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<p>The military’s top uniformed leader decided on his own to phone an extremist Florida pastor linked to an inflammatory anti-Islamic online video, the Pentagon said Thursday – no one else asked him to do so.</p> <p>Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey called Florida pastor Terry Jones on Wednesday to ask him to withdraw his support for the video that some reports have linked with anti-American unrest in the Muslim world, a spokesman said.</p>

The influential head of Google, Eric Schmidt, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns. Cheap miniature versions of the unmanned aircraft used by militaries could fall into the wrong hands, he told the UK's Guardian newspaper. Quarrelling neighbours, he suggested, might end up buzzing each other with private surveillance drones. He also warned of the risk of terrorists using the new technology. Mr Schmidt is believed to have close relations with US President Barack Obama, whom he advises on matters of science and technology. "You're having a dispute with your neighbour," he...

Google was the third largest source of Obama’s campaign cash. A number of Google executives took jobs within Obama Inc and Google’s PAC has plowed large amounts of money into the Democratic Party. Google’s creepy ex-CEO Eric Schmidt was a major Obama donor and campaign advisor, and was even considered for a Cabinet post. Schmidt was on Obama’s transition board and is a member of his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Google avoided about $2 billion in global income taxes last year by shifting $9.8 billion in revenue into a Bermuda shell company, Bloomberg reported. That level is almost double the total from three years ago, Bloomberg said, citing a Nov. 21 regulatory filing by a Google subsidiary in the Netherlands. And it allowed Google to cut its overall tax rate almost in half. Google's action -- moving about 80 percent of its total pretax profit from 2011 to tax-free Bermuda -- isn't illegal. On the contrary, many companies have taken similar steps in recent years to avoid paying steep taxes....

Why did an Obama advisor’s company release the unknown homemade anti Muslim movie to the world? The 6 month old homemade film went unnoticed until it was given worldwide release on Google. The corporation that released the film is Google. headed by Obama advisor and DNC donor Eric Schmidt : Schmidt was a campaign advisor and major donor to Barack Obama, and when he announced he was leaving that perch, he planned to remain at the forefront of Google’s government relations team. Obama has even considered him for Commerce Secretary.[29] Schmidt was an informal advisor to the Obama presidential campaign...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and billionaire co-founder Larry Page have teamed up with "Avatar" director James Cameron and other investors to back an ambitious space exploration and natural resources venture, details of which will be unveiled next week. The fledgling company, called Planetary Resources, will be unveiled at a Tuesday news conference at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, according to a press release issued this week. Aside from naming some of the company's high-profile backers, the press release disclosed tantalizingly few details, saying only that the company will combine the sectors of "space exploration...

Some are deriding Nicolas Berggruen and other wealthy reform advocates for jumping into the initiative fray with plans for fixing California's tax system, schools and other services. This editorial board has long been leery of initiatives, and we certainly understand why many are angry about wealth disparities that have grown wider since the recession. Yet Californians shouldn't reflexively reject a reform measure because its backers are wealthy. Instead, we should welcome the energy behind any and all efforts to fix California's governance and finances, and recognize that any change in the status quo will require not only strong grass-roots support,...

Billionaires, Insiders Plan To Place $10-Billion Tax Hike On 2012 California Ballot Acting as the Think Long Committee, they want to change the tax system to increase money for public schools and universities and for local governments. By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times November 20, 2011 Reporting from Sacramento— Joining the battle over California taxes, a group of billionaires and political insiders say they will place a $10-billion tax increase on the November 2012 ballot. The Think Long Committee, which includes Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, former governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad, says its...

With the budget impasse about to result in a government shutdown, the federal government has just hours to finish up its highest priorities in the discretionary-spending world. Would that be paying the troops? Staffing Social Security support centers? Prosecuting criminals in federal court? Not exactly, as the Washington Post discovered this morning. The Department of Justice will spend its remaining budget today trying to expedite approval of a deal involving one of Barack Obama’s most significant supporters and one of his informal presidential advisers: With a government shutdown looming, the Justice Department is hurrying to approve a controversial deal by...

The White House has released the list of tech leaders meeting with President Obama this evening in San Francisco: • John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers • Carol Bartz, President and CEO, Yahoo! • John Chambers, CEO and Chairman, Cisco Systems • Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter • Larry Ellison, Co-Founder and CEO, Oracle • Reed Hastings, CEO, NetFlix • John Hennessy, President, Stanford University • Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO, Apple • Art Levinson, Chairman and former CEO, Genentech • Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google • Steve Westly, Managing Partner and Founder, The Westly Group • Mark...

We're fans of Eric Schmidt and blown away by what Google has accomplished under his watch, and there's nothing embarrassing about getting fired. But let's be serious: Eric got fired. Starting with Eric's bizarre and self-serving tweet--"day-to-day adult supervision is no longer needed"--through his carefully worded blog post that screamed "friction at the top," through his patronizing remarks about how he thinks Larry Page is finally "ready" to be CEO, it seemed clear that Eric got shoved out the door. Specifically, it seemed that far from adult supervision no longer being needed, Eric's opinions were no longer wanted. And, sure,...

Communists, Socialists, Marxists, Maoists and Islamics are in the US Government. They all believe in a government that’s opposed to the US Constitution and, thus, the America our founders created. They want America to give up its sovereignty and to become a member of a one-world socialist government. For simplicity, let’s call them all “commies”. We began researching Obama and other commies in US Government and Media about 18 months ago and were shocked. Here’s the high-level overview of what we learned, which is chronicled in great detail at CommieBlaster.com: - America has been at war with communism for over...

Eric Schmidt: If you don't like Street View, move house By Shane Richmond Internet Last updated: October 26th, 2010 What is Eric Schmidt going to say next? As I wrote this morning, Google’s CEO has developed a reputation for inflammatory statements about the search engine and privacy. The latest, made on an American talk show, was the suggestion that anyone who doesn’t like their house appearing in photographs on Google Street View “can just move”. It was edited out of the final programme by CNN and Schmidt did follow his remark with a laugh so he was probably joking. Probably....

Google CEO Eric Schmidt really has a knack for expressing relatively benign ideas in a way that makes him and his company look incredibly creepy... " With your permission, you give us more information about you, about your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches. We don't need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about. "

Eric Schmidt suggested that young people should be entitled to change their identity to escape their misspent youth, which is now recorded in excruciating detail on social networking sites such as Facebook. "I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time," Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal. In an interview Mr Schmidt said he believed that every young person will one day be allowed to change their name to distance themselves from embarrasssing photographs and material stored on their friends' social media sites. The 55-year-old also predicted that in...

Trevor Loudon Obama File #109 JournoList was an email group of up to 400 prominent U.S. journalists, academics and “new media” activists, who reportedly colluded in the run up to the 2008, to influence public opinion in favor of the Barack Obama and the Democrats and against their Republican opponents. Many “JournoListas” were involved with Marxist based based organizations such as Democratic Socialists of America, or the far left Institute for Policy Studies. Some, like Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect, had close ties to the Obama campaign and Administration. An overlapping group of “JournoListas” , at least eight strong...

GOOGLE FRANKENSTEIN: MACHINES TO CHOOSE YOUR NEWS Mon Apr 12 2010 08:15:34 ET GOOGLE CEO and Obama political activist Eric Schmidt declared this weekend that his machines will help decide what news you receive! News sites should use technology to PREDICT what a user wants to read by what they have already read, Schmidt told the AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWS EDITORS, where a few humans still remained in the audience. "We're all in this together." MORE Schmidt said he doesn't want 'to be treated as a stranger' when reading online. He envisions a future where technology for news editing could...

What was that we were hearing a few days ago from Google about the importance of free speech, protection from tyranny, etc.? We take it that this moral crusade doesn't include support for a free press. "An attorney for Google and YouTube indicated today that the Web giants may call a prominent tech reporter to the witness stand in an effort to reveal who leaked the journalist confidential documents from the ongoing Viacom and Premier League copyright cases." the enormously public stance and actions Google is taking right now to protest censorship and government control over the media in China,...

Schmidt, once a big Obama supporter, seems to be worried about what the Democrats are up to. Eric Schmidt has been on Twitter for about a month, and he's yet to take a real liking to it. He's only blasted out eight tweets. So, on the rare occasion that he does send out an update to his 20,993 followers, we like to see what he's talking about. Today he sent out two tweets, one a link to the Op-Ed column from Ross Douthat at the NYT, another to a story that Douthat cited. Douthat's column deals with America's rise through...

Google CEO: Secrets Are for Filthy People Eric Schmidt suggests you alter your scandalous behavior before you complain about his company invading your privacy. That's what the Google CEO told Maria Bartiromo during CNBC's big Google special last night, an extraordinary pronouncement for such a secretive guy. The generous explanation for Schmidt's statement is that he's revolutionized his thinking since 2005, when he blacklisted CNET for publishing info about him gleaned from Google searches, including salary, neighborhood, hobbies and political donations. In that case, the married CEO must not mind all the coverage of his various reputed girlfriends; it's...

The map, which demonstrates the devastating effects of global warming in just a century, shows how San Francisco Airport would be completely underwater if sea levels were to rise by ...60in. The coastline on the map was also coloured, highlighting how nearly half a million Californians are at risk from rising sea levels. The map, named CalAdapt, which was revealed at a press conference on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay by Mr Schwarzenegger and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, was created as part of a plan for the state to adapt to global warming. 'Within a century, Treasure Island, this...

Since 2006, many observers have scratched their head over what prompted Google to pay $1.65 billion for the video site YouTube. We're now a little closer to the answer. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in May, "I believe YouTube was worth somewhere around $600 million to $700 million."(Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET) The blockbuster acquisition for the 18-month-old start-up played a large role in sending valuations in the tech sector skyrocketing. Although YouTube made little revenue, the all-stock transaction gave Google control of a company many believed would change the face of mass entertainment. It also led to criticism from skeptics who...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nZG_Uk6dcs

Apple on Monday announced that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, is resigning from Apple’s board of directors. Schmidt has been on Apple’s board since 2006. In a tersely worded statement issued by the company on Monday morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted Schmidt’s departure, while lauding Schmidt’s contribution on Apple’s board. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have...

Obama's Billionaires Claire Obusan President-elect Barack Obama has had a slew of billionaire backers with him on his journey to the White House--plutocrats who provide economic and political advice and help to raise money. Lots of money. Obama's Billionaire Buddies Obama's national finance chairwoman during his presidential campaign was Penny Pritzker, one of 11 members of the famous Chicago family that appear on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans (combined net worth as of September: $21.6 billion). As of Nov. 24, 2008, Obama's campaign had raised a record-breaking $742 million during the election, according to the Center for...

The celebrated openness of the Internet -- network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic -- is quietly losing powerful defenders. Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers. At risk is a principle known as network neutrality: Cable and phone companies that operate the data pipelines are supposed to treat all traffic...

Google's CEO is *still* funding Obama, even after the election. What does he expect in return?

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In a speech Tuesday at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., Google CEO Eric Schmidt called for an innovation bailout, a bold government-funded effort to create jobs by rebooting America's energy infrastructure, and a reformation that restores trust in government by using technology to increase openness and civic participation. "This may be the toughest economic time that most of us will face in our lifetimes," said Schmidt, who also serves as chairman of the board for the New America Foundation and as a member of President-elect Barack Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board. Nonetheless, Schmidt proclaimed his optimism. "I'm an...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Analysts who follow Google Inc. cut their estimates for the Internet giant's fourth-quarter financial results Wednesday, as the company's shares dipped below the $300 mark for the first time in more than three years

Google Inc. chief executive officer Eric Schmidt won’t take a technology post in President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet, according to news reports. Reuters reported that Schmidt declined such a post. Obama said during his campaign for the presidency that he would create a cabinet post similar to a chief technology officer to advise on tech issues. Schmidt, a strong supporter of Obama, was seen by some watchers as likely to be tapped for that post. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is based in Mountain View, Calif. Last week, Obama picked Julius Genachowski, who has links to Ask.com parent IAC/InterActiveCorp and to New Resource...

Citing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s technological savvy and technology policies, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt expressed his support for the Illinois senator yesterday at the Law School. Schmidt and Obama’s technology advisor Julius Genachowski made a stop in Charlottesville yesterday in an effort to garner support for the presidential candidate and his technology policies. The pair spoke on a wide variety of issues from income disparity to using the Internet as a means for civic engagement, but the primary focus was Obama’s technology policies.

This week is turning out pretty good for Barack Obama in terms of endorsements. First, Colin Powell. Next, Google. Well, actually, Google the search engine didn’t endorse Barack Obama. But Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, is going out on the stump for the Democratic nominee. No surprise His support shouldn’t come as any surprise to political observers. Schmidt has been an informal advisor to Obama for months and is an active supporter of Democratic candidates. The company itself remains neutral. “Eric is actively campaigning for Barack Obama because he believes that it is time for a change in America. In addition,...

As a long time employee at a very large software company, this news gave me more than pause. PEOPLE MUST know about the dangerous territory into which Obama will lead this nation. I can't imagine what I'd do if my company started working for the government. But it could happen, especially if the economy tanks to such an extent that only a deal with the devil will ensure survival AND especially since Obama plans to increasingly involve areas of the private sector in government, for government. So the main - but largely ignored - news is that Google's CEO, Eric...

Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency.

It’s bad enough that most media outlets are falling over silly for Obama, but now it seems Google has joined the fast moving train of Obama supporters. Initially, I didn’t believe the reports that the Obama campaign was intentionally shutting down blogs because these blogs were questioning the validity of Obama’s birth certificate. That was until I received an email from Dr. Mitchell Langbert last night, a blogger and Professor at Brooklyn College, who advised that Google had placed a temporary hold on future posts at his website.

NET NEUTRALITY (sic) "This is how poisonous it's gotten in Washington," says consulting lobbyist for a broadcast network. "You have Republicans taking money from companies and firms working to end their control of Congress, and even worse, working with outfits like MoveOn.org. And they are taking this money to not only help groups dedicated to defeating Republicans, but also for legislation that would regulate the Internet." The highest profile Republican among those the lobbyist is referring to is Vin Weber, former House member and close ally to both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Americans for Tax Reform leader Grover...

BEIJING: China's Internet start-ups are primed to keep growing, nourished by plentiful capital and a huge pool of engineering talent, leaders of top U.S. Web companies said Tuesday. Top China executives from Google and Microsoft Corp. said Chinese Internet companies were undergoing the sort of development enjoyed by their U.S. rivals in the 1990s. "For many Chinese young people and young students, they have a very strong desire for innovation, for being successful, for starting their own businesses," Kai-Fu Lee, vice president of Google Inc. and president of Google Greater China, told participants in an industry conference in Beijing. While...

The fun thing about having lots of money is you can buy as many toys as you want. Over at Google it's a veritable playground. A company controlled by Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt, with the strange name of H211 LLC, has an agreement to land four jets at Moffett Field, according to documents released to The New York Times after the paper filed a Freedom of Information Act request. Moffett Field, which is operated by NASA Ames Research Center, is very close to Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. So, in addition to the...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google Inc.’s stock price sailed past $600 for the first time Monday, extending a monthlong rally propelled by the lofty expectations surrounding the Internet search leader’s upcoming third-quarter earnings report. The Mountain View-based company’s shares traded as high as $610.26 before slipping back to $609.62, a gain of $15.57, or 2.6 percent. It marked the sixth time in the past 12 trading sessions that the stock has reached a new peak, indicating investors are confident Google’s third-quarter profit will be impressive. The results are scheduled to be released Oct. 18. The latest milestone served as yet...

Given that most of Google's $13 billion in revenue comes from clicks on ads, you would think the words "click fraud" would inspire fear in Shuman Ghosemajumder, the company's senior product manager and resident click-fraud czar. But the problem--publishers who inflate pay-per-click ad fees with automatic clicking software--doesn't fluster Ghosemajumder or other Googlers. In March 2006, as the company faced a class-action lawsuit from online advertisers for damages from fraudulent clicks, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt dismissed click fraud as "immaterial." Even after paying a $90 million settlement, Google has maintained its "everything-is-just-fine" answer to click-fraud worrywarts. Not all outsiders...

SAN FRANCISCO: In the annals of perks enjoyed by American corporate executives, the founders of Google may have set a new standard: an un-crowded, federally-managed runway for their private jet that is as close as can be to being in the company's own backyard. It is a perk that is likely to turn other Silicon Valley tycoons green with envy, but one that may not sit well with a community that generally considers itself proud to have Google in its midst.

There's some buzz moving around the blogosphere that speculates on whether the left-leaning ideology behind one of the most popular search sites on the Internet may be tainting their ability to provide unbiased results through the Google News search engine and through the actual Google Web search. There's been speculation about this issue in the past, but it all started up again when the popular conservative blog Little Green Footballs claimed that it was booted due to its political content. With the Little Green Footballs blog, it turned out that there were actually some duplicate content issues at play, but...

When Dolly Parton speaks people listen. At least that's what opponents to an upcoming Federal Communications Commission vote on opening up "white space" spectrum hope. Earlier this week, country western star Dolly Parton sent a letter to the FCC asking the agency to delay its vote to open up the unused spectrum for unlicensed use. "As someone who uses the white spaces and knows the value of them for the work that I and many of my friends around the country, I ask the FCC to recognize the entertainment industry's valuable contribution to the cultural life," Parton wrote in her...

There is no better illustration of Google's corporate immorality and avarice for personal, private information than Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt's latest announcement about where he wants to take the company. He told journalists in London the company's goal is to maximize the personal information it holds on you. "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'" I don't know about you, but I don't want any private or public entity to have that kind of private, personal information about me....

Excerpt - CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. said Tuesday that Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt is joining its board, adding another well-known name to the list of high-profile directors who oversee the management of the company behind the iPod portable player and Macintosh computer. Schmidt has become a multibillionaire and emerged as one of high technology's best-known leaders since Google named him chief executive in 2002. He becomes the eighth member of Apple's board, which already consists of several prominent members. ~ snip ~