Leader of the Catholic church in Scotland says Christianity is being marginalised as PM invites churchmen to Downing Street The leader of the Catholic church in Scotland has used his Easter address to attack “aggressive secularism”, suggesting there were “those who would indeed try to destroy our Christian heritage and culture and take God from the public square”. He made the address as David Cameron publicly endorsed the “enormous contribution” of Christian values to Britain, days before he welcomes senior churchmen to Downing Street for an Easter celebration. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who is known for his outspoken views, eschewed traditional Easter themes of resurrection and hope and instead set his sights firmly on the “marginalisation” of Christianity in the UK. He told the congregation at St Mary’s Cathedral; “Christians must be united in their common awareness of the enemies of the Christian faith in our country, of the power that they are at present exerting, and the need for us to be aware of that right to equality which so many others cry out for.” His homily included instances where Christians had fallen foul of equality legislation, preventing discrimination against gay people, and swiftly drew fire from groups campaigning against religious privilege in public life. Keith Porteous-Wood, from the National Secular Society, said religious leaders were becoming “increasingly paranoid by the mass exodus from their churches” and were blaming the “bogeyman of secularism” rather than their own “narrowmindedness and bigotry”. In his Easter message the prime minister said: “Jesus taught us to love God and love our neighbour. He led by example and for millions of us his teachings are as relevant now as they were in his lifetime. As we share in this festival with our friends and family, we can all be reminded of the enormous contribution Christianity has made to our country.” Wednesday’s No 10 meeting – which embraces various denominations – will be seen as an endorsement of Britain’s Christian heritage and identity amid a perceived climate of anti-religious sentiment. It is the most explicit outreach to Christian groups in Britain by a government in recent times. Prior state-led engagement with religion has focused almost exclusively on Muslims and the Islamic faith. Baroness Warsi is one of several cabinet figures wooing church leaders. Earlier this month she was the keynote speaker at a Roman Catholic conference addressing the issue of social responsibility, while last year she unequivocally told Anglican bishops that, unlike the previous administration, the coalition did “do God”. Andrew Copson, from the British Humanist Association, described O’Brien’s remarks as “ill-informed” and “alarmist” and accused him of sectarianism. He said: “What these attacks ignore is that campaigners for secularism in our public life are overwhelmingly motivated, not by anti-religious prejudice, but by a positive desire for equality and an equitable public sphere. “These alarmist speeches, designed to stir up the faithful and foster a false narrative of persecution, are divisive and sectarian.” Such attacks “obscured” the reality of the situation, he said. “The churches are seeking to defend a level of influence and privilege totally out of proportion to their significance,” Copson added. The plight of British Christians – and the sidelining of their faith – also figured in the Easter Sunday homily of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster. The Most Rev Vincent Nichols stepped into the debate on assisted suicide. He told his congregation that the “light of faith” gave meaning to their lives and that those without it risked ending their lives – or even the lives of others. “Without this faith so much is missing from life. Without such faith we can become afraid of living. Indeed, in pain and loneliness, or in even the prospect of pain and loneliness, life, for some, loses its purpose and killing oneself or a loved one becomes a beguiling temptation. “Those who belittle faith and ridicule the things we cherish do so from a distance, with little understanding of the true reality of a relationship with the Lord. We know better because we live these truths of faith.” A spokesman for Dignity in Dying Dignity in Dying said “a clear majority” of religious people supported a change in the law on assisted dying – 71% according to the 2010 British Attitudes Survey. Christianity Catholicism Religion David Cameron Conservatives Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk
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Guiseppe and Caterina Massaro, aged 80 and 77, were found by relative in bedroom in ransacked house in Wolverhampton Detectives in the West Midlands have launched a double murder investigation after an elderly couple were discovered dead in their bedroom over the Easter weekend. Guiseppe and Caterina Massaro, aged 80 and 77, were found by a relative in their bedroom in their ransacked home in Wolverhampton on Friday night. The couple, originally from Italy, had moved to England in 1960. Post mortem examinations have been carried, but there was no immediate indication as to how the couple had died. They were said to have been found on their bed, but there were no signs of blood or of them having put up any resistance. In a tribute released through West Midlands police, the Massaro family said they could not “begin to grasp the evil” that had taken place. It said: “Words cannot describe the devastation that has struck our family after discovering our beloved grandparents hurt by the hands of someone else. We cannot even begin to grasp the evil that took place in their home, and how frightened they would have been. “An entire generation was taken away from us that day, and we cannot comprehend how something could go this far. “We only hope this devastation can save the lives of many other people by being aware that tragedy can strike at any time, so all we can do is be more vigilant towards our neighbours and the entire community. “Their lives will be sadly missed, and this has severely affected our family and a lot of our friends.” The couple had two children and a number of grandchildren. One grand-daughter, Lindsey Booth, 22, told the Sunday Mercury it was clear that the couple’s home had been burgled. “When I got upstairs, I opened their bedroom door and saw my grandad lying still on top of the mattress,” she said. “I screamed to my mum to stay downstairs and walked over to touch the body, and it was cold and clearly dead. “That’s when I noticed my gran lying next to him … her body had been covered by the duvet. They were both still in their day clothes, and I didn’t see any blood or signs that there had been a struggle.” Neighbours paid tribute to the couple, and bunches of flowers were left near their home. One card read: “In loving memory of Cath and Joe. Great neighbours, will be sadly missed, never forgotten.” One local, Sarah Roberts, 61, said: “I only spoke to them a couple of days ago, and he wished me well. Another, 46-year-old Justin Greenwood, said: “They were always out and about, they seemed to live outside, maybe a continental way of life.” Detectives are trying to track the movements of the couple’s black Peugeot 307, which went missing from outside their house and was later found in nearby Wednesfield. The car is thought to have some distinctive features, including an orange fir tree air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror and a sticker of the Virgin Mary on the windscreen. Superintendent Mark Payne, from the Wolverhampton local policing unit, said: “We have had a really positive response so far from the people of Wolverhampton. “I am still appealing to anyone who may have seen this car, or seen people coming or going from this address on Thursday or Friday. “Tragedies like this are extremely rare but have enormous impact. Local people hold the key to finding who is responsible for this terrible tragedy.” Crime Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lindsey Graham wants to bomb Tripoli to pressure Gaddafi’s inner circle at the cost of civilian lives
April 24, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media The rationale President Obama gave to get involved with Libya was because he feared thousands of civilian lives would be at stake. We’ve debated and discussed the decision to go into Libya already so I won’t do it here, but today, Sen. Lindsey Graham said to CNN that in reality he’s willing to kill thousands of civilians with a bombing raid on Tripoli to pressure Gaddafi’s inner circle to revolt against him.. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the United States should take a more aggressive approach in Libya to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi, bombing the capital city so members of Gaddafi’s inner circle “wake up every day wondering, ‘will this be my last?’” Graham defended the United States’ involvement in Libya, including the newly-approved use of predator drones in the country. Russia and China have accused the U.S. of overstepping a U.N. mandate against excessive force in Libya, arguing Western allies have made the situation in Libya worse. “I like coalitions: It’s good to have them, it’s good to have the U.N. involved. But the goal is to get rid of Gaddafi,” Graham said on CNN’S “State of the Union.” “A military stalemate is ensuing, and the only way I know to make this thing successful is to put pressure on Tripoli,” he said. “So I would not let the U.N. mandate stop what is the right thing to do.” CNN’s Candy Crowley told him that’s against the UN mandate, but to hell with them, right Goober? War hawks rule! Graham: My recommendation to NATO and the administration is to cut the head of the snake off , go to Tripoli and start bombing Gaddafi’s inner circle, their compounds, their military headquarters in Tripoli the way to get Gaddafi to leave is to have his inner circle break and turn on him and that’s going to take a sustained effort through an air campaign. Crowley: Here’s the problem, the UN resolution calls for protecting the Libyan people so it’s going top be hard to make that connection, listen we’re going after Gaddafi, we’re going after his men, that’s not within their mandate. Collateral damage is a term that is meaningless to war hawks. I didn’t know Lindsey liked Ozzy Osbourne . Bat’s or snakes, it’s all the same to warmongers, right?
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Air pollution is such in London that drastic measures would be required before ‘greenest ever Games’ to avoid £175m fine • Toxic waste clean-up on Olympic site cost taxpayers £12.7m Britain could be fined up to £175m by the International Olympic Committee if it continues to break air pollution laws by the time the Games begin next August. The prospect of the air pollution penalty is becoming a major source of embarrassment to the government and Olympic organisers who set a goal of making the Games ” the greenest ever ” but have already watered down green measures planned for the event. To meet the legally binding agreement, London may have to reduce traffic levels by more than 30% over a period of nearly a month, raising the possibility of draconian measures such as banning cars with number plates ending in odd and even numbers on alternate days. Under the