eeyore's News and View

"Unafraid" of Internet, China appears to block YouTube
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is not afraid of the Internet, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, even as access to the popular video sharing site YouTube appeared to be blocked.
YouTube has unavailable for users in China, which filters the Internet for content critical of Communist Party rule, since late on Monday.
"Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
Qin said China's 300 million Internet users and 100 million blogs showed that "China's internet is open enough, but also needs to be regulated by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security."
He said he did not know about YouTube being blocked.
Access to YouTube had been spotty earlier in March, the one-year anniversary of widespread protests by Tibetans against Chinese rule.
An Internet crackdown that began in January has closed hundreds of Chinese sites, including a popular blog hosting site and several sites popular with Tibetans.
It has been described by analysts as another step in the Party's battle to stifle dissent in a year of sensitive anniversaries, including the 20th anniversary of the government's bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE52N1VN20090324

Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops?
They're private security guards, already on patrol, but they may soon have the powers of Chicago Police officers.
As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the private security officers now on patrol on the city's Far South Side are expected to have their powers expanded as part of a citywide ordinance now being prepared.
But officials are questioning whether this means public safety is being outsourced.
Mayor Richard M. Daley has already privatized many city functions. The Chicago Skyway has been leased to a Spanish conglomerate. Midway Airport is run by a Canadian company. The parking meters were sold to a firm run by Morgan Stanley, and as a result, the cost of parking in the city has skyrocketed.
But the question is whether another foreign firm providing cops on patrol may be privatization gone too far.
A single squad car, marked "special patrol," cruises up and down a small commercial strip on far south Michigan Avenue tonight. Its patrol area is between 100th and 116th streets, and area merchants have their doubts.
"As good as they may be, I don't think they probably have all the training that a policeman would have," said business owner Howard Bolling.
But the security guards are not supposed to replace Chicago Police officers, according to the alderman writing the ordinance. He said the enforcement powers of the private security group would remain highly limited.
"No traffic violations such as moving violations – such as moving violations. Small things – illegally parked, blocking the parking," said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th).
That wasn't exactly what Mayor Daley thought when he was asked about it on Saturday. He said the security force would have the power to enforce "moving violations and citations including loitering, littering and graffiti."
This means they're still working on it. But Beale was asked what would happen when they security officers tried to detain someone who didn't want to be detained and didn't respect their authority as they would a police officer's.
"Next thing you know, guns are drawn, and you have a real problem," Levine posited.
Replied Beale: "I'm not going to say what the future may hold. We can all predict unforeseen situations."
Mayor Daley said the city would benefit from the extra patrols.
"It's not a bad idea. You maybe have to refine it, but it's not a bad idea," the mayor said.
With Chicago Police stretched so thin, just having a few extra cars and extra uniforms is comforting to some people. The J. Carolina Hosiery store, for example, was robbed 14 times in the last year.
"The stores are being robbed, and then they're getting extorted, and you have the little gangbangers running in and out of stores trying to rob people," said store supervisor Larry McCullough.
Since the private security patrols arrived, the robberies have continued, "but it's slowing down, because it seems like more of the stores have to have their own guns and their own security."
In addition to the Fraternal Order of Police being against it, experts tell CBS 2 that asking private security guards to conduct police functions is dangerous, and potentially fatal, with most security guards paid much less and receive less training. Chicago's Police Supt. Jody Weis calls it all a work in progress.
"Let's be creative," Weis said. "If we can have police officers focusing on higher priority cases, it's worth talking about."
CBS 2 wanted to ask the Toronto-based firm which was the lowest bidder for contracts in the 9th and 10th wards about the background and training of its officers. Also in question was is how much experience the Canadian company has with the inner city problems which make the Roseland community a challenge for even the most streetwise Chicago Police professionals. The firm has not yet returned calls.
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/police.private.security.2.966243.html

Certain areas of economy swelling with jobs
There is life — and work — in parts of the economy, from health care workers to hard hats.
A handful of states and big industries have added jobs at a remarkably healthy rate throughout the recession, providing hope for job seekers in a tough economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
About 4.4 million people got new jobs in January, and 3 million more openings were available, BLS data show. Those numbers are down sharply from the start of the recession in December 2007 and weren't enough to offset the 4.9 million people who lost or quit their jobs in January. But the jobs data do show some bright spots — expanding industries that promise new, stable career opportunities.
"There are no nurses looking for work," says Mary McNamara of the American Nurses Association. The big problem: finding nursing professors to train new nurses to meet heavy demand.
Where the jobs are:
•Health care. Every part of the $2.5 trillion industry is growing. Hiring has continued non-stop at hospital, out-patient clinics and physician offices. Nearly every job is in demand: nurses, lab technicians, physician assistants.
•Government. The federal workforce has been growing at a faster rate than local governments' labor pool, but cities, counties and school districts are adding a greater number of jobs because they employ 15 million workers — seven times as many as the federal government. Fastest job growth: education, police, firefighting and blue-collar jobs connected to infrastructure such as roads. Slowest growth: administrative work.
• Energy. Oil, gas, coal and electricity production keeps adding jobs, although the pace has slowed since energy prices declined last year. Sewer and water utilities are growing, too.
"Government and service jobs are the big places to get jobs today," says John Connaughton, director of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Economic Forecast. Service jobs include health care and education, he says.
During the recession, the unemployment rate has risen in every state. However, a few states have rates so low that they are near full employment: Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, South Dakota and North Dakota. "We've got plenty of jobs," says Michael Ziesch, research analyst at Jobs Service North Dakota, the state's employment agency. Firms are hiring in all parts of the state and in nearly every industry.
The state's online job database has more than 10,000 job vacancies posted. "That's a lot for a small state like North Dakota," Ziesch says. The database is getting heavy use from out-of-state job seekers, he says.
The aging population makes more nursing jobs a sure thing, says Cheryl Peterson, director of nursing practice at the American Nurses Association. "There will be jobs in 2015. No question."
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2009-03-23-jobs_N.htm

NKorea reasserts right to satellite launch
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea warned the United States, Japan and their allies not to interfere with its plan to launch a satellite into space next month, saying Tuesday any intervention could doom already stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has declared its intention to send a communications satellite into space between April 4 and 8. Regional powers suspect the North will use the launch to test its long-range missile technology, and has warned Pyongyang the launch would trigger international sanctions.
A 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibits North Korea from engaging in ballistic activity, which Washington and its allies say includes firing a long-range missile or using a rocket to send a satellite into space.
On Tuesday, the North's Foreign Ministry reasserted its right to peaceful development of its space program.
"The countries which find fault with (North Korea's) satellite launch including the U.S. and Japan launched satellites before it," said the statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. The stance proves their "their hostility toward us," it said.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that South Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Wi Sung-lac said his country is working on contingency plans in case Pyongyang goes ahead with the rocket launch.
"As the clock ticks, we are placing more weight on countermeasures after a launch," he was quoted by Yonhap as saying on Tuesday.
The North also warned that any sanctions would violate the spirit of a disarmament pact Pyongyang signed in 2005 with five other nations: China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S.
Under the deal, the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. In 2007, the country agreed on the initial disarmament steps—disabling its main nuclear facilities in return for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other benefits.
The disarmament process, however, has been stalled since last year over a disagreement with Washington over how to verify the North's past atomic activities.
The statement warned that sanctions would "deprive the six-party talks of any ground to exist or their meaning."
The North also said it would not abandon its nuclear weapons and had no choice but to strengthen its forces in the face of such hostility. The statement didn't elaborate.
"As the clock ticks, we are placing more weight on countermeasures after a launch," he was quoted by Yonhap as saying before he left for Beijing on Tuesday.
Regional powers are looking to China, North Korea's biggest benefactor and longtime communist ally, to help calm tensions in the region and persuade the North to return to the negotiating table. Both China's president and premier have urged North Korea to come back to the talks in recent days.
Tensions have been running high on the divided Korean peninsula since a pro-U.S., conservative government took office in Seoul one year ago with a tougher policy on Pyongyang. The North cut off ties with South Korea, halted key joint projects and significantly restricted border traffic.
The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops to deter aggression from North Korea, which is still technically at war with South Korea since their 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D974CNC00&show_article=1

Here is an companion article to one above (excerpt)
North Korea warns against UN action on rocket
...
South Korea, Japan and the United States have all said they want to press sanctions against the North for a launch and see no difference between a satellite launch and a missile launch because they use the same rocket — called the Taepodong-2.
"ACT OF WAR"
Japan may deploy two Aegis-equipped destroyers, capable of shooting down missiles, to waters between North Korea and Japan, Japanese media have said. The United States also has naval ships deployed in Asia that can intercept missiles.
North Korea has said shooting down the rocket would be an act of war.
Japan’s foreign minister said it would be difficult to intercept debris falling from the rocket.
"Our country has not done this before. We don’t know how or where it will fly," Hirofumi Nakasone told reporters
...
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/North+Korea+warns+against+action+rocket/1422038/story.html
Rep. Frank calls Scalia a 'homophobe' in interview
Mar 23, 7:04 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com.
The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to decide whether the Constitution allows the federal government to deny recognition to same-sex marriages.
"I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court," said Frank. The video of the interview is available online.
Frank's office did not respond to a request Monday to expand on his remark. Scalia also had no comment.
Scalia dissented from the court's ruling in 2003 that struck down state laws banning consensual sodomy. He has complained about judges, rather than elected officials, deciding questions of morality about which the Constitution is silent.
Controversial topics like gay rights and abortion should not be in the hands of judges, he has said, calling on people to persuade their legislatures or amend the Constitution.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090323/D9741AQ81.html