winston Dookeran, appointed a Cabinet sub-committee to assess the Air Jamaica acquisition which had been concluded on April 30, 2010 and was in effect for an interim period of one year.

The Reports analysis, conclusions and recommendations were not made public but were apparently accepted by Cabinet as defining a way forward for CAL including the Air Jamaica acquisition.

Thus, while in Jamaica in early July for a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Conference, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar discussed the Air Jamaica acquisition directly with Bruce Golding, her Jamaican counterpart, and declared that: When you put the pros and the cons together, the bottom line from our review is that it would be advantageous to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to honour the agreement. and continued in every business venture there are risks, but we did the risk analysis and the bottom line is we decided to go ahead with the deal..

The Jamaican government assumed all the liabilities of the airline and CAL assumed the financial risk of the continuing Air Jamaica operations from May 1, 2010, receiving any excess of revenue over expenses or covering any shortfall.

This first stage was to last for a year until April 30, 2011- to give CAL the opportunity to plan for the second permanent stage which is the full integration of the Air Jamaica operations into its system at which time it would formally assume ownership of the Air Jamaica assets required for those operations, be designated as a Jamaican national airline, and have the right to the use of the Air Jamaica brand.

As part of the overall arrangement the Government of Trinidad and Tobago was to invest US$50 million in new equity capital into CAL to fund the transition and integration, and the Government of Jamaica was to receive a 16% equity interest in the new CAL with the right to appoint one member to its Board of Directors.

Until April 30, 2011, CAL has the right to terminate this arrangement on minimal notice at its option with no apparent penalty.

After the publicly declared July go-ahead from Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, the integration of the two airlines appeared to be proceeding smoothly: joint ground operations at Toronto and Fort Lauderdale, a new joint ticket office in Jamaica, direct flights on CAL aircraft from Kingston to Toronto all as expected: numerous small, visible incremental steps with more going on behind the scenes.

In public, the CAL CEO talked up the Air Jamaica acquisition and its prospects for a future that would see CAL grow by further such acquisitions, including that of LIAT, into the Caribbean Regional Airline for the entire CARICOM Caribbean.

So, what has transpired between the Persad-Bissessar announcement in Jamaica on July 8 that she was very happy to announce that we are going to be partners, definitely when it comes to Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines and the suggestion by the CAL CEO to the new CAL Board
on November 11 that that it should not complete the Air Jamaica transaction?

The government of Jamaica and Air Jamaica have been proceeding on the basis of the written agreement with the Trinidad and Tobago government and the public declaration of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar who personally made the commitment to a partnership between Air Jamaica and CAL.

Her personal credibility has been thrust on the line in this matter, and she should not let this year close without urgently ending the doubts and concerns over Air Jamaica and the prospects for a regional airline created by the struggle for power over CAL.

In order to control the internet and do so without much notice, the FCC has rolled a censorship plan into its Net Neutrality scheme. Under the fallacious rubric of 'consumer protection,' the FCC is calling for the regulation of television and internet broadband.

Kelly William Cobb, writing for Americans for Tax Reform, says 'the FCC would begin regulating Internet access for the first time under a completely new regulatory scheme (even though they lack the authority to create it). Meanwhile, the FCC would push regulations - cloaked in the heart-warming language of competition and innovation - mandating that your cable box (known as a set-top box) become a 'broadband gateway device' controlling access to your Internet, TV, and phone. The FCC has already started looking at set-top box regulations in their National Broadband Plan.'

On top of this, it would open the door for the FCC to begin monitoring or censoring content on the Internet (in addition to your TV), something Free Press and other progressives, as well as the White House regulatory czar advocate. The Songwriters Guild of America has a great op-ed on why government censorship is entirely possible if the Internet becomes regulated. (Emphasis added.)

Under the FCCs regulatory control consumers would be forced to buy an Internet/TV/Phone connectivity box that the government approves. 'Everyone will pay rates for service that the government sets. And everything passing through your Internet, TV, or phone would become subject to the FCCs consistent regulatory whim,' writes Cobb.

The FCC has controlled television content for decades. If you want to know what the heavy hand of government will do to internet content think of the absurd Janet Jackson nipple incident and the governments response.

The government wants to make sure the flow of information is safe for consumption by the plebs. Broadcast and cable television do not offer an alternative to news and information provided by the corporate media. The FCC plan and government oversight of content would effectively kill off alternative news, information, and commentary.

If the FCC gets its way Obama will not need a 'kill switch'installed in the Oval Office. The internet will ultimately become a pale reflection of corporate-dominated television where there are hundreds of channels and nothing on - that is nothing that challenges the government and offers an alternative to the corporate media.

