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Link only - Tea party activists seeing red over Delaware's green initiatives

Grass-roots activists organizing boycotts against large corporations like Target stores and BP now find themselves directing some of their ire at another corporate monolith: Facebook. The boycotters turned to the popular social media site to spread word about their pressure campaigns, but those efforts became much more difficult last week when Facebook disabled key features on the boycott pages. As the number of Facebook members signed up for the “Boycott Target Until They Cease Funding Anti-Gay Politics” page neared 78,000, Facebook locked down portions of the page — banning new discussion threads, preventing members from posting videos and links to...

Record spending on judicial elections around the country has prompted calls for changes from a broad array of advocates, including moderate conservatives such as retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But a report issued Thursday by a small conservative group active in judicial elections alleges that the efforts to change such elections amount to a campaign to bolster liberals, with backing from financier and philanthropist George Soros. The report from the American Justice Partnership alleges that Soros has spent millions on "a highly coordinated, well-funded campaign" to "fundamentally alter the composition of America's state courts." Some advocacy groups say...

TOKYO – A Japanese court on Monday convicted two members of the environmental group Greenpeace of stealing whale meat they claim was intended for illegal consumption. The Aomori District Court gave suspended sentences to the activists after finding them guilty of stealing 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of whale meat from a delivery service company's warehouse in April 2008. The meat came from whales killed during Japan's government-backed research hunts.

Tea party groups converged on a remote section of the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday to show support for Arizona's controversial immigration law and hear from more than a dozen conservative speakers, many of them candidates running for office in crowded Republican primaries. Several speaking to the crowd of more than 400 demanded Congress and President Barack Obama devote more resources to increase border security in remote areas like the site of Sunday's demonstration southeast of Tucson. "We are going to force them to do it, because if they don't, we will not stop screaming," said former state Sen. Pam Gorman,...

If there are tensions between urban police departments and the African-American community, this kind of stuff won’t help one bit. An Indianapolis police officer was invited to give a presentation at a youth symposium where organizers staged a fight to see how the [white] officer would react. Full story...

The Washington Post reported yesterday on the frustration and anger among international AIDS charities with the White House. The groups argue that President Obama’s administration has reneged on pledges to fund antiretroviral therapy programs. The programs have been big successes in Africa, which faces epidemic levels of infection. “In sub-Saharan Africa, antiretroviral therapy, much of it paid for by the U.S. government, is resurrecting whole communities,” the Post reports. That progress is endangered, the charities say, by a shortage of funds. They now long for the good old days of ... the previous administration.

Activists disable some London BP petrol stations LONDON (Reuters) - Protesters from environmental group Greenpeace disabled some of BP's 50 petrol stations in central London on Tuesday in protest at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Greenpeace said its activists had managed to close down 47 service stations in the capital. BP confirmed 30 had been forced to close temporarily. The company branded the demonstrations an "act of vandalism" and said it would reopen the sites as soon as it was safe to do so. The protests coincided with BP's second-quarter results where the oil company reported a $17 billion...

For The Record - The IPT Blog "Arab Journalists Come Out in Support of Israeli Flotilla Actions" by IPT News • Jun 29, 2010 at 6:01 pm SNIPPET: "Journalists in the Arab world have come out in support of Israel in the aftermath of last month's flotilla incident, which left 9 dead after Hamas-tied "humanitarian activists" attacked Israeli commandos with clubs, knives, and other weapons. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released excerpts from an interview with Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian-American writer, aired on June 15 on Al-Jazeera TV. Khalil explains: "The Turkish ship, however, was organized by a...

Iran blinks, will not send "aid ship" to Gaza SNIPPET: "IRNA said that Sheikholeslam told reporters in the northern city of Rasht that the ship had originally been scheduled to depart for Gaza on Thursday, but that its departure was postponed until Sunday because of restrictions imposed by Israel. He added that officials then decided instead to cancel the trip altogether, shipping to Gaza the goods by other means, IRNA said."

