Deadbeat Dad Rep. Joe Walsh Won’t Attend Joint Session Because It Should Be Reserved For Heads Of State
September 3, 2011 No Comment
Why MSNBC insists on giving this wingnut deadbeat dad air time to spew his hate talk is beyond me, but they did. Among the gems in this clip: Walsh thinks Obama was elected because of “white guilt,” he thinks it’s ridiculous for President Obama to call a joint session of Congress when those should be reserved for heads of state, he doesn’t know the President well enough to call him a liar but believes Obama lies, and more. Now the thing about Joe Walsh is that he’s already been banned from one MSNBC show because he’s a deadbeat dad who owes thousands in back child support. Lawrence O’Donnell will not have him back. Here’s the video: Click here to view this media Joe Walsh is just positioning himself for a future outside of Congress after he’s redistricted out of office . It’s really fine with me if he chooses not to show up next Thursday. He’s not fit to be in the same room with the President, and his district should take note.
Continue reading …
Jet streams and ocean currents ensure that British weather is some of the most changeable on Earth It has been a year that has seen weather patterns turned upside down. In 2011, Britain had one of the finest springs on record. This was followed by one of our worst-ever summers. And the Met Office says there is more to come. At least, that is the message from forecasters and meteorologists who are studying the twists and turns of the British weather. The strange patterns of rain, wind and sunshine that have swept the nation reveal a fundamental truth, they have found. The UK is one of the most erratic, changeable places on Earth when it comes to weather. Inverted patterns of rain, sun and wind are simple facts of life and we had better get used to them. In 2009, somewhat shamefacedly, the Met Office decided to withdraw its seasonal forecasting service, amid recriminations over baking summers that had mysteriously failed to materialise . But there are good reasons why British weather forecasters often get it wrong. “We are a small island, in a temperate climate, at a high latitude with one of the world’s biggest oceans on one side of us, and a huge continent on the other,” said Helen Chivers, a forecaster at the Met Office. “The combination makes it very difficult to predict weather here. We can do it in the short term but not over long periods, unlike other parts of the world. For example, in the United States the weather is far easier to forecast because the country forms part of a very large landmass.” This point was backed by Alan Thorpe, director of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. “In some parts of the tropics, you can forecast weather up to four weeks away, but not in the UK. The best you can hope for is about five days to a week.” A key problem facing forecasters in Britain is the jet streams: these are narrow ribbons of fast-flowing air that are found at altitudes of around 35,000ft. They play a key role in bringing weather systems to Britain from America across the Atlantic. “The problem is that jet streams do not flow in straight lines. They can often coil like snakes – and that is what happened at the beginning of this year,” said Chivers. “They coiled above Britain in March, April and the first half of May and trapped a region of high pressure over the country. That brought fine weather to the country for those months.” Then the jet streams straightened out and pushed rainy weather across the Atlantic – dumping it on Britain. “The result was a bad summer,” said Chivers. “However, from what we can see at
Continue reading …Privatization has nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with giving kickbacks to politically connected contractors like Corrections Corporation of America: Sheriff Michael Page of Hernando County, Florida, is the latest in a line of Sheriffs to inherit the headache that is the county jail. After being operated by CCA for 22 years, the facility had fallen into exceptional disrepair , after CCA had neglected to perform millions of dollars worth of required maintenance . The county took over the facility a little more than a year ago and started the long process of upgrading the security, staff, and conditions of the jail. Initial projections by then-Sheriff Richard Nugent hypothesized that the county could save up to $200,000 compared to what CCA would have charged. It turns out that de-privatizing the jail has actually saved Hernando County taxpayers more than $1,000,000 this year . Maybe Ric Scott and JD Alexander ought to reconsider their bullheaded push to privatize half the state’s prison system .
