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While Medicare has been the focal point on most of the criticisms coming out of the Democratic Party against Paul Ryan’s un-brave and callous GOP budget, many writers on C&L and bloggers on the left have been making sure that Medicaid is not left behind or served up as a main course for some kind of “grand bargain.” NEC Director Gene Sperling recently destroyed Paul Ryan over his proposed Medicaid block grant cuts to it also. It’s nice to see Sen, Menendez jump abroad the ship of sanity with us and hold the line on Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid are no more palatable than cuts to Medicare, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters Wednesday. Medicaid advocates and some congressional Democrats are worried that Medicaid could become a more ripe target for funding cuts amid the political firestorm over proposed changes to Medicare. But House Republicans’ proposal to convert federal Medicaid funding into block grants for the states “is not, in my mind, a plan that will find currency in our caucus,” Menendez said. “While Medicare has been the focus … Medicaid, certainly in the context of block granting, is also not acceptable,” he said. Millions of Americans depend on Medicaid and the fear seniors have over these draconian proposals that hit at the heart of their survival is real. Boehner is right about one thing. The time is now to keep the pressure on the Democratic Party and vote Conservatives out of office in the process.

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WHO says Europe E. coli is new, but CDC not sure

MARIA CHENG The Associated Press LONDON – A super-toxic bug is causing the frightening food poisoning outbreak in Europe that has sickened at least 1,600 people and killed 18, researchers and global health officials said Thursday. The new E. coli strain that is believed to have contaminated salad vegetables was analyzed by Chinese and German scientists. It contains several genes that cause antibiotic resistance and is similar to a strain that causes serious diarrhea and is found in the Central African Republic, according to a statement from the Shenzhen, China-based laboratory, BGI. Those scientists were working together with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. “This is a unique…

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Piper Palin Blocks Reporter From Sarah Palin On Bus Tour (VIDEO)

A reporter seemed to get too close to Sarah Palin for her daughter’s liking during a stop in Philadelphia on the former Alaska governor’s bus tour of the eastern United States earlier this week. Piper Palin appeared to physically block a reporter when he welcomed her mother to the City of Brotherly Love and tried to ask her a few questions. The former governor herself did not shy away from engaging with members of the press in a clip of the action from local station My Fox Philly. On Wednesday, Real Clear Politics relayed new details on Palin’s bus tour: Following her current “One Nation” tour of the Northeast, Palin will next journey to the Midwest, where Iowa will be front and center. Plans are still being drawn up, but she may visit the World Pork Expo in Des Moines. During the third leg of her tour, Palin will travel to South Carolina and may also appear at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where several other current and potential GOP White House hopefuls are scheduled to speak. Click here for more news and the latest updates on the potential presidential candidate’s trip.

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Piper Palin Blocks Reporter From Sarah Palin On Bus Tour (VIDEO)

A reporter seemed to get too close to Sarah Palin for her daughter’s liking during a stop in Philadelphia on the former Alaska governor’s bus tour of the eastern United States earlier this week. Piper Palin appeared to physically block a reporter when he welcomed her mother to the City of Brotherly Love and tried to ask her a few questions. The former governor herself did not shy away from engaging with members of the press in a clip of the action from local station My Fox Philly. On Wednesday, Real Clear Politics relayed new details on Palin’s bus tour: Following her current “One Nation” tour of the Northeast, Palin will next journey to the Midwest, where Iowa will be front and center. Plans are still being drawn up, but she may visit the World Pork Expo in Des Moines. During the third leg of her tour, Palin will travel to South Carolina and may also appear at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where several other current and potential GOP White House hopefuls are scheduled to speak. Click here for more news and the latest updates on the potential presidential candidate’s trip.

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According to Joy Behar of 'The View,' someone is “out to get” Anthony Weiner because “they don't like his politics .” Behar and her co-host Whoopi Goldberg advanced a conspiracy theory on Thursday and included the possibility that the Congressman could have bit at a beach and had an innocent photo digitally manipulated. Barbara Walters pronounced dead the political goal of the politician to be New York's mayor. Offering cover for Weiner, Goldberg theorized, “Well, you know, if you have been on a beach in a bathing suit with friends- and I've had this happen, so I know that this can get done- where they take, you know, a little piece of you and they put you in a diaper or whatever.” Journalist and co-host Walters asserted that the Representative, who has long discussed his dream of being mayor of New York City, declared Weiner “can forget about that.” She added, “I do think his chances of being the mayor are diminished, if not abolished .” Walters dismissed the conspiracy theory, suggesting that such an idea was highly unlikely. She repeatedly endorsed the scenario that Weiner took a picture of his penis and inadvertently made it public on Twitter. This caused Behar to retort, “Well, somebody is out to get him, apparently, 'cause they don't like his politics.” A transcript of the June 2 segment, which aired at 11:02am EDT, follows: [Clip of Weiner] ANTHONY WEINER: It was someone sending a picture of a Weiner on Weiner's account. It's one of the jokes I've been dealing with since I was five-years old. JOY BEHAR: It never happened to Dick Cheney, I'll just say. BARBARA WALTERS: One day a teapot, he next day a feather duster. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: The question that people are asking is how could you not know whether it's you or not? I mean, I get how he's not sure. BEHAR: Tell them your theory. GOLDBERG: Well, you know, if you have been on a beach in a bathing suit with friends- and I've had this happen, so I know that this can get done- where they take, you know, a little piece of you and they put you in a diaper or whatever. It sounds cute but it's no fun because you look and you think, that looks like my belly button. Now, I'm sure he doesn't want to say I think that could be my package, I don't know. WALTERS: That might happen with you. GOLDBERG: Barbara, it happens with a lot of people. WALTERS: But wait. Yes. But- If you are a congressman or a senator or someone in public life, you are very careful about that. You don't have somebody taking a picture of you from here to here. GOLDBERG: No, no, no. I'm saying a photograph, if you've gone on a vacation- WALTERS: I understand what you're saying. GOLDBERG: If you're gone on vacation, they can take a picture of you from your page. WALTERS: It depends who “they” is. SHERRI SHEPHERD: Hackers. GOLDBERG: Hackers. Yeah, that's what they can do. WALTERS: But the hacker isn't with you when the picture is taken. SHEPHERD: No, but if the hacker gets in your computer, Barbara, they can take any picture, Barbara, and photoshop it. WALTERS: I realize that. I am talking about the original picture. You are careful not to have those pictures taken. I understand you can manipulate it. BEHAR: But, Barbara, couldn't he be fully clothed almost and then they photocopy it [gestures] and put it like that? WALTERS: Somebody has to go to a lot of effort to get you in trouble. BEHAR: Well, somebody is out to get him, apparently, 'cause they don't like his politics. ELISABETH HASSELBECK: This must not be a very flattering picture, because any man, if the picture of flattering, would claim this thing. Without a doubt! I have not seen it. WALTERS: You know, if you're a congressman- I mean, the thing that I- HASSELBECK: I mean, if the thing is big enough, they'd be like, “That is me!” WALTERS: I think that's funny. But in the meantime- and it is funny- in the meantime, we have so much going on in this country and this, we are spending four days. This man, who was going to run for mayor, that- we can forget about that.

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NBC’s Chuck Todd: Palin Stop in New Hampshire ‘A Slap in Mitt Romney’s Face’

Trying to play up the idea of chaos in the Republican 2012 field, on Thursday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd argued Sarah Palin's bus tour making a stop in New Hampshire on Thursday was “a little bit of a slap in Mitt Romney's face” on the day he was planning to announce his candidacy. Co-host Meredith Vieira had asked Todd about Romney's upcoming announcement and claimed the former Massachusetts governor would have to “steal back the spotlight” from Palin. Todd declared that Palin was “not even giving him [Romney] one news cycle to make his case.” Todd continued to portray Palin as an antagonist to the rest of the GOP: “You know she doesn't coordinate anything, as we found out, within the Republican Party – it looks like she is doing everything she can to almost undermine Romney, this front-runner.” Todd further observed that Palin “has left the impression that this field is not acceptable yet….sending the message Mitt Romney, the front-runner, isn't doing it.” On Wednesday's Today, fill-in co-host Ann Curry also depicted Palin as an enemy of the Republican Party, claiming the former Alaska governor was “angering some Republicans as well, about this tour, by not notifying them ahead of time” and “not playing well” with the GOP. Here is a transcript of Vieira's June 2 exchange with Todd: 7:11AM ET (…) VIEIRA: Move on to presidential politics. This morning, or this afternoon, Mitt Romney expected to announce that he is running for president in the state of New Hampshire. Later on, Sarah Palin's tour bus is entering the state for a clam bake, Rudy Giuliani is holding a GOP fund-raiser there tonight. How does Mitt Romney gain control of the story again and steal back the spotlight or can he not do that until the Republican field settles in a little bit? TODD: Look, he's going to have a hard time grabbing the spotlight today. It's not his fault. Whether she intended to or not, it's a little bit of a slap in Mitt Romney's face on the day he's trying to lay out the case. This is the front-runner, he may be a fragile front-runner, but he is the front-runner. And on this day, where he is, she's not even giving him one news cycle to make his case, his announcement case. And his announcement speech is going to be making basically two cases: One, that President Obama has failed America and, two, because of his business acumen he's the one that can turn the economy around. And the Romney folks feel as if all of this horrible

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Pentax releases O-GPS1 add-on for DSLRs, appeals to astronomy nuts

Pentax’s Optio WG-1 GPS point-and-shoot satisfied geotaggers out of the box, but owners of its K-5, K-r and 645D DSLRs have had to make do with third-party taggers like the PhotoTrackr or Eye-Fi . The new hotshoe-mounted O-GPS1 module fixes that oversight by recording latitude, longitude, altitude, Coordinated Universal Time and shooting angle. Everyday snappers might find an extra hotshoe attachment cumbersome, but astro-photography enthusiasts could well be enticed by the device’s interesting “ASTROTRACER” function. This helps you take clearer photos of celestial bodies by using the in-built sensors to calculate a star’s movement and then employing the camera’s shake reduction system to compensate. Sounds clever, but be advised: this module is only for Pentax DSLRs — and only for very specific models at that. You’ll get full functionality with the K-5 and K-r cameras, and geotagging (no ASTROTRACER) with the 645D. Oh, and you’ll need to make sure your camera’s firmware is up-to-date. Peer carefully through that lens and you’ll see the O-GPS1 heading for a July landing, priced at $250. [Thanks, Iddo] Pentax releases O-GPS1 add-on for DSLRs, appeals to astronomy nuts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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A wave of outrage both at home and abroad has forced Syria into investigating the torture and execution of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib. Footage of his brutalized corpse was posted online last week, sending protesters to the streets with a renewed ferocity, and drawing rebukes from the likes of Hillary Clinton….

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Jaycee Dugard case: US kidnap couple handed long jail terms

Phillip Garrido sentenced to 431 years to life for kidnapping and raping Dugard and holding her captive for 18 years A convicted sex offender and his wife have been jailed for life for kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard when she was 11 and holding her captive for nearly 20 years. Phillip Garrido, 60, was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison by a California court after pleading guilty to kidnapping and 13 sexual assault charges, including six counts of rape and seven counts of committing lewd acts captured on video. El Dorado County district attorney Vern Pierson described Garrido as “a sexual predator who stole the childhood and innocence from an 11-year-old child”. Garrido’s wife Nancy, 55, who also pleaded guilty, was handed a 36-year sentence. Before the couple were sentenced in the court in Placerville, the victim’s mother, Terry Probyn, read out a statment by Dugard, now 31, in which she described her 18-year ordeal at the Garridos’ hands. “I chose not to be here today because I refuse to waste another second of my life in your presence,” Dugard wrote, addressing Phillip Garrido. “Everything you ever did to me was wrong, and I hope one day you will see that. “I hated every second of every day for 18 years. You stole my life and that of my family.” Following her kidnapping in South Lake Tahoe, California, in 1991, Dugard was confined to a hidden backyard compound which she later shared with two daughters fathered by Phillip Garrido. Dugard called Garrido a liar, and said what his wife did to her was evil. She said she hoped both of them would have as many sleepless nights as she had. “There is no God in the universe that would condone your actions,” Dugard said, addressing Nancy Garrido. Dugard, who has written a memoir set to be published next month, said she was doing well now, and told Phillip Garrido: “You do not matter any more.” The plea deal was designed, in part, to spare Dugard and her children from having to testify at a trial. Both Garridos have waived their right to appeal. Dugard was grabbed by Nancy Garrido from the street where her family lived and forced into a car driven by Phillip Garrido on 10 June 1991. The abduction took place as Dugard’s stepfather watched her walk to a school bus stop. The couple held Dugard prisoner at their home in Antioch for the next 18 years, four months and 16 days. She was initially locked in a backyard shed and then confined to a series of tents she would later share with the daughters fathered by Garrido and delivered by his wife. Dugard last year received a $20m (£12m) settlement from the state of California under which officials acknowledged repeated mistakes were made by parole agents responsible for monitoring Phillip Garrido. California has since increased monitoring of sex offenders. The case drew international attention after Dugard and her daughters were discovered in August 2009. Dugard has written a memoir, A Stolen Life, which will be released in July. Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnap United States David Batty guardian.co.uk

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A 51-year-old woman was swept over Niagara Falls and died Tuesday, in what may have been a suicide. About 30 witnesses saw the Canadian woman floating by them, “with her eyes closed” but apparently alive, at about 4:30pm, one tells the Toronto Sun . Then “she went past us. She…

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