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Conservatives alarmed over David Cameron’s NHS concessions

Tory MPs concerned that prime minister has abandoned key elements of Andrew Lansley’s radical NHS blueprint David Cameron is facing a battle to reassure anxious Conservative MPs after he announced a series of changes to the government’s NHS reforms to win over the Liberal Democrats and members of the medical profession. As Nick Clegg told his parliamentary party last night that the time was fast approaching for the Liberal Democrats to swing behind the reforms after securing major concessions, Tories voiced concerns that the prime minister had abandoned key elements of Andrew Lansley’s original blueprint. Cameron alarmed his backbenchers after he moved to meet the demands laid down by the Lib Dems at their spring conference in March by announcing the shelving of Lansley’s 2013 deadline, changes to the role of the health regulator, Monitor, and the opening up of GP-led consortiums. A senior Tory MP who warned last month that core “red lines” must not be crossed, warned shelving the 2013 deadline could threaten £5bn of spending on frontline health services. Nick de Bois, who was involved in the committee stage of the health and social care bill, said: “It would be a mistake to lose 2013 as a statutory date for completion of countrywide GP commissioning. “Yes, we will need to help GP commissioners get there. But if we don’t achieve that date we could end up with a two-tier health system much as we had under GP fund holding, and we could threaten the potential £5bn savings over the lifetime of this parliament to put back into frontline services.” The backbencher spoke out after Cameron outlined four key changes to the NHS reforms. In a speech to members of the medical profession at the clinical neurological centre at University College London Hospital, the prime minister said: • The health and social care bill will be amended to make clear that the primary role of Monitor is not to promote competition but to promote the interests of patients. It will “use competition as a means to that end”. • The 2013 deadline for the creation of new GP-led commissioning consortiums, due to take charge of 65% of the NHS budget, will be shelved. • Clinical commissioning will be opened up, with hospital doctors and nurses involved. Clinical senates will be introduced to allow groups of doctors and healthcare professionals to “take an overview of the integration of care” across a wide area. In a key declaration, Cameron said: “Our changes will now secure clinically led commissioning, not just GP-led commissioning.” • The 18-week limit on waiting times, enshrined in the NHS constitution, will be kept. Lady Williams of Crosby, the former member of the Gang of Four who has been one of the main Lib Dem rebels, welcomed the changes: “What we are now seeing, partly owing to tremendous efforts on the part of my own party, not least Nick Clegg, is a real change in the shape of what is going to be proposed. I think we will see really very substantial changes.” NHS David Cameron Conservatives Andrew Lansley Health Liberal Democrats Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk

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US politicians and lawyers protest against death penalty for Mexican man

Prosecution of Humberto Leal Garcia without consular support in Texas in 1994 contravenes Vienna Convention, say campaigners Top military leaders, lawyers, diplomats and former government officials have joined forces to protest against the pending execution of a Mexican citizen in Texas which they say would be in breach of international law and could put American lives abroad at risk. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has vowed to press ahead on 7 July with the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia, despite condemnation across the political and legal realms. Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama have, while in office, opposed the execution, and Congress is likely to soon introduce legislation designed to make such a judicial killing impossible. The almost blanket condemnation of Texas’s position stems from the fact that Leal was prosecuted without the benefit of consular support and advice from the Mexican authorities, as is required under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. He was found guilty in 1994 of sexually assaulting and murdering a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. But the Mexican authorities were never informed of his arrest, and at his trial he was assigned court-appointed lawyers whom his current attorneys say were unprepared and incompetent. One of the trial lawyers has twice been suspended from practising law and reprimanded two other times for failing to carry out his obligations to his clients, according to the attorneys. In a clemency petition lodged with the Texas governor on Tuesday, Leal’s current lawyers argue that had Leal had consular access, he could have avoided conviction, let alone a death penalty. “The complete failure of Mr Leal’s attorneys to represent their client in any meaningful way deprived him of his chance for a fair trial,” the petition says. Joint letters have been sent to Perry’s office to accompany the petition, whose signatories include prominent figures in the worlds of law, diplomacy and the military. One letter comes from former US diplomats and top officials in the state department, among whom are the top legal adviser to the state department under Bush, John Bellinger, and the former US ambassadors to the UN and Nato, Thomas Pickering and William Taft respectively. In their joint letter, the diplomats argue that by failing to honour the rights of foreign nationals arrested in the US, Texas is putting at risk those of American nationals arrested abroad. “We believe that continued non-compliance will surely alienate this nation from its allies.” Top retired military figures including Rear Admiral Don Guter, Brigadier James Cullen and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson warn in a separate letter that, by disregarding the Vienna Convention, Texas is also putting at risk military personnel stationed overseas. “As retired military leaders, we understand that the preservation of consular access protections is especially important for US military personnel, who when serving our country overseas are at greater risk of being arrested by a foreign government.” A complementary letter from former top judges includes among its signatories William Sessions, director of the FBI between 1987 and 1993. Leal is one of 40 or so Mexican nationals in a similar legal trap; individuals who are awaiting execution in the US, despite having consular access withheld at the time of their arrest and trial. Under the Vienna Convention, those facing prosecution in a foreign country must be given regular access to their consular representatives. Though that legal point has been pressed by the US on many occasions in cases where American citizens have been arrested abroad, Texas has decided to press ahead with the execution regardless. The US supreme court sided with the state, and the only way that Texas can be forced to budge its position is if Congress enforces adherence to the Vienna Convention with new legislation. Such a bill is expected to be introduced to the US senate within the next two weeks, but it is unlikely to pass all stages in both houses before the 7 July execution date. Texas United States Mexico US politics Obama administration US military Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk

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Radcliffe Host Student Theater Event on Broadway

Hundreds of New York City school children perform at the Majestic Theater on Monday in an event sponsored by the Shubert Foundation, Music Theater International, and the NYCDOE. Daniel Radcliffe acted as Master of Ceremonies. (June 7)

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Early Hitler Letter on Jews Unveiled in NYC

Decades before the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler penned what are believed to be his first written comments calling for the annihilation of Jews. A Jewish human rights organization based in Calif. bought the original for $150000. (June 7)

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GOPese to English Dictionary

The GOP barely bothers to hide its desire to “refudiate” every civilizing advance of the 20th Century—everything from Medicare to Voting Rights to Civil Rights to Labor laws to universal education to clean air, water and food. But the made up “refudiate” itself has yet to be chiseled into Frank Luntz’ tablets of holy doublespeak. Instead, again and again, the GOP reiterates the same magic mangled words and phrases to spit and polish its deconstructive aims: enlarge Job Killing , adj.: Used to modify anything proposed or enacted by the Democrats, it actually speaks the truth about the GOP’s primary goal: Kill as many jobs as possible, thwart the economic recovery from the 2008 Bush collapse in order to mar President Obama’s reelection hopes in 2012. See public sector layoffs in GOP controlled states like Florida, Wisconsin & Ohio as well as cuts in Washington spending on infrastructure, education and disaster relief. Synonyms: economic terrorism, treason. Free Market , adj., sometimes n.: Two happy, cuddly words that actually translate to “unchecked corporate looting of the taxpayers’ money.” This phrase cheerleads corporations like Halliburton, Blackwater and perhaps Anthem Blue Cross as they feast on huge pots of public money for services the government should probably supply itself. The phrase also awards license to corporations to pollute, exploit, discriminate and serve up defective products without fear of oversight or repercussion. Privatize , v.: Corporate looting of the public treasury, the political version of Willie Sutton’s, I rob banks because “that’s where the money is.” See Free Market. See also Paul Ryan’s Vouchercare aka Medikill. Synonym: Throw Grandma To the Wolves and then Under the Bus. enlarge Patriot , n.: Almost always a white American who hates all Americans of a different race and probably, when pressed, pretty much every other white American too. Mostly patriots hate the idea of a black president, and they adopt this pose of bravado in an effort to deny that reality. Patriots generally believe foremost in the 2nd Amendment uber alles and/or a Jesus who doesn’t tolerate universal health care, unemployment benefits, the interstate highway system or a black man in the White House. Ironic synonym: Confederate Flag bearer. The American People , n.: Intoned repeatedly and with reverence to demonstrate that GOP leadership is absolutely committed to exercising the will of the common American billionaire. Synonyms: corporate lobbyists, enormous campaign donors, Koch brothers. Antonym: the actual American People. Uncertainty , n.: Multipurpose excuse for all things, it implies that no matter what we do, everything will suck as long as there is a Democrat in power anywhere on the planet. Can be used to justify implementation of the Chamber of Commerce’s wettest dream: tax cuts for the wealthy, tax subsidies for the biggest richest oil companies, the repeal of any and all corporate regulations, and even in defense of something called tort reform. Synonym: The rich don’t have every damn red cent quite yet. Constitution , n.: Some document easily conflated with the Declaration of Independence or Paul Revere’s Bell Ringing that was written by wealthy white men to protect the rights of wealthy white corporations. Some contemporary Constitutionalists, like the Old Testament/New Testament folk before them, believe that the original has been superceded by a superior document published in 1957 by Ayn Rand. enlarge Demagoguery , n.: A big word that resides in few American’s vocabularies but sounds like a really bad thing no matter what it means. Translation: Hey you mean, socialist, Death Panelly, Muslim Democrats, quit telling the truth about how we are trying to destroy the humanizing social fabric of this country. Again see Paul Ryan’s Vochercare aka Medikill. Doing “The People’s” Business , v.: Abortion bills, more abortion bills, bills decrying the evils of Big Bird and pap smears, more abortion bills and of course killing that Medicare thing that no “real American” likes anyway. See 112th Congress, January 2011 to June 2011.

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CFDA Awards 2011: Lady Gaga, Marc Jacobs <![CDATA[&]]> Proenza Schouler Take Top Honors (PHOTOS, POLL)

Scroll down for pictures. Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez reprised their roles as designing-community’s darlings at Monday night’s Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards, receiving the prize for Womenswear Designer of the Year. The duo adds this season’s statue to their 2003 CFDA Swarovski Award for new talent, their 2007 CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award and their 2009 CFDA Accessory Designer of the Year Award. Still, McCollough told The Huffington Post that their newest accolade came as “a surprise. It was so nerve-wracking, the whole build-up to it. It just gets more and more terrifying as each year passes. You think you’d kind of get a little more comfortable with it, but it’s quite the opposite.” McCollough added: “It’s just nice to be recognized by your peers and your industry. It’s such a small little world and to get the admiration from the people you work with every day and see and the people you admire, there’s nothing better than that, really.” Muses Chloe Sevigny and Liv Tyler were on hand to sing the pair’s praises. When asked what set the two designers apart from the other nominees, Sevigny pinpointed “their attitude towards the whole thing, their youth and vitality, their love of women and their sophisticated style and taste.” Tyler, who hitched a ride with McCollough and Hernandez to the evening’s festivities, remarked, “When we see each other, we always bond and have a lot of fun together. And I think they’re very talented and very nice people.” Take a look at pictures from the 2011 CFDA Awards and scroll down to keep reading. McCollough and Hernandez’s simultaneous enthusiasm and loss for words was perhaps overshadowed by a turquoise wig- and spike thong-clad Lady Gaga, who swung by to demonstrate her own fashion-icon status. She told the crowd that when Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour texted her with the good news that she’d won the CFDA Fashion Icon Award, Gaga mistook her for another Anna in her phone book, “so my reply was, ‘Yes, b*tch, we did it!’” “I got a reply that said, ‘How lovely,’” Gaga quipped. The songstress’ speech also strayed toward the sentimental. “I just wanted to tell you how much this award means to young American people,” she said. “My fans, some of them don’t know who they are and they have so much trouble. They come to the Monster Ball to find who they are and they wake up in the morning and it’s that leather jacket that makes them feel like they can be anyone. Or it’s that YSL blazer that they saw in the window that makes them feel like they could be president one day. Fashion means so much to them. It’s really hard to talk about … I always felt like I had made it before I had made it because of all of you, because it was all of you that made me feel like I was a star.” Also swapping beats for talk of handbags was one Kanye West, who presented Celine Creative Director Phoebe Philo with the International Award. West confessed, “I happen to be the biggest fan of everyone in this room. Those times I go to Style.com and I click, and those times I don’t get into the shows, there’s no show that I would like to click more than the Celine show.” Philo, for her part, kept things short, simply thanking the crowd, cooing, “It’s a real honor to be receiving this here tonight. It means a huge amount to me.” And Marc Jacobs accepted the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, re-dubbed the “Half-Lifetime Achievement Award,” from Sofia Coppola. The designer thanked his entire team, saying, “While it is wonderful to be recognized and receive this acknowledgment of our past triumphs, I believe we all know and feel that the greatest reward is the process itself, the doing, the giving, the growing and the sharing it all with others. This statue may serve as a great reminder of where we’ve been, but it is here in my heart that I look forward to where we have still to go and what we will get to achieve together.” Michael Kors told HuffPost Style, “I’m thrilled for Marc. We’ve known each other our whole lives and no one has more talent, has worked harder, seen it all and, you know, last year it was me, this year it’s him. I feel like we’re all coming of age. I think it’s amazing. It’s only the beginning.” Alexander Wang, who bagged Accessory Designer of the Year, said, “It’s such an honor … to even just have my name alongside names such as Marc’s is enough of an acknowledgment for me. He was my first internship, one of the main reasons I even wanted to work in fashion, so I pinched myself when [I realized I'd] even come here and be a part of this.” Rounding out the major honors was the Media Award in honor of journalist Eugenia Sheppard, received by the fashion director of the Telegraph, Hilary Alexander, who is set to retire this year. “Firstly, I’m hugely honored,” she gushed. “Secondly, I feel that I’m getting it not just for myself but for the entire British fashion industry and British fashion journalism. And I hope that it reflects the huge passion that I have for fashion and I know that is something that we all share.” Paper magazine Editorial Director Mickey Boardman told HuffPost, “Hilary has such personality, she has such personal style and when someone has been involved in fashion as long as she has and they have such a point of view, it’s hard to lose somebody like that. It takes a lifetime to build up that kind of knowledge and that kind of point of view. Plus, she’s just fun, although I wish she would quit smoking because it’s just bad for her … You know, she’s a real writer, she’s not someone who’s like, ‘Oh, I love fashion, oh, I want to get into the Alexander Wang sample sale.’ She goes to all of the shows. She writes about designers who aren’t necessarily ‘the hot designer,’ but she writes about what she thinks should be written about. So she’s a real journalist. She’s not just a fashion journalist, she’s a journalist.” Other award recipients included: Michael Bastian, Menswear Designer of the Year; Prabal Gurung, Swarovski Award for Womenswear; Robert Geller, Swarovski Award for Menswear; Eddie Borgo, Swarovski Award for Accessory Design; Hal Rubenstein, The Founders Award; Arthur Elgort, Board of Directors’ Special Tribute. Nadja Swarovski also received a statue to fete the tenth anniversary of Swarovski’s support of the event. WATCH:

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Through the initiatives of social entrepreneur Chris Bech, the Department of Agriculture Secretary Alcoy, Governor Firmalo, Mayor Jason Fabila, and many Government Staff and Officials congregated on the Beach in Bunsoran, the Progress for the Tablas Island Turtle Project was finally realized last April 2011. Baby Turtles that have been cared for at the beach Social Entrepreneur Chris Bech Initiates Ferrol Turtle Sanctuary Project is a post from: Daily World Buzz

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As NewsBusters' Lachlan Markay pointed out , the Weinergate scandal showcased a variety of liberal media conspiracy theories. One of the most prevalent theories focused on besmirching conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who broke the story wide open Monday with a series of posts on BigGovernment.com featuring lewd photos of Rep. Anthony Weiner. “Look, Breitbart is a proven liar, okay?” bellowed MSNBC anchor Cenk Uygur on June 1. “He doctored the Shirley Sherrod tapes. He's done this over and over again. Why would anybody take this fool seriously?” [Video after page break] Uygur was far from the only media figure to assault Breitbart's credibility to defend Weiner:

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Study: Early Women Explored While Men Stayed at Home

Two million years ago, it was female pre-humans that struck out to find a mate, according to a study of fossil teeth from Africa. Researchers examined 19 chompers that belonged to our extinct antecedents, Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus. The teeth, unearthed in two South African caves, suggest that half of the female inhabitants hailed from afar, while 90% of the

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The military is digging in its heels against the idea of a swift withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I think we shouldn’t let up on the gas too much, at least for the next few months,” Robert Gates told troops yesterday, as he finished his final trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary….

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