President Obama is taking the American Jobs Act (AJA) on the road to the people with whom it will resonate most: the currently unemployed; young people in college facing a slow jobs market; and veterans back home looking for work. He is at his best in this environment. It’s what I wish he would have done more of during the horrid debt-ceiling debate. He’s not out there peddling high hopes, either. After a month of brutal town halls where people were so angry at their Republican tea party representatives in Congress that some actually cancelled town halls, the President is speaking their language and it’s worrisome to the obstructionist Republicans. Here’s the transcript of his closer in Richmond, Virginia. It wasn’t an accident that his first stop was Eric Cantor’s district: So I’m asking all of you to lift up your voices, not just here in Richmond — anybody watching, listening, following online — I want you to call, I want you to email, I want you to tweet — (laughter) — I want you to fax, I want you to visit, I want you to Facebook, send a carrier pigeon — (laughter.) I want you to tell your congressperson, the time for gridlock and games is over. The time for action is now. The time to create jobs is now. (Applause.) Pass this bill. If you want construction workers on the worksite — pass this bill. (Applause.) If you want teachers in the classroom — pass this bill. (Applause.) You want small business owners to hire new people — pass this bill. (Applause.) If you want veterans to get their fair share of opportunity that they helped create — pass this bill. (Applause.) If you want a tax break — pass this bill. (Applause.) Prove you will fight as hard for tax cuts for workers and middle-class people as you do for oil companies and rich folks. Pass this bill. (Applause.) Let’s get something done. (Applause.) The next election is 14 months away. We cannot wait. The American people do not have the luxury of waiting another 14 months for some action. Some of you are living paycheck to paycheck, week to week, day by day. Now is not the time for people in Washington to be worrying about their jobs. It’s time for them to be worrying about your jobs. (Applause.) Now is the time to put Americans back to work. Now is the time to act. (Applause.) We are not a people that just look and watch and wait to see what happens. We’re Americans. We make things happen. (Applause.) We’re tougher than these times. We are bigger than the smallness of our politics. We are patriots and we are pioneers, and innovators and entrepreneurs, who through individual effort and through a common commitment to one another will build an economy that is once again the engine and the envy of the world. (Applause.) And we will write our own destiny. It’s within our power. But we’ve got to seize the moment. So let’s just shake off all the naysaying and the anxiety and the hand-wringing. Enough of that. Let’s get to work. (Applause.) Let’s show the world once again why America is the greatest nation on Earth. Thank you, everybody. God bless you. (Applause.) God bless America. (Applause.) There is nothing more critical to the successful outcome of this legislation than us, and not only because we hope representatives have at least a small clue about what their job is. The reason the tea party got any traction during the health care debate was because they showed up. They tweeted, facebooked, made stupid signs and showed up. Eric Cantor is afraid we will, too. Via Daily Kos , Eric Cantor’s whine: This is my objection to the message that was delivered tonight. The message was: either accept my package as it is, or I will take it to the American people. I would say that that’s the wrong approach. What we’re here to do is try to transcend differences, not let them get in the way in the areas we can make progress on. Interesting choice of words there. The wrong approach is to take it to the people, why? And then to follow that up with transcending differences being a product of NOT taking it to the people? Cantor knows just like the rest of us know that when this plan is taken to the people they’re going to like it and support it. There won’t be any differences with them, only with Cantor’s Koch party keepers. Oh, and then there was this from Cantor, after the Richmond speech: enlarge How perfectly Republican. Claim an “all or nothing” strategy is terrible because that’s the strategy he and his merry band of ugly men have been taking since this President took office. It’s so cynical it burns. This is a perfect example of President Obama’s 2008 message: We are the change. Not him. Us. I think we ought to take it to the streets and tell every elected official in this country that we can’t wait any longer for them to do what they were hired to do. Jobs, and jobs now. Does this mean I believe in unicorns and a cowed GOP? No, of course I don’t. But President Obama appears to have listened to the criticisms we’ve all made about how we don’t want compromise, we want action. And if we want action, I submit we have to get out there and make them hear us instead of letting the tea party have all the attention. They should pass this bill now.
Continue reading …Tony Blair knew immediately that 9/11 terror attacks ‘changed everything’
September 10, 2011 No Comment
Blair’s ex-chief of staff Jonathan Powell says former prime minister became ‘very steely, very focused’ after attacks on US Tony Blair became “very steely, very focused” immediately after the September 11 attacks, his former chief of staff said today. In an interview marking 10 years since 9/11, Jonathan Powell told BBC Breakfast: “He realised that things had changed. Many people took longer to get there. “A lot of people didn’t realise quite how much this changed attitudes in America. For them, it was another Pearl Harbour. It changed everything.” Blair was in Brighton on the day preparing for a speech for a TUC conference. He was alone in a room making final tweaks when an aid interrupted him and told him there was something he must watch on TV. After the second plane crashed into the twin towers, he knew it was a terrorist attack. “He really became very steely, very focused. I think he was the first on television to express our sympathy as a country, but also the world’s sympathy with the United States and to stand alongside them,” said Powell. “Many Americans still remember what he said at the time and that’s why he’s still quite popular in the US because he stood out there and said what the world thought about it.” Meanwhile, Powell said that Downing Street was unable to contact President Bush until the day after the terrorists struck. Bush was “a very shaken man”, he said. “He wasn’t sure what to do. His voice was quavering. He was in a state almost of shock.” In a separate interview with the Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday, Blair insisted “significant blows” had been struck in the war on terror but admitted, “it’s not over”. Speaking from his London home on the eve of 9/11, he defended the actions he took in the wake of the atrocity and said it was “deeply naive” to believe the response of the west had radicalised extremist Muslim factions. He said radicals “believe in what they believe in because they believe their religion compels them to believe in it”. He told the terrorism threat would only end when “we defeat the ideology”. “I think it will take a generation, but the way to defeat this ideology ultimately is by a better idea, and we have it, which is a way of life based on openness, democracy, freedom and the rule of law.” September 11 2001 United States Global terrorism Tony Blair Jonathan Powell George Bush Terrorism policy guardian.co.uk
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For Hollywood, to push America’s morality buttons is a win-win proposition. When they challenge those moribund “traditional values,” they not only strike a blow for the sexual revolution, they create the cherished publicity “buzz” that brings attention – and viewers – to their shows. It explains why ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” named to their cast America’s most famous “transgender” activist, who was once the cute little blond daughter Chastity that everyone of a certain age remembers from the old Sonny and Cher show on CBS, and is now the female-denying Chaz Bono. ABC didn’t name Bono because she’s known as a dancer. They named her because she’s well-known as an “LGBT” activist, with an emphasis on the “T.” Bono has been a spokessomething for the gay-left Human Rights Campaign’s National Coming Out Day and served as Entertainment Media Director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). For its part, GLAAD is extra-delighted, because the cast now includes Bono and Carson Kressley, the most lecherous member of the old show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” who went on to host the Lifetime makeover show “How to Look Good Naked.” The Bono choice outraged many fans of the show, who’ve considered the ballroom-dancing showcase to be a sort of old-fashioned safe harbor families could enjoy – although certainly the outfits and some of the dances are designed to maximize sexiness. In a way, the Bono choice is counter-programming to last fall’s casting of Bristol Palin – who was chosen as a “star” because of her mother’s fame, not her own. Palin-haters rooted against Bristol throughout the show, and when she made it all the way to the finals (more buzz, buzz, buzz), ABC and The Washington Post paid for a poll question to ask if her dancing was good enough. Can anyone imagine they’ll do a poll on whether Chaz can do the cha-cha? Bristol Palin didn’t do teen-abstinence dances last fall, and there would have been hell to pay had she in any way promoted her issue. Not so with the “T” issue. The cultural politics last year were really saved for bisexual activist and comedian Margaret Cho, who danced for “gay pride” in a rainbow dress on the show. Cho proclaimed to viewers, “We wanted to celebrate pride. It's a tough time for the gay community. A lot of gay teenagers have committed suicide, so we want this to end now!” If Chaz Bono were going to perform the entire season as a man, with no reference to her actual gender, then ABC wouldn’t be offering that LGBT “educational” opportunity. It is why no one should have any doubt that Chaz Bono is going to be instructing America about the need to overcome their “transphobia” – on the show and everywhere else. On ABC’s “Good Morning America” on September 6, the network used the opposition of the American Family Association as a foil to promote the show. “It’s made me realize I’m really glad I’m doing this, because America really needs to see this,” Bono said. “You know, it just kind of shows why for me it's important to be on the show, because so little still is known about what it means to be transgender, and there's so many just completely inaccurate stereotypes and thoughts that people have.” Four days earlier, ABC put on gay publicist Howard Bragman to call the AFA a “hate group” inspiring “hate opinions on e-mail” that are like “people writing on a bathroom wall.” AFA may as well write on bathroom walls. It’s not getting a lick of air time on ABC. This is Bono’s year of media activism, complete with a book last spring called “Transition” (promoted all over the “news” channels) and a promotional one-hour Oprah Winfrey Network special called “Becoming Chaz,” hailed as the story of a “valiant struggle of a sensitive individual to become who he really is.” Nowhere in any of this celebration is the hard reality. Despite her low voice, and her sideburns, and her awful decision to amputate her own breasts,”Chaz” remains a woman. It’s ridiculous for ABC to argue children won’t be confused by this political-correctness crusade. The entire “transgender” propaganda movement is confused. Indeed, there is a new sexual category to go alongside G, L, B, and T – “Q” for questioning. ABC and the rest of the media universe can do all the pretending they want, but that’s not going to make Chaz a real male. It’s not a “completely inaccurate stereotype” for people to say so. Silly, old-fashioned me: I’m stuck on human beings made as males and females.
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Rebels advancing on the town of Bani Walid come under rocket attacks from hundreds of soldiers loyal to Gaddafi Anti-Gaddafi forces are closing in on one of the four towns still controlled by the Libyan dictator but are meeting fierce resistance from up to 1,000 fighters. Rebel fighters launched an assault on the town of Bani Walid on Friday and had hoped to capture it overnight but they were hit with rocket attacks. Despite the bombardment, columns of vehicles drove toward the frontline, with fighters in pick-up trucks shaking their fists in the air and shouting “Here come the Libyans.” “We are going in today,” Abdullah Kanshil, an official of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), told reporters outside the town, 150 km (95 miles) south-east of Tripoli. “Civilians will be protected. We are already inside the city and we have found rocket launchers in the houses. We have thousands of fighters,” he said. Kanshil said about 1,000 soldiers loyal to Gaddafi were defending the town – many more than the 150 previously estimated. “They are launching Grad rockets from private houses so Nato (warplanes) cannot do anything about it,” he said. Heavy fighting erupted around Bani Walid and the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, on Friday, a day before the deadline for a negotiated surrender set by the NTC. NTC officials said the truce was effectively over, paving the way for what could prove the final battles of a civil war that evolved from February’s popular uprising against Gaddafi. He said he believed hundreds of “extremely professional” soldiers from all parts of the country were defending the town. Akram Ramadan, a fighter outside Bani Walid, said after overnight skirmishes: “Gaddafi gangs are resisting very hard, they have mercenaries, volunteers and snipers.” Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Africa Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
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• Argentina 9-13 England • Watch World Cup video highlights, interviews and more • Browse our interactive guide to the venues and fixtures England made the shakiest of starts to their Rugby World Cup campaign by edging out Argentina 13-9 in a desperately tight opening Pool B game in Dunedin. The Pumas, hugely combative and committed, had looked the likelier winners until a 66th-minute try by replacement scrum-half Ben Youngs dragged England back from the brink. It might have been a different story had Argentina not missed six penalty attempts at goal, although Jonny Wilkinson also failed with five of his own. England, for long periods, were deeply unimpressive but will be massively relieved to have wriggled off the hook. Had they lost they would have faced a major battle to reach the knock-out stages but victory over Scotland in Auckland on 1 October should now ensure they finish top of their pool. Until the Pumas started to fade in the final quarter, Martin Johnson’s side were in all sorts of strife. The first-half was particularly brutal. Argentina lost Felipe Contepomi and Gonzalo Tiesi to injury and hooker Mario Ledesma did well to play on following a nasty collision with Courtney Lawes. England also fell badly foul of the referee Bryce Lawrence, who awarded the Pumas a string of penalties and sent Dan Cole to the sin-bin in the 34th minute. Argentina’s kickers, though, could not take full advantage with Contepomi and Martin Rodriguez missing four penalties and a drop-goal between them in the first 40 minutes. England made little headway in attack and wasted their best scoring chance when Ben Foden broke clear only to fail to put Delon Armitage clear on the left. The Pumas extended their advantage to 9-3 five minutes after the interval courtesy of Rodriguez’s second successful penalty. On a bad night for kickers on both sides, however, Wilkinson missed four successive penalty attempts and England continued to look a side lacking wit and imagination. It took the arrival of Youngs and Matt Stevens to reverse the tide, much to Johnson’s relief. Rugby World Cup 2011 Argentina rugby union team England rugby union team Rugby union Robert Kitson guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of police have been mobilised amid fears of unrest over mass public sector job cuts and other measures More than 5,000 police have been mobilised in Athens amid government fears of a repetition of last June’s violent riots in the capital. Another 5,000 are being deployed in Thessaloniki where the Green prime minister George Papandreou is due to give a speech defending the harsh fiscal cuts pledged by his government. He is expected to face mass protests after he announced 10,000 immediate public sector job cuts as he comes under mounting pressure to save Greece’s position in the eurozone. Thessaloniki is preparing for huge unrest – police have erected metal barricades to prevent protesters from storming the grounds of the International Trade Fair, where Papandreou will deliver his speech. “The protests this year seem likely to be much bigger than in any past year,” said one police official in the city. “But the situation in Greece is very difficult, so there are more things to protest about.” Authorities from the IMF and the EU are demanding that Greece pushes ahead with its austerity cuts to secure its bailout money. Papandreou has responded by saying the 10,000 jobs that are going immediately will be followed by another 10,000 within weeks – the first ever mass dismissals of public sector workers. The giant public-sector shrinkage – as many as 120,000 public workers could lose their jobs – threatens to upend decades of cosy ties between the ruling Socialist party and those workers, who have long formed a key constituency. Taxi drivers, doctors and rubbish collectors have announced strike plans, signalling a new round of anti-austerity protests by unions and professional groups in the crisis-hit country. Taxi drivers have called a 24-hour strike for Thursday, after the government refused to amend plans to open up their profession to more competition. The vehicles were on strike for nearly three weeks this summer, causing havoc to parts of the key tourism industry. Greece Europe Protest European debt crisis Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
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Egypt declares state of alert after three die and more than a thousand are injured as crowds storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo Israel has evacuated its Egyptian ambassador after crowds stormed the embassy in Cairo, plunging Egypt’s ruling army deeper into its worst diplomatic crisis since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian prime minister Essam Sharaf is holding a crisis cabinet meeting and a state of alert has been declared as protesters remain on the streets following the violence on Friday, burning tyres and chanting slogans against the governing military council. A senior Egyptian official says at least three people died and more than 1,000 were hurt during street clashes with police and army troops after an angry mob attacked the embassy building. Deputy health minister, Hamid Abaza, says one of the three fatalities in the violence late on Friday was a man who died of a heart attack. Abaza told The Associated Press on Saturday he doesn’t know the cause of the other two deaths. He says at least 1,093 people were injured in the clashes. The protesters pelted the police and the military with rocks, prompting the troops to fire tear gas and shoot into the air. Only 38 of the injured remained in hospital. Earlier, the protesters tore down a security wall outside the Israeli mission and stormed the embassy’s offices. Police fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd. Early on Saturday morning around 500 demonstrators remained near the embassy, which overlooks the Nile, and a few threw stones at police and army vehicles. But police gradually pushed them back and secured the area. An Israeli official said the rampage marked a further deterioration of diplomatic ties between Israel and Egypt since the fall of Mubarak. The Israeli ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, his family and most of the staff and their dependents some 80 people were evacuated out of the country by military aircraft overnight, the official added. Only the deputy ambassador remains in Egypt. “That the government of Egypt ultimately acted to rescue our people is noteworthy and we are thankful,” the official said. “But what happened is a blow to the peaceful relations, and of course, a grave violation of accepted diplomatic behaviour between sovereign states.” The incident was the second major eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against gunmen. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy. “This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers,” Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah said. Israel is already embroiled in a diplomatic feud with Turkey, formerly one of its closest allies, over Israel’s armed assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people were killed. Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a “serious stance matching the public anger” towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt’s uprising. Last month a man climbed up a flagpole on the Israeli embassy and took down the flag, replacing it with the Egyptian flag. Protests continued until Friday’s violence. Egypt Middle East Israel Africa Arab and Middle East unrest David Batty guardian.co.uk
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News flash: @RickPerry is not running for President. Instead he’s the motorcycle-riding pastor at Haven of Hope, a small Pentecostal church near Yale University in West Haven, CT. Ever since Rick Perry the Texas Governor (whose Twitter handle is @GovernorPerry) declared a presidential run, Rick Perry the Pastor’s inbox and Twitter feed have been flooded
Continue reading …This is tea party reporter, Susie Sampson in DC asking real Americans about jobs and labor. She says, “All Obama cares about is jobs, mean while we’re trying to get elected. Now I ask you, who’s more democratic?”
Continue reading …Tom Friedman Goes on PBS to Once Again Explore His Extreme Envy of Red China
September 9, 2011 No Comment
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is asked to appear in all the liberal salons, including the rarefied air of the Charlie Rose show on PBS in the late hours, where few Republicans appear. On Wednesday (after his appearance on CNN), he and his co-author Michael Mandelbaum (a foreign policy adviser to Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign) came to promote their new book That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. Rose and Friedman once again discussed how inferior American politics is to communist China, which naturally knows how to get things done…with such authoritarian panache. Friedman talked up how we feel weak, like when we couldn't have a Minnesota Vikings game when the Metrodome roof collapsed. We'd say “if this were China, they would have walked to the game in the snow, and doing calculus along the way.” CHARLIE ROSE:
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