Differences remain despite the progress, but Obama announced on Wednesday night that talks would continue through the night in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown President Barack Obama said that he remains confident that a government shutdown can be avoided this weekend if negotiators can build on constructive talks held at the White House. Obama spoke after a hastily arranged late-evening White House meeting with Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The three met for roughly and hour and 15 minutes. The session underscored the stakes of the deepening political fight as time grew short. After huge wins in last year’s House elections gave them control of the lower chamber, Republicans have vowed to slash spending and bring the US deficit under control. Lawmakers must reach a deal by Friday at midnight, when a temporary government funding bill is set to expire. Federal agencies’ day-to-day operations through the end of the budget year are at stake. Differences remain despite the progress, but Obama announced on Wednesday night that talks would continue through the night in hopes of avoiding a government shutdown. “It’s going to require a sufficient sense of urgency,” Obama said, “to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown.” Obama emerged before reporters to declare his differences with Republicans in the House were narrowing but that both sides were still stuck in an impasse. “I thought the meetings were frank, they were constructive,” Obama said. “I remain confident that if we’re serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown. But it’s going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from all parties involved.” Boehner criticised Obama, though he said he likes the commander in chief personally. “The president isn’t leading,” Boehner said. “He didn’t lead on last year’s budget, and he’s not leading on this year’s budget.” Obama has already ruled out the weeklong measure Republicans intend to push through the House, and Senate Democrats have labeled it a non-starter. Republican officials said the details of the bill could yet change. But passage of any interim measure is designed to place the onus on the Democratic-controlled Senate to act if a shutdown is to be avoided. The White House used its unmatched megaphone to emphasise the stakes involved in the negotiations, arranging a briefing for the presidential press corps on the ramifications of a partial government shutdown. National parks would close, as would the Smithsonian Institution and its world-class collection of museums clustered along the National Mall within sight of the Capitol. NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said he was unable to predict what the impact would be on preparations for the shuttle Endeavour’s flight on April 29, or Atlantis’ trip into space on June 28. Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, hinted at movement in the talks. “There’s been a direct negotiation things put on the table that had not been discussed before and I think we’re moving” toward’ agreement, he said. United States Barack Obama Democrats Republicans John Boehner guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media After a 90-minute meeting at the White House, President Obama came out with a terse statement reminding the public that a government shutdown isn’t some romantic trip into the past, but instead causes some meaningful hardship to everyday Americans, who might be waiting for a tax refund, or have loved ones fighting with no pay in Afghanistan, for example. He made it clear (twice now) that the numbers aren’t the issue — they’ve been met. Click here to view this media That tells me it’s about the policy riders, and that is indeed what Speaker Boehner signals in his statement with Harry Reid just afterward. In fact, Boehner looks like a guy who is shoved in a really tight spot because he refused to stand up to the tea party, saying he would not make a deal that couldn’t be approved by 218 Republicans, which of course means the tea party must be appeased. It’s those policy riders that are giving Boehner heartburn. The Senate isn’t going to do a deal that de-funds the EPA, repeals the Affordable Care Act, and all the other nonsense demanded by the TeaBirchers. Just assume at this point that the budget is being held hostage by the 100 or so protesting on Capitol Hill earlier today, which leaves Boehner with a terrible choice. Will he choose votes, or money ? Big corporate money doesn’t want a shutdown. Tea Party populists think it’s an awesome idea. Who will win?
