Neil Cavuto: America’s Financial Future Died Tuesday Because Senate Republicans Refused to Dismantle Medicare
May 11, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Neil Cavuto is terribly upset that the Republicans in the Senate have decided not to support Paul Ryan and the House’s budget plan and dismantle Medicare by turning it into a voucher system. Cavuto opened his segment with American Pie playing in the background and followed with this: CAVUTO: Alright, I don’t want to be melodramatic (too late for that Neil), but let it be known that this is the day America’s financial future died. I want you to write it down, May 10, 2011. The day tea partiers elected to the United States Senate not only caved, they quit. They folded their spending tent and left. And all because some Medicare recipients stomped their feet and roared. And those Republicans ran into their buzz-saw and just bugged out. I am telling you, they didn’t just blink, they bolted. Which is odd because Republican Senators like Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio got to where promising big cuts. Then they ran into this big old wall. They discovered some folks were fine, cutting spending, but in the case of some Medicare recipients, just not their spending. It is a familiar story. Cut, just don’t cut my stuff. So now my friends, we are all stuck. Republicans in the Senate said, because the reality is Democrats control the Senate today, so they’re keeping their powder dry for when they control the Senate some day. Which is why they are putting off things like Medicare until after 2012, as if the stark reality of things we’re facing will be any less after 2012. They won’t. I can understand their political math, but I fear out far more unfriendly math, by then likely one and a half trillion dollars more in debt, not even a game plan as how to hack that debt. They say they’ll focus then, but I fear it will be too late. No wonder all this talk of a third party now. The Grand Old Party has botched it. Time was of the essence and now the time has gone. And now, they’re of the essence and now they’re the ones risking being gone. History will show it started this day, the tenth of May, 2011, when they gave up the fight and they lost the war. This spring day in 2011, they lost something else, their souls. How dare all of those selfish seniors expect that their children and grand children be taken care of in their old age? Sorry Neil, but you just lost yours running this fearmongering segment. We’ve got the biggest income disparity since the Gilded Age in the United States and you want to throw seniors under the bus. Shame on you.
Continue reading …
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday hypedthe best polling data available for President Obama, ignoring surveys finding much lower numbers. The co-anchor enthused, ” And a new poll out just this morning shows President Obama with his highest approval rating in two years .” “60 percent Of Americans, according to the AP, now think the President is doing a good job.” But, the poll is really an outlier . The May 10 Rasmussen has Obama at 48 percent. Gallup finds 52. However, Stephanopoulos ignored those numbers and focused on the AP data: “And for the first time in that poll, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, say he deserves re-election.” I a follow-up segment, Stephanopoulos reiterated, “And the White House did get that good news this morning, that 60 percent approval rating for the President in that latest poll.” He did allow that the White House knows, with regard to 2012, “this is going to be a close race.” The former Democratic operative turned journalist has a habit of spinning polls on ABC. On August 02, 2010 , he focused on Republican favorability an in ABC News poll. Stephanopoulos skipped the same survey's finding that likely voters wanted the GOP to take control of Congress by a margin of 56 to 41. A transcript of the first segment, which aired at 7:07am EDT on May 11, follows: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, to politics. And a new poll out just this morning shows President Obama with his highest approval rating in two years. 60 percent Of Americans, according to the AP, now think the President is doing a good job. And for the first time in that poll, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, say he deserves re-election. This comes as one of the highest-profile Republicans is officially entering the race, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. So, let's bring in Jon Karl on that. And, Jon, he's doing it in a brand new way. JON KARL: Yeah, that's right, George. Newt Gingrich will make it official today. I am told he will announce he is running for president, via Twitter. George, we believe
