Tesco cuts 3p from a litre of petrol and diesel after move to open up emergency reserves by the International Energy Agency Tesco has cut its fuel prices following a big fall in the cost of oil internationally . The supermarket slashed 3p off a litre of petrol and diesel following the opening of emergency reserves by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Tesco UK chief executive Richard Brasher said: “We know our customers are feeling the pinch at the moment, so we want to pass on the benefit of a fall in oil prices straight away.” The Tesco move will offer some respite to motorists who have seen average prices at the pumps soar to around 136p a litre for petrol and almost 140p a litre for diesel. AA president Edmund King said: “We welcome this rapid 3p reduction in fuel prices. Earlier this week the AA revealed that high fuel prices are now affecting a record three-quarters of drivers who are having to cut back on journeys, cut back on other expenditure, or cut back on both. “Reduced fuel prices will help the general economy to recover as lower prices at the pumps means more spending elsewhere.” Crude prices slumped by $6 a barrel after the IEA, whose 28 members include Britain and America, unveiled plans to release 2m barrels a day for a month from its emergency reserves to counter shortages created by the conflict in Libya. Sainsbury’s said it would be cutting fuel prices by up to 3p a litre from midnight on Friday. A spokesman for the company said: “Sainsbury’s continues to be one of the most competitive retailers on price and that includes fuel. We know that consumer budgets are stretched, so from tomorrow our fuel prices will be dropping. This is to ensure that we continue to be one of the cheapest places for motorists to fill up their tank.” Asda is also cutting its prices. From tomorrow morning the company will knock up to 3p a litre from the price of fuel, meaning drivers will not pay more than 130.7p a litre for petrol and not more than 134.7p a litre for diesel. Asda’s petrol director Andy Peake said: “Once again, Asda leads the way in saving drivers money. And unlike others our price cuts are across the board. That’s why no one will pay a premium for their petrol to fund lower prices in another town round the corner.” Petrol prices Motoring Family finances Consumer affairs Oil Oil and gas companies Energy industry guardian.co.uk
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As NewsBusters previously reported , Jon Stewart earlier this month did a segment on “The Daily Show” wherein he impersonated Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain using an Amos and Andy voice. While campaigning in Iowa Wednesday, Cain said of this incident, “He wants to mock me because I happen to be a black conservative” (video follows with transcript and commentary): HERMAN CAIN: If you elect me president of the United States of America my commitment to you is I will not just be the president of the Congress or the party. I will be a president, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, of the people, by the people and for the people. This is why you heard me say bills will be bills that you and I can understand. I said in one presentation about a month ago: “No bill is going to longer than 3 pages.” Remember that. Some of these idiotic reporters thought I was serious. The joke’s on them. The message was short bills. Understandable bills. No it’s not literally going to be three pages. The executive summary will be three pages. But they want to jump all over me, Jon Stewart. On the way over here, true story, on the way over here I did a radio interview on Sean Hannity’s show. Do you all get that here? Sean Hannity’s show. He pretaped it so I’m telling you when you hear it its not always live. He makes it sound like its live. I did an interview on Sean Hannity’s show on the way over here. I had been traveling the campaign so much I did not hear what Jon Stewart said on Chris Wallace’s Sunday morning show last Sunday. Where he was mocking my three page bills. Did you see that show. And then he mocked me with a, you know, Amos and Andy type brogue. And Sean said you didn’t see that. And I said no Sean, I didn’t see that, I’m out campaigning. And so they played the clip. And I said well Sean first of all if he really thinks that I’m serious about a bill only being three pages the joke’s on him. And I said secondly as far as him mocking me look I’ve been called every name in the book because I’m a conservative, because I’m black. Sticks and stone may break my bones, words are not going to hurt me. I was on that radio show because a happen to be an American black conservative. I labeled my self. I’m an American Black Conservative, an A-B-C. They keep trying to put labels on me. I have been called “Uncle Tom,” “sell out,” “Oreo,” “shameless.” So the fact that he wants to mock me because I happen to be a black conservative, in the words of my Grandfather, “I does not care. I does not care.” Does anyone for a moment think Stewart would have done this if Cain was a liberal? (H/T ThinkProgress )
Continue reading …Eight Days After House Hearing on Inmate Radicalization, Feds Bust Muslim Converts on Terror Plot
June 23, 2011 No Comment
Last Wednesday as Rep. Peter King conducted hearings on Muslim inmate radicalization in America's prisons, MSNBC was busy attacking the proceeding as unnecessary and/or unfairly targeted to unfairly single out the Islamic faith. Well, eight days later comes this development as reported by ABCNews.com in a June 23 article entitled, “Feds: Prison Converts to Extremist Islam Planned Ft. Hood-Style Assault in Seattle” (emphasis mine):
Continue reading …The minimum wage in America may officially be $7.25, but in fact there are Americans willing to work online for as little as 25 cents per hour—a fraction of the amount residents of Germany ($3), the Philippines ($2.25), and even India ($1) agreed to toil for. Or…
Continue reading …Sending A Shock Through The Market, PIMCO Director Bill Gross Says Fiscal Conservatism Doesn’t Equal Job Growth
June 22, 2011 No Comment
enlarge PIMCO director Bill Gross. Bill Gross is the manager director of PIMCO, the world’s largest bond fund, and thus one of the most important bond traders in the world. And his concerns about the deficit have been cited as a compelling case for austerity. Now? Via Ezra Klein, not so much: But in an unusual mid-month note to his investors, Gross hammered the “anti-Keynesians” in both parties who believe “that fiscal conservatism equates to job growth.” The truth, he says, is just the opposite. “Fiscal balance alone will not likely produce 20 million jobs over the next decade. The move towards it, in fact, if implemented too quickly, could stultify economic growth.” Gross goes on to spend some time mocking the “ivory tower theorem” that deficit reduction will convince consumers to spend more now because they’ll worry less about taxes and service cuts later. “I know of no family,” he writes, “who, after watching the Republican candidates’ debate in New Hampshire, went out the next day and bought themselves a flat screen under the assumption that their Medicare entitlements would be cut in future years and the U.S. budget balanced.” That theory belongs “in the trash bin of theses and research aimed more towards academics than a practical remedy to America’s job crisis.” So what should we do? “Government must temporarily assume a bigger, not a smaller, role in this economy, if only because other countries are dominating job creation with kick-start policies that eventually dominate global markets.” But what about the deficit? “Deficits are important, but their immediate reduction can wait for a stronger economy and lower unemployment. Jobs are today’s and tomorrow’s immediate problem.” Gross goes on to offer some ideas for how the government can goose job growth, both in the short term and the long term. Some of them I find convincing, some of them I don’t. But his overall point is well-taken, and more subtle than some commentators are giving it credit for: Politicians have increasingly been pretending that deficit reduction slices, dices and blends. Don’t believe them. Cutting deficits tends to destroy jobs. And though the deficit matters in the long run, we need to survive the short run first. Gross’s credentials as a deficit hawk are unimpeachable, but he’s arguing here that, to be a deficit hawk over the long term, you need to be jobs-focused now, as no economy with 9 percent unemployment is going to achieve the growth necessary to get its deficit under control. And he’s right. The question is whether his call for the government to refocus on jobs and brush aside fantasies that deficit reduction is also job creation will get as much attention as his concerns about debt and deficits.
Continue reading …After Giving Free Pass to Planned Parenthood Head, Spitzer Batters FRC’s Tony Perkins Over Abortion Funding
June 22, 2011 No Comment
It was an obvious contrast in demeanor last week, Eliot Spitzer's lapdog interview of the president of Planned Parenthood and his aggressive sparring with social conservative Tony Perkins. Spitzer simply let Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards air her spin on the organization, but went after the Family Research Council's (FRC) Perkins from the get-go on CNN Thursday night. Consider the statements Richards made last Wednesday night that Spitzer was content not to scrutinize: Planned Parenthood has received “enormous support” from both Democrats and Republicans, the organization is “very transparent” about its services, Planned Parenthood reduces need for abortions through family planning, and the recent efforts by Congress and state legislatures to cut its funding “were to eliminate access for women to get access to life-saving breast cancer screenings, pap smears, and birth control.” [Video below the break.] Spitzer is no foe of the pro-choice movement. It was known that he was pro-abortion as New York's governor and attorney general. A NARAL New York PAC bragged about being “central” to his election as attorney general in 1998. He was pushing a pro-abortion bill as governor before he was ousted in a prostitution scandal in March of 2008. In the Perkins interview, Spitzer grilled the FRC head over his assumption that Planned Parenthood has been implicated in multiple scandals involving covering for child prostitution and improper funding. Spitzer outright told Perkins that he was guilty of slandering Planned Parenthood. Perkins was steadfast in his accusations. “Let me tell your listeners, your viewers, to go to LiveAction.com and they can see for themselves the undercover video that was filmed in Planned Parenthood clinics that shows them covering and facilitating sex trafficking. And then let your viewers make that decision for themselves,” he told the news host. Spitzer wouldn't buy that, conveniently ignoring the accusations made by Live Action. Meanwhile, Spitzer even took Cecile Richards' spin as his own words. Richards had claimed that Planned Parenthood works “like every other hospital in America, every other medical provider” in ensuring federal money covers health care, but not abortions. Spitzer then used those words as fact against Perkins. “The structure that Planned Parenthood has, that you're saying should prohibit their getting any federal money, is identical to the structure that every hospital in the United States has,” Spitzer claimed. “Hospitals provide abortions. Hospitals cannot use federal money to provide those abortions. They segregate those services. They account for them separately, just the way Planned Parenthood does.” Perkins argued that the tax dollars are fungible go to underwrite abortions at Planned Parenthood. “Dollars are fungible,” he insisted. “And so what is happening is government tax dollars are being used to underwrite the overhead of Planned Parenthood doing abortions.” For a transcript of the segment, which aired on June 16 at approximately 8:28 p.m. EDT, is as follows: ELIOT SPITZER: In tonight's American issues segment, the return of the highly-charged battle over abortion rights and the funding of the procedure. Three states have voted to eliminate Planned Parenthood's funding and three more states are about to do the same. Last night, I spoke with the organization's president Cecile Richards, and she had this to say. (Video Clip) CECILE RICHARDS, president, Planned Parenthood Federation of America: I think it's a political miscalculation, Eliot. I think that they are playing politics with women's health care. And when you talk about – we're not even talking about abortion here. The moves by these legislatures, and the efforts by the U.S. Congress were to eliminate access for women to get access to life-saving breast cancer screenings, pap smears and birth control. And the American people don't want that. (End Video Clip) SPITZER: Joining me now from Washington is someone who has been working feverishly to cut Planned Parenthood's funding, Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. Tony, thanks for joining us. TONY PERKINS, president, Family Research Council: Good evening, Eliot. SPITZER: Let me begin with this question. Aren't you trying to prevent the government from funding health care services that are constitutionally protected, services the Supreme Court has said women should have access to? PERKINS: No, not at all. I mean, this is not about health care. In fact, all of the procedures in terms of health care are still being funded in these states. What's being done here is that funding to the nation's largest abortion provider is being redirected. And so –
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Amid American debate about illegal immigration, Pulitzer Prize winner causes shock with admission he is an undocumented immigrant One of America’s top journalists has admitted he is an undocumented alien. In a startling first person piece in the New York Times , Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas, who has written for the Washington Post, the New Yorker and the Huffington Post, reveals he is not a legal US resident and was brought into the country with faked papers when he was a child. The news is certain to shock many observers and add more controversy to the debate over illegal immigration. “We’re not always who you think we are. Some pick your strawberries or care for your children. Some are in high school or college. And some, it turns out, write news articles you read,” Vargas writes in an article for the paper’s magazine section. He explains his decision to reveal himself in simple terms: “I’m done running. I’m exhausted. I don’t want that life anymore.” Vargas, who was born in the Philippines, describes how a man who he thought was an uncle brought him to the US in 1993 when he was aged 12 to live with his grandparents in California. He attended high school in America and learned English. He only learned his papers were fake when, aged 16, he tried to get a driver’s permit. It was then that his grandparents revealed the man who brought him to the US had been a smuggler who was paid $4,500 (£2,800) to get him through immigration control with a false passport. Vargas, who is gay, admits his life, that has been highly successful professionally, has been marked by secrecy when it came to his illegal status. “Tough as it was, coming out about being gay seemed less daunting than coming out about my legal status. I kept my other secret mostly hidden,” he writes. But no longer. Vargas has revealed he is one of at least 11 million illegal aliens living in the US and his confession comes as the issue is rarely out of the headlines. Republican Senator John McCain caused controversy earlier this week with remarks suggesting the recent devastating wildfires in Arizona had been caused by illegal immigrants. The comments prompted outrage from immigrants rights’ groups and Hispanic activists, although McCain later expressed surprise that his words were deemed controversial. Vargas’ revelations are likely to have a similar polarising effect. On the New York Times website , many comments praise his bravery in speaking out. “I hope you earn the citizenship you deserve. Best of luck. And keep your head up; you have nothing to be ashamed of,” says one commenter from New York. But others are less forgiving and call for Vargas to be sent back to the country of his birth. “It is important that everyone come here the right and legal way so that it is fair to everyone. Mr Vargas should go back to his homeland and apply like everyone else,” writes one reader in Washington DC. The journalist’s future in America is now unclear. He has launched a website, called Define American, that will seek to campaign on the immigration debate and press for the passage of the Dream Act, which aims to grant permanent residency to some illegal alien students who have graduated from US high schools. US immigration United States New York Newspapers Paul Harris guardian.co.uk
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ABC and NBC have delivered fawning coverage of First Lady Michelle Obama's visit this week to South Africa and Botswana, oozing over the “celebrity” and “excitement” of the “patented Michelle power” on display. To its credit, CBS has largely taken a pass on the idolatry. [Video after page break] On the June 20 edition of ABC's “World News,” anchor Diane Sawyer raved: “Wherever she travels, she travels with a signature message, hope, health, and laughter for the young…She's already proven she's the one person who can modernize any ancient protocol…Seven days, three generations of American women, signaling they're ready to dance to any song.” NBC's Kristen Welker repeatedly framed Mrs. Obama as a rock star, depicting locals who are “having a hard time putting their feelings into words” and who “could not be more excited” to see the First Lady. During her June 21 “Today” segment, Welker interviewed a scholar for the liberal Brookings Institution, who exalted the Obamas as “instant celebrities.” Covering Mrs. Obama's unannounced meeting with Nelson Mandela, ABC's John Donvan on the June 21 “World News” drew a tenuous connection between the former South African president and U.S. President Barack Obama: “Mandela's peace prize was perhaps a great deal more earned than was Mrs. Obama's husband's. But both of these men, with Africa in their heritage, had much to overcome.” Perhaps? Fuller transcripts of the above quotes can be found below: June 20, ABC “World News”: DIANE SAWYER: First Lady Michelle Obama has just touched down in South Africa this evening. Officially there to encourage youth leadership. With her, her daughters, there in those South African blankets. Her mother is there, as well as a niece and a nephew. And they are taking the patented Michelle power to a new part of the world. Wherever she travels, she travels with a signature message, hope, health, and laughter for the young. Maybe it's hop scotching with kids in India, or closing a greeting in Spanish. Pouring a pint of Guinness in Ireland, or just showing up at those State Dinners. And in every hemisphere, reminding students that dreams are not so different. MICHELLE OBAMA, First Lady: Back when we were young, no one could have predicted that one day we would become the President and First Lady of the United States of America. Our stories are not unique. SAWYER: She's already proven she's the one person who can modernize any ancient protocol, a hand on the back of the Queen. In Indonesia, a conservative Muslim country, wearing pants and a headscarf as a sign of respect. But even a conservative minister who doesn't believe in shaking hands with a woman, eagerly reached for hers. Later, had to say he was just being polite. And wherever she goes, there is a subtext. Her follow-up trip to Haiti, in effect saying her husband cares, too. And seeming to bring him to South Africa and Botswana, even though he has yet to visit the south of the continent. Seven days, three generations of American women, signaling they're ready to dance to any song. June 20, NBC “Nightly News”: KRISTEN WELKER, NBC News correspondent: Good evening, Brian. There is a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding the first lady's trip to South Africa and Botswana. And people here tell me they're having a hard time putting their feelings into words. Michelle Obama and her daughters touched down in Pretoria this evening. She is on a mission of diplomacy and goodwill, America's first African-American first lady visiting her ancestral homeland. June 21, ABC “World News”: JOHN DONVAN, ABC News correspondent: Consider his guest today. By the time she was just starting school, in South Africa Mandela was already well into his 27 year prison term here on Robin Island. At Princeton, she was just graduating when he, still here, refused to renounce violence in exchange for his freedom. And it was only a few months after a Christmas trip to Hawaii with the new man in her life that Mandela, fully victorious, finally walked free. Mandela's peace prize was perhaps a great deal more earned than was Mrs. Obama's husband's. But both of these men, with Africa in their heritage, had much to overcome. A link between them that neither of them has ever discussed in public, though perhaps Mandela referred to it when he wrote the new U.S. president in 2008, “Your victory was demonstrated…no person…should not dare to dream.” And if Mandela had helped him dream, perhaps that's what Obama meant in a recording celebrating Mandela when he turned 90 two years ago. June 21, NBC “Today”: KRISTEN WELKER, NBC News corespondent: Well, good morning to you, Matt. The first lady's visit is the big news here in South Africa. This paper really says it all, “Michelle Touches Down.” You see her here with daughters Malia and Sasha. A lot of people here telling me they could not be more excited. Michelle Obama arrived in Pretoria Monday night. The president wasn't with her, but she certainly wasn't alone. Daughters Malia and Sasha, her niece, nephew and mother also on this sub-Saharan trip. They got a very warm welcome. Malia and Sasha were given African blankets to guard them from South Africa's winter chill. The first daughters have been abroad before. Earlier this year they accompanied the president to Brazil. They've met the queen at Buckingham Palace. But this might be their greatest foray onto the world stage. MELVIN AYOGU, Brookings Institution: They are instant celebrities. It would be very nice to see the first children of America coming to South Africa and actually interacting with the–we've never–you know, the continent has never had that chance. –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading …After Touting Huntsman’s Promise to be ‘Civil,’ ABC Slams Republican With Obama Talking Points
June 22, 2011 No Comment
When Good Morning America's Robin Roberts conducted a softball interview with Barack Obama on Friday, she sought out questions from basketball stars. On Wednesday, however, George Stephanopoulos grilled Republican Jon Huntsman with queries taken straight from the White House's 2012 reelection team. Stephanopoulos played up the presidential candidate's promise for ” a civil campaign ” and an ABC graphic reminded, ” Huntsman's Promise to be Civil .” Yet, the journalist quoted an Obama spokesman warning that Huntsman “would slash our commitment to education.” After reading this attack, Stephanopoulos parroted, “He says you're proposing a return to the failed economic polices that led us into the recession.” The co-anchor, who previously worked for the Clinton administration, continued to repeat Obama talking points: “But, they're saying your embrace of the Ryan budget is going to hurt senior citizens, hurt middle class families.”
Continue reading …Liberal Salon.com Writer to Jon Stewart: Drop Your ‘Trite’ ‘I Am a Comedian First’ BS
June 22, 2011 No CommentIt's not just conservatives who are sick and tired of Jon Stewart hiding behind his “I'm a comedian” excuse when called out for his dead-serious liberal pontifications. Even liberals like Salon.com's Will Bunch are tired of the “Daily Show” host's faux sanctimony, even as he cheers Stewart's liberalism and calls on the comedian to embrace it. From a June 21 War Room blog post (emphases mine): [O]utside of “The Daily Show,” in interviews like the one he gave to Chris Wallace and even his famous 2004 confrontation that may or may not have killed CNN's “Crossfire,” I find that Stewart (and it pains me to say this, as such a fan) can come across as kind of lame, his “media criticism” beyond trite. In interviews, his complaints against the media tend to be an unsophisticated “pox on all of your houses.” I thought his largely pointless D.C. mall rally in late October repeated the mistake he makes in these interviews — trying to argue that our discourse is too loud while ignoring the real point that he hammers home on “The Daily Show,” that our politics is irrational.
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