French Socialists project ‘caring and sharing’ in bid to beat Nicolas Sarkozy
August 28, 2011 No Comment
Candidates seeks to buck Europe-wide trend away from left and reassure voters of party’s economic nous ahead of 2012 election They are riding high in the polls, sensing a chance to win their first presidential vote since 1988 and buck a trend across Europe in which the left is in retreat. But France’s Socialists are gearing up for a bruising battle against Nicolas Sarkozy in next spring’s presidential election, worried that voters do not trust them to handle the financial crisis. With the 2012 presidential race wide open, the Socialists’ first hurdle is to find a candidate both charismatic and ruthless enough to defeat the genius of Sarkozy on the campaign trail and in the televised debates. François Hollande, the wise-cracking, self-styled “ordinary guy” of French politics, is the early frontrunner, deploying humour and economic nous in equal measure at this weekend’s conference in La Rochelle. A former Socialist party leader and MP in rural central France, Hollande, 57, has gone on a crash diet and smartened up his suits after splitting from his partner, the former presidential runner Ségolène Royal. Famous for his jokes – which charmed audiences at the party conference – Hollande is seen as the most presidential candidate and the most trusted on economic matters. He has an economics background and has positioned himself on the centre-left. “If we don’t dominate money, money will dominate us,” Hollande said in his conference speech, arguing that his priorities were tax reform, helping France’s desolate and largely unemployed youth, and kick-starting growth through careful state investment. Against him is Martine Aubry, 60, the mayor of Lille and the first woman to lead the Socialist party. An architect of the 35-hour week, she is seen as a defender of leftwing values and a “caring” society. One T-shirt slogan among supporters read: “Yes we care”. She told the party conference that austerity alone would not work and French economic woes must be resolved by tackling root issues of “education, employment and sustainable development”. She is seen as austere, less charismatic and less hungry for power. She jumped into the race late to replace the favourite Dominique Strauss-Kahn, viewed as dead politically after the alleged attempted rape of a New York hotel-maid. Royal is still in the race, in third position. The left may be in decline across Europe and are likely to lose in Spain this autumn, but all recent polls show that the Socialists would win if the election were to take place now. And yet party activists are extremely cautious. After the euro zone debt crisis raised investor doubts about France’s prized triple-A credit rating and unemployment last week soared to the highest level since Sarkozy’s election, the economy is at the heart of the presidential race. Sarkozy’s latest initiative for a temporary tax on the mega-wealthy was an attempt to steal the left’s clothes and ditch his “president of the rich” label. But it was attacked by the Socialists as a smokescreen to mask an unfair tax system which affords the rich tax breaks and loopholes while everyday people face new taxes on items such as fizzy drinks, cigarettes and visits to theme parks. The Socialists are aiming to convince France that a caring, sharing left can maintain a strong welfare state while kick-starting growth, cutting debt and creating jobs. For the first time, the Socialists are holding an open primary race allowing not just party members but the whole electorate to choose the candidate. The 9 October vote is open to anyone on the electoral register if they sign a declaration that they adhere to the values of the left and pay one euro. Many party members said the Socialist lead in the polls was down to the left-leaning spirit of French society – with the republican ideals of the strong state, social welfare protection and a general anti-capitalist feeling. Often opinion polls favour the left long before an election, but then voters swing right on concrete policy issues at the ballot box. “The French have their hearts on their left and wallets on their right,” said one Socialist activist from the south. “The individualism of Sarkozyism is winning out and our challenge is to convince people we can create a reasonable society where economic development is for everyone not just about a privileged few.” France Europe Nicolas Sarkozy Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk
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Fears that Rupert Murdoch could reopen bid prompts ‘public interest test’ motion by shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis Labour is trying to secure cross-party support for an emergency change in the law to prevent News Corporation from renewing its bid to take full ownership of BSkyB. In a move designed to capitalise on the embarrassment the phone-hacking scandal has heaped on the government, Labour said there was still a possibility that Rupert Murdoch could reopen his bid and the law should be changed to allow ministers to block it. Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, will introduce a negative motion when parliament returns next week, which – if approved by all parties – could go ahead without a vote. He has written to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the Lib Dem culture spokesman, Don Foster, with his proposals. The aim would be to introduce a new public interest test applicable to media barons to rule people out based on their conduct. Under Labour’s proposed amendments to Section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002, ministers would be given the necessary powers to ask regulators to apply a wide-ranging public interest test. Ministers would be also be able to intervene at any stage in the process if new information came to light. Lewis said: “These measures are necessary to ensure that while we wait for the outcome of the Leveson inquiry, no changes in media ownership can occur which are not in the public interest. “It is essential we learn lessons from the BSkyB fiasco so that media integrity is the top priority when considering future ownership and merger changes. “Ultimately, there is a strong case for removing politicians from media ownership and merger decisions. But, in the meantime, we must act to address the legal ambiguities which allowed Jeremy Hunt to disregard growing public concern and damaged public trust in the credibility of the decision making process.” In his letter to Hunt, Lewis argued that ministers should be removed from the approval process in the long term, but that while the existing legislation was in place emergency moves were urgently needed to close the loophole that could allow Murdoch to simply bid again for control of BSkyB. The negative motion will be laid in both houses of parliament when they return on 5 September. News Corporation Rupert Murdoch BSkyB Phone hacking Media business Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Television industry Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fears that Rupert Murdoch could reopen bid prompts ‘public interest test’ motion by shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis Labour is trying to secure cross-party support for an emergency change in the law to prevent News Corporation from renewing its bid to take full ownership of BSkyB. In a move designed to capitalise on the embarrassment the phone-hacking scandal has heaped on the government, Labour said there was still a possibility that Rupert Murdoch could reopen his bid and the law should be changed to allow ministers to block it. Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, will introduce a negative motion when parliament returns next week, which – if approved by all parties – could go ahead without a vote. He has written to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the Lib Dem culture spokesman, Don Foster, with his proposals. The aim would be to introduce a new public interest test applicable to media barons to rule people out based on their conduct. Under Labour’s proposed amendments to Section 58 of the Enterprise Act 2002, ministers would be given the necessary powers to ask regulators to apply a wide-ranging public interest test. Ministers would be also be able to intervene at any stage in the process if new information came to light. Lewis said: “These measures are necessary to ensure that while we wait for the outcome of the Leveson inquiry, no changes in media ownership can occur which are not in the public interest. “It is essential we learn lessons from the BSkyB fiasco so that media integrity is the top priority when considering future ownership and merger changes. “Ultimately, there is a strong case for removing politicians from media ownership and merger decisions. But, in the meantime, we must act to address the legal ambiguities which allowed Jeremy Hunt to disregard growing public concern and damaged public trust in the credibility of the decision making process.” In his letter to Hunt, Lewis argued that ministers should be removed from the approval process in the long term, but that while the existing legislation was in place emergency moves were urgently needed to close the loophole that could allow Murdoch to simply bid again for control of BSkyB. The negative motion will be laid in both houses of parliament when they return on 5 September. News Corporation Rupert Murdoch BSkyB Phone hacking Media business Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Television industry Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rep. Todd Akin Refuses to Meet With Constituents and Defend Vote to Eliminate Medicare
August 28, 2011 No CommentNo big surprise here, but it looks like we’ve got another Republican House member refusing to meet with constituents who are angry about their vote for the Ryan budget which would eliminate Medicare as we know it. Here’s more from Show Me Progress on Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, who apparently is afraid of the group of primarily senior citizens who showed up outside of his office to protest earlier this week. Todd Akin greets peaceful constituents. With cops. : Eight cop cars. That’s how many it took to quell the “riot” by 50 or so little old ladies and 50 others of assorted ages (and sexes) who tried to storm Representative Todd Akin’s office in West St. Louis County Wednesday afternoon. Since Akin refuses ever to respond to requests from Democratic constituents asking for a meeting or a phone call, much less a town hall, these folks called their own town hall a block from his office and invited him to attend. He didn’t show. Of course. So the crowd had the gall to approach his majesty’s office and were told by the cops which little bright patch of sunlight they might occupy while they listened to a few speakers. Why is it that peaceful people–and there were no weapons in this group more dangerous than a few rapier like wits–cannot even approach the office paid for by taxpayers without having the police–union workers that we taxpayers fund–sicced on them? More there with lots of pictures of those very scary looking seniors that came out to protest. Republicans loved it when we had these “tea partiers” coming out to scream at Democrats over the health care bill. Now that the tables have turned and their approval numbers are at an all time low, they’re not so thrilled with the idea of being held accountable to their constituents. You can’t blame any of them for wanting to be cautious after what happened to Gabby Giffords, but I don’t think that excuses them refusing to meet with or respond to voters at all.
