The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - 3

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - 3

NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Electronic road
sign hacked, racial
slur posted
Michigan transportation offi-
cials say they're working with
police to determine who hacked
into a portable electronic road
sign and posted a racial epithet
referring to slain Florida teen
Trayvon Martin.
Michigan Department, of
Transportation spokesman
Rob Morosi says the sign on
the shoulder of Interstate 94
in Detroit alerting motorists to
road work was altered sometime
late Sunday night or early yes-
terday morning. The slur was
directed at the unarmed black
teen fatally shot in February by
a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Morosi says authorities were
alerted shortly after midnight
yesterday and restored the origi-
nal message within an hour.
He says the box in the back of
the sign was unlocked, and a key-
board had been removed.
DETROIT
Laid-off Yahoo
workers urged to
move to Detroit
A financial company that is
betting on a Detroit turnaround
is trying to lure laid-off Yahoo
workers to Michigan.
Quicken Loans has started the
website www.valleytodetroit.
com to promote the Motor City
to Yahoo workers axed last week
in California. Quicken's busi-
nesses include mortgages, ven-
ture capital and sports graphics.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo
announces plans ,Wednesday to
lay off 2,000 people, or about 14
percent of its workforce.
The Detroit News says Quick-
en plans to interview candidates
and fly them to Detroit. The com-
pany has thousands of workers
downtown, and its founder has
been snapping up buildings.
INDIANAPOLIS
*Indiana man
charged with child
sexual exploita-
tion
Investigators are trying to
identify hundreds of potential
victims whose images were
found on the computer of an
Indiana man charged with
coercing two teenage boys into
performing online sex acts for
him by threatening to post on
gay porn sites compromising vid-
eos he secretly made of them.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said
during yesterday's news confer-
ence that the "sextortion" case
against Richard Leon Finkbiner
could become the largest of its

kind in the U.S. to date.
Finkbiner, 39, was arrested
Friday at his home in the Clay
County community of Brazil and
faces two preliminary counts
of sexually exploiting a child.
He remained in custody yester-
day and has a detention hearing
scheduled for Wednesday. Court
records indicated he didn't have
an attorney.
DUBAI, United Arab Emrites
UAE detains six
activists critical of
country's rulers
Six activists in the United Arab
Emirates previously stripped of
their citizenship for criticizing
the country's rulers were detained
yesterday and told they were ille-
gallyresidinginthe oil-rich union,
one of their attorneys said.
The arrests were the latest
move by the UAE to crack down
on political dissent in the fed-
eration. of seven city-states, each
ruled by a hereditary sheik.
Authorities revoked the nation-
ality of the six last year. The UAE
has deported non-citizens sus-
pected of political activities but
it is an unusual tactic to be used
againstnationals. ,
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports

Syrian soldiers
fire at Turkish,
Lebanese borders

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, telephones a potential voter from
a call center at his Pennsylvania campaign headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa., last Thursday.
Romney adds to campaign
to.-do list as likely no-minee

With break in
primaries, Romney
looks to improve
fundraising
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -
Mitt Romney faces a daunting
to-do list as he transitions into
the role of likely Republican
presidential nominee.
Among the tasks: Raise
as much money as possible
for the general election cam-
paign against President Barack
Obama. Hire more people and
send them to the most criti-
cal states in the fall race. Hone
his message to appeal to voters
across the political spectrum.
And do it all quickly while
fending off challenges from GOP
rivals who refuse to quit the pri-
mary race.
Obama, with the advantages
of an incumbent, is well ahead of
Romney on fundraising, organi-
zation and broad pitches to vot-
ers. So Romney can be expected
to spend part of his time over
the next three weeks trying to
catch up. There's a break in the
primaries lasting until April
24, when several Northeastern
states vote.
Romney also must start
thinking about a running mate
and strategy to amass the 270
electoral votes needed to win

the White House on Nov. 6.
The former Massachusetts
governor must prepare to put
his imprint on the Republican
National Committee and figure
out how to achieve unity with
a conservative base that has
resisted his candidacy. In the
general election, party loyal-
ists will be counted on to raise
money and get out the vote.
"I do think the Romney team
is thinking about how they put
in place their fall campaign,"
said Terry Nelson, a former top
aide to President George W.
Bush. "But they clearly have
some contests to get through, so
they won't be able to turn their
eyes entirely to that."
There's little question that
Romney will clinch the nomi-
nation in June, if not earlier. He
has a wide lead in the race for
the 1,144 delegates required to
secure the GOP nomination. But
chief rival Rick Santorum says
he'll press on at least through
the end of the month. Pennsyl-
vania, which he represented
in the House and Senate, votes
April 24, along with Connecti-
cut, Delaware, New York and
Rhode Island.
In hopes of convincing
Republicans it's time to rally
behind Romney, leading Repub-
licans such as Sen. Marco Rubio
of Florida and Rep. Paul Ryan of
Wisconsin have endorsed him
recently; both are viewed as

potential running mates. Former
Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri
has said he would back Romney
and Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad
may announce his support soon.
Romney is sounding more
like a general election candi-.
date each day. "It isn't about
one person or about even one
party,"he said lastweek. "We're
Republicans and Democrats
in this campaign, but we're all
connected with one destiny for
America."
After a break for the Easter
holiday, Romney is expected to
plunge back into fundraising in
New York and South Florida.
That's none too soon for Repub-
licans, given Obama's fundrais-
ing advantage.
"Ultimately, the thing we
have to focus on is getting the
general election money raised,"
said Brian Ballard, of Florida,
one of Romney's top fundraisers.
Obama, without a Democratic
challenger, has been free to raise
money strictly for the general
election. He's so far raised more
than $300 million for his re-
election campaign and the Dem-
ocratic National Committee.
Romney can't raise cash for the
Republicans until he clinches
the nomination, but he's brought
in more than $75 million for his
campaign.
Romney aides said solicita-
tions for general election dona-
tions were starting to go out.

Assad's forces shell
refugee camp on
eve of cease-fire
BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian
forces opened fire across two
tense borders yesterday, killing
a TV journalist in Lebanon and
wounding at least six people in
a refugee camp in Turkey on the
eve of a deadline for a cease-fire
plan that seems all but certain
to fail.
A witness at the Turkish
camp said he saw two refugees
killed, although that account
could not be independently con-
firmed.
Across Syria, activists
reported particularly heavy
violence with more than 125
people killed in the past two
days.
The Obama administration
expressed outrage at the vio-
lence spilling over the frontiers,
saying the Syrian government
appeared to have little commit-
ment to the peace plan that was
negotiated by former U.N. chief
Kofi Annan.
The latest bloodshed was a
sign of how easily Syria's neigh-
bors could be drawn into a
regional conflagration as Presi-
dent Bashar Assad's crackdown
on a year-old uprising becomes
increasingly militarized,
despite desperate diplomatic
efforts.
Annan brokered a deal that
was supposed to begin with
Syria pulling its troops out
of population centers by this
morning, with a full cease-fire
by both sides within 48 hours.
But hopes for the plan collapsed
after a fresh wave of violence
and new demands by the regime
for written guarantees that the
opposition will lay down arms
first.
Naci Koru, Turkey's deputy
foreign minister, said todays_
deadline for the withdraw-
al has become "void at this
stage," state-run TRT television
reported.
The U.N. estimates some
9,000 people have been killed
in Syria since March 2011, when
the uprising began with mostly
peaceful protests against Assad.
But a government crackdown
led many Syrians take up weap-
ons, transforming the conflict
into an insurgency.
Yesterday, Syrian forces fired
across the border into a refugee
camp in Turkey, wounding at
least six people, authorities said.
The soldiers were believed
to be firing at rebels who tried
to escape to the refugee camp
after ambushing a Syrian mili-
tary checkpoint, killing six
soldiers, according to the Brit-
ain-based activist group Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.
The troops kept firing as they
pursued rebels who made a run
for the camp, sending bullets
whizzing across the frontier,
the Observatory said.
Turkish authorities said four
Syrians and two Turks were
wounded, including a Turkish
translator who had entered the
camp to try to calm an anti-

Assad protest.
But one witness, Tareq
Abdul-Haqq, told The Associat-
ed Press by telephone from the
camp that he saw two refugees
killed in front of him.
He said the two were in a
crowd that was shouting anti-
Assad slogans during a dem-
onstration that erupted after
word got through the camp that
rebels had ambushed the Syrian
checkpoint.
"They started chanting 'God
is Great!' and the army and the
security forces targeted them,"
Abdul-Haqq, 26, told The Asso-
ciated Press by telephone.
The Turkish Foreign Min-
istry also reported two deaths,
but under different circum-
stances.
According to the ministry, 21
wounded Syrians were brought
to Turkey yesterday, but that
two of them died soon after. It
was not immediately possible to
reconcile the two accounts.
"Syrian citizens who have
fled the violence by the current
Syrian regime are under the
full protection of Turkey," the
Turkish Foreign Ministry said
in astatement.
Turkey shelters some 24,000
Syrian refugees, including hun-
dreds of army defectors, and
has floated the ideasofsettingup
a buffer zone inside Syria if the
flow of displaced people across
its border becomes overwhelm-
ing.
The countries share a
911-kilometer (566-mile) bor-
der, and parts of southern Tur-
key are informal logistics bases
for rebels, who collect food and
other supplies and smuggle
them to comrades across the
border in Syria.
Yesterday's shooting was
believed to be the first inside
Turkey, although there have
been similar cross-border
attacks into Lebanon.
Syrian troops fired about 40
rounds across the border into
northern Lebanon, killing a
cameraman for Lebanon's Al
Jadeed television station, the
station said. The camera crew
were in Lebanese territory.
Ali Shaaban, who was born
in 1980, was shot through the
chest as he sat in ascar and died
on the way to the hospital, Leb-
anese security officials said.
"If you see the car, you would
think it was in a war zone,"
Shaaban's colleague, Hussein
Khreis, told the station. "It is
completely destroyed from the
bullets."
The station said on its web-
site that its staff "crawled for
around two hours, during
which we were under constant
fire from the Syrian army."
"I ask forgiveness from Ali's
family because I couldn't do
anything for him," Khreis said
in a broadcast on Al Jadeed,
breaking into tears.
Shaaban is at least the ninth
journalist killed while cover-
ing the conflict in Syria, includ-
ing award-winning French TV
reporter Gilles Jacquier, pho-
tographer Remi Ochlik and
Britain's Sunday Times corre-
spondent Marie Colvin.

Spam texts cause issues
for campaign strategies

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tion and turned it into a very
send political sophisticated way to do voter
suppression tactics and annoy
tS to unwilling people with false and mislead-
ing information," said Scott
recipients Goodstein of Revolution Mes-
saging, a Democratic-leaning
V YORK (AP) - Text mobile communications firm.
ing is posing both new "Worse yet, people are being
unities and dangers for charged to receive these mes-
a's political campaigns. sages."
most widely used form Goodstein has filed a com-
bile communication, it plaint about the practice with
come one of the most the Federal Communications
ve ways for campaigns Commission, whose Telephone
ach supporters, using Consumer Protection Act pro-
aracter messages to hibits telemarketers from tex-
age last-minute dona- ting "to any telephone number
or provide information ... or any service for which the
s where to vote. And called party is charged."
federal rules prohibit Unsolicited messages hit the
xts from going to anyone presidential campaign this year,
es not "opt in" to receive when texts targeting Republi-
can Mitt Romney surfaced in
some groups have found Colorado, South Carolina and
ray around that require- Michigan. Voters received texts
sing email - rather than urging them to call a number
IS "short code" that tele- where they heard a recorded
ers normally use - to message criticizing the former
unsolicited, anonymous Massachusetts governor.
en negative messages to Spam texts have popped up
ne lists they purchase in congressional campaigns
;h brokers. in states including Michigan,
texting practice has North Carolina, Pennsylvania
d voters, who are forced and Missouri and Minnesota.
if they don't have flat- They've also appeared in sev-
essaging plans. And it's eral state legislative races.
d campaign strategists, Some of the texts have been
ar political texting will followed back to Americans
kened by the introduc- ii Contact PAC, a Republican-
what amounts to spam leaning group whose mission
., is "to identify social and fis-
y've taken a tool and cal conservatives throughout
logy we used to help America and engage them at

the grassroots level in the polit-
ical process." Several voters in
Wisconsin received messages
from txt(at)aicpac.org dur-
ing Gov. Scott Walker's clash
with public employee unions
last year, asking, "Do you agree
government unions are being
too greedy?"
A spokesman for the group
did not respond to emails and
phone calls seeking comment.
The emergence of such unso-
licited texting comes as cam-
paigns. have redoubled their
efforts to incorporate text mes-
saging into their broader com-
munication strategy.
President Barack Obama's
2008 campaign largely pio-
neered the use of political text
messaging. That's the way
supporters were alerted that
Obama had selected then-Del-
aware Sen. Joe Biden to be his
running mate, for example.
This year, with social media
outlets like Twitter and Face-
book a much greater political
communications tool than they
were in 2008, the Obama re-
election campaign is using texts
more selectively.
"Texts should be action ori-
ented," campaign spokeswom-
an Katie Hogan said, suggesting
that supporters would receive a
text letting them knowthe loca-
tion of a volunteer phone bank
or a local campaign appearance
by the president.
"It has to be relevant to the
user of that platform. And
you can't abuse the platform,'
Hogan said.

-H-00