FROM http://www.infowars.com

The company said in a post that problems with the Skype networks supernodes are responsible and could take hours more to fix. Skype apologized to users. But the lesson is clear, as GigaOm noted. If you rely as a business on cloud-based communications tools, it pays to have a backup.

Skype spokesman PeterParkes said, Skype isnt a network like a conventional phone or IM network. It relies on millions of individual connections between computers and phones to keep things up and running. That is, Skype uses a peer-to-peer model in order to connect callers.

The supernodes are like phone directories for Skype, and a number of them failed today. As we speak, Skype isnt loading for me right now. Lots of people are affected. Skype accounts for 0.57 percent of all internet traffic. For the first six months of 2010, Skype logged 88.4 billion minutes of Skype-to-Skype calls.

Former Cash Money Artist Magnolia Shorty Gunned Down In A Hail Of Bullets was shot at least 26 times In New Orleans At Age 28

Not even the great stone love could have been spared the rath of the cops... they put an early closure to the Popular sound systems' 38th anniversary celebration last weekend in Portmore St Catherine.

Tiger Woods' brother, Earl Woods Jr., had some interesting things to say about the golfing superstar. Woods is the oldest of three children who came from the previous marriage of Tiger's now-deceased father.

Tiger's brother now publicly claims that Woods has cut the family off and that he hasn't spoken to him since 2006. Apparently, they spoke quite frequently when Tiger was younger.It seems that, according to Earl, the trappings of fame, entourages and piles of money may have detached Tiger from that which matters most: those who love us. At the same time, we can't say for sure what happened in Tiger's family that caused the division to occur in the first place.

Tiger's brother says that although they were invited to ride on Tiger's jet to their father's funeral, the golfer barely acknowledged them during the trip. One interesting thing about Tiger Woods is that he has long been notorious for cutting off those who've crossed him. Friends who spoke to the media about his personal life were gone forever, and Tiger has reportedly been quite ruthless in protecting his privacy. All that changed with the Internet, where privacy is no longer an option, when TMZ can fly a helicopter over the roof of your house.

Tiger learned this year that no matter how powerful the celeb might be, no one can have complete control over his destiny, public image and lifestyle. Another added point that gives credibility to Earl Woods Jr.'s side of the story is that Tiger has appeared to possess a bit of the narcissism that comes with being the greatest golfer in the history of the world.

A married man who has unprotected sex with porn stars (as Woods reportedly did) might be perceived to be a wee bit inconsiderate. There's no way to determine what personal nightmares Tiger's ex-wife Elin has experienced since finding out about her husband's secret life. Earl Woods Jr. didn't appear to be on a mission to bash his baby brother. Instead, he actually defended Tiger's public image, and made it clear that the man being portrayed in media is not the person his brother actually is. He also didn't seem to be chasing money, but then again, we don't know what his ambitions might be.

To be honest, if Earl Woods is having financial problems, it would be frustrating to be cut off by a brother earning over $100 million per year. I'm sure that every family member's financial problems could be solved with the spare change in Tiger's pocket.

To that extent, given the size of Woods' massive fortune, it would be expected that he would create a small fund (perhaps just a measly million bucks) to help with family financial problems -- a man should take care of the people who loved him before he became a big shot. During his interview with CNN, Earl made a final point that many of us speculated to be true in the first place.

Everybody ah look a hype off Teacha
Mi have rum sellin, cake soap selling
Popcaan and Shawn and Jahvinci career swellin
When we gonna stop?
Aint no tellin
Mi no have no visa but mi US account compelling
Me houses and mi lands are for my kids' dwellin
Me ah di Teacha so no expellin
If yu call mi di bleacha, mek sure yu have the right spelling
Mi life comfy like Dr. Scholls Gellin (laugh)
Oh Ahoe Heh heh eh eh hah ha
Ah Addi di yaadie, Stalin and Lenin
Lawd Jesus, a wey dweem???? (dead wid *la*hdc**t laughing)

Residents described the sound of gunshot and screams from a man who was injured as "hell". A woman who lives close by said the shooting was so intense that she thought her house was being fired upon.

Linton, on whose head a $250,000 bounty had been placed, was named along with five other men in connection with the early-morning horror.

Two of the men were reportedly held hours after the attack that drew condemnation from member of Parliament Joseph Hibbert in whose East Rural St Andrew constituency the mayhem was unleashed.

"It's really sad, especially that a child has been killed. I don't know that anybody can justify that type of behaviour," Hibbert said, while calling on the police to double efforts to apprehend the gunmen.

According to a police report, the incident occurred about 1:30 am when thugs, armed with high-powered weapons and handguns, attacked the hapless victims as they slept in a house in the Alley Four area.

