Shoe-throwers fans unite online

They've sung his praises on social networking pages, calling him a "hero," "the greatest man of our time," "a legend." They've said he deserves to be knighted and should be decorated with medals. They've cried out for his amnesty and some have even proposed serving time for him.



The man that hundreds of thousands of Facebook users honor is none other than Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was sentenced on Thursday to three years in prison for hurling his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush.

The double-whammy size 10 shoe toss, (neither of which hit Bush) , took place in December at a news conference held in Baghdad, Iraq. In many traditional Middle East circles, throwing shoes at someone is considered a grave insult.

To do this to an American president surrounded by Secret Service agents, no less, was as shocking to riveted viewers who watched the footage later as it was to the president himself.

"First of all, it's got to be one of the most weird moments of my presidency," Bush said later. "Here I am getting ready to answer questions from the free press in a democratic Iraq, and a guy stands up and throws his shoe. ... I'm not angry with the system. I believe that a free society is emerging, and a free society is necessary for our own security and peace."

Expressing their own freedom on Facebook, a worldwide fan base rose up to laud al-Zaidi's actions. They formed hundreds of fan pages and groups, big and small, serious and light. One is even called the "Shoe-Throwing Appreciation Society."

Mike Trainor, 28, was watching a football game when a news break brought footage of the incident across his TV screen.

"I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen," said Trainor, a Queens, New York, stand-up comedian behind "Guy Who Threw His Shoes at Bush," which has attracted nearly 270,000 fans.

The comedian may have created the post for laughs, but he quickly learned how loaded the issue was.

"It grew into this crazy thing," in which Bush supporters began to weigh in on message boards calling al-Zaidi supporters "a threat to America" and insults in reaction flew, he said. "It shows people have a lot of passionate feelings about it, that's for sure."

One message board on his page, titled "YOU GUYS HATE AMERICA," drew 384 posts in reaction. The creator started it with these words: "seriously you guys are all a**holes. why would you be happy about some freaking foreigner throwing his shoes at the leader of the free world? I don't care if he's dumb he's my president of my wonderful country ****"

Interspersed amid the groups of fans were those that spoke out against the al-Zaidi worship. "That shoe thrower is not a hero," attracted 94 members, many of them with Arabic names.

One London poster said the shoe thrower "did nothing but bring shame upon us iraqis [sic],"
Another from Halifax, Nova Scotia added, "I dont care about Bush but this guy was very disrespectful to the Iraqi Prime minister who was standing right next to him [sic]."

But the shoe-thrower fans, at least in the world of Facebook, seem to far outweigh those who decried his actions.

"This site is intended to express the appreciation of those who share the frustration and anger that you expressed when you blew Mr Bush those boot-kisses [sic]," reads the description on "Thank you Muntadhar al-Zaidi," a nearly 500-member page created by a teacher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Protests of the journalist's arrest and now sentence brought Arab and Muslim demonstrators to the streets. But what Facebook has shown is that al-Zaidi's angry expression resonated with those beyond his religion and region. From England and Uruguay to China and Bush's own red, white and blue, supporters have made noise, at least virtually.

"We're talking about a common man, like me and you," who was "tired of years of lies from a self-called 'freedom saver,' " said Matteo Ferigo of Padova, Italy, the 30-year-old creator behind "Save Muntadhar al-Zaidi," which has 116 members. "I understand that his act was not so civil, polite or 'politically correct,' but I also understand how Iraqi people can see George Bush and what he represents to them."

Ari Vais, the creator of the page, "Free the Iraqi shoe throwing journalist!," said his own history taught him the value of free expression.

"I was born in the Soviet Union, where dissent like this was cracked down on severely," said Vais, a 39-year-old Queens, New York, musician. "We came to America when I was a boy because we knew that people should be free."

What al-Zaidi did was a reflection of the democracy Vais thought Bush intended to spread.

"We were supposed to be liberators, and what America stands for is freedom of self-expression and human rights," he said. "All he did was throw a couple shoes. And he missed! It was political theater and not jail-time stuff."

But it was serious business. Anyone, no matter where they live, would be tackled by Secret Service and face charges for such an attempted assault on the president. If al-Zaidi had done this to say, Saddam Hussein, one has to wonder what would have come of the man who's now celebrated.

The shoe throwing, because it was so shocking, proved great fodder for late-night talk shows. Comedians, beyond Trainor, had a field day with this one. It inspired online games for people who wanted to play al-Zaidi.

Matt Love of Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada called the Iraqi journalist's move "an act of great courage" and said that in showing his disdain for Bush, "He spoke for many millions of people."

The 52-year-old retired Washington state department of transportation worker believes everyone can learn from the shoe thrower.

Commenting Thursday on several fan pages, including one calling for a Nobel Peace Prize for al-Zaidi, Love suggested that people turn out for Bush's March 17 speech at the TELUS Convention Centre in Calgary.

"Lets [sic] show some solidarity...and lob some loafers," he wrote. "Will the Canadian government lock us up for 3 years? Let's find out."

Reached later in the day, however, he assured news media that this was written tongue-in-cheek.

"Let me be clear," Love said. "I won't be throwing shoes at anyone."


Thoughts? Where do you stand on this?

Bernard Madoff will plead guilty

Bernard Madoff's lawyer says his client will plead guilty to 11 counts, meaning the former Nasdaq chairman could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The counts include money laundering, perjury and securities, mail and wire fraud. Madoff, 70, is accused of carrying out one of the largest financial frauds in history.

On Tuesday, the judge presiding over the case asked Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, if his client would plead guilty.

"That's a reasonable expectation," Sorkin replied.

Prosecutor Marc Litt said the U.S. government has not offered Madoff a plea deal on the 11 counts, which carry a combined penalty of up to 150 years in prison.

The comments were made at a hearing to resolve any potential conflicts of interest between Madoff and Sorkin; the lawyer's family invested more than $900,000 with Madoff.

The judge decided Madoff understood his right to "conflict free counsel" and "is waiving that right," so ruled that Sorkin could continue to represent him.

Prosecutors allege Madoff essentially ran an unprecedented Ponzi scheme, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission failed to uncover, that bilked investors out of between $20 billion and $50 billion.

So far, authorities have managed to recover $1 billion.

Frank Razzano, a former SEC lawyer, said that if Madoff pleads guilty, and has not made a plea deal with prosecutors, he would not be obligated to share information about whether anyone else is connected to the case.

"He does not have to provide information with respect to his wife, children and fellow employees," Razzano said. "Normally, if you enter into a plea deal with the United States government, you have to agree to provide truthful information to the government and you can't assert your Fifth Amendment rights -- the right to remain silent."

However, Razzano said authorities would continue to investigate the scheme, and look into who may be connected.

"Prosecutors are going to run every single lead into the ground," he said.

Among the alleged victims were numerous charities, including and the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which lost about $15 million. The group's mandate is to educate the public about the Holocaust and combat intolerance. A Canadian charity, the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, was also reportedly affected.

The British bank HSBC was one of the largest victims, losing about $1 billion. Celebrities like director Steven Spielberg and actor Kevin Bacon also lost money, although the exact amount is unknown.

Chinese software pirates get prison sentences

The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least US$2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft Corp. software were sentenced to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, in what is believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws.

The punishments meted out against the 11 defendants, and announced by Microsoft Corp., could help China improve its image as a country that doesn't crack down hard enough on copyright violators, though the technology and entertainment industries still say China has a long way to go. The sentences ranged from 1 1/2 to 6 1/2 years, according to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.

The fact that Microsoft, and not the Chinese courts, disclosed the sentences is not unusual. Lawyers are the only source of information in many cases in China because rulings often are not publicly announced. Court officials usually refuse to disclose details to reporters.

Microsoft calls the counterfeit software operation -- which was headquartered in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and busted by Chinese authorities with help from the FBI in 2007 -- the world's biggest phony-software syndicate.

The counterfeit software was found in 36 countries and 11 different languages. It was so sophisticated that it contained legitimate computer code written by Microsoft for programs such as Windows XP and Vista and Microsoft Office, but also had touches of the criminals' own coding as well. That was allegedly added to mimic security programs and fool users into believing the product was authentic.

Microsoft contends that much of the bogus software was detected by its Windows Genuine Advantage program, which is automatically installed on users' machines. It scans computers for pirated software and alerts people if it believes their products aren't properly licensed. The counterfeits were also discovered through customs seizures, test purchases by Microsoft, and resellers who alerted authorities to suspicious competitors.

"There were a number of things that made this case unique and striking, and among them are the fact that customers provided information, the reach of the syndicate was so international, and that Chinese law enforcement partnered so well with American law enforcement," David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting, said in an interview.

Software piracy is still rampant despite individual countries' attempts at cracking down. Research commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group, found that 82 percent of the software used in China in 2007 was not legitimately purchased, more than double the worldwide piracy rate of 38 percent.