Click here to view this media Chuck Hagel, former Senator from Nebraska, says his fellow Republicans acted irresponsibly in the debt-ceiling debate. Some of his choice quotes during the interview with the Financial Times : “Irresponsible”…”Disgusted”..”Astounding lack of responsible leadership” “The irresponsible actions of my party, the Republican Party over this were astounding. I’d never seen anything like this in my lifetime. I was very disappointed, I was very disgusted in how this played out in Washington, this debt-ceiling debate. It was an astounding lack of responsible leadership by many in the Republican Party, and I say that as a Republican.” Beholden to the tea party “I think the Republican Party is captive to political movements that are very ideological, that are very narrow. I’ve never seen so much intolerance as I see today in American politics.”
Continue reading …Scarborough Challenges Obama-Supporting WaPo Columnist: Did Voters Elect An Unqualified President?
September 2, 2011 No Comment
For the second time in as many days, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough took issue with a Washington Post Obama-apologist for blaming all that ails the nation on the Republican Party. What made Friday's “Morning Joe” more delicious was the Post's Eugene Robinson was present this time, and after predictably defending the current White House resident while pointing fingers at the GOP was marvelously asked by the host, “Isn't there also though a larger context that the United States citizens may have just elected a president that was not ready to run the most complex economy in the world?” (video follows with transcript and commentary): JOE SCARBOROUGH, CO-HOST: I've got two words for you Gene: hope and change. Anything is possible. You've just got to believe. EUGENE ROBINSON, WASHINGTON POST: Well, that’s, and sometimes that hopey changey stuff works out for you. MIKA BRZEZINSKI, CO-HOST: Oh, I'm just surprised given what Gene wrote in the Washington Post. I mean, seriously, you’d think… SCARBOROUGH: What did he write? BRZEZINSKI: Well he wrote this. It's called ” Bad Memories .” “The Bush administration took Reagan’s tax-cutting, government-starving philosophy much too far. Today’s Republican Party takes it well beyond, into a rigid absolutism that would be comical if it were not so consequential… Perhaps they’re just cynically trying to keep the economy in the doldrums through next year to hurt Obama’s chances of reelection. I worry that their fanaticism is sincere — that one of our major parties has gone completely off the rails. If so, things will get worse before they get better. “Having Bush and Cheney reappear is a reminder to step back and look at what Obama is up against. You might want to cut him a little slack.’ JOE SCARBOROUGH, CO-HOST: Really? ROBINSON: Well, look, you know, we get caught up in whether the speech is on Wednesday or Thursday, which properly we talk about because we're into the back and forth and the minutia of how things get done in Washington or don't get done in Washington and who is up and who is down in politics. But there is a larger context here, a horrific economic situation, an even worse fiscal situation, and a political situation in which one party is, the opposition party is determined to thwart, for ideological or political reasons, anything the president is trying to do. That's, you know, we need to remember that context, I think. SCARBOROUGH: But Gene, isn't there also though a larger context that the United States citizens may have just elected a president that was not ready to run the most complex economy in the world? You're focusing on the Republicans, and yes, we all focus on the speech, but isn't the larger context not the speech or the opponent of the president but the president himself and whether he knows what to do in this time of crisis? Indeed. As Scarborough said on Thursday's program in response to E.J. Dionne's silly column, Obama had two years of total control of Washington, D.C. It's only been eight months since the Republicans took over Congress, but the Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. At some point not only do the president and his Party have to take some responsibility for what's going on in the country, but also his fans in the media have to question whether Obama was and is qualified for the office he holds. Not if you're a pol like Robinson: ROBINSON: Well, this time of crisis. The president takes office, the financial system has collapsed and, in fact, we are on the precipice of something akin to a great depression. In fact, he averts the great depression, and the word stimulus has become a dirty word now, but in fact it does keep us from falling off the cliff. We now enter a sour and unsatisfactory recovery, and I put that in quotes because it doesn't feel like a recovery, but, in fact, the bleeding in terms of hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost every month and foreclosures on every block, the bleeding has been stanched. Now I, maybe somebody could have come in and done all that and also got the economy revved up and roaring, but I think it is more probable that this is a different kind of recession. And I wonder who could have done better. [Laughter] SCARBOROUGH: That’s it. Who could have done better?
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Breakdown of survival rates of those treated for life-threatening conditions by paramedics released Treatment times and survival rates for heart attacks, cardiac arrest and stroke victims vary by region, according to new figures outlining the performance of ambulance trusts. The statistics reveal that the survival rate for patients resuscitated by ambulance staff after an unwitnessed cardiac arrest varied from 0% for those treated by the Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust to 12% of patients attended to by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The national average rate was 6%. It is the first time a breakdown of clinical outcomes at different ambulance trusts has been published. The statistics – relating to ambulance treatment and outcomes in April this year – take a number of clinical quality indicators into account. The data showed that nationally, 90.8% of heart attack patients eligible for primary angioplasty received the treatment within 150 minutes. For patients treated by North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust the same timeframe was achieved in 82.3% of cases, compared with Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust which achieved 97.6%. Nationally, 66.2% of suspected stroke patients who were assessed face-to-face arrived at a hyperacute stroke centre within 60 minutes. Regionally, that figure varied from 0% in the Isle of Wight to 90.9% for patients treated by the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The proportion of suspected stroke patients assessed face-to-face who received an appropriate care bundle varied from 84% to 100%, with a national average of 91.3%. The Department of Health said the figures would be used as a tool to identify areas in need of improvement, but stressed that it was too soon to draw conclusions from a month sample. The results could also be affected by trusts’ differing patient numbers and case mix, a spokeswoman said. The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: “Transparency is at the heart of our plans to modernise the NHS. We know that it can be a powerful tool to help improve services, foster innovation and empower patients and clinicians. “The data published for the first time today shows that there is variation in the results for patients across the country. “By making this information available we are giving the NHS the tools to identify areas where they can improve and take action. Patients should be able to expect a 24/7 accessible and safe emergency care service. I expect all ambulance trusts, commissioners and the wider NHS to look at the data for their region and work towards reaching the levels of the best.” Professor Matthew Cooke, National Clinical Director for Emergency and Urgent Care said: “Publishing patient outcomes is vital in order to identify areas in need of improvements across the whole emergency care system. “The new ambulance quality indicators offer an opportunity to ensure that we always strive to improve services for patients. It also provides patients with crucial information about their local services.” NHS Health guardian.co.uk
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Maimoun Zarzour believed to have been strangled in his office at Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, London Detectives are searching for the motive that led to the killing of a blind imam inside a mosque in north London. Maimoun Zarzour, 39, an imam at Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, north London, was found dead in his office at the mosque on Friday morning . Mosque officials believe Zarzour may have been strangled. Police and mosque officials said they did not think the killing was a hate crime. Shortly after Zarzour’s body was found, a man gave himself up to police and is the prime suspect. He is believed to be Muslim, and to have asked for an appointment to see Zarzour after early morning prayers, suggesting that he was known at the mosque. Muslim Welfare House is one of two mosques in the Finsbury Park area. It is moderate and orchestrated the ousting of the firebrand Abu Hamza, who is now in jail. Worshippers at the mosque, which is known for reaching out to other faiths, had celebrated Eid on Tuesday, one of the biggest Muslim festivals of the year. A former mosque trustee, Mohamad Kozbar, paid tribute to Zarzour. “He was a well known imam, humble and kind,” he said. “To be killed in this way is a crime, and the person or people who did this should be brought to justice.” Abdul Abdi, the project manager for Muslim Welfare House, which runs the mosque, said: “It’s tough for the community. He was someone who was dedicated and worked more than his scheduled hours. He accepted anyone to his office at any time, even if it wasn’t a convenient time. “He was friendly and a man who united the community in this area. During his short time here he became well known and respected.” In a statement the Metropolitan police said: “Police were called by London ambulance service at 1021hrs on Friday 2
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enlarge FDR – the concept of America being a group effort. Click here to view this media In 1941 it was only a matter of time before the U.S. would be engaged in a shooting war. On that Labor Day it was about building up military strength for what was going to be a very long haul and the Labor Movement was crucial to what would become a Herculean War Effort. In this Labor Day Address (which fell on September 1st), President Roosevelt called on the American people to put aside fundamental differences and focus on what needed to be done. Pres. Roosevelt: “On this day, this American holiday, we are celebrating the rights of free laboring men and women. The preservation of these rights is vitally important now, not only to us who enjoy them, but to the whole future of Christian civilization.” In 1941 Labor was regarded an an integral part of American society. Today, it’s all different.
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Followers told jungle drink ayahuasca cured serious illnesses including cancer A British “shaman” caught administering a potion containing a class A hallucinogenic drug to 17 followers at a candlelit “healing” ceremony has been jailed for 15 months. Peter Aziz, from Devon, who claims to have spent years in the jungles of Peru learning the art of making the drink ayahuasca, provided the brew which contained N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) during a week-long retreat in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He told the followers at the Dorville hotel in December 2007 that it would cure serious illnesses including cancer. Aziz, 51, of Buckfastleigh, was found guilty producing and supplying a class A drug by a jury at Bristol crown court. Judge Michael Roach accepted Aziz had tried to help others but told him: “You knew it was wrong to produce this drug and you knew it was wrong to supply it but produce and supply it you did. “I have to treat this matter as serious, which means a prison sentence.” Kate Brunner, prosecuting, told the jury: “The participants sat around in a circle, candles were lit and he poured out his brew into plastic or paper cups. “They drank it and when people drink this brew they vomit frequently. Some participants had hallucinogenic experiences. They felt that they were going on a journey. “Whilst some found the experience restorative, others felt terrified.” Nick Lewin, representing Aziz, said he was a “fundamentally good man” who was determined to help other people. Aziz made only £10,000 a year and lived in a two-bedroom former council house with his family. “This isn’t a case where a man is selling cocaine to make a good living of Maseratis and villas on the Riviera,” he told the court. “The money he was making from these events was little more than a subsistence income. “It has caused him a considerable amount of worry as far as his personal beliefs are concerned. He has learned what can be learned from this and will not be before the court again.” According to his website, Aziz has spent 35 years training as a shaman. He claims to have helped a disabled boy walk again and healed broken bones within a few hours. Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, of Avon and Somerset police, said DMT was a dangerous drug. Crime Drugs Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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West fears heatseeking surface-to-air missiles will fall into terrorists’ hands Libya must urgently secure weapons hoarded by the Gaddafi regime amid growing fears that smugglers are exploiting the chaos there to loot hundreds of portable missiles and other small arms, western officials have warned. The US and Nato are pressing the National Transitional Council to make the issue a priority because of concerns that the trade has already begun, with reports that some African mercenaries who fought for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi are returning home laden with weapons. One anxiety is that Gaddafi’s remaining stockpile of shoulder-launched missiles could end up in the hands of terrorists. The UK’s National Security Council raised the issue with Libyan rebels in March and the Guardian understands that US officials based in Benghazi are now taking a lead in helping to identify where the caches may be, and how best to protect them. The UK and France have special forces in Libya, but officials would not be drawn on whether the soldiers are now involved in anti-smuggling operations. In a private meeting with NTC leaders at the Friends of Libya summit in Paris, the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the safety of the Gaddafi’s weapons was “an urgent security priority facing Libya and the broader region”. A Nato official added: “The risk of seeing weapons reaching members of terrorist organisations is always a concern. We know from experience that extremists and terrorists can take advantage of instability and lawlessness. We should do our utmost to avoid that situation. We expect all sides to maintain accountability of weapons.” A spokesman for the British government said: “The issue of proliferation in Libya has been a priority for the National Security Council since this crisis began.”We have raised it with the NTC at regular intervals to ensure that weapons are secured and monitored the situation closely.” The Guardian has spoken to a number of NGOs and independent observers who believe that scores of weapons from the Gaddafi arsenal have already disappeared and that the trade presents a potential threat to the region. Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch, who is in Tripoli, said anti-tank missiles were among weapons looted by Libyans before anti-Gaddafi militias overran western towns. “There are reports of Libyans picking up anti-tank missiles like ants. Every second Libyan has arms. The UN should be thinking of a decommissioning programme, a buy-back programme.” Abrahams said concern was not only about the number of missiles, including Grad truck-mounted rockets, but what he called “standard bullets and bombs” – equipment that could be used to make improvised explosive devices, widely deployed by insurgents in Afghanistan. Early in the six-month conflict, thousands of 122mm Grad rockets were reportedly found in abandoned bunkers in eastern Libya. British officials say they are concerned in particular about heatseeking man-portable air defence systems (Manpads), such as SA7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, getting into the wrong hands. Though most military aircraft are now equipped with countermeasures, civilian planes are not. Helicopters remain vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenades, officials said. Referring to reports that anti-Gaddafi rebels have been selling arms, Matt Schroeder, director of the arms sales monitoring group at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said this was “feasible and plausible … weapons may have been trafficked”. The US has promised $4.5m to collect and destroy Libya’s missiles and other light weapons, according to the congressional research service and state department. Officials in Mali confirmed last week that a leader of the country’s last Tuareg rebellion had been killed on his way back from fighting for Gaddafi. Though the circumstances were confused, Reuters quoted a military official in Mali saying that Ibrahim Ag Bahanga was killed as he smuggled weapons across the border from Libya. “He had got his hands on lots of weapons in Libya … and he hid them on the border with Algeria and Niger,” the official said. US officials were reported as saying that a small number of Soviet-made SA 7 missiles from Libya had reached the black market in Mali, where al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has been active. Other regional governments fear that the region could become even more lawless due to an influx of weapons and fighters from Libya’s conflict. Earlier this week, Algeria’s foreign minister said his government was certain that al-Qaida’s north African affiliate had obtained weapons on the black market that flourished during the Libyan civil war. Mourad Medelci said countries across North Africa had seen proof “on the ground” that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb had taken advantage of instability in Libya to procure weapons with which to expand its campaign of terrorism. “It’s not just a worry or a feeling, it’s a certainty,” Medelci told French radio. Libya was vulnerable to terrorists taking refuge within its borders and using the country as a springboard for terrorism throughout the region, AFP, the French news agency, reported. Pieter Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Sipri, which monitors the arms trade, said Gaddafi imported hunderds of French-made Milan guided missiles and Russian SA 24 missile launchers adding to an arsenal which included some 20,000 older short-range surface-to-air missiles. “Many of those, we know, are now not accounted for, and that’s going to be a concern for some period of time,” General Carter Ham, head of the US military’s Africa Command, told the Senate armed services committee in April. The British government approved the sale to Libya of equipment including guns and small-arms ammunition valued at more than £200m over the first nine months of last year, according to the latest figures compiled for the Foreign Office. In 2007–2008 Ukraine supplied more than 100,000 rifles to Libya. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Middle East Africa Global terrorism Nato Arms trade al-Qaida Military Richard Norton-Taylor Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Round-the-world gyrocopter attempt falters in face of Russian bureaucracy
September 2, 2011 No Comment
Norman Surplus, 48, from Northern Ireland, fears the long wait for permission to fly to Vladivostok may ruin his plans See our interactive map of the route He has flown 13,000 miles across 18 countries, passing over sandstorms and forest fires and surviving a crash landing that left him upside down in a lake. But now it seems a Northern Irish man’s attempt to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a gyrocopter may be foiled by an even greater obstacle: Russian bureaucracy. Norman Surplus, 48, set out from a playing field in his home town of Larne in March last year expecting his journey across Europe, north Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North America to take about four months. Those plans went awry, however, when his open-cockpit craft veered into a lake shortly after takeoff in Thailand. Two mechanics had to be sent from the UK for repairs and it was three months before the Briton was off again. He then got stuck in the Philippines for 11 months waiting for a permit to fly across Japan. Surplus took up his journey once more this summer and arrived in Tsruoaka on the west coast of Japan six weeks ago. He applied to Russian authorities for permission to fly the 530 miles to Vladivostok after having received a preliminary green light from Moscow last year, but has received no reply. “It’s extremely frustrating,” he said in a telephone interview from his hotel room. “The winter is approaching fast and there’s not much wiggle room. If I don’t get the go-ahead in the next few days then it will be too late.” He added: “It seems we have been referred for approvals from one department to another, to another, all of whom appear to start the whole procedure again from scratch each time.” Surplus, who runs his own wind turbine repair company, said he had requested to fly from Vladivostok up Russia’s Pacific coastline to the Arctic region of Chukotka and then across the Bering Strait to Alaska. Fuel dumps have already been prepared along the route. Aleksandr Lameko, a Russian pilot who is helping Surplus negotiate with Russian authorities, said he feared the Briton’s request would be refused altogether. Despite an initial indication that all would be fine, aviation authorities have passed the application to the ministry of defence and the federal security service (FSB). “The FSB called me and gave the impression they didn’t want to help,” said Lameko. “I told them it would be a great shame if the expedition was ended by Russia after 18 countries. “I said to them: ‘This is the 21st century and you don’t need to look for spies in every corner.’ They just started saying it was a restricted zone, and what if he falls in the taiga. I’m afraid the answer will probably be a resolute no, unless some high-up official sees this will be bad PR for Russia and decides to step in.” Surplus cannot fly directly to Alaska from Japan because the gyrocopter – a low altitude rotorcraft – has a maximum range of 600 miles. The trip has not been without its difficulties. After plunging into the lake in Thailand he was briefly trapped, “as if in a capsized canoe. My first thought underwater was, ‘Oh, you pillock,’ and only then did I think how to get out,” he said. In Saudi Arabia, Surplus got caught between two storms and had to land at an isolated petrol station in the desert. Two pump attendants and a camel watched dumbstruck as he taxied up the slip road. The gyrocopter runs on ordinary unleaded petrol so he was able to fill up. Most dramatic was flying over forest fires on the border between Thailand and Burma. “The flames were licking up the trees below,” he recalled. “I could smell smoke and leaf litter was fluttering up around me.” Russia Northern Ireland Europe Tom Parfitt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ahead of the Sept. 2 release of the August jobs report, surveys had indicated the economy had added anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 jobs that month. But those estimates turned out to be very wrong. Just minutes ahead of the release, CNBC’s Rick Santelli went out on a limb predicting that no jobs had been added in August. Santelli was right about that number. As CNBC reported just minutes later, not a single job was added overall to the payroll numbers and the unemployment rate stayed at 9.1 percent. The previous two months were revised downward to show an additional 58,000 jobs lost. It was the first time since February 1945 that the report showed exactly zero net jobs. The predictions of the economists interviewed by CNBC that morning ranged from 25,000 to 60,000 and CNBC’s own Steve Liesman predicted 70,000. All of those guesses turned out to be overly optimistic. The timing of the bad news on the jobs front comes less than a week ahead of President Obama’s big jobs speech, and as Republicans campaign against him and each other around the country. That’s something neither Obama, nor some Republicans were expecting. As Ben Smith wrote for Politico on Sept. 2, “ With today’s dismal jobs report confirming that the political landscape will likely be shaped by a sense of economic crisis, it’s easy to forget how recently the leaders of both parties were expecting a recovery .” Even Mitt Romney, as of Sept. 2010, expected the economy to “be coming back,” Smith reported. “This isn’t the campaign either Obama or most Republicans expect to run, and if they seem caught off guard, it’s because they were,” Smith concluded. Perhaps it is because politicians have been accepting too much of what the media tell them about the economy. Even after the dismal Sept. 2 report, CNBC guest Mark Zandi, Moody’s Analytics chief economist, said: “It’s obviously very dark, and we’re very close to recession, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go into recession. And the reason is, for a recession to occur businesses have to lay off workers and I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. Businesses aren’t laying off workers, they’ve stopped hiring.” So Zandi suggested it was still possible to avoid recession. But it would appear the public does not agree, since consumer confidence took a nosedive in August to a two-year low according to the Aug. 31 Investor’s Business Daily. IBD reported that confidence dropped 14.7 points to 44.5.
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News Corp chief’s total pay package soars 47% to $33m, while his son James lands $6m bonus to hit total of almost $18m The News Corporation chairman and chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, received a $12.5m (£7.7m) cash bonus for the last financial year, while his total remuneration rose 47% year on year to $33m, according to the company’s annual statement to shareholders. His son James Murdoch – who is chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia – also benefited handsomely, with a $6m cash bonus taking his total remuneration to almost $18m – a 74% rise on his 2010 take-home pay. The bonuses were for the year to the end of June, during which News Corporation became mired in the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed the News of the World. The affair only escalated into a full-blown corporate crisis, with the closure of the News of the World and several executive resignations, in July, shortly after the end of News Corp’s 2010/11 financial year. Chase Carey, News Corp’s chief operating officer and Murdoch’s right-hand man, took home $30m in the year to 30 June, including a $10m bonus. Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News, received a slight increase in total compensation in 2011, up to $15.5m from $13.9m in 2010. Ailes received a $1.5m cash bonus. The Murdochs’ remuneration was revealed in their report to shareholders ahead of the News Corp annual general meeting on 21 October. News Corp also announced on Friday that two of its longest-serving directors are to leave. Ken Crowley, a trusted lieutenant for more than 50 years, will leave the News Corp board of directors he joined in 1979 when Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive, established the global holding company for his media businesses. Thomas Perkins, a partner of private investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and member of the News Corp board since 1996, will also step down after the media group’s AGM next month. Jim Breyer, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and one of the first investors in Facebook, will join the News Corp board in October. •
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