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Facebook pulled a number of pages (reported to be thirty, but Facebook refuses to make an official statement) off the social networking site because prisoners in the United Kingdom, either through contraband cell phones or accomplices on the other side, have been sending taunting or threatening notes to their victims, or the families of their victims.

"The abuse of social networking sites by prisoners is offensive to public morality and decency," said Jack Straw, the UK's Secretary of Justice in an interview with CNN. "updating these sites from within prison is an offence under prison rules and using them to abuse victims is deplorable."

The families of victims have made complaints before of criminals using Facebook to publicize their acts. Families United, a group that represents the families of murder victims, met with Facebook and Jack Straw to try and resolve this issue. Facebook told CNN that the pages would be removed, but at that time stated that they would not release the number of pages that would be affected. In addition, prisons are beginning to install special scanners to detect the communication devices used to access Facebook from within prison, making it easier to stop them from being used, and to incite disciplinary action.

While these solutions may help, with the overall globalization of the Internet, where nearly any electronic device can access it, and nearly everyone with a computer uses it regularly, the problem is far from being solved. Facebook spokeswoman Sophy Silver told CNN, "It is very easy to sum up the problem, but the solution is much, much harder to implement."

Source: CNN.com

With the 2010 election cycle only just beginning it seems premature to speculate on election 2012. Nevertheless, as elections have unavoidably begun earlier and earlier each time, so to has the speculation surrounding them. In as much, it's not too early to begin contemplating the basics. So let us begin speculating with the most basic thing to begin speculating about, the electoral math the White House will have to look at if Obama wishes to have a second term. In short, what is the magic number the White House needs to achieve to win a second term. This question might seem fairly pedestrian at first. 50% of the popular vote is nice to have, but 270 electoral votes are all that's needed. If it were that simple, there would be no such thing as one term presidents. Strangely enough, the magical number for Obama might not be an actual number as it were, but a mathematical inequality. In the case of Obama, the magical inequality for a second term in office may very well be >53%.

Since the inception of popular vote elections (elections where the popular vote determined the composition of the electoral college as opposed to the state legislatures), 11 presidents were elected to two consecutive terms (for purposes of our exercise here, we will only examine Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms, and omit Grover Cleveland's non-consecutive terms). In all but one of those instances, the incumbent president improved his share of the popular vote. The exception was Jackson, the very first president to win two elections under this system. His share of the popular vote actually declined by about 1% (figures here will be rounded). Since then, every president has produced a larger share of the popular vote the second time around. The average margin of increase has been approximately 6%. On top of this, six presidents were unseated in their second go at the ballot box. In all six instances the defeated incumbent saw his share of the popular vote drop, with the average drop coming in at 13.5%.

Though it seems like an arbitrary consideration, there are many reasons why improving on his share of the electorate is implicit in retaining office (and also, reflexively, preventing a collapse in the share of the vote from the first time around). Second term elections are a referendum on the performance of the president, first term elections are more of a vote on the direction we want to take. So, the first term is a vote of risk on the part of the electorate, which is always harder bring people on board to. Second term votes are measures of complacency, in as much a vote for a second term is a "safe vote," which is far easier to bring people around to. In contrast, presidents who lose tend to have not only failed to convince the public that an additional term is a safe vote, but they've usually alienated some portion of the electorate that put them in place driving them to the opposition or failing to motivate their turnout at the polls.

So where does that leave Obama? Obama netted about 53% of the vote in 2008. A small increase in that number is not unattainable, however President Obama's latest Real Clear Politics poll average places his approval rating at 48.4%. That bodes poorly for his chances today. However, the president has two major advantages going forward. The first is time. The election isn't for another two years, giving him plenty of time to improve his standing. The other advantage is one of mathematical likelihood in the model. Defeated incumbents tended to see catastrophic declines in their share of the vote (recall the average, 13.5%), but the winners posted much more modest gains. Still, campaign staff for the president would be well advised to keep in mind a simple question when planning their reelection strategy "what can we do to go up from there?"

Seen: 1-22-10
Rated: PG

Summary: Ever believed in the little things? Like leprechauns, unicorns, fairies? No? Have you ever had goals? Dreams? Had expectations? Well, in this family movie, Derek Thompson, heart Dwayne Johnson heart , seems to be the killer of all things small, as well as the dreams, goals, maybe even expectations of little kids. Unfortunately there's a penalty for doing such things. No he didn't go to jail, to him, it was much worse. Derek Thompson, had to spend two weeks as a tooth fairy. Yes, a tooth fairy. Be careful what you believe in and what you choose not to believe in. Be sure not to kill the dreams of little kids around the world. You may just find yourself with wings, and a tutu. gonk

Final Rating:

No fairies were harmed in the filming of the movie.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the writer, and do not represent those of the Gaian Record International or its affiliates.







For those of you who were never into the Power Rangers, or don't have a great memory, let me catch you up.

First, they were Mighty Morphin. This was back in 1993. When Rita and Zedd destroyed the Command Center, and it was rebuilt into the Power Chamber, they became the Power Rangers Zeo. When the Zeo powers weren't enough to fight off Divatox and Maligore, they shifted into Turbo. Doing so almost canceled the whole show. Then, when Zordon was captured, they took off In Space. When Zordon died, the Rangers retired, and the show took on its source material's tradition of ditching the cast members each season in favor of new ones. Since then, they've been in the Lost Galaxy, joined Operation: Lightspeed Rescue, made time for Time Force, accessed Wild Force, got bought out by Disney, struck like thunder in Ninja Storm, unearthed history in Dino Thunder, pinned on their police badges in Space Patrol Delta, cast a spell or three in Mystic Force, went into overkill in Operation: Overdrive, unleashed the spirits of jungle beasts in Jungle Fury, and got into gear in R.P.M.

Well, Disney decided that they'd had enough, apparently, and ditched the entire concept of the Power Rangers in favor of bringing back the classics...with an odd twist. Instead of creating an American adaptation of Shinkenranger, the Sentai source material, Disney has taken the original Power Rangers and added comic book graphics and captions, a new logo, and other various aesthetic changes that make up "reversioning" according to them, and have put the digitally remastered Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back on the air.

Responses have been generally poor, if one reads the message boards. Most of the responses are, "What have they done to my poor Power Rangers?" The show now captions the names of zords, adds screen effects and commercial bumpers, and inserts pop-art style graphics to make the series seem more contemporary. Critics say that the new changes are unnecessary, cause distractions from the show itself, and make a mockery of it overall.

There are dissenters from those opinions however. Many feel that it is an appropriate way to introduce younger people (like the children of the children who loved the show in 1993) to the classic, if unrefined adaptation of Zyuranger. They look at it from the perspective of the target audience, rather than their own opinions.

Fans, however, have been complaining about the direction of the show since Disney bought the rights from Saban during Power Rangers: Wild Force. It took a sharp turn at that point; where Wild Force had been a serious show with a darker storyline, Ninja Storm, Disney's first attempt, had been a comical adaptation, far less apocalyptic than fans were used to. Dino Thunder made up for it by bringing back the original Green and White Ranger, Tommy, and S.P.D. had some minimal success in writing, but the complaints continued throughout. It's not a huge surprise that Disney decided finally to leave Shinkenranger alone and work on something that had been a proven success before.

Whether or not the reversioning will continue remains to be seen. With such strong feedback in both directions, though it leans mostly towards negative, it is unkown at this time if Disney will continue to reversion, create a new series, or drop the Ranger franchise altogether.

Special thanks to The Morphing Grid for the pictures.
Top: Disney's MMPR Logo
Middle: Adam Park's Mastodon morph from Operation Overdrive episode Once a Ranger.
Bottom: Casey's morph from Jungle Fury.












Rating: PG 13 (Parental Guidance suggested for children 13 and above)
Summary: Way into the future, a scientist dies right before a mission to another planet. His brother takes his place because he has the same genes. On the planet, Pandora, humans plan on overturning the great Home Tree, home to the natives of the planet, for a special rock worth billions. The scientists' job is to convince the natives to move out before they die, by means of transformation. The group technologically go from their human body to the "Avatar" body, replicas of the natives. But as the brother sees the ways of the people and the destruction of his fellow humains, will he continue with their destructive plan? Or will he fight against his own race?
My comments: The movie was excellent. The best action I've seen in awhile. You'd best not see it in 3D: the "Avatars" look more real without 3D. Also, bring some tissues with you. It's a very sad movie, and at the end, few main characters are left.
My ratings:








Twilight Author: Stephanie Meyer
Summary: Twilight is a story about Bella Swan, a girl from Phoenix, who goes to live with her dad in Forks, a rainy town in Washington. There, she meets Edward Cullen, who's hiding a dark secret: he and his family are vampires. Unfortunently, they fall in love. Bella gets thrown into a series of wild adventures to save her, and sometimes Edward's, own skin.
My comments: This is the must-read series of the year. Also, check out the other books in the Twilight Saga, 'New Moon', 'Eclipse', and 'Breaking Dawn'.
My ratings:








Shortly after the announcement that the next Pokémon movie, Phantom Ruler Z, would be released this year, The Pokémon Company has released a statement indicating that a new Pokémon game, widely speculated to be the fifth generation of games, will be released "by the end of 2010." Specific information on the name of the game(s), region(s) visited, or mechanics of the game(s) have not been released as of yet.

"The new games, the first completely new work to be released since the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl 4 years ago, games which have sold 17,150,000 copies (5,800,000 games in Japan), are planned as an inventive rebirth, featuring completely new ways to play and new Pokémon," the press release from The Pokémon company said.

Though released in Japan, the remakes of the second generation of games, Heartgold and SoulSilver, have not made it anywhere else, being slated for release in mid to late March in the North American, European, and Australian markets. However, these are not the game to which the company is referring.

"Now, Game Freak's development department are eagerly working on development with the aim to exceed every Pokemon game made before now with innovative software!" claims the blog of Junichi Masuda, the musical composer to the Pokémon games. (The blog and press release were translated by Bulbapedia.) "With great enthusasium, we are trying our best to surpass Diamond and Pearl!"

Only two Pokémon have been seen from this new generation, shown in silhouette on an episode of Pokémon Sunday, then revealed in CoroCoro magazine a week later. These Pokémon, Zorua and its evolved form Zoroark are said to star in the upcoming movie, Phantom Ruler Z.

The new game(s) is/are scheduled to be released for the Nintendo DS. If this release turns out to be the fifth generation of games, it will be the first time a new generation was released on the same console as a previous one, side games such as Pokémon Ranger and Coliseum notwithstanding.

In its eagerness to engage in information gathering in the wake of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration hastily crafted the dubious legal designation of enemy combatant, which permitted indefinite detentions for Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects without the protections accorded by the Geneva Conventions. While it provided him the cover he needed to construct a large information gathering operation in Gitmo, it also provided fodder for critics, both domestic and abroad, as well as a recruitment tool for enemies. It set the stage for a political climate where the opposition clamored for trials in the civilian courts, and amidst the unpopularity of the administration, prevailed over the electorate. And thus, we find ourselves in the current situation, with the Obama administration bouncing around localities in the US looking to stage a show trial (they've all but guaranteed that, despite the verdict, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be imprisoned afterward) from which a homicidal maniac will have an open forum to rant about his exploits. It didn't have to come to this. The Bush administration could have prevented the acrimony and eventual trial fiasco, and it only would have taken a simple counter-intuitive step: apply the Geneva Conventions.

How do we reach a total avoidance of the Impending KSM trial from applying the Geneva Conventions? First we need to appreciate exactly what the conventions were designed to do. The conventions were set about to alleviate some of the pain and suffering inflicted by war. The conventions came to apply to legal conduct of warfare, the treatment of civilians in occupied territory, and the treatment of captured soldiers on the battlefield. In addressing the treatment of captured soldiers the conventions specifically reserved their protections for soldiers fighting at the behest of a legitimate belligerent, whether regular or irregular. The Bush administration justified illegal combatant status based on an old interpretation of the conventions that required that the forces of a legitimate belligerent had to be uniformed in order for protections to apply. This definition has been disputed, and even later versions and permutations of the conventions, to which the US is not a signatory, have specifically removed this interpretation.

However, one clear distinction has remained in effect in the conventions; the refusal of the conventions to grant protections to spies and saboteurs. Here is where the administration could have made a reasonable distinction that would have averted the problems today. Enemy combatant status was accorded to both fighters captured from the Taliban, and from Al-Qaeda. The Taliban was a de facto ruling government in Afghanistan who sheltered Al-Qaeda, but evidence is less clear as to any role they had in the planning of 9-11. That, therefore, makes Taliban soldiers legitimate combatants under the conventions. Had Bush accorded them this status, it would have had little impact on our war against Al-Qaeda, and even now some are saying that a political settlement with elements of the Taliban is our best path to peace in Afghanistan. That leaves us with Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda fighters are not fighting under the auspices of a state or state-aspirant movement. They participate in destructive acts and willful taking of life outside the scope of combat operations. That, therefore, renders Al-Qaeda subject to interpretation under acts of espionage and sabotage, for which the death penalty still applies. Had Bush made this distinction and pursued this path after 9-11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed wouldn't be awaiting a sham trial in New York today. . . he'd have been dead at the end of a noose long ago.