Full coverage of day nine of the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson, who was struck by a police officer at the G20 protests 10.38am: Next up: Karen Miskowvicz, a paramedic team leader for the London Ambulance Service. 10.25am: As with Tomlinson’s other doctor, Dr Ugwu gave evidence about the father of nine’s problem with alcoholism and health. He says the newspaper seller was keen to take part in detoxification programmes to overcome his alcoholism, and was on a lot of medication. The coroner thanks the doctor for his “short and sweet” testimony, and he leaves the stand. 10.14am: Proceedings have started. The first witness is Dr Paul Ugwu, one of Tomlinson’s GPs. He saw the newspaper seller on four occasions prior to his death on 1 April 2009. 10.00am: There was also evidence from protesters who went to Tomlinson’s aid, which you can read here (pdf) . The last witness to take the stand yesterday was Dr Vasserman, Tomlinson’s GP. He said Tomlinson was a chronic alcoholic, had an enlarged spleen and liver and suffered from a condition called periphery neuropathy, which affected his nervous system and made him generally unsteady on his feet. He had been taken to hospital ten times in the two years leading up to his death after falling over while drunk, he said. Next up this morning will be Dr Paul Ugwu, the last GP to examine Tomlinson, followed by ambulance and hospital staff. 9.58am: Welcome to day nine of the Ian Tomlinson inquest, which we’re expecting to focus on more medical evidence. If you are catching up, the most widely reported evidence came from Kamran Saleem, a charity manager who saw Tomlinson fall to the ground a few minutes after, and 100 yards down the road from, being struck by PC Simon Harwood. Saleem told the jury he overhead Tomlinson tell another bystander : “They got me, the fuckers got me.” His full statement was: I think when somebody went to help, he said something along the lines of – I think it is in my statement – “They have got me, the fuckers got me”, and then I think somebody asked him if he wanted an ambulance. He said: “No, they got me,” or something … It was probably quieter than normal, but it was kind of like an anger, it was like: “They got me,” but probably more surprised than anything else. Ian Tomlinson Police London G20 Protest Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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Wall Street firm gives chief executive a $5m cash bonus and pays for family’s move from Chicago Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan Chase, received a pay rise of about 51% last year including a $5m (£3m) cash bonus. Dimon’s remuneration package, disclosed by the bank on Thursday night, is the latest sign that pay on Wall Street is returning to pre-crash levels as its biggest players post higher profits. The 55-year-old chief executive was awarded stock options worth $17m and a “cash incentive” of $5m in 2010, on top of his basic salary of $1m. The previous year he had received no cash bonus and stock awards of just above $14.1m. In 2008, the year of the financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Dimon received just his base salary. Dimon has run JP Morgan since December 2005. The bank fared much better than its Wall Street rivals during the financial crisis, acquiring Bear Stearns in 2007 and Washington Mutual a year later. The bank made a net profit of $17.4bn in 2010 , almost 50% higher than a year ago. Documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission also show JP Morgan paid Dimon $421,458 in moving expenses, $95,293 to cover “personal use of aircraft” and $45,730 for “personal use of car”. JP Morgan explained the Dimon family had moved from Chicago to New York in 2007 after their children finished high school, but only found a buyer for their old house in 2010. The moving expenses include more than $300,000 in real estate agency commission and fees, but do not cover the likely fall in the value of the house due to the slump in the US housing market. “It is not the firm’s policy to reimburse employees for losses incurred on the sale of a home in connection with a relocation and no such reimbursement is included in the amounts listed as moving expense,” JP Morgan said. The details of Dimon’s pay package came just a week after it emerged that Goldman Sachs had almost doubled the pay of its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, to $18.6m . That included a $5.4m performance-related cash bonus. JP Morgan Banking Executive pay and bonuses US economy Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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It may resemble the aural equivalent of Photoshop, but the best uses of Auto-Tune are often the ones that play up the stylisation I have a confession to make: I
Continue reading …It may resemble the aural equivalent of Photoshop, but the best uses of Auto-Tune are often the ones that play up the stylisation I have a confession to make: I
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More than 30 people have been poisoned by nitrite after drinking milk from two dairy farms in Gansu province Three children have died and 35 people have become ill from drinking nitrite-tainted milk in China’s north-western Gansu province, Xinhua news agency has reported in the latest food safety scandal to hit the dairy industry. Most of the 35 were children under 14 now being treated at two hospitals in Pingliang city, Xinhua said, citing the local government and health bureau. “An initial investigation shows all the patients were poisoned by nitrite after drinking bulk milk provided by two local dairy farms,” Xinhua said. Nitrite is used for curing meat. The two farms were sealed off and their managers were being investigated, Xinhua said. China’s food sector has been beset by poisonings and toxin scandals that have shaken consumer confidence, and the fast-growing but fragmented dairy sector has been at the heart of those worries. China’s quality inspection agency last week ordered nearly half the nation’s dairy firms to halt production as part of a campaign to clean up the industry.. In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 fell ill from powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical added to low quality or diluted milk to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high readings for protein levels. Earlier this year, Chinese quality authorities sought to calm renewed public alarm after reports that some manufacturers had illegally added a leather protein powder to dairy products to cheat protein-content checks. Zhao Lianhai, who organised a website for parents of children who became ill from tainted milk after his own son became sick, was jailed for two-and-a-half years last November after being convicted of “inciting social disorder.” China Food guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Eman al-Obeidi’s first on-camera interview with CNN’s Nic Robertson is seen above. (CNN) — When Eman al-Obeidy approached journalists last week at Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel, she did more than accuse Moammar Gadhafi’s men of rape. She also became the face of the anti-Gadhafi movement. Since the highly publicized incident , which ended with a hysterical al-Obeidy being whisked away by government minders, the 29-year-old lawyer from Tobruk has been celebrated as a symbol of Libyan defiance. “Many Libyans I know online on social media are holding up Eman al-Obeidy as a hero,” said Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-born journalist who writes columns on Arab and Muslim issues. “And many people across the region — Egyptians, Syrians — (are) demanding to know where she is and fearing for her life.” Kelly Askin, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, lays out the case against the Gadhafi regime. (CNN) — The raw courage demonstrated by Eman al-Obeidy in persisting in telling her story of alleged repeated gang rape and torture in Libya is helping to change the dialogue in Libya and the Middle East about the use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression. Since Obeidy burst into a hotel filled with journalists last week and told them of being raped by loyalist militia, Gadhafi supporters have deployed a range of vile tactics in a bid to undermine her that are painfully familiar. They called her a drunk, a prostitute, a pornographer, a liar, mentally unstable — impugning her honor and that of her family. When those tactics failed, they implied it was all somehow her fault, claiming she was scheduled to meet one of the men she says attacked her. Others threatened to sue her. They are no doubt frustrated and surprised that the ways commonly used to silence women have not silenced Obeidy, who has been tenacious in her desire to tell her story. She is fortunate that her family is supporting her, reportedly rejecting offers of money, property or security if they would only denounce her. In other cases, survivors of such treatment in this region of the world have found themselves shunned by their families and communities because of the resulting social stigma. … Last month, the U.N. Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court, which is now investigating reports of attacks on civilians and other violations of international law. If Gadhafi and his supporters are found to be responsible for not only failing to protect women like Obeidy, but also for policies that explicitly or tacitly encouraged, or simply ignored, the use of rape warfare, she could find herself receiving some measure of justice for the heinous crimes allegedly committed against her. New York artist Louisa Bertman with an even more graphic and disturbing assessment of the crimes of Gadhafi.
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Click here to view this media Since Republicans have made this budget battle all about “values”, it’s refreshing to hear a Democrat step up to the well of the House and speak for Democrats’ values. Rep. Rob Andrews did a wonderful job of speaking those values, which I hope every person who is now on Medicare or will become eligible for Medicare in the next 20 years will hear. Not only do I hope future recipients hear this speech, I hope some of the Beltway pundits get a clue, too. I could hardly believe it when I read digby’s post yesterday quoting a so-called liberal who was nodding and hawing about how yeah, seniors could get some decent insurance with a $15,000/year subsidy. Seniors would enter the health care world the rest of us live in, with co-payments, deductibles and managed care. Eventually, cost control would require some tough decisions about end-of-life care and the rationing of high-tech treatments that have limited efficacy. But starting with a value of $15,000 per year, per senior—the amount government now spends on Medicare—Ryan’s vouchers should provide excellent coverage. His change would amount to a minor amendment to the social contract, not a fundamental revision of it. Who on earth is that guy kidding? That’s not liberal thinking. It’s stupid thinking. It’s the usual “oh, I must be fair” thinking. Earth to Jacob Weisberg: Get out of that city and see how the rest of us live. Imagine facing bankruptcy because of medical bills the insurance company won’t cover. Imagine facing that when you’re too old to work as a house painter, or an insurance clerk anymore. I don’t know how old or young the intrepid Mr. Weisberg is, but I’m guessing he has never known what it feels like to be discarded by the workforce markets at age 50, much less at age 70. Yes. We value Medicare. It will be dismantled over my cold, dead body. Transcript follows: ANDREWS: This is a fight about what you value. Ladies and gentlemen of the House, we value Medicare. We believe that after someone’s worked their entire life and paid taxes into that Medicare fund that they should not have to worry that a trip to the radiologist will be followed by a trip to the bankruptcy court. This is what Medicare accomplished for our moms and our dads and our grandparents. It said that after a lifetime of hard work if you have medical worries they’ll just be medical worries, not financial worries because Medicare will pay the bill. The gentleman from California talked about how they’re not destroying Medicare, they’re saving it. Let’s talk about what they’re really doing. Here’s what happens. Today if a senior goes to a radiologist of her choice Medicare pays most of the bill and she pays a little bit of it. She decides what doctor to pick, she and the doctor decide what happens next, and no private insurance company gets in the way. Medicare pays the bill. What they are proposing is to end that system. So now what will happen under their plan is that the taxes that we pay into the Medicare fund will all be paid to health insurance companies. So we will trust the good hands that so gently guide our healthcare in the healthcare industry…We’ll give them the money, all of it, and trust them to do the right thing with the health of America’s senior citizens. That is the wrong thing to do with the health of America’s senior citizens. There is a fight here about values. It’s a fight that shouldn’t take place. We should settle the budget fight. The President’s gone three quarters of the way to the Republican proposal. Settle it today on that basis. But by all means, we will never yield, we will never concede, we will never concede the point that Medicare should be replaced by private insurance companies. The Congressional Budget Office has said, in analyzing Chairman Ryan’s proposal, that the out-of-pocket health care costs for most retirees in America will go up. This isn’t spending reform. This is having someone else pick up the tab. The hospitals aren’t going to charge less. The doctors aren’t going to charge less. The senior’s going to pay more to get that coverage. And he or she is going to have to go and ask the insurance company what radiologist they can see. And the radiologist is going to have to ask permission for what test he or she can order. Medicare’s not perfect, but it works. We should preserve it and defeat the underlying bill.
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Prime minister reluctant to reopen strategic review but saves Liam Fox from political embarrassment The Treasury and the Ministry of Defence have struck a deal to fill a politically embarrassing £800m black hole in this year’s defence budget, averting further disastrous job and programme cuts at a time when Britain is involved in two major military conflicts. The deal, brokered by Downing Street, comes as speculation increased that senior military figures are pressing David Cameron to reopen the strategic defence and security review (SDSR) less than six months after it was completed. Cameron is reluctant to do so. The defence secretary, Liam Fox, would have been wounded politically if he had been forced to impose fresh cuts. But there is some scepticism that the deal agreed by the Treasury and the MoD will produce the savings the two sides claim. The MoD said the deal for the 2011 budget meant there would be no additional cuts this year to armed forces manpower, equipment or capabilities over and above SDSR decisions. As part of the deal finalised on Wednesday, the MoD has saved £100m by renegotiating the terms of as many as 500 contracts. The deal will also probably require the MoD to delay the purchase of equipment including some helicopters. It has also agreed to removing 80% of defence equipment and support marketing, reductions in civilian expenses, a 50% reduction in media and PR costs, a cut in the number of photographers, and the sale of some parts of the MoD’s broadband spectrum. Fox is also imposing a new cost control regime on the MoD in a bid to get its escalating costs under control. However there is scepticism that this package will lead to sufficient savings given the MoD’s past failures to control its budget. The Treasury has given ground by saying it will not claw back the savings the MoD makes as a result of the decommissioning of equipment. The chancellor George Osborne has also agreed that the operational allowance, the top-up paid to soldiers on active duty worth £29.02 a day, will be fully funded by the Treasury. Previously the MoD had to pay half the cost. Details will be given to the Commons when MPs return after the Easter break. The MoD insists there will be no reopening of the strategic defence review, even though some senior military figures insist the status of the review is a live discussion. One senior figure disclosed: “There’s a lot of objective thinking going on. The uncertain world we envisaged coming down the track is here now”. Cameron is keen not be seen to be inflexible about the SDSR, but would not want a full scale reopening of its assumptions and decisions. The SDSR was designed to tackle a £38bn defence shortfall and an equipment programme that was over committed and unsustainable after 13 years without a defence review. Defence sources maintain that the UK has enough Tornado strike aircraft, and the abolition of two squadrons will not see an overall reduction in the number of planes. The Tornado is needed in both Afghanistan and the no-fly zone in Libya. The strategic defence review is due to last five years, and some defence ministers argue there is no point revisiting the exercise unless there is a prospect that the funding will also increase. The defence minister Nick Harvey said this week on BBC Daily Politics: “If we have the same envelope of cash, if we went back to reviewing the defence equation I think we would come to the same conclusions. Nothing that has happened since has led us fundamentally to question the decisions we made at the time.” Defence policy Military David Cameron Liam Fox Libya Afghanistan George Osborne Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tea Party leaders demand their cuts and to hell with Americans who are harmed by a government shutdown
April 7, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Amy Kremer of the Tea Party Express was on with Andrea Mitchell and acted like a spoiled child who was going to hold her breath and turn blue until she gets the $100 billion cuts in the budget for 2011, even though four months have already passed and Obama has agreed with Boehner’s original asking price of a little over $30 billion in tax cuts. Many of the Kremer Tea Party crowd showed up on TV today and demanded they get their cake, eat it and then cry for some donuts immediately if Democrats and Republicans do not do what they want. Mitchell tried to treat her like a normal person and debate the issue, but you could see that she understood, this was not a rational person. Andrea told her that they are close to a deal, even though liberals aren’t happy with the cuts proposed for a compromise, but to the Kremers of the Tea Party, they want it all. Their solutions are to deprive the working class, the elderly and the poor to satisfy their deficit fearmongering as they support the rich and their tax breaks. Watch this video and see what I mean. I dare you. MITCHELL: The government loses a lot of money with a shutdown, they waste a lot of money preparing for a contingency of a shutdown. Are you persuaded to take this deal and look at the big picture, look at what Paul Ryan has laid out and start moving on to the real budget to come? KREMER: Well, Andrea, I have to put it back and say why can’t they take our deal? Let’s go back to November… MITCHELL: What is your deal? KREMER: We want these people to cut $100 billion, what they promised to. That’s what they campaigned on, that’s what theY promised. If the government shuts down it’s Harry Reid’s fault and the Democrats’ fault for not listening to what the American people want. See, it’s not our fault that we want to destroy the country, it’s the Democrats’ fault for not doing what we say. No wonder the Tea Party popularity has fallen and now only about 50% of the public has a positive view of them. A new NBC/WSJ poll shows that Republicans would be blamed by a 17 point margin if the government shuts down. MITCHELL: What aren’t taxes on the table? …Why not raise taxes on higher-income people? … Why not raise rates on individuals? KREMER: History has proven that when we cut taxes and the money goes back to the people, the American people, they reinvest it in their businesses, they create jobs and the economy rebounds . They are all Grover Norquist now. Heather wrote in Video Cafe: Andrea Mitchell brought on the Tea Party Express’s Amy Kremer to discuss the ongoing fight over a budget deal and whether there might be a government shutdown and painted this gal as some sort of “grass roots” activist. This is the same woman who was sued by the Tea Party Patriots, as TPM reported , for her involvement with the Tea Party Express and them being overly tied to the GOP.
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Miguel Ángel Jiménez arrives at the driving range, Masters 2011, Augusta National Watch 2011 Masters Tournament golf Streaming Online at the Augusta National Golf Club in … Ernie Els chipping practice, Masters 2011, Augusta National Golf Club Augusta National chairman keeps the Masters going forward | Si dekil Tricking out Augusta National with video boards and electronic scoreboards is quite another. Though Augusta National has embraced digital technology in hopes of increasing participation in the game, there is a line it will not cross, … augusta national augusta national Turns out ex-senator Ted Stevens’ “series of tubes” may just catch on after all. Chairman Billy Payne put the Augusta National stamp of approval on today’s technology Wednesday when he told the media gathered for the … Augusta National chairman keeps the Masters going forward | Fresh … Augusta National chairman keeps the Masters going forward AUGUSTA, Ga. — A year ago Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne drew international headlines — and. Augusta National chairman keeps the Masters going forward | Play Ball A year ago Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne drew international headlines — and the ire of more than a few columnists — when he used the occasion of his annual meeting with the media to chide Tiger Woods for his “egregious” … Retirement Planning News » Blog Archive » Augusta National app is … Augusta National app is a trusty stroke for The Masters. RENEE_GOLF says: Another great day at the Masters Tournament! (@ Augusta National Golf Club w/ 27 others) http://4sq.com/fvpNJv
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