Click here to view this media In an interview Sunday, Fox News’ Chris Wallace took it easy on former Vice President Dick Cheney. The Fox News host probably wasn’t shocked to find out that Cheney ignores the suggestion that he is a war criminal and that he doesn’t discourage Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from running against President Barack Obama. The former vice president’s response to “What do you think of Barack Obama as president?” simply wasn’t going to surprise anyone. But probably most predictable was Cheney’s answer to Wallace’s prompting that the mainstream media is too liberal. Wallace noted that following Cheney’s interview on NBC’s The Today Show , the network showed a protester holding a sign saying, “Torture Is a Crime: Investigate Cheney.” “Investigate Cheney,” Cheney repeated with a smile. “I somehow doubt that if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama were speaking they would have taken the shot and then suddenly a person with a sign would have been putting their picture up,” Wallace declared. “Do you think there is a liberal bias in the mainstream media?” Wallace asked. “I think there probably is,” Cheney replied. “But I don’t spend time worry being it. I think that those of us right-thinking conservatives find that there are a lot of outlets out there now in the media, on the Internet that give us ample opportunity for our points of view to get across and heard.” “Mr. Vice President, thank you for talking with us and thank you for your service to our nation,” Wallace concluded the interview by saying. “His book is In My Time and I can tell you it is a very good read.”
Continue reading …Happy Feet the penguin released into Southern Ocean after New Zealand trip
September 4, 2011 No Comment
Emperor penguin returns home more than two months after he came ashore on a beach nearly 2,000 miles away It needed a little push before speeding backwards down a makeshift slide. Once in the water, it popped its head up for one last look, and then it was gone. The wayward emperor penguin known as Happy Feet was back home in Antarctic waters after an extended sojourn spent capturing hearts in New Zealand. Happy Feet was released into the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand more than two months after it came ashore on a beach nearly 2,000 miles from home. Lisa Argilla, a Wellington zoo vet who was aboard the research vessel Tangaroa, said Happy Feet’s release went remarkably smoothly given that the boat was being tossed about in eight-metre (25ft) swells. Crew members carried the penguin inside a custom-built crate to the stern of the ship for its final send-off. But when they opened the crate’s door, it showed no interest in leaving. “I needed to give him a little tap on his back,” Argilla said. The penguin slipped down the slide on its stomach, bottom first, she said. It resurfaced about two metres from the boat, took a look up at the people aboard, then disappeared beneath the surface. “I was really happy to see him go,” Argilla said. “The best part of my job is when you get to release animals back into the wild where they are supposed to be.” Happy Feet was found on 20 June on Peka Peka beach, about 40 miles north-west of Wellington. It had been 44 years since an emperor penguin was last spotted in the wild in New Zealand. At first, conservation authorities said they would wait and let nature take its course with the penguin. But it soon became clear the bird’s condition was deteriorating, as it scooped up beaks full of sand and swallowed, possibly mistaking it for snow, which emperor penguins eat for its moisture in Antarctica. Four days after it was discovered the penguin was moved to Wellington zoo where it underwent numerous stomach-flushing procedures to remove sand from his digestive system. It was given a makeshift home in a room that zoo staff kept filled with a bed of ice so it would not overheat. A local television station, TV3, set up a webcam and streamed images of the bird around the clock. Soon, Happy Feet had 250,000 followers. They will be able to keep track of the penguin for a while longer: Happy Feet has been fitted with a GPS tracker and its movements will be posted online . Argilla expects the tracker to fall off the next time the bird moults. Argilla said the final boat journey, which began last Monday and ran into bad weather, had been difficult for her – she got seasick – and the crew. The one who seemed least bothered, she said, was Happy Feet, who rolled with the swells, slept standing up and took nips at the crew when they fed him fresh fish. Now that Happy Feet has been nursed back to health, Argilla said its chances were as good as for any other penguin in the wild. “He swam away, not caring about us any more,” Argilla said. “And that’s a good thing.” New Zealand Animals Wildlife guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fox’s Hoenig: Children Would ‘Do Better on the Streets’ Than in Union Dominated Public School System
September 4, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media While discussing the fact that a large number of school districts across the country have now decided to start operating on a four day schedule because of budget constraints, Fox Cashin’ In contributor Jonathan Hoenig jumps the shark so badly during this segment, that even his fellow wingnuts that normally spend these Saturday show trashing public education and any public sector unions had to disagree with him. HOENIG: Government, which of course has a monopoly over the public schools, really has become the parent. If the reason for keeping this failed school system is day care, I mean honestly Tracy, believe me, it’s cheaper for you to hire a baby sitter for your kids, than to fund this union dominated school system. (crosstalk) BYRNES: Jonathan, it’s about learning. It is about keeping us on par with the rest of the world. HOENIG: Why do you want to keep them there more? That’s the whole point. They’re not learning in the public schools. You want to keep them there more… an extra day? They’d do better on the streets! This is the same idiot that John wrote about back in Feb. 2008 here — Jonathan Honeig thinks it’s a right to smash a dog’s head against a wall . And I’m beginning to think Tracy Byrnes is suffering from the same syndrome as Megyn Kelly who suddenly became a born again liberal when it comes to maternity leave that Karoli wrote about here — Megyn Kelly Defends The Family Medical Leave Act . Besides defending the public school system as she did in this segment, earlier in the show she was defending national flood insurance, after, you guessed it, her home was in one of the areas affected by the hurricane and she just got her power turned back on the day before the show.