After the killings, the men then firebombed the house, burning the bodies of the deceased persons beyond recognition, according to the police and family members. The five-room wood and concrete house was totally flattened, except for a portion of the concrete section.

The adult victims were identified as 31-year-old Dania Forbes and 49-year-old taxi operator Marnis Hylton.

One man was injured in the incident and hospitalised in serious condition.

Hylton is survived by a teenage daughter and Forbes died leaving a 12-year-old son.

"That brother don't deserve to die like that," said a woman, speaking to no one in particular. "He was a good man."

A grief-stricken relative, who did not wish to be identified for fear of reprisal, described Hylton as a "family man", who was a generous person and a "peacemaker".

Detectives yesterday speculated that reprisal was the motive for the attack that left the entire community in mourning.

Superintendent Derrick 'Cowboy' Knight, who heads the police division in which August Town is situated, told the Observer that the attacks may have been in retaliation to the shooting last week of a man in the area, who succumbed to his injuries on Saturday night. Knight said that the heavily armed men were in search of a man who had several weeks earlier fired upon Linton.

"Again, we are asking the public to assist us in finding 'Dog Paw', said Knight. "What happened [here] is clearly a testimony to his viciousness and callousness and how brazen this man is."

The 24-year-old Linton has been on the police most wanted list since earlier this year. Police say he is wanted for questioning in relation to several shootings and murders within the Tavern and August Town areas. But Linton, in a recent interview with the Observer, professed his innocence and said that he was apprehensive about surrendering to the police because he feared that he would be killed in a similar fashion to his brother who died in jail.

The others named by the police in relation to yesterday morning's grizzly attack are Yanik Lewis, otherwise called 'Slim Shady' of a Jungle 12 address; Micah Allen; 'Nesbeth', of a Tavern Drive address; a man known only as 'Carey', of a Kintyre address; and 'Burger' also of a Kintyre address.

Lewis and another man were held shortly after being named. The other men are being asked to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station this morning.

RAFA BENITEZ'S reign at Inter Milan is over - and all that remains is the arrangement of his pay-off.

The Italian giants have all but sacked the former Liverpool boss but they are trying to get rid of him without a penny in compensation.

The Spaniard is entitled to a year's salary - around £3.3million - which would be doubled once Inter pay tax. 

President Massimo Moratti has sought legal advice to see if Benitez's full-blasted attack on the club following their win in the World Club Championship final over Mazembe last Saturday would give Inter "just cause" to sack him.

It explains why Inter put out a statement tonight insisting Benitez was still the manager of the European champions.

Moratti was in Madrid at the start of the week sparking rumours of a meeting with Benitez's agent Manuel Garcia Quillon or even Jose Mourinho about a possible return, but the club insisted the president was on a business trip.

Former AC Milan chief Leonardo is hot favourite to be given the nod until the end of the season with an option of an extra season in charge.

Benitez attacked Moratti claiming he'd been promised three signings in the summer that never came and insisted Inter's poor results so far this season were down to the "lack of a project".

The Spaniard's 'back me or sack me' rant soured the celebrations for the World Club Championship and all but ended Benitez's association with the Italian giants.

Players are on holiday until December 29 but well-placed sources last night told SunSport that Benitez will not be the man to take training once the squad return.

Despite taking charge of an all-conquering side that achieved an historic Treble under Jose Mourinho last season, Benitez has completely failed to inspire the team to more success.

They are currently languishing seventh in Serie A - 13 points behind leaders AC Milan.

He will, however, be free to join Milan at their winter training base in Dubai before putting pen to paper.

It is understood that the deal put to Cassano will run until 2014, and is on reduced terms compared to what he was earning at Sampdoria.

The 28-year-old striker is desperate to leave the Genoa-based club, though, after suffering a falling-out with president Riccardo Garrone.

A row with the Samp supremo led to him being dropped from the first-team picture, forcing him to look for a New Year switch elsewhere.

League leaders Milan were quickly indentified as the frontrunners in the race for his signature and club president Silvio Berlusconi is delighted to have sealed a deal, even if Cassano's arrival does push Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho closer to the exits.

"Yes. We will be signing Cassano. I am also very happy with how the side are playing,'' Berlusconi confirmed to Adnkronos.

"It is a shame for Ronaldinho," he added. "At the moment, he has not been playing well or training as well as he can."

Milan's capture of Cassano will add further firepower to their already fearsome frontline, which includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Alexandre Pato.

Such strength does not bode well for their Serie A rivals, and Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has been quick to hail Milan's ambition in the transfer market.