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Charities warn of ‘distress and delay’ as they are stripped of responsibility to counsel women seeking a termination The government has caved in to calls from anti-abortionists to overhaul existing protocols and strip charities of their responsibility to counsel women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. The Department of Health confirmed that it would change the rules to ensure abortion counselling was offered “independently” of clinics that conduct terminations. Its announcement was made in advance of an attempt next week led by the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries to amend the health and social care bill to force such a requirement. Dorries says that the charity-run abortion services – including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes – have a financial conflict of interest in advising women seeking terminations. She says that by offering independent counselling, 60,000 of the 200,000 abortions each year could be prevented. The charities say that another layer of counselling could cause distress by delaying access to abortions. They also say that the counselling they offer is continuous throughout the process of seeking a termination and that there is no evidence they are biased in the care they provide . Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the government’s decision was based on prejudice rather than evidence. The Department of Health confirmed that it would move to change the rules and said it was consulting on the precise method to use, with sources acknowledging that it was a direct response to lobbying from backbenchers. An aide to the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: “We remain of the view that we can do this without legislation but we aren’t shying away from a parliamentary debate. We want women to have the offer of independent counselling, independent of the abortion provider. “We believe that it would be an improvement on the current system. Equally, the timing of it has been determined by cross-party push by backbenchers on all sides of the house to ask the government to look into this issue.” Dorries launched her campaign for the change alongside Frank Field, the Labour MP. They are backed by the campaign group Right to Know, which has set up a website and Facebook page. Dorries, a former nurse who says she is campaigning on the issue after witnessing botched terminations, says she does not oppose abortion. However, she has previously campaigned to reduce the abortion time limit and said that her explicit aim was to reduce the number of terminations, claiming that 60,000 could be prevented each year if women were given independent advice. “The important thing is that the government have highlighted themselves and agreed that counselling by organisations that are paid to conduct the procedures is not independent. That’s the most important. That’s very reassuring. It validates the amendment and what we’re doing,” she told the Guardian. “The abortion process is so fast – 7-14 days. Women who do have doubts or niggles are on the other side before they have a chance to think it through. The majority may feel it’s fine but there are a growing number thinking it wasn’t what I wanted to do. As it gets faster and faster more women are falling off the edge. This is a women’s right’s issue.” Dorries said she did not know how the Right to Know campaign was being funded, claiming that it represented “hundreds” of people and was run by a lobbyist. She would not reveal the lobbyist’s name, or the other organisations the lobbyist represents but did say that she was receiving advice from Dr Peter Saunders, the head of the Christian Medical Fellowship. Saunders led the Alive and Kicking campaign, a group of anti-abortion groups including the ProLife Alliance, which campaigned for an immediate cut in the abortion time limit, prohibition of abortion for “social convenience” and a cooling-off period. Right to Know refused to reveal how it is funded saying only that it relies mostly on individuals. A spokeswoman said: “This is a campaign that has attracted support from people of very different backgrounds and beliefs (including atheists) who simply share the common view that the support and information that women receive ahead of an abortion should be improved.” Ann