• Del.icio.us Links

    links for 2008-12-23

    • Barack Obama has said that when all is revealed, it will be clear that neither he nor his staff had any contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich that could be considered improper.

      The president-elect's office now says it will release on Tuesday the promised report giving a full accounting of those contacts, following additional work by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who has yet to indict the already-arrested Illinois governor. Obama aides say the official under the most scrutiny — Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — will be exonerated after weeks of innuendo that they have long said was unfair.

      "We have a report," said Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "It's been ready for release for a week. We've held off at the request of the U.S. Attorney's office and that continues to be the case, though we expect to be able to release the report shortly."
      +++++++
      In the meantime, Obama is in Hawaii showing off his pecs and getting a tan.

    • The sources add that the report will show Emanuel also had four phone calls with Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris. During those conversations, the Senate seat was discussed. The pros and cons of various candidates were reviewed, and the sources say that Emanuel repeatedly reminded Harris that Blagojevich should focus on the message the pick would send about the governor and his administration.

      Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations. In the course of that conversation, Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, "all we get is appreciation, right?" "Right," Emanuel responded.

    • The group representing the U.S. recording industry said Friday it had abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright.

      The Recording Industry Association of America said it instead would work with Internet service providers to cut abusers’ access if they ignored repeated warnings.

      The move ends a program that saw the association sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average, for around $3,500. The association’s legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.

      The association said Friday it stopped sending out new lawsuits and warnings in August and then agreed with several leading U.S. Internet service providers, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.

      (tags: RIAA)