Emma Donoghue’s novel is 2/1 favourite to take £30,000 award for women’s writing Room lost out on the Booker to Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question, but Emma Donoghue’s story of a boy and his mother locked in a tiny room for years is emerging as the frontrunner to take the Orange prize this evening. Donoghue’s novel, which took as its jumping off point the Josef Fritzl case, was picked yesterday by a “shadow” youth panel of teenage judges as their favourite on the six-strong shortlist, ahead of this evening’s main announcement. It is also 2/1 favourite at William Hill to win the overall Orange prize for fiction, and has sold 470% more copies on Amazon.co.uk than its nearest rival, Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love, since the shortlist was announced in April. “We all agreed Room stood out. For us, it was the most accessible and gripping, and a real page-turner,” said youth panel member Martha Samano, 16. “It’s an horrific tale told with powerful innocence – we all felt it changes the way you view the world and makes you question your environment.” Donoghue said she was “tickled pink” to be the Orange prize youth panel winner. “When I wrote Room I was imagining a reader anything from 11 up, so I’m really chuffed it’s finding so many young readers,” said the Irish author, who has already seen the book, her seventh novel, shortlisted for the Booker and win the Irish novel of the year award. William Hill made Forna’s tale of post-war Sierra Leone The Memory of Love its second favourite to take the £30,000 Orange prize for women’s writing, at 5/2. Emma Henderson’s Grace Williams Says It Loud and Nicole Krauss’s Great House were both given odds of 5/1, with Kathleen Winter’s debut novel Annabel and Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife at the back of the pack, at 6/1. At Amazon.co.uk, meanwhile, head of books buying Darren Hardy said that Room “has been one of the standout books of the past year”. It “has performed consistently well since being shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2010, spending more than five months in the bestseller list on Amazon.co.uk,” he said. “A win on Wednesday night could see it shoot to the top of the book chart and attract even greater success for the author.” Since the shortlist was announced in April, Room has taken 69% of the shortlist’s sales through Amazon.co.uk. The Memory of Love took 12%, The Tiger’s Wife 8%, Henderson’s novel 7%, Annabel 3% and Krauss’s Great House just 1%, said the online bookseller. Orange prize for fiction Fiction Awards and prizes Emma Donoghue Alison Flood guardian.co.uk
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Social network turns on new feature to automatically identify people in photos, raising questions about privacy implications of the service Facebook has come under fire for quietly expanding the availability of technology to automatically identify people in photos, renewing concerns about its privacy practices. The feature, which the giant social network automatically enabled for its more than 500 million users, has been expanded from the US to “most countries”, Facebook said on its official blog on Tuesday. Marc Rotenberg, president of the non-profit privacy advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the system raised questions about which personally identifiable information, such as email addresses, would become associated with the photos in Facebook’s database. He also criticised Facebook’s decision to automatically enable the facial-recognition technology for its users. “I’m not sure that’s the setting that people would want to choose. A better option would be to let people opt-in,” he said. Internet security consultancy Sophos noted that many Facebook users had seen the facial recognition option turned on without any notice in the last few days. “Yet again, it feels like Facebook is eroding the online privacy of its users by stealth,” commented Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos. Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of labeling friends and acquaintances in photos posted on the site. Facebook has been repeatedly criticised for changing settings involving privacy and identity in favour of making more data public in ways that means its users have to opt out of, rather than opt in to, the service. Facebook, which announced in December that it planned to introduce the facial recognition service in the US, acknowledged that the feature was now more widely available. The site also said in an emailed statement that “we should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them”. The statement noted that the photo-tagging suggestions are only made when new photos are added to Facebook, that only friends are suggested and that users can disable the feature in their privacy settings. While other photo software and online services such as Google Inc’s Picasa and Apple Inc’s iPhoto use facial recognition technology, its use on a social network like Facebook could raise thorny privacy issues. Google has stepped away from the widespread implementation of its Google Goggles service, which would try to identify people based on facial recognition through mobile phones running its Android operating system. Instead it only uses it for translating text and identifying objects. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, said earlier in June that he had concerns about its use with people. “We do have the relevant facial recognition technology at our disposal. But we haven’t implemented this on Google Goggles because we want to consider the privacy implications and how this feature might be added responsibly,” he said. “I’m very concerned personally about the union of mobile tracking and face recognition.” Rotenberg noted that Apple’s iPhoto software gave users control over facial recognition technology by letting them elect whether or not to use it with their personal photo collections. Facebook’s technology, by contrast, operates independently, analysing faces across a broad swathe of newly uploaded photos. Last year the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint about Facebook’s privacy practices with the US Federal Trade Commission, which Rotenberg said was still pending. He noted that he planned to take a close look at Facebook’s new announcement involving facial recognition technology. Facebook Internet Social networking Privacy Privacy & the media Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
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Men in south-east England live four years longer than Scots, while London’s richest outlive Glasgwegians by decade or more A four-year north-south divide in life expectancy at birth for men is revealed in official figures for the UK published on Wednesday. For men in the south-east of England it is 79.4 years, while in Scotland the figure is 75.4, according to the Office for National Statistics . For women the gap is slightly less: 83.3 in south-east and south-west England against 80.1 in Scotland. But the differences are even more stark at a local level. In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, men stand to live 84.4 years and women 89 years. That is more than a decade longer than the Glasgow figure of 71.1 years for men and 77.5 for women. Health areas with lowest life expectancy are Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Hartlepool, Western Isles, Liverpool and Blackburn with Darwen. The pattern in the geographic age gaps remains similar to those of previous years, showing just how stubborn social and economic inequalities remain. Overall we are living longer. Life expectancy at birth across the UK as a whole improved from 76.5 to 77.9 years for men between 2003-05 and 2007-09. In the same period it went up from 80.9 to 82 for women. Office for National Statistics Scotland James Meikle guardian.co.uk
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Powerful business lobbyist says ministers failing on 12 of 13 environmental indicators after series of policy U-turns The UK government is failing on almost every environmental indicator, the Confederation of British Industry warned on Wednesday, as ministers have damaged business confidence and provided scant detail on their plans. The CBI tracks government aims on the environment and climate change through an online tracker, by which it judges the success of announced measures against the progress that needs to be made to hit the UK’s targets. But in the latest climate change tracker , ministers are shown to have failed on 12 out of 13 key indicators. Improving energy efficiency in buildings has been too slow, while greenhouse gas emissions from transport and industry are likely to remain high as new policies are not taking effect, the CBI said. Katja Hall, chief policy director at the CBI, said: “One year on from pledging to be the ‘greenest government ever’, the coalition has still not delivered the policy landscape needed to ensure we meet tough emissions targets. Decisions being taken now will make or break the UK’s low-carbon economy. Our latest tracker shows that progress is failing to match the government’s ambition.” She pointed to “sudden and unexpected policy shifts”, such as last autumn’s decision to divert funds raised from the carbon reduction commitment to the Treasury , instead of being reinvested in businesses to encourage energy efficiency, as well as the U-turn on feed-in tariffs , when ministers decided to confine the subsidies to households instead of allowing larger solar panel installations to reap the higher rate of tariff. The organisation – one of the UK’s most influential business lobbyists – warned: ” Investor confidence remains low .” Its analysts pointed to separate research which found that the UK had fallen from 3rd to 13th in a global ranking of low-carbon investment . Uncertainty also surrounds a number of major policies, according to the CBI, including electricity market reform, funding for carbon capture and storage technology, the renewable heat initiative and consumer grants for low-carbon vehicles. Hall said: “The carbon floor price and CRC have been dressed up as helping to achieve carbon targets but they risk becoming little more than revenue raisers for the Treasury. Meanwhile, there is also genuine concern about how the green deal and electricity market reform will work.” The Guardian recently revealed research showing that the green deal would not result in savings to consumers at commercial interest rates. The research said the initiative, by which householders can gain access to loans of up to £10,000 to carry out improvements such as insulation and potentially even solar panels , would be worthless unless ministers stepped in to ensure the deal could be provided with interest rates lower than those on offer in the markets. Citing an estimate that £150bn of investment will be needed to decarbonise the energy sector alone, the CBI laid out a series of actions it would like the government to take in the next six months to bring down emissions and stimulate the green economy. They are: Publish the electricity market reform white paper by July, providing greater clarity on the transitional arrangements for renewable energy. • Use the energy-intensive industries strategy to set out plans to protect vulnerable industries from carbon leakage. • Finalise the nuclear generic design assessment and designate the national policy statements for energy as soon as is practical. • Incentivise businesses to invest in energy efficiency measures by simplifying the CRC and wider issues of policy overlap. • Make a decision on the winner of the first carbon capture and storage demonstration plant, and confirm the future funding arrangements for CCS, the renewable heat incentive and the consumer grant for low-carbon vehicles. • Enact the localism bill by the end of 2011 and include provisions to streamline the fast-track process for major infrastructure, and ensure that crucial sub-national infrastructure can be delivered. • Enact the energy bill and work closely with industry to develop the secondary legislation that will successfully deliver the green deal. Carbon emissions Climate change Green politics Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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Ben Bernanke says US economic recovery is slow and uneven but appears to rule out third round of fiscal stimulus Stock markets have dropped after a speech by the US Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, raised fears over the global economic recovery. Shares fell broadly in London, echoing a late sell-off on Wall Street, after Bernanke appeared to rule out further quantitative easing. Speaking to bankers in Atlanta on Tuesday night, Bernanke said the US economic recovery was “frustratingly slow” and “uneven” but stopped short of indicating that the Federal Reserve would pump more cash into the economy. There had been speculation before the speech that the Fed chair might hint at a third round of fiscal stimulus measures, dubbed QE3, following recent weak economic data . US markets finished down on the news, with the Dow Jones falling 19 points by the close. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks fell 0.7% overnight, to add to the sell-off. The FTSE 100 fell in early trading too, down 38 points at 5826. According to Chris Weston of IG Index, Bernanke’s comments have left traders “scratching around” for guidance on whether the world economy is faltering. Gary Jenkins of Evolution Securities said Bernanke’s speech had “something for everyone with the exception of those who might favour QE3″. “He has to be careful what he says about further quantitative easing or it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He did say that this quarter’s economic activity has been hampered by supply chain disruptions associated with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the effects of which are likely to dissipate over the coming months. Other Fed members were also speaking yesterday with much the same message coming through: monetary policy is likely to remain accommodative for some time yet, but further QE is looking unlikely at this stage,” Jenkins said. A “frustratingly slow” recovery In the speech, Bernanke said the US recovery was clearly being held back by the troubled jobs and housing markets but there were indications that petrol prices would fall and the impact of Japan’s nuclear disaster on manufacturing was on the wane. “Overall the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers,” Bernanke said. A spate of weak economic data was capped by a report last week that showed the US added only 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest since September last year. The unemployment rate in May rose to 9.1%, from 9% in April. The parlous nature of the US jobs market was underlined once more on Tuesday as the labour department reported that businesses had fewer job openings in April with employers posting 3m ads for jobs in April, down from 3.1m in March. Gavan Nolan, director of credit research at Markit, argued that there were two schools of thought on the economy at present. “The first believes that recent data weakness indicates that demand is dwindling and the economy is in need of further stimulus. The second is convinced that we are in a transitory phase that will abate once the effects of the Japanese earthquake and higher commodity prices are less acute,” Nolan said. US economy Ben Bernanke Stock markets Economics United States Alex Hawkes Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Fuel rods have probably breached containment vessels – a more serious scenario than core meltdown – according to report Molten nuclear fuel in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is likely to have burned through pressure vessels, not just the cores, Japan has said in a report in which it also acknowledges it was unprepared for an accident of the severity of Fukushima. It is the first time Japanese authorities have admitted the possibility that the fuel suffered “melt-through” – a more serious scenario than a core meltdown. The report, which is to be submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said fuel rods in reactors No 1, 2 and 3 had probably not only melted, but also breached their inner containment vessels and accumulated in the outer steel containment vessels. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), says it believes the molten fuel is being cooled by water that has built up in the bottom of the three reactor buildings. The report includes an apology to the international community for the nuclear crisis – the world’s worst since Chernobyl in 1986 – and expresses “remorse that this accident has raised concerns around the world about the safety of nuclear power generation”. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, said: “Above all, it is most important to inform the international community with thorough transparency in order for us to regain its confidence in Japan.” The report comes a day after Japan’s nuclear safety agency said the amount of radiation that leaked from Fukushima Daiichi in the first week of the accident may have been more than double that initially estimated by Tepco. The 750-page report, compiled by Japan’s emergency nuclear task force, concedes that the country was wrongfooted by the severity of the accident, which occurred after the plant was struck by waves more than 14 metres high following the earthquake on 11 March. “We are taking very seriously the fact that consistent preparation for severe accidents was insufficient,” the report said. “In light of the lessons learned from the accident, Japan has recognised that a fundamental revision of its nuclear safety preparedness and response is inevitable.” The nuclear task force’s head, Goshi Hosono, said Tepco had failed to adequately protect plant workers early on in the crisis, and had provided inadequate information about radiation leaks. About 7,800 workers had been involved in the battle to stabilise the plant as of late May, the report said. While their average exposure dose was well within safe limits, “a certain number” may have been exposed to more than 250 millisieverts per year, the maximum allowable dose under revised government guidelines for Fukushima workers. The report acknowledged that bureaucratic red tape, and the division of responsibilities across several government agencies, had hampered the response to the accident. It said the government would separate the country’s nuclear safety watchdog from the trade and industry ministry, a recommendation made earlier this month by a team of experts from the IAEA . The trade and industry minister, Banri Kaieda, said Japan would share all available data and co-operate with the IAEA. “Our country bears a serious responsibility to provide data to the international community with maximum transparency, and to actively contribute to nuclear safety,” he said. The most urgent problem facing workers at Fukushima Daiichi is how to deal with vast quantities of highly radioactive water that has accumulated in reactor buildings and basements and in ditches. The estimated 100,000 tonnes of contaminated liquid – runoff from water used to douse overheating reactors – is hampering efforts to repair the plant’s cooling systems. Tepco has said it hopes to have a system in place by the middle of the month to remove radioactive substances from the water, enabling it to be reused to cool reactors. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Natural disasters and extreme weather Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Utility provider implements ‘shocking’ 19% rise in gas prices and 10% rise in electricity prices, as consumers are urged to switch and fix Scottish Power is to raise the price of domestic gas and electricity bills by 19% and 10% respectively from August 2011, blaming the increases on a rise in wholesale energy costs and volatility in global energy markets. The rise, which will affect 2.4m households and add £175 a year – or 48p a day – to the average dual fuel customer’s bill, was described as a “body blow for consumers” by Consumer Focus . Scottish Power, which last increased prices in November 2010 – raising gas bills by 2% and electricity by 8.9% – said it will notify customers from 11 June, giving them at least 30 days’ notice before the price change is due to take effect. Raymond Jack, Scottish Power’s UK retail director, said: “Wholesale prices for gas and electricity have increased significantly since the end of last year, and continuing unrest in global energy markets means future prices are volatile. We understand times are difficult for many people, and we have done what we can to absorb these additional costs for as long as possible to minimise the impact on our customers. “The rising burden of non-energy costs faced by Britain’s energy suppliers – including the cost of meeting government environmental and social programmes and the cost of distributing electricity on the national grid – has also placed further upward pressure on energy bills.” But the energy provider was blasted by consumer groups who believe its move could prompt a wave of further price rises from the other “big five” energy providers just months after last winter’s price rises. Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: “This huge increase will be a body blow for consumers, and we fear other firms will follow Scottish Power’s lead. Companies have been softening customers up for price rises for months, but customers will shocked at the scale of this rise. “We know suppliers like the comfort of the pack and that price rises come in waves. Every household in the country will now be bracing themselves for impact.” Last winter the big six energy suppliers all announced price rises, with E.ON adding 9% to electricity prices and 3% to gas prices, while British Gas raised both its gas and electricity prices by 7%. Scottish and Southern Energy increased gas prices by 9.4% and npower added 5.1% to gas and electricity prices. EDF raised electricity bills by 7.5% and gas by 6.5%. Householders were warned by British Gas’s parent company Centrica in May to brace themselves for higher gas and electricity bills this winter, and to consider switching to a fixed-price tariff if they want to avoid the pain come December. Centrica suggested in a statement to the City that domestic gas and electricity prices are now significantly lagging behind wholesale prices, which it said have risen by a quarter compared with last year. ‘Under investigation’ Energy regulator Ofgem recently conducted its retail market review of the energy sector, identifying a number of problem areas such as consumer trust, overly-complicated tariffs and unfair pricing. Gallacher said: “It is ironic the [Scottish Power] announcement comes exactly when the regulator is deciding whether energy firms are serious about treating consumers properly and if energy prices are fair. Ofgem has put the big six in the dock, saying suppliers have been quicker to raise prices than to cut them and are bamboozling consumers with complex tariffs. Scottish Power itself is under investigation by the regulator for unfair pricing and misselling. “Suppliers say they have no choice when costs go up, but no one else really knows if energy prices are fair. When this affects the cost of keeping warm and well, it is not an acceptable state of affairs. Energy suppliers are in a deep, deep hole on consumer trust. Now would be a good time for Scottish Power and the others to stop digging deeper and show that they understand what their customers want – fair pricing, fair selling and fair treatment.” Consumer group Which? argues that all energy tariffs should be structured in the same way so that customers can easily compare different deals. Executive director Richard Lloyd said: “This is yet another example of the ‘big six’ blaming the wholesale energy market for increases to domestic customers’ bills, but energy companies have a lot of work to do to convince consumers that energy prices are fair. “Greater transparency about exactly what is driving retail price hikes might help persuade consumers that energy companies are playing fair.” A Scottish Power spokesman said 700,000 households will be protected from the latest price rises because they are on capped or fixed tariffs. A spokesman for Moneysupermarket.com said: “This is a huge increase. Now really is the time to get on to the best-priced energy tariff for your usage level and area you live. “The cheapest online energy tariff is currently Online Saver 10 offered by EDF Energy with average annual bills of £940 but, in the face of rising prices, opting for the market-leading fixed product Fix Saver v2, from EDF Energy with average bills of £1,009, is the best way to safeguard against further price increases from the energy giants.” Energy bills Household bills Consumer affairs Family finances Utilities Mark King guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Utility provider implements ‘shocking’ 19% rise in gas prices and 10% rise in electricity prices, as consumers are urged to switch and fix Scottish Power is to raise the price of domestic gas and electricity bills by 19% and 10% respectively from August 2011, blaming the increases on a rise in wholesale energy costs and volatility in global energy markets. The rise, which will affect 2.4m households and add £175 a year – or 48p a day – to the average dual fuel customer’s bill, was described as a “body blow for consumers” by Consumer Focus . Scottish Power, which last increased prices in November 2010 – raising gas bills by 2% and electricity by 8.9% – said it will notify customers from 11 June, giving them at least 30 days’ notice before the price change is due to take effect. Raymond Jack, Scottish Power’s UK retail director, said: “Wholesale prices for gas and electricity have increased significantly since the end of last year, and continuing unrest in global energy markets means future prices are volatile. We understand times are difficult for many people, and we have done what we can to absorb these additional costs for as long as possible to minimise the impact on our customers. “The rising burden of non-energy costs faced by Britain’s energy suppliers – including the cost of meeting government environmental and social programmes and the cost of distributing electricity on the national grid – has also placed further upward pressure on energy bills.” But the energy provider was blasted by consumer groups who believe its move could prompt a wave of further price rises from the other “big five” energy providers just months after last winter’s price rises. Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: “This huge increase will be a body blow for consumers, and we fear other firms will follow Scottish Power’s lead. Companies have been softening customers up for price rises for months, but customers will shocked at the scale of this rise. “We know suppliers like the comfort of the pack and that price rises come in waves. Every household in the country will now be bracing themselves for impact.” Last winter the big six energy suppliers all announced price rises, with E.ON adding 9% to electricity prices and 3% to gas prices, while British Gas raised both its gas and electricity prices by 7%. Scottish and Southern Energy increased gas prices by 9.4% and npower added 5.1% to gas and electricity prices. EDF raised electricity bills by 7.5% and gas by 6.5%. Householders were warned by British Gas’s parent company Centrica in May to brace themselves for higher gas and electricity bills this winter, and to consider switching to a fixed-price tariff if they want to avoid the pain come December. Centrica suggested in a statement to the City that domestic gas and electricity prices are now significantly lagging behind wholesale prices, which it said have risen by a quarter compared with last year. ‘Under investigation’ Energy regulator Ofgem recently conducted its retail market review of the energy sector, identifying a number of problem areas such as consumer trust, overly-complicated tariffs and unfair pricing. Gallacher said: “It is ironic the [Scottish Power] announcement comes exactly when the regulator is deciding whether energy firms are serious about treating consumers properly and if energy prices are fair. Ofgem has put the big six in the dock, saying suppliers have been quicker to raise prices than to cut them and are bamboozling consumers with complex tariffs. Scottish Power itself is under investigation by the regulator for unfair pricing and misselling. “Suppliers say they have no choice when costs go up, but no one else really knows if energy prices are fair. When this affects the cost of keeping warm and well, it is not an acceptable state of affairs. Energy suppliers are in a deep, deep hole on consumer trust. Now would be a good time for Scottish Power and the others to stop digging deeper and show that they understand what their customers want – fair pricing, fair selling and fair treatment.” Consumer group Which? argues that all energy tariffs should be structured in the same way so that customers can easily compare different deals. Executive director Richard Lloyd said: “This is yet another example of the ‘big six’ blaming the wholesale energy market for increases to domestic customers’ bills, but energy companies have a lot of work to do to convince consumers that energy prices are fair. “Greater transparency about exactly what is driving retail price hikes might help persuade consumers that energy companies are playing fair.” A Scottish Power spokesman said 700,000 households will be protected from the latest price rises because they are on capped or fixed tariffs. A spokesman for Moneysupermarket.com said: “This is a huge increase. Now really is the time to get on to the best-priced energy tariff for your usage level and area you live. “The cheapest online energy tariff is currently Online Saver 10 offered by EDF Energy with average annual bills of £940 but, in the face of rising prices, opting for the market-leading fixed product Fix Saver v2, from EDF Energy with average bills of £1,009, is the best way to safeguard against further price increases from the energy giants.” Energy bills Household bills Consumer affairs Family finances Utilities Mark King guardian.co.uk
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Texan authorities have now confirmed there is no crime scene and the woman who called in the tip about a ‘mass grave’ would be investigated for making a false report A tip from a woman claiming to a be a psychic prompted Texas authorities to swarm a rural home searching for a nonexistent mass grave and up to 30 bodies, including those of dismembered children. A few hours later it was clear the tip was nothing more than a wild goose chase. “There’s no crime scene,” Liberty County Judge Craig McNair told reporters as deputies, Texas Rangers and FBI agents wrapped up a fruitless search that gained national media attention. McNair and Captain Rex Evans, spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, said the woman who twice called in the tip would be investigated for making a false report. Evans said the sheriff’s office took the tip seriously because she claimed children’s bodies were in the mix. The department called the FBI for help, and the Texas Rangers spent hours obtaining a warrant to search the one-story brick home at a rural intersection near Hardin, about 51 miles east of Houston. A cadaver dog also joined the search. But soon after media reports said the sheriff’s office confirmed having found bodies, outlets quoted the same agency saying they had no evidence of them. The Houston Chronicle and KHOU-TV tracked down the home’s occupant, who said he and his wife, both long-haul truck drivers, had left on Sunday en route to Georgia and he knew nothing about dead bodies. “I haven’t killed anybody,” Joe Bankson told the Chronicle. He told the television station his daughter’s ex-boyfriend had gotten drunk and cut his wrist at the home two weeks before, possibly leaving blood that might have piqued investigators’ interest. Evans declined to address details when he finally addressed reporters as other officers packed up to leave. “A this time no bodies have been recovered,” Evans said sternly. “We have investigated this part of the scene as much as we can.” Texas United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chris Matthews: ‘Palin is Out to Cause Trouble, Wants Bad News About America’
June 7, 2011 No Comment
Palin Derangement Syndrome was in full bloom on MSNBC's “Hardball” Tuesday. At the conclusion of the program, host Chris Matthews went on a hate-filled rant accusing the former Alaska governor of being “out to cause trouble” and wanting “bad news about America” (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with Sarah Palin’s midnight ride with American history. I have a theory about this person: I don't think she is at all interested in American history. If she were, she would know more of it. What she wants is bad news about America. What excites her isn't politics, the debate of one side against the other, Republicans versus Democrats, liberals versus conservatives. What she wants as I said is bad news about America. What excites her is not the chance to participate or lead in government. She quit government, dumped it really. She had other interests. No, Palin is out to cause trouble. She wants people to be mad at politicians, mad at government, mad at the people who report on government. She wants unhappiness with politics and government that dominate the airwaves, dominate the conversation, dominate the country's mood. She wants us to think about government the way the early colonists thought about the British back in England. She wants us to arm ourselves that we can fight the redcoats. She wants us to live in a state of relentless, simmering rebellion, ever angry, ever distrustful, ever detesting the people we’ve elected to run the government, the people who cover the people in government. She wants us to believe toward the government the way angry middle-aged bikers look at government as the enemy. This is why the 2012 election is not about who will lead us but whether we are ready to vote against the belief that we are governing ourselves. What a negative, self-defeating proposition she makes. What a strange reason for remaining in public life. She gets the history wrong because she gets the United States wrong. We are a self-governing country and the people who matter are the ones who help us do it not the ones who attack but do not lead. And what about the media members that attack but do not lead? After all, this is what MSNBC stands for now. On a daily basis, the extended prime time hosts including Matthews, Cenk Uygur, Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, and Ed Schultz Beck do virtually nothing to inform the American public about what's going on in the world. Their message isn't positive or uplifting. It's six straight hours of the most hate-filled invective on television today all aimed at the Republican Party and conservatives. With this in mind, we could easily take Matthews' Tuesday rant, substitute a few words here and there, and demonstrate quite emphatically just what this network has become: Let me finish tonight with MSNBC's midnight ride with American history. I have a theory about this so-called cable news network : I don't think MSNBC commentators are at all interested in American history. If they were, they would know more of it. What they want is bad news about Republicans . What excites them isn't politics, the debate of one side against the other, Republicans versus Democrats, liberals versus conservatives. What they want as I said is bad news about Republicans . MSNBC is out to cause trouble. They want people to be mad at Republicans , mad at the Tea Party , mad at the people who report on the Tea Party . They want unhappiness with conservatism and fiscal discipline that dominate the airwaves, dominate the conversation, dominate the country's mood. They want us to think about Republicans the way the early colonists thought about the British back in England. They want us to disarm ourselves that we can submit to our enemies . They want us to live in a state of relentless, growing dependence , ever angry, ever distrustful, ever detesting the people who pay all the taxes , the people who cover the people who pay all the taxes . They want us to believe toward the government the way a drug addict looks at a dealer as his friend . This is why the 2012 election is not about who will lead us but whether we are ready to vote against the belief that we are governing ourselves. What a negative, self-defeating proposition MSNBC makes. What a strange reason for remaining in business . They get the history wrong because they get the United States wrong. We are a self-governing country and the people who matter are the ones who help us do it not the ones who attack but do not lead. Which rant makes more sense to you?
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