Masked gunmen block avenue in Boca del Rio and leave behind corpses reported to include men from mass prison escape Masked gunmen have blocked traffic on a busy avenue in the Mexican coastal city of Boca del Rio and dumped the bodies of 35 murder victims in front of motorists, according to authorities. Veracruz state attorney general Reynaldo Escobar Perez said the bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground of an underpass. Police had identified seven of the victims as being linked to organised crime. The Gulf and Zetas drug cartels have been locked in a bloody war for control in Veracruz state over the last year. Motorists first began tweeting on Tuesday afternoon that masked gunmen in military uniforms were blocking Manuel Avila Camacho Boulevard and pointing their guns at civilians. Local media reported that among the dead were some of 32 prisoners who escaped from three Veracruz prisons on Monday. Escobar said he could not confirm that. Police have recaptured 14 of the escapees alive. Earlier on Tuesday the Mexican army had announced the capture of a key figure in the Knights Templar drug cartel involved in violence in western Mexico. Saul Solis Solis, 49, a former police chief and one-time congressional candidate, was captured on Monday in the cartel’s home state of Michoacan. Solis is considered one of the principal lieutenants in the Knights Templar, which split late last year from La Familia, a pseudo-religious drug gang known as a major trafficker of methamphetamine. He is accused in various attacks on the military and federal police, including one in May 2007 that killed an officer and four soldiers. Mexico’s attorney general had offered a $1.1m reward for information leading to his capture. President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against organised crime in 2006 in his home state of Michoacan, where much of the violence had been attributed to La Familia. Knights Templar became a splinter group after the leader of La Familia, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, was killed in a shootout with federal police last December. A second La Familia leader, Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, was arrested in June, leading Calderon’s government to say it had all but dismantled the gang. But violence continues in Michoacan and other parts of western Mexico where Knights Templar is trying to control territory. Both groups claim to be devoted to God and to be fighting poverty and injustice under a strict code of conduct. Drug violence has claimed more than 35,000 lives across Mexico since 2006, according to government figures. Others put the number at more than 40,000. Mexico Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Compromise would see Mahmoud Abbas submit letter to security council, which would then defer vote until further talks International efforts to forestall a showdown in the UN security council over the declaration of a Palestinian state are solidifying around a plan for the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to submit a request for recognition but for a vote on the issue to be put on hold while a new round of peace talks is launched. The deal is being pushed by the Middle East “Quartet” of the UN, EU, US and Russia, which is attempting to persuade Abbas to back away from a diplomatic confrontation with Washington, which says it will veto the Palestinian bid. The US president Barack Obama is expected to meet the Palestinian leader at the UN on Wednesday as Abbas comes under intense pressure from the US and Europe to compromise. Diplomats said the proposed compromise would see Abbas submit his letter to the security council, which would then defer action. In parallel, the Quartet would issue the framework for renewed negotiations that would include a timeline for the birth of a Palestinian state. The deal is intended to permit Abbas to follow through on his commitment to Palestinians to seek recognition for an independent state at the security council, a pledge he could not abandon entirely without considerable damage to his already battered leadership. If the proposals under discussion come to fruition, Abbas could claim a victory for the Palestinians by saying he has achieved his principal goal in going to the UN of breaking the deadlock that has seen no serious movement towards a Palestinian state in years. However, diplomats warned that a number of issues remain unresolved, including a Palestinian demand that the statement include a requirement that Israel halt construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Israel’s position is unclear. Its prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, arrives in New York on Wednesday and has appealed for immediate talks with Abbas but without preconditions. Diplomats said negotiations were likely to come down to the wire as Abbas plans to submit the request on Friday. “The Palestinians are open to a way out of this,” said a diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations. “But they can’t abandon the security council vote without something to show. The question is how to turn this to their advantage. If the result is that there is a serious push to make peace talks work, then that’s a win for the Palestinians. I think everyone involved in this – the Americans, the Europeans – would like to see that happen.” Husam Zomlot, a Palestinian spokesman, said Abbas remains committed to submitting the Palestinian request to the security council but he noted that the intention behind the move was to break the deadlock in the peace process, which may now be happening. “There is absolutely no contradiction whatsoever between our quest for United Nations full membership and any possible negotiations. In fact, we see them as very very complementary. We are seeking this to provide any future bilateral process with sufficient multilateral cover where we don’t waste another 20 years,” he said. The proposals under discussion would have the Quartet statement say, at the Palestinians’ behest, that the goal is a Palestinian state based on the borders at the time of the 1967 war that led to the occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It will also meet an Israeli demand by saying that talks will result in two countries with Israel as a Jewish state. A Palestinian official acknowledged the plan was a focus of discussion with the Quartet although he cautioned that the leadership is concerned to ensure there is real momentum and that Israel is not permitted to drag out negotiations. Abbas has come under intense pressure from the US and European nations to avoid forcing Washington to wield its veto. The British foreign secretary, William Hague, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, met the Palestinian leader on Tuesday to press him to reopen talks. Nabil Shaath, a senior member of Abbas’s delegation to the UN, said the US has attempted to dissuade the Palestinians from going to the security council with the threat of punitive measures. He did not say what they might be although there are demands in Congress for the $500m in US aid to the Palestinian Authority to be cut. The Palestinians are also under pressure because it is far from certain they will win the necessary nine votes in the security council to win recognition. The US has been using its influence to get some security council members to abstain in the hope the Palestinians will lose the vote and that the US veto will not be required. Nonetheless, Abbas can claim a diplomatic success in forcing the most serious effort to kickstart peace negotiations in years. The US insistence that it will veto the Palestinian bid for membership in the security council has strengthened the hand of European governments, which have generally be sidelined by Washington in the Middle East peace process. Britain and France in particular, as permanent members of the security council, have attempted to use their votes as a bargaining chip in dealings with Abbas by suggesting that they could support a move to give the Palestinians greater recognition in the UN general assembly if a vote is not forced in the security council. However, diplomats cautioned that the plan is far from complete and that obstacles remain. Palestinian territories Mahmoud Abbas United Nations Israel Middle East Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …In an article at Alternet , Joshua Holland makes the case that conservative-pushed tax cuts lead to increased fees at the state level and frequently this leads to average Americans having to pay more in overall taxes and fees to the government than they would’ve paid without the tax cuts. Because states usually have balanced-budget amendments, any cuts to taxes must be offset. Years of austerity-like measures in the states have left governors and legislatures little to cut. This means that conservatives at the state level are forced to raise fees for various services that their citizens partake of in order to keep the budget balanced. But to the taxpayer, there is absolutely no difference between a “tax” and a “fee,” in the end, they still have less money. And when conservatives brag about cutting taxes while raising fees, they are lying to the public. This last option has proven appeal with conservative politicians because they can say, with only technical accuracy, that they didn’t raise your taxes. Across the country, state and local governments are squeezing ordinary people for every penny they can lay their hands on, and the burden these fee increases can put on ordinary families is often significant. Make no mistake: these fees are completely regressive — it costs a billionaire the same amount to renew his or her driver’s license as it does a pauper. There isn’t much in the way of 50-state data on fees for services. But whether you know it or not, significant fee hikes are nickle and dime-ing you pretty much wherever you might live. USA Today reported that, across the country, “state and local governments are turning to user fees to raise quick cash — from increases on hunting licenses to fees for enrolling in the Little League. One town is considering charging accident victims who need to be extricated from their cars.” The end of the first paragraph above is the key — these fees are regressive. This is another example of conservatives shifting the costs of government downward, making those least able to afford to pay for government pay for a bigger and bigger share, despite getting less and less in return.
Continue reading …In an article at Alternet , Joshua Holland makes the case that conservative-pushed tax cuts lead to increased fees at the state level and frequently this leads to average Americans having to pay more in overall taxes and fees to the government than they would’ve paid without the tax cuts. Because states usually have balanced-budget amendments, any cuts to taxes must be offset. Years of austerity-like measures in the states have left governors and legislatures little to cut. This means that conservatives at the state level are forced to raise fees for various services that their citizens partake of in order to keep the budget balanced. But to the taxpayer, there is absolutely no difference between a “tax” and a “fee,” in the end, they still have less money. And when conservatives brag about cutting taxes while raising fees, they are lying to the public. This last option has proven appeal with conservative politicians because they can say, with only technical accuracy, that they didn’t raise your taxes. Across the country, state and local governments are squeezing ordinary people for every penny they can lay their hands on, and the burden these fee increases can put on ordinary families is often significant. Make no mistake: these fees are completely regressive — it costs a billionaire the same amount to renew his or her driver’s license as it does a pauper. There isn’t much in the way of 50-state data on fees for services. But whether you know it or not, significant fee hikes are nickle and dime-ing you pretty much wherever you might live. USA Today reported that, across the country, “state and local governments are turning to user fees to raise quick cash — from increases on hunting licenses to fees for enrolling in the Little League. One town is considering charging accident victims who need to be extricated from their cars.” The end of the first paragraph above is the key — these fees are regressive. This is another example of conservatives shifting the costs of government downward, making those least able to afford to pay for government pay for a bigger and bigger share, despite getting less and less in return.
Continue reading …
Twenty years ago, NBC’s “Today” devoted three days of interviews to the insufferable Kitty Kelley, who unspooled baseless allegations against Nancy Reagan, like her supposed love affair with Frank Sinatra. That kind of tabloid bilge belched back up the garbage disposal on September 16, when “Today” promoted the new Palin-bashing book “The Rogue,” by leftist author Joe McGinniss. NBC doesn’t have an evidence standard when it's conservatives being gored. With liberals, it’s a different story. NBC didn’t give a second to McGinniss after he was roundly condemned by liberals in 1993 for his Ted Kennedy book “The Last Brother.” In 1996, after the Clinton White House complained, “Dateline NBC” canceled an interview with author and former Secret Service agent Gary Aldrich on his anti-Clinton book “Unlimited Access.”
Continue reading …I can’t say this is a big surprise , but it’s a welcome one. Cenk Uygur will be bringing his web show, The Young Turks to Current TV. Here’s more from the HuffPo — Cenk Uygur To Current TV: Ex-MSNBC Host Brings Web Show To Olbermann’s Network : Cenk Uygur is headed to Keith Olbermann’s house. Current TV announced Tuesday that Uygur is bringing his Web show “The Young Turks” to its network. The show will air at 7 PM, just before Olbermann’s “Countdown.” Uygur had been hosting the 6 PM hour on MSNBC, before his extremely contentious departure from the network in July. Uygur said that he had felt pressure to soften his tone against the Obama administration, something MSNBC denied. He was replaced by Al Sharpton. The day after he left MSNBC, Uygur appeared on “Countdown.” At the same time, he made it clear that he had already started talking to Current about the possibility of hosting a show there. That made Tuesday’s announcement something of a foregone conclusion. In its announcement, Current said that it would be launching an “original television version” of “The Young Turks.” The network did not give a start date for the program, saying only that it would air in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Continue reading …“Across the nation over 100,000 miles of highways and bridges are in disrepair…millions of ill-equipped vehicles…half a million cubic yards of debris…” Hey Congress, you worthless suit-filling do-nothings: Fix the potholes ! German car makers are making fun of us! German car makers are designing cars to compensate for our crumbling road system. German car makers are capitalizing – profiting from making cars that can handle our neglected infrastructure. You’re making us look bad in front of the Germans.
Continue reading …Rick Perry accuses Barack Obama of betraying Israel over Palestinian bid
September 20, 2011 No Comment
Texas governor turns Palestinian statehood bid into election issue, accusing Obama of siding with ‘orchestrators of terrorism’ The confrontation over the Palestinian bid to win recognition as a state at the United Nations shifted to the US presidential race when Rick Perry, the leading Republican contender, accused Barack Obama of appeasing terrorists and betraying Israel. Perry, at a campaign rally in New York, launched a stinging attack on Obama’s handing of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, accusing him of abandoning America’s ally in favour of the “Arab street” in the Egyptian revolution, as diplomatic wrangling continued to try to head off a showdown in the UN security council over the Palestinian request for statehood. The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, was to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the British foreign secretary, William Hague, on Tuesday as Europe spearheaded efforts to dissuade him from pursuing the UN move with promises to revive peace negotiations. Obama has said the US will veto the Palestinian request – expected to be made on Friday – for the security council to recognise a state based on the land occupied since the 1967 war, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The US president is also expected to speak out strongly against the move in his speech to the UN general assembly on Wednesday. But Perry said that was not good enough, and blamed the president for bringing on the crisis by siding with the Palestinians over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, and by saying the US would act as a neutral broker in talks. Perry said: “The Obama policy of moral equivalence, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and the Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a very dangerous insult. There is no middle ground between our allies and those who seek their destruction. “We see the American administration having a willingness to isolate a close ally, and to do so in a manner that is both insulting and naive.” Perry attacked Obama for his recent statement, which angered Israel, that any final peace agreement should be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 war, even though it is widely accepted that will be the basis of a deal. “It was wrong for this administration to suggest the 1967 borders should be the starting point for Israel-Palestinian negotiations,” Perry said. “The Obama administration put Israel in a position of weakness, taking away their flexibility to offer concessions as part of the negotiations process. “Indeed, bolstered by the Obama administration’s policies and the apologists at the UN, the Palestinians are exploiting instability in the Middle East, hoping to achieve their objective without concessions and direct negotiations with Israel.” Perry also criticised Obama’s handling of the revolutions in the Middle East, particularly in abandoning support for the former Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, who was a close ally of Israel. The Texas governor spoke of the “risk posed by the new regime in Egypt”, which is not as sympathetic to Israel. “The Obama administration has appeased the Arab street at the expense of our national security,” he said. Perry’s attack is part of a growing Republican assault on Obama’s Israel policy as evidence he is weak, despite the administration’s success in finding Osama bin Laden. Israel can be a sensitive political issue in the US, in part because of considerable support for the Jewish state among Christian evangelical voters. Jewish voters tend to overwhelmingly support Democratic presidential candidates, but unhappiness over US policy on Israel can have an impact in swing states, most notably Florida, and on congressional elections. Last week, Democrats suffered an upset, losing a New York congressional election to the Republicans in a heavily Jewish constituency. Although several factors were at play, particularly high unemployment and economic stagnation, polls showed that among some Jewish voters there was significant disquiet about Obama’s Israel policies. More importantly, the issue is used by Obama’s opponents to accuse him of being soft on America’s enemies and incompetent. Republicans in Congress are blaming the president for the Palestinian request to the security council because of a speech Obama made to the UN a year ago, in which he said he hoped to welcome a sovereign state of Palestine as a UN member by October 2010. The Palestinians are portraying that statement as “Obama’s promise”. Republicans say it is further evidence that Obama is hostile to Israel. Another leading presidential contender, Mitt Romney, last week said the Palestinian approach to the UN “is another testament of the president’s failure of leadership”. Perry said that if the UN grants additional recognition to the Palestinians, the US should close the Palestinian Liberation Organisation office in Washington. Other Republicans want to go further, and cut of the more than $500m in aid the Palestinian Authority receives from the US each year. The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee last week held a hearing on the issue in which the chairperson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, called for aid to be cut. Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, said at the UN on Tuesday that the Palestinians should be punished for taking the statehood bid to the security council. “There should be consequences for irresponsible behaviour. There should be consequences for the Palestinians shutting the door on negotiations,” he said. In the West Bank, which the Palestinians want the UN to declare part of their state, a call to Jewish settlers to rally against the move flopped when only a few dozen attended a series of marches against the Palestinians’ bid for statehood. Soldiers in riot gear watched as the protesters burned the Palestinian flag near Beit El, a settlement close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah. “If the Palestinians want a state, they can go to Europe or the US – it’s very nice there,” said Michael Ben Ari, a member of the Israeli parliament. “This is the land of Israel and we are here forever.” Hardline settlers have stepped up attacks on Palestinians and their property in the runup to the UN meeting, according to the Palestinian media, amid fears on both sides that they are trying to provoke confrontations. The Israeli security forces have stockpiled tear gas, rubber bullets and foul-smelling water cannon in preparation for possible violent demonstrations. Rick Perry Israel Palestinian territories Barack Obama US elections 2012 US politics United States United Nations Republicans Chris McGreal Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
enlarge Conservative columnist David Brooks of the NY Times finally admitted what most of America already knows. Yes, I’m a sap. He tries to turn that statement around in his idiotic op-ed by saying that he always truly believed Obama would do great things, but because of his deficit reduction speech, he’s now disillusioned. Does the NY Times really believe the words he’s putting down on paper? If they do and he does then I have an old crumbling bridge to sell them. Yes, I’m a sap. I believed Obama when he said he wanted to move beyond the stale ideological debates that have paralyzed this country. I always believe that Obama is on the verge of breaking out of the conventional categories and embracing one of the many bipartisan reform packages that are floating around. But remember, I’m a sap. The White House has clearly decided that in a town of intransigent Republicans and mean ideologues, it has to be mean and intransigent too. The president was stung by the liberal charge that he was outmaneuvered during the debt-ceiling fight. So the White House has moved away from the Reasonable Man approach or the centrist Clinton approach. David, David, David. Your party has been taken over by ideologues that pray to Ayn Rand before they go to bed at night. Don’t you even remember your own columns? You admitted that the GOP has changed into Beltway Bandits, Big Government Blowhards, Show Horses and Permanent Campaigners. In other words, a bunch of political lunatics. And you’re disillusioned with the one person that tried to negotiate with these people?
Continue reading …Nick Clegg keynote speech to propose summer school in response to riots
September 20, 2011 No Comment
Voluntary scheme will start next year and is aimed at 100,000 children in danger of ‘falling through the cracks’ Nick Clegg will unveil a compassionate response to the riots in his keynote speech to Liberal Democrats on Wednesday by proposing that as many as 100,000 children at risk of going off the rails be offered a chance to attend two-week summer school prior to starting secondary studies. He will say the voluntary summer school can prevent children “falling through the cracks”. The £50m scheme will start next year, offering catch-up classes to help young people who he claims have lost touch with their future. His response is markedly different to the punitive one offered by David Cameron in the immediate wake of the summer unrest. Rather than attacking a general collapse in morality, Clegg argues the generation that rioted appeared to have lost any stake in society. He was struck by the number of rioters who had nothing to lose. “It was about what they could get here and now, not what lies in front of them tomorrow and in the years ahead. As if their own future had little value. “Too many of those young people had simply fallen through the cracks, not just this summer but many summers ago when they lost touch with their own future,” Clegg will say at the close of the party’s Birmingham conference. The point of transition from primary to secondary education at age 11 has often been seen by educationists as a critical moment when disadvantaged children fall behind. Clegg claims those who go off the rails in later years are those who struggled in school. Cash for the scheme will be allocated in England on the basis of the number of pupils in receipt of free school meals, and participation will be available to anyone identified by secondary schools as likely to be benefit from the catch-up classes. Classes may be run by secondary schools or voluntary groups. A wider dispute is raging between Clegg’s party and the Conservatives on how to respond to the riots. The Liberal Democrat justice minister, Lord McNally, revealed that Downing Street wanted the word “punishment” inserted into the legal aid and sentencing bill. He said the “little elves that work in No 10 helping the prime minister” had been at work. He warned Conservative ministers not to turn the legislation into a “Christmas tree bill” loaded with new ideas, adding that this could jeopardise its passage through the Lords. Downing Street said the word punishment would not be included in the bill, but the proposals set out by Cameron in the wake of the riots would appear. They include withdrawing benefit from parents whose children play truant. Liberal Democrats are insisting that any removal of benefits should be administered by magistrates courts, with no double jeopardy – those convicted being punished first by the courts and then the Department for Work and Pensions.Clegg will say he is leading a charge to end the deep injustice where birth is destiny, adding he has encountered fierce resistance from those who do well out of the status quo and do not want to see greater social mobility. He will say: “People keep telling me that it is too hard and that it is futile to push for fairness into headwinds of an economic downturn, or that it will just take too long and I should find some convenient quick win instead.” Britain will not be a liberal nation “until every citizen can thrive and prosper, until birth is no longer destiny, until every child is free to rise.” Claiming only his party is opposed to vested interests such as bankers, trade unionists and media moguls, he will also lay down a challenge to Ed Miliband to accept reforms to party funding due to be published shortly. “I don’t think unions should be able to buy themselves a political party.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats David Cameron UK riots Children Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …