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Sheriff could face recall for 'vitriol' comments after Tucson shooting

Tucson, Ariz. – Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff in Arizonas Pima County, ignited a national firestorm with remarks about vitriol after the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson. Now, several movements are afoot to oust Sheriff Dupnik from the office he has held for more than 30 years.

Soon after the Arizona shooting, Dupnik linked it to a climate of prejudice and bigotry in the state, and he suggested that Americas contentious political discourse might have played a part. Such rhetoric could have a powerful effect on some people, he said.

Dupniks comments created their own controversy, and some critics began mobilizing. On Friday, two events will take place: A Utah resident will launch a recall bid against the sheriff, and local tea party members will hold a dump Dupnik rally at the sheriffs department in Tucson.

Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner: 5 of his strange ideas

Also, the Pima County Republican Party this week unveiled a new website dedicated to raising money to bring a new sheriff to town.

The GOP is focused on bringing a quality candidate to the table in the general election of 2012 and ousting the sheriff on Election Day,

Although the efforts are separate, they share the same goal: unseating the longtime lawman for what some call his irresponsible behavior.

When Dupnik alluded to the heated political rhetoric after the shooting, which killed six people and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), the public knew little about the suspect, Jared Loughner. But investigators described him as mentally unstable, and Dupnik said that mentally unstable people were particularly susceptible to the rhetoric.

The sheriff abandoned his oath of office, and he compromised an ongoing investigation and therefore compromised the citizens of the state of Arizona, says Dan Baltes, executive director of Americans Against Immigration Amnesty (AAIA) in Salt Lake City. Mr. Baltes is launching the recall effort.

In the days and weeks since Jan. 8, the talk of links between the shooting and the nations political rhetoric has ebbed. A CBS poll on Jan. 11 showed that 57 percent of Americans didnt believe that political rancor played any role in the attack. Instead, the focus has shifted to the apparent alienation and mental troubles of Mr. Loughner, who has been charged in the attack.

Still, America has not entirely discarded concerns about political discourse. Civility has become a new buzzword, and in one recent effort toward that end, some Democrats and Republicans sat side by side during the State of the Union address.

Back in Tucson, a liberal stronghold in mostly conservative Arizona, Dupnik has his share of supporters. Among them is Jeff Rogers, chairman of the Pima County Democratic Party, who called the sheriff courageous for furthering a discussion on civil discourse in politics.

He is one of the most beloved figures in Pima County, in the history of the Tucson area,

Dupnik has been elected time and again because he has done a fine job as the countys top law-enforcement agent, says Mr. Rogers, who gives little credence to either a recall or a Republican challenge.

But Baltes, who is also an Internet radio-show host, says local volunteers are eager to start collecting the nearly 91,000 signatures required to force a recall election. Some of those volunteers are members of AAIA, but that groups agenda will be kept separate from the recall effort, he maintains.

Were going to put a local structure in place. Were just overseeing it and funding it, he says.

Baltes has filed all the necessary documentation and can legally head the recall effort, even though he is not a local resident, says Brad Nelson, Pima County elections director.

But Baltes cant sign the petition. Only signatures of Pima County registered voters will be counted, and all must be submitted by May 24.

Tom Rompel, who owns Black Weapons Armory, says he will make recall petitions available for customers and others to sign.

The sheriffs comments were outrageous, he says. I havent talked to anyone who doesnt want to throw him out.

Rompel also dislikes the sheriffs opposition to Arizonas controversial immigration law. Dupnik has called the law racist, and before it became mired in legal challenges, he vowed to not enforce it.

Dupnik, first elected in 1980, is about halfway through his current term. He has not indicated whether he will run for office again next year.

Should the sheriff seek reelection, Republicans are preparing to field a strong challenger, according to Mr. Miller.

But Rogers has no doubt Dupnik would win again.

Let me put it this way: He doesnt just win every time. He wins by a large margin. Nobody gets close, Rogers says.

A few days ago, the sheriffs department released a statement saying Dupnik would no longer comment on the shooting.

Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner: 5 of his strange ideas

Saudi bourse plunges 6.43% on Egypt tensions

RIYADH (AFP) – The Saudi stock market, the largest Arab bourse, plunged 6.43 percent to 6,267.22 points on Saturday as tensions soared in Egypt, where deadly anti-government protests continued for a fifth day.

The market has been gripped by severe anxiety because of the events in Egypt, traders told AFP, expressing fears that other Gulf markets, due to open on Sunday, will be similarly affected.

The Saudi Tadawul Index lost 430.58 points to close at 6,267.22 points. Turnover was $1.68 billion.

Shares in the leading petrochemical sector fell 8.37 percent, while the banking and financial sector was down by four percent. The real estate sector fell by 6.64 percent.

Insurances fell by 9.12 percent, telecoms by 6.7 percent, investment companies by 8.62 percent and building and constructions 7.8 percent.

The drop affected the shares of all the 145 companies trading on Saturday, according to the stock market website.

The Saudi bourse has a market value of about $350 billion.

The remaining six Gulf markets -- Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Doha, Muscat and Manama -- will begin their new trading week on Sunday.

Sliding profit margins drag Amazon shares

BANGALORE (Reuters) – Sliding profit margins at Amazon.com prompted mixed reactions from analysts on Friday, a day after it posted quarterly results, though most of them stuck to their top ratings on the world's largest online retailer.

The results showed profit margins at the company were sliding, worrying investors and sending its shares down more than 9 percent in midday trade.

About 13 million shares changed hands by noon, which is nearly 3 times the stock's 10-day moving average volume.

At least four brokerages cut their price targets on the stock, while two others raised them.

"Owning the stock here requires trust and patience. We have seen Amazon go through investment cycles before and believe investment in growth is the right long-term strategy for the Internet," BofA Merrill Lynch said in a note.

Amazon said last year that it was spending on 13 new distribution centers, and on Thursday it said that more would follow.

The cost to bring those to full productivity would weigh on short-term margin, the company said.

"We expect the company to continue to invest in increasing capacity to match growth," analyst Imran Khan at JP Morgan said as he lowered his fiscal 2011 pro forma operating margin estimates to 5.6 percent from 6.2 percent.

The company posted a slight dip in operating profit for the holiday fourth quarter despite revenue rising 36 percent, signaling the high cost of staying competitive in the highly promotional retail environment.

Khan, however, expects margin pressures to ease in the second half of the year.

Analyst James Mitchell of Goldman Sachs recommended investors buy Amazon, as valuations are still attractive.

Marianne Wolk of Susquehanna Financial said, "Most investors have been willing to look through weaker-than-expected margins in 2H10 assuming leverage would resume in 2011."

Credit Suisse analyst Spencer Wang supported the company's investment on new distribution centers and acquisitions and raised his price target on the stock.

"This is the right decision for the long run, given Amazon's attractive prospects and its high return on invested capital, notwithstanding the near term impact on margins," Wang said.

"Ultimately, we believe value creation is driven by increasing profit dollars as opposed to profit margins."

Separately, founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos trimmed his stake in the company to under 20 percent last year, a regulatory filing showed on Friday.

The CEO's stake came down to 19.5 percent as of December 31, 2010, from 21.2 percent, it said.

(Reporting by Renju Jose and Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Gopakumar Warrier)

Samsung's 4th-quarter net profit rises 13 percent

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips and flat screen televisions, said net profit rose 13 percent in the fourth quarter amid higher sales of semiconductors and smartphones as the technology giant rounded out a record year for earnings and revenue.

Samsung warned, however, of a cloudy outlook for 2011 as weak prices for components and consumer electronics that negatively affected profitability in the final three months of last year were likely to linger.

Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. earned 3.42 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, it announced Friday, compared with net profit of 3.04 trillion won the year before. Sales rose 7 percent to 41.9 trillion won.

For all of 2010, net profit surged 65 percent to a record 16.1 trillion won. Sales also increased to an all-time high of 154.6 trillion won, up 13 percent. Operating profit — seen as a direct indicator of business performance before taxes, dividends, asset sales and other items are figured into net profit or loss — jumped 58 percent to 17.3 trillion won, also a record.

Operating profit for the fourth quarter, however, declined 12 percent to 3.01 trillion won from the year before and a sharper 38 percent compared with the previous three months as the company battled price declines for liquid crystal displays and memory chips and intense competition in the global television market.

Though net profit rose from the year before, it failed to achieve the record levels reached in each of the first three quarters of last year and sank 23 percent from the previous three months.

Still, the stellar 2010 full-year performance further cements Samsung's position gained over the past decade as a dominant global technology company that has surged past Japanese rivals including Sony Corp. It ranks as the world's biggest manufacturer of computer memory chips, liquid crystal displays and flat-screen televisions. It stands No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland's Nokia Corp.

Investors welcomed the results, pushing the company's share price up 1.6 percent to a record high close of 1.01 million won Friday.

Robert Yi, a Samsung vice president and head of investor relations, said that the company expects "intensified price competition for set products and price declines for major component products" in 2011.

Prices for consumer electronics and components, especially semiconductors and LCDs, are prone to cyclical booms and busts depending on supply conditions within the broader industry and can also be affected by competitive cuts as rival manufacturers jockey for advantage.

Unlike last year, however, the company expects the "traditional earnings pattern of weak first half and strong second half to take place in 2011," Yi told analysts on a conference call.

Investors pushed up Samsung's share price as much as 1.4 percent to a record high 1.01 million won in morning trading about 25 minutes after the earnings result was released. Samsung released its results a little more than a half hour after the start of trading.

Samsung's semiconductor business, which includes memory chips, and its telecommunications business, which includes mobile phones, were the company's main earnings drivers in the fourth quarter.

Semiconductor sales gained 16 percent from the year before to 9.25 trillion won as the company countered negative pricing by focusing on high-margin products including mobile DRAM. The company manufactures both DRAM chips, used mostly in personal computers, and NAND flash memory chips, used in products such as digital cameras, music players and smartphones.

Sales in telecommunications, meanwhile, rose 19 percent to 12.11 trillion won.

"In telecommunications, we achieved record high quarterly sales and operating profits as a result of strong sales of Galaxy S as well as Galaxy Tab in developed markets and solid sales of mass market smartphones as well as full-touch phones in emerging markets," Yi said.

After a slow start in smartphones, Samsung is making a major push to challenge Apple Inc.'s iPhone with it Galaxy brand. Samsung has sold 10 million Galaxy S smartphones since the flagship model was introduced in June last year.

Samsung said Friday it aims to sell 60 million smartphones this year, twice the 2010 total, and plans to introduce what it called a successor to the Galaxy S during the first half of the year.

IS ABORTION GOOD FOR GIRLS?

This week, on the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Obama said Roe "affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters."

Sen. Rick Santorum meanwhile sparked a controversy saying abortion is a "civil rights" issue akin to slavery that President Obama should understand.

He's right. Slavery was once considered a "private family matter" too -- a "domestic relationship" in which government had no right to interfere.

But I found it even sadder how a committed father of two daughters like President Obama could go on to say this about abortion: "And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams."

Abortion is a symbol of our aspirations for our daughters? Am I the only one who finds something grotesque in that?

I spent the anniversary of Roe v. Wade reading an important new book, "Premarital Sex in America," written by two well-regarded young sociologists, Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin and Jeremy Uecker at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

They analyzed Add Health's nationally representative data to find out how sex and abortion affect young women's mental health and life satisfaction.

Their conclusion? The data "suggest that abortion may contribute to depression in emerging adulthood, independent of sexual-behavior patterns" in young women -- and even after controlling for factors like race, family structure, parents' education and educational attainment.

An even bigger problem for our daughters' mental health is the low-commitment peer sexual culture that Roe v. Wade helped to spawn. Regnerus and Uecker find that "having more numerous sexual partners is associated with poorer emotional states in women, but not men."

Overall 16 percent of young adult women say they've been diagnosed with depression. Among those who have 10 or more lifetime partners, 32 percent say they've been diagnosed with depression. Among those who've had 10 or more partners in the past year, almost half say they've been diagnosed with depression.

If less-committed sex makes women feel bad, why do they do it?

Well, Regnerus and Uecker provocatively ask, why do a growing number of young women engage in anal sex? By age 23, 33 percent of never-married young women in the Add Health survey say they've had anal sex (white women are the most likely). When asked if they enjoy it "very much," just 15 percent of women who've tried it say yes. So why do women do it?

Regnerus and Uecker speculate that it is for the same reason so many women are engaging in repetitive experiences of low-commitment sex that make them unhappy. Because they feel they have few alternatives. Anal sex in particular is a response to our porn-saturated culture, in which young men are increasingly viewing images of anal sex with women and asking their girlfriends for it. Women have less sexual power than they did even a generation ago. When it comes to our sexual mores, young men rule the roost.

Anal sex is painful, unsanitary, unsatisfying for women, and creates unique risks for serious physical diseases (if you doubt me, go read the Wikipedia entry on the subject) because the anus is not designed for sexual intercourse, increasing the risk of torn flesh and the intermingling of bodily fluids -- blood, semen, fecal matter -- that can spread an astonishing variety of diseases. The female partner is far more at risk than the man in these encounters. This should be a feminist issue.

But women are doing it to please their boyfriends. Because we have created a sexual culture that empowers young males (even as it stunts their incentives to grow to become successful, confident and happy family men) and disempowers women.

Women's bodies are designed for connection, to connect sex, love, and yes, even babies.

But Roe v. Wade symbolizes a sexual culture that teaches young women: To succeed you have to deform your body to be like a man, to do what men like. Or else you've failed and it's your fault.

(Maggie Gallagher is the founder of the National Organization for Marriage and has been a syndicated columnist for 15 years.)3 Semanas Y 4 Dias.Www .Keep it Coming.Live on Kiss100 (1 february 2004) .DJ Selection 142 (the House Jam part 37) (DSM728)