Coalition tensions rise over what could be crushing victory for no campaign in Thursday’s referendum on alternative vote Coalition tensions over what could be a crushing victory for the no campaign in Thursday’s referendum on the alternative vote have exploded into extraordinary scenes in cabinet , with the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, Chris Huhne, confronting David Cameron and George Osborne over campaign leaflets that he believed smeared Nick Clegg. During the ensuing row, Osborne said he was not going to be challenged by a cabinet colleague acting as if he was “Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight”. In tense exchanges, leaked by Conservative sources within an hour of the cabinet meeting, Huhne demanded to know if Cameron would disassociate himself from the leaflets issued by the no campaign that he said had smeared Clegg’s leadership of the Lib Dems. He challenged the prime minister to sack any Conservative official linked to this literature, which said Clegg had broken promises. Cameron replied that he was not responsible for the all-party no campaign literature. Huhne then asked the chancellor whether he had any knowledge of the literature. Osborne apparently replied that this was always going to be a difficult period for the coalition. When Huhne again asked him to explain if he had known of the leaflets, Osborne complained that cabinet was not the right venue for this discussion before making his Paxman remark. Huhne then suggested that people would draw their own conclusions from the pair’s failure to condemn such smears on the deputy prime minister. Huhne did not consult Nick Clegg before his demarche and defended his role in the confrontation. “I think these have been unacceptable leaflets,” he said. “In any other walk of life such behaviour would be seen as nasty, personal and vindictive.” He added: “The home secretary Theresa May used to characterise the Tory party as the nasty party and this episode shows it has a way to go to before it achieves full rehabilitation. The underhand tactics show how desperate the political establishment is to hang on to power.” Huhne’s increasingly bitter public attacks on his coalition colleagues, including such a direct challenge to the prime minister, were dismissed as a yes campaign stunt by Tory sources. The row also angered parts of the all-party yes campaign that saw the inter-party row as a distraction from its final push message, as well as an attempt to highlight the no campaign’s failure to disclose all its funding. One yes campaign spokesman said: “Nothing Huhne has done has been authorised by us, or been helpful to us. The difficulty from day one was that we didn’t want the referendum seen through the prism of the coalition.” A ComRes poll published by the Independent on Tuesday showed the no camp romping home by a massive 66% to 35% among those saying they were certain to vote. Yes campaigners sensed defeat was inevitable. Meanwhile the yes campaign published an appeal signed by Ed Miliband, David Miliband, Lord Ashdown, Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and two-thirds of the shadow cabinet calling for a yes vote. Ed Miliband also made his most explicit appeal for a yes vote on the basis that it could help nurture an anti-Tory progressive alliance in the country. Labour has always been at its best when it been a force for political reform. Writing for Comment is Free, he said: “If you believe this is a big C conservative country then perhaps you will believe that when forced to choose and elect someone with more than 50% of the vote, it will aid the right. “But if you believe that this is a genuinely progressive country, then we need an electoral system that can reflect the views of the electorate and give expression to the anti-conservative majority.” But the former Labour cabinet minister Lord Boateng lambasted the appeal for a progressive left. “The irony is overwhelming Lib Dem cabinet ministers trying to unite the left while they prop up a Conservative government implementing Conservative policies. If the Lib Dems find the Tories so distasteful you have to ask why they continue in government then.” John Healey, the shadow health secretary, also shared a platform with May to say the only reason the referendum was being held was because the alternative vote “gives the Liberal Democrats an open return to power, gives the Lib Dems a way into government election after election, and gives the Lib Dems a shield against loss of support”. Huhne insisted he was not planning to resign, adding whatever the Liberal Democrats do after the results come in on Friday will be done as a team. Huhne is known to want the coalition to continue, but is understood to believe personal trust between the parties has been lost irrevocably. One source said: “From now we will be consulting the lawyers first when we are offered an agreement by our coalition partners.” Support for a more businesslike approach towards the coalition is also coming from another Lib Dem cabinet minister, Vince Cable. Cameron will deny he is making any explicit concessions, but there are already signs he is backtracking on health, public services reform and the speed with which he brings in elected police commissioners. AV referendum Alternative vote Liberal-Conservative coalition Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Plex has been serving up streaming video for more than a minute, bringing content to Macs , iDevices , and even jailbroken Apple TVs (not to mention apps for all sizes of Android ). For those who are neither Apple aficionados nor dedicated ‘droid users, the company has rolled out a client that runs on Rokus . It’s currently in beta and only supports video, but Plex plans to provide picture and music management in the future. Plex’s XBMC secret sauce paired with Roku’s ample streaming content buffet? Sounds delicious . [Thanks, James] Plex Media Server launches client for Roku originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …A retrospective: What was the president thinking at that Sunday night dinner?
May 3, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Looking back at Sunday night’s White House Correspondents Dinner, it’s clear now that some of the jokes were more than little pungent — considering that the president at that point had authorized the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. For example, there was this bit from Seth Meyer’s ribbing of various entities, including the president and C-SPAN: MEYERS: Every time I tune into C-SPAN it looks like they just had a fire drill. C-SPAN is one unpaid electric bill away from being a radio station. People think Bin Laden is hiding in the Hindu Kush. But did you know that every day from 4 to 5 he hosts a show on C-SPAN? You can see that Obama enjoyed that joke quite a bit. You have to wonder what he was thinking just then. That’s even more the case in his pwnage of Donald Trump : Click here to view this media Josh Marshall pointed this one out : OBAMA: But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. (Laughter.) For example — no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice — (laughter) — at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil’ Jon or Meat Loaf. (Laughter.) You fired Gary Busey. (Laughter.) And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. (Laughter and applause.) Well handled, sir. (Laughter.) Well handled. That was already a cutting and sardonic appraisal. Given the weight that Obama was carrying that night, it now appears in retrospect to be flatly devastating.
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Decision not to prosecute PC Simon Harwood under review after inquest rules that Tomlinson was unlawfully killed The police officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London in 2009 could be prosecuted for manslaughter after an inquest jury ruled that the newspaper seller was unlawfully killed. Returning their verdict after three hours of deliberation, jurors said Tomlinson died of internal bleeding in the abdomen after being struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by a police officer. For legal reasons, the verdict did not name the officer, Metropolitan police constable Simon Harwood. However, the jury said that “excessive and unreasonable” force was used when he struck the newspaper vendor who “posed no threat”. The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, immediately said he would “review” his decision last July not year not to prosecute Harwood. There were shouts of “yes” from Tomlinson’s family when the jury confirmed their belief that the 47-year-old father of nine was unlawfully killed. The family’s lawyer, Jules Carey, said : “Today’s decision is a huge relief to Mr Tomlinson’s family. To many, today’s verdict will seem like a statement of the blindingly obvious. However, this fails to take account of the significant and many obstacles faced by the family over the last two years to get to this decision.” Police initially denied Tomlinson had contact with police officers before his death on 1 April 2009. The Independent Police Complaints Commission only launched a criminal inquiry a week later, after the Guardian released video footage showing Tomlinson being struck from behind by Harwood near the Royal Exchange Buildings. The footage was played repeatedly during the five-week hearing at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, London. Jurors were given two divergent explanations of his death. The first pathologist to conduct a postmortem examination on Tomlinson, Dr Freddy Patel, said he died of a heart attack as a result of coronary heart disease. He was contradicted by three other pathologists who examined the body, all of whom found he died of internal bleeding in the abdomen. Starmer said last July that complications with the medical evidence led him to believe prosecutors would be unlikely to prove a cause of death. His decision, which was backed by the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, prompted widespread anger and questions in parliament. The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said he could understand the “outrage” over the decision not to prosecute Harwood. Jurors at the inquest were told they could only decide Tomlinson was unlawfully killed if they were convinced beyond reasonable doubt, the same burden of proof which would apply in a criminal trial. The Crown Prosecution Service will now also consider new medical evidence given to the inquest by Professor Kevin Channer, a heart expert who contradicted the theory that Tomlinson died of a heart attack. He said defibrillator readings of Tomlinson’s heart activity obtained moments after his collapse were “entirely inconsistent” with Patel’s explanation of his death. Tomlinson had been trying to walk home from work through the demonstrations near the Bank of England on the evening he died. An alcoholic, he had been drinking heavily and was looking vacant and confused as he was repeatedly turned away from police cordons. At 7.20pm, he stumbled on to Royal Exchange Buildings, a passage police had been ordered to clear. Tomlinson had his hands in his pockets and was walking away from police when he was struck with a baton and pushed from behind by Harwood. During three days of evidence at the inquest, Harwood, 43, told jurors that he believed at the time that Tomlinson was obstructing police and he believed his actions were proportionate. Harwood will face a Metropolitan police gross misconduct hearing at which he stands accused of “inadvertently causing or contributing to” Tomlinson’s death. If found guilty by the disciplinary panel, Harwood, who is currently suspended on full pay, would almost certainly be sacked. The verdict brings to an end a two-year wait for Tomlinson’s family, who maintain police attempted to cover up officers’ involvement in his death. Ian Tomlinson Metropolitan police Police London G20 Protest Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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CIA project? Drug runner? Arsenal fan? Debunking the myths surrounding al-Qaida’s leader 1. Osama bin Laden was ‘created’ by the CIA He did not receive any direct funding or training from the US during the 1980s. Nor did his followers. The Afghan mujahideen, via Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, received large amounts of both. Some bled to the Arabs fighting the Soviets but nothing significant. 2. He had a huge personal fortune Bin Laden was forced to leave any cash he had when he in effect fled Saudi Arabia in 1991 for Pakistan and then Sudan. His family cut him off. Nor would the inheritance from his hugely wealthy father have been divided into equal parts anyway. What Bin Laden did have was contacts, which allowed him to raise money with ease. 3. He was responsible for 1993 bombing of World Trade Centre Ramzi Yousef, who was the main perpetrator of the attack, was probably working for Khaled Sheikh Mohammed who was an independent operator at the time. Mohammed only started working with al-Qaida in 1996 and even then kept his distance from Bin Laden. 4. He got money from drug running No evidence for this whatsoever despite repeated claims – such as in the post 9/11 British government dossier on al-Qaida. 5. He never exposed himself to any danger He did not single-handedly seize a short-barrelled AK-47 from a dying Soviet general as he sometimes claimed but numerous witnesses report that he was in the thick of fighting in Jaji in 1987 and again at the battle of Jalalabad in 1989. 6. He spent a lot of time in caves In the late 1990s, for propaganda purposes, Bin Laden invited select journalists to meet him in caves near Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. However he lived in a much more comfortable compound a short drive away, near the former Soviet collective farm of Hadda owned by a local warlord. By 1999 he had moved to a complex of houses near Kandahar. When he was killed, he was living in a relatively comfortable detached house in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In between, there is no evidence that he spent any time living in caves. The rest of al-Qaida’s senior militants appear to have lived in the semi-fortified houses that are common in the tribal zones. 7. He was a tearaway teenager who partied in Beirut before becoming religious. There is no evidence for this either. Bin Laden appears to have been an intense, shy and pious youth who married young and spent an inordinate amount of time studying scripture. 8. He was near to dying of a kidney disease. There are some reports – not least in the Guantánamo files – of renal problems but certainly not serious enough to kill him. It is more likely he had back problems caused by his height (around 6ft 5in) and relatively sedentary lifestyle. 9. He hid in Kashmir, was the leader of Chechen groups, was responsible for violence in the Philippines and in Indonesia, organised the Madrid 2004 attack and had an extensive network in Paraguay, sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa. All these claims, made by various governments or intelligence services over the last decade have proved totally without foundation. 10. Bin Laden was an Arsenal fan Despite fans reportedly chanting “Osama, woah-woah, Osama, woah-waoh, he’s hiding in Kabul, he loves the Arsenal”, Bin Laden was not a faithful of the north London club. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Global terrorism Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media White House deputy national security advisor John Brennan Tuesday knocked down the myth that waterboarding provided crucial intelligence that led to the location of Osama bin Laden. “So we’ve been talking about the different details and methods that lead up to this moment, and obviously there is word out today that waterboarding played a very big role or role in actually getting the information,” MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski told Brennan. “Is that the case?” “Not to my knowledge,” Brennan explained. “The information that was acquired over the course of nine years or so came from many different sources, human sources, technical sources, as well as information that detainees provided, and it was something that as a result of the painstaking work that the analysts did, they pieced it all together that led us to the Abbottabad compound and led us to the successful operation on sunday,” he added. Fox News’ Fox Nation website claimed Tuesday that waterboarding led to the death of bin Laden.
Continue reading …Jon Stewart is positively gleeful over the death of Osama bin Laden, and he’s not at all interested in “perspective.” All he wants are details, details, details. Of course, the rest of the media are insistent on giving us perspective, and Stewart ran a montage of all their dire warnings…
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Lawyers for groom accused of honeymoon murder would be ‘vulnerable’ in jails rife with HIV, TB and rape, hearing told The British businessman accused of arranging for his new wife to be murdered while they were on honeymoon in South Africa would be “very vulnerable” to gang-related sexual violence if extradited and then imprisoned, a court heard. Shrien Dewani’s good looks, and the fact that a woman was his alleged victim, would make him a target of gangs if he were sent back to South Africa and jailed, his extradition hearing in London was told. Westminster magistrates also heard a claim from the South African authorities who said that before marrying Dewani allegedly told an acquaintance he needed to end the relationship but would be disowned by his family if he broke off his engagement. South African lawyers want Dewani, 31, from Bristol, to be extradited to face trial for allegedly plotting to have his wife, Anni Hindocha, 28, killed in a staged car-jacking in a township near Cape Town. Dewani’s legal team says he has severe post-traumatic stress disorder, prompted by the death, and that his human rights would be violated if he were sent into a prison system that did not protect him. Two experts on South African jails were called, by Dewani’s side, to give evidence via video-link about the conditions he would face. They told the court some prisons were overcrowded, understaffed and rife with diseases, including TB and HIV/Aids. There was a shortage of medical staff and sick prisoners sometimes struggled to get access to the care and medicine they needed. Gangs used rape and sexual abuse as a punishment and to establish hierarchy. Asked about the risk of sexual abuse, one of the experts, Sasha Gear, said Dewani lacked the street credentials to win the respect of other inmates. His good looks and an alleged crime seen as “less manly” would also put him at risk. She added that allegations of homosexuality associated with Dewani would be an additional problem. At the opening of the hearing, Hugo Keith QC, for the South African authorities, said an unnamed witness claimed that Dewani had expressed concern about his relationship. “[Dewani] said although [Anni] was a nice, lovely girl, who he liked, he could not break out of the engagement because he would be disowned by his family. He [told] the witness he needed to find a way out of it.” It is the first time the South African authorities have suggested any motive for the part they allege Dewani played in the killing, which happened in November last year. The witness is not going to give evidence at the extradition hearing but would be prepared to testify if Dewani were put on trial in South Africa. Dewani’s friends and family, who maintain the marriage was not arranged and that the couple were genuinely in love, insist Dewani had nothing to do with her death. Dewani is wanted for offences of kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, conspiracy to commit murder, and obstructing the administration of justice. Keith alleged Dewani had hatched the plot to have his wife killed with the taxi driver who collected them at Cape Town airport. Next day as they drove through a township, the taxi was stopped by two gunmen. The taxi driver and Dewani were let out but Anni was driven away. Her body was found next day with a single gunshot wound to the neck. As the hearing was opened, Dewani, who is being treated at a mental health hospital, sat slumped in the dock, mumbling to himself with his eyes half closed. He was later excused by the judge and allowed to return to hospital. The hearing continues. Dewani murder case South Africa Crime Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Last Footage Of Osama Bin Laden leaked 2011 Osama Bin Laden video del nascondiglio del capo di Al Qaeda YC Barack Obama – OSAMA BIN LADEN DEAD Racks On Racks Parody Osama Bin Laden Dead: How One Phone Call Led U.S. To Bin Laden's … WASHINGTON — When one of Osama bin Laden’s most trusted aides picked up the phone last year, he unknowingly led U.S. pursuers to the doorstep of his boss, the world’s most wanted terrorist. That phone call, recounted Monday by a U.S. … Sports World Reacts To Bin Laden Death « CBS Chicago Before the top of the fourth inning at Nationals Park, the public address announcer encouraged everyone at the baseball stadium to cheer for the active or retired members of the service who were in the stands Monday. A Day Late: 'Chuck' Targets Bin Laden – Deadline.com After a 10-year hunt, who thought we would catch Osama bin Laden anytime soon? The producers of NBC’s Chuck certainly didn’t as they had a case of very unfortunate timing with a scene in tonight’s episode. Airing less than 24 hours … Bin Laden Is Dead … But Why Didn't We Kill Him 10 Year Ago? | The … President Obama announced tonight that U.S. special forces killed Osama Bin Laden . That’s great … but we could have killed him years ago. As I noted in. Is MLK Jr. Bin Laden Quote Fake? | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo … In the wake of Bin Laden’s death, an MLK quote cautioning people not to “rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy” surfaces on the Web. But there’s one problem… wrgreen says: RT @funnyordie : This video of Obama laughing at Seth Meyers' Osama joke was good on Saturday but is AMAZING on Monday. http://su.pr/1Hhmzf
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Keeping it Simple (KISBYTO): National Teacher Day May 3 , 2011 National Teacher Day May 3 , 2011. National Teacher Day is celebrated this week and time to break out the soap box for these brave men and women who put forth a tremendous effort to teach our children (and grandchildren) who are grossly … Kids Love Holidays: National Teacher Day ~ May 3 Children are like treasure boxes. On the outside, some boxes are brightly colored or adorned with ribbons and trim. Some boxes are shiny and clean, while others may be tattered and worn. Some boxes are vibrant and loud, … Thoughts Towards a Better World » Blog Archive » #365 – Dick … #365 – Dick Bernard: A Troubling National Teacher Day, May 3 , 2011. Written by admin on May 3rd, 2011. Since May 3, 1985, National Teacher Day in the United States has been observed on the first Tuesday in May. … nnschools says: May 3 is National Teacher Appreciation Day. http://ow.ly/2XjnA
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