When a leaked document strongly suggests that Intel’s upcoming Panther Point chipset will support USB 3.0, AMD’s not going to take that cheery news lying down. Not even a day later, the underdog chip maker has confirmed that its A75 and A70M Fusion chipsets will support the standard protocol, which claims speeds ten times faster than USB 2.0. No word on when that’ll happen, or whether AMD will beat Chipzilla to market — but if nothing else it can brag about being first out of the gate with an official plan. Huzzah! AMD beats Intel to the punch, confirms USB 3.0 support in future chipsets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …From Oregon, a lesson in April Fool’s Day pranks, viral videos … and bipartisanship: A group of 12 state lawmakers managed to “Rickroll” their colleagues last year, by slipping the lyrics to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” into speeches they made on the House floor. Put the clips together,…
Continue reading …“This Just In” is CNN’s news blog. This is where you will find the latest news and information from CNN’s correspondents and sources around the world. We’ll cover fresh stories big and small – stories that are breaking , developing or …
Continue reading …It’s that time of year again: People ‘s “Most Beautiful” issue is out Friday, and the magazine names Jennifer Lopez as the world’s most beautiful woman for 2011. In the requisite accompanying interview, Lopez says she’s actually happiest when she’s sans makeup and can “touch my face and rub my…
Continue reading …Remember last year, when Republicans hated Obamacare because of “exchanges, difficult end-of-life decisions, cuts to vulnerable seniors”? Well, Jon Stewart does, and last night he informed America: “Guess what? [Paul] Ryan’s plan is all that, plus a $750 billion cut to Medicaid. How do they characterize a plan like that?”…
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Susan Manning calls on British foreign secretary to check her son’s physical and mental health in maximum security custody The mother of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking data to WikiLeaks, has written to William Hague asking for British consular officials to visit him in military prison to check on his physical and mental health, which she said was deteriorating. Manning, 23, has been in custody since last May in conditions that have provoked widespread criticism of the US military and government. He is held alone in a maximum security cell for 23 hours a day and stripped naked each night apart from a smock. Manning does not have a British passport or consider himself British, his lawyer has said, but because his mother, Susan, is Welsh, the soldier is “British by descent”, the Foreign Office confirmed this month. In her letter, Susan Manning wrote that she visited her son in Quantico marine base in Virginia in February, travelling with her sister, Bradley’s aunt and his uncle, “but they were not allowed to see Bradley. “I was very distressed by seeing Bradley. Being in prison, and being held in the conditions which he is, is having a damaging effect on him physically and mentally. I am worried that his condition is getting worse. I would like someone to visit him who can check on his conditions. If Bradley’s being a British national means that someone from the British embassy can visit him, then I would like to ask if you can make that happen. I do not believe that Bradley is in a position to be able to request this himself, so I am asking as his mother on his behalf.” Susan Manning, who divorced Bradley’s American father, Brian, when her son was a teenager, also asked Hague for consular support on her own behalf. “If I try [to] visit Bradley again, can someone from the British embassy help me and other members of Bradley’s family to deal with the US marine authorities and help with any other arrangements we have to make?” The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, issued a rare reprimand to the US government this week for failing to allow him private access to the soldier. Manning can meet Mendez only in the presence of a guard, where the soldier’s comments could be used against him in future court martial proceedings. Mendez said he was acting on a complaint “that the regimen of this detainee amounts to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or torture. Until I have all the evidence in front of me, I cannot say whether he has been treated inhumanely”. The Pentagon denied this week he was kept in solitary confinement. Manning is accused of leaking confidential data, including more than 250,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks, on charges that include “aiding the enemy”, a capital crime. On 4 April the Foreign Office minister Henry Bellingham said the British embassy in Washington had expressed MPs’ concerns about the soldier’s treatment to the Obama administration and would do so again. “All people who are detained in custody deserve to be treated in detention according to the highest international standards, and we certainly expect nothing less from the United States.” With relation to Manning’s nationality, he said: “We must respect his wishes on the matter and recognise the limitations on UK involvement,” while noting that the government had not at that point had any requests for help from the British side of his family. The Foreign Office confirmed the foreign secretary’s office had received the letter, and said: “We will carefully consider Mrs Manning’s letter and will reply to her shortly.” Bradley Manning United Nations US politics United States William Hague US military WikiLeaks Foreign policy Esther Addley guardian.co.uk
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President’s 12-year plan to reduce budget deficit includes curbs on defence spending and Medicare reforms Barack Obama has set the stage for a new and bigger budget showdown with the Republicans, proposing a staggering $4 trillion (£2.4tn) in spending cuts over the next 12 years aimed at reducing America’s runaway deficit. Although the cut is enormous, it still falls well short of the $6.2tn the Republicans are demanding. The battle is set to dwarf last week’s 2012 budget row that came within an hour of seeing the federal government shut down. The size of the deficit, more than $14tn, is one of the biggest political issues in the US, especially with the country in hock to China, which has accumulated a horde of dollars. The deficit was one of the main reasons for the rise of the Tea Party movement and contributed to the Republican victory in last November’s congressional elections. Obama has proposed to tackle the deficit by curbing defence spending and ending tax breaks introduced by George W Bush for wealthy Americans – those earning more than $250,000 a year. In a move that will anger the Democratic base, Obama is also suggesting further cuts in the deficit would come from reforms to Medicaid, which provides basic health provision for the poor, and Medicare, which provides health care for those over 65. The president, who set out his proposals in a speech at George Washington University in DC, blamed Bush for the deficit. He said it has been known for decades that the baby boomers reaching retirement age would put a strain on health and social security at this time. Bill Clinton had left a balanced budget and the burgeoning deficit had been a consequence of the Bush era, Obama said. “We increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug programme, but we didn’t pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts: tax cuts that went to every millionaire and billionaire in the country; tax cuts that will force us to borrow an average of $500bn every year over the next decade,” Obama said. He added: “Even after our economy recovers, our government will still be on track to spend more money than it takes in throughout this decade and beyond. That means we’ll have to keep borrowing more from countries like China. And that means more of your tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on all the loans we keep taking out. By the end of this decade, the interest we owe on our debt could rise to nearly $1tn.” The Republicans, after meeting Obama at the White House , said they are opposed to ending the Bush tax breaks. They also want deep cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. “It is time to act,” said the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. “We don’t believe a lack of revenue is part of the problem, so we will not be discussing raising taxes.” The vice-president, Joe Biden, is to begin regular meetings with Republican and Democrat congressional leaders next month and Obama said the aim was to reach a final agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit by the end of June. The focal point in the next few weeks is the raising of the country’s debt limit above $14.3tn. Normally this would be a technical move that would be voted through without much bother but it has become entangled in the battle over spending. If this is not agreed by the Republicans, the country would be temporarily bankrupt, whoch would be embarrasing for Obama and would have implications for economies round the world. The deadline is 16 May. Republican leaders said that if Obama did not agree to major debt cuts, they would not vote through the rise in in the debt ceiling from $14.3tn. The Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, are scheduled to pass a bill later this week to cut $6.2tn over the next decade without raising taxes. But it has no chance of getting through the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority. Even if it did, Obama could use his presidential veto to block it. The battle over the deficit has consequences not only for the US as it stumbles out of recession but other economies round the world. Democrats warn that the spending cuts being advocated by the Republicans would send the country back into recession. The fight last week was over the remaining six months of this year’s budget and involved only $38bn in cuts compared to the trillions at stake over the coming weeks and months. Obama’s problems are not confined to the Republicans. Many Democrats in Congress and outside, mainly the volunteers who helped get him elected in 2008, object even to the $4tn in spending cuts, and any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Two left-wing groups that campaigned for him last time are threatening to withhold funds next year. Some economists and political scientists also raise what they see as the danger of Republican cuts slowing or even reversing America’s climb out off recession. Thomas Ferguson, professor of politics at the University of Massachusetts, said there was a danger of repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression by chopping spending. “The US would surely take a rather large plunge. They will get Ireland and Greece outcomes. You will crater the US economy if you were to enact the [Republican] bill,” Ferguson said. US domestic policy Obama administration US economy US taxation Democrats Republicans US healthcare US politics United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media It’s not very often that I get to know the person that Blue America PAC is endorsing for Congress years before they actually decide to run, but that’s the case here as I now welcome Norman Solomon to the Blue America and Progressive communities and wholeheartedly put my support behind his campaign. I’m really pleased that he’s coming here to help launch his fight to represent the true left when it comes to matters like the vast war machine and the many unnecessary nuclear energy power plants that our country’s elites has embraced. We meet in 2007 for coffee after he released his book entitled Made Love Got War, which is an autobiographical look at his life’s work and that’s when I found out that he’s a very serious and principled man who has a history of standing up to the military industrial complex along with the nuclear power juggernaut and who stands strong with all working class Americans. (Please donate to his campaign here. ) Unfortunately we are witnessing in real time the agonies that Japan is facing after suffering an 9.0 earthquake followed by a massive tsunami followed by severe aftershocks and power losses which has wreaked havoc to their Fukushima nuclear plant to the point where it’s now at least on par with the great disaster in Chernobyl. There’s an outcry from Japan now because many people feel that the government has been hiding the facts from them, while media elites in our country try to tell Americans that nuclear power is so nice and cozy and safe and we shouldn’t worry. Even as we speak, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Seeks 20-Year Extension in California. No shock there, right? He’s also been outspoken against needless and endless wars, supports a woman’s right to choose and equal rights’s for the LGBT community so what’s not to like?. Norman has all the qualities that make up a great progressive candidate from Marin/Sonoma county. The right kind of Progressive candidate. The candidate that will buck the party system and fight for real progressive values and will be an outspoken leader on these issues. He’s not just a cookie cutter politician that bows down to the party leadership. He’s independent minded in a good way, but will not compromise his values. Here’s some of his accomplishments from his About Norman Solomon page on his website: *Co-Chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for North Bay *Organized and went on three missions to Baghdad prior to the invasion of Iraq seeking alternatives to war. *Health-care Not Warfare National Co-Chair (with Congressman John Conyers and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association *Recipient of numerous awards including the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, and the Annual Ruben Salazar Journalism Award *From 1997 to 2010, as founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, oversaw policy research and liaison with thousands of experts on global warming, foreign policy, labor rights, “welfare reform,” economic equity, lax enforcement of federal regulations, civil liberties and a wide range of other topics related to federal, state and local government policies nationwide *One of the lone voices on national television against invading Iraq before the start of the Iraq war in early 2003, appearing on CNN and other major TV networks more than a dozen times to argue for diplomacy instead of a U.S. attack *Co-chair of the state Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus foreign policy committee *Organized and went on fact-finding trip to Afghanistan in 2009 *The New York Times Magazine has called him “a leading progressive activist.” The Los Angeles Times has called him “a formidable thinker and activist.” That’s a tremendous record of achievements so please join us in welcoming to C&L and Blue America PAC, Norman Solomon. Please don’t forget donate to his campaign at our Blue America act blue page here . He’ll need your help to win this race.
Continue reading …CBS: GOP Wants ‘More Big Cuts’? Presses Cantor For ‘Give and Take’ on Budget
April 13, 2011 No Comment
On Tuesday's Early Show, CBS's Bill Plante forwarded the liberal impression that the proposed budget compromise includes ” big spending cuts ,” despite only reducing $38.5 billion from trillions in spending. Host Erica Hill also urged Republican Congressman Eric Cantor for “a little give and take ” in the budget negotiations, hinting that taxes needed to be raised to deal with the debt. Plante's report on President Obama's upcoming speech on reducing the debt led the 7 am Eastern hour. Near the end of the segment, the correspondent touted how “the President's goal today is to appear as the voice of reason, and to set the stage for the next big debate, which is going to be over raising the federal debt limit, something the Republicans say they won't vote for unless there are more big spending cuts .” Hill's interview of the House Majority Leader began immediately after this report, and she came out of the gate with her hint at the need for tax hikes: “The Republican plan…essentially looks to slash the deficit through cuts, but doesn't there also need to be, perhaps, some more money coming in to, at the same time, pay things down and make a meaningful dent. Can you really establish that just through cuts?” After Rep. Cantor gave his initial answer, the CBS host followed up with her liberal-leaning push for congressional Republicans to give up on some of their budget proposals: “At some point, does there have to be a little give and take, because, as we're seeing in the Republican plan, there are tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, yet, there are also cuts and changes to social services programs for some of the neediest here for seniors and for the poor?” The full transcript of Erica Hill's interview of Rep. Eric Cantor from Tuesday's Early Show: HILL: Joining us now from Capitol Hill is House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Sir, good to have you with us this morning. CANTOR: Good morning, Erica. HILL: As we looked at and- it has been sort of been analyzed, of course, over the past few days, the Republican plan- it essentially looks to slash the deficit through cuts, but doesn't there also need to be, perhaps, some more money coming in to, at the same time, pay things down and make a meaningful dent. Can you really establish that just through cuts? CANTOR: Erica, you're right. We cannot fix our fiscal crisis and bring down the debt just through cuts alone, but everybody understands that Washington has been on a spending binge of late, and we've got to start spending money the way that taxpayers are right now, and that's learning how to do more with less. But you're right, we need to grow this economy, and I think that's where the difference is and I'm hopeful I can hear from the President today something that actually will come to the middle and meet us. I don't think there are many Americans right now who want to pay more taxes. We are a few days out from tax day, and I think most people understand that Washington doesn't have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. And the crux of the issue here is how are we going to get this economy going again and get people back to work without imposing more burdens on working families, and we can't raise taxes. I mean, that was settled, I think, last November during the election. HILL: So you say absolutely not, in terms of raising taxes. You mentioned the burden. The goal which we've heard from representatives, of course, on both sides of the aisle is to not continue to pass this debt down to everyone's children. But at some point, does there have to be a little give and take, because, as we're seeing in the Republican plan, there are tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, yet, there are also cuts and changes to social services programs for some of the neediest here for seniors and for the poor? CANTOR: What we have proposed, when you're talking about the kinds of programs that have posed the biggest challenges, as far as our debt is concerned, you're talking about the entitlement programs, and the reality is, the Congressional Budget Office says these programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, are in serious trouble, and within the next ten years, we'll go into a bankrupt-like situation. We want to save these programs for the people that need them. That's our goal. We don't think that you should let people who need a safety net out there on their own. We believe in a safety net for those who need it, not for those who don't. And so, our plan tries to save Medicare for everyone. For those 55 and older, we say those individuals will not see any change in their benefits. But for the rest of us, we're going to have to accept the fact that these programs are not going to look the same for us, and we're trying to change the nature of those programs for the younger generations, so they will be around for the people who need them. HILL Real quickly, sir, when you meet with the President today, you want to hear something meaningful, but what are you going to say to him? CANTOR: Well, we're going to say to him, look, that we're glad you're finally coming to the table. You know, the President has missed the opportunity when he presented his budget to the country in the State of the Union address. He missed the opportunity to even talk about the specifics that he envisioned to how to address the debt problem we've got in this country. So I'm looking forward to telling him, look, we want to work with you. We've got problems and they were caused by both sides. We want to come together, we want to work with you to try and fix this debt problem, and get the economy back on track, so more people can get back to work. HILL: We will be looking for the results of that meeting and for more of the many meetings to come on the budget. Congressman Eric Cantor, thanks for your time this morning. CANTOR: Thank you. — Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here .
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Locals and tourists took to the streets of Bangkok on Wednesday, armed with buckets, water guns and plenty of enthusiasm, to mark the start of the Buddhist New Year. (Apr. 13)
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