non-negotiable host city contract with the IOC – signed by the government and the mayor of London in 2005 – the IOC can withhold 25% of the expected £700m broadcasting income generated from the Games should air quality levels exceed EU limits during the games. The contract has been given a temporary extension until later this year by the EU for the reduction of levels of small particulate matter (PM10), but has so far failed to find a way to do so and London risks a £300m fine from the European commission later this year. London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe, with official studies showing that air pollution – mainly from traffic – causes more premature deaths than passive smoking and traffic accidents combined, at a cost of about £2bn a year. According to the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), published this week, the expected increases in traffic along the Olympic route network of 600km of London roads during the Games will lead to further breaches of European legal limits in areas that already suffer from poor air quality. Even a 30% reduction in normal traffic during the period of the Olympics may not be enough to bring emissions below the legal limit, it said. Lawyers said London now has few options left beyond actions such as imposing an odd and even number plate ban throughout the city to enable endurance events, such as the marathon, to take place. At the last Olympic Games, in 2008, Beijing had to ban more than 1m cars and close factories. “The SEA shows that there is a real risk that the Games will result in air quality laws being broken in London in 2012,” Alan Andrews, a lawyer with the legal group Client Earth , said. “By failing to take this risk seriously, the government and the mayor are painting themselves into a corner. If air quality limits look like being broken, it’s difficult to see what they will be able to do other than impose draconian bans like those used during Beijing 2008. “Plans need to be put in place now that will ban only the most polluting vehicles from inner London in time for the Games.” “The mayor should be banning all the oldest diesel vehicles from inner London,” Simon Birkett , the director of the Campaign for Clean Air in London , said. The commitments on air quality contained in the contract with the IOC apply in particular to those days when endurance events such as the marathon, the triathlon and the cycling road race take place. Officials had hoped that reduced traffic during the August holiday season, plus pleas to the public and businesses to change their habits for the duration of the Games, would help reduce pollution. “It is clearly a problem. It’s not London 2012′s responsibility, or in its gift to solve it, but it is clearly a problem,” Shaun McCarthy, the chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 , an independent body advising the Mayor of London and the Olympics minister, said. The green impact the Olympics would have here and abroad was a central component of London’s winning bid over other cities such as Paris. It was intended that the infrastructure and built environment of the Games “will be designed to take account of the potential impacts of climate change and will set new standards for sustainable production, consumption and recycling of natural resources. There will also be significant long-term benefits in terms of projects, applications of green technologies”. But some promises have already apparently been broken and compromises made. A pledge to generate 20% of energy on site, mainly from a wind turbine in the Olympic park, has been abandoned and, at most, 9% of energy on site will be from renewables. Plans to create a zero-waste Games, with all on-site waste recycled, have been reduced, and the athletes’ village will be smaller and less green than hoped. “This is a terrible admission of defeat on air pollution and contradicts all the mayor’s promises about the ‘greenest games ever’,” Darren Johnson , a London assembly Green party member, said. “Failing to deliver modest energy and waste targets on a seven-year project with billions from the public purse just shows what a mess our mayors of London and the government have made of environmental policy. “The organisers have failed on many of the promises. They are a long way short of the inspirational revolution in environmental policy we were promised.” said Darren Johnson , London assembly Green party member. The ODA head of sustainability, Richard Jackson, said: “The Olympic park has set new standards. With the exception of the 20% renewables target, we are on track to meet all sustainability targets.” A spokesperson for Transport for London said: “We have a comprehensive package of long-term measures to tackle the biggest sources of pollution and improve air quality.” The panel’s pledges … and the reality Air quality Pledge: London signed up to the Olympic host contract which specifies that the city must meet international pollution laws. Reality: Olympic route will impact heavily on air quality making London more likely to breach laws unless it bans 30% of all cars. Construction Pledge: 90% of demolition materials to be reused or recycled, half of all materials to be brought in by rail and local waterways and at least 20% of recycled material to be used to build permanent venues and the Olympic village. Reality: 95% of the buildings and infrastructure on the Olympic site was crushed and melted, but only around 1% reused. £20m was spent restoring a canal to ship 12,000 tonnes of waste and building materials a week, but only 3,000 tonnes were shipped on them in the first two years. Athletes’ village Pledge: To make the village of 8,000+ homes energy self-sufficient. Reality: Numbers reduced to 4,700 and homes built to Level 4 – good for UK but not the best possible. Waste Pledge: To achieve a ‘zero-waste’ games by reducing waste, recycling and sending nothing to landfill. Reality: Plans watered down. Some food waste to be sent to landfill in Bedfordshire, 30% to be incinerated. No catalysation of nearby authorities to improve waste policies. Energy use Pledge: To generate 20% of energy on site from renewables. Reality: The Olympic park to only produce 9% of its post-games energy from renewables. About 1,000 homes in surrounding areas to be insulated. Plans for wind turbines in Hackney and at Eton manor abandoned. Olympic flame Pledge: A low-carbon Olympic flame and torch. Reality: EDF energy announcement expected soon. Decontamination Pledge: The site was heavily contaminated and 2.5sq km of contaminated land and 1.4m tonnes of soil had to be cleaned or remediated. Reality: Independent assessors argue that more than 7,000 tonnes of radioactively contaminated material dumped in a former landfill site has been buried. Wildlife/Park Pledge: To create Europe’s largest urban park. Reality: 300,000 wetland plants grown in Norfolk and Wales. Almost 2,000 newts and hundreds of toads plucked from the site’s wetlands and waterways. But anger in Greenwich where hundreds of trees will be affected, and the park closed for several months. Future problems could include erosion of park to make way for more housing. Food Pledge: To serve “the best of British” food. Reality: Cadbury, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are the main sponsors, but millions of meals will be prepared by caterers. Hopes that all food would be organic, British and Fairtrade have been watered down. Dutch brewer Heineken have “pouring rights”, which means no branded British ale will be sold on the 40 sites. Carbon footprint Pledge: To encourage visitors to come by train. Reality: Event tickets to include London Underground travelcard. Pollution Olympic Games 2012 International Olympic Committee Green politics London John Vidal Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk
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Troops loyal to Gaddafi renew bombardment despite statement that tribal leaders would be given 48 hours to broker resolution Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi pounded Misrata on Sunday, hours after the Libyan government claimed its troops had pulled back from the besieged city to let tribal leaders try to negotiate a political resolution, or unleash a “bloody” assault. Using multi-barrelled rocket launchers and tanks positioned at the edge of Misrata, loyalist troops fired hundreds of missiles at the city. At least six people, most of them civilians, were pronounced dead at the main hospital by midday. Dozens of injured were also treated. “There has been a lot of shelling,” said Anas Rajab, a doctor. “It looks like today will be another crisis day.” As the attacks continued, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the Libyan rebel national council, said that Kuwait is to contribute 50m Kuwaiti dinars (£109.9m) to Libya’s rebel council. The renewed bombardment contradicted a claim by Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, that “armed forces have ceased operations”. The move, he said, was to give a 48-hour window for tribal leaders from the region south of Misrata to negotiate with the rebels over access to the port. If no deal could be reached by Monday night, the deadline, the tribes would launch a military assault to “liberate” the city, Kaim said. Tribal leaders have not confirmed any intervention, and rebel leaders in Misrata are sceptical about the government’s statements. But Kaim said early on Sunday that the tribes were “trying to get in contact with the rebels”. The government’s assertion that tribal leaders are ready to intervene politically and militarily may be an attempt to pressure rebels after the killing and capture of government troops, and to deflect attention from rebel gains. Many rebels expect Gaddafi to make another strong attempt to take the city, but they dismiss claims that the tribes will be sent in instead of soldiers. Ahmed Mohamed Said, a computer engineer turned rebel, said it was ruse to make the conflict look like civil war, rather than a government turning on its own people, and thus prevent Nato from assisting the rebels from the air. “Gaddafi wants it to look like brothers are fighting brothers,” he said. “That will never happen.” Gaddafi’s forces have faced setbacks in Misrata and the western mountain region, close to the Tunisian border. And Kaim acknowledged that loyalist troops had failed to take control of the port city after two months of siege. He said: “The tactic of the army was to have a surgical strike but, with the [Nato] air strikes, that doesn’t work.” He added: “The leaders of the tribes decided to do something to bring normal life back [to the city]. Their main demand is that foreign fighters leave the town or surrender themselves to the army.” The regime maintains that rebels fighting in Misrata and the east of the country are being driven by al-Qaida and Hezbollah militants – a claim rejected by the opposition. Kaim said the tribal leaders want to reopen access to the port, which has been under the control of rebel forces since the siege began. The port served all Libyans, he said, but was of particular interest to tribes south of Misrata. “The leaders of the tribes are determined to find a solution to this problem within 48 hours,” he added. “The other option is military intervention.” He claimed the six tribes in the region could muster a force of 60,000 men to “liberate” the city. Any assault by the tribal forces would be ruthless, he claimed. “The tribal leaders are pushing to intervene militarily,” he said. “We have to do our utmost to stop this. If the tribes move into the city, it will be very bloody and I hope to God we will avoid this.” On the ground, the rebels expanded on their gains of recent days. They said a large hospital under renovation in the city centre, which was used by Gaddafi’s forces as a base, is now clear. A small number of government troops appeared still to be hiding out in residential buildings and gun battles could be heard around the city. But most of the government forces and heavy weaponry remain concentrated beyond Misrata’s southern highway. In areas recaptured by rebels over the past two days, there is evidence of a crushing battlefield defeat of government forces. In the city’s main vegetable market, a large covered area open on the sides, there are six destroyed tanks and a burning petrol tanker. Thousands of machine gun shells litter the ground, along with several cases used to carry mortar bombs. Most of the buildings nearby are badly damaged or destroyed by gunfire or shells. Further south, near the technical college that was the scene of fierce fighting on Saturday, two large houses that had been occupied by Gaddafi’s troops for a fortnight were black with smoke. At least 16 government soldiers were killed there, a rebel fighter said. Two charred bodies lay in the living room. On the southern highway, controlled by the government until Sunday, a tank had nosedived into a trench dug across the road by the rebels. A burnt pickup was nearby, its cargo of rocket-propelled grenade launchers smouldering next to it. Green uniforms discarded by fleeing soldiers had been flung nearby. “There was no retreat, just fighting, and we forced them back,” said Hassan Mohamed, a rebel fighter. Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Xan Rice Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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Warning comes amid concerns over blurring of boundaries between school staff’s professional and private lives Teachers are being warned not to “friend” pupils on Facebook amid concerns over the blurring of boundaries between school staff’s professional and private lives. In a fringe meeting at the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference on Sunday, teachers were told that pupils are getting access to potentially embarrassing information about teachers on their Facebook pages, while headteachers and school governors are increasingly using information posted on social networking sites to screen candidates for jobs. Teachers were also warned about the rise of a new site, Formspring , which enables users to post comments and questions without identifying themselves. Bullying posts appeared on the site before the suicide last year of 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington, from Long Island, New York, though her parents have played down suggestions of a link. Karl Hopwood, an internet safety consultant and former headteacher, told the NUT fringe meeting: “The line between private life and professional life is blurred now because of social media.” He urged the audience to watch for unguarded comments that could have damaging consequences. In one case, Hopwood said, a teacher posted the status update: “OMG must stop pissing about and get my maths boosters planned as I go to teach kids it in about one and a half hours!!!!” He also gave the example of a deputy head of a school, who found that photographs of him in a Superman outfit were put up on the school’s bulletin board. The pictures, taken by a colleague who was a fellow guest at a birthday party, had then spread through his Facebook friendships with pupils, Hopwood said. The NUT has recently issued guidance warning teachers not to befriend pupils on social networking sites, and to let school management know if they befriend parents or ex-pupils. Teachers at schools in Kent were advised by the council to close down social networking profiles after a headteacher at a college in Dartford was criticised for posting a photograph with a caption boasting about the size of her breasts. Hopwood said a headteacher in Wiltshire had banned staff from keeping a Facebook profile, but added: “I don’t think that’s the way forward.” Instead he urged teachers to be more sophisticated in their internet use. “Don’t friend pupils on social networking sites. Set up a group to link up with the orchestra or the rugby team.” There is also concern over the misuse of online information by potential employers. In one case, a female teacher was advised by a head to look at her page on a social networking site – where she had a picture of herself balancing a pint glass on her head – after she struggled to find work. After she changed her settings and removed photos she got a job, he said. The internet safety expert also said that he had been on an interview panel when the chair of governors handed him an envelope of printouts from Google searches of every candidate. Amanda Brown, NUT assistant secretary for employment, conditions and rights, said there was “definite concern” that there had been an increase in schools looking for information online. In the public sector there are rigorous appointment procedures, she said, adding: “If that’s going to be undermined by headteachers and governors going on to Google to see what else they can find then that would be a problem.” An increasing proportion of young children are signed up to social networking sites. Last year, over a third of children aged eight to 12 had a profile on sites such as Facebook, Bebo or MySpace that require users to register as being 13 or over, according to an Ofcom survey. The figure has risen from a quarter in 2009. A website used by schoolchildren to spread anonymous gossip was closed down earlier this year, after what its owners said was abuse by a “minority of irresponsible people.” Little Gossip, which started in November, had been criticised for failing to remove schools from a list of institutions users could gossip about. Hopwood expressed concern about the potential misuse of the Formspring site, which he said had a “much bigger user base” than Little Gossip. He said: “They think they can say anything on Formspring, but their online reputation can be damaged just as quickly as yours or mine can.” However he also praised social networking sites as a space for sharing positive information, giving the example of a memorial page for a teacher on Facebook. “Some of the stuff on there was wonderful.” Teaching Facebook Schools Internet Social networking Privacy Trade unions Children Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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US attorney charges poker firms’ executives with ‘profiting from illegal gambling’, but action is as much about taxation as morality For Mark Buchan , it was a bit of extra income to supplement his writing and teaching. Most people lose when they play poker online, but not this classics professor. On a good day, he says, he could make hundreds of dollars an hour from the comfort of his New York home. But the FBI has ended his fun. A major crackdown on poker sites operating in the US has left British-born Buchan and many thousands of others with frozen gaming accounts. Buchan noticed the action when he couldn’t log on to his usual site. Popular sites – fulltiltpoker.com, pokerstars.com and absolutepoker.com – all have notices stating : “This domain name has been seized by the FBI.” Buchan said: “Something had to happen at some point. But for them to do it like this was really, really surprising.” Gaming is, and always has been, a hot topic in the US. Sports betting online is illegal and last year David Carruthers, former chief executive of London’s BetOnSports, was jailed for 33 months for “racketeering conspiracy”. Online poker seemed to inhabit a greyer area. Not any more. Preet Bharara , the US attorney for New York, has charged Raymond Bitar, Full Tilt’s Ireland-based chief executive, and other online poker execs at rival sites, including Isle of Man-based PokerStars and Costa Rica’s Absolute Poker, with bank fraud and money laundering . He followed it up with a civil suit seeking to recover $3bn (£1.8bn) in allegedly ill-gotten gains. The defendants “concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme”, said Bharara, “tricking” some US banks and “bribing” others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits. In their “zeal to circumvent the gambling laws”, the defendants were flouting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, brought in by George Bush, and had engaged in massive money laundering and bank fraud, he said. “Foreign firms that choose to operate in the United States are not free to flout the laws they don’t like simply because they can’t bear to be parted from their profits,” added Bharara. In a statement, Full Tilt said: “Mr Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe online poker is legal – a position also taken by some of the best legal minds in the United States. Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law.” Angry poker players – who argue that their game is one of skill, not luck, so it is not gambling – took to the web to express themselves. The attorney general’s Wikipedia entry was changed: “Bharara is a naturalized American citizen who spends what little free time he has bullying the homeless on the streets on NYC. Furthermore, he is wasting time and money chasing down poker sites to compensate for his small genitalia,” it read. But for Buchan the game is over, online at least. He said other sites would step in and offer poker online in the US, even if it is illegal, but he would not be playing them. Poker and gambling experts say two forces are driving the crackdown: morality and a desire to collect tax dollars. “Sure people are worried about the effects of online gambling,” said Michael Burke, the author of Never Enough: One Lawyer’s True Story of How He Gambled His Career Away . Burke, a self-decribed gambling addict, who lectures on gaming addiction, said he had noticed a huge increase in the numbers of people who want to talk about problems with online gambling. “The real issue the government has is that they don’t know how to tax it,” Burke added. He said studies had shown that social isolation and the constant availability of online poker was creating a new generation of potential problem gamblers, lured by stories of fortunes to be made. The “myth”, he said, was reinforced by the $8.5m Joe “the kid” Cada won at the 2009 World Series Poker championship. “What about the thousands of others who lost money?” said Burke. “A very small percentage of gamblers becomes addicted but it’s still a very large number of people,” he said. “I believe if it’s legalised there will be real problems.” Mark Griffiths, professor of gaming studies at of Nottingham Trent University, said online gambling has specific problems: the frequency of opportunity, anonymity and “disinhibition” that people experience online can lead to a loss of control but, he added, online games are unlikely to present problems for the majority. “There are severe alcoholics out there and nobody is suggesting we return to prohibition,” said Buchan, the classics professor, who condeded: “I was playing a little too much anyway.” He is writing a guide to the classics and a book on death bed love scenes. “Now I can get on with some work,” he said. New York Poker Internet Gambling US sport US taxation United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Likely Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sunday that LGBT people don’t deserve equal rights. “You opposed gay marriage,” Wallace noted. “I did,” Santorum agreed. “You oppose civil unions, you want to reinstate ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Do you think gays have any rights, should have any access to benefits as partners?” Wallace asked. “Well, sure. I mean there are all sorts of contractual benefits that anybody can contract for. But the question is whether we should institutionalize that in public policy? My feeling is that people can live their lives however they want to live it,” Santorum explained. “The question is: what are you going to do to try to impact public policy to recognize particular relationships?” he continued. “My feeling is the relationship that should be recognized in public policy that provides exceptional benefit, unusual unique benefits to society is marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman who are there to join together for the purpose of continuing society, which is having children and raising the children in a home with a mom and a dad.” “But you wouldn’t give them any rights as a matter of public policy?” Wallace wondered. “It depends what you mean by ‘rights.’ Are you talking benefits as far as rights? They have the right to be able to — employment. I don’t know what you mean by rights. What I’m talking about are privileges. Privileges of marriage, privileges of government benefits is a different thing than basic right to live their lives as they well should and can as free Americans,” Santorum replied. The former Pennsylvania senator came under fire in 2003 when he suggested that gays did not have the right to privacy with respect to sexual acts. “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything,” he told The Associated Press . “In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be,” he added . Wallace gave Santorum a chance Sunday to plug his website and plead for contributions. The controversial Republican has launched an exploratory committee and said he will run for president in 2012 if he gets enough donations.
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Downing Street’s chief mouser snares his first prey after two months in the job It’s a good job his political masters don’t do targets any more, because otherwise Larry the cat must surely have failed. After two months in the job, Downing Street’s “chief mouser” – as cats who catch government rats are called – finally snared his first prey. On Good Friday, Larry appeared through a window from the Downing Street garden with a mouse in his mouth. He is supposed to have dropped his swag at the feet of No 10′s secretaries. Recruited to deal with a rodent problem – black rats have been seen bolting across the Downing Street lawn – Larry has preferred hanging out in the corridors of power to stalking in the grass. Announcing his new hire in February, the prime minister’s spokesman said Larry had been “highly recommended”. The four-year-old tabby cat, who came from the Battersea dogs and cats home, had a “very strong predatory drive and high chase-drive and hunting instinct”, the spokesman said. But whether vegetarian, pacifist or just more a political anorak than a trained killer, Larry failed to deliver in his first two months in power. Staff resorted to training Larry by giving him a toy mouse to play with. In Margaret Thatcher’s period as PM, a stray called Humphrey was adopted after wandering into No 10. Humphrey was kept on in the post by John Major, but was sacked when Tony Blair entered office in 1997, with Cherie Blair thought to be responsible for blackballing him. David Cameron Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Downing Street’s chief mouser snares his first prey after two months in the job It’s a good job his political masters don’t do targets any more, because otherwise Larry the cat must surely have failed. After two months in the job, Downing Street’s “chief mouser” – as cats who catch government rats are called – finally snared his first prey. On Good Friday, Larry appeared through a window from the Downing Street garden with a mouse in his mouth. He is supposed to have dropped his swag at the feet of No 10′s secretaries. Recruited to deal with a rodent problem – black rats have been seen bolting across the Downing Street lawn – Larry has preferred hanging out in the corridors of power to stalking in the grass. Announcing his new hire in February, the prime minister’s spokesman said Larry had been “highly recommended”. The four-year-old tabby cat, who came from the Battersea dogs and cats home, had a “very strong predatory drive and high chase-drive and hunting instinct”, the spokesman said. But whether vegetarian, pacifist or just more a political anorak than a trained killer, Larry failed to deliver in his first two months in power. Staff resorted to training Larry by giving him a toy mouse to play with. In Margaret Thatcher’s period as PM, a stray called Humphrey was adopted after wandering into No 10. Humphrey was kept on in the post by John Major, but was sacked when Tony Blair entered office in 1997, with Cherie Blair thought to be responsible for blackballing him. David Cameron Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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