Continue reading …
Former chancellor faced interference from the then PM, who wished to play down the economic risk from the banking crisis Gordon Brown repeatedly pressured Alistair Darling to change his economic forecasts almost from the outset of his premiership, it has emerged. As the former chancellor prepared to publish his memoir, Back from the Brink , former government insiders revealed the full extent of the split between the two men at the top of the Labour administration. From the autumn of 2007, as Brown agonised over whether to call a snap general election, Darling faced interference from Number 10 as he drew up his first pre-budget report, with the prime minister’s allies urging him to play down the risks of an economic slowdown in the wake of the collapse of Northern Rock. Northern Rock’s bosses blamed “extreme conditions” in the markets for the bank’s collapse, but Brown and Darling clashed over how hard the turmoil would hit the wider economy. Darling feared the impact would be severe, but Brown was determined to stick to the line that the “fundamentals” remained sound. Former insiders say Brown, who had kept Treasury officials on a tight rein during his tenure as chancellor, wanted Darling to overrule his cautious civil servants. “Gordon never understood why Alistair didn’t have the authority over his civil servants that he had,” one source told the Observer . The pre-budget report of October 2007 predicted that GDP would expand by 2% to 2.5% in 2008 as the UK shrugged off the effects of the credit crunch. In the event, it contracted by 0.1%. The relationship continued to deteriorate as the economy slid into recession. Darling was attacked by Brown’s spin doctors in the summer of 2008 after saying the world was facing the deepest economic crisis in 60 years. He later said it felt as though the “forces of hell” had been unleashed against him. By the spring the two were still at loggerheads as they struggled to formulate a response to the crisis. Darling wanted the forecasts in the 2008 budget to show the full extent of the damage to public finances of a prolonged economic slowdown, while the prime minister, who had promised to abolish boom and bust, still hoped the downturn would prove short-lived. The relationship between the two men had soured so much by the time Labour lost power that they now see little of each other. One Brown ally predicted that the former prime minister would “go berserk” over the revelations. “I’m just glad I’m not the one reading out the extracts,” he said. Leaks of Darling’s book, published on the website Labour Uncut last week, also showed the bitter relationship between the chancellor and Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, who said he believed the chancellor was “not his intellectual equal”. Gordon Brown Alistair Darling Mervyn King Economic policy Bank of England Northern Rock Banking Toby Helm Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former chancellor faced interference from the then PM, who wished to play down the economic risk from the banking crisis Gordon Brown repeatedly pressured Alistair Darling to change his economic forecasts almost from the outset of his premiership, it has emerged. As the former chancellor prepared to publish his memoir, Back from the Brink , former government insiders revealed the full extent of the split between the two men at the top of the Labour administration. From the autumn of 2007, as Brown agonised over whether to call a snap general election, Darling faced interference from Number 10 as he drew up his first pre-budget report, with the prime minister’s allies urging him to play down the risks of an economic slowdown in the wake of the collapse of Northern Rock. Northern Rock’s bosses blamed “extreme conditions” in the markets for the bank’s collapse, but Brown and Darling clashed over how hard the turmoil would hit the wider economy. Darling feared the impact would be severe, but Brown was determined to stick to the line that the “fundamentals” remained sound. Former insiders say Brown, who had kept Treasury officials on a tight rein during his tenure as chancellor, wanted Darling to overrule his cautious civil servants. “Gordon never understood why Alistair didn’t have the authority over his civil servants that he had,” one source told the Observer . The pre-budget report of October 2007 predicted that GDP would expand by 2% to 2.5% in 2008 as the UK shrugged off the effects of the credit crunch. In the event, it contracted by 0.1%. The relationship continued to deteriorate as the economy slid into recession. Darling was attacked by Brown’s spin doctors in the summer of 2008 after saying the world was facing the deepest economic crisis in 60 years. He later said it felt as though the “forces of hell” had been unleashed against him. By the spring the two were still at loggerheads as they struggled to formulate a response to the crisis. Darling wanted the forecasts in the 2008 budget to show the full extent of the damage to public finances of a prolonged economic slowdown, while the prime minister, who had promised to abolish boom and bust, still hoped the downturn would prove short-lived. The relationship between the two men had soured so much by the time Labour lost power that they now see little of each other. One Brown ally predicted that the former prime minister would “go berserk” over the revelations. “I’m just glad I’m not the one reading out the extracts,” he said. Leaks of Darling’s book, published on the website Labour Uncut last week, also showed the bitter relationship between the chancellor and Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, who said he believed the chancellor was “not his intellectual equal”. Gordon Brown Alistair Darling