Continue reading …(Here’s an ad from last year that was produced to garner support for the Dream Act.) Bringing back The Dream Act is good news, but I doubt the xenophobes inhabiting the GOP will do the right thing and instead do everything they can to stop this piece of legislation and continue to demonize Latinos and other minorities in America: Senate Democrats will re-introduce the long-stalled DREAM Act, hoping to tap into momentum from President Barack Obama’s speech along the border Tuesday about America’s need to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and other Democrats will urge passage of the DREAM Act at a news conference Wednesday morning at the Capitol.Foundering in Congress for a decade, the legislation was passed in the House but came up five votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster in the Senate during last December’s lame-duck session. The DREAM Act would provide a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants brought to the country as children if they attend college or join the military for two years. At a speech in El Paso, Texas, Obama called on Congress to pass the bill and “stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents.” “It was a tremendous disappointment to get so close and then see politics get in the way,” Obama said. “These are kids who grew up in this country, love this country, and know no other place as home. The idea that we would punish them is cruel and it makes no sense. We are a better nation than that. “So we’re going to keep up the fight for the Dream Act. We’re going to keep up the fight for reform.” I asked President Obama directly about the Dream Act when I had the chance to go to the White House because it’s the right thing to do and because I’ve worked so closely with the Latino community to help make this happen and I will continue to push for this to come true. Whatever happened to America the strong, America the brave, America, the land of the free? The Pat Buchanan types that have littered our history happened. Right Wing talk radio happened and FOX News happened. The Dream Act : The DREAM Act , a bipartisan bill that is supported by 66% of the American people , would enable young people who came to the country as children, but lack legal immigration status, to enlist in the U.S. military or attend college on their way to becoming full U.S. citizens. Seventy-five percent of Latino voters say passing the DREAM Act in short order is either extremely important or very important.
Continue reading …
Police launch murder investigation and try to identify men after passing driver discovers bodies A murder investigation has been launched after the bodies of two men were found on a country road on the outskirts of Bradford. West Yorkshire police said the bodies were discovered by a passing motorist in New Lane near its junction with Raikes Lane in Bradford at about 10.20pm on Tuesday. A force spokesman said a forensic examination of the scene was being carried out. Police were trying to establish the identities of the men and the circumstances leading to their discovery. New Lane has been closed between Holme Lane and Tong Lane, the spokesman added. The scene remained sealed off on Wednesday, with a police helicopter circling above. The police force’s homicide and major inquiry team is leading the investigation. Police cordons, each more than 200 metres from the scene, were in place at either end of New Lane. At the junction of New Lane and Tong Lane, the A58, a police van and a police car guarded the entrance. Detective Superintendent Dick Nuttall said: “We are examining the possibility that these bodies were left on New Lane following an attack. I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was in the area of New Lane or Raikes Lane at the time or saw anything suspicious. “This is a rural and quiet area of Bradford and people may have noticed any unusual activity, especially at this time of night. “At this stage we have not recovered any weapons; however, forensic officers are currently examining the scene.” The detective said officers from the local neighbourhood policing team would be patrolling the area to offer reassurance and speak to residents about any concerns. The area where the bodies were found is open countryside – green meadows with pockets of woodland – just a mile or two from the suburbs of south Bradford. Locals speculated that the bodies may have been dumped. Alice Avery said: “It’s a quiet area. You just don’t know what goes on at night time around here, do you?” A woman who lives near where Raikes Lane was closed at its junction with Holme Lane said: “It’s a nice area down there. “We don’t know the circumstances but it makes you scared, not knowing what’s happened. I’m scared for my children.” Crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Failure of intelligence in Afghanistan, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, exacerbated already dangerous situation, says General Sir David Richards Serious intelligence failures meant British commanders were unprepared for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan as soldiers “turned up a hornets’ nest”, three of the country’s most senior military officers have said. General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, told MPs the British had got involved in a very serious situation, adding: “War is a bummer.” A failure of intelligence, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, and ill-thought out attempts to eradicate the opium poppy harvest, combined to exacerbate an already dangerous situation facing the 