enlarge Chris Christie says he won’t raise taxes on the rich because they might leave the state. How shocking, that Republican and Blue Dog governors are pursuing tax policies that punish the working class under the guise of keeping the rich in their states: When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was presented with a new state tax on the wealthy, he vetoed it. He said: “You’re not going to fix this tax situation by continuing to load more and more taxes onto people who have both the ability to leave the state and the inclination to leave the state if they feel as if they are being treated unfairly.” It’s not just Christie. Democratic governors in New York and Maryland recently dropped extra taxes on the wealthy from their budgets, citing the same concerns. But two new studies show there is little evidence that the rich flee high-tax states. “Taxes [have] essentially no impact on causing people to leave a state ,” says Jeff Thompson, of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In a study tracking 18 years of migration between states in New England, Thompson found that people mostly move for job-related reasons. They go where the jobs are, regardless of whether it’s low-tax New Hampshire or higher-tax Maine. “If you’re living in a state and your tax bill goes up by a thousand or two thousand dollars,” he says, “that … pales in comparison to what it would cost you to actually move. And it might not be worth it to have to be farther away from your job, farther away from your friends.”
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Several media outlets on Sunday did their best to cast doubt on the legacy of Pope John Paul II as the Catholic Church beatified the late pontiff. NPR highlighted how the pope apparently ” alienated many Catholics who began leaving the church in droves .” CNN brought on a liberal theologian who claimed that John Paul II ” led us backwards rather than forward .” NBC played up the ” avalanche of claims of sexual abuse by priests ” during his papacy. On Sunday's All Things Considered, Sylvia Poggioli, NPR's Rome-based senior European correspondent, turned to “investigative journalist” Jason Berry midway through her report , who blasted John Paul on his handling of the priestly sex abuse issue: “S omeone who was so fearless in his confrontation with the communist empire, I for one do not understand how he could not have engaged in the same fearless introspection about the church internal .” More than 3 years earlier, Berry, with the assistance of the Los Angeles Times, falsely claimed in a November 2007 opinion piece that the American bishops “had identified about 4,400 abusive U.S. priests,” when that figure is actually the number of priests who faced allegations. Near the end of the segment, Poggioli, acknowledged that the now-beatified pontiff was a “people's pope who became a spiritual superstar,” but then touted how ” other critics cite the crackdown on dissident theologians as one of the many contradictions in a complex papacy ” and claimed that John Paul's ” orthodoxy alienated many Catholics who began leaving the church in droves .” “Crackdown”? This ultra-exaggerated term conjures up an image of a dictatorial regime violently suppressing a peaceful demonstration, instead of a pastor trying to protect his flock. Also, it's not surprising that a liberal news organization would play up the dissent against the Catholic faith, which aides their promotion of secularism, instead of the many prominent converts the Church has gained for its unyielding stances on abortion and marriage, such as the recently deceased former abortionist Bernard Nathanson . Earlier in the morning, as CNN offered live coverage of the beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, anchor Jonathan Mann brought on Boston College professor Thomas Groome, a former priest and advocate of the ordination of women . Early in the segment, Mann contended that ” there's so much still uncertain about how he led the Church and how he treated , frankly, some of its overlooked members, the victims of sexual abuse, the women who feel he was never entirely fair to them, many other Catholics who were never entirely comfortable with the doctrine that he proclaimed .” Groome wholeheartedly agreed and launched his accusation against John Paul: GROOME: …I think it's a common perception that he was not as aggressive in addressing that issue, in encouraging bishops throughout the world to address that issue and not simply to respond to it, but actually to ask the questions why was it happening and why was it allowed to continue happening at such a rate that indeed it's so often the morning paper story about another sex abuse scandal, and they never quite got the seriousness of that. There are responsible people that would say he never quite embraced the spirit of renewal and reform that was launched by the Second Vatican Council, that, in some ways, he launched a reform of the reforms and led us backwards rather than forward . So he's not without controversy, and in that sense, the Church is taking a risk, perhaps, in moving so quickly to beatify him. The Church is 2,000 years old and has learned lots of wisdom from its experience over those years. Later, the CNN anchor hinted at his ignorance on Catholicism when he asked, “How many popes do end up ending- after their lives, end up at saints? Not to be glib about it, but is this, frankly, a final promotion that every pope could expect, and that Benedict XVI might on this day expect? ” The theologian referenced his generally negative view of the papacy in his answer: GROOME: Well, the pattern hasn't been to canonize every Pope. In fact, one of the popes that has been leapfrogged over by beatifying John Paul so quickly is Pope John XXIII, who'd be a much less controversial figure at this point in time. But there have been lots of popes that have not been canonized. It shouldn't simply be a pattern that if you're a pope, you are automatically going to be a saint. Indeed, the history of the papacy indicates that lots of the popes were far from sainthood and never would deserve that honor . On NBC, correspondent Ann Thompson followed in the footsteps of her colleagues at NPR and CNN and twice played up the sex abuse scandal. During a report on NBC Nightly News, Thompson stated that ” the priesthood still reels from the sex abuse scandal critics accuse John Paul of ignoring .” Earlier, during the 8 am Eastern hour of the Today show, the NBC reporter played a clip from George Weigel, author of a biography of John Paul II, who stated that “Europe's in a spiritual cultural funk right now. Maybe this [the beatification] will break people out of it.” Thompson continued by claiming that the “funk [was] exacerbated by an avalanche of claims of sexual abuse by priests , the same scandal that rocked the American church almost ten years ago. It is why American survivors say the Church should slow the Pope's path to sainthood.” She followed this by playing a clip from Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who stated that “At a bare minimum, we believe that all of this is just going too fast and we don't yet know all of the implications of his inaction.”
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According to his post on I Heart Chaos , Cranberryzero’s next logical step after purchasing a Nintendo 3DS was to head down to Blue Flame Tattoo in Raleigh, NC to have the gaming system’s augmented reality card permanently etched onto his arm. Our reaction lies somewhere between stupefied bewilderment and geeky adoration. Call it paranoia, but we wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing our Miis were always lurking on the underside of our most-prominent appendage. CBZ, as he refers to himself on the blog, was kind enough to share some video of the finished product. Naturally, things are a little shaky, but you try standing on someone’s wrist suspended in mid-air and see how you do. Continue reading Man buys Nintendo 3DS, goes wrist-on with augmented reality tattoo (video) Man buys Nintendo 3DS, goes wrist-on with augmented reality tattoo (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …News of Osama bin Laden’s death was met with dancing in the streets , but officials are warning Americans that his death could bring reprisals. The State Department issued a worldwide travel alert yesterday and today put US embassies on alert, warning of an “enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent…
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Nick Clegg appeals to Labour supporters to vote for AV and signals greater distance from Tories after the vote Nick Clegg has made a last-minute appeal to Labour supporters to set aside their desire to “poke him in the eye” and recognise that the alternative vote is an unambiguously progressive reform. He has also vowed that his party will be more independent of the Conservatives after the referendum, saying the first phase of unanimity in public had been necessary due to the need to tackle the economic crisis. In a Guardian interview, Clegg said: “For Labour party supporters thinking about how they should vote, Labour has always been at its best a progressive movement for reform. It always has been and always will be. This is a progressive change, an unambiguously progressive change. “Yes, I understand people want to poke me in the eye and signal their displeasure. I understand all of that – I do not want to belittle that – but this is a fork of the road for progressives which is much bigger than me. This is not about Nick Clegg or the coalition government, it is about whether you take the progressive fork in the road, or do you stick with the status quo.” With polls showing that only a late swing by Labour voters to AV can rescue the yes campaign, Clegg – who is viewed with intense dislike by some on the left – praised Ed Miliband for the way he has led his party in the issue, contrasting him with the “old warhorses” of John Reid and David Blunkett, opposed to reform. He