CBS Story Pushes Unpaid Internships Without Noting How They’re Illegally Used As Free Labor Pool
August 16, 2011 No CommentCBS’ Sunday Morning , a show that used to have at least a veneer of social conscience, ran a “free market” biased piece on unpaid internships this week. Among the things they didn’t mention: That unpaid internships are frequently illegal (and why), that schools actually charge the students for the academic credit (so you’re not only working for free, you’re paying for the privilege), and that we’re seeing even more of a class stratification in influential fields like the media and public policy, because poor and working class kids can’t really afford to take those high-status internships . Maybe that’s why one of the CBS interns who worked on the piece (for a $50 a week stipend – barely enough to cover subway fare) had this to say: “I was really surprised by the fact that so many people are against internships being unpaid. There were a lot of people that I found who were like, ‘It’s illegal. It’s unfair.’ I was so surprised that so many people were saying that,” Berg said. But instead, the piece turns into a bootstrap lecture where if you “think big” and “have the guts to start from the bottom,” you can work for free, become a consultant and live happily ever after! Ladies and gentlemen, your librul media! Asked if interns are getting a raw deal, he told Smith, “Absolutely they’re getting a raw deal, and they don’t even know it.” Eisenbrey is vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit Washington think tank. Unpaid internships, he says, are taking paid jobs away from people who need them. “This is a concern that economists have: ‘Why isn’t business hiring people?’” he asked. “Well, if they can have people work for free why should they hire anyone? And in fact, I’d say, you know, if they could get them to work 60 or 70 hours a week without paying them, so much the better. They don’t have to pay them overtime, I mean, where does this stop?” And there’s another problem, Eisenbrey says increasingly the top internships are going to kids from the top of the income ladder. “Who can afford to come to Washington and spend $4,000 on housing and food and then work without being paid? It is not the children of farm workers or factory workers or, you know, the children of people who are unemployed right now. It’s going to be upper middle class kids,” he explained. “Sunday Morning” intern Erika Mahoney agrees. Like all 75 summer interns at CBS, she receives a $50 per week stipend. “My parents are helping me out a lot. And, you know, it’s hard to think about that because I have friends who wouldn’t be able to do something like this. And so, you know, every day I call my parents and I tell them everything about my day because I know that, like, that’s how I can show my appreciation,” she told Smith. “You seem to feel a little guilty about this,” Smith asked. “I do,” Mahoney admitted. “What’s wrong with workin’ for free? If a kid says, ‘I want to do it, I want the experience,’ what’s wrong with that?” Smith asked. “Well, you could say that. And if they could persuade people to work for half of the minimum wage, if they could get adults to work for free for six months, not just young people, then why not, what’s wrong with that?” Eisenbrey replied. “Well, it degrades the entire value of work. And that’s actually going on in our society.” But in this economy, some people would rather work for nothing than not work at all, and it’s not only kids. After 10 years fundraising for various non-profit groups in Knoxville, Tenn., Kristina Shands found herself suddenly unemployed. “It literally was within 15 minutes: I had no job, I had no health insurance, I had nothing,” she remembered. A life-long hockey fan, she took a bold step and at age 38 talked her way into an un-paid internship with a minor league hockey team, The Knoxville Ice Bears. “I just started working the games, press releases, post-game summaries, helping with promotions and marketing and did that for the entire 2009-2010 season,” Shands explained. “It was strange at times. I mean I’m working with 20 year olds, and I’m almost twice their age.” But it worked: That unpaid intern, is now a paid media consultant. “You gotta be able to think big and then have the guts to kind of start from the bottom and figure it all out. And maybe you’ll hit the jackpot like I did,” Shands said. And if you don’t? If your unemployment runs out, you have no health insurance and you can’t pay your rent, I guess you just don’t know how to “think big.”
