Wooded Retreat – 187 Lake Surprise Rd, Cold Spring, NY 10516 The Old Gospel Ship (Lost Radio Rounders) frozen river (excerpt) Fatal Hudson River Accident Ruled a Suicide – Hudson Valley Insider An unidentified woman drove her vehicle into the Hudson River early Tuesday evening drowning herself and three children. Police have not released the names of the victims but have confirmed there were 2 boys ages 5 and 2 and an 11 month … Mother Drives Minivan Into Hudson River , Kills Herself, 3 Small … Late Tuesday night firefighters in upstate New York said a mother drove a minivan into the Hudson River after a dispute at home, killing herself and her three young children, ages 5, 2 and 11 months. US: Fatal Hudson River Accident Ruled a Suicide — Society's Child … The fatal crash that took the life of a mother and her three children is being ruled a suicide by City of Newburgh investigators. An unidentified woman drove her vehicle into the Hudson River early Tuesday evening drowning herself and … Officials: Mom drives into Hudson River , killing 3 kids » Apostle … NEWBURGH, N.Y. — A woman who had just been involved in a domestic dispute loaded her four children into a minivan Tuesday night before letting one out and driving the rest of them into the Hudson River , firefighters said. … Firefighter: Mom drives minivan into NY's Hudson River after home … NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) – Firefighter: Mom drives minivan into NY’s Hudson River after home spat, killing self, 3 kids. everythingNY says: RT@wpix.com Mom Drives Herself And 3 Kids Into Hudson River , Killing All: Police in Newburgh, New York say a mot… http://bit.ly/hstaFQ
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Pair named locally as Sophie Taylor, 16, and Calum Murray, 18, and police say they are not looking for other suspects Detectives are investigating the deaths of two teenagers found with fatal shotgun wounds in a farmhouse in the Cairngorms. The pair – named locally as Sophie Taylor, 16, and Calum Murray, 18 – were discovered on Tuesday evening at Blairnamarrow cottage, just outside the town of Tomintoul on Speyside. Grampian police refused to discuss the background to the shootings, but said they were not looking for any other suspects. Detective Inspector Stewart Mackie said the scene inside the cottage was “particularly distressing”. He added: “We would like to reassure the local community that this is an isolated incident. Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the two deaths are at an early stage. However, it is important to stress that we are not looking for any third party at this point.” Mackie said a firearm had been found. “We’re trying to put a timeline together to establish what happened. I can’t divulge any details of the people involved in the house. It’s very much a sensitive situation for the families and the community.” Local sources said Taylor, a schoolgirl who worked part-time as a waitress at a local hotel, and Murray, a trainee gamekeeper who had recently moved to work on a nearby grouse moor, were in a relationship. Taylor was about to sit exams at Speyside high school in Aberlour. There were unconfirmed reports that Murray had been upset after being jilted by Taylor, and that the shooting took place in front of two witnesses, neither of whom were injured. Police closed off the nearby A939, between Tomintoul and Corgarff, and about 30 officers were searching the property and its surroundings. Fiona Murdoch, a local councillor, said: “It seems like a terrible tragedy. For two young people to have died is absolutely horrendous.” An employee at the Glen Avon hotel in Tomintoul, where Taylor worked, said: “She was very popular, a lovely girl. We will all miss her very much.” The cottage is close to the hideout used by Percy Toplis, the convicted army deserter, serial criminal and suspected murderer who fled from the police in Hampshire and hid out in Tomintoul in 1920, before again running off after shooting a local constable and farmer. Toplis claimed – wrongly, say historians – to be the “monocled mutineer” made famous in the Alan Bleasdale drama about the first world war. Scotland Crime Police Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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Press Complaints Commission not up to the job, says chairman of Commons culture, media and sport select committee The chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, John Whittingdale, has called for a public inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World. Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s The Media Show , Whittingdale said there should be “some kind of commission or inquiry” into why a series of investigations by Scotland Yard failed to link any News International employees to phone hacking other than the News of the World’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman. Rupert Murdoch’s news group last week issued a public apology to eight victims of phone hacking, including the actor Sienna Miller and former culture secretary Tessa Jowell, and admitted for the first time that the practice was rife at the paper. News International has also written to nine other alleged victims of News of the World phone hacking saying it was prepared to pay compensation if they obtained evidence from Scotland Yard to support their claims. “There are some very big questions. What I find [most] worrying is the apparent unwillingness of the police, who had the evidence and chose to do nothing with it. That’s something that needs to be looked into,” Whittingdale said on Wednesday. “It also raises some quite serious questions for the security of government. It seems pretty extraordinary that newspapers are able to listen in to the private conversations of Downing Street, royal staff and others. “I’m wanting to know through the Home Office why those responsible for safeguarding security weren’t able to do anything about it.” Whittingdale said the culture select committee was also “concerned” about previous assurances given to it by News International executives and Scotland Yard that an investigation had been carried out and that there was no new information. “It wasn’t just News International who told us that, it was also the police,” he added. “In light of what’s now apparent that’s a most extraordinary statement.” The Conservative MP said there was “no reason” why a fresh inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World could not be done by the newspaper industry itself, but added that the sector’s self-regulatory body, the Press Complaints Commission, was not up to the job. “I think the newspaper industry should be very worried,” Whittingdale added. “The PCC has not got a particularly strong reputation as a result of this. I don’t think they’ve covered themselves in glory.” Any fresh inquiry should be carried out by “someone who is independent, experienced and powerful who is not in thrall to the press”, he added. “It’s a case for the industry recognising that if it is to retain its credibility it needs a stronger, more independent PCC which has real sanctions. If the [newspaper industry] shrug their shoulders, I think cries for [a tougher system of regulation] will grow. “Newspapers would be very foolish to believe [the phone-hacking scandal] doesn’t have implications for the whole way the press operates in this country.” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
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On Monday night’s “Daily Show,” Jon Stewart picked up where he left off last Thursday: the (narrowly avoided) government shutdown over budget cuts. One of the biggest points of contention, federal funding for Planned Parenthood, was the item that got Stewart the most frustrated. Despite the fact that federal money already cannot be used for abortion services at the women’s health clinics, Republicans used abortion as the primary reason they wanted funding taken away. On top of that, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl made false statements that abortions make up “well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does.” “I’d love to see that statistic checked by, uhh… Anyone,” Stewart said. The reality is that abortions make up closer to 3% of what Planned Parenthood does. So why did Kyl say 90 perent? CNN got a hold of him and relayed his response: apparently it was “not intended to be a factual statement” and was supposed to merely illustrate that Planned Parenthood subsidizes abortions. “So if I was to say that Jon Kyl spends 90 percent of his time in the Senate drooling and farting…” Stewart began. Watch the full segment below, and click over to the “Daily Show” website to watch Wyatt Cynac’s follow-up analysis. WATCH: The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon – Thurs 11p / 10cCountdown to the Next Countdown – Jon Kyl’s Planned Parenthood Statisticswww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook
Continue reading …Fourth Time’s the Charm? Networks Take Yet Another Crack at Portraying Obama as Deficit Hawk
April 13, 2011 No Comment
Reporters are eagerly anticipating President Obama’s budget speech this afternoon, with NBC’s Chuck Todd assuring viewers of Wednesday’s Today show that now, finally, “the President’s going to add his voice to this, debate, essentially, over what to do about the ever-growing deficit and debt.” But over and over again over the past two years, the media have painted Obama as a leader committed to “slashing” the deficit, only to have the absurdity of such spin later revealed by the administration’s actual policies. Let’s start the trip down memory lane with coverage of President Obama’s first budget speech in February 2009 , which reporters claimed would include steps to aggressively reduce the deficit. ABC’s David Muir began the February 21, 2009 World News by pitching how the President was “ slashing the deficit by at least 50 percent by raising taxes on the wealthy, people making $250,000 and above, and cutting war spending by bringing troops home from Iraq.” The next night, ABC’s Yunji de Nies kept up the salesmanship: “President Obama hopes to get control by slashing the federal deficit in half over the next four years . He’ll do it by cutting spending in at least two keys areas: winding down the war in Iraq, which now costs the taxpayers an estimated $400 million a day, and federal health care spending by overhauling Medicare and Medicaid.” The next evening, February 23 — in spite of the massive stimulus plan just signed and ambitious campaign promises yet to fulfill — all three network newscasts touted how the President pledged at his “fiscal responsibility” summit to cut government spending and reduce the deficit by more than half: NBC’s Brian Williams heralded “the President’s plan to bring down the federal deficit during a time of record government spending.” CBS’s Chip Reid explained that “most of the savings would come from winding down the war in Iraq; ending the Bush tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year; and cutting spending.” According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, “ deficit hawks applauded the President’s focus today , saying ignoring the problem could cause an even more severe crisis….The President said to the group he has no interest in making government bigger for the sake of making it bigger.” A year and more than a trillion dollars in new debt later, the media once again cast Obama as a deficit fighter. At the top of the January 26, 2010 CBS Early Show , co-host Maggie Rodriguez highlighted: “President Obama calls for a big spending freeze and focuses on plans to help the struggling middle class, but does he have the political support he needs?” Moments later, co-host Harry Smith similarly insisted that the President would “announce plans to cut the growing federal deficit and help the struggling middle class.”
Continue reading …The top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in south Florida is suspected of possessing the same thing he aggressively crusaded against, according to the Miami Herald . Federal agents raided the home and office of Anthony Mangione and searched for child pornography on his computers on the weekend, according to law…
Continue reading …"David Byrne Brilliantly and Gratuitously Humiliates Charlie Crist in Copyright Lawsuit"
April 13, 2011 No CommentPost and title stolen borrowed completely from John Cook at Gawker.com . American genius David Byrne recently settled his copyright complaint against former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who used a Talking Heads song without permission in his U.S. Senate campaign, by making Crist film this 90-second abject apology and post it to YouTube.
Continue reading …Wall Street tells Boehner don’t mess with ‘Debt Ceiling’ or Grave Consequences will follow
April 13, 2011 No CommentWall Street is listening to the ‘ debt ceiling chicken ‘ meme and not liking what the Tea Party and Republicans are saying about messing around with it. John Boehner does understand the ramifications of not raising the debt ceiling, but unlike pushing the government shutdown to the limit, doing the same to the debt ceiling will have a much more catastrophic impact. Republicans are growing increasingly concerned about the impact a bruising fight over raising the nation’s $14.29 trillion debt ceiling could have on U.S. financial markets. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has had conversations with top Wall Street executives, asking how close Congress could push to the debt limit deadline without sending interests rates soaring and causing stock prices to go lower, people familiar with the matter said. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Tuesday night that he was not aware of any such conversations. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned Congress that without new borrowing authority, the federal government could hit the statutory debt limit by May 16. — The Wall Street executives say even pushing close to the deadline — or talking about it — could have grave consequences in the marketplace. “They don’t seem to understand that you can’t put everything back in the box. Once that fear of default is in the markets, it doesn’t just go away. We’ll be paying the price for years in higher rates,” said one executive. Another said that “anyone interested in ‘testing’ the debt ceiling should understand the U.S. debt traded wider [with a higher yield] than Greek debt roughly five years ago. Then go ask CBO what happens to our deficits/public debt to GDP, if the 10-year [Treasury bond] goes from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent.” The executive said such an increase would result in a downgrade of U.S. debt by ratings agencies and an end to the dollar as the standard global reserve currency. Jamie Dimon is a blowhard of epic proportions and one of the richest and biggest whiners coming out of Wall Street , but politicians do bow down to these folks and he issued a threat aimed at Boehner and his cohorts this time. “If anyone wants to push that button … I think they’re crazy,” Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, said recently at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Clearly Boehner is angling to find out how much time he has so he can get as much out of the White House as he can and clearly needs to deal with the Tea Party Caucus over raising the debt ceiling. Obama was just given a huge negotiating advantage no matter what comes out of the mouths of Republicans. The question is will he use it? We know that the Amy Kremer Tea Party fanatics won’t care how the debt ceiling affects the country, but maybe Dimon’s response will throw some anger Wall Streets way for a change from the Tea Party since they are free market addicts and pray to the alter of the tax cut. I wouldn’t count on it, but I can dream a little.
Continue reading …Remember when celebrities made videos crowing about politicians? What a difference almost four years makes. Moby has just released a video slamming the new “Republican budget” (hammered out with the White House) featuring the first track from his new album. His song The Day plays over photos of some of…
Continue reading …Investigators probing a Nevada man suspected of having murdered four women in California between 1977 and 1994 have found a disturbing similarity to the unsolved rape and murder of three young girls in upstate New York in the early ’70s. Bizarrely, all seven victims had matching initials for their first…
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