In Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas, Formula 1 Racing Is More Of A Priority Than Education
May 18, 2011 No CommentI read last night that even Gov. Rick Perry (who would have to address persistent rumors about being yet another GOP closet case) is making exploratory moves toward a possible presidential run. Not with stories like this , he shouldn’t. Why does it not surprise me that Texas Republicans think entertainment is more important than education? Texas, which may balance its budget by firing thousands of teachers, plans to commit $25 million in state funds to Formula One auto racing each year for a decade. Four years after motorsports’ most popular series left the U.S., Texas investors including Clear Channel Communications Inc. co-founder B.J. “Red” McCombs are building a 3.4-mile (5.5-kilometer) track to bring the event to Austin. Comptroller Susan Combs has agreed to pay $25 million for races through 2022 , a subsidy questioned by critics and lawmakers as the state cuts costs to close an estimated $15 billion two-year deficit. “I don’t understand why 25 people in Austin could not put up $1 million each if they thought this was a good opportunity instead of the state making a $25 million commitment,” said Senator Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican. “The developers should find the money through private sources.” As many as 100,000 teachers in Texas may be fired because of spending cuts to cope with the state’s budget crisis, according to Moak Casey & Associates, an Austin-based education consultant. For $25 million a year, the state could pay more than 500 teachers an average salary of $48,000. The key investor on the project is Texas billionaire Red McCombs , former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. These franchise owners are so addicted to government money, they wouldn’t know how to do anything on their own, I guess.
Continue reading …In Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas, Formula 1 Racing Is More Of A Priority Than Education
May 18, 2011 No CommentI read last night that even Gov. Rick Perry (who would have to address persistent rumors about being yet another GOP closet case) is making exploratory moves toward a possible presidential run. Not with stories like this , he shouldn’t. Why does it not surprise me that Texas Republicans think entertainment is more important than education? Texas, which may balance its budget by firing thousands of teachers, plans to commit $25 million in state funds to Formula One auto racing each year for a decade. Four years after motorsports’ most popular series left the U.S., Texas investors including Clear Channel Communications Inc. co-founder B.J. “Red” McCombs are building a 3.4-mile (5.5-kilometer) track to bring the event to Austin. Comptroller Susan Combs has agreed to pay $25 million for races through 2022 , a subsidy questioned by critics and lawmakers as the state cuts costs to close an estimated $15 billion two-year deficit. “I don’t understand why 25 people in Austin could not put up $1 million each if they thought this was a good opportunity instead of the state making a $25 million commitment,” said Senator Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican. “The developers should find the money through private sources.” As many as 100,000 teachers in Texas may be fired because of spending cuts to cope with the state’s budget crisis, according to Moak Casey & Associates, an Austin-based education consultant. For $25 million a year, the state could pay more than 500 teachers an average salary of $48,000. The key investor on the project is Texas billionaire Red McCombs , former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. These franchise owners are so addicted to government money, they wouldn’t know how to do anything on their own, I guess.
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Essex police will speak to key individuals to establish whether any offence has been committed following claims energy secretary asked someone else to take penalty points on his behalf Police are to speak to “key individuals” over allegations that the cabinet minister Chris Huhne tried to evade punishment for speeding. Huhne came under further pressure on Wednesday as Essex police announced that contacts would be made as part of efforts to establish whether any offence had been committed. Detective Superintendent Tim Wills said: “There are many lines of inquiry to be taken, and the team are still working to establish if an offence has been committed. “Obviously this will entail speaking to key individuals identified by the inquiry team. It would not be appropriate to release any more information prior to progressing these lines of inquiry.” Huhne, the MP for Eastleigh, is alleged to have incurred penalty points for speeding in 2003, when he was serving as an MEP, which he then asked another person to take on his behalf. His estranged wife, Vicky Pryce, has claimed he “pressurised people” to take on the points in order to avoid a driving ban. Some newspaper reports have alleged that Pryce took the points on Huhne’s behalf. Earlier this week, Huhne stated that the allegations levelled against him are “incorrect” and welcomed a police investigation after a formal complaint about the allegations was lodged by the Labour MP Simon Danczuk. On Monday, Huhne said: “They have been made before and they have been shown to be untrue. And I very much welcome the referral to the police as it will draw a line under the matter … I don’t want to say any more than that. I think the police can get to the bottom of this.” On Wednesday, Huhne’s cabinet colleague Kenneth Clarke acknowledged that the energy secretary is “in trouble” over the allegations. The justice secretary said he had no reason “at the moment” to doubt Huhne’s denial of the claims. Clarke said he hoped the situation would be resolved one way or another as quickly as possible. Asked about the case on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “I have no idea whether there is anything to prove him wrong. “I realise he’s in trouble, and I hope somebody sorts out whether it is true or not. But I’ve known him for years, long before he was a colleague, and he insists it is untrue, and at the moment I have no reason to disbelieve that. “The cabinet has not discussed it. He does not need the full backing of the cabinet unless and until anyone can undermine him.” Huhne was forced to suffer jibes from MPs on Tuesday when he announced that the UK would be committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% on 1990 levels by 2025 – a victory for him after a rift in which some cabinet ministers opposed the plan. The shadow energy secretary, Meg Hillier, could not resist making veiled references in Huhne’s direction following his statement, using phrases including “go slow” and “acceleration”. A Downing Street spokesman did not rule out retaining Huhne in office if he was subject to a police investigation, pointing out that there was a precedent for this – including Tony Blair at the time of an investigation into cash for honours allegations. But the support for the Lib Dem energy secretary was qualified because the PM’s spokesman said Huhne has denied all the allegations but refused to say whether David Cameron had accepted those denials. Cameron also refused to say whether he had discussed the allegations directly with Huhne or had only received reports from the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. Chris Huhne Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rick Santorum says John McCain doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to torture
May 18, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Well, there’s a frothy mixture of stupidity and arrogance for ya : HUGH HEWITT: Now your former colleague, John McCain, said look, there’s no record, there’s no evidence here that these methods actually led to the capture or the killing of bin Laden. Do you disagree with that? Or do you think he’s got an argument? RICK SANTORUM: I don’t, everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation. And so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative. And that’s when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that’s how we ended up with bin Laden. As Justin Elliott at Salon observes: Here’s a passage from McCain’s memoir in which he describes being subjected to beatings and telling his interrogators false information in response: Once my condition had stabilized, my interrogators resumed their work. Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed. I was occasionally beaten when I declined to give any more information. The beatings were of short duration, because I let out a hair-raising scream whenever they occurred. In one four-day period, McCain says he was beaten “every two to three hours,” and his arm was broken and ribs cracked. So if nothing else, this is a man who can be said to know how enhanced interrogation works. (Santorum, as far as I can tell, has never been tortured, nor did he serve in the military.) Khalid Sheik Mohammed, like McCain, also gave bad information after being tortured — a point that McCain himself made in a recent Op-Ed … Ah, but we know that deep in his heart, Rick Santorum is a manly man who could withstand these puny “enhanced interrogation” techniques, just like McCain. Or at least, deep in his imagination.
Continue reading …Reality Check: Katie Couric’s Five Years at CBS Marked by Liberal Agenda and Low Ratings
May 18, 2011 No Comment
Tomorrow marks Katie Couric’s last night at the anchor desk of the CBS Evening News . Five years ago, CBS executives were so excited about the Today show star taking over, her September 5, 2006 debut was preceded by a massive publicity campaign. Outgoing interim anchor Bob Schieffer vouched for his replacement: “She’s tough, she’s fair, she’s a straight shooter….Just watch.”
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Current system ‘violates privacy rights’ but judges have not ordered immediate change, as new legislation is being passed The supreme court has declared that chief constables who refuse to delete the DNA profiles of more than 1 million innocent people on request are acting unlawfully. The ruling by the most senior judges in England and Wales says that the current police policy of indefinitely keeping DNA profiles of people arrested but never convicted is excessive and violates privacy rights. Chief constables have continued collecting the DNA profiles of everyone arrested, whether they are convicted or not, and keeping them indefinitely on a national database. This is despite a ruling by the European court of human rights more than three years ago that it was a breach of privacy rights. More than 200,000 new DNA profiles of innocent people have been added to the national police DNA database since the ruling that their blanket retention was unlawful in February 2008, bringing the total to more than 1.1 million. Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) guidelines say that chief constables have the discretion to destroy individual DNA profiles and fingerprints only in “exceptional circumstances”. While the Metropolitan police agreed to a request from Home Office minister, Damian Green, to delete his DNA profile, many other requests have been refused. In a majority judgment the supreme court said the Acpo guidelines were unlawful because they were incompatible with the right to privacy under the European convention on human rights. But the judges have pulled back from ordering any immediate change in the situation. They say this is because the government intends to bring new legislation into force later this year to take account of the Strasbourg judgment in the case of S and Marper . “Where parliament is seized of the matter, it is not appropriate to make an order requiring a change in the legislative scheme within a specific period or an order requiring the destruction of data,” says the ruling by the lord chief justice and four other supreme court judges. “It is, however, open to Acpo to reconsider and amend the guidelines in the interim.” Lord Dyson said in the ruling: “It is appropriate to grant a declaration that the present Acpo guidelines … are unlawful because, as clearly demonstrated by Marper, they are incompatible with the ECHR. “It is important that, in such an important and sensitive area as the retention of biometric data by the police, the court reflects its decision by making a formal order to declare what it considers to be the true legal position. But it is not necessary to go further.” Two of the seven judges in the case dissented, saying the appeals should have been dismissed. The ruling was brought following an appeal by GC, who was released without charge after being arrested for a suspected assault on his girlfriend in 2007 and C, who was acquitted of rape allegations in 2009. Their requests for the DNA profiles and fingerprints to be destroyed were refused by the Met commissioner. The new legislation is going through parliament in the protection of freedoms bill proposed by the home secretary, Theresa May. It would ban the police from retaining the DNA profiles of those arrested but not convicted of minor offences. It will also enable hundreds of thousands of such people already on the database to have their profiles destroyed. The DNA profiles of those charged but not convicted of serious sexual or violent offences will, however, be kept for an initial period of three years, with a possible further extension of two years. The DNA of convicted criminals will be kept on the database indefinitely. James Welch, legal director of Liberty, who intervened in the case, said: “Those who accuse the judges of trespassing on the role of parliament should take note of this judgment. “While our supreme court has endorsed the view of the European court of human rights that indefinitely keeping the DNA of almost all people who are arrested is excessive and violates privacy rights, it has properly left the question of how to remedy this to parliament.” DNA database Police European court of human rights Human rights UK supreme court Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chuck Todd suggests Obama wants to raise debt ceiling for the sake of his personal fortune
May 18, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Chuck Todd not only decided to take a cheap shot at the Obama’s this morning on MSNBC, but also managed to trivialize just who would be harmed if the Republicans continue their hostage taking on the debt ceiling. TODD: The Obama’s are millionaires according to new financial disclosure forms released yesterday. The forms show the President and First Lady Michelle Obama hold assets between $2.8 million and $11.8 million and are you ready for this? Almost all of their investments are in T-bills. So nobody would be hurt more by the debt ceiling not being raised than the President. Really, Chuck? No one else would be hurt more? If the Republicans put us into another recession or worse yet a depression, I think there are going to be a lot of other people who will come out that a lot worse than the President of the United States. I think somehow the Obama’s would manage to recover. I can’t say the same for the millions of people who are just getting by now and for whom it might mean life and death if our country’s economy gets thrown into a tailspin. h/t David for the video
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Ed Miliband urges prime minister to sack justice secretary for suggesting ‘date rape’ is not as serious as other kinds of rape Kenneth Clarke has become embroiled in a major row over sentences for rape after he appeared to suggest that “date rape” did not count as a serious offence, prompting calls for David Cameron to sack his justice secretary. Clarke took to the airwaves this morning in the face of a fierce reaction to the disclosure on Tuesday that he intends to increase the discount for an early guilty plea for rapists from 33% to 50%. But instead of calming the row, the justice secretary’s media appearances and explanations have only served to fuel the controversy. A rape victim broke down in tears after confronting Clarke when he appeared on the BBC Radio 5 Live, telling him his sentence discount plan was a disaster. During other television interviews Clarke appeared to claim that campaigners had only singled out rape because it injected a degree of “sexual excitement” into the argument over discounts for early guilty pleas. But it was his statement that no-one convicted of a “serious rape” would be released as quickly as those guilty of some “date rapes” that sparked a political furore with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, challenging David Cameron over the matter at prime minister’s question time. More details soon… Kenneth Clarke Rape David Cameron UK criminal justice Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ed Miliband urges prime minister to sack justice secretary for suggesting ‘date rape’ is not as serious as other kinds of rape Kenneth Clarke has become embroiled in a major row over sentences for rape after he appeared to suggest that “date rape” did not count as a serious offence, prompting calls for David Cameron to sack his justice secretary. Clarke took to the airwaves this morning in the face of a fierce reaction to the disclosure on Tuesday that he intends to increase the discount for an early guilty plea for rapists from 33% to 50%. But instead of calming the row, the justice secretary’s media appearances and explanations have only served to fuel the controversy. A rape victim broke down in tears after confronting Clarke when he appeared on the BBC Radio 5 Live, telling him his sentence discount plan was a disaster. During other television interviews Clarke appeared to claim that campaigners had only singled out rape because it injected a degree of “sexual excitement” into the argument over discounts for early guilty pleas. But it was his statement that no-one convicted of a “serious rape” would be released as quickly as those guilty of some “date rapes” that sparked a political furore with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, challenging David Cameron over the matter at prime minister’s question time. More details soon… Kenneth Clarke Rape David Cameron UK criminal justice Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Ed Miliband urges prime minister to sack justice secretary for suggesting ‘date rape’ is not as serious as other kinds of rape Kenneth Clarke has become embroiled in a major row over sentences for rape after he appeared to suggest that “date rape” did not count as a serious offence, prompting calls for David Cameron to sack his justice secretary. Clarke took to the airwaves this morning in the face of a fierce reaction to the disclosure on Tuesday that he intends to increase the discount for an early guilty plea for rapists from 33% to 50%. But instead of calming the row, the justice secretary’s media appearances and explanations have only served to fuel the controversy. A rape victim broke down in tears after confronting Clarke when he appeared on the BBC Radio 5 Live, telling him his sentence discount plan was a disaster. During other television interviews Clarke appeared to claim that campaigners had only singled out rape because it injected a degree of “sexual excitement” into the argument over discounts for early guilty pleas. But it was his statement that no-one convicted of a “serious rape” would be released as quickly as those guilty of some “date rapes” that sparked a political furore with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, challenging David Cameron over the matter at prime minister’s question time. More details soon… Kenneth Clarke Rape David Cameron UK criminal justice Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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