Continue reading …Vatican says World Youth Day is chance to confess abortion and rejoin church
August 16, 2011 No Comment
Pope dangles ‘fruits of divine grace’ to excommunicated Catholics who admit, during Madrid event, to terminations Hundreds of thousands of young people descending on Madrid this week for the Catholic church’s World Youth Day – which features processions, group prayers and a mass with Pope Benedict XVI – are to get a “special” concession. Church leaders have ordered that anyone confessing, during this event, to having had an abortion – a sin punishable by excommunication – will be welcomed back into the church. “Normally, only certain priests have the power to lift such an excommunication, but the local diocese has decided to give all the priests taking confession at the event this power,” said the pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi. Two hundred white wooden confession booths have been set up in Madrid’s Buen Retiro park for the event, which started on Tuesday and runs until Sunday. At a time when church attendances in Europe are dipping Lombardi denied the deal on abortion had been dreamed up to attract waverers back to the church. “With so many young people attending there may be those who have had problems of this kind and it makes sense to reach out to them.” The driving force behind the deal is the archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco Varela, who persuaded the Vatican to offer women who had had abortions access to “the fruits of divine grace that will open the doors to a new life”. After his popemobile ride through Madrid on Thursday, the pontiff will sit in one of the booths Saturday morning to hear confessions from three visitors, before holding a mass for up to 6,000 seminarians. The pope’s visit throws into relief the divisions between old Catholic and new liberal Spain. About 140 organisations, including Indignados (a mainly youth protest movement against Spain’s government), dissident priests, secular groups and gay rights groups, are expected to demonstrate in their tens of thousands against the papal visit, on both political and economic grounds , as the country experiences an austerity drive. In offering to lift the threat of excommunication for women who have had abortions, the Vatican is treading sensitive ground. Abortion is a delicate issue in Spain, but with 112,000 legal abortions performed in 2009, it is clearly a choice many Spanish women are prepared to make. A new law came into force last year giving the right to abortion up to 14 weeks’ term. Another issue the pope is expected to speak out against is same-sex marriage, which became legal in Spain in 2005. However, on this issue as well, public opinion is more liberal than the rest of Europe, with 5.7 in 10 in favour, compared with an EU average of 4.2. On the other hand, about 1.5 million pilgrims will descend on the Madrid during the World Youth Day celebrations. Pope Benedict last took confession from the public at an event for young people held at St Peter’s in Rome in 2008. Young Catholics making the trip to the Spanish capital will also gain a plenary indulgence – effectively a reduction in the time believers spend in purgatory after confessing and being absolved of their sins. These concessions were once sold by priests, but now the indulgences are granted on special occasions. Lombardi said he was not concerned at reports of protests over the estimated €60m (£52m) cost of the papal visit. “It is normal that people with objections should demonstrate. As long as they don’t impede an event which will give great joy to a larger number of young people.” Pope Benedict XVI Abortion Spain Catholicism Vatican Religion Italy Tom Kington Stephen Burgen guardian.co.uk
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Amendment tabled for autumn conference urges party to oppose additional powers for police or government to restrict access to internet or social media The Liberal Democrats will oppose David Cameron’s proposal that people suspected of inciting violence during social unrest could be banned from social media networks. An amendment is being tabled for the party’s autumn conference that, if voted through, would put pressure on the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, to resist Cameron’s plan. Signs of increased tension between the coalition partners emerged as the acting Metropolitan police commissioner, Tim Godwin, told the home affairs select committee on Tuesday that he had considered asking the authorities to switch off social media networks. He said he had considered the step because, although they were often a source of information, the sites could also be misleading. Details of the conference amendment came as Clegg sought to propose his own policy response to the riots, with the different philosophies of the coalition partners beginning to come to the fore. On Tuesday morning, he announced a “riot payback” scheme to make looters and arsonists face their victims, along with support to help ex-offenders find jobs. The scheme would mean looters carrying out community service in riot-hit neighbourhoods. They are to wear orange suits to make them visible, and money is being provided to enable victims who want to do so to confront the people who torched their homes or looted their businesses last week. The announcement contrasted with some of the policies, including the clampdown on social media networks, floated by Cameron in the aftermath of the riots. Differences between the coalition partners surfaced at the weekend as senior Lib Dems urged an end to “kneejerk” reactions by politicians. The party’s deputy leader, Simon Hughes, insisted long-term solutions lay in supporting communities by offering opportunities and redistributing wealth, not slashing help from the state. In the past, Cameron has made the positive and liberating effect social liberating media can have central to his vision of the “post-bureaucratic age”. Texting and BlackBerry Messenger were critical in planning the riots and, in last week’s recall of parliament, the prime minister said users of social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger, could have their access to services blocked. He said he had instructed the intelligence services and police to explore whether it was “right and possible” to cut off those “plotting violence, disorder and criminality”. On Monday, the Chinese government official news agency, Xinhua, welcomed the suggestion, saying it marked an improvement from Cameron’s comments in February. Then, he had urged Egypt and other north African nations to allow freedom of expression after they tried to restrict the operation of social media. Xinhua said: “For the benefit of the general public, proper web monitoring is legitimate and necessary. “We may wonder why western leaders, on the one hand, tend to indiscriminately accuse other nations of monitoring, but on the other take for granted their steps to monitor and control the internet.” Evan Harris, the vice-chair of the Lib Dems’ ruling federal policy committee, will table an amendment at the party gathering. At this spring’s conference, a vote on a Lib Dem amendment presaged a U-turn on NHS policy as Clegg came under pressure to reflect the views of the Lib Dem grassroots. The amendment, entitled “Protecting the essential freedom of the internet”, calls for “additional safeguards for online freedom of speech to be in place”. It reads: “Oppose additional powers for the police or the government to restrict access to the internet or to social media or to order its suspension. “[We should be] making it clear that the government will not allow a two-tier internet, and will hold to the principle of net neutrality, if necessary through regulation.” The amendment is likely to get broad support. On Monday, the backbencher Julian Huppert also wrote against blocking any contemplation of shutting down social networks. He said: “Some people in parliament and elsewhere have chosen to focus on the use of social media in these riots. And David Cameron has responded by announcing a review designed to explore whether it would be ‘right and possible’ to turn off social networks or mobile phone services during times of civil unrest. “Even if we look at these riots in isolation – always a dangerous approach to policymaking – the idea that we should prevent communication via these networks is patently ludicrous. “The brilliant response to the riots on Facebook, Twitter and the wider internet, embodied most clearly by the website Riot Clean-Up, has arguably done more to bring communities together than anything else. “There is little evidence to suggest this is a problem that needs to be tackled, and yet the government seems to be seriously considering curbing freedom of communication in a manner which would make it far harder for the good things that have come from this unrest either to continue or to happen again. “This authoritarian knee-jerkery is a reminder of the bad old days. Those who cherish liberty, in all parties and none, must now defend these important new forms of communication.” UK riots Crime Police Liberal Democrats Liberal-Conservative coalition Social media Internet BlackBerry Twitter Mobile phones Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New President of Current TV Says Network Will ‘Provide a Fair Amount of Time for Liberal Viewpoints’
August 16, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media CNN’s Howard Kurtz talked to one of their former executives, David Bohrman about his move to Current TV to help Keith Olbermann and Al Gore turn the channel into a 24/7 news analysis, discussion television network. Bohrman explained their desire to give viewers a real alternative to Fox News and not what we’ve seen from CNN or MSNBC where it’s fake balance for the sake of balance and some longer discussions than these five or ten minute debate boxes we’re so used to seeing on all the networks. I think it sounds pretty refreshing and am curious to see where they go with this and who else they hire next. Transcript via CNN . KURTZ: David Bohrman has been a fixture at CNN for more than a decade as Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. He’s the guy who helped develop the Magic Wall and other technological gismos, and most famously during the 2008 campaign, the hologram. KURTZ: But soon after resigning from CNN, Bohrman was tapped this week as president of Current TV, the network whose biggest star by far is now Keith Olbermann. What does this mean for the channel co-founded by Al Gore? David Bohrman joins me now here in the studio. Welcome. You know this studio well. BOHRMAN: I do. KURTZ: It’s no secret that Current TV has had trouble getting traction in the ratings, at least until Olbermann was hired, although he’s not putting up huge numbers either. How are you going to change that? BOHRMAN: Well, Current had their fifth anniversary, and they went through two or three identity crises over what they were as a network. It began as a user-generated content network, and in the last couple of years it’s sort of been like a Nat Geo “Frontline” documentary network. Al Gore and Joel Hyatt got the brilliant idea to go and try to hire Keith. They did, and discovered lightning. I mean, the program did great, is being talked about. And all of a sudden, they realized that that was going to be the destiny of what the network is. And they’re going to — KURTZ: How do you build on that, is the question that you’re hired to answer. BOHRMAN: Right. And so they hired me to completely transform the network from a bunch of taped documentaries that have been cycling through the day, to a live news analysis, discussion television network that’s going hopefully 24 hours a day, talking about the events of the day and finding other people with something to say like Keith. KURTZ: But with Olbermann not only as the host of “Countdown,” but the chief news officer of Current, is this going to be an all- liberal network? BOHRMAN: I think it will provide a fair amount of time for liberal viewpoints to be made. It’s not going to be exclusively liberal viewpoints, and we’re going to try not to hide behind the word “progressive,” that I think so many liberals do, and then the people on the right, the conservative world, scoff at. I think there’s a lot of time on radio and television and on the Web that actually is conservative points of view. There’s not a lot of time for the left. And I think — KURTZ: So, this is interesting. You see this as a balance to conservatives, particularly on talk radio, whereas conservatives often talk about the media as being so much tilted to the left, that they need an outlet like Fox News. BOHRMAN: Well, in an odd way, I think what Roger Ailes started to do 15 years ago when he built Fox News, he wanted to barge into a media environment he saw as liberal. And remember, he talked about, “We report, you decide.” Well, I think they’ve — Fox is now the mainstream. Fox tells a lot of people what to think. And I think that we want on one level to be a counterpart to that — a counterpoint to that — KURTZ: A counterpoint, yes. BOHRMAN: — and be able to provide time for intelligent, long sometimes, discussion of really important issues. The debt, for instance, in the last couple of weeks, it was dysfunctional in Washington and it was dysfunctional on cable news. KURTZ: Let me ask you about the elephant in the room. A lot of people have asked me, well, does your taking this job suggest that you were a closet liberal during your years here at CNN? BOHRMAN: Well, you know, it’s — I do feel like I crossed a line and have been somewhat — and outed myself. All right? Overtly, I need to say that. I will tell you that — KURTZ: But just to be clear, you outed yourself as somebody whose views lean to the left? BOHRMAN: Yes. Yes. And that’s what this network is going to be. But I will tell you, in the hundreds if not thousands of hours of programming that I produced here at CNN and at NBC and at ABC, with Wolf Blitzer and John King and all of the others, I don’t think any of us ever knew our politics. Wolf and I did everything in the ’08 election. I have no idea how Wolf felt. I don’t think he had any idea of my politics. I produced at NBC News the funeral for Richard Nixon. I produced here at CNN the funeral for Ronald Reagan. They were the most moving, respectful programs that you could find anywhere. KURTZ: So you’re saying you set aside your views to do your job. BOHRMAN: I completely set aside my views to do my job, and I think I did that really successfully. I also think that the left needs to recapture patriotism and not let the right own the flag and own patriotism. You know, I still — you still get a lump in your throat when you walk in the White House or in the Oval Office and are with the president of the United States, regardless whoever that person is. KURTZ: We’re running short on time. Isn’t there already a liberal commentary network, at least at night, MSNBC, where Olbermann worked? And do you see Current as taking viewers from MSNBC and perhaps from CNN, as well? BOHRMAN: Well, I see us taking viewers from them both. I think MSNBC trots it out a little bit at night. I think most of the day, 20 hours a day, it’s the NBC News network. And the one trap even at night that I think we see at MSNBC, and I think we see here even at CNN, as well, there’s almost this false equivalency where everything is a minute on this opinion and then a minute a counter-opinion. And by default, it’s a lot like an old program we had here, “CROSSFIRE.” There’s too much yelling and shouting for the appearance of balance. KURTZ: But do you think — BOHRMAN: So I hope that we can have 10-or-15-minute discussions, and maybe there’s a conservative thinker, but we probe and we have a long conversation. KURTZ: As opposed to the “CROSSFIRE” style. BOHRMAN: Yes. KURTZ: Well, we’ll be watching. David Bohrman, thanks very much for coming back to CNN. BOHRMAN: Thank you.
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Stolen food sold in Mogadishu markets amounts to no more than 1% of total assistance, says World Food Programme spokesman The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has rejected as implausible a report of widespread food aid theft in Somalia, where more than 3.2 million people are relying on a massive international relief operation. Associated Press claimed that vast piles of food bearing stamps from the WFP, the US government aid arm USAid, the Japanese government and the Kuwaiti government are for sale in Mogadishu markets. AP said it found eight sites where thousands of sacks of food aid were being sold in bulk. Other food aid was also for sale in numerous smaller stores, it was reported. Among the items allegedly being sold were Kuwaiti dates and biscuits, corn, grain, and Plumpy’nut, a fortified peanut butter designed for starving children. However, according to WFP, the key player in the relief effort for Somalia, early estimates based on the evidence provided by AP suggest the diverson of food aid amounts to about 1% of food assistance the organisation is bringing through Mogadishu. WFP is shipping 5,000 tons a month of food aid into Mogadishu. “From our perspective, the scale of theft alleged is implausible,” said Greg Barrow, a WFP spokesman in Rome. “The scale of theft suggested would require a logistical operation comparable in size to what we are doing in Mogadishu.” For the past two weeks, planeloads of aid from the UN, Iran, Turkey, Kuwait and other countries have been arriving in the Somali capital almost daily. Supplies by ship are also on the way. Five areas of Somalia are officially in a state of famine, and the rest of southern Somalia could follow within the next four to six weeks, according to the UN. Nearly half of Somalia’s population need emergency food aid amid the worst drought in the Horn of Africa for 60 years, which has come on top of a long-running civil war. The Islamist insurgents, al-Shabaab, announced their withdrawal from Mogadishu earlier this month, but the move is not expected to end insecurity in the Somali capital. Some 2.8 million people are in the south, where al-Shabaab is at its strongest. The group’s hardline elements oppose the presence of most western aid agencies in areas under their control. Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for relief groups. Aside from al-Shabaab, they also have to contend with an ineffective transitional government riven by clan rivalries. A Human Rights Watch report on Monday accused all sides involved in the conflict of contributing to Somalia’s humanitarian catastrophe by committing serious violations of the laws of war. WFP rarely allows its staff outside the African Union’s heavily fortified main base at the airport and relies on a network of Somali aid agencies to distribute its food. The organisation said it had uncovered possible theft of food aid through its monitoring systems and had launched investigations. It noted that it had put in place strengthened and rigorous monitoring and controls for its relief operations, but – given the lack of access to some areas because of security concerns and restrictions – humanitarian supply lines remained highly vulnerable to looting, attacks and diversion by armed groups. WFP condemned any diversion of “even the smallest amount of food from starving and vulnerable Somalis “. A Somali government spokesman, Abdirahman Omar Osman, said the government does not believe food aid is being stolen on a large scale, but promised that, if such reports come to light, the government “will do everything in our power” to bring action in a military court. AP said its investigation found evidence that WFP is relying on a contractor, Abdulqadir Mohamed Nur, also known as Enow, who was blamed for diverting large amounts of food aid in a 2010 UN report. Barrow denied this was the case, however. “We are not relying on him, we are not using him,” he said. The UN says more than 12 million people across the Horn are in need of food aid, including more than three million in Somalia. Famine Somalia Africa Mark Tran guardian.co.uk
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Suspect remains under guard in St Helier hospital as pathologist confirms female victim died of stab wounds The man suspected of stabbing to death six people, including his wife and two young children, remained under police guard in hospital in Jersey as the first postmortem was completed. The 30-year-old, named as Damian Rzeszowski, who is believed to have been distressed over the breakdown of his marriage, has been formally arrested after undergoing surgery for knife wounds, understood to be self-inflicted. He is under armed guard in the General Hospital in St Helier, where he is heavily sedated and said to be in a stable condition, A postmortem by a Home Office pathologist on one of the female victims confirmed cause of death as multiple stab wounds. All the victims were of Polish origin. His wife, named as Izabela Rzeszowska, 30, is believed to be among his victims, along with their daughter, Kinga, five, and son Kasper, 18 months, and her father Marek Garstki, 55, who lived with the couple. Her friend, named as Marta de la Haye, who is believed to have worked in a care home, and her five-year-old daughter Julia, were also said to be among the victims and were visiting the family for the afternoon. At the flat of her husband, Craig de la Haye, a relative, said there was no comment. The bodies of two victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene, were being removed from the couple’s flat in Victoria Crescent, St Helier, today. Witnesses said that the row that led to the frenzied stabbings may have started at a family barbecue on Sunday afternoon. A large covered the back garden. One neighbour who called police, told the Jersey Evening Post that he heard trouble outside his window and looked out to see a man brandishing a knife. “I just heard screaming and looked out of the window and he came out of nowhere. He had an 18-inch knife and he just went for her while she was shouting for help. “She was backing off, and he started slashing with the knife,” said the witness, who asked to remain anonymous. “The woman was covered in blood but she never ran away. It was just mayhem and like watching a film in slow motion.” Friends said the couple, who are thought to have just returned from a trip to Poland, had been having relationship problems. There were unconfirmed reports Rzeszowski had taken an overdose and had attempted suicide four weeks ago, Former workmates of Rzeszowski said he has lived in Jersey for at least 10 years, and worked as a block layer on building sites. A former work colleague told the Post: “He worked very hard to support his family and was a very reliable guy. I would often see him in the supermarket with his kids. This has come as a huge shock to everyone.” He was described as a man who “did everything for his family”. Jersey police said the remaining postmortems would be carried out in the next few days. Forensic examination of the scene, at a flat in a secluded road in central St Helier, is ongoing. Family liaison officers, supported by Polish-speaking officers and staff, were supporting the two families. Police and paramedics who witnessed the terrible aftermath of the stabbings, were being offered psychological support. “It is an extremely complex investigation, involving two young families and, inevitably, impacting on a whole community, and our inquiry continues to establish exactly what happened on that fateful afternoon last weekend,” said Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the murder investigation. Crime Jersey Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …npower raises gas and electricity prices – the fifth of ‘big six’ firms to do so
August 16, 2011 No Comment
German-owned company increases prices by 15.7% and 7.2% respectively, adding £134 a year to the average bill Millions of Britons face substantially higher energy bills after npower became the fifth of the “big six” providers to raise gas and electricity prices in the past two months, blaming the “volatile global wholesale market” for the increase. The company, owned by Germany’s RWE, said it will increase average gas prices by 15.7% and electricity by 7.2% from 1 October, adding 37p a day or £134 a year to the average bill. This will mean an average energy bill of £1,188 a year for npower’s 6.5 million UK customers. Kevin Miles, chief commercial officer at RWE npower, said: “I know it hurts everyone when we put up prices and I wish we didn’t have to. With reduced quantities of North Sea gas, we are now forced to buy energy on the volatile global wholesale market. World events have pushed up prices and we believe this trend will continue.” The company follows Scottish Power, British Gas, Scottish & Southern Energy and E.ON in announcing price hikes, blaming wholesale price increases and pointing to the nuclear crisis in Japan, the Arab spring uprisings and the nuclear shutdown in Germany as the reason. EDF is the only one of the big six – which between them provide 99% of the energy used in UK households – not to have raised its prices. Miles pointed out that npower’s price increases were significantly below the tariff increases of between 10% and 19% on gas and electricity introduced by its rivals . Although wholesale energy prices have risen significantly this year, they are still down about a third from their peak in 2008, while average domestic energy bills have risen to record levels. Miles said: “Although our half year profits were better than last year, they do not begin to match the billions of pounds we are investing in energy for the future.” Energy bills Consumer affairs Household bills Family finances Utilities Gas Tom Bawden guardian.co.uk
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Bill Clinton’s comments about Rick Perry yesterday were classic. Via TalkingPointsMemo : The former president elaborated: “And he’s saying ‘Oh, I’m going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible — while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.’ I mean, this is crazy.” Bill Clinton seems to underestimate our nation’s capacity for crazy, I think. I watched this right before hearing The Five on Fox News extol Perry’s virtues as religious (but not too religious) and a “job creator.” Click here to view this media If I may take a moment to point out that those wonderful jobs Rick Perry “created” are largely minimum wage, no-benefit jobs . And just out of curiosity, how does this sudden swoon for Perry’s claim to be Governor Jobs square with the TeaPublican claim that “government doesn’t create jobs.” Can he have it both ways? Well, IOKIYAR ( It’s okay if you’re a republican ), right?
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Killings follow bombings across country in which at least 68 people died in apparently co-ordinated attacks Gunmen dressed in Iraqi army uniforms have killed four members of the government-backed Sunni Sahwa militia after dragging them from a mosque near Baghdad after Monday night prayers, security sources said. The killings followed bombings across the country in which at least 68 people died in apparently co-ordinated attacks . The authorities blamed Sunni Islamist al-Qaida affiliates intent on a show of force before the withdrawal of US troops by the end of year. “Individuals from the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), wearing army uniforms, entered al-Tawab mosque and called names of people from a list. They took worshippers and shot them,” Qasim al-Hamdani, a former Sahwa militia member, said. An interior ministry source said the gunmen left a note near the bodies in which they claimed to belong to the ISI The killing happened in Sayafiya, 12 miles (20km) south of Baghdad. Evening prayers are particularly associated with the holy month of Ramadan, which began two weeks ago. “The army brought us four bodies of Sahwa members and three wounded. At the beginning we thought the three wounded were also killed because they were badly injured,” a policeman who works in a hospital in a nearby town said. The Sahwa militia, or Awakening Council, is made up of former insurgents from the Sunni minority who turned against al-Qaida. It was formed in late 2006 – mostly by Sunni tribal sheikhs, with the help of the US military – during sectarian bloodshed in which tens of thousands of people were killed. Al-Qaida managed to regroup forces in the southern parts of Baghdad, forcing many Sahwa fighters to leave amid fears of reprisals, Hamdani said. “We sacrifice our lives and put our families in danger, but we’ve got nothing in return from the government,” he added. “Leaving Sahwa was my best choice to spare myself a bullet in the head.” Sahwa militia members work with Iraqi forces in manning security checkpoints in the mainly Sunni areas across the country. The integration of former Sahwa fighters into the government is widely considered a key to stabilising Iraq amid concerns that the new Shia-led government is not carrying out a promise to hire them. Last week, ISI warned members of Sahwa to rejoin the insurgent ranks or face consequences. Al-Qaida in Iraq has suffered severe blows to its leadership, but Monday’s attacks showed it is still resilient. Iraq al-Qaida Global terrorism Middle East guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Donald Trump: Bachmann ‘Was So Unfairly Treated’ on ‘Meet the Press’ – ‘I Don’t Think I’ve Seen Anything Like It’
August 16, 2011 No Comment
As NewsBusters reported , Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) got quite a grilling from David Gregory on Sunday's “Meet the Press.” This caught the eye of real estate tycoon Donald Trump who told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren Monday, “Michele was so unfairly treated…I don't think I've seen anything like it” (video follows with transcript and commentary): GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Obviously, you don't think that President Obama is being a leader. Take a look at the Republican — at least right now, the group that are running for president or still in the run. What — who's got the leadership that you like, admire? DONALD TRUMP: Well, I know a lot of them. I know Michele Bachmann. She came to Trump Tower about a month ago. She was great. She was a wonderful person. I mean, we had a great time. I don't know if Sarah Palin's running. I really like her a lot. I mean, I think she's a very good woman. We had the famous pizza incident, where we had pizza and I was using a fork and… VAN SUSTEREN: What's the difference between the two for you? TRUMP: There's not that much difference. They're strong. They get unfairly maligned by the media. And I was watching this weekend on “Meet the Press” — I watched Michele just get absolutely — she was so badly treated on “Meet the Press.” I watched that. VAN SUSTEREN: In what way? TRUMP: Just unfairly. I mean, the way the group went after her, it was so unfair. Michele was so unfairly treated. I've never seen — I don't think I've seen anything like it. And that's what happens to Sarah Palin also. So… VAN SUSTEREN: And did Hillary Clinton… (CROSSTALK) TRUMP: I think Bachmann has done well. I don't think Hillary's treated the same way. I like Hillary, too. She's a friend of mine. I think that the way Ms. Bachmann's been treated, the way Ms. Palin's been treated — I think they've been treated very, very unfairly by the press. VAN SUSTEREN: Why? TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, you ask me. They're conservative women. And I think that's probably why. Evidence suggests that's definitely why. Just ask New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd who last October included Bachmann and Palin in her list of “Republican Mean Girls, grown-up versions of those teenage tormentors who would steal your boyfriend, spray-paint your locker and, just for good measure, spread rumors that you were pregnant.” Any questions?
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