Château Margaux expert to breathe new life into historic California winery Perhaps Francis Ford Coppola made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, or perhaps wine expert Phillipe Bascaules just loves the smell of Napa Valley in the morning: either way Coppola, director of film classics such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now has lured the prominent winemaker from Château Margaux to breathe life into his California winery. Coppola said his aim is to make the estate the finest in America for the production of Old World wines, as he announced he has also bought the historic trademark Inglenook. Bascaules takes over from Scott McLeod, who had resigned as the estate’s winemaker. Inglenook occupies an important part in the development of wine in the US. The winery was founded in California’s Napa Valley in 1879 by a Finnish sea captain, Gustave Niebaum, who established it as one of the finest in the world. Niebaum brought some of the best European grapevines to Napa. Coppola bought part of the Inglenook property in 1975 with the profits from The Godfather. He spent the next two decades adding bits to re-establish the old estate, but the trademark had eluded him until now. Coppola said the arrival of Bascaules was intended to hour the estate’s heritage and restore its legacy. He said he wanted to help with “invigorating the vineyards, planning a new state-of-the-art winemaking facility, and focusing on what it would take to achieve my goal of restoring this property into America’s greatest wine estate.” Bascaules, in the same statement, said: “I was charmed by the beauty of the estate and its unique environment. I found the tasting of 1959 Inglenook astonishing with regard to its freshness and complexity, and when I tasted some samples of the 2009 vintage, I recognized the incredible potential of this property. I understand Francis Ford Coppola’s desire to bring the quality of the wines to their fullest potential and I’m excited to explore new methods to reach this goal.” The statement continues: “Rubicon will continue to be the proprietary name of Inglenook’s flagship wine, and Bascaules, who spent the past 21 years at Château Margaux, will lead a team of talented winemaking professionals dedicated to the goal of making Rubicon the finest New World estate wine produced in the Old World style.” Bascaules served as estate director for 11 years at Château Margaux. Francis Ford Coppola Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Fukushima Daiichi power plant emergency is now on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl warning Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale. But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan’s nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale. The scale, devised by the international atomic energy agency, ranks nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents by their severity from one to seven. Japan also temporarily issued tsunami warnings for parts of the north-east coast on Monday following another powerful aftershock. It is exactly a month since a magnitude-9 earthquake created huge waves that left an estimated 28,000 people dead or missing. NHK, the public broadcaster, warned of a tsunami up to 2 metres high on the coast of Ibaraki prefecture after the magnitude-7.1 quake. Although the waves were estimated to be much smaller than those that hit on 11 March, the meteorological agency warned people in Ibaraki to evacuate to higher ground. The warnings were later lifted. The aftershock came as the government said it was widening the evacuation zone around the plant due to high levels of accumulated radiation and fears about long-term effects on residents’ health. A fire that broke out at the plant’s number four reactor at 6.38am