وانا میں کرفیو کے دوران سکیورٹی فورسز کی گاڑیوں پر حملے کے بعد لڑائی میں کئی ہلاکتوں کا خدشہ ہے۔

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Yesterday was primary day in Alaska. The biggest surprise was the narrowness of the Republican race between soon-to-be-indicted incumbent Don Young, thought by many to be the single most corrupt member of the U.S. House, and Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. With 429 of 438 precincts reporting the Anchorage Daily News shows Young ahead by a handful of votes.

Don Young… 42,461 (45%)
Sean Parnell… 42,316 (45%)
Gabrielle Ledoux… 8,589 (9%)

Most of the precincts that hadn’t reported election results as of midnight were from rural Alaska villages. Those are “typical Young strongholds,” Anderson said. But Parnell wasn’t convinced Young was going to clean up in the Bush, especially given many rural residents might choose to vote in Tuesday’s Democratic primary instead of Republican contest.

There are also the 16,000 absentee ballots the division of elections mailed out. It has received back 7,600 of them and Gail Fenumiai, director of the state division of elections, said she didn’t know how many of those have been counted. As long as the absentee ballots were postmarked Tuesday, the division will continue to count them for the next 10 days. Questioned ballots will be counted on Sept. 5.

…Parnell was helped by the fact that Young, Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House since 1973, spent more than a million dollars of his campaign contributions on legal fees. Young refuses to say exactly what his legal fees have been paying for, but the congressman is connected to several federal investigations. They include the wide-ranging federal probe into corruption in Alaska politics, which has focused on the fundraising practices of Veco Corp.

Although Parnell, supported by the far right extremist group, Club for Growth, would be a weak candidate in November, Democrats are hoping Young will win the primary because it would be impossible for him to win the general election in November because of the mounting corruption scandal. Independent voters play a huge role in Alaska electoral politics and Young is dead meat to them.

On the Democratic side, progressive Diane Benson was swamped by institutional and Establishment money that flooded in for Rahm Emanuel crony Ethan Berkowitz. He took 53% of the vote, having reported raising (as of June 30th) $628,605 to Benson’s $194,327.

On the Senate side, indicted incumbent Ted Stevens won his race against David Cuddy with a whopping 63% of the vote, showing the world exactly what Alaska Republicans are. Stevens will face Blue America-endorsed Mark Begich in November, who took 84% in his primary. Democrats were celebrating Stevens’ primary win, who will be facing the voters just a few weeks after his criminal trial.

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nowwearetalking

It's your call: do lunch by phone
The Age, Australia -5 hours ago
MOBILE phones can access the internet, play tunes — and now be used to pay for lunch. Using staff as guinea pigs, National Australia Bank, Telstra and Visa …
Phone payment system trialledInside Retailing
'Pay by phone' gets new meaning with Visa trialiTWire
all 7 news articles

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It leaked ages ago, but the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for your beloved Tilt is now ever so slightly more legit now that it’s made an official appearance on HTC’s support site. The big draws here are Video Share support, reconfigurability for the push-to-talk button, and all the other spoils that come with the WinMo 6.1 we know and love, tolerate, or hate, depending on your disposition.

[Via MobileBurn and WMExperts, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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There are 16 Republican extremists who have zero scores on the ProgressivePunch scale that measures the tough substantive votes in Congress. There are all people who would abandon the GOP in a second if the Nazi Party, or any other similar fascist entity, was viable. Nine are unreconstructed Confederates and the rest, from Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Barbara Cubin (R-WY) to Dan Burton (R-IN) and Steve King (R-IA) mostly suffer from various mental afflictions. One half a baby step up the evolutionary ladder– members who have voted like humans, out of hundreds and hundreds of votes, one time– are 19 more lunatic fringe wingnuts. Just over half are another lot of unreconstructed Confederates, from North Carolina GOP closet queen Patrick McHenry to the odious John Kline (R-MN) and the recently dumped (in a primary) David Davis (R-TN). But the kook we want to look at today, after some excellent news, is one of the most detestable of all Republican freshman, neo-fascist Tim Walberg, who represents a moderate district in south-central Michigan from battle Creek to the suburbs around Ann Arbor.

