“I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings.” —ROGER AILES, chairman of Fox News, on his apolitical reasons to hire former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as a network contributor (via Associated Press)
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Service to the Canary Islands that will be powered partly by waste from cooking oil is criticised as ‘hollow PR stunt’ The UK’s first commercial flight to be powered by biofuels will take off on Thursday, heading to the Canary Islands and into a storm of controversy. Thomson Airways’ 14.25 service from Birmingham airport to Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote, will be a scheduled flight like any other – except that one of the plane’s engines will run on a mixture of standard fuel and biofuel made from waste cooking oil. But while Thomson, the airline business of TUI Travel, hailed the flight as the start of a new era that would take aviation beyond fossil fuels, environmental campaigners slammed the pilot project as a gimmick that would end up harming the environment. The project has the support of MPs and the government’s aviation minister, Theresa Villiers, who said: “Sustainable biofuels have a role to play in efforts to tackle climate change, particularly in sectors where no other viable low carbon energy source has been identified – as is the case with aviation. We want aviation to flourish and grow but we have also been clear that the environmental impacts of flying must be addressed.” Green campaigners attacked the use of waste cooking fat as a “hollow PR stunt”, because such fuel could only be used to power a tiny fraction of flights. Friends of the Earth calculated that each of the 232 passengers on Thursday’s four-hour flight would have to save all of their chip fat for 100 years in order to provide enough to power the plane. Kenneth Richter, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Biofuels won’t make flying any greener – their production is wrecking rainforests, pushing up food prices and causing yet more climate-changing emissions. The government must curb future demand for flights by halting airport expansion, promoting video conferencing, and developing faster, better and affordable rail services.” The problem is that biofuels – once greeted by green campaigners as an alternative to fossil fuels – are now regarded as even more environmentally destructive than the fuels they replace. Natural oils such as palm oil are now hugely valuable globally traded commodities, and the rush to cash in has led to the widespread destruction of rainforest in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. For these reasons, green pressure groups want a moratorium on the use of biofuels. There have been moves to set up standards that would ensure any biofuels from oils such as palm oil come only from environmentally sustainable sources, but the supply is still only a fraction of the demand for plant-based oils. The Boeing 757 plane with Rolls-Royce engines will use biofuel only from waste fats that have been processed to make them suitable. But the company concedes that the supply of such oils is relatively small. Aviation currently accounts for around 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a proportion that is likely to increase. Air transport is not included in emissions targets under the Kyoto protocol, but the European Union plans to include flights to, from and within the bloc in its emissions trading scheme, which would penalise the airlines with the highest relative emissions. This move is bitterly opposed by the US, China and several other non-EU countries . The passengers on Thomson’s TOM7446 flight have been informed about the biofuels. According to a spokesman, their reaction was “very positive”. Biofuels Travel and transport Energy Renewable energy Flights Tui Travel Airline industry Travel & leisure Air transport Friends of the Earth Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Warren Buffett to Rupert Murdoch: Let’s Both Have Our Tax Returns Published!
October 5, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Warren Buffett has answered the Wall Street Journal’ s snarky remarks about his tax returns. Today in an interview with Fortune Magazine editor Carol Loomis, he challenged Rupert Murdoch to release his tax returns to the press. Buffett said he’d release his at the same time. Here’s the transcript, via CNBC : CAROL LOOMIS: Well, one of the centers of criticism has been the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. WARREN BUFFETT: Oh, really? (Laughter.) CAROL LOOMIS: And they’ve asked you to give them your income tax statement. WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. CAROL LOOMIS: What do you think about that? WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I think it might be a terrific idea if they would just ask their boss, Rupert Murdoch, and he and I will meet at Fortune and we’ll both give you our tax returns, and you can publish them. (Applause.) CAROL LOOMIS: We like it. We like it. (Laughter.) WARREN BUFFETT: I’m ready tomorrow morning. So far, crickets from Rupert. But then, he may be preoccupied with how he’s going to pull his tail out of Rupertgate’s fire . I wouldn’t hold your breath on those tax returns, but maybe it’ll shut up the whiners over at the Wall Street Journal for awhile, and it’s always amusing to watch a verbal game of chicken between two billionaires.
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Mark Hemingway of The Weekly Standard reported on Wednesday afternoon that he had attempted to interview CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson about her dogged coverage of the ongoing “Fast and Furious” controversy, but was told that she was ” unavailable .” Attkisson has been the sole journalist on the Big Three networks regularly covering the story, particular during the past several weeks. Hemingway described in his blog entry that he called CBS News to interview the correspondent, but was ” told by CBS News senior vice president of communications Sonya McNair that Attkisson would be unavailable for interviews all week. When I asked why Attkisson would be unavailable, McNair would not say .” On Tuesday, the reporter revealed on Laura Ingraham's radio show that Obama administration officials had ” screamed and cussed ” at her over her coverage of the story. The conservative writer further noted that he had ” heard from a producer at another media outlet that has previously booked Attkisson that they tried to book her since she made news with the Laura Ingraham interview yesterday. They were also told that she would be unavailable .” Hemingway later called back McNair at CBS and left a message to ask ” whether Attkisson's unavailability has anything to do with reporting that the White House and Justice Department were angry at her ,” but as of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, hadn't heard back from the network executive. Earlier in the day, at the top of the 8 am Eastern hour of The Early Show , the CBS reporter filed her latest report on the cross-border gun-walking issue, which featured an extensive interview of a gun dealer who had been asked to be a “confidential informant” by the ATF, but ended up assisting in smuggling around 450 guns to Mexican criminals. ATTKISSON: Gun enthusiast and licensed dealer Mike Detty was working a Tucson, Arizona gun show in early 2006, when a young Hispanic man bought a half dozen semi-automatic rifles. He paid $1,600 cash. MIKE DETTY, GUN DEALER, TUCSON, AZ: But then he asked if I had more. And I told him that later in the month, I would have another 20 from my supplier. And he said, I'll take them all. ATTKISSON: Detty suspected the buyer was trafficking for a drug cartel. Tucson is just an hour from the Mexican border, and a popular shopping center for smugglers. Detty notified ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. To his surprised, ATF told him to go ahead with the big sale, and sent an undercover agent to watch. Then, a local ATF manager made an unusual and dangerous proposition. He asked Detty to be a confidential informant. DETTY: He said, Mike, I think we've got a real chance at taking out a powerful cartel. Can you help us? I made that commitment, and I really thought I was doing something good. ATTKISSON: Detty even signed this informant contract. As he understood it, he'd sell to suspected traffickers. Agents would track the weapons, expose the cartel's inner workings, then interdict the guns before they could ever get loose on the street- or so Detty thought…. DETTY (on-camera): They would have a small video recording- audio recording device, and sometimes, it was hidden in a box of Kleenex. ATTKISSON (voice-over): One of the biggest cases was code-named 'Operation Wide Receiver.' ATTKISSON (on-camera): Do you know about how many about many guns we're talking about? DETTY: It's right around 450. ATTKISSON (voice-over): Things didn't work out like Detty thought. Detty says he realized ATF was letting guns walk. He hadn't help take down any cartels. He had helped ATF arm them. ATTKISSON (on-camera): When you look back and think, in hindsight, knowing what we know now, that all of those guns were going on the street, what do you think about? DETTY: It really makes me sick. ATTKISSON: What's important to know is when all of this happened. It was under the Bush administration, three years before the better-known operation under the Obama administration, 'Fast and Furious.' That case allegedly let thousands of weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. It's now the subject of two investigations. ATTKISSON (voice-over): The 'Fast and Furious' tactic of letting guns walk was only exposed after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered last December, and at least two assault rifles from 'Fast and Furious' were found at the scene. As for its predecessor, 'Wide Receiver,' after more than three years, prosecutors finally quietly rounded up seven suspects last fall. No cartel leaders, just buyers, who critics say should never have been allowed to put even one weapon on the street, let alone operate for years…. ATTKISSON (on-camera): Since 'Wide Receiver' started under the Bush administration, we reached out to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but we weren't able to speak with him. Meanwhile, Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Attorney General Eric Holder told the truth when he testified earlier this year to Congress about when he first knew about 'Fast and Furious.'
Continue reading …General strike brings Greece to a standstill as public sector closes down
October 5, 2011 No Comment
Protesters flood into streets of Athens Greece edged deeper into chaos as workers brought the country to a standstill with a general strike. The closure of the entire public sector – from schools to hospitals to government offices – left Athens airport looking like a ghost town and kept museums and archaeological sites shut. Anger was evident on the faces of the protesters who flooded into the streets. “We have no work, we have no money,” they screamed, denouncing the EU and IMF which have propped up the near-bankrupt Greek economy with rescue funds. “Erase the debt! Let the rich pay. There will, there can, be no more sacrifices.” Nearly two years after Europe’s great debt crisis erupted beneath the Acropolis, the people on its frontline have clearly had enough. An austerity programme that has begun to resemble a bad dream of relentless wage cuts, tax increases, price rises and pension drops has crushed the middle class and sent poverty levels soaring. Wednesday’s demonstrations, the biggest anti-austerity protest since June, were the “beginning of a battle” to eradicate further emergency belt-tightening measures announced last month. “The government is behaving as if it has a pistol to its head,” said Stathis Anestis, a spokesman for the Confederation of Greek Unions. “It is not just that it is the poor who are forced to carry the burden of this barrage of measures,” he insisted, denouncing the terms of the €110bn (£95bn) bailout Greece received from the EU and IMF in May last year. “It’s not just that all our hard-earned rights are being peeled away. It is that we wake up every day to another cut, another tax, another pay rise. No one can keep up!” The prospect of more public sector strikes in the coming months was as inevitable as the precision with which the austerity measures had failed to solve the country’s spiralling debt problem, he added. “None of these measures have been effective. They have only served to worsen recession, miss [budget] targets and deepen desperation and despair worse. We have no choice but to take to the streets.” George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, says nothing short of a revolution can change the debt-stricken country. Since triggering the crisis with the revelation that Greece had clearly cooked the books, hiding a deficit that was three times bigger than originally thought, the ruling socialists have drawn up an array of economic and structural reforms not seen since the second world war. “The only way that we are going to see real results, real change, is if the reforms are implemented,” said a source close to the “troika”, which is made up of the EU, IMF and ECB. Last week Greece acknowledged that it had missed the fiscal goals set out in the 2011 budget, blaming a worse than expected recession. Without the reforms being enacted, the country has been told that it will not receive the next vital €8bn tranche of aid needed to pay wages and pensions in the public sector. The pressure on a government that is showing all the signs of becoming increasingly shaky is beginning to mount. This week Papandreou admitted that the changes he was being asked to apply were much greater than he would have liked. “We are forced to take decisions much faster than we would have wished,” the prime minister said after his cabinet approved the decision to move 30,000 civil servants into a special labour reserve on reduced pay – the first step towards mass lay-offs in the bloated public sector. The demonstrations were much less violent than previous protests in a capital that has become increasingly used to toxic chemicals and tears – even if more riot police than ever were dispatched to the city centre. Instead, it is a new sense of helplessness and hopelessness that is haunting Greece. “We are mourning the loss of our country,” sighed Elena Vitali, a national economy ministry employee who, with black flag in hand, joined hundreds of others protesters outside the building. “The 300 people in that place,” she said pointing to the Greek parliament across Syntagma square, “are traitors. They have decided not just to sell our dignity but to sell out our country, to sell assets to privatise the lot. Soon there will be nothing left that is Greek. It will all have gone to those who are supposedly helping us in the EU.” European debt crisis Greece Europe European banks European Union IMF European Central Bank Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
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In his speech to the Conservative party conference, the prime minister said that there was ‘too much sogginess around’ David Cameron has urged Britain to shun “can’t-do sogginess” and instead lead itself from recession by tapping into Britain’s indomitable bulldog spirit. Speaking against a chilling backdrop of ever gloomier economic news, on the day that new official figures showed Britain’s economy had flatlined over the past nine months, he sought to lift the country’s mood by saying: “Let’s show the world some fight”, adding: “We can turn this ship around.” Closing his party’s conference in Manchester, the prime minister said: “Frankly there’s too much can’t do sogginess around. We need a sharp, focused, can-do country” that would form the basis of a new economy built on fairness. In a patriotic speech suffused with one nation rhetoric and promises to tear down educational “apartheid” in Britain, he repeatedly hailed the country’s historic capacity to recover from reverses, such as the loss of empire, the threat of communism, or economic decline in the 1970s. “Britain never had the biggest population, the largest land mass, the richest resources – but we had the spirit,” he said. “Remember it is not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Overcoming challenge, confounding the sceptics, reinventing ourselves, this is what we do.” He said: “It’s called leadership,” a phrase that occurred 17 times in his speech. The attempt to offer optimism, as well as a portrait of a Tory purpose that goes wider than deficit reduction, ran the risk of appearing out of touch with the depth of economic crisis. Cameron fervently argued that Britain should not be paralysed by gloom and fear, saying it was “possible to turn this time of challenge into a time of opportunity”. His officials privately admitted it had been a difficult speech to pitch with Cameron only 18 months into government, the crisis in the euro overshadowing all else, and the need to balance optimism with realism. Cameron also had to tweak the speech at the last minute after an earlier draft appeared to instruct the entire country to pay back their credit card debts, a move that some calculated would shrink GDP by 15% at a stroke. Despite a string of right-of-centre policy announcements during the week the prime minister was firmly camped on the compassionate centre ground, defending the international aid budget, more help with parenting, and legalising gay marriage as “a way of strengthening the ties that bind us”. He declared: “I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.” He also promised a new focus on getting very young children out of state care by allowing black children to be adopted by white families. “We’ve got people flying round the world to adopt babies while the care system at home agonises about placing black children with white families.” He also defended the way in which he had distributed the pain in the spending cuts, claiming controversially: “This is a one nation deficit reduction programme – from a one nation party.” Similarly he promised that the new economy he was in the process of building would be a different economy, built on solid ground and working for everyone. But he offered little fresh detail on how growth was to be achieved, apart from the familiar litany of deregulation, controlling debt, tax breaks for enterprise and a determination to push through planning changes to give industry the space to grow. Ministers are increasingly confident that the argument over planning reform is being won, with Cameron angrily telling his implacable critics: “Take your arguments down the jobcentre. We’ve got to get Britain back to work.” In probably the strongest section of his speech, he claimed “something massive” was already under way in schools as standards and aspiration rose. “Rigour back in learning. Standards back in schools. Teachers back into control. Yes, the Conservatives are back in government.” An old Etonian, he demanded private schools take greater responsibility, by starting or sponsoring more academies: “The apartheid between our private and state schools is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in our country today, so let it be this party helps tear it down.” To some of his loudest applause he said: “Believe me, I do understand and I am disgusted by the idea that we should aim for any less for a child from a poor background than a rich one. I have contempt for the notion that we should accept narrower horizons for a black child than a white one. Yes, it is the age-old irony of the liberal left: they practise oppression and call it equality.” Without mentioning Ed Miliband, he accused Labour of giving Britain a casino economy and welfare society. He said the government’s deficit reduction programme was “just one big bail out of the last Labour government”. Labour was “on a sort of national apology tour”, he said, adding: “There has not been a peep on the one thing they really need to say sorry for – wasting billions and billions of your money.” Miliband, preparing to reshuffle his shadow cabinet, was struck by the number of themes he set out in his speech last week, including attacks on personal irresponsibility and vested interests, that reoccurred in Cameron’s.But Cameron also offered a stronger defence of liberal interventionism than Miliband by defending the British leadership role in Libya: “This is a party – ours is a country – that never walks on by. Earlier this year some people said to me: ‘Libya’s not our concern’, ‘don’t start what you can’t finish’, and even – ‘Arabs don’t do democracy’. “But if we had stood aside this spring, people in Benghazi would have been massacred. And don’t let anyone say this wasn’t in our national interest … let’s be proud of the part we played in giving the Libyan people the chance to take back their country.” David Cameron Conservative conference 2011 Conservative conference Conservatives Economic policy Welfare Tax and spending Foreign policy Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Price Tag singer is big winner at 16th annual ceremony, with Adele, Tinie Tempah and Rihanna also honoured Critics had complained about Jessie J leading the nominations for this year’s Music of Black Origin awards, but the 23-year old – who is white – was the big winner at the ceremony in Glasgow on Wednesday night. The singer, whose hits include the No 1 single Price Tag, triumphed in four of the five categories for which she was nominated at the Mobos, including the prize for best UK act. In the buildup to the event, now in its 16th year, questions had been raised about the preponderance of white acts among the nominees. Another winner on the night was Adele, for best R&B/soul act. She had been nominated for a further three awards. A recent editorial in the Voice newspaper asked whether the Mobos were “doing a disservice to black artists” by using white singers to promote the awards, but Kanya King, who established the Mobos in 1995, said before the show started at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre that “most forms of pop” have their heritage in black music. “The awards reflect what is happening in the UK music scene right now,” King added. “Now more than ever, urban music is prevalent.” The most disappointed artist at the Mobos was Wretch 32. The rapper from Tottenham had been nominated in four categories but failed to win in any. The award for best hip hop/grime act was won by Tinie Tempah. Jessie J also won the awards for best newcomer, best song for her hit Do it Like a Dude, and best album for Who You Are. Released in March, Who You Are has already sold 600,000 copies in the UK. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Redbridge-born singer is to be a coach and mentor on the BBC1 show The Voice, which is billed as a rival to The X
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Atlantic Bridge dissolved by trustees after Charity Commission criticism raises questions over Fox’s link with Adam Werritty A charity set up by Liam Fox, the defence secretary, has been dissolved by its trustees after criticism by the Charity Commission. The Atlantic Bridge, which had already been suspended for promoting Conservative party policies in defiance of regulations, was founded by Fox and run by his close friend Adam Werritty. Fox’s relationship with Werrity was drawn into question when the Guardian revealed Werritty had visited Fox at Ministry of Defence offices 14 times in the past 16 months. Fox installed Werritty, his best man and former flatmate, as the executive director and sole employee of the charity in 1997. The charity was wound up by its trustees on Friday, following the commission’s demand last summer that its “current activities must cease immediately” because “the activities of the charity have not furthered any of its other charitable purposes in any way”. The trustees decided to dissolve the charity rather than address the commission’s concern that its primary objective appeared to be “promoting a political policy [that] is closely associated with the Conservative party”. A string of senior Tories, including George Osborne, William Hague and Michael Gove, have served on the advisory board of the charity, which was closely linked to neocons in America. Baroness Thatcher was the honorary patron. The Atlantic Bridge hosted the New York launch of Hague’s biography of William Wilberforce. The charity said its mission was to promote the “special relationship” that flourished between Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Kevan Jones, a Labour MP and former armed services minister, said the dissolution of the charity raised serious issues. “We need to know who funded this organisation and exactly what Liam Fox and Adam Werritty’s roles were,” Jones said. “David Cameron has talked about transparency and openness but that is being undermined by Liam Fox. “This raises yet more questions about the connection between Fox and Werritty and people will expect full answers sooner rather than later. We need to be clear that the activities of the Atlantic Bridge had nothing to do with Liam Fox’s activities as secretary of state for defence.” MPs questioned whether Werritty, who has falsely presented himself as Fox’s official adviser, had sought to financially gain from the pair’s close relationship. Official records show a trust run by billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Hintze donated £29,000 to The Atlantic Bridge last year. The register of members’ interests show Fox travelled on Hintze’s private jet from Washington to the UK earlier this year, after giving a speech at an event to mark the 100th anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan’s birth. Hintze, who is one of the Tories’ biggest donors, runs the hedge fund CQS and is the world’s 880th richest person, according to Forbes magazine. The commission said its investigation concluded that the charity was established for charitable purposes and was “capable of operating for public benefit. However, its charitable purposes have not been advanced by any of its activities.” It said it asked the charity’s trustees to complete a review and later met them to discuss their progress. “During the meeting, the trustees raised concerns about the future liability of the charity and whether, after the review was completed, it would be able to continue to operate,” it said. The trustees later confirmed to the commission that it was “their intention to wind up the charity as they considered that it could no longer continue to operate”. The charity was removed from the commission’s register of charities on Friday. Fox and Lord Astor of Hever, a junior defence minister, resigned as trustees of the charity in May 2010. The trustees at the time of the dissolution were Andrew Dunlop, a former adviser to Baroness Thatcher, Patrick Minford, a professor at Cardiff Business School, and Kay Ord, a friend of Fox who serves with the defence minster on the committee of the Royal British Legion’s poppy ball. Liam Fox Charities Voluntary sector Conservatives United States Rupert Neate guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A huge turnout Tuesday in Philadelphia to plan Occupy Philly’s sit-in in City Hall’s courtyard, and attendees decided it will begin at 9am this Thursday. I’m so thrilled that this is finally happening in the city that was the birthplace of our nation – and I’m pretty sure they’re going to need pizza : “This is what democracy looks like.” That was the thunderous chant of about 1,000 protesters who packed the Arch Street United Methodist Church Tuesday night as they voted to begin Occupy Philadelphia at City Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday. Supporters young and old turned out for the meeting to plan the next steps for Philadelphia’s extension of New York City’s Occupy Wall Street protests. Some said they foresee the movement catching on across the nation. “This is the first time in my adult life I feel there’s some hope,” said Carol Finkle, 69, of Philadelphia. “This will grow. Watch what’s gonna happen, in [young people's] lifetime and in mine.” Like some of New York’s protesters, many of Philadelphia’s plan to occupy City Hall 24/7 for its duration, pitching tents and camping there. Here’s an interview with Justin Harrison , an Occupy Philly organizer who works at Verizon as a splicing technician, and is a unit secretary for Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 1300: In New York, they’re occupying Wall Street. In DC, they plan to occupy the the infamously lobbyist-ridden K Street. Will Occupy Philly be Philadelphian in some particular way? I think that Philly vs. New York, Philly is overwhelmingly a working class town. There’s been a strong consciousness to reach out into the communities. North, south, east, west, it’s the same stuff: jobs, housing, food and education. We don’t have Wall Street to occupy, but Philadelphia has a special flavor of its own. Is Occupy Wall Street a progressive response to the right-wing tea party? Or is it something completely different? I think that Occupy Wall Street is filling a vacuum that could have and should have been filled by the left. For example, the AFL-CIO. A lot of us feel that they dropped the ball in Wisconsin this spring [when there were weeks of mass protests against Governor Scott Walker’s attack on collective bargaining rights]. People came out in the streets and occupied the capitol, but AFL-CIO put it into the Democratic Party and elections. I’ve been saying look, we need to pay attention to this. They’re doing stuff that we could have been doing and should have been doing. And we should help out, and we can learn from it. On the right, the tea party’s an expression of the vacuum. And with Occupy Wall Street, most people would identify as leftists. Many, including some on the left, have criticized Occupy Wall Street for not having a clear set of demands. If there isn’t a program, how do you deal with all the Ron Paul types talking about the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve? Libertarians are for letting corporations do whatever they want–so how do they fit into this? I don’t think they’re overwhelming–but they’re there. If they’re gonna’ participate, they’re gonna’ participate. As a socialist, I believe overall that it’s a weakness because a movement is stronger if it has demands that it can put forward. The New York group released a statement; and it’s a pretty strong critique. Some say it’s not anti-capitalist, but that’s how I read it. You have a whole new layer of new activists, and they’ll need time to sort things out. I don’t think there’s a problem with having time for discussion. No one group should be able to dictate how things should be. You work at Verizon and just finished one of the largest strikes in recent history. Does Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Philly relate to what you were fighting for there? Absolutely. The unions have a role in defending the interests of the working class, and not just their own members. Unions are strongest when they reach out and speak socially. That’s how we got education, the 8-hour day, and the weekend in this country. Unions in their best moments have always been concerned about clean water, education and public services. The stronger the working class movement as a whole is, and the stronger the unions are, the better able we are to defend ourselves. It’s a continuation from Wisconsin this spring. The bosses and the ruling class are emboldened and on the offensive. They’re trying to take it out on the people who work for 8 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart, and they’re trying to take it out on our pensions. We’re seeing a unified attack by Wall Street against our people: against unions, against public services, against public education, against the fabric of working class life in the United States that comes out of the New Deal, through the middle class lifestyle of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Do you think that Occupy Wall Street, come 2012, will impact the presidential campaign? Hard to say. It’s a year away. I think that the Democratic Party will probably try to ride the wave a little bit, maybe try to move in. I think that’s something we’ll try to guard against. But that’s still an open book. Right now there’s other stuff to deal with: the congressional super committee is meeting this fall and may push cuts to Medicare and Social Security. So that could be another fight .
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Steven Greenoe bought weapons from US gun shops and smuggled them into the UK, Liverpool crown court hears Guns smuggled into the UK on commercial flights by a former US marine captain were used to carry out crimes on the streets of Britain, including a fatal shooting, a court was told. Steven Greenoe, 37, bought weapons from American gun shops, broke them down to their component parts, and smuggled them into the UK in his luggage, Liverpool crown court heard on Wednesday. Two British men were also said to have been involved in the alleged conspiracy: Steven Cardwell, 31, and Neil Copplestone, 32, both from the north-west, who, the prosecution claims, sold the guns on to criminals. The court heard that Greenoe, who is awaiting sentence in the US, bought 81 firearms from gun shops in North Carolina, and that some of them were smuggled and used in serious criminal offences in the UK. The prosecution said most, if not all, the firearms purchased by him were intended for or are now in the hands of criminals in the UK. Security staff at Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina found a cache of 16 weapons in his luggage when he was stopped while in transit on 25 July 2010. Neil Flewitt QC, for the prosecution, said experts had proved that guns purchased by Greenoe were used in a fatal shooting, the details of which cannot be reported for legal reasons, as well as an attempted murder in Manchester and an attempted robbery in Liverpool. The trial also heard that undercover police officers in Liverpool bought three pistols linked to Greenoe for £3,600 each. Greenoe had paid £300 per gun in the US. The court heard that between December 2009 and his arrest last year more than £67,000 had been paid into Greenoe’s bank account, mostly in cash. Greenoe has indefinite leave to remain in the UK because his wife, Elizabeth, is a British citizen. When in the country they lived in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. US authorities were carrying out undercover surveillance of Greenoe and identified 15 separate dates on which 81 firearms were purchased by him or on his behalf. Officers witnessed him dumping the boxes that held the guns and test-fired rounds which come with each weapon. These rounds were forensically matched to firearms used by UK criminals. Flewitt said Greenoe was arrested as he was about to board a flight to New York, flying on to Manchester. “At the airport he checked in four bags,” the prosecutor said. “However, when his luggage was searched the US authorities found a total of 16 firearms broken down into their component parts and wrapped separately in plastic bags, together with 32 pistol magazines.” When officers searched Greenoe’s home in Shropshire after his arrest in the US, they found a Glock pistol and two magazines stored in a canvas bag in a safe. Cartridges found at a shooting in Manchester matched guns bought by Greenoe in America, the jury was told. A gun used in the attempted robbery of a Liverpool taxi driver in March 2011 was matched to two guns bought by Greenoe in America. Cardwell, of Aintree, Merseyside, and Copplestone, of Ormskirk, Lancashire, both deny conspiracy to import, sell and possess prohibited firearms with intent to endanger life. The trial continues and is expected to last for up to six weeks. Gun crime Crime United States Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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