Click here to view this media What Tim Pawlenty is finding out–or maybe he already knew–is that the GOP has descended into a John Birch/John Galt party because of the FOXation of the party and some of its members reveling in racism. Mother Jones: During his recent swing through New Hampshire for CNN’s presidential debate, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty courted more than a hundred Republicans at a house party in the town of North Conway. But the Pawlenty campaign’s choice of a host for the event, which was arranged by the candidate’s regional field manager in the Granite State, was nothing if not controversial. The party took place at the home of Ray Shakir, a local Republican activist and retired construction executive, who calls President Obama a “jungle alien,” Hillary Clinton “Osama’s dream girl,” and once labeled certain disabled children “uneducatable” and thus undeserving of taxpayer-funded schooling. In an interview, Shakir says Pawlenty addressed tough issues at the house party, such as cutting subsidies for corn ethanol and implementing right-to-work legislation, which would allow employees to opt out of union membership but still receive union-won benefits. Shakir praises Pawlenty as “a real nice guy, very gregarious,” adding, “at this point in the game, Tim Pawlenty is my choice for president.” The Breitbarts of wingnutopia can scream the word racism as much and as loud as they want in an attempt to cheapen its meaning, but it doesn’t change the fact that that’s exactly what the party has embraced. We saw it during the August Townhall meeting during the health care debate and Pawlenty is actively courting them on his presidential run. Check out some of the other insane things Shakir has said in the past: You can call me a birther if you want.” Shakir claims the long-form birth certificate recently released by the Obama administration is merely a clever forgery. (The Pawlenty campaign did not respond to a request for comment.) Moving to other issues, Shakir called human-caused climate change “bullshit” and accused liberals of “trying to destroy this country.” “They’re brainwashing people,” he says Shakir has a history of rhetorical flamethrowing. He’s referred to President Obama as “Borat Hussein O’Bummer” and suggested he is “a radical, subversive, con-artist fraud.” — In response to a special education official who said there was “no such thing as an uneducatable person,” Shakir told a gym full of citizens: “I would dispute that fact. There are certainly individuals that are uneducateable. I am simply suggesting to you and everybody else that there should be a line drawn where the taxpayer is responsible to educate certain people.” Shakir’s statement drew a chorus of boos, calls to resign, and even a comparison to Hitler. To which Shakir responded, “If you don’t like it, that’s the way it is. You people are divorced from reality.” Andy Kroll asks a question in his great piece that he really doesn’t answer: Q) But why did the Pawlenty campaign, running on a “Time for Truth” message, turn to Shakir, an activist whose eyebrow-raising comments on a range of topics fly in the face of that theme? enlarge A) Because that’s who the GOP of today are. Simple.
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Bridlington Beach Eastes easter 2012 Xx1HitGaming promoteringsvideo AliciaGraham7 says: The Skip-Raid: The last Peeps post till Easter 2012 (that sounds … http://bit.ly/muIdJL
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Bert’s Battle Google Guitar Bert Newton in hospital with pneumonia Uggluver1234 says: RT @judmoo : Cold,wet + windy at Guildford station yet I'm surrounded by skimpy dresses, OTT hats + skyscraper heels. Pneumonia waiting to happen #ascot
Continue reading …With tensions rising between China, Vietnam, and the Philippines over overlapping territorial claims comes the news that China has held military drills in the disputed South China Sea. State media reports that some 14 boats and a pair of military aircraft participated in three days and nights of exercises meant…
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Tired of getting swamped with spam and malware? Just pack your things and catch the next flight to Japan, where computer viruses are now considered illegal. Under the country’s new legislation, anyone convicted of creating or distributing viruses could face up to three years in prison, or a maximum fine of
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Rockets hit Misrata as infantry backed by artillery attack eastern approach to city, wrong-footing rebels Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have defied Nato warnings , reportedly killing a woman and wounding two children in rocket strikes on Misrata and launching a big attack to the east of the city. The rocket attack in Habara , between the port and city centre, was the first time artillery has inflicted casualties in Misrata since rebel troops pushed government forces out of the city on 12 May. Infantry forces backed by artillery launched a surprise attack on Kararimat, the eastern end of the enclave. The Hikma hospital reported 11 dead and 41 wounded from the attack. Radio Misrata said the rebel frontline had held off the assaults, which continued into the late afternoon. The rebels, who were expecting Gaddafi’s forces to attack from the west, were wrong-footed by the assault. “Gaddafi brought his troops around and attacked from the other side,” said Adel Ibrahim of Radio Misrata. “Now they are hitting civilian areas. One woman is killed, her children are hurt.” The attacks represent an act of defiance from the Gaddafi regime, three days after Nato dropped thousands of leaflets over government lines featuring pictures of an Apache helicopter and warning of attacks if civilian areas were shelled. Nato has been wrestling with the problem of how to respond to continued rocket strikes on the enclave, with British commanders reportedly saying that the Apaches are too vulnerable to risk attacking by day. No Apache strikes have been reported since Friday’s attacks, but Nato bombers flew over Misrata earlier in the day, followed by 23 explosions to the west of the city. Ibrahim echoed a common complaint heard across the city as the death toll mounts. “Where is Nato?’ he said. “It seems they are on holiday.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Nato Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rockets hit Misrata as infantry backed by artillery attack eastern approach to city, wrong-footing rebels Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have defied Nato warnings , reportedly killing a woman and wounding two children in rocket strikes on Misrata and launching a big attack to the east of the city. The rocket attack in Habara , between the port and city centre, was the first time artillery has inflicted casualties in Misrata since rebel troops pushed government forces out of the city on 12 May. Infantry forces backed by artillery launched a surprise attack on Kararimat, the eastern end of the enclave. The Hikma hospital reported 11 dead and 41 wounded from the attack. Radio Misrata said the rebel frontline had held off the assaults, which continued into the late afternoon. The rebels, who were expecting Gaddafi’s forces to attack from the west, were wrong-footed by the assault. “Gaddafi brought his troops around and attacked from the other side,” said Adel Ibrahim of Radio Misrata. “Now they are hitting civilian areas. One woman is killed, her children are hurt.” The attacks represent an act of defiance from the Gaddafi regime, three days after Nato dropped thousands of leaflets over government lines featuring pictures of an Apache helicopter and warning of attacks if civilian areas were shelled. Nato has been wrestling with the problem of how to respond to continued rocket strikes on the enclave, with British commanders reportedly saying that the Apaches are too vulnerable to risk attacking by day. No Apache strikes have been reported since Friday’s attacks, but Nato bombers flew over Misrata earlier in the day, followed by 23 explosions to the west of the city. Ibrahim echoed a common complaint heard across the city as the death toll mounts. “Where is Nato?’ he said. “It seems they are on holiday.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Nato Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Angela Merkel seeks peace with European Central Bank over Greek debt crisis Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has sued for peace with the European Central Bank (ECB) following weeks of feuding over how to rescue Greece from the devastating debt crisis threatening the future of the euro single currency. Merkel announced on Friday that the decisions on a new three-year bailout package for Greece, which is tipped to run to about €120bn (£106bn), would need to be agreed with the ECB. At a Berlin summit with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel softened her terms for the new Greek bailout, urged a quick decision on Greece, stressed that any participation by private creditors in the rescue should be voluntary and insisted that a new package with Greece would be reached together with the ECB. Merkel’s climbdown was welcomed by the financial markets, as the prospect of Greece suffering a catastrophic disorderly default receded. The euro rallied strongly, gaining more than one cent against the dollar. Europe’s major stock markets also closed higher as traders took a more positive view of the Greek situation. The German media, though, promptly predicted that Merkel’s olive branch could cost her politically at home. “For the German government, this is a remarkable shift,” said the liberal Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “The chancellor has backed off from a central German demand,” said the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine. In a research note, JP Morgan said Berlin seemed to be dropping its insistence on a bond swap by Greece’s private creditors, the central factor that the ECB feared would cause Greece to be declared in sovereign default. The Berlin summit came at the end of a week of intense political and market turbulence with riots on the streets of Athens, a Greek government on the brink of collapse and bad-tempered disarray among EU leaders. Despite the apparent progress, it remained to be seen how the second Greek bailout in a year would be structured. Sarkozy, who has been on the ECB side of the argument, characteristically claimed a “breakthrough” in Berlin and said France and Germany were united on all essential points on Greece. Merkel has become increasingly isolated in the last fortnight over Germany’s insistence that Greece’s private creditors – the banks, pension funds and insurance companies holding much of the insolvent country’s €340bn of debt – have to take “haircuts” or sizeable losses on their investments as part of the new deal to rescue Greece. The Germans wanted the creditors to swap maturing Greek bonds for new seven-year paper bonds on a scale that would be “quantifiable and substantial.” The ECB, supported by the European Commission, France and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, head of the group of 17 eurozone countries, had warned that Berlin’s policy could trigger calamity. The ratings agencies would declare Greece in default, bringing down the Greek banks and unleashing financial failure across the European banking sector. The ECB recommended a rollover of Greek debt, with the banks pledging to buy new Greek paper as current loans are repaid, avoiding a “credit event” or a Greek default. It now seems that this option will prevail and a deal will be reached much more quickly following Merkel’s concessions. Merkel emphasised that any involvement by private creditors would be “explicitly voluntary”. A German parliament resolution last week underpinning her negotiating mandate in the EU stipulated the government could only agree to a new bailout “if an appropriate involvement of private creditors is included”. The Germans hoped this would amount to a quarter of the slated €120bn, but the contribution could now be merely symbolic. As she has consistently done throughout the 18-month crisis, Merkel had been playing for time, initially hoping to put off a new bailout until September. After the summit in Berlin, she said: “It’s not about September. It’s about the quickest possible solution.” Finance ministers from the eurozone and the EU meet in Luxembourg on Sunday and Monday and could now hammer out a bailout deal to be blessed by a European summit on Thursday. Greece became the first eurozone country to require a bailout in May last year when the Europeans put together a €110bn package. That has failed amid escalating turmoil in Greece and growing resistance to the swingeing austerity programmes that were the price for the rescue. George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, will visit Luxembourg on Monday for talks with EU leaders who are anxious that the entire rescue scenario could still unravel because of his inability to deliver on a radical privatisation programme, spending cuts, and tax increases. Merkel’s remarks came as the IMF warned that debt-ridden European countries were “playing with fire” unless they took immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits. The IMF, in its regular assessment of global economic prospects, said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies. The IMF also revised downwards its forecast for US growth, estimating GDP would grow a tepid 2.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2012 compared with an expected 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent growth, respectively, two months ago. European debt crisis European banks Europe Currencies Economics Global economy Greece Germany Angela Merkel Nicolas Sarkozy Euro Euro European Union Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
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Angela Merkel seeks peace with European Central Bank over Greek debt crisis Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has sued for peace with the European Central Bank (ECB) following weeks of feuding over how to rescue Greece from the devastating debt crisis threatening the future of the euro single currency. Merkel announced on Friday that the decisions on a new three-year bailout package for Greece, which is tipped to run to about €120bn (£106bn), would need to be agreed with the ECB. At a Berlin summit with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel softened her terms for the new Greek bailout, urged a quick decision on Greece, stressed that any participation by private creditors in the rescue should be voluntary and insisted that a new package with Greece would be reached together with the ECB. Merkel’s climbdown was welcomed by the financial markets, as the prospect of Greece suffering a catastrophic disorderly default receded. The euro rallied strongly, gaining more than one cent against the dollar. Europe’s major stock markets also closed higher as traders took a more positive view of the Greek situation. The German media, though, promptly predicted that Merkel’s olive branch could cost her politically at home. “For the German government, this is a remarkable shift,” said the liberal Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “The chancellor has backed off from a central German demand,” said the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine. In a research note, JP Morgan said Berlin seemed to be dropping its insistence on a bond swap by Greece’s private creditors, the central factor that the ECB feared would cause Greece to be declared in sovereign default. The Berlin summit came at the end of a week of intense political and market turbulence with riots on the streets of Athens, a Greek government on the brink of collapse and bad-tempered disarray among EU leaders. Despite the apparent progress, it remained to be seen how the second Greek bailout in a year would be structured. Sarkozy, who has been on the ECB side of the argument, characteristically claimed a “breakthrough” in Berlin and said France and Germany were united on all essential points on Greece. Merkel has become increasingly isolated in the last fortnight over Germany’s insistence that Greece’s private creditors – the banks, pension funds and insurance companies holding much of the insolvent country’s €340bn of debt – have to take “haircuts” or sizeable losses on their investments as part of the new deal to rescue Greece. The Germans wanted the creditors to swap maturing Greek bonds for new seven-year paper bonds on a scale that would be “quantifiable and substantial.” The ECB, supported by the European Commission, France and Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, head of the group of 17 eurozone countries, had warned that Berlin’s policy could trigger calamity. The ratings agencies would declare Greece in default, bringing down the Greek banks and unleashing financial failure across the European banking sector. The ECB recommended a rollover of Greek debt, with the banks pledging to buy new Greek paper as current loans are repaid, avoiding a “credit event” or a Greek default. It now seems that this option will prevail and a deal will be reached much more quickly following Merkel’s concessions. Merkel emphasised that any involvement by private creditors would be “explicitly voluntary”. A German parliament resolution last week underpinning her negotiating mandate in the EU stipulated the government could only agree to a new bailout “if an appropriate involvement of private creditors is included”. The Germans hoped this would amount to a quarter of the slated €120bn, but the contribution could now be merely symbolic. As she has consistently done throughout the 18-month crisis, Merkel had been playing for time, initially hoping to put off a new bailout until September. After the summit in Berlin, she said: “It’s not about September. It’s about the quickest possible solution.” Finance ministers from the eurozone and the EU meet in Luxembourg on Sunday and Monday and could now hammer out a bailout deal to be blessed by a European summit on Thursday. Greece became the first eurozone country to require a bailout in May last year when the Europeans put together a €110bn package. That has failed amid escalating turmoil in Greece and growing resistance to the swingeing austerity programmes that were the price for the rescue. George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, will visit Luxembourg on Monday for talks with EU leaders who are anxious that the entire rescue scenario could still unravel because of his inability to deliver on a radical privatisation programme, spending cuts, and tax increases. Merkel’s remarks came as the IMF warned that debt-ridden European countries were “playing with fire” unless they took immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits. The IMF, in its regular assessment of global economic prospects, said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies. The IMF also revised downwards its forecast for US growth, estimating GDP would grow a tepid 2.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2012 compared with an expected 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent growth, respectively, two months ago. European debt crisis European banks Europe Currencies Economics Global economy Greece Germany Angela Merkel Nicolas Sarkozy Euro Euro European Union Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
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