(CNSNews.com) – At an event celebrating Gay Pride Month on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged State Department employees to let teenagers know homosexuality is okay. “We’ve come such a far distance in our own country, but there are still so many who need the outreach, need the mentoring, need the support to stand up and be who they are and then think about people in so many countries where it just seems impossible,” Clinton said. “So I think that each and everyone of you, not only professionally, particularly from State and USAID and every bureau and every embassy...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Hundreds of protesters condemning Israel's recent raid on an international flotilla bound for Gaza are picketing at the Port of Oakland, where an Israeli ship is due to arrive. The demonstrators gathered Sunday to prevent the incoming ship from being unloaded. The dock's day shift of longshoremen agreed to not cross the picket line. Meanwhile Sunday, Israel said it will immediately allow all goods into Gaza except weapons and items deemed to have a military use under its decision to ease its three-year-old blockade of the Palestinian territory. Israeli officials had decided last week to ease the...

SNIPPET: "OTTAWA — The May 18 firebombing of an Ottawa bank was feared to be just the start of a "domestic terrorism" campaign launched by three anarchists bent on acts of destruction at the G20 summit in Toronto, with one of the accused firebombers stockpiling boxes of ammunition and gunpowder, the Ottawa Citizen has learned." SNIPPET: "Ottawa Police Chief Vern White had publicly branded those who attacked the bank branch as terrorists days after the firebombing, which was filmed and posted online in a "catch-me-if-you-can" video by a group called FFFC-Ottawa. The acronym stands for Fight for Freedom Coalition, according...

"As Pro-Palestinian Flotilla Activists Gather in NYC, Jewish Group Urges State Dept. to Probe Links to Terrorism" Thursday, June 17, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Tensions in the Middle East over the recent Gaza flotilla incident could surface in New York City on Thursday evening, when a pro-Palestinian group hosts flotilla activists at a public meeting Jewish activists have tried to thwart. An organization called Al-Awda (The Palestine Right to Return Coalition) is holding a meeting in a Brooklyn church featuring a leading official in IHH, the controversial Turkish organization behind the attempt to break Israel’s...

SNIPPET: "The Turkish group IHH announced Wednesday that it will send another flotilla to Gaza comprised of six ships during the second half of July. On the same day, Israel added IHH to its terrorist watch list." SNIPPET: "An IHH press conference was held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, organized by Richard Howitt, a British member of the Parliament. During the conference, Howitt encouraged the EU to back the new flotilla initiative, stating: "If this terrible (May 31) tragedy tips the balance so that the international community finally insists on full and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, then some...

During Israel's takeover of a Turkish ship in the Gaza-bound aid flotilla this week, some passengers tried to take captive three commandos who lost consciousness as a result of the activists' blows, according to early findings of a navy investigation. The three were dragged into one of the passenger halls below deck and were held there for several minutes. After dozens of other commandos began searching the ship, the Mavi Marmara, the three soldiers regained consciousness and managed to join their comrades.

Monday, May 31, 2010 [Video]Close Up Footage of Mavi Marmara Passengers Attacking IDF Soldiers Close-Up Footage of Mavi Marmara Passengers Attacking IDF Soldiers www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWoMay 31, 2010 — Video taken by IDF naval boat shows the passengers of the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the 'Free Gaza' Flotilla, violently attacking IDF soldiers who were trying to board the ship after having sent repeated requests for the boat to change course. Large groups of passengers surrounded soldiers and beat them with metal poles and chairs, and threw one soldier over the side of the ship. Some passengers grabbed pistols from...

WASHINGTON – In Kentucky, the Republican Senate candidate stumbles over a question on racial segregation. In Connecticut, the party's hopes rest on an executive who banked millions on female wrestlers in skimpy outfits. In Nevada, one contender wants to phase out Social Security and another suggests trading chickens for medical care. Welcome to the 2010 battle for the Senate. It's midway through President Barack Obama's term, and high unemployment, an outbreak of anti-incumbent fever and political history are pointing to strong Republican gains in the fall. Yet to a degree unimaginable a few months ago, the party's fate is tied...

The once mighty community activist group ACORN announced Monday it is folding amid falling revenues -- six months after video footage emerged showing some of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. "It's really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need," ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said. Several of its largest affiliates, including ACORN New York and ACORN California, broke away this year and changed their names in a bid to ditch the...

This doesn’t balance out ObamaCare for conservatives, but it eases the pain a little: The once mighty community activist group ACORN announced Monday it is folding amid falling revenues — six months after video footage emerged showing some of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. Well, at least they’re willing to accept responsibility. Oops. “It’s really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives