Click here to view this media In this brief clip from CNN, supposed GOP front-runner assails the “Occupy Wall Street” movement as a waste of time, and a front for the Democratic party and Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. What caught my ear, however, was the line he uses and attributes to Abraham Lincoln: You don’t help the poor by hurting the rich. Republicans have been using it for decades, most famously by Ronald Reagan at the 1992 Republican National Convention, when he said in his speech : I heard those speakers at that other convention saying “we won the Cold War” — and I couldn’t help wondering, just who exactly do they mean by “we?” And to top it off, they even tried to portray themselves as sharing the same fundamental values of our party! What they truly don’t understand is the principle so eloquently stated by Abraham Lincoln: “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” None of which Abraham Lincoln ever said. Those axioms were from one Rev. William John Henry Boetcker, a now obscure historical figure but in 1916 the director of Citizens’ Industrial Alliance, which later became the Citizens’ Alliance, a pro-employer organization notable for its strike breaking, anti-union efforts in the early part of the twentieth century. Snopes details this authoritatively here . I suppose none of this should come as a shock from any Republican, and especially not from a potential Republican nominee who takes his inspiration from children’s cartoons , a man who until recently seemed more interested in selling his book than actually winning the nomination. And indeed this clip, and his later interview with Lawrence O’Donnell for MSNBC were done in a bookstore, Cain hawking his book and campaigning at the same time. Republicans have been fabulously successful at creating and marketing their own mythology for at least the last forty years, unsurprisingly coincident with the decline of the middle class and ever greater wealth in the hands of the few. It’s no wonder someone like Herman Cain doesn’t understand the Occupy Wall Street movement or the real resentment out there just beginning to surface.
Continue reading …During the “Psycho Talk” segment of The Ed Show on Thursday, MSNBC host Ed Schultz complained that Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown “has degraded women” as he highlighted liberal criticism of Senator Brown for a joke he recently made about Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren. Schultz noted that Brown is the successor to former Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, as if to suggest that he were a disgrace to the former Democratic Senator. After introducing the segment by charging that the Republican Senator “is starting to hit below the belt,” the MSNBC host showed a clip of Warren taking a crack at Brown at a Democratic debate by declaring that she kept her clothes on during her time in college rather than pose nude to pay for classes. Then came a soundbiteof Brown being asked if he had responded to her jab at him, with the Massachusetts Republican joking, “Thank God,” that she had kept her clothes on. Schultz then brought up former Senator Kenendy as he accused Brown of having “degraded women.” Schultz: “So this is a guy who took over Ted Kennedy's Senate seat? And this isn't the first time Scott Brown has degraded women in public.” As if to suggest further evidence that Brown is tainting Kennedy's Senate seat, the MSNBC host then played the famous clip of Senator Brown teasing his daughters about being “available” during his victory speech in 2010. Schultz continued: Uh, yeah, Scott Brown might have gotten into a lot more trouble with his latest comment. The National Organization of Women and Emily's List have condemned his remarks about Warren and suggested that he drop out of the 2012 race. I don't think that's going to happen. For the guy who stripped for a magazine to take such a low blow at a female opponent is desperate psycho talk. Below is a complete transcript of the “Psycho Talk” segment from the Thursday, october 6, The Ed Show on MSNBC: ED SCHULTZ: And in “Psycho Talk,” tonight, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown may be in danger of losing his Senate seat in that state. Polls are showing that he's running neck and neck with Democrat Elizabeth Warren. So the guy who once posed nude in a magazine is starting to hit below the belt. It all started with Elizabeth Warren's answer to this question during a recent Democratic debate in Massachusetts. UNIDENTIFIED MALE MODERATE IN DEBATE: To help pay for his law school education, Scott Brown posed for Cosmo. How did you pay for your college education? (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER) ELIZABETH WARREN, MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: I kept my clothes on. (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER) SCHULTZ: Scott Brown responded on a Boston radio show today. AUDIO OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE HOST OF RADIO SHOW: Have you officially responded to Elizabeth Warren's comment about how she didn't take her clothes off? AUDIO OF SENATOR SCOTT BROWN (R-MA), LAUGHING: Thank God. SCHULTZ: So this is a guy who took over Ted Kennedy's Senate seat? And this isn't the first time Scott Brown has degraded women in public. Remember what he said about his daughters during his victory speech last year. BROWN: Just in case anybody who's watching throughout the country, yes, they're both available. No, no, no. Only kidding. Only kidding. Arianna is definitely not available, but Ayla is. I can see I'm going to get in trouble when I get home. SCHULTZ: Uh, yeah, Scott Brown might have gotten into a lot more trouble with his latest comment. The National Organization of Women and Emily's List have condemned his remarks about Warren and suggested that he drop out of the 2012 race. I don't think that's going to happen. For the guy who stripped for a magazine to take such a low blow at a female opponent is desperate psycho talk.
Continue reading …David Simmonds is jailed for life for battering the Chinese-born economics graduate to death in woods near her workplace A 21-year-old man has been jailed for life for the murder of an economics graduate who was battered to death in woodlands near her workplace. David Simmonds, of Heanor, Derbyshire, was told by a judge at Nottingham crown court that he would serve a minimum term of 27 years and 213 days before being considered for release. Simmonds admitted the murder of 25-year-old Jia Ashton, whose body was discovered in Sleetmoor Woods, near Somercotes in Derbyshire, on 13 March, three days after she was last seen leaving her job as a business analyst at chocolate-maker Thorntons. Simmonds originally pleaded not guilty to Chinese-born Ashton’s murder but changed his plea to guilty last week. Simmonds, at 1.88 metres (6ft 2in) and 120kg (19 stone), was nearly three times the weight of Ashton, who stood at 1.5 metres, weighed 41kg and wore size two shoes. He subjected her to a brutal, sustained and violent attack which ended her life when her heart was crushed by his weight on top of her chest and ruptured. The pathologist who examined her body said her injuries were of the type usually only sustained in car accidents or a fall from a great height. Detectives leading the investigation said the attack on Ashton, who was on her way home to the house she shared with her music teacher husband, Matthew, was a chance attack and Simmonds did his best to conceal the murder. He covered her body with twigs and branches and scattered her belongings around Sleetmoor Woods immediately after the murder. Ashton, who graduated from Warwick University with an economics degree, was eventually found by a mountain search and rescue dog. Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Four police officers from Juárez, a suburb of the city of Monterrey, are being held pending further investigation Several police officers in northern Mexico allowed a violent drug gang to hold kidnap victims in the local jail while ransom payments were being negotiated, an official has said. Four police officers from Juárez, a suburb of the city of Monterrey, are being held pending further investigation, said Jorge Domene, the security spokesman for Nuevo León state. The scandal came to light this week when state and federal police freed two kidnapping victims from jail cells in Juárez. Investigators believe that the victims were abducted by the extremely violent Zetas cartel and that the officers were working for the Zetas, Domene said. Local police in northern Mexico have often been bribed or threatened into providing drug gangs with information, protecting their activities or detaining members of rival gangs. Domene noted that last weekend, the Nuevo León attorney general’s office detained 73 local policemen from a half dozen communities in the state who confessed to having performed various services for gangs, including spying, acting as lookouts, and carrying out killings and kidnappings. Authorities then conducted background checks on 99 other officers, 21 of whom were fired after refusing to cooperate. Forty-three have passed the checks so far. Local police forces in Mexico are often low-paid and poorly armed. A government report in September said many Mexican police officers still earn $350 a month or less, despite reform efforts aimed at increasing wages and reducing corruption. At another northern Mexico prison, in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, a stash of illicit weapons was found buried in a cell block just two days after authorities discovered a smaller arsenal in a separate block, the attorney general’s office of Chihuahua state said. The most scandalous case of prison corruption came to light in July 2010, when an investigation revealed that guards and officials at a prison in the northern city of Gómez Palacio had freed inmates belonging to a gang, lent them guns and sent them off in official vehicles to carry out drug-related killings, including the massacre of 17 people earlier that year. The guards allowed the inmates to return to their cells after the killings so that they would be safe from reprisals, authorities said at the time. “We have barely been in time to put the brakes on organised crime in the first stages, but in some towns, in some areas of the country, they have infiltrated authorities in a practically symbiotic relationship,” President Felipe Calderon said during a speech to members of the business community on Thursday. Mexico Drugs trade guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …OSLO, Norway – Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian peace activist and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s authoritarian regime won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to secure women’s rights, which the prize committee described as fundamental to advancing world peace. The 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, peace activist Leyma Gbowee from the same African country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen – the first Arab woman to win the prize. By citing Karman, the committee also appeared to be acknowledging the effects of the Arab Spring, which has challenged…