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The graves were found in the township of San Fernando, in the same area where the bodies of 72 migrants were found shot to death in August Fifty-nine bodies have been found buried in a series of pits in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas, near the site where suspected drug gang members massacred 72 migrants last summer, officials said. Security forces investigating reports that a passenger bus had been hijacked in the area conducted a raid that netted 11 suspected kidnappers and freed five kidnap victims. Then they made a grisly discovery a total of eight pits, containing a total of 59 corpses. One of the pits held 43 dead. The bodies are being examined to determine whether they were bus passengers who were reportedly abducted March 25, the Tamaulipas state government said in statement in which it “energetically condemned” the crimes. The statement did not identify what drug gang, if any, that the 11 arrested suspects belonged to, or why they might have hijacked the bus. The pits were found in the farm hamlet of La Joya in the township of San Fernando, in the same area where the bodies of 72 migrants, most from Central America, were found shot to death August 24 at a ranch. The area is about 80 miles from the border at Brownsville, Texas. Authorities blamed that massacre on the Zetas drug gang, which is fighting its one-time allies in the Gulf cartel for control of the region. The victims in the August massacre were illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil. An Ecuadorean and Honduran survived the attack, which Mexican authorities say occurred after the migrants refused to work for the cartel. Mexican drug cartels have taken to recruiting migrants, common criminals and youths, authorities say. It was unclear if the victims found on Wednesday were migrants. Migrants frequently travel by bus in Mexico. But drug gunmen also operate kidnapping rings, and erect roadblocks on highways in Tamaulipas and other northern states, where they hijack vehicles and rob and sometimes kill passengers. San Fernando is on a major highway that leads to the US border. Drug gangs across Mexico also sometimes use mass graves to dispose of the bodies of executed rivals. The wave of drug-related killings which has claimed more than 34,000 lives in the four years since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Mexico’s capital and several other cities on Wednesday in marches against violence. Many of the protesters said the government offensive has stirred up the violence. “We need to end this war, because it is a senseless war that the government started,” said protester Alma Lilia Roura, 60, an art historian. Several thousand people joined the demonstration in downtown Mexico City, chanting “No More Blood!” and “Not One More!” A similar number marched through the southern city of Cuernavaca. Parents marched with toddlers, and protesters held up signs highlighting the disproportionate toll among the nation’s youth. “Today a student, tomorrow a corpse,” read one sign carried by demonstrators. The marches were spurred in part by the March 28 killing of Juan Francisco Sicilia, the son of Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, and six other people in Cuernavaca. “We are putting pressure on the government, because this can’t go on,” said the elder Sicilia. “It seems that we are like animals that can be murdered with impunity.” Mexico Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
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enlarge The AMA – “You’re going to feel a sticking sensation”. Click here to view this media April 5, 1941 was loaded with news of the War in Europe – charges and counter-charges – raids and counter-raids. In Britain, manufacture of Spitfire fighter planes had greatly sped up while news from Berlin that American newsman Richard C. Hottelet (later of CBS News) was to be put in trial in Germany for espionage, a charge seemingly more of a tit-for-tat, since the U.S. was putting an accused German Agent on trial for the same thing. The big domestic news however, came by way of a Department of Justice Anti-Trust suit against the American Medical Association. Earl Godwin (NBC News): “A federal jury in the District of Columbia decided at midnight that The American Medical Association and the District of Columbia Medical Association have violated the Sherman Anti-Trust laws. Actually, that these two professional organizations are Trusts in restraint of trade, mind you, trade. They were prosecuted by two vigorous and experienced Trust busting lawyers from the Department of Justice and the general charge was that the Medical Associations conspired to restrain and interfere with the work of a cooperative society here known as Group Health, organized among Federal employees. Group Health Incorporated is a society of Government employees paying two dollars a month and get medical service free above that charge. Doctors here and elsewhere, headed by the Chicago headquarters of the American Medical Association have resented the idea of Group Health – called it Socialized Medicine. Many of the Doctors are very active. And the profession here, at least here in Washington at least, was deeply shocked and shaken when the Government termed them a Trust and started after them just as if they were the Standard Oil Company. This trial has lasted eight weeks. In addition to the associations there were eighteen individual doctors in the same boat. But after a very plain hint from the Judge, whose name is Proctor, the jury did not include the individual doctors in their findings. This case, of course will go to the higher courts. It is interesting in these rapidly changing days to recall that the same section of the Department of Justice that went after the Doctors with a red-hot poker, went after Organized Labor in the Carpenters Union in alleged violation of the same Trust laws, the same restraint of trade. Now will the Supreme Court have the same opinion of Professional Organizations accused of the same restraint of trade, because the Supreme Court said that the Labor Union wasn’t a Trust in that case.” Been at it a while, haven’t they? So here’s the news via the NBC-Red Network News Of The World for April 5, 1941.
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That's OK, he wasn't planning on any speaking gigs from AARP anyway. As is his wont, libtalker Ed Schultz revealed his underlying opinion on a specific subject without even being aware he was doing it, this time on senior citizens. Here's Schultz on his radio show yesterday with his warped take on elders, after initially referring to Republicans' proposed budget plan calling for broad spending cuts over the next decade ( audio ) — The path that the Republicans are taking to achieve this is what we call in the media, what I've called in the media for a long time, a dead demographic story. What is a dead demographic story? A dead demographic story is it only affects them old folks! And them young folks ain't gonna be paying attention to it! The 18-to-34, the 25-to-49 crowd. Medicare? What the hell's that?! I'm trying to keep my job, man! What are you talking about?! That doesn't catch my attention! But it catches the attention of the almost dead! Spoken like a true death panelist, Ed. So much for older Americans as a respected core constituency to liberals, at least not to this one.
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Prime minister José Sócrates makes last resort plea for a rescue package could total €80bn Portugal has joined Greece and Ireland on the casualty list of Europe’s sovereign debtors after its prime minister José Sócrates requested a European Union bailout. The dramatic decision came in the middle of a political crisis that has left the country in limbo and with spiralling interest rates on its debt. “I want to inform the Portuguese that the government decided today to ask … for financial help, to ensure financing for our country, for our financial system and for our economy,” Sócrates said in a televised address. “This is an especially grave moment for our country,” he added. “Things will only get worse if nothing’s done.” Sócrates said that the bailout, which analysts said could be between €70bn (£61bn) and €80bn was “the last resort”. The move was immediately welcomed in Brussels. “This is a responsible move by the Portuguese government for the sake of economic stability in the country and in Europe,” the European commission’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, told Reuters. Sócrates did not say how much aid Portugal had asked for, but promised to negotiate the best possible conditions. Analysts said Portugal was expected to need up to €80bn, an amount the EU’s bailout fund, the European financial stability facility, can easily cover. The European commission’s president, José Manuel Barroso, promised a swift response. Portugal’s troubles differ from Ireland, which pledged to cover huge losses at its banks, and Greece, which lied about its debt. Instead, it had allowed debt to mushroom during a decade in which its economy grew at just 0.7% a year. The yield or interest on Portugal’s 10-year bonds, which stood at 5.8% a year ago, was at 8.54% on Wednesday. Economists had said that anything over 7% was too high for Portugal, which has growing unemployment and is predicted to enter a double-dip recession this year. Ratings agencies had downgraded Portugal’s bonds to a notch above junk level and even its own bankers warned they could not keep buying national debt as they tussled with liquidity problems of their own. The caretaker government immediately blamed opposition parties for rejecting an austerity package on 23 March, bringing Sócrates’s socialist government down and forcing 5 June elections. It came on top of three earlier packages of cuts and tax hikes. “The country was irresponsibly pushed into a difficult situation in the financial markets,” finance minister Fernando Teixera dos Santos told the Jornal de Negócios newspaper shortly before the announcement. The call for help comes from a weak caretaker government which may hand over the reins of the country to a minority centre-right government led by the Social Democrats after the elections. Teixera dos Santos said that other political parties would have to fall into line with the bailout request. “Faced with a difficult situation that could have been avoided, I believe it is necessary to use the financial mechanisms that are available in Europe within the terms of the current political situation,” he said. “That will need, as well, the involvement and compromise of the main political forces and institutions in the country.” Social democrat leader Pedro Passos Coelho said his party supported the aid request. “This needs to be seen as the first step in not hiding the truth,” he said. The government had admitted earlier on Wednesdaythat the political crisis was causing “irreparable damage” as borrowing costs rocketed. Portugal sold a billion euros in short-term debt yesterday but saw the yield on 6-month and 12-month bills hit spikes of over 5%. Portugal admitted last week that the 2010 budget deficit had been 8.6 percent of gross domestic product, far above its 7.3 percent target. The caretaker government still claimed this year’s goal of 4.6% would be met. As Portugal became the third eurozone domino to fall, attention was expected to switch to Spain, though it has seen its debt yields improve recently as austerity measures bring down its deficit and growth returns. International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told El País newspaper yesterday that Spain – a far larger and more important economy – was safe from a bail-out. Portugal European Union Europe Economics Global economy Euro Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Is Paul Ryan’s Crazy Plan Being Used To Foist the Deficit Commission Recommendations On Americans? We Ask Pelosi
April 6, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media So I read this piece yesterday in which Digby discussed the notion that Rep. Paul Ryan’s Crazy Roadmap to the Future is part of a larger design to make the Catfood Commission recommendations look reasonable : If I were a conspiracy type, I might even think the catfood salesmen on the commission cooked this whole thing up sometime last December when it was obvious that the liberals weren’t going to sign on. But I’m not a conspiracy type so I’d imagine that this is just something they all fortuitously and individually stumbled into on their way to a big donor meeting. There doesn’t have to be a conspiracy — it’s just part of the culture. Look at how the Village greeted Ryan today. Cleopatra would be jealous. Digby might think that’s crazy talk, but I don’t. That’s why I posed that question to Nancy Pelosi on a blogger conference call she held today on the budget. I said that some of us were concerned that the administration was going to use the Ryan budget to make the deficit commission proposals look reasonable, and asked if she’d speak to that. The response I got wasn’t all that reassuring. “If you subtract Social Security from it, [their proposals] to make it more solvent, that doesn’t belong in any discussion about cutting the deficit,” she said. “They shouldn’t include policy decisions about Social Security. They don’t belong on the same table.” Once you subtract the Social Security proposals, “there are some good things in the deficit commission report.” She pointed out their recommendations include a “very big cut in defense” and in revenue earmarks. “There are features that are very good, not the full package,” she said. Then she said “ninety percent of our focus has to be putting the spotlight on the bad things in their budget.” I got the distinct impression I was being deflected. I won’t argue about the “good things” Leader Pelosi says are left in the deficit commission chairmans proposal after we remove the cuts to Social Security. There are, indeed, what appears to be some good, practical proposals. But Republicans aren’t going to vote for the sensible ideas on their merits. They’ll hold them hostage until they also get their wacky right-wing proposals adopted. And can we drop the political game pieces and get back to reality? Republicans don’t care about the deficit. Repeat after me: Republicans don’t care about the deficit. Did you hear a peep out of them during the Bush years? Of course not. Because Republicans don’t care about the deficit. This is the same game they’ve been playing for decades. It’s just that this time, they’ve got the Democrats running the ball for them. In soccer, they call that an “own goal”.
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British defence sources are also looking to hire private security companies to help strengthen rebels’ position on the battlefield Britain is to urge Arab countries to train the disorganised Libyan rebels, and so strengthen their position on the battlefield before negotiations on a ceasefire, senior British defence sources have indicated. The sources said they were also looking at hiring private security companies, some of which draw on former SAS members, to aid the rebels. These private soldiers could be paid by Arab countries to train the unstructured rebel army. In what is seen in effect as the second phase of the battle to oust Muammar Gaddafi, it is now being acknowledged that the disorganised Libyan rebels are not going to make headway on their own. Nato member countries are looking at requesting Arab countries, such as Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, to train the rebels, or to fund the training. Qatar and the UAE are already involved in the Nato-led no-fly zone. Some cabinet sources said that another Arab country that might be willing to train the rebels is Jordan. They are thought to have the best-trained officers, and are possibly the best army in the region, one Cabinet source said. The training of the Libyan rebels might take as long as month to turn them into an effective force capable of holding ground, and organise flanking manoeuvres. A source said: “They’re not advancing, they’re just driving up the road, and when they see guns drawn they turn round and go back again.” The British decision to find ways to train and equip the rebels is a further sign of the determination of the coalition administration to drive out Gaddafi. It is argued that the training, if requested by the rebels, would not be in breach of the UN resolution as it would be covered by the mandate allowing “all means necessary” to protect the civilians from attacks by Gaddafi. With the Libyan rebels angered at what they regard as the reluctance of Nato to adopt a more aggressive bombing campaign, British sources insist the war simply cannot be won from the air and British troops will not be used on the ground. The British sources estimate that the number of rebel forces with a proper military background, even with defections from Gaddafi’s army, is only in the high hundreds to low thousands. At some stage a genuine ceasefire will be inevitable, so it is a question of whether it happens when the military advantage lies with Gaddafi or the rebels, the sources said. At present, the advantage is finely balanced, but with rebels unable to hold ground gained. In recent days they have been trained to dig slit trenches to create simple defensive perimeters. There is a frustration that the rebels advance 20 miles up the road, and then retreat as soon as they face Libyan government firepower. One aim is to help them launch outflanking manoeuvres leapfrogging up the coastal towns. It is being argued that there is a parallel with the Northern Alliance’s toppling of the Taliban in 2001 when there was open US air assistance, Northern Alliance activity on the ground, and CIA-backed special forces providing logistics support. Britain and the US have both said in the last week that they believe it is legal to arm the rebels under the terms of the UN resolution, but it is claimed that arming the rebels if they are not properly trained has drawbacks. The foreign secretary, William Hague, announced on Monday that the government’s national security council had agreed to meet the urgent need of the interim transitional national council in Benghazi for telecommunications equipment. Some of that equipment will allow the rebels to communicate with one another without being intercepted by Gaddafi. Britain is also looking at how it can improve close air support from the ground so that it will be easier for British Tornado planes and Typhoons to identify Gaddafi military assets in civilian areas. This kind of air support would have to be undertaken by professionals. The rebel military’s chief of staff, Abdel-Fattah Younis, complained yesterday that Nato’s bureaucratic procedures mean that it can take eight hours for the alliance to respond to a request for air support. He said that Nato could have lifted the siege of the western Libyan city of Misrata weeks ago if it had wanted to. “The people will die and this crime will be on the face of the international community for ever. What is Nato doing?” he said. Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero dismissed the criticism, saying the number of air strikes is increasing every day while Misrata remains a priority of the air campaign. She said the alliance flew 137 missions on Monday, 186 on Tuesday, and had planned 198 for Wednesday. Rear Admiral Russell Harding, Nato’s deputy commander of operations in Libya, also said: “Libya must be 800 miles wide and in all that airspace we are dominating, so perhaps, and I am not criticising anyone, in one or two areas, if they don’t hear us or see us, I can understand how that might lead to a lack of confidence.” Britain said it was moving four Typhoon jets from policing the no-fly zone to ground-attack roles after criticism from rebels that Nato forces were failing to protect Misrata. British sources also said they are closely monitoring Gaddafi’s mustard gas stocks. They have knowledge of their location, partly to ensure that Nato air strikes do not hit the stocks, releasing gas. Gaddafi has appealed to Barack Obama to halt the Nato operation to protect opponents of his regime. In a letter, Gaddafi urged Obama to stop what he called an “unjust war against a small people of a developing country”. A US official confirmed that the US thinks the rambling three-page letter is authentic. Gaddafi addressed Obama as “our son” in the letter, and says he hopes Obama will win re-election in 2012. Libya Nato Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Network axes Tea Party icon’s daily slot amid mounting controversies and exodus of advertisers Sagging ratings, a string of damaging remarks and an exodus of advertisers have combined to end Glenn Beck’s controversial tenure on US cable network Fox News. The news follows weeks of speculation about Beck’s future, as a campaign to pressure advertisers to boycott the pundit’s daily 5pm slot gathered pace, while Beck himself was embroiled in battles erupting from his often rococo conspiracy theories involving the likes of George Soros and Barack Obama. An elliptical statement by Beck’s production company and Fox News said: “Glenn intends to transition off of his daily programme, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.” But the statement also put a face-saving spin on the decision to end Beck’s show, quoting Fox News’s chief executive Roger Ailes: “Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards. I look forward to continuing to work with him.” The joint statement mentioned unnamed future “television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms”, without giving any detail. Beck himself wasn’t burning any bridges, saying in his statement: “I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News.” The Glenn Beck show has been broadcast each weekday on Fox News since January 2009, when Beck moved to the network after an ill-fated show on CNN’s Headline News channel. His current contract was due to expire in December this year. The announcement was greeted with joy among Beck’s phalanx of critics on the left. David Brock of Media Matters for America, one of Beck’s most vociferous critics, said: “After losing more than 300 advertisers and seeing more than a million viewers abandon his show, the only surprise is that it took Fox News months to reach this decision.” The StopBeck campaign, designed to lobby corporations against advertising on Beck’s show, welcomed the news with a simple Twitter posting: “VICTORY!” The show’s peak of popularity coincided with the rise of the Tea Party, and his trademark blend of paranoia and conspiracy attracting a wide following – and an equally wide circle of criticism, thanks to often bizarre statements. Beck’s string of eyebrow-raising claims on air includes his 2009 description of Obama as “a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture… This guy is, I believe, a racist.” More recently, Beck held a two-day “investigation” into George Soros, who funds a variety of liberal causes in the US. Beck’s denunciation included reference to Soros’s wartime childhood in Hungary, with Beck claiming: “Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” Beck’s remarks were decried as “monstrous” by Jewish groups. Beck’s audience has shrunk from a peak of around 2.9 million viewers at the start of 2010 to less than 1.8m, according to recent ratings. On Fox that left Beck lagging far behind the channel’s primetime stars, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. As the audience dried up, so did the advertising. The list of high profile advertisers avoiding his show has grown, and now includes household names such as Coca-Cola, American Express, AT&T and Nestlé. In the UK, where Beck’s show is carried by the Fox News international channel, advertisers are so scarce that the network fills the ad breaks with silent Sky News updates. Glenn Beck Fox Tea Party movement News Corporation US television industry United States US politics Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
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Authorities acknowledge police action against artist but still no word about his friend, Wen Tao, who also cannot be reached Chinese police are investigating outspoken artist Ai Weiwei for “suspected economic crimes”, the state news agency, Xinhua, has announced. Authorities had not previously acknowledged police action against the 53-year-old, who went missing on Sunday after being stopped by officials at Beijing airport. The single-sentence report, deleted shortly after it appeared, did not explicitly refer to his detention, and there was no word on his friend Wen Tao, 38, who has also been unreachable since his reported detention on the same day. Earlier, outgoing US ambassador Jon Huntsman had raised the artist’s case in a strongly worded speech in Shanghai, describing him as one of the activists who “challenge the Chinese government to serve the public in all cases and at all times”. The artist’s detention has sparked an international outcry , with the US, Britain and the European Union criticising a crackdown on dissidents and activists. Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, has summoned the Chinese ambassador over the issue. Police visited Ai’s studio three times in the week before he went missing. “He felt a premonition that he would be detained,” his wife Lu Qing told AP. “He told me something might happen to him.” She said she was particularly worried about his health as he takes medication for several illnesses. While Ai had repeatedly clashed with authorities, friends had already warned that this case appeared more serious because police had removed dozens of computers and documents from his studio and had questioned his assistants. Earlier in the day, Ai’s mother, Gao Ying, told Reuters: “I think they detained him for a reason. If they think they have something, it’s certainly a fixed case, an injustice. I think they’ll concoct some things against him.” Gao said she had been “filled with a bit of dread” since Ai angered authorities by listing the names of children who died when schools collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Officials censored discussion of the subject after public anger developed over shoddy construction. On the Sina microblog, China’s domestic equivalent of Twitter, censors deleted many messages about Ai, and a search for his name produced a warning that results were not shown due to local regulations. But internet users fought back with typical ingenuity. Several used the words “ai weilai” or “love the future” – which looks and sounds similar to his name – to call for his return. One wrote: “I really don’t dare believe that in this society, even love for the future can disappear.” China guardian.co.uk
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