He said: "Cassano is an excellent buy for Milan. I would give [Milan vice-president Adriano] Galliani 10 out of 10 because he is performing miracles.''

Source: Associated Press

(Exclusive audio/video slideshow interview with Christopher Dog Paw Linton)

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Some political parties in the Bahamas are calling for the return of hanging as the country's national murder rate broke its previous record.

The annual homicide rate in the Bahamas stood at 94 up to last weekend.

Tthe total figure in 2009 had been 87.

Although not on a level with some other Caribbean territories, some small Bahamian political parties are planning pro-hanging marches and motorcades.

Rodney Moncur, the President of the Workers Party, spoke on local station Love 97 and said that the protests would go into the new year until politicians "get the message".

	US warnings about Stanford started in 2006 in confidential memos

Stanford in Wikileaks

In the latest in the flood of classified information from the online whistle-blowing website Wikileaks comes word that American diplomats had been concerned about former Antiguan-based financier Allen Stanford since 2006.

A classified confidential despatch, obtained by Britain's Guardian newspaper quotes a despatch from the US Ambassador to Bridgetown, Barbados.

The May 2006 note by US Ambassador Mary Kramer is quoted by the paper as saying that Mr Stanford's "companies are rumoured to engage in bribery, money laundering, and political manipulation".

Embassy staff were advised "do not reach out to Stanford because of the allegations."

Mr Stanford was arrested in 2009 on fraud-related charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cuban appeal

Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega has called for the release of remaining political prisoners.

Speaking at a Christmas holiday concert on Monday night at Havana's cathedral, he said government should live up to its earlier promise, brokered with the Catholic church earlier this year.

23 of 75 political prisoners held seven years ago in a crackdown on dissidents remain in Cuban jails.

Others have been released and sent into exile in Spain during the year.

They were accused of working with the US to undermine the Castro government.

Caribbean-bound

Delays continued for flights in and out of British airports with more snow predicted in the UK.

A check by BBC Caribbean on British Airport Authority (BAA) websites indicates that some flights to the Caribbean were now scheduled to depart after a weekend of delays.

However, Virgin Atlantic reported that, due to earlier disruptions, some of its planes were now out of position and that it would take a few days to return to a normal schedule.

British Airways advised people to consider whether their flight was really essential.

THE Cayman Islands is to relax its visa requirements for Jamaicans travelling to the British territory in January.

The announcement was made Friday by Premier McKeeva Bush at the inaugural Northern Caribbean Conference on Economic Co-operation, hosted by Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) in the tiny island.

"Visa exemptions will be put in place for Jamaican Nationals who hold validated US, UK or Canadian visas," Bush said in his opening remarks.

The changes, he added, were being made to improve his country's business environment.

"I can now tell you that a new one to five-day business visa will be introduced for business travellers visiting for legitimate business purposes," he explained. "In these instances, the business visa will replace the need for these persons obtaining temporary work permits for short trips to attend meetings or conferences."

Friday's conference was attended by approximately 160 government and private sector representatives from across the sub-region and focused on issues relating to Jamaica, the Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who also addressed the conference, said the deliberations needed to focus on areas that offer opportunities that exist or can be created to ease the migration of skilled individuals.

"We have spent too much time struggling to compete with each other, instead of pooling our energies, and determining together, how we can compete with the rest of the world," Golding said.

"We have to make ourselves not just as good as the best, but slightly better, in order to attract investors," Golding added in reference to the competitive global environment.

Meanwhile, former Jamaican prime minister PJ Patterson lamented how Caribbean states had adopted what he described as some of the worst of the colonial practices.

"We have become or are becoming draconian in our trade and immigration practices (and) in some cases we are becoming more isolated linguistically," Patterson commented.

According to Patterson, sporadic attempts have been made to break the isolationist tendency, but none has been fully exploited. He, however, suggested that the attempts demonstrated an underlying desire to increase interaction and cooperation.

Also addressing the conference was JNBS General Manager Earl Jarrett, who urged regional leaders to take advantage of the "rich opportunities" that exist in the Northern Caribbean.

Video Inside.....

Prosecutors in Georgia say they have seized 700,000 tabs of Ecstasy and have charged a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent along with 13 others in what they say was a large-scale drug trafficking scheme.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Thursday authorities seized the Ecstasy worth more than $2.8 million at a house in Chamblee in northeast Atlanta.

Customs agent Devon Samuels is charged with laundering drug money, smuggling cash and attempting to bring weapons onto an aircraft.

Prosecutors say an officer posing as a money launderer gave the 45-year-old Samuels $22,000, which they say he smuggled to Jamaica.

Samuels is also charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud. Authorities say he was paid $900 to help a couple in a sham marriage deceive customs officials.