Continue reading …Zotac isn’t the biggest name in computers, but the company does do one thing particularly well — cram capable HTPC components in itty-bitty boxes for a reasonable price. VD01 series ditches more well known solutions from Intel and AMD for chips from VIA , specifically the Nano X2 U4025 CPU with its Chrome9 media processor. Inside is room for a 2.5-inch HDD and a single DDR3 slot, but you can get those pre-populated with a 320GB disk and 2GB RAM by opting for the Plus model. Outside is your usual selection of USB 3.0, 2.0, eSATA, Ethernet and HDMI ports while inside are both Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n radios. There’s even an IR receiver and bundled remote to make this truly living room friendly. Check out the gallery below, as well as the PR after the break. Gallery: Zotac ZBOX nano VD01 Continue reading Zotac’s ZBOX nano VD01 packs dual-core VIA CPU in a tiny, tiny box Zotac’s ZBOX nano VD01 packs dual-core VIA CPU in a tiny, tiny box originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …President vows to defend Zimbabwe from ‘machinations of the imperialists’ Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, has expressed sympathy with autocrats toppled in the Arab spring, blaming their downfall on the “machinations of the imperialists”. Africa’s oldest leader reportedly warned that western powers could also target Zimbabwe. “We must remain prepared to defend our country and sovereignty,” he said. “We have had good relations with those Arab countries in trouble today,” Mugabe, 87, was quoted as saying on New Zimbabwe.com , in a report attributed to Deutsche Press-Agentur. “We have sympathy with them because they did not read warnings that they should have read. That things were changing because of the wishes of their people, and because of machinations of the imperialists.” Addressing senior members of his Zanu-PF party in Harare, Mugabe continued: “The pattern has been the same … Protests against some political measure or system or wanting change. It ends up being a demand for the entire government to go.” The president, in power for 31 years, said Zimbabwe must be sensitive to this year’s events in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya, where western powers pretended “to be following the grievances of the protesters”, but were motivated by hunger for natural resources. Zimbabwe has refused to recognise the National Transitional Council and swiftly expelled the Libyan ambassador to Harare when he defected from Muammar Gaddafi’s fold to the new authority. Despite this year’s turmoil, there has been little sign of an uprising in Zimbabwe. In February, six activists were arrested and charged with treason after holding a meeting and viewing videos from the revolution in Egypt. They are standing trial on lesser charges of threatening to incite public violence but still face a jail sentence of 10 years. Mugabe, resentful of a power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change, has been pushing for fresh elections next year. But he admitted: “I am sorry we have not been in control of the mechanisms; mechanisms that we thought would lay the road to an election this year in terms of our decision taken at our last conference in Mutare (last December). The constitution-making process has been moving at a tortoise’s pace.” The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is due to arrive in Zimbabwe this weekend and has requested a meeting with the president. Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Libya Middle East Protest Egypt Tunisia Syria David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Interior designer accepts £60,000 plus costs, while Ashley Cole joins test cases over levels of compensation Interior designer Kelly Hoppen has settled her phone-hacking claim against the publisher of the News of the World, after it agreed to pay her compensation of £60,000 plus costs. Hoppen sued News Group Newspapers, former News of the World journalist Dan Evans and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire for misuse of private information and breach of confidence. She alleged they intercepted messages left on her mobile phone from 2004 to 2006. It emerged in the high court on Friday that NGN had admitted this in April this year. Separately, footballer Ashley Cole, who is also suing NGN, will have his case heard at trial as one of several test cases designed to set the level of compensation the publisher will have to pay to victims if they win their cases. More details soon … •
Continue reading …The economy added a better-than-expected 103,000 jobs in September, the government said in its monthly report–not enough to budge the unemployment rate, but further evidence the danger of slipping back into recession is likely not imminent. Economists had expected a rise of around 60,000. The gain reflected the return to work of 45,000 striking Verizon
Continue reading …President Hamid Karzai has said his government’s failure to provide Afghans with security is its greatest failure. Speaking to the BBC 10 years after the Taliban were otherthrown, Mr Karzai said Nato and the…
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