Continue reading …Maureen Dowd’s Frustrated Too: ‘Maybe Obama Was Not Even The Person He Was Waiting For’
September 4, 2011 No Comment
On Wednesday, the President of the United States actually sent an email message to his followers complaining that he's frustrated by his inability to get everything he wants passed by a Congress with a different vision of the world. On Sunday, New York Times columnist said she too is frustrated – ” Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for”: Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed. The days of spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium are done. The One is dancing on the edge of one term. The White House team is flailing — reacting, regrouping, retrenching. It's repugnant. After pushing and shoving and caving to get on TV, the president's advisers immediately began warning that the long-yearned-for jobs speech wasn't going to be that awe-inspiring. ''The issue isn't the size or the newness of the ideas,'' one said. ''It's less the substance than how he says it, whether he seizes the moment.'' The arc of justice is stuck at the top of a mountain. Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for. For those that have forgotten, presidential candidate Obama told supporters in February 2008: You see, the challenges we face will not be solved with one meeting in one night. It will not be resolved on even a Super Duper Tuesday. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys who have so little, who've been told that they cannot have what they dream, that they cannot be what they imagine. Yes, they can. It appears that past grand speeches of Obama's are now to be ridiculed. Dowd also went after his nomination acceptance address in Denver – “spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium” – as well as his teleprompter. Oh how the mighty have fallen. It of course would be marvelous if such scorn was lasting, but this time next year, as the campaign comes into the homestretch, Dowd's rapier wit will solely target whoever the GOP presidential nominee is. With her ilk, it's a metaphysical certitude Obama will by the messiah again, and they'll be the ones he's been waiting for.
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Murdo Fraser claims Conservatives’ only hope of attracting greater support in Scotland would be to split off from UK party The Scottish Tory party could be scrapped and replaced by a new centre-right party, under radical reform proposals drafted by the favourite to become its next leader. Murdo Fraser, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives , will launch his campaign to head the party on Monday by claiming that its only hope to attract greater popular support would be to split off from the UK party led by David Cameron. Fraser, a former chairman of the Scottish Young Conservatives, will argue that creating a new Scottish centre-right, tax-cutting party would allow it to build up a fresh political mandate and attract voters disenchanted by the current party, which has failed to recover significantly from 25 years of decline. After losing every Scottish seat at the 1997 Westminster election, the party now has only one MP at Westminster, David Mundell, the Scotland Office minister. It won just 15 out of 129 seats for the Scottish parliament at the last Holyrood elections and has failed to benefit from the collapse in Liberal Democrat support in Scotland. Many senior Tories in Scotland fear the party’s often toxic reputation among Scottish voters will undermine its campaign for Scotland to remain within the UK in the forthcoming independence referendum. Fraser argues that the autonomous party would ally itself to the UK party but remain independent. His proposals have been floated with David Cameron, the prime minister, and other senior Tory figures in the UK government. Cameron’s views are not clear but one of his close allies, Francis Maude, is reported to believe the Scottish party needs a radical solution to rebuild support. Several influential senior Scottish figures in the party, such as Liam Fox, the defence secretary, and Lord Forsyth, a former Scottish secretary closely associated with the party under Margaret Thatcher, are said to be highly critical of the proposal. In the past, Scottish Tories have pointed out that the party has long been constitutionally separate from the party in the rest of the UK. Critics say this is a technical issue which the voters do not see as meaningful. Fraser’s leadership campaign has already attracted a number of prominent supporters, including the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, the former speaker of the Scottish parliament, Liz Smith, and the senior Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson. At his leadership campaign launch, Fraser is expected to say: “If I am elected as leader of the party, I will turn it into a new and stronger party for Scotland. A new party. A winning party with new supporters from all walks of life. “A new belief in devolution. A new approach to policy-making. A new name. But most importantly, a new positive message about the benefits of staying in and strengthening our United Kingdom. A new party. A new unionism. A new dawn.” Fraser is currently facing two other contenders for the leadership: Jackson Carlaw, a rightwinger close to party traditionalists, and Ruth Davidson, one of the party’s newest faces at Holyrood, elected at the last Scottish elections and the party’s only openly gay MSP. Davidson is said to be favoured by Cameron but has yet to formally declare. Carlaw launched his campaign on Friday by calling for an early referendum on independence and a new act of constitutional settlement to strengthened the UK. He told supporters: “I want to secure a strong Scotland in a great Britain and so the future of the union will be the heart and soul of my campaign and at the very centre of my appeal to party members.” Scottish politics Conservatives Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Well, this is is refreshing. Michael Lofgren has written a column for TruthOut explaining why he left Capitol Hill after 30 years and why Republicans are not to be trusted and have devolved into a cult. Mike Lofgren was, until recently, a staff member serving the Senate Finance Committee . No one is spared in his column. As hard as he is on Republicans, he takes it to the Democrats, too, calling them cowards who quake in fear of Republican hard-lining. Here are some snippets that caught my eye: On the debt ceiling debacle: Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care. This fact, which ought to be obvious, has nevertheless caused confusion among the professional pundit class, which is mostly still stuck in the Bob Dole era in terms of its orientation. For instance, Ezra Klein wrote of his puzzlement over the fact that while House Republicans essentially won the debt ceiling fight, enough of them were sufficiently dissatisfied that they might still scuttle the deal. Of course they might – the attitude of many freshman Republicans to national default was “bring it on!” It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant. On voting and Real Americans : You can probably guess who those people are. Above all, anyone not likely to vote Republican. As Sarah Palin would imply, the people who are not Real Americans. Racial minorities. Immigrants. Muslims. Gays. Intellectuals. Basically, anyone who doesn’t look, think, or talk like the GOP base. This must account, at least to some degree, for their extraordinarily vitriolic hatred of President Obama. I have joked in the past that the main administration policy that Republicans object to is Obama’s policy of being black. [2] Among the GOP base, there is constant harping about somebody else, some “other,” who is deliberately, assiduously and with malice aforethought subverting the Good, the True and the Beautiful: Subversives. Commies. Socialists. Ragheads. Secular humanists. Blacks. Fags. Feminazis. The list may change with the political needs of the moment, but they always seem to need a scapegoat to hate and fear. On Democrats, messaging, and cowardice: How do they manage to do this? Because Democrats ceded the field. Above all, they do not understand language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? – can anyone even remember it? No wonder the pejorative “Obamacare” won out. Contrast that with the Republicans’ Patriot Act. You’re a patriot, aren’t you? Does anyone at the GED level have a clue what a Stimulus Bill is supposed to be? Why didn’t the White House call it the Jobs Bill and keep pounding on that theme? You know that Social Security and Medicare are in jeopardy when even Democrats refer to them as entitlements. “Entitlement” has a negative sound in colloquial English: somebody who is “entitled” selfishly claims something he doesn’t really deserve. Why not call them “earned benefits,” which is what they are because we all contribute payroll taxes to fund them? That would never occur to the Democrats. Republicans don’t make that mistake; they are relentlessly on message: it is never the “estate tax,” it is the “death tax.” On this point, I could not agree more. I do not understand why Democrats can’t master simple messaging. It always has to be nuanced, complicated, and wonky. Things I might understand but would have to boil down into far simpler terms for the average voter. It boggles my mind that Democrats (and this includes the President) cannot get a simple, easy message out there and hammer it home. Republicans seem to have mastered that. You should read the whole article. There’s much more in there about who runs the Republican party, why the religious sector is now mainstream and acting fully in concert with the oligarchy, and more. It’s a brutal, frank, and devastating assessment of our politics today.