3,000 British troops sent to Helmand by the Blair government in 2006, the officers said. The huge problems then confronting British soldiers – the situation is much better now that about 11,000 are deployed in operations in a smaller area – were described by Richards, his deputy, General Sir Nick Houghton, and General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the army, in evidence to the Commons defence committee on Wednesday. “It was very clear the British were going to get involved in a very difficult situation,” Richards, then Nato’s commander in Kabul, told the cross-party committee of MPs. He said: “War is a bummer. Politics and the enemy have a vote.” Richards, who had asked Britain and other countries to send more troops to southern Afghanistan, warned: “It is impossible just to chuck troops at the problem, because of the great duty of care”. Wall said: “I absolutely accept what we found when the forces arrived on the ground was starkly different from what we anticipated and had been hoping for.” He said British commanders did not expect the insurgency to be as “vehement” as it turned out to be, and told MPs it was clear there was a failure of intelligence. Houghton, a widely respected general who, along with Richards, was interviewed by Cameron for the top military post, listed a number of problems that came together. Britain’s military commitment to Iraq was higher than it was anticipated it would still be in 2006, and British troops arrived in May, “the natural start of the fighting season”. The Taliban, at the time, encouraged the belief that foreign troops were out to eradicate the poppy harvest, a valuable source of income for local farmers. Some 200,000 labourers migrated from Pakistan to help with the poppy harvest, and some were happy to stay as “guns for hire”. Houghton added that US troops had just engaged in “particularly kinetic” [aggressive] military operations at the time. Moreover, at the behest of President Hamid Karzai, British troops were deployed to forward “platoon houses” in northern Helmand areas such as Sangin and Musa Qala. The soldiers turned out to be dangerously exposed and too few in number. Asked about the effect of Osama bin Laden’s death on military operations in Afghanistan, Richards said it was too early to tell, but that it clearly had a psychological effect and possibly an effect on the ability of the insurgents to raise money. Military Afghanistan House of Commons Defence policy Foreign policy Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Failure of intelligence in Afghanistan, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, exacerbated already dangerous situation, says General Sir David Richards Serious intelligence failures meant British commanders were unprepared for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan as soldiers “turned up a hornets’ nest”, three of the country’s most senior military officers have said. General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, told MPs the British had got involved in a very serious situation, adding: “War is a bummer.” A failure of intelligence, notably about tribal loyalties and aggressive US operations, and ill-thought out attempts to eradicate the opium poppy harvest, combined to exacerbate an already dangerous situation facing the 3,000 British troops sent to Helmand by the Blair government in 2006, the officers said. The huge problems then confronting British soldiers – the situation is much better now that about 11,000 are deployed in operations in a smaller area – were described by Richards, his deputy, General Sir Nick Houghton, and General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the army, in evidence to the Commons defence committee on Wednesday. “It was very clear the British were going to get involved in a very difficult situation,” Richards, then Nato’s commander in Kabul, told the cross-party committee of MPs. He said: “War is a bummer. Politics and the enemy have a vote.” Richards, who had asked Britain and other countries to send more troops to southern Afghanistan, warned: “It is impossible just to chuck troops at the problem, because of the great duty of care”. Wall said: “I absolutely accept what we found when the forces arrived on the ground was starkly different from what we anticipated and had been hoping for.” He said British commanders did not expect the insurgency to be as “vehement” as it turned out to be, and told MPs it was clear there was a failure of intelligence. Houghton, a widely respected general who, along with Richards, was interviewed by Cameron for the top military post, listed a number of problems that came together. Britain’s military commitment to Iraq was higher than it was anticipated it would still be in 2006, and British troops arrived in May, “the natural start of the fighting season”. The Taliban, at the time, encouraged the belief that foreign troops were out to eradicate the poppy harvest, a valuable source of income for local farmers. Some 200,000 labourers migrated from Pakistan to help with the poppy harvest, and some were happy to stay as “guns for hire”. Houghton added that US troops had just engaged in “particularly kinetic” [aggressive] military operations at the time. Moreover, at the behest of President Hamid Karzai, British troops were deployed to forward “platoon houses” in northern Helmand areas such as Sangin and Musa Qala. The soldiers turned out to be dangerously exposed and too few in number. Asked about the effect of Osama bin Laden’s death on military operations in Afghanistan, Richards said it was too early to tell, but that it clearly had a psychological effect and possibly an effect on the ability of the insurgents to raise money. Military Afghanistan House of Commons Defence policy Foreign policy Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Legislation first put forward in 2009 removed from MPs’ timetable amid worldwide outcry A bill calling for gay people to be imprisoned for life has been dropped by the Ugandan parliament after worldwide condemnation. The fiercely controversial legislation, first put forward in 2009 , was discussed in committee on Friday. It was due to be debated on Wednesday but was removed from the MPs’ timetable. With the current parliament about to be dissolved, the bill appears to have been put on hold indefinitely – but campaigners warned it could be reintroduced in the next session. John Alimadi, an MP, told the Associated Press the bill may have been dropped from the agenda because of the worldwide outcry against it. Campaigners welcomed the development. Christopher Seneno, a Ugandan bishop, said: “It’s good news. We wouldn’t like this bill even to be debated. That will be dangerous because there is a lot of misinformation and excitement. Just with the bill being debated, anything can happen to LGBT people.” Seneno admitted he did not know whether the bill was dead in the water or could be revived at a later date. Ricken Patel, the executive director of Avaaz, an online group that attracted more than 1 million signatories condemning the legislation, said: “The pressure on the Ugandan government has had a big impact today, with President Museveni keeping the bill off the table – as he has for months. “If not tabled this week the bill will die for good – a huge victory for human rights.” Gay activists say homophobia in Uganda has increased since the bill’s introduction. More gay people are being harassed because of media attention and because church leaders have been preaching in favour of the bill going through parliament. Authored by the MP David Bahati, the bill carries harsh provisions. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act would face life imprisonment. Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” would face seven years in prison. Landlords renting rooms or homes to homosexual people could get seven years. Bahati’s original bill mandated a death sentence for active homosexual people living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape, but he said last month this was “something we have moved away from”. Politicians and civil rights groups around the world have criticised the bill, with Barack Obama describing it as “odious”. Gay rights Uganda Africa David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Legislation first put forward in 2009 removed from MPs’ timetable amid worldwide outcry A bill calling for gay people to be imprisoned for life has been dropped by the Ugandan parliament after worldwide condemnation. The fiercely controversial legislation, first put forward in 2009 , was discussed in committee on Friday. It was due to be debated on Wednesday but was removed from the MPs’ timetable. With the current parliament about to be dissolved, the bill appears to have been put on hold indefinitely – but campaigners warned it could be reintroduced in the next session. John Alimadi, an MP, told the Associated Press the bill may have been dropped from the agenda because of the worldwide outcry against it. Campaigners welcomed the development. Christopher Seneno, a Ugandan bishop, said: “It’s good news. We wouldn’t like this bill even to be debated. That will be dangerous because there is a lot of misinformation and excitement. Just with the bill being debated, anything can happen to LGBT people.” Seneno admitted he did not know whether the bill was dead in the water or could be revived at a later date. Ricken Patel, the executive director of Avaaz, an online group that attracted more than 1 million signatories condemning the legislation, said: “The pressure on the Ugandan government has had a big impact today, with President Museveni keeping the bill off the table – as he has for months. “If not tabled this week the bill will die for good – a huge victory for human rights.” Gay activists say homophobia in Uganda has increased since the bill’s introduction. More gay people are being harassed because of media attention and because church leaders have been preaching in favour of the bill going through parliament. Authored by the MP David Bahati, the bill carries harsh provisions. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act would face life imprisonment. Anyone who “aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality” would face seven years in prison. Landlords renting rooms or homes to homosexual people could get seven years. Bahati’s original bill mandated a death sentence for active homosexual people living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape, but he said last month this was “something we have moved away from”. Politicians and civil rights groups around the world have criticised the bill, with Barack Obama describing it as “odious”. Gay rights Uganda Africa David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …NHS reforms: David Cameron rejects claim that ‘listening exercise’ is a sham
May 11, 2011 No Comment
Cameron promises ‘significant and substantial changes’ to health and social care bill as Ed Miliband accuses him of ‘dumping on’ health secretary Andrew Lansley David Cameron has promised “significant and substantial changes” to the government’s plans to reform the health service amid accusations that ministers are conducting a “sham” consultation exercise. The prime minister became embroiled in a row with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, at prime minister’s questions over treatment waiting times and plans by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, to revamp the National Health Service, which have sparked widespread opposition from staff. The two leaders traded insults as Miliband ramped up the pressure on Cameron by linking him personally with the NHS reform plans. The Labour leader read out a quote from Cameron last month, in which he claimed he had been involved in designing the reforms “way back into opposition with Andrew Lansley”. “Can he therefore confirm that the NHS plans are not Andrew Lansley’s fault; they’re his?” asked Miliband, before accusing him of “dumping” on a minister rather than taking responsibility himself – a practice Miliband claimed was “becoming a pattern”. “This morning in the papers we see the universities minister [David Willetts] being dumped on for his tuition fees policy, we see the schools secretary [Michael Gove] being dumped on for his free schools policy and the poor deputy prime minister [Nick Clegg], he just gets dumped on every day of the week.” He said the decision to throw open a “listening exercise” last month, with the legislation for the reforms already making its passage through parliament, was proof that Cameron thought “something has gone wrong”. But he went on to claim that the exercise was “nothing more than a sham” in light of the fact that the NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, had told health managers to carry on implementing the reforms after the “so called pause” in the legislation had begun. Cameron insisted the government was determined to get the reforms “right”. “I can absolutely guarantee there will be significant and substantial changes to the reforms because we want to get them right, because we want to guarantee an NHS, free at the point of use, available on need rather than ability to pay and unlike the party opposite, which is cutting the NHS in Wales, this government will put more money in the NHS.” The prime minister cited a letter signed by 42 GPs that hailed Lansley’s health reforms as “good for patients”. The letter, published today in the Daily Telegraph called on the government to press ahead with the health and social care bill. The 42 signatories, all family doctors, who together lead 1,100 practices across England and who are all heads of recently-formed GPs’ consortiums, said that ditching the reforms would be a mistake. They insisted the reforms would benefit the most elderly, infirm and vulnerable people in society. But it emerged almost three weeks ago that Jonathan Munday, a former Tory councillor who chairs the board of the Victoria Commissioning Consortium, had emailed GP colleagues urging them to back his reforms by signing the letter of support to the prime minister that went out today. Miliband told Cameron he should be “embarrassed” by the assessment by the Royal College of General Practitioners, which represented thousands of GPs, and has warned that the government’s plans would cause “irreparable damage to the core values of the NHS”. The prime minister challenged Miliband to deal “with the substance of the reform” since he agreed that “no change is not an option”. “He should be seriously engaging in how we make sure we have a strong NHS for all our people in the future. Instead we have an empty opposition, which got him nowhere last week.” Miliband used his first question to ask Cameron to rate his handling of the NHS after a year in office before pointing to figures published today which show waiting times for diagnosis have risen : “Over 10,000 people waiting to get their tests, that’s three times the number it was a year ago.” Cameron instead seized on a previous claim Miliband made two weeks ago about rising waiting times for inpatients and outpatients, which the prime minister said had turned out to be wrong, and told the Labour leader he should have the “guts” to admit he had been wrong. But the Labour leader insisted “waiting times are rising” and said Cameron had refused to take responsibility for the NHS reforms. The NHS surfaced again later in prime minister’s question as Cameron told MPs that the government would consider terminating its contract with a private firm to overhaul the NHS’s computer system. He faced calls from Richard Bacon, the Conservative MP for South Norfolk, to scrap the new system and save a further £4.7bn, which he said could be better spent directly on patients. The NHS computer programme would “never deliver its early promise”, he added. Cameron said the IT systems inherited from Labour were “poor value for money”, with the £12bn centralised records system for 50 million patients in England taking four years longer than planned to implement. He told the Commons: “Since coming into government we have reviewed the projects with the intention of making the best of what we have inherited. “In part, as a result of our work, the government has cut £1.3bn from the cost of the National Programme for IT in the NHS, including planned savings of at least £500m from Computer Sciences Corporation.” He added: “There are no plans to sign any new contract with Computer Sciences Corporation until the National Audit Office report has been reviewed and until the public accounts committee meetings and the Major Projects Authority reviews have taken place. “The Department of Health and Cabinet Office will examine all the available options under the current contract, including the option of terminating some or all of the contracts.” NHS Health PMQs House of Commons David Cameron Ed Miliband Health policy Public services policy Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Britian’s top judges rule that Northern Irish pair who suffered miscarriage of justice are entitled to compensation Two men from Northern Ireland whose convictions for murder during the Troubles were quashed following the emergence of fresh evidence are entitled to compensation, the supreme court has ruled. In a new definition of what constitutes a miscarriage of justice Britain’s most senior judges said that Raymond McCartney and Eamonn MacDermott were entitled to compensation. The two men were convicted in January 1979 of murder and membership of the IRA but had their convictions quashed in February 2007. Millions of pounds could be paid to scores of other victims from Northern Ireland as a result of the decision. The court rejected a similar challenge by Andrew Adams, a former aircraft engineer, of Newcastle upon Tyne, who spent 14 years in jail before his murder conviction was ruled unsafe. Barry George, whose conviction for the murder of the TV presenter Jill Dando was quashed, has been fighting for years for compensation; he also joined the case. Nick Baird, solicitor for George, said after the judgment that he was encouraged and would be applying for the Ministry of Justice asking them to reconsider their refusal to give him compensation. The nine supreme court judges ruled that in George’s case where a ‘”new or newly discovered fact” had emerged which led to an acquittal at retrial “compensation should be paid to him under the scheme that had been set up by the statute”. By a narrow majority, the judges held that a miscarriage of justice had occurred “when a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that the evidence against a defendant has been so undermined that no conviction could possibly be based upon it”. The supreme court panel said: “A claimant for compensation will not need to prove that he was innocent of the crime but he will have to show that, on the basis of the facts as they are now known, he should not have been convicted or that conviction could not possibly be based on those facts.” Not all miscarriages of justice will lead to compensation. “Procedural deficiencies that led to irregularities in the trial or errors in the investigation of offences will not suffice to establish entitlement to compensation,” the judges ruled. McCartney, a Sinn Féin assembly member for Foyle, said his decision to pursue the case had been justified. “I feel totally vindicated,” he said. “This has been a long process and I want to pay due gratitude to my legal team who have been magnificent throughout this. The supreme court has allowed us to pursue compensation … [The] former lord chief justice (of Northern Ireland) Brian Kerr has stated in the course of the judgment that not only should we have been acquitted but shouldn’t have faced trial in the first place. ” This is damning indictment of the RUC’s (Royal Ulster Constabulary) interrogation techniques at the time and a damning indictment of the actions of the Public Prosecution Service at the time.” Adams said: “I welcome the fact that the majority of the supreme court has not agreed with the justice secretary’s proposal to solely compensate those people who he decides have been completely exonerated of the crime they were wrongly convicted of. “But I am bitterly disappointed that … [my case has not been] accepted for compensation within the new definition. I maintain my innocence of the murder of Jack Royal – as I have from day one.” Since 2006 the Ministry of Justice has awarded compensation to 59 applicants out of 228, according to figures given to the court. UK criminal justice UK supreme court Northern Ireland Jill Dando murder Crime IRA UK security and terrorism Owen Bowcott Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …