Socialist presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn sues a newspaper over claims about his lifestyle, as critics say his extravagance rules out his leftwing candidature The rumours of dangerous liaisons and sexual conquests have had little effect on his chances of occupying the highest office in the land. But the presidential ambitions of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, chief of the International Monetary Fund and the man French Socialists hope will be the next occupant of the Elysée Palace, may yet be dented by a new revelation: he likes, allegedly, to wear expensive suits. Even before he has officially thrown his hat into the election ring – as he is expected to do within weeks – Strauss-Kahn is fighting off a very French furore over assertions his tastes are too luxurious to lay claim to the left. Now Strauss-Kahn is suing a French newspaper that claimed staples of his lifestyle included luxury homes and sought-after works of art. In its report, France Soir also said he had worn several handmade suits ordered from US President Barack Obama’s tailor in Washington DC, a claim hotly denied. The tailor, a 75-year-old Frenchman from Marseille, sells suits for between £4,300 and £21,000. Last night, calls to Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer went unanswered. While the French are prepared to forgive their leaders’ sexual peccadilloes – including lovers and secret families – they are less forgiving of displays of wealth. Nicolas Sarkozy was nicknamed the “bling-bling president” after flashing his Rolex and holidaying on luxury yachts wearing Aviator sunglasses. Questions over Strauss-Kahn’s wealth were raised two weeks ago after he was pictured climbing into a friend’s £87,000 Porsche Panamera S outside his £3.5m Paris home alongside his heiress wife. The fallout from “Porsche-gate” seems to have proved more damaging to his popularity among voters than Strauss-Kahn’s reputation as a ‘”great seducer”. For months opinion polls have suggested that he is the only potential opposition candidate who might unseat Sarkozy in next year’s election, but after the France Soir reports François Hollande, the former Socialist party leader who is also seeking the party’s nomination as presidential candidate, leapt to within a few points of him. Hollande’s ex-wife Ségolène Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in 2007, is another Socialist contender to be leader, along with two other hopefuls. In its report on Thursday, the newspaper said that since Strauss-Kahn and his wealthy wife, Anne Sinclair, a former television presenter, had arrived in the US capital for his IMF job in 2007 they had lived a life of luxury. The couple was said to have bought a £2.5m home in the upmarket Washington district of Georgetown. Other reports revealed that Strauss-Kahn, who allegedly earns £22,000 net a month, also has an apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, which he shares with his wife and which was bought for £2.2m in 1990, another apartment on the expensive Place des Vosges in the 4th arrondissement bought in 2007 for £3.4m, and a riad in Marrakech. That the Strauss-Kahns are wealthy has never been a secret. Sinclair is the granddaughter of Paul Rosenberg, a celebrated dealer of modern art, and has inherited part of his collection, which is said to include at least one Picasso. In many countries, such wealth would not necessarily be viewed as an impediment to a leftwing politician’s career. In France, however, the flashiness has appalled some observers. “Can one be leftwing and very rich?” asked Jean-Jacques Bourdin, a commentator on French radio station RMC. “If Sarkozy represented for many the ‘bling-bling’ right then Dominique Strauss-Kahn is, whether he likes it or not, a representative of the left ‘vroom vroom’. “He finds himself today in a very worrying situation for a future socialist presidential candidate. Because in the collective subconscious to be leftwing and to have lots of money… doesn’t always go together,” said Bourdin. However, supporters were quick to jump to Strauss-Kahn’s defence. Michèle Sabban, vice-president of the Île-de-France socialists, told journalists: “Dominique is staying true to himself. He admits his relationship with money and that’s good. Besides, have you ever seen a poor president?” Another supporter, local councillor Hussein Mokhtari, added: “So he has to eat sandwiches and drive a 2CV when he is head of the IMF and he is representing France?” Even political enemies such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Left party and a rival presidential candidate, dismissed criticism of his wealth. “Being leftwing is a conviction, a commitment; never would a man of the left say to another ‘profit and shut up …’ I think someone who is rich can also be of the left depending on how his wealth was gained.” France Europe Nicolas Sarkozy Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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Libyan dictator plans a gradual transition from autocratic rule, say officials, as ICC arrest warrant is prepared From his hiding place in Tripoli, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is desperately trying to pave a way for an exit from public life. Sources say the veteran autocrat’s grand plan is to retire to a godfather-like role in the nation he has ruled for more than 40 years and then allow institutions to grow that will eventually replace his hold on power. This, he hopes, will convince Nato to stop its two-month campaign of almost nightly air strikes, which have decimated Libya’s military and defences and reinforced a rebellion that is steadily eroding the country’s power base. Interviews with four regime members have confirmed that Gaddafi knows his time is up. “But he isn’t going to run away to Venezuela,” one official said. “He wants to move to the background and lead a dignified life. He himself has said he wants to be like the Japanese emperor, or Castro.” “He knows and we know that Libya doesn’t have a future through imposing his cult of personality on the people and the world,” said a second official. “There is no question that the country needs reforms, many reforms.” Over the past fortnight, as rebels who sacked the east of the country have also started to tip the balance in the loyalist stronghold of Misrata, Gaddafi has tried to usher in the first changing of the guard since he seized power in 1969. He has empowered tribal leaders to talk on national issues and given Libya’s low-profile prime minister an international stage. At his only public appearance, Gaddafi anointed them as arbitrators – a role officials say will increase through a gradual negotiated transition from autocratic rule. Nato jets again struck the Gaddafi compound in the heart of Tripoli overnight on Friday, hours after the dictator had appeared to taunt European leaders whom he is convinced are trying to assassinate him. “I am in a place where you cannot reach me,” he said in an audio recording. Gaddafi’s advisers say that he has reportedly become so wary of his apparent pursuers that he no longer trusts video cameras, fearing that they transmit a signal that could lead to his location. On the audio recording he condemned as “cowardly crusader aggression” a Nato strike on a guest house in the eastern city of Brega that killed 11 Muslim imams and wounded four more. Nine of the imams were buried amid angry scenes in Tripoli. Nato claims that the site it targeted in a pre-dawn raid on Friday was a “known command and control centre”. The Libyan government said it was a guest house where the imams were resting before leading a peace mission deep into rebel-held territory. They provided GPS co-ordinates in an attempt to prove that there were no military facilities near the site. However, Sky News spoke to former engineer Frek Landmeter, from the Netherlands, who said he built a bunker beneath the site in 1988. He provided GPS co-ordinates, which matched those given by the government and said the bunker was unusually large and at the time was considered a top-secret installation for the Libyan regime. Landmeter told Sky that the guest house bombed was not above the bunker entrance. He said it was next to it, but still covered the underground site. Meanwhile, an international arrest warrant for Gaddafi will be ready as early as tomorrow. The International Criminal Court has said it will also seek warrants for at least one of Gaddafi’s sons and his intelligence chief. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Middle East Africa Nato Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Like Shooting Fish In A Barrel: High Schooler Challenges Michele Bachmann To A Constitutional Debate
May 14, 2011 No CommentMichele Bachmann illustrating her great, in-depth knowledge of history. You know who I think is gonna win : A high school sophomore from New Jersey is challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate on civics and the U.S. Constitution. In an open letter to to Bachmann, Amy Myers of Cherry Hill, N.J., said, “I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted.” “I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics,” Myers wrote, according to a report by City Pages’ Nick Pinto . The full text of Myers’ open letter is available here . I’m so thrilled to see someone actually challenge the willful ignorance of this woman. Even Politifact, which takes pains to give Republicans the benefit of the doubt on their truthfulness, couldn’t keep themselves from acknowledging her only glancing relationship with facts . Of course, you know that Bachmann will never consent to something like this and will pretend as if this challenge has never been issued. Because, of course, she knows she’ll get creamed. After all, this is a woman who not so long ago tried to claim that the Constitution doesn’t permit the Treasury Secretary (or any part of the Executive Branch) to regulate business , and claimed that the Census was a violation of our constitutional rights . Like the Tea Partiers she says she represents, she makes all kinds of claims to be a “constitutionalist” and “defender of the Constitution” but wants to overturn the parts she doesn’t like. I’d run and hide, too. Because even a high-school sophomore can understand that Bachmann is full of crap. However, if you would like to encourage her (politely, please) to take Myers up on the challenge, you can contact her here .
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Kitchen cabinet aide says charging improves service and NHS should be shown ‘no mercy’ in drive for reform A senior adviser to David Cameron says the NHS could be improved by charging patients and will be transformed into a “state insurance provider, not a state deliverer” of care. Mark Britnell, who was appointed to a “kitchen cabinet” advising the prime minister on reforming the NHS, told a conference of executives from the private sector that future reforms would show “no mercy” to the NHS and offer a “big opportunity” to the for-profit sector. The revelations come on the eve of an important speech by the prime minister on the future of the NHS, during which he is expected to try to allay widespread fears that the reforms proposed in health secretary Andrew Lansley’s health and social care bill would lead to privatisation. It has been suggested that Cameron may even announce an extension to the “pause” in the progress of the bill until after the party conference season, amid growing tensions on the issue within the coalition government. Nick Clegg, has insisted that the Liberal Democrats will not support any reforms that allow the “profit motive to drive a coach and horses through the NHS”. Backbench Tory MPs, however, have called for the government to stick to the reforms and open the provision of services to the private sector. Britnell’s comments will inevitably raise the temperature of the debate. Britnell, a former director of commissioning for the NHS, who is now head of health at the accountancy giant KPMG, was invited to join a group of senior health policy experts, described by the respected Health Studies Journal as a “kitchen cabinet”, in Downing Street earlier this month. The group, which includes former NHS executives and the former Department of Health permanent secretary Lord Crisp, was assembled by Cameron’s new special adviser on health, Paul Bate. In unguarded comments at a conference in New York organised by the private equity company Apax, Britnell claimed that the next two years in the UK would provide a “big opportunity” for the for-profit sector, and that the NHS would ultimately end up as a financier of care similar to an insurance company rather than a provider of hospitals and staff. According to a glossy brochure summarising the conference held last October, Britnell told his audience: “GPs will have to aggregate purchasing power and there will be a big opportunity for those companies that can facilitate this process … In future, the NHS will be a state insurance provider, not a state deliverer.” He added: “The NHS will be shown no mercy and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next couple of years.” Writing in the Health Studies Journal , Britnell also suggested that the NHS would be better served by breaking with the mantra that all services should be free at the point of delivery by allowing co-payment, where patients share the costs of care and drugs. “It appears that countries that have a mixed blend of public and private provision, co-payment and social insurance are possibly more capable of providing resilient healthcare
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“I was eating soufflé at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies. I excused myself and went home to take the call.” –GEORGE BUSH, former U.S. president, explaining what he was doing when President Obama called him about Osama bin Laden’s death. Bush called it a “great victory” while noting he was “not overjoyed.” (via
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Jennifer Mills-Westley the British woman killed in a supermarket in Tenerife had complained of harassment The British woman beheaded in a supermarket on the Spanish island of Tenerife was named as it emerged that she had complained of being harassed moments before she was attacked. Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, from Norwich, was killed on Friday in a frenzied and unprovoked knife attack in the town of Arona, part of the Los Cristianos beach resort. Her daughter Sarah said: “Mum retired a number of years ago and was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk. She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone. We now have to find a way of living without her love and light and we would ask at this difficult time for some privacy as we try to come to terms with our loss.” Spanish police identified the alleged killer as Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, an unemployed Bulgarian. The attack began in a supermarket. Witnesses say the assailant grabbed a knife from inside a shop and stabbed the dead woman at least 14 times. He then decapitated her, carrying the severed head out into the street claiming to be “a prophet from God”. Local media reported that he left the supermarket shouting: “I am God’s avenger and I come to mete out justice.” It was initially believed the murder was a random incident. But a report on a British expat website said that Mills-Westley had reported Deyanov to a guard at the town’s social security office for threatening behaviour. Deyanov ranted at the security guard and was moved on. Several minutes later Mills-Westley left the office and entered the supermarket, which was next door. Minutes later the attack took place and the same security guard, named locally as Juan Antonio Hernandez Delgado, heard the commotion and chased the killer down the street before wrestling him to the ground. Further reports gave an impression of a disturbed individual. Locals said Deyanov had been known for threatening and often violent behaviour, once having punched a local shipowner who refused to tell him the time, smashing his teeth. Jose Alberto Gonzalez Reveron, mayor of Arona, said video footage “showed the man became enraged” inside the store. Christina Perez, a legal representative at a nearby court, said a group of lawyers had seen the man leave the shop. “They saw the man running out of the supermarket with the head in his hands. A security man from the complex ran after him and jumped on to him so he fell, and then he threw the head on to the road.” Mills-Westley’s former employer, Norfolk county council, offered its condolences, praising her work teaching road safety to youngsters. “Our deepest sympathies go to Jenny’s family and friends following this terrible news,” the authority said in a statement. “Jenny was a popular and well respected member of staff, who during her time with Norfolk county council worked as a road safety officer working with many schools and children to teach cycling safety training.” The Foreign Office has confirmed that consular officials are liaising with the authorities in Los Cristianos, which is home to a large British expat community. Spain Barry Neild guardian.co.uk
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Chris Huhne will announce a long-term programme that will put Britain at the forefront of the battle against climate change Cabinet ministers have agreed a far-reaching, legally binding “green deal” that will commit the UK to two decades of drastic cuts in carbon emissions. The package will require sweeping changes to domestic life, transport and business and will place Britain at the forefront of the global battle against climate change. The deal was hammered out after tense arguments between ministers who had disagreed over whether the ambitious plans to switch to more green energy were affordable. The row had pitted the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, who strongly backed the plans, against the chancellor, George Osborne, and the business secretary, Vince Cable, who were concerned about the cost and potential impact on the economy. However, after the intervention of David Cameron, Huhne is now expected to tell parliament that agreement has been struck to back the plans in full up to 2027. He will tell MPs that the government will accept the recommendations of the independent committee on climate change for a new carbon budget. The deal puts the UK ahead of any other state in terms of the legal commitments it is making in the battle to curb greenhouse gases. With the Treasury and Cable’s business department sceptical, green groups had feared that ministers would refuse to back the committee and were accusing them of reneging on Cameron’s promise to lead the “greenest government ever”. But with Clegg and the Liberal Democrats desperate to boast a success on one of their key policies, supporters of a deal won the day. A government source told the Observer : “This is a victory for the cause of enlightenment over the dark forces at the Treasury.” Another senior government figure said: “This country is now the world leader in cutting carbon emissions. We are the only nation with legally binding commitments past 2020.” This point was also stressed by David Kennedy, chief executive of the committee. “We have moved into uncharted territory and are going to be watched carefully by other countries. No one else has a target like this.” The new budget puts the government on target to meet a reduction by 2050 of 80% of carbon emissions compared with 1990 levels. The committee has said that to reach this carbon emissions should be cut by 60% by 2030. Ministers believe that major companies involved in developing offshore wind technology – such as Siemens, Vestas and General Electric – will now be keener to invest in Britain, knowing it is committed to a huge expansion in renewable energy. It is also hoped that the commitment to renewable energy – the committee says 40% of the UK’s power should come from wind, wave and tide sources by 2030 – will stimulate new industries. These would include the development of tidal power plants, wave generators and carbon capture and storage technology – which would extract carbon dioxide from coal and oil plants and pump it into underground chambers. All three technologies, if developed in Britain, could be major currency earners. The committee’s report says the new carbon deal will require that heat pumps will have had to be installed in 2.6m homes by 2025. It also says that by the same date 31% of new cars, and 14% of those on the road overall, will be electric. Experts say a total of £16bn of investment will be needed every year to meet the commitment. Some of this money will be raised through increases in electricity prices. However, failure to act now and decarbonise electricity generation would mean the UK would have to pay even more to replace power plants in future. “If we have to pay more in future that will slow economic growth, so we need to act now,” said Kennedy. The decision to back the carbon budget comes a year after Cameron announced that his government would be the greenest on record, a claim that last week led the heads of 15 green campaign groups to write to the prime minister to tell him he was in danger of losing his way on environmental policy. The letter said the coalition should promote a green economy with “urgency and resolve” if it was to honour its promise. The groups include Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB. Tuesday’s expected announcement is certain to be welcomed by green groups though they will fear further backtracking in years to come. Huhne recently announced plans to invite green lobby groups in to scrutinise policy in order to hold ministers to their promises. They have been impressed with parts of the government’s programme, including progress on establishment of a green investment bank. Climate change Green politics Green economy Chris Huhne Carbon emissions Toby Helm Robin McKie guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bill Maher: ‘Republicans Say They Love Herman Cain So They’re Not Racist – Right’
May 14, 2011 No Comment
Last Friday, Bill Maher called Republicans paranoid, greedy racists. On the most recent installment of HBO's “Real Time,” the host said, “Republicans say they love [Herman Cain] so they're not racist – right” (video follows with transcript and commentary): BILL MAHER: Just bear with me. I want to show for the folks who may not follow politics as closely as we do who all the people are who are now in or possibly in for the Republicans. We’re going to show you some pictures. Let me start with the first category. These are the people who have either declared or just, you know, pussy-footing, but they’re really in. There’s Tim Pawlenty, raw sex appeal. Mitt Romney, you know him. He ran last time. Ron Paul announced today. He of course has been in Congress 31 years. His theme: I hate government. Mike Huckabee says he has a big announcement over the weekend which is either he's going to run or “Hee Haw’s” coming back. Herman Cain, I never heard of this guy, but apparently he ran Godfather's Pizza, and Republicans say they love him so they're not racist – right. So, whatever Republicans do they're racist. They don't support a black presidential candidate, they're racist. They do support a black presidential candidate, they're racist. Got it?
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UK Drug Policy Commission’s report Taking Drugs Seriously says current laws ‘not fit for purpose’ The UK’s “outdated” drug laws could be doing more harm than good and are failing to recognise that banning some “legal highs” may have negative consequences for public health, according to the leading independent panel set up to analyse drugs policy. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act, the UK Drug Policy Commission warns that the exponential rise in “legal highs” and the availability of substances over the internet is making current laws redundant. A damning report carried out for the commission by thinktank Demos suggests that drug control legislation is no longer “fit for purpose” in the 21st century and should be replaced using consumer protection legislation. In the longer term, the report suggests, the government should introduce a harmful substances control act that would change how all psychoactive substances, including alcohol and tobacco, are controlled. “Forty years ago, the Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in a world where new drugs came along every few years, not every few weeks,” said Roger Howard, the chief executive of the commission. “The argument about whether to be tough or soft about drugs is increasingly redundant in the era of the internet and global trade; we have to think differently.” The 149-page report, which has been welcomed by senior police officers, will be seen as a stern corrective to successive governments’ thinking on drug control, which has heavily favoured prohibition. The coalition government has been reluctant to contemplate a radical shift in drugs policy, preferring a plan to subject new substances to temporary bans as and when they come to market. The report, Taking Drugs Seriously , suggests that the government and its advisers assess the potential benefits, as well as harmful effects, associated with some legal highs and recognises that their use could prevent people experimenting with more dangerous drugs. It points to research into drug tests on soldiers in the British army that showed that cocaine use fell by more than half between 2008 and 2009, when mephedrone or “meow meow” – a new legal high outlawed in 2010 – was becoming increasingly available. Significantly, official data reveals that between 2008 and the first six months of 2009, cocaine-related deaths among the population as a whole fell 28%. “The Misuse of Drugs Act has passed its sell-by date,” said Jonathan Birdwell, the report’s co-author. “So-called ‘legal highs’ present an entirely new challenge that needs a more intelligent response. With the aim of being hardline towards all psychoactive substances, the government risks making it more, not less, dangerous for young people who want to experiment.” There are now more than 600 substances controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act in the UK and the number looks set to increase. According to data presented to the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, an unprecedented 40 new substances were produced in the far east and sold in the UK in 2010. To combat the trend, the report suggests that the government consider controlling the supply of new psychoactive drugs through existing consumer protection legislation, rather than relying on regulations that appear to have little credibility in the eyes of young people. Legislation would limit the number of vendors who can supply controlled substances and compel them to demonstrate that their products meet certain standards or sell them with information on dosage levels and side effects. Civil and criminal sanctions could be brought against those who break the law. “It might be time to say that those who seek to sell new substances should have to prove their safety, rather than that the government should have to prove otherwise,” Howard said. “Controlling new substances through trading standards legislation offers a new vehicle to achieve this.” The report has been cautiously welcomed by police at a time when their budget is under strain. “Police forces and health professionals across England and Wales are only too aware of the problems that a wave of new drugs can bring,” said Tim Hollis, the chief constable of Humberside police and the national lead on drugs for the Association of Chief Police Officers. “The idea of trading standards officers having a stronger role in controlling substances is one that is worthy of consideration.” Drugs policy Drugs Drugs trade Mephedrone Liberal-Conservative coalition Jamie Doward guardian.co.uk
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Decision to opt for costliest technology ends delay on upgrade to subs and is likely to fuel coalition tensions Ministers will announce plans to buy the most advanced and expensive nuclear reactors for new Trident submarines this week in a move set to create tensions within the coalition government. The decision has been delayed by months due to the sensitivities within the cabinet and concerns over costs, with Liberal Democrats keen to avoid progress on the issue. The party’s manifesto had stated it was against a like-for-like replacement for the country’s nuclear deterrent. However, a source said a decision had now been made among the coalition partners in favour of the more expensive reactors and an announcement would not be delayed any further. The decision is likely to add several billion pounds to the £20bn cost of replacing the UK’s four Trident submarines, but the new reactors are understood to be safer. The source said: “It has all been agreed and the announcement will be made this week. Nothing pleases the Liberal Democrats on this subject but they have signed up on it, so it will
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