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Authorities are searching for the shark and the man’s missing limbs in the Bunker Bay area near Dunsborough A bodyboarder has died after a shark bit off his legs at a popular surfing spot in Western Australia. Authorities were reportedly searching for the shark as well as the man’s missing limbs. The man in his early 20s was bodyboarding with five friends when the shark attacked, a police spokesman said. He died at the scene in the surfing haven known as the Farm, off Bunker Bay near the town of Dunsborough. The beach was closed after the attack. About 30 surfers were in the water when the shark attacked on Sunday, according to a beachside cafe employee, Deb Pickett, who called police and an ambulance after hearing the disturbance. “We had some sharks spotted far out at sea a few months ago, but they never come this close to the shore,” Pickett said. She added that helicopters were still searching the area for the shark late on Sunday, while rescue staff searched for the man’s arms and legs, which she believed had been taken by the shark. Local official Ian Stubbs said it was the first shark attack in the area for more than 20 years. Australia Animals guardian.co.uk
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Rabbi compares ‘vilification’ of Travellers to the discrimination Jews faced in the first half of the 20th century Members of the Jewish community were due to visit Dale Farm Travellers’ camp on Sunday to offer their support to 400 people facing eviction from the green belt site in Essex. On Friday a UN committee called on the government to suspend the “immature and unwise” eviction, saying it would “disproportionately affect the lives of the Gypsy and Traveller families, particularly women, children and older people”. The camp has also received support from Franciscan monks, who last week blessed the site, as well as Anglican and Catholic bishops. Rabbi Janet Burden said: “People may not be aware that the Travellers, along with the Gypsies and a limited number of other groups with similar lifestyle patterns, are officially recognised as ethnic minorities, just like our own Jewish community. As such, they deserve protection under European human rights law.” Burden compared the “vilification” of Travellers to the discrimination Jews faced in the first half of the 20th century. “The language used clearly echoes the rhetoric of antisemitism,” she said. “If you don’t believe this, have a look at the website jewify.org for examples of newspaper articles which substitute the word Jew for Gypsy or Traveller. The results are quite chilling. I believe that the obligation to protect this ethnic minority’s way of life is a human rights issue that, in this particular and unusual case, may need to trump the planning law designed to protect the green belt.” Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, warned last week that there was a great risk of human rights violations if the eviction went ahead. “If they go ahead with the eviction that would be very immature and unwise,” Hammarberg said. “The only way to do this is for the government or the authority in Basildon to appoint people who have trust on both sides to find an agreed solution.” Tony Ball, leader of Basildon council, has repeatedly defended the eviction saying the proposals have been tested through the courts. “Everyone is entitled to their views,” he said last week. “I’m clear that the overwhelming majority of residents of Basildon and in the country support what Basildon council are doing. Local authorities are expected to uphold the law.” Camp residents said representatives from the UN would be visiting the site on 14 September. Jenny Clapham said the growing support for the campaign had given people a boost, but residents were aware they faced an uphill battle to remain on the site. “There is a very serious mood in the camp about the challenges we face if we are going to win this and overturn the eviction decision,” she said. Dale Farm Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Judaism Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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The Washington Post promoted Michael Moore's latest book in Sunday's Outlook section. Justin Moyer's promotional piece was headlined “We read so you don't have to,” but it reads like a cover blurb. He called him a “reliable liberal gadfly,” which is apparently what the Post calls someone who thinks Cuba had a lot to teach the United States. Just “liberal”? Moyer plugged the book, “to be released later this month to a nation always ready to laud or excoriate him.” The “highlights” begin with Moore threatening the safety of Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer: On Fox News's Bill Hemmer: Moore was at the 2004 Democratic National Convention when the news anchor, then at CNN, told him on air that he’d “heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead.” Moore took umbrage and dropped the hammer on Hemmer. “You made my death seem acceptable ,” he says he said off-camera. “I want you to think about your actions if anything ever happens to me. Don’t think my family won’t come after you, because they will.” One can bet that Moore doesn't tell the whole story of that interview. Does he mention Hemmer prefaced that by saying others think he's the greatest living American? The interview came on Monday morning of the Democratic convention in Boston, on July 26, 2004. Moore was probably furious because Hemmer didn't bow and pay him homage. Instead, Hemmer seemed to challenge his grasp on the facts, and we're not talking about Moore claiming George W. Bush would be beaten by John Kerry: HEMMER: That is a clip from the movie by the filmmaker Michael Moore, “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Over the weekend, it went over $100 million at the box office, which is astounding for a documentary. All this coming, though, on the heels, just days after the 9/11 Commission put out its report and contradicted one of the central themes and one of the points that was made in that film about Osama bin Laden's family living and working here in the U.S. and how they were given transportation out of the country. Who better to ask about all this than the filmmaker himself, Michael Moore, our guest now here in Boston on the floor of the FleetCenter. Good morning to you. MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: Good morning, Bill. How are you doing? HEMMER: Who are you going to vote — I'm fine, thank you. Who do you vote for on November 2? MOORE: Well, you don't vote for George W. Bush, that's for sure. HEMMER: Do you vote for John Kerry or do you vote for Ralph Nader? MOORE: Well, you don't vote for Ralph Nader either. What was my last choice? (LAUGHTER) HEMMER: What explains why your film has made $100 million? MOORE: I think it's because the American people, for the last four years, feel like they haven't been told the whole truth. And both from the White House and the media not doing its job, especially with this war, and the early days before the war, and when the war started. Too much of the media was a cheerleader instead of doing the real job of asking the hard questions, demanding the evidence. And so people have come to this movie to — to see the things that they haven't seen in much of the mainstream media. HEMMER: And in that movie — you heard in my lead in to you about the 9/11 report. Have you seen that report, 600 pages in length? MOORE: Yes. Yes. HEMMER: Have you read the whole thing? MOORE: No, I have not. HEMMER: Well, you have the executive summary, a couple of the other pages, I'm certain. MOORE: Right. I have the CliffsNotes. HEMMER: In the book itself, it contradicts one of the themes… MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: … that you make in your film about the Osama bin Laden family essentially given special treatment out of the country. MOORE: Right. HEMMER: And the implication in the film is that the White House directed that. MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: Your reaction of them saying that simply was not the case? MOORE: Yes. Well, I disagree with the commission. I think there's a lot of evidence to show that they were given special treatment. They were moved to the front of the line. Just the story in “The Washington Post” on Thursday that — that said that the actual plane that was used to fly the bin Ladens out of the country was the same plane the White House uses to fly you guys around in the White House Press Corps. There are so many things that have not — Senator Lautenberg, Senator Dorgan, as you showed there in the clip, there's still a lot of unanswered questions. And I think that — I hope further investigations will — will bring this out. HEMMER: Allow me to go back to the report. This they say specifically… MOORE: Yes. HEMMER: … on the screen for our viewers. “The commission concludes there is no evidence of political intervention in any of the nine chartered flights that left between September 14 and September 24. They also say the bin Laden family left September 20th after the civilian flight ban was lifted. Commercial airliners were flying again on that day. Twenty-two of 26 people interviewed. That's more they say than would have been interviewed had they all left separately on commercial flights. Take that. MOORE: And then again, “The Washington Post,” doing a great job, points out that one of the bin Ladens that left was the roommate of Osama's nephew who was one of the founders of WAMY, whose offices were raided last month. They're considered a potential terrorist organization. And yet — and yet here's the roommate of the person who was the founder of this on that flight. There are still many, many unanswered questions. And of the 142, or now they say 160 Saudis, as you said, only, what, 20-some were… HEMMER: Twenty-two of 26. MOORE: Out of the bin Ladens. But then there's 142 members of the Saudi royal family who were allowed to leave without being interviewed. And the report says that. I think that's wrong. If — listen, if 15 of the 19 hijackers had been from North Korea, do you think we just would have let 142 North Koreans leave the country as soon as the air space opened up? I don't think so HEMMER: Let's move away from that. I've heard people say Michael Moore is the greatest living American. MOORE: Oh, who are those people? HEMMER: I've heard people say they wish Michael Moore were dead. MOORE: Oh, well. Jeez, who would say that? HEMMER: How do you take in the reaction that you are getting? And there is no one who is neutral after they see your film. MOORE: Well, there's a — there's that minority of Republicans and right-wingers who are upset, because they know their days of numbered. I'd be upset, too, if I were them. You know, they've only got a few more months left in charge. And so they're all running around, all saying crazy things like that. HEMMER: The DNC did not invite you here, is that right? MOORE: The Congressional Black Caucus invited me here, yes. Yes. HEMMER: Enjoy your week. MOORE: Those black congressmen, you know. HEMMER: Thanks for your time. Michael Moore, the filmmaker from “Fahrenheit 9/11.” MOORE: Right. Thank you very much.
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• Farah sprints to victory ahead of Bernard Lagat • Gold goes with silver 28-year-old won in 10,000m Mo Farah won Britain’s second gold of the world championships with a stunning run in the 5,000m. The 28-year-old, who took silver in the 10,000m a week ago, outsprinted Bernard Lagat in the home straight to claim victory in a time of 13min 23.36sec. Ethiopia’s Imane Merga finished third. “I came so close in the 10 and I just wanted to do it in the 5,000,” he said. “I’m very proud, I just can’t believe it. I just had to go out there and do what I did in the 10k but just get it right this time.” Farah’s move to Oregon in the United States to train appears to have paid significant dividends. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices but I’m glad I’ve made that choice,” he said. Farah, who claimed double gold at the European Championships last year, came into the race as the favourite after leading the world rankings in 2011. But it took all his new-found finishing speed to hold off almost the entire field, with only two of the 16 runners out of contention by the bell. Mo Farah World Athletics Championships 2011 World Athletics Championships Athletics guardian.co.uk
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