Furedi, chief executive of the BPAS, said: “The thing I find most frustrating about this discussion is the assumption behind it that we want to encourage women towards the abortion option, rather than the option of continuing the pregnancy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can say with hands on heart that the last thing that anyone involved in abortion wants is for a woman to be having treatment that they are not sure about. Everybody wants people to walk away feeling that the right thing has been done.” The health and social care bill is due to be debated in the Commons when parliament returns next week, and a decision on whether to select the amendment – one of the first submitted – will be taken on 6 September. Dorries claimed that private polling has suggested that up to 80% of MPs could back the amendment. All three parties confirmed that, as is traditional with matters of conscience, there would be a free vote on the issue. Lib Dem sources said that they had not opposed the decision to introduce independent counselling within the Department of Health but that the coalition agreed the legislation was unnecessary. Cooper said: “These plans are based on prejudice rather than evidence. This could make it harder for women to get proper health advice and counselling when they need it most. Health ministers need to urgently think again. David Cameron should not put politics before the interests of women’s health and women’s lives.” John Healey, the shadow health secretary, said the Labour health team would vote against Dorries’ amendment: “The Tory backbenchers are hijacking the health bill to make arguments that are entirely irrelevant to the huge and fundamental changes being made to the NHS. MPs will only get two days to debate the bill, and that limited time would be spent on more important matters than this amendment.” A Department of Health spokesperson said the department “wants women who are thinking about having an abortion to be able to have access to independent counselling. Work is under way currently to develop proposals around counselling on which the department intends to consult externally.” Abortion Health Women Conservatives Pregnancy Health & wellbeing Family Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Martin Luther King’s Daughter: ‘Lincoln Remembered for Signing the Declaration of Independence’
August 28, 2011 No Comment
At a ceremony to honor the opening of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in our nation's capital Friday, the late civil rights leader's daughter Bernice made an historical error that would evoke tremendous ridicule and derision if she was a conservative. “Lincoln remembered for signing the Declaration of Independence” (video follows with transcript and commentary): BERNICE KING: But as I close, I close with the recognition that daddy is standing, Lincoln is seated. Lincoln remembered for signing the Declaration of Independence. Daddy being remembered as standing up for truth and standing up for justice and standing up for righteousness and standing up for peace and standing up for freedom. Daddy is now standing on the National Mall in our nation’s capital. Readers are strongly advised that I mean no disrespect whatsoever to Ms. King or her father. People when speaking in front of the public – especially without teleprompters – make innocent mistakes all the time. We know Ms. King is fully aware that Lincoln didn't sign the Declaration of Independence. Toward the end of an eight-minute speech to her father's former fraternity Friday, she erred. People do it all the time. Likely – and frankly, rightly! – you haven't heard anything about this. But would that be the case if this was an event for former President Ronald Reagan for example, and his daughter Patti Davis made such a mistake? Imagine former Alaska governor Sarah Palin or Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann saying such a thing. This would have likely made headlines and been featured on all the nightly news programs. That's what happened when Bachmann recenty mistook the day Elvis Presley died for his birthday. A Google search of “Bachmann Elvis Presley” produced over 7 million results, and that's just a flub concerning a dead rock star. This is a mistake concerning the Declaration of Independence and one of America's greatest presidents.
Continue reading …Stephen Hayes: Every Time His Job Record is Attacked, It’s a Win for Rick Perry
August 28, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media While discussing whether or not we can say that 2012 Republican primary now has two front runners, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, Fox News Sunday panel member Juan Williams went through the litany of reasons that Perry might do well in the GOP primary race, but is going to have some trouble in the general election because he’s going to be painted “as an extremist and fringe.” When Williams pointed out that Perry’s record on job creation in Texas isn’t all that it’s being built up to be, naturally the rest of him pounced on him and here’s how The Weekly Standard columnist and Cheney “biographer” Stephen Hayes responded: HAYES: Every time his job record is attacked, it’s a win for Rick Perry, because you can’t attack jobs that don’t exist. So that’s… it’s reinforcing the sense that people have that Texas has actually created jobs. If Stephen Hayes thinks Perry can’t be attacked for his so called “Texas Miracle”, I’ve got a few posts for him to read. Here’s Rachel Maddow from this past June — Rachel Maddow Debunks Praise for Rick Perry’s ‘Texas Miracle’ . And Paul Krugman from earlier this month — The Texas Unmiracle . And here’s more from Jon Perr on the not just Rick Perry, but where the Republicans’ policies are taking the United States — Republicans Push National Race to the Bottom .
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If Arsenal were in poor shape before this fixture, the devastation at Old Trafford has left them in a chaotic state. Injuries cannot account for this mauling that included the dismissal of Carl Jenkinson, with a second yellow card, when the score was 6-2. Manchester United were pitiless, with Ashley Young lashing their eighth in stoppage time Arsenal have failed to keep pace with United for some years, but this match showed that Sir Alex Ferguson’s team is almost out of view. Considering the weakness of the line-up Arsène Wenger had to select, with the centre-half Thomas Vermaelen ruled out by a thigh injury and the teenager Francis Coquelin making his debut in midfield, it was natural that the visitors should suffer. Even so, nobody envisaged such humiliation. Wenger’s line-up inflicted pain on themselves when, with the score at 1-0 for United, their goalkeeper David de Gea dived to his right in the 27th minute and saved a penalty from Robin van Persie that had been awarded following a Jonny Evans challenge on Theo Walcott. Within two minutes, the lead was extended as Ashley Young bent a shot into the top corner. The United opener had come when Anderson lifted a pass over the defence and Danny Welbeck was too sharp for Johan Djourou as he headed home the bouncing ball that had been lifted into the area by Anderson. The advantage was extended when Young curled a shot high into the net. United’s third, in the 41st, minute was bent into the top corner by Rooney after he had tapped a free-kick sideways to Young, who stopped it and left the forward with a better angle from which shoot. Theo Walcott would fire home through the legs of De Gea on the verge of the interval, but Arsenal could not really resist here. The second half was even more of a rout. Further United goals followed, with Rooney bending home another attempt, Nani finishing stylishly from the Englishman’s service, the substitute Park Ji-Sung coming off the bench to strike and Rooney himself completing a hat-trick from the penalty spot after Walcott had pushed Patrice Evra. In the midst of the barrage, Van Persie had scored to reduce the deficit to 6-2. It was hardly the sort of resistance Arsenal had hoped to mount. Premier League 2011-12 Manchester United Arsenal Premier League Kevin McCarra guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I’m going to give props to Christie, who did a great job convincing people to take this storm seriously. There was serious damage and substantial flooding in New Jersey, and thanks to his blunt statements, he managed to persuade most of the people in harm’s way to evacuate. Reports of damage are still coming in from all over the state, which is why I was surprised by phone calls this morning from friends saying, “No big deal.” Really? One of my friends, who lives at the beach, had a tornado touch down near her house. It took out a couple of houses, the roof of an apartment building, and threw high-velocity debris all over the area. None of that has appeared on the news. (Oh, and her local beach was completely washed away.) Here’s Gov. Christie, interviewed by Jake Tapper for This Week With Christiane Amanour: TAPPER: As we’ve been telling you, New Jersey is getting hit hard by the storm right now. New Jersey’s governor, Chris Christie, is monitoring the situation from the Regional Operations Intelligence Center in Ewing, New Jersey. He joins us right now. Governor Christie, thanks for coming onto the show. CHRISTIE: Thanks for having me, Jake. TAPPER: So, Governor, the hurricane made landfall in New Jersey shortly before 6:00 this morning. Your state’s just beginning to weather the storm. What are the early reports telling you? CHRISTIE: Early reports are very difficult, Jake. We have over half-a-million people that are now without power. We have 15,000 people in 45 shelters across the state; 250 roads are closed; and we are going to look at a record flooding situation here, both at the shore and inland. And so my message to the people of New Jersey is, the eye of the storm is still over the state. We are far from out of the woods on the storm itself. And I urge people to stay inside their homes. The one report we have this morning of a woman who’s missing is someone who went out into their car, drove, got into the water, got out of her car, and was swept away in the water and is still missing. So, please, stay in your homes until the storm has completely left New Jersey. Then we’ll be able to get through this together in the aftermath, but I need people to stay at home. TAPPER: What is your biggest concern right now? What kept you last night? CHRISTIE: Flooding, Jake, because we had the wettest August on record in parts of New Jersey before this storm. Already, we’ve had six to eight inches of rain dumped on south Jersey, and the rain is continuing throughout the state. And so what I’m really worried about is flooding at this point and having to evacuate even more people than the 15,000 we’ve already had to evacuate and shelter. So in the short term, in the next couple of days, my big concern is the inland flooding and the shore flooding and how we’re going to deal with folks who maybe have to be evacuated from their homes and need to be sheltered. TAPPER: Is there anything that the state of New Jersey needs from the federal government that you’re not getting? CHRISTIE: Not at this point, Jake. We have FEMA representatives here at the — at the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, been working with us. I’m going to be calling Secretary Napolitano in an hour or two to make a further request of additional needs. But so far, FEMA has been very responsive. I spoke to Secretary Napolitano in the last 24 hours. She’s offered to do whatever she needs to do to help us out here in New Jersey. She knows how hard we’re going to be hit. So right now, the cooperation between New Jersey and FEMA has been great, and I’m going to be calling Secretary Napolitano shortly to ask for some more help. TAPPER: I know you were very concerned about the — at the time, it was 600 seniors in these Atlantic City high rises who were not leaving. What can you tell us about efforts to protect them? CHRISTIE: Well, our last-ditch efforts that I referenced yesterday afternoon got another 100 or so to leave and to evacuate. So now we’re dealing with about 500 seniors who refuse to evacuate. And as soon as it’s safe to travel there, I know county OEM, Office of Emergency Management, Atlantic County is already checking on these folks to make sure they’re OK. They lost power in a number of the buildings as early as 10 o’clock last night. So the county officials in Atlantic County are going to check on those folks. And as soon as we have some reports, we’ll be able to share them with the public. TAPPER: Why do people not leave their homes at times like this? CHRISTIE: You know, I think it’s a combination of things. You know, Jake, New Jerseyans are especially tough, kind of cynical, hard-edged folks, and they think the “cry wolf” syndrome, you know, it’s all over TV, but it’s never as bad as they’re telling you it will be, that’s one of the reasons . Another reason is that people are very scared, they want to protect their property. And thirdly, especially with the elderly, you know, we had one 92-year-old woman say to us yesterday, “I’m 92 years old. If I die, this is where I want to die.” And so I think it’s a combination of all those things that make people not heed the warnings. But the good news is that we evaluated over a million people from the Jersey shore in 24 hours without incident. And if those people had stayed at the Jersey shore, I think we’d be talking about significant loss of life. And now, hopefully, we’re not going to be talking about that. TAPPER: All right. Governor Chris Christie, thanks for joining us. Stay safe. CHRISTIE: Jake, thank you very much for having me.
Continue reading …Daily Kos Week in Review: Hurricane Irene Is Like Early Christmas for GOP?
August 28, 2011 No Comment
For most East Coast residents, Hurricane Irene has been cause for concern, but for Republicans it's been cause for celebration. At least that's the word from one Kossack, who alleges that GOPers are gleeful because both they and the storm have had the same effect: wrecking the country and damaging Obama's chances for re-election.
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