Blue America has endorsed state Senator Mark Schauer of Battle Creek in this race so we were doubled excited to read in today’s Detroit News that, according to the newest poll, he has caught up to Walberg. What makes this doubly dismal for Walberg is that he has been unable to keep up with the popular grassroots Schauer in the fundraising department and he has been up on TV with ads for 3 weeks. In the quarter ending on June 30, Schauer out-raised the incumbent for the fourth straight filing period, something that is extremely rare under the current fundraising system which completely favors incumbents. Most of Walberg’s money comes from far right fringe organizations and PAC but he has also gotten a tremendous amount of cash infusion from the industries whose special interests he’s always happy to support, no matter how at odds those interests are with ordinary Michigan working families. Walberg, for examples, wholeheartedly supports the kinds of anti-regulatory agenda that has precipitated the mortgage crisis, while taking $59,045 from the real estate industry, $40,850 from the Investment industry, and $19,450 from commercial banks. But what is probably damaging him most of all is a clear voting record of kissing up to Big Oil– allowing them to drive up gasoline and heating oil prices– while scarfing up $21,950 from Big Oil & Gas. Here he is making up some kind of crazy claim that we’re buying oil from the Chinese who are stealing it by drilling under Florida from Cuba, some kind of urban legend that Republican Senator Mel Martinez said Walberg has all wrong on. He also wants to allow his contributors at Big Oil to drill in Lake Michigan.

Walberg is so worried that he is joining half the Michigan congressional delegation in avoiding the GOP HateFest in St Paul. Reps. Joe Knollenberg, Dave Camp, Candice Miller and Thaddeus McCotter already announced they’re staying away from the McCain disaster and Walberg is planning to go for 2 cocktail parties filled with corporate donors to beg for money before scurrying back to Michigan. He was shocked yesterday when fellow Republican ex-legislator, Paul DeWeese, endorsed Schauer.

“The people of Mid-Michigan are ready for change, and Mark Schauer is exactly the kind of leader we need right now to make this state more competitive, The 7th district deserves a Congressman who will fight to fix our broken health care system, and Mark is the best man for the job.”

An emergency room physician, DeWeese is painfully aware how devastating the reactionary, anti-family health care policies Walberg is always pushing have been on Michigan families. He’s so disgusted that he actually resigned from the Republican Party.

The first time I spoke with DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen, he predicted that 2008 was going to be a banner for Democrats in Michigan. I think he had electing Mark Schauer uppermost in his mind. You can donate to Mark’s campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Walberg is also delusional.

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Speaker Pelosi was on Meet the Press this past weekend defending her vicious record on abortion.

REP. PELOSI: I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.

Of course, this is not true.
St. Augustine (354-430) condemned abortion because it breaks the connection between sex and procreation… In a disciplinary sense, the general agreement at this time was that abortion was a sin requiring penance if it was intended to conceal fornication and adultery.
But, the truth doesn’t matter to Speaker Pelosi.
…Just like voting to approve the gruesome partial birth abortion procedure does not matter to this Catholic in name only.

The Anchoress is all over Pelosi’s inconvenient truths:

If Pelosi wants to quote Augustine’s saying “three months,” as somehow authoritative - even if the church does not - how does she reconcile that with her abortion voting record, which upholds later term abortions, partial birth abortions, embryonic experimentation, etc, etc. She says “I personally think the answer is 16 weeks,”, but that’s just an opinion, like anyone else’s opinion, even mine - and if she believes the answer is 16 weeks, how can she possible vote in favor of, say, partial birth abortion?

Ace and American Papist have more on Pelosi’s efforts to confuse.

Catholic Republican Representativeswrote Pelosi a lettertoday attacking her for mangling Catholic doctrine. They are asking her “to correct the public record and affirm the Church’s actual and historical teaching that defends the sanctity of human life.”

It’s bad enough that the Speaker is rated 0% by the National Right to Life Association for her perfect record of supporting any and all types of abortions.
It’s another thing entierly that she lies about the church’s view on abortion.

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With its indie roots, online video site Jaman is a good fit for “established, but not megaplex-only” kind of studios like Lionsgate, and now the two are on best friends status. Based on the initial offerings, this looks like it could work out great for you internet video junkies out there — titles include “Dogville,” “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” “Gods and Monsters” and one of our all-time faves, “Reservoir Dogs.” Even if the picture quality isn’t Blu-ray and some titles are ad-supported, we’re happy to see more content being tossed (legally) around the interwebs, so we’ll be rolling up that task chair, and lending an ear to some “Reservoir Dogs.”

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The social networking site's hi5 Mobile service is aimed at …
InformationWeek, NY -1 hour ago
By KC Jones The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that the service, hi5 Mobile, is now available for mobile phones and other portable devices in 26 …

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This morning DavidNYC at Swing State Project revisited Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ determined campaign to undermine and sabotage the efforts of Miami-Dade Democrats to replace reactionary Republican extremist– and Wasserman Schultz crony– Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, with one of the most outstanding Democratic challengers running in this election cycle, Annette Taddeo, someone the corrupt Wasserman Schultz fears could stand in her way when she seeks higher office.

When Wasserman Schultz, co-chair of the DCCC’s less and less credible “Red to Blue” program, first announced her intention to work against the election of the 3 Democrats running against her right-wing buddies– Ros-Lehtinen plus the Diaz-Balart Brothers– in South Florida, she suckered and bribed a more respectable south Florida Democrat, Kendrick Meek, into her scheme. Since then, pressure from the Democratic Party and from the grassroots has forced Wasserman Schultz to distance herself from the unspeakable Diaz-Balarts– she has now allowed their opponents, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez, into the Red to Blue program and has even given token donations to their campaigns from her PAC– and she has been abandoned in her indefensible position by Meek who has endorsed all three candidates and donated to each as well.

In leaving Wasserman Schultz to steam in her own bile, Meek throws in with former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham, who sent an e-mail to every Democrat in FL-18 telling them that he’s “confident that Annette Taddeo represents exactly the kind of change that our country needs” and calling her “a tough, independent-minded Democrat who will fight for the American dream. She’ll also stand up for American values, like health care for children of working families.” He pointed out that Wasserman Schultz’ Republican candidate, Ros-Lehtinen “voted five times against expanding KidCare in Florida. That’s five votes that Ros-Lehtinen cast with President Bush– and against expanding health care for children, even though Florida is last in the country for children with health care coverage, and there are 250,000 uninsured children in South Florida alone.” One can only hope Wasserman Schultz got one of Gov. Graham’s e-mails as well. If she hasn’t, you can let her know what he and other Florida Democrats think by calling her office at 202-741-7154 or 202-225-7931 and telling her to come back to the Democratic Party– or at least resign from the DCCC Red to Blue program. 

If Wasserman Schultz backs away from her support of the extreme right (and extremely corrupt– like DWS herself– Ros-Lehtinen, she will be getting on board with Emily’s List, United Teachers Dade, the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, International Union of Painters and Allied Tradesman, Ironworkers Political Action League, Communications Workers of Americans, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Democracy for America, the two biggest netroots PACs (Blue America and Orange to Blue), as well as Democratic congressmembers who may be a little skeptical about DWS and his motives, nemesis Charlie Rangel and a growing posse of congressional Democrats sick to their stomachs over her corruption and worried that she will drag the Democratic Party down the same path that Tom DeLay dragged the GOP. Besides Meek and Senator Russ Feingold, solid progressives like Lucille Roybal-Allard, Xavier Becerra and close Pelosi ally Hilda Solis have endorsed Annette Taddeo and contributed to her campaign. Shamefully, most members of Congress will not contribute to Democrats who haven’t been endorsed by the Red to Blue program and Wasserman Schultz plans to keep Annette off that until it is too late to make a difference– the same way she managed to keep her off the stage at the Democratic National Convention today. Wasserman Schultz is on the verge of a nervous breakdown over her pigheaded unwillingness to back away from her support of Ros-Lehtinen.

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When we heard of Polk Audio’s Atrium Sat 30 and Sub 10, we can’t say we envisioned those two objects you see pictured above. Debuting at this year’s CEDIA, these two units combine to create a new outdoor speaker system “that adapts seamlessly into any exterior landscape.” The Sat 30 resembles an outdoor light fixture (or one of those “plants” on Honey, I Shrunk The Kids), while the Sub 10 was crafted to resemble a “plant stand or pedestal table.” Both devices are sealed from water and are hopelessly ugly in and of themselves, but if you’re looking for something to blend right into your flora, look no further. The pair will begin shipping in January 2009 for $179 (Sat 30) / $329 (Sub 10). Full release after the break.

Continue reading Polk Audio gets all outdoorsy on us with Atrium Sat 30 / Sub 10

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BBC News

Mobile phone crackdown on drivers
The Press Association -19 hours ago
Police across Scotland have launched a one-day crackdown on motorists driving while using hand-held mobile phones. They reminded drivers that they face a …
24-hour mobile phone blitzTeleText
Police crackdown on drivers using mobilesGlasgow Evening Times
Crackdown on drivers using their mobilesEdinburgh Evening News
all 18 news articles

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There aren’t too many audiophile firms that really take a whole-systems approach, but Naim has been at it for years. The firm is adding new models to its whole-home audio systems, but sadly for us, the pricing is pretty much the same — too expensive. New to the NaimNet music server lineup are the NS01 ($6,800), NS02 ($7,900) and the NS03 ($9,575). For your dollars, you get one-touch CD ripping, an easy-to-use UI, database information from AMG, support for six simultaneous streams and storage of your precious bits on mirrored 400GB drives. Oh yeah, and the system will offer up non-DRM’ed music files on your plebian networked or USB-attached devices, too. Having spent some time with Naim equipment, we’re not complaining about the functionality or build quality, but these prices make us consider Sonos, Slim Devices, Apple, or even sprinkling dedicated PCs throughout the house.