Mervyn King Economic policy Bank of England Northern Rock Banking Toby Helm Heather Stewart guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Liberal Democrat peer in new battle over health and social care bill, while secret emails fuel privatisation fears for hospitals The future of the government’s health reforms has been plunged into fresh doubt as the Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams raises new concerns, and secret emails reveal plans to hand over the running of up to 20 hospitals to overseas companies. The revelations come as MPs prepare to return to Westminster on Tuesday for what promises to be a crucial stage of the flagship health and social care bill. Baroness Williams, one of the original leaders of a Lib Dem rebellion against health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans – who appeared to have been pacified after changes were made over the summer – said she had new doubts, having re-examined the proposals. “Despite the great efforts made by Nick Clegg and Paul Burstow [the Lib Dem health minister], I still have huge concerns about the bill. The battle is far from over,” she said. Writing in Sunday’s Observer, Williams raises a series of issues that she says must be addressed. Chief among them is a legal doubt as to whether the secretary of state will any longer be bound to deliver “a comprehensive health service for the people of England, free at the point of need”. Some critics of Lansley believe the Tories are bent on a mission to privatise the NHS, gradually handing it to the private sector. They fear that moves to end the legal obligation on the secretary of state to deliver comprehensive services may be a deliberate part of the process. Concerns that ministers want more private involvement will be strengthened by details of email exchanges involving senior health officials about handing the management of 10 to 20 NHS hospitals to international private companies. The emails, which were made public following a freedom of information request and were obtained by non-profit-making investigations company Spinwatch, show that officials have been planning since late last year to bring in international companies. This is despite repeated insistences by both David Cameron and Nick Clegg that there will be no privatisation of the NHS. On 16
Continue reading …
Liberal Democrat peer in new battle over health and social care bill, while secret emails fuel privatisation fears for hospitals The future of the government’s health reforms has been plunged into fresh doubt as the Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams raises new concerns, and secret emails reveal plans to hand over the running of up to 20 hospitals to overseas companies. The revelations come as MPs prepare to return to Westminster on Tuesday for what promises to be a crucial stage of the flagship health and social care bill. Baroness Williams, one of the original leaders of a Lib Dem rebellion against health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans – who appeared to have been pacified after changes were made over the summer – said she had new doubts, having re-examined the proposals. “Despite the great efforts made by Nick Clegg and Paul Burstow [the Lib Dem health minister], I still have huge concerns about the bill. The battle is far from over,” she said. Writing in Sunday’s Observer, Williams raises a series of issues that she says must be addressed. Chief among them is a legal doubt as to whether the secretary of state will any longer be bound to deliver “a comprehensive health service for the people of England, free at the point of need”. Some critics of Lansley believe the Tories are bent on a mission to privatise the NHS, gradually handing it to the private sector. They fear that moves to end the legal obligation on the secretary of state to deliver comprehensive services may be a deliberate part of the process. Concerns that ministers want more private involvement will be strengthened by details of email exchanges involving senior health officials about handing the management of 10 to 20 NHS hospitals to international private companies. The emails, which were made public following a freedom of information request and were obtained by non-profit-making investigations company Spinwatch, show that officials have been planning since late last year to bring in international companies. This is despite repeated insistences by both David Cameron and Nick Clegg that there will be no privatisation of the NHS. On 16
Continue reading …Appearing as a guest on Friday's Last Word to discuss Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's plan to simplify the income tax code, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe saw extremism in the Tea Party movement as he asserted that Huntsman's plan was ” moderate when you compare it to where the Tea Party extremists want to take this.” As the discussion turned to the current anemic job growth numbers and Texas Governor Rick Perry's views on economics, Wolffe claimed that President Jimmy Carter had created more jobs that President George W. Bush as he blamed Bush and Republicans for the current economic slowdown: Most voters understand that this economy, this bad economy, is the result of Republican policies and the Bush administration. Poll after poll after poll has said that, and if you want to go into the details, over eight years of President Bush's policies of deregulation, of tax cuts, all things that Rick Perry says has created jobs, actually George Bush created a net three million jobs in eight years. He continued: Even Jimmy Carter created more jobs in one term than Bush did with these policies in two terms, so once we get into this debate, once we get beyond the superficial headlines of Perry's positioning, we're going to have this played out and people will recall, as they already in polls, that the Bush policies weren't too good. Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Friday, September 2, Last Word on MSNBC: LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Talking to reporters this morning from the bottom of the polls, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman tried to use colorful language to energize his colorless campaign. JON HUNTSMAN, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our nation's economy is sucking wind big time, and we need a plan, we need a bold proposal. The President has had two and a half years to get something out there. He hasn't. We've been out there two and a half months. We've got, I think, the boldest of proposals, something that this country desperately needs. O'DONNELL: Huntsman's economic plan received a rave review from the Wall Street Journal editorial board today. The Journal said Huntsman's plan is “better than anything so far in the GOP presidential field.” The plan is called “Time to Compete: An American Jobs Plan.” Which is really just a tax-cutting and deregulation plan. Joining me now is the author of Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe. Thanks for joining me tonight, Richard. WOLFFE: My pleasure, Lawrence. O'DONNELL: The Huntsman plan, huge hit with the Wall Street Journal editorial board. Is this a little bit like John Edwards' health care plan being a big hit in the last presidential campaign? WOLFFE: Either that or the Bill Bradley campaign, who also had a great health care plan. (BOTH LAUGH) O'DONNELL: It was. Bradley did have a great health care plan. WOLFFE: Great plan, and it went downhill from there. Here's the thing: It says something about the Republican Party when the Wall Street Journal editorial board is actually somewhere in the middle of Republican politics, that actually Huntsman's plan is moderate when you compare it to where the Tea Party extremists want to take this. And, you know, there's a lot to be said for Huntsman's plan. It actually is very similar in some degree to the Bowles-Simpson committee, which was actually set up by the President that the Wall Street Journal editorial board hates so much. There simplifying the tax code is great, and you just cannot get anyone in Congress to vote for ending the mortgage interest tax relief. O'DONNELL: Right, his plan in some specifics calls for lower tax rates across the board, income tax rates, just leaving us with only three, an eight percent rate for the lowest, a 14 and a 23. But to get there, he eliminates every single deduction and credit in the personal income tax code, so he eliminates the biggest one, the mortgage deduction, as you've said. It means it would also eliminate the deduction for health care that if you receive health care through your employer, that would be treated as taxable income, and so it's a very easy thing to rip apart. If a plan like that made its way into the general election, running against someone who wants to take away your mortgage deduction is running against someone who wants to, in effect, destroy the current dollar value of your home because the real estate market would sink on something like that. WOLFFE: Right, hits the middle class and hits the housing market, which has been one of the biggest drags on this economy. And this is he kind of big irony here, which is that these Republican candidates, and Huntsman is the most reasonable of them, but in general they're saying we get the economy more than this crazy Democrat who loves big governnment, we know what business wants, and yet, and yet their economic plans would either hurtsthe housing market, which this reasonable plan from Huntsman would do, or it would cut those government jobs that have done so much good for Rick Perry's job record in Texas or it would just kill jobs in general because there is no growth in anything other than the public sector right now because the private sector has been spooked by the Republican tactics over things like the debt limit. O'DONNELL: Of course, there's the mandatory, you know, defang that horrible EPA, that Environmental Protection Agency that's ruining the country and killing jobs. Never mind that job growth and wealth in the country has exploded since the creation of the EPA to levels uncontemplated before, especially top end wealth. But now to Rick Perry: Is today, like most campaign days so far today for Perry and the Rrepublican campaign, the really good day for Rick Perry since he's the job king at this stage of the Republican campaign, zero job growth number lets him trumpet everything he's done or claims to have done in Texas on job creation. WOLFFE: Look, this should be the best day of any of the Republican candidates' news agendas, news moments, because they're terrible numbers for the White House, and the President has a bad record on jobs that he's got to go out and defend. When you look at Rick Perry, though, there's the Texas echo that's a problem. Never mind if you strip aside the headline numbers and get into all of that, most voters understand that this economy, this bad economy, is the result of Republican policies and the Bush administration. Poll after poll after poll has said that, and if you want to go into the details, over eight years of President Bush's policies of deregulation, of tax cuts, all things that Rick Perry says has created jobs, actually George Bush created a net three million jobs in eight years. Even Jimmy Carter created more jobs in one term than Bush did with these policies in two terms, so once we get into this debate, once we get beyond the superficial headlines of Perry's positioning, we're going to have this played out and people will recall, as they already in polls, that the Bush policies weren't too good. O'DONNELL: We now have projections that the jobs picture a year from now in the presidential campaign is going to look pretty much like the jobs picture does today. If that holds, if that is true, and if Perry is the emerging nominee for the Republicans, it seems like it will clearly be a jobs campaign at that point. What does the Obama campaign think it's going to be able to do against Perry on jobs? WOLFFE: Well, I think the, what they're expecting is that this is not just going to be about jobs, it's going to be about the role of government when times are tough. And if you assume that the economy is the same – and, by the way, t hat's a big assumption. You know, in 2007, Barack Obama thought the whole campaign would be about Iraq, and by 2008 it wasn't about the war at all, it was about the economy. So a year is an extremely long time in politics. But the debate here is: W hat can government do when times are difficult? Should government be cut? Will that create jobs? Or is government the last best hope? That's how this is going to play out – at least that's how the White House hopes it's going to play out. And judging by what the Republicans are saying, they think small government means more jobs. Well, let's take it to the people and see what they think, too. O'DONNELL: Richard Wolffe of MSNBC, thanks for joining me tonight, Richard. WOLFFE: You bet,
Continue reading …On MSNBC, Sharpton and Huffpo Bureau Chief Agree Boehner Is ‘Probably the Most Extreme Speaker We`ve Seen in Decades’
September 3, 2011 No Comment
On MSNBC's Political Nation Friday evening, host Al Sharpton interviewed Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post.
Continue reading …
Former Liberal leader and architect of 1967 act speaks out amid fears of an American-style anti-termination agenda David Steel, the former Liberal leader and architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, has lobbied ministers to vote against a bill to change the counselling system for women who want terminations. Lord Steel, who has talked of the need to amend his original legislation to limit late abortions, said that there was no need for the proposed amendment to the health and social care bill, which MPs will vote on this week. He has written to key figures in the government to urge them to reject it. The amendment, put forward by the Tory MP Nadine Dorries, would strip established abortion providers and charities of their role as counsellors to women with unplanned pregnancies. Critics say the move would create a gap that would be filled by religious anti-abortion charities and medical professionals. Steel said: “Under the Abortion Act, the Department of Health has complete power over licensing and de-licensing clinics. If there were any evidence of failure to carry out proper counselling of patients, they can close clinics. More positively, there is nothing to stop them issuing guidelines on counselling if they think that necessary. There is no need to amend the health bill.” Dorries has emerged as the figurehead of the “right to know” campaign that has emerged in the run-up to the vote. Her amendment is almost certain to be rejected this week after the government indicated it did not have the support of David Cameron or the Department of Health. But there is unease among pro-choice campaigners that a US-style anti-abortion agenda is starting to take root in the UK, supported by American Christian evangelical movements. Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS (formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) said: “Over the past couple of decades, anti-choice organisations in the US have moved away from arguing about the morality of abortion, towards presenting their cause in the language of women’s health. This often leads them to promote misinformation – for example, that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility or mental illness – as a means of scaring women about abortion, or encouraging legislators to restrict access to abortions. There are important moral and political arguments that should be had about abortion; hiding behind non-evidence based, pseudo-scientific health claims reveals the moral bankruptcy of some anti-abortion campaigns today.” She added: “The Dorries amendment – tagged on to a bill which has nothing to do with abortion – seems to be an example of using legislation to interfere with women’s access to a legal abortion service, with the goal of making the experience more unpleasant.” Other providers are worried they may have to take on a new role. “We are not the place for moral or political arbitration,” said one pregnancy counsellor. “Our job is to support women and make sure they are making the right decision for them. The last thing I want is to have to spend my time defending the rights and wrongs.” The Royal College of GPs and the BMA have said they do not see any reason for the amendment. Any GP who has an ethical or religious object to abortion is allowed to “conscientiously object” and take no part in referring or treating a woman with an unplanned pregnancy. Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical fellowship, which has more than 4,500 doctors as members, said GPs were the right people to give independent counselling. “They would not need to state their own ethical position until it gets to the point that the woman says she would like an abortion and then the doctor can explain to her that they are not able to help,” said Saunders, who has advised Dorries. Abortion Health Women Health policy Public services policy Tracy McVeigh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …