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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

1/28/09 I Spoke To Hearst Corporate Lawyer Ravi Sitwalla Today, It Looks Like We Have An Understanding, But Some Still Have Their Panties In A Bunch

Greenwich Time Publisher John "I Can't Pick A Winning Team" Dunster And Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Both Have Their Panties In A Bunch.

Greenwich Roundup Spoke On The Phone Twice With Hearst Corporation Lawyer Ravi Sitwalla Today To Follow Up On An Email Or Phone Call. Mr. Sitwalla Confirmed That We Had An Understanding And That Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Would Send An Email With Specific Links To Posts That He Thought Might Violate Hearst Newspaper Copyrights.

Hearst Corporate Lawyer Ravi Sitwalla Said He Wanted To Send A Second Email "Clarifying Some Issues".

When Asked About This He Said That Greenwich Time Is Still Upset At The Continued Posts In Greenwich Roundup About The Management Of The Paper.

I Told Ravi, That This Is The Problem With Hearst Newspaper's Threatened Legal Actions Against Greenwich Roundup. It Is Clear That Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Editor Bruce Hunter's Actions Are Motivated To Intimidate And Silence A Critic.

Now Even When The Critic Has Agreed To Accommodate The Hearst Corporation Hunter Still Seeks Threatens To Limit Greenwich Roundups Rights With A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP")

Unfortunately the goal of Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Managing Editor's lawsuit that is intended to intimidate and silence a critic by burdening him with the cost of a legal defense with the hope that Greenwich Roundup will abandon its criticisms.

If Greenwich Roundup lets Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Managing Editor Bruce Hunter Get Away With This What's To Stop Him From Using Hearst Corporation Lawyers From Going After Greenwich Blogger Bill Clark When His Greenwich Gossip Once Again Calls The Greenwich Time The "Yellowich Time"?

Or Will Thin Skinned Bruce Hunter Use Hearst Corporation Lawyers To After Greenwich Blogger Chris Fountain Next Time He Criticizes "The Local Rag" In His For What Its Worth Blog.

Bruce Hunter Is more than happy to waste Hearst Corporation Assets on a lawsuit with the goals getting a defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs or simple exhaustion In an effort to get a critic to abandon His criticism.

Bruce Hunter's Goals Are Clearly Also Designed To Intimidate Others Bloggers From Criticizing His Job Performance.

Hearst Corporation Lawyer Ravi Sitwalla And Greenwich Roundup Have Came To An Understanding And Only Thin Skinned Bruce Hunter Has A Problem With The Quick Resolution, Because Hunter's Hidden Goal Was To Deny A Critic His Free Speech Rights.

Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz Should Start Deducting All Of These Hearst Corporation Legal Costs Out Of Bruce Hunter's Paycheck And Then We Will See How Quick Bruce Hunter Quits Coming Up With Objections To Ravi And Greenwich Roundup's Understandings.

Bruce Hunter Should Just Email His List Of Alleged Posts That Violate A Greenwich Time Copyright And Get On With Trying To Manage The Greenwich Time.

If Thin Skinned Bruce Hunter Wants To Put An End To Greenwich Roundups Criticism Then He Should Improve His Job Performance.

Or Thin Skinned Bruce Hunter Can Use The Greenwich Time Newspaper And Website To Engage Greenwich Roundup In A Public Debate On If He Is The Right Man At The Right Time To Lead The Greenwich Time.

But Thin Skinned Bruce Hunter Is To Cowardly To That So He Hides His Motives Behind Hearst Corporate Lawyer Ravi Sitwala.

Greenwich Roundup Told Ravi Sitwalla On The Phone, "Bruce Hunter Has Got His Panties In A Bunch Over Some Blog Posts And He Needs To Get Over It Before The Mega Bucks Hearst Corporation Is Facing Substantial Legal Claims From Greenwich Roundup.

The Greenwich Roundup Dictionary: panties in a bunch

1. When a daily Hearst Newspaper publisher overreacts to a trifling insult or barb, or to a joke.

2. When a vain daily newspaper editor acts in an anal-retentive manner, and makes a big fuss out of a relatively minor problem like a blogger who criticizes his job performance.

3. Example#1 "Dunster don't get you're panties all in a bunch, over a one eyed blogger who says that you can't pick a winning team".

4. Example #2 "Bruce it's not that big of a problem, don't get your panties all in a bunch, it's going to be okay Hearst Newspapers will replace you in 100 days just like they did Zebora And Warner."

5. Example #3 - Slang "Damn Bruce, why you gotta be gettin' your panties in a bunch?

6. Acronym DGYPIAB = Definition "Don't Get Your Panties In A Bunch"


YOU WONT READ THIS IN THE GREENWICH TIME:


TODAY"S TOP NEWS STORY


Hearst Newspaper Editors Panties Still In A Bunch


GREENWICH,CT—According to the Greenwich police department, a pair of Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Editor Bruce Hunter's panties was discovered Monday bound up in a bunch and badly in need of loosening. "
After looking at Hunter's panties it was clear that Mr. Hunter obviously needs to relax.," Greenwich police chief David Ridberg said.
Failure to chill out, Ridberg said, is the number one reason that Hearst Newspapers can get sued for using harassment tactics to silence the free speech rights of a blogger that criticized the performance one of their newspapers.
Ridberg further said,"It is clear that there is a connection between Mr, Hunter's panty -bunching incident and Greenwich Roundup's many criticisms of Hunter's job performance at the Greenwich Time.


Does Thin Skinned Greenwich Time Editor Bruce Hunter Think That He Lives In Malaysia ?


"Raja Petra Kamarudin, a Malaysian blogger, is in court under the Internal Security Act, under which he can be detained indefinitely. He is well known for his commentary on the Malaysian government, and was arrested after a piece on the murder of a Mongolian woman, who was allegedly killed by two policeman and an associate of the deputy prime minister."



KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A pro-government Malaysian daily has sued two popular Internet bloggers for defamation in what a critic said Thursday would have a "chilling effect" on freedom of speech.

The lawsuits by English-language New Straits Times marked the first time Malaysian bloggers have been taken to court for publishing comments on the Internet in a country where much of the traditional media are controlled by political parties or the government.

The first suit was filed on Jan. 11 against Jeff Ooi, whose "Screenshots" blogs carry daily commentaries on the political situation in the country. The blog is widely read by Malaysians.
His case will be heard on Jan. 30. The other suit is against Ahiruddin Attan, filed on Tuesday, which will be heard on Jan. 25. Both bloggers disclosed on their Web sites Thursday that they had been sued for defamation.

A spokesman of the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd. group, which owns the newspaper, confirmed that the lawsuits were filed.

"We are not seeking to close them down. At the same time we do not support people making defamatory statements whether online or in print," said the spokesman who cannot be identified under company rules. "We should allow the law to takes its own course."

He did not elaborate further.

Ooi did not return a call for further comment, and Ahiruddin, who operates the blog "Rocky's Bru," couldn't immediately be reached.

The plaintiffs are the New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd. group, the group's chief executive Syed Faisal Albar, former group editor-in-chief Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, current group editor-in-chief Hishamuddin Aun and former Times editor Brendan Pereira.

Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants elaborated on what invited the defamation lawsuits. But the Times is believed to have been angered by a series of articles since the middle of last year, alleging Kalimullah and Pereira were agents of neighboring Singapore.

The two countries share uneasy relations and being branded a Singapore agent is considered a serious insult in Malaysia. Details of the articles cannot be reproduced because of their allegedly defamatory character.

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang slammed the New Straits Times for the lawsuit, calling them a "grave development in the defense of the legal rights of bloggers and citizen journalists in Malaysia to break the stifling monopoly of the mainstream media."

He said the suits will have a "chilling effect on freedom of bloggers" because the high cost of litigation would "cripple and paralyze the individual blogger."

The amount of damages sought by the New Straits Times was not known.


from the crack-down dept

Over the last couple of years, we've had a series of interesting stories about how the Malaysian gov't is dealing with "blogs." First, a gov't official slammed blogs and tried to pass a law requiring bloggers to register with the government. Outrage over such a plan resulted in it being scrapped, but the majority ruling party still struggled with blogs -- though tried to figure out ways to respond to them more feasibly than attacking them. It set up a gov't agency to respond to bloggers, and later required certain candidates for offices to set up their own blogs. Of course, it also tried to crack down on some bloggers it didn't like, including having a state owned paper file a libel suit over a blog.

So, with that background, it was interesting to spot two separate stories having to do with blogs in Malaysia. The first, talks about how one of the political bloggers who had been so critical of the gov't turned that attention into getting himself elected as an opposition candidate. He's now taking office. However, the other article shows that the ruling party hasn't quite come to grips with these opposition blogs. Perhaps because of the victories of blogging members of the opposition party, the government has now ordered Malaysian ISPs to start blocking certain political blogs.

From the sound of it, the ruling party is still pretty confused about how this all works. While it gave lip service to blogging, when blogging appeared to help the opposition a lot more than it helped the ruling party, it decided to start blocking and censoring certain blogs critical of the government. This seems pretty likely to backfire, as it should only upset gov't critics even more -- including those who are now in the Parliament itself.

MORE INFORMATION:

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, and the Government actively promotes the spread of Islam in the country and its friendship with other Muslim countries. All ethnic Malays are Muslim (100%) as defined by Article 160 of the Constitution of Malaysia., there are also substantial numbers of Indian Muslims and a few numbers of ethnic Chinese converts.As required by Malaysian law and defined in the Constitution of Malaysia, a Malay would surrender his ethnic status if he were not Muslim.

Sunni Islam of the Shafi`i school of thought is the official, legal form in Malaysia. Mosques are an ordinary scene throughout the country and adhan (call to prayer) from minarets are heard five times a day. Government bodies and banking institutions are closed for two hours every Friday so Muslims workers can conduct Friday prayer in mosques. The Malaysian authorities have strict policies against other Islamic sects including Shia Islam. A notable sect that has been outlawed is Al-Arqam.

Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from South and Southeast Asia to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation

But If You Were A Malaysian That Blogged About This You Would Be Facing Sever Punishment
BRUCE HUNTER IS NO BETTER THAN AN ISLAMIC EXTREMIST WHO DENIES OTHERS THEIR RIGHTS TO FREE SPEECH

Thin Skinned Hearst Newspaper Editor Bruce Hunter Needs To Understand That Censorship Is Dangerous Path To Take

In A Time Of War When Americans Are Dying To Protect Our Freedoms Bruce Hunter Should Hang His Head Low For Trying To Deny A Critic His Free Speech Rights.

SHAME SHAME SHAME ON BRUCE HUNTER
PLEASE SEE:


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Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

1/28/09 READER SUBMITTED COMMENTS: School Budget Cuts

Dear Greenwich Roundup,

I question the mind set of the Board of Education whose budget cuts the elementary-school study coaches. This particular cut will undermine one of the most important initiatives that this board has undertaken, namely that of staffing our schools with highly qualified teachers, which is known to be the single most important classroom resource.

The study coaches enable a school's teachers to develop models of educational delivery that are at once diversified, therefore able to reach students at many levels; comprehensive, thus able to encompass the educational teaching strand from a multi-year perspective; and an aid the teacher in developing introspection and problem-solving skills. This is a professional-development initiative dedicated to effective instructional practices with immediate, school-based feedback, not an assessment of skills such as done by the school principal when evaluating a teacher.

This cut negatively impacts a system already struggling with consistently weak standardized-test scores. As all higher learning is based on the acquisition of a sound base in the "Three R's" during the elementary years, any cuts impacting the delivery of elementary school education would impact yet another generation of Greenwich graduates.

Name Withheld By Request

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Please send your comments and letters to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

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