Guest hosting for Chris Matthews on Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Jansing derided Rick Perry, wondering if the Republican presidential candidate is ” too far off even for the GOP ?” Jansing, who normally hosts supposedly straight news coverage for the cable network, attempted to generate controversy over statements Perry made on civil rights. A MSNBC graphic for the segment, mocked, ” I have a scheme .” According to Jansing, Perry's problem answer came in “comparing” the civil rights to cutting corporate tax rates. Here's Perry's full answer: RICK PERRY: America's gone a long way from the standpoint of civil rights and thank God we have. I mean, we've gone from a country that's made great strides in issues of civil rights. I think we all can be proud of that. And as we go forward, America needs to be about freedom. It needs to be about freedom from over taxation, freedom from over-litigation, freedom from over-regulation. And Americans, regardless of social and economic background is, they need to know that they can come to America and you got a chance to have any dream come true, because the economic climate is going to be improved An indignant Jansing huffed, “So, does Perry really believe African-Americans' struggle for civil rights is comparable to the GOP's fight for lower taxes?” Talking to Alex Wagner of the liberal Huffington Post, she slammed, “Is this ignorance?…Is this insensitivity?”
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North Korean leader tells Russian president his country is ready to return to aid for disarmament negotiations The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, is ready to discuss suspending the country’s testing and production of nuclear weapons if international talks on its atomic programme resume, a Kremlin spokeswoman claimed on Wednesday. The pledge – made during talks with the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev – appeared to be intended to increase the chances of reviving the six-nation aid for disarmament talks, which collapsed when North Korea walked out in 2008. “Kim Jong-il expressed readiness to return to six-party talks without preconditions,” Medvedev’s spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova, said after the president met Kim at a military base in the Siberian village of Sosnovy Bor, near Lake Baikal. “In the course of the talks, the North Koreans will be ready to resolve the issue of imposing a moratorium on testing and production of missile and nuclear weaponry.” South Korea and the US have called on North Korea to agree to a moratorium before the six-party talks reconvene. The reclusive North Korean leader arrived in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Tuesday. The city is about 30 miles from the military base in the Russian republic of Buryatia, and about 2,750 miles east of Moscow. The talks in Russia were Kim’s first since 2002, and he did not speak to reporters afterwards. But Timakova’s comments suggested Kim wanted no discussion of the moratorium before a resumption of the talks, in which Russia, China and Japan are also involved. The negotiations are intended to provide impoverished North Korea with economic aid as an incentive for giving up the nuclear weapons programme. Moscow and Beijing have called for a quick resumption of the meetings. Seoul, Washington and Tokyo said they were willing to resume, but that Pyongyang had to show it was “serious about de-nuclearising”. The North Korean leader has sought help from regional powers in recent months for his nation, which is struggling with floods and international economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme. Kim has left his isolated country to visit China – which now has more influence on Pyongyang than Russia – three times in less than two years. Citing a “severe deficit” of food products, Russia said on Friday it would send 50,000 tonnes of grain to North Korea by the end of September. The North has also sought foreign investment to improve infrastructure. North Korea Kim Jong-il Russia Dmitry Medvedev Nuclear weapons China guardian.co.uk
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The last time the Ifo index fell so sharply was in November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers German business confidence made its steepest drop this month since the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse in late 2008, raising fresh doubts about the broader European economy as it grapples with a crippling debt crisis. The Munich-based Ifo thinktank said on Wednesday its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, fell to 108.7 in August from 112.9 in July, well below a consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of 42 economists for a 111.0 reading. The last time the index fell so sharply was in November 2008, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers when the German economy was in its deepest postwar recession. It was the lowest reading for the index since June of last year. Ifo economist Klaus Abberger told Reuters that the slowdown of the US economy and twin debt problems in the US and Europe were the main reasons for the worsening outlook. “The German economy has been infected,” Abberger said. “I wouldn’t speak of a recession at this moment. The companies still have a cushion of orders. And not every cooling results in a recession, but the recovery is slowing very significantly.” The German economy has been a pillar of strength since the debt crisis in the eurozone first broke out in Greece at the end of 2009. But data last week showed gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a meagre 0.1% in the second quarter of the year, pushed down by weakening private consumption and declines in the construction sector. The Ifo index suggests the slowdown could be more precipitous than many economists had thought, removing a key crutch for the eurozone, whose vulnerable peripheral economies are depending on strong demand from their northern partners to help them out of their debt holes. A weakening economy could make Germans more reluctant to splash out money to help countries like Greece, for whom a second rescue package was agreed by European leaders last month. That deal, which must be approved by national parliaments to go into force, has run into trouble over Finnish demands that Greece put up collateral to offset the loans it receives. Serious warning Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING, described the sharp decline in the Ifo’s expectations index as a “serious warning”. That sub-index tumbled to 100.1, its lowest in almost two years, from 105.0 in the prior month. On Tuesday, a separate gauge of analyst and investor sentiment published by the Mannheim-based ZEW institute fell by its largest amount in five years. Data this week also showed growth in German business activity was its weakest in 25 months in August as new orders fell. Germany’s blue-chip DAX index has shed almost a quarter of its value since the start of the month amid fears a global slowdown will dampen demand for the country’s exports. In addition to economic weakness in the US, the Chinese economy is also slowing. China has emerged as a key export market for German firms over the past decade. Some leading companies, such as steelmaker ThyssenKrupp , have warned recently about increased uncertainty in US markets. Although a recession in Germany does not seem inevitable at this point, some economists said the worst was yet to come. “We definitely have not seen the low point with expectations yet and they will certainly fall further in coming months,” said Joerg Lueschow at WestLB. Europe Global economy Economics Germany Europe Recession Lehman Brothers guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Farm Workers Begin 13-day, 200-mile March to Convince Gov. Jerry Brown To Do the Right Thing
August 24, 2011 No CommentFarm workers and their allies began a 200-mile march Tuesday that will last nearly two weeks and is aimed at convincing Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) to sign legislation that would improve working conditions and pay for thousands of California workers. The march began in Madera, Calif., today and will end up in Sacramento. The legislation, if passed, would: -Guarantee the right for farm workers to be paid overtime after eight hours a day and 40 hours a week — like other workers -Make it easier for farm workers to join unions -Ensure bathroom breaks and water for field workers -Strengthen heat regulations that are not currently being enforced, leading to a number of deaths due to heat-related illness Similar legislation was vetoed by Brown earlier in the year, but proponents plan to reintroduce legislation soon. In vetoing the legislation, Brown said that he wasn’t yet convinced of the need for passing the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act. United Farm Workers responded strongly to that rationale: In Governor Brown’s veto of the “Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act,” he says he is “not yet convinced.” For farm workers, “not yet” means farm workers don’t get water and shade. “Not yet” means farm workers continue to die of heat illness. “Not yet” means farm workers do not have basic justice implemented by the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. “Not yet” means hundreds of farm workers who last year voted for union representation have waited more than a year for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to take the simple act of certifying the elections. If you are in California, join march events at various locations . If you are outside of California, you can join the march virtually or help fund the march .
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Fellow blogger over at FutureMajority.com has just released an expose on what has been said to be one of the fastest rising political youth organizations in the country. As it turns out – the group is a front group for ultra-conservative economic policy, spinning fake or cherry picked polling data, and running one of the largest AstroTurf 2.0 operations ever seen! While the GOP has made gains with young white males (though just how much is in question do to an oversampling of the south in the cited report) since the period those surveys were done, overall the ethnically diverse Millennials have not drastically changed , with the majority of disappointment in Washington coming from the left… “Generation Opportunity bases their legitimacy on the number of followers on their Facebook page, ” Being American .” At the time of writing, the page has just under 940,000 fans, which would be very impressive for an organization that was publicly announced less than 3 months ago. According to their announcement press release , their fan page already had over 600,000 fans before they even publicly announced their existence. That is a little bit too impressive. . . .Then again, Generation Opportunity doesn’t have any fans, “Being American” does. Apparently, “Being American” is a Generation Opportunity project. Let me translate: someone gave Generation Opportunity the existing page for “Being American” and the organization branded it as their own. Anyone who has ever liked “Being American” on Facebook because they like being American is unwillingly being counted as a supporter of this organization, and Generation Opportunity is using these people as ‘evidence’ that they are legitimate and “one of the largest and fastest growing organizations targeting young Americans.” This is astroturfing 2.0. . . . ” “Generation Opportunity is a conservative astroturf front group being used to push a pro-conservative youth narrative using the false legitimacy of their acquired Facebook page. There are no Millennials involved. There is nobody involved in the organization that is not a conservative activist. None of their polling data has included crosstabs or demographics.. . .” “Paul T. Conway, Kellyanne Conway, and Matthew Faraci are not bad people. Kellyanne Conway in particular has been a long-time advocate of youth outreach on the right and has spoken openly about improving voter access. If conservatives want to start another youth outreach or advocacy group, more power to them. I welcome the addition of organizations that seek to engage young voters regardless of their place on the political spectrum. However, I do not support the idea of a falsely non-partisan organization disingenuously using the followers of another Facebook page as legitimacy to push a conservative narrative so it looks unbiased.” For months I’ve reported on a recent trend I’ve seen emerging among conservatives. Suddenly the right is taking the youth vote seriously at a time that our side continues to take them for granted. Part of my frustration stems from seeing friends organizing in the youth movement struggle to get their groups funded or even noticed by the establishment or party elites. But republicans appear to have taken notice. Young voters had an upward trend that occurred in 2000 and has been steadily climbing ever since. enlarge Credit: CIRCLE As such, Republicans understand that this is a numbers game. The key demographic for a long time was Baby Boomers just because there were so many of them. During the ’70s Boomers had significant impacts – and are continuing to have. But the Millennial Generation amounts for 80 million people – who will soon be 80 million voters. In 2004 they went for Kerry , in 2008 they went for Obama, and if Democrats can hold on to them for just a few more elections they’ll have solid partisan blue votes for life. Generation Opportunity is the indicator that the GOP will stop at nothing to make sure this doesn’t happen.
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Killer of headmaster Philip Lawrence acquitted of using infamy to frighten man into handing over money at cashpoint The killer of the headmaster Philip Lawrence has been cleared of using his notoriety to intimidate and rob a young man at a cash machine. Learco Chindamo, 31, was alleged to have accosted David Sexton with the words: “Do you remember about the headteacher in Maida Vale?” as he ordered him to hand over his money. The 31-year-old had only been released from prison for the 1995 murder some four months before the confrontation in north London, jurors were told. But , following the collapse of three previous trials, he was acquitted of robbery at London’s Blackfriars crown court on Wednesday. During seven days of evidence, jurors were told Chindamo tried to “intimidate and terrify” Sexton, allegedly demanding cash as he withdrew money outside a Sainsbury’s store on 13 November last year. The 20-year-old had been enjoying a work night out which culminated in Camden, north London, at about 3.30am, with his friends James Pearce and Seamus Delahunty. He had planned to withdraw a large amount of money from the cash machine in Chalk Farm Road but became wary and decided to take out only £20 when he noticed Chindamo and two other men. Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the court: “Mr Chindamo came towards Mr Sexton saying words to the effect of, ‘Do you know who I am?’ and ‘Do you remember about the headteacher in Maida Vale?’ “The Crown say that this was quite plainly and deliberately a reference to his conviction designed to intimidate and threaten Mr Sexton.” He became increasingly loud and aggressive and even falsely told Sexton that his co-defendant, Gregory Jananto, had stabbed a witness in his murder trial, it was alleged. Jurors heard how Jananto, 32, – armed with a large empty glass bottle which he waved around by the neck – and Saeed Akhtar, 32, surrounded Sexton in an “intimidating and threatening manner” during the dispute. Chindamo later told police he had been provoked by a man at the cashpoint who branded him a “killer”. Sexton, who at the time was working for a construction company in Holborn, central London, did not initially recognise Chindamo but knew about the murder of Lawrence which happened near his home. The court heard he had been to the cinema and a bar in Covent Garden before he found himself facing the killer. Giving evidence from behind a screen, he recalled feeling “scared” when Chindamo allegedly referred to the December 1995 murder outside the gates of St George’s School in Maida Vale, west London. “He demanded compensation for disrespecting him,” Sexton told the court. “He was basically saying, ‘hand over the money’. I didn’t think I had done anything wrong.” Terrified, he complied “because he was scared of what would happen to him if he did not,” Morgan said. Defence lawyers claimed Sexton in fact handed over £10 as a peace offering following the dispute so Chindamo could buy a drink. In police interviews, Chindamo denied threatening the man, using unlawful violence against him or demanding money from him. Jananto told officers Chindamo wanted to put his past behind him and never reacted when he was recognised and insulted. He admitted he had a bottle of vodka in his hand and accepted his behaviour was “overly aggressive” but said it was to defend himself because he feared there would be a fight. In his police interview, Akhtar denied using any threat or force and claimed the other group of men started the situation. The verdict, at the end of their fourth trial, came after three previous attempts to convict Chindamo fell apart. Chindamo, of Catford, south London, Jananto, of Shepherd’s Bush, west London, and Akhtar, of Camden, consistently denied robbery. All were cleared of the charges. Chindamo hugged Jananto who broke down in tears as the verdicts were read out. He will remain in custody pending a review of his case. Crime guardian.co.uk
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Social networks are to face a questioning from ministers over their role in the UK riots – could they do more to stop unrest? Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry to face questioning at riot summit David Cameron, speaking in the aftermath of this month’s riots , said that he wanted to know “whether it would be right” to ban people from using Facebook, Twitter or their BlackBerrys “when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality’. Tomorrow, Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry maker RIM prepare to head into the Home Office to discuss with Teresa May over how they can help stop rioting and violent disorder ( read here for more information ). What should be the right response? Here’s a few questions to stimulate discussion. • Should Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger be restricted or shut down in times of civil disorder? Do the police gather valuable information by allowing the services to stay up and running – or is it true that without them it would not be possible to plot violence on the scale seen this month? • Can all three networks, and in particular the private Blackberry Messenger, do more to help the police? Could Facebook be more active in pages that incite violence or from groups connected to violence? Could Twitter do more to delete inflammatory tweets, or simply prevent them from being published? • Should Facebook, Twitter and RIM give the police privileged access to their networks at times of civil disorder, or help law enforcement by providing more real-time data analysis that could help the police prevent rioting? • Should mobile phone companies monitor phone calls in a riot situation – or be prepared to scan for inflammatory text messages sent over their networks? Can they be more responsive to the police in riot situations, without waiting for warrants to provide information about their customers? • Should people who incite violent disorder be subject to four-year jail terms, or similar stiff sentences, as were handed down by Chester crown court to two men who posted messages on Facebook encouraging other people to riot in their home towns ? Should writing a few words on a computer or mobile at home be as serious as encouraging people to disorder in the streets? Let us know what you think below, or on Twitter using the hashtag #riotresponse Social networking Digital media Facebook Twitter BlackBerry Mobile phones Internet Theresa May UK riots Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk
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Forty arrests across London as Met adopts ‘robust’ strategy to avoid trouble at bank holiday event in the capital Scotland Yard has staged a series of dawn swoops in a pre-emptive strike to avoid trouble at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival . A total of 40 suspects have been arrested in raids across the capital during preparations for the force’s biggest policing presence at the event. The Metropolitan police launched a “robust” carnival strategy as intelligence suggested gangs are planning trouble. A team of armoured officers descended on one leafy terraced street in west London to arrest an 18-year-old suspected drug dealer as officers executed five warrants on Wednesday morning. Record numbers of police officers will be on duty across the capital during the Notting Hill carnival, Scotland Yard has said. The event, which attracts crowds of 1 million people, is taking place this year in “unusual and exceptional” circumstances, said Commander Steve Rodhouse of the Metropolitan police, referring to riots across England earlier this month. Rodhouse, the Met’s spokesman for the arnival, confirmed there would be around 16,000 officers on duty throughout the bank holiday weekend across the capital. The Met is continuing to receive help from outside forces to maintain policenumbers. The number of officers on duty at the carnival on Sunday and Monday will be more than ever before. In addition, it is understood police will use Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which gives officers powers to stop and search individuals in a designated area without reasonable suspicion they are about to commit an offence. On Sunday, 5,500 police will be on the streets for the children’s carnival. On bank holiday Monday, which attracts the biggest crowds, 6,500 police will be on duty, Rodhouse said. A reserve of 4,000 additional officers will be available across London to cope with any disturbances in other areas. They will also be complemented by the usual number of borough officers on duty, maintaining the total available at 16,000. Rodhouse said there was some intelligence from social networking sites and elsewhere that gangs were intent on causing trouble during the carnival. But this was not on a different scale to previous years and there was no intelligence to suggest gangs of looters were going to target the event, he added. “Some people believe that we will be diverted from the rest of London due to the carnival, leaving the rest of London without a police presence. This is not the case,” said Rodhouse. “To those who want to come and corrupt this magnificent event I would say you are not welcome. The Metropolitan police will do everything in our power to make it as hard as possible for you.” Carnival organisers have decided the street party will start and finish earlier this year to avoid any potential trouble as darkness falls. Chris Boothman, director of the Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said he supported the policing plans. He said the aim was to finish the parade at 6.30pm so the area would start to be cleared after 7pm. Pubs and other venues around Notting Hill have been asked to close at 9pm and Rodhouse said there had been a positive response. Notting Hill carnival Metropolitan police Police UK riots London Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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Spokesman cites ‘mistake’ over two day-release prisoners meant to ‘help the whole community’ at former home secretary’s house An investigation has been launched into how two prisoners on day-release were allowed to do some painting work for the former home secretary Jacqui Smith. Smith made a contribution to charity after the offenders spent a few hours decorating a room at her home in Redditch while they were on release from jail working in the community. The former MP said in a statement that she thought the offenders were supposed to be gaining work experience. But the prison service said on Wednesday that the two inmates, from HMP Hewell in Redditch, were supposed to be doing work that would benefit the community as a whole. A spokesman for the prison service said the offenders were meant to be doing work to “help the whole community” as part of a scheme run by a local charity, the Batchley support group. He said: “The decision to provide prisoners for this work was taken without consultation with HMP Hewell or the Ministry of Justice and was a mistake. “Offenders should work on projects which help the whole community. The scheme has been suspended while a full internal investigation is undertaken.” In a statement to the Sun, which broke the story, Smith said that the prisoners were only working at her home for three hours. “I understand that prisoners go to Batchley support group to gain work experience and do a range of jobs in the Batchley area where our house is,” she said. “As part of this project, two people did about three hours’ work in our house on one day for which we made a donation to the Batchley support group.” She did not say how much she donated. Smith, who resigned as home secretary after her parliamentary expense claims became controversial, lost her seat at the 2010 election. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Jacqui Smith House of Commons Communities Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk
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Ruling DPJ plans vote on Monday after criticism of leader following tsunami and Fukushima disasters Japan is expected to get its seventh leader in six years early next week, after the prime minister, Naoto Kan, confirmed he would resign in the midst of the country’s worst crisis since the second world war. Kan, who is battling record-low approval ratings over the aftermath of the 11 March tsunami, had promised to step down once parliament has passed a series of bills, including those to fund rebuilding and promote renewable energy. One of those bills has passed and the other two expected to win parliamentary support this week, paving the way for the governing Democratic party of Japan [DPJ] to elect a new leader on Monday. Whoever wins the contest will be approved as prime minister the following day as leader of the largest party in the lower house. The most likely successor emerged on Monday, when Kan’s former foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, announced he would run. The 49-year-old, who remains popular despite resigning in early March over a minor funding scandal , could run against his DPJ ally, the finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda, and the trade minister, Banri Kaieda. At least three other MPs are considering running, Japanese media reported, including the agriculture minister, Michihiko Kano, a veteran politician who is seen as dull but dependable. Kan said on Wednesday thathe would resign as DPJ president if the two outstanding bills were passed, as expected, this Friday. “Then, when a new [party] leader is chosen, I will quit as prime minister,” he told a parliamentary panel. Kan finds himself in the unusual position of leading a popular movement against nuclear power following the Fukushima Daiichi crisis, but also of presiding over a deeply unpopular government. A Kyodo News poll on Sunday showed approval for Kan’s cabinet at 15.8%; yet in the same survey, more than 75% of respondents said they backed his plan to scrap nuclear power. Of the leading candidates, Maehara is closest to Kan on energy policy, saying Japan should phase out nuclear power over the next 20 years. In 2009, the DPJ ended more than 50
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