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The Indian brothers are not alone in their criticism. Prof. Peter Fader, co-director of the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative, told the Knowledge@Wharton online business journal that Hasbro’s move was an “incredibly bad business decision.” Scrabulous “has been such a fabulously good thing for the Scrabble franchise [that] Hasbro should have been celebrating. ” The Wharton online article notes that Scrabulous in 2007 had about 1.3 million monthly users and had 600,000 players each day. Not only is Hasbro making a big PR blunder by alienating and angering Scrabulous’s fans, but it’s also missing a great opportunity to harness the online game’s popularity, Prof. Fader added.

The Wharton article goes on to note that many companies are too quick to pursue infringers – especially in today’s Web 2.0 world where viral expansion can greatly help, not hurt, a brand. Hasbro clearly didn’t like another outfit capitalizing on the household name it spent years building. But nowadays having such enormous popularity associated with your brand – even if it’s not technically authorized — might not be such a bad thing after all.

Facebook decision to take down Scrabulous does have consequences for its own future. If Mark Zuckerburg does not learn to fight off challenges like the Hasbro/Mattel challenge, Facebook will have to pay a price in terms of stunted growth of what Forbes describes as the Facebook economy.

The Scrabulous fight is just another manifestation of the traditional media and entertainment companies’ inability to understand and exploit the new opportunities presented by rapidly growing online consumers of content including music, videos, games, etc. In this particular instance, for example, Hasbro instead could have formed a partnership with the Agarwalla brothers or bought the game from them.

As the battle of Scarbulous rages on, the India-based brothers are not standing still. They have developed another online spelling game that’s gaining traction.

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If you love actor Matthew McConaughey… wait until you get a load of his mom, Kay McConaughey. In her newly released book titled “I Amaze Myself”, Kay dishes on all sorts of topics - touching on everything from where Matthew was conceived to how her husband passed away while making love to her.

Kay told press that having Matthew was not planned, but a pleasant surprise. “I was deciding, ‘Do I want to have another baby? Do I want to have an affair? Or go back to school?’ That’s when Matthew was conceived. We had tried for 16 years and no baby. So Matthew was a big surprise!”

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For many of us, the mere thought of toting yet another device in our pocket, purse, or belt holster is truly disgusting, particularly when said device resembles a primitive BlackBerry hewn from solid stone and does literally nothing but send and receive email for twenty bucks a month. For others, though, the Peekmight be just what the doctor ordered. Laptop Magazine took a quick look at the $100 email-only brick, declaring it “dead simple” to use — a good thing, considering its target demo — and finding its expansive soft-touch keyboard easy on the fingers. As ugly as it might be, it’ll be easy enough to hide; Laptop says users will have no issues tucking it into a pocket, owing in no small part to the fact that it’s a full 30 percent thinner than the iPhone 3G. Still, we’re going to like ‘em ten times better when they’re hacked to run Android, Doom, Maemo, or pretty much anything else that ends in “ux.”

Update: Gadling’s got a hands-on with the Peek as well and expects to post a full review in the next few days. Have a… peek, why don’t you?

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There is little doubt that her speech was powerfully delivered with a good deal of soaring words and rhetoric. Her review of the people she met along the campaign gave the speech more of a human touch. The decision to cite the memory of two recently fallen Democrats helped to bring an energy to the room.

The closing segment discussing the anniversary of votes for women and quotes from Harriet Tubman helped to wrap together the historical theme of her address. Her call for her supporters to support Obama and her words about whether voters entered the race to support her or to support the issues that she and Obama agree on was compelling.

But in the end I think the reaction in the days to come will be more muted than the initial reaction tonight. In examining the text of her speech I find that about 20% of it offers support for Obama while over half is a recitation of the Clinton campaign and what ’she did’ or ‘her supporters did’.

The words of endorsement are even somewhat backhanded, with Clinton saying basically ‘Well here are all the great things my supporters and I did so we should have won but he’s ok on the issues so vote for him rather than the other guy’. Once the glow of the speech starts to wear off over the next few days I suspect that things will not look nearly as positive for Obama.

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