also expressed his frustration at what some see as the duplicity of his Tory colleagues in government when they claim they are not responsible for the literature put out by the no campaign attacking his “broken promises”. He said: “I take what people say at face value. I do not try to second guess them, but it seems to be an established fact that this no campaign has transformed itself into a Conservative party campaign in all but name. It was transformed by a commitment from Conservative party high command. It is a pity that old warhorses like John Reid and David Blunkett have turned themselves into mouthpieces for what is in effect a Conservative party campaign. “To be fair to George Osborne and David Cameron, they have been overt about the fact that they are going to do absolutely everything they can to stop a change that is inimical to their interests.” Echoing business secretary Vince Cable, he said the current electoral system had locked out progressive forces. “The last century, as Vince has quite rightly said, has been dominated by one party – the Conservative party – on a minority of the vote. That is an incontrovertible fact. The whole Roy Jenkins thesis is that if you look at the last century, the left wing parties did not get a look in because they were splitting the difference.” He admits it is not immutable but argued that the trend has been for Labour and Lib Dems to vote tactically for one another. “Clearly, there has been affinity historically, ideologically between the two progressive parties. I am a progressive politician. I lead a progressive party I always have and always will do.”. “I cannot for the life of me understand how intelligent, sophisticated folk in the Conservative party think it is defensible in the 21st century to have a system that ends up with hundreds of MPs with jobs for life – and they do not even deign to get 50% of the vote every few years.” Clegg is dismissive of critics who attack his record. “To use the challenges of coalition, compromise politics as a stick to beat us with is turning facts on its head to put it mildly. I don’t indulge in anger, I think anger is a slightly useless emotion, but I reject this idea that I wilfully went back on my word. People that accuse me of doing a U-turn think I can behave as if I had won a landslide. I didn’t. I will never apologise for the wider benefit of the country making those compromises. I accept that people want to shout me down simply to ignore argument and not to engage in rational debate, but that is the fact.” But he predicts his party from now on will be more independent inside the coalition. “If this referendum campaign, in a slightly gloves-off manner, has dramatised the fact that the Liberal Democrats are the progressive voice of this coalition, then it is not a bad thing in the long run. “As we chalk up more progressive successes, I think people will see a pattern of progressive advance, and if people look out for that, or it is more obvious, or we are more articulate in explaining it, that would be a good thing. I always felt that the early stages were the most disciplined stages of the coalition because we were grappling with tricky fiscal issues, but inevitably over time you get those differences of identity to re-emerge.” But he urges his party not to think in terms of retreat if the referendum is lost or the local elections go badly. “Do I think it would be sensible for Liberal Democrats to bail out of a five-year plan at the very hardest point after a year? I think it would be an act of spectacular political masochism and it is something I am not going to do.” Nick Clegg Alternative vote AV referendum Electoral reform Liberal Democrats Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …An image of what appeared to be the cover of Quentin Tarantino’s latest script popped up on Twitter yesterday, and his agent confirmed it: The film is called Django Unchained , and it will star Christoph Waltz. “It’s a western whose lead character is a former slave who is in league…
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OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD.Barack Obama did it,good job.USA … OSAMA BIN LADEN CONFIRMED DEAD!!! NOW WHAT DO WE DO?? … BREAKING NEWS: OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLED!!! US Forces Obtain Body! … Osama Bin Laden Dead Body Pictures / Pics osama dead pictures; osama dead body ; osama dead picture; osama bin laden dead body; osama bin laden body picture; osama picture dead; bin laden body picture; osama bin laden dead pictures; bin laden dead picture; dead body of osama bin … Osama Dead Pictures: Osama Dead Body Videos, Osama Bin Laden Dead … Osama Dead Pictures: Osama Dead Body Videos, Osama Bin Laden Dead Photos Update: Heard this morning on the radio that Osama Bin Laden’s body was disposed of at sea. DNA testing confirmed the body was Bin Laden’s. Osama Bin Laden Dead … VOLTAIRE Member News » OSAMA'S DEAD BODY VIDEO. OSAMA’S DEAD BODY VIDEO. 02.05.2011 | Author: admin | Posted in Barack Hussein Obama. this has been a victory for america, god bless america and our felow troops. JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE for those family of 9/11 music by GUANACO ” Que … We Have Osama's Dead Body … Do We Allow for Funeralization? We Have Osama’s Dead Body … Do We Allow for Funeralization? That’s the first thing that came to my mind as the information came through my TV screen late last night. Leave it to a funeral director. But I wonder … … They finally got him! Osama bin Laden Is Dead | that1960chick.com The picture of Osama’s dead body was shown on Pakistani TV. I have my suspicions about this being Osama, however I have no doubt in my mind he has indeed been killed. What are your thoughts? Related Posts with Thumbnails … libinmb says: cc to @ndtv Still have to appreciate the work the fake osama dead body … on Twitpic http://t.co/CsSnI9Q
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OSAMA BIN LADEN DEAD!!! Breaking: Confirmed DNA Match on Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Laden Death Video by Navy Seals Pundit & Pundette: Navy Seals get Osama bin Laden Navy Seals get Osama bin Laden. This is a unifying moment for America, though I’d put the emphasis on the “moment.” Flag waving broke out in DC in front of the White House last night, mostly by college students, but some Marines and … U.S. Navy Seals Shirts, Hats and Hoodies | GeekAlerts Information related to Osama Bin Laden being killed is overwhelming world-wide news outlets right now. Even here on GeekAlerts, the last few entries have. Pundit Press: Bin Laden Killed by Navy Seals Twenty to 25 U.S. Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command in cooperation with the CIA stormed the compound and engaged Bin Laden and his men in a firefight, killed Bin Laden and all those with him. … Navy Seals | Advertising Network News Osama Bin Laden Killed By Navy Seals in Firefight This April 1998 file photo shows exiled al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. i hope u guys find it as useful as i did. outline of the workout byMATZAMAN76 Navy SEAL … navy seals – May 2, 2011 | Submit Digital Navy SEALs Kill Osama Bin Laden: Joy for Justice! – Newsblaze.com: 2011-05-02T11:42:22Z – I have gone through a scope of emotions today as I learned that Osama had been killed. I received a text from a friend, “we have Osama. … PittBoss_420 says: RT @washingtonpost : Navy SEALs from elite “Team 6″ carried out attack on #Osama bin Laden http://wapo.st/lbSp0f #obl #GOSEALTEAM6 !
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• Osama bin Laden ‘martyr’ tape expected soon • US weighing release of Bin Laden death evidence • White House says Bin Laden used wife as ‘shield’ • Pressure grows on Pakistan over al-Qaida hideout 6.35pm: CNN is now reporting that “administration officials” say Osama bin Laden did not take up or fire a weapon when the US special forces landed – again, in contradiction to earlier reports. The explanation is that more recent debriefing of the Navy Seals involved are providing more details of what actually took place in Abbottabad. 6.33pm ET: The White House is now saying two new pieces of news, via cable news channels: • the woman killed in the compound was not Bin Laden’s wife • Bin Laden was shot twice – not once as previously stated – once, in the chest and once in the head 11.22pm BST / 6.22pm ET: Remember when US evangelical leader Jerry Falwell blamed the 9/11 attacks on America’s gays, lesbians and liberals? Using Falwell’s logic, this tweet makes perfect sense. 6.14pm ET: The Associated Press is reporting comments by two Pentagon officials, who say a video of Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea will likely be made public “soon”, perhaps along with photos of his corpse. Bin Laden’s body was buried in the North Arabian Sea from the deck of the aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, earlier on Monday morning. 6pm ET: CNN reveals that the US code-name for Osama bin Laden during Sunday’s special operation was “Geranimo”. 5.54pm ET: Here’s a flashback to the 2008 election campaign, as the Republican candidate John McCain attacks his Democratic rival Barack Obama for his remarks about attacking high value targets in Pakistan: Senator John McCain intensified his attacks on Senator Barack Obama, saying he was “naive” for publicly suggesting several months ago he would attack targets in Pakistan. “The best idea is not broadcast what you are going to do. That’s naive,” McCain said at a news conference in Columbus. “You make plans and you work with the other country that is your ally and friend, which Pakistan is,” McCain added. “You don’t broadcast and say you are going bomb the country without their permission or without consulting them. This is the fundamentals of the conduct of national security policy. I believe in working with the other country.” Thank goodness President McCain won that election. 5.43pm ET: What news of the Osama bin Laden ‘martyr’ tape? According to US security briefings, the fear is that the tape could provoke counter-attacks by al-Qaida. In the meantime, there’s much speculation and few details about what might be on the “death tape”. 5.41pm ET: The Los Angeles Times highlights John Brennan’s coded remarks earlier today, putting pressure on Pakistan for its role in appearing to give sanctuary to Osama bin Laden: Brennan said it was “inconceivable” that bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan that allowed him to remain there for a long period of time. Asked about reports that some in Congress now want to attach strings to aid to Pakistan, he said: “People are raising a number of questions and understandably so. I’m sure a number of people have questions about whether there was some kind of support provided by the Pakistani government.” 5.36pm ET: I’ve blogged on the curious praise for Barack Obama coming from titans of the US conservative right, including the unlikely figures of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Here’s what Beck said earlier today on his radio talk show: Thank God we have a president who actually authorized the shoot to kill. That is a surprising shock to me. And I think that deserves to be said, that I didn’t think that this president would actually pull the trigger – well, he didn’t, but have somebody pull the trigger – and he did. Congratulations, President Obama. Thank you for doing the right thing on this. As they say: politics makes strange bedfellows. And this is strange as they get. 5.25pm ET: My colleague Ben Quinn has a round up of the latest news: • US intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon. It is unclear whether the tape is audio or video, but a US official has said that intelligence indicates it is already working its way through al-Qaida’s media pipeline. The official said the timing was coincidental and there is no indication he knew US forces were bearing down on him. • President Barack Obama has hailed bin Laden’s death as a “good day for America,” and claimed that the world is now a safer and a better place. “Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can’t do”, the US president said. However, the US has issued security warnings while CIA Director Leon Panetta said al-Qaida would “almost certainly” try to avenge its figurehead’s death. • Pakistan’s government is facing deeply uncomfortable questions in the US and beyond over the presence of bin Laden near a military facility less than two hours from the capital, Islamabad. There have also been angry claims from Afghanistan that its own position has been vindicated. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, hinted that the Pakistani state itself was complicit in sheltering the terrorist leader, saying Bin Laden had “hidden himself in the military bases of Abbottabad”. • It prevented any grave site emerging as a shrine but muslim clerics have warned that the US decision to bury Bin Laden’s body at sea may lead to reprisals. Some muslim scholars claimed it had breached sharia law and warned that it may provoke calls for revenge attacks against US targets while others used the sea burial question to doubt whether he was, in fact, dead at all, with doubts fuelled by the absence of photographs of his corpse. 5pm ET / 10pm BST: This is continuing live coverage of the fallout from the killing of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. Here is a summary of the latest events: • US intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon • John Brennan, the White House homeland security advisor, said President Obama’s decision to hunt down Bin Laden was “one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory” • Political allies and opponents unite in praise of the operation that finally caught up with Bin Laden , nine years after the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington DC • The White House confirmed that one of the four other people killed in the US special forces’s raid on the al-Qaida hideout in Abbottabad is believed to have been one of Bin Laden’s wives , used as a “human shield” • The US is weighing up whether or not to release photographs and other evidence of Bin Laden’s death You can catch up on the earlier news and events over the last 18 hours in our previous live blogs here and here . Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Obama administration US foreign policy Barack Obama Pakistan US military United States Global terrorism Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
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Al-Qaida leader’s death on its soil leaves Pakistan facing awkward questions The Obama administration is demanding an explanation from Pakistan on how Osama bin Laden was able to hide in the country for so long before he was killed by US special forces. Bin Laden was staying in a prominent million dollar, high-security residence in an area full of soldiers and close to the country’s premier military academy. John Brennan, a counter-terrorism adviser to Barack Obama, told journalists at the White House: “People have been referring to this as hiding in plain sight. We are looking right how he was able to hide out there for so long.” He added it was “inconceivable” that Bin Laden did not enjoy a “support system” in Pakistan. The al-Qaida leader was killed by US special forces who attacked the compound in Abbottabad, about 30 miles from Islamabad on Sunday, according to US officials. His body was taken by helicopter to a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Gulf and buried at sea. One of his adult sons was also killed, as was one of his four wives, whom the White House claimed had been used by Bin Laden as a shield. Obama said: “The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden.” Although Obama, Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state and Brennan all expressed the importance of Pakistan in helping to fight al-Qaida, the presence of Bin Laden so close to the capital and just streets away from the principal training ground for the country’s officer corps threatened to create a fresh rift in already-strained US-Pakistan relations. Such was the American distrust of the notoriously leaky Pakistan government that it did not even inform it of the raid in its own territory until after US helicopters had cleared Pakistani airspace. Members of Congress threatened to withhold economic aid to Pakistan over the affair. Carl Levin, a Democrat who heads the powerful Senate armed services committee, reflected scepticism in the US about Bin Laden’s ability to remain hidden in Pakistan.”I think the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer given the location, the length of time and the apparent fact that this facility was actually built for Bin Laden and its closeness to the central location of the Pakistani army,” he told a press conference. The US will step up pressure on Pakistan to hand over the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar and Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, if they are in Pakistan. The death of Bin Laden could also lead to a rethink of the scale of the US involvement in Afghanistan. Embassies, airports and defence bases were placed on high alert for possible retaliation by al-Qaida sympathisers. David Cameron warned the world still faced a threat from “extremist terrorism” but hailed a “massive step forward”. The mood in the US was one of celebration as Americans gathered at New York’s Ground Zero, pleased finally to have retribution. Obama called it “a good day for America” that had made the world a safer place. The White House and Pentagon provided fresh details of the mission by Navy Seals. Bin Laden was killed with a shot to the head, according to US officials. Brennan denied that the special forces had been told not to capture him, only kill him. “If we had the opportunity to take him alive, we would have done that,” he said. Clinton, anxious not to alienate a partner that may yet be needed for actions against al-Qaida and the Taliban, emphasised America’s “close co-operation” with Pakistan. She said: “In fact, co-operation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding.” The Pakistan government welcomed the killing as “a major setback to terrorist organisations around the world”. But the former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf reflected his country’s unease over a breach of sovereignty. “America coming to our territory and taking action is a violation of our sovereignty,” Musharraf told CNN. “Handling and execution of the operation [by US forces] is not correct. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop.” Clinton suggested that US policy on Afghanistan would not shift but other officials hinted that the dynamics may have changed. The Pentagon only wants to see a token force of a few thousand withdrawn beginning in the summer but Obama may want a more significant reduction. A senior Afghan government official said he feared the death would give “justification for US premature disengagement from the region”. It was a view echoed by Ahmed Wali Massoud, an Afghan politician and brother of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the legendary resistance fighter who was assassinated just two days before the September 11 attacks in 2001 on the orders of Bin Laden. “Obviously this is a huge relief for our family that justice has been done, but it also raises other concerns,” Massoud said. “Already the US has been thinking about shifting its policy on the war on terror and there is a risk that the American public will continue to question why their troops are still fighting there,” he said. One of the most senior American officers serving in Afghanistan, General William Caldwell, told the Guardian the death might encourage moderate elements within the Taliban to give up. Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Global terrorism Pakistan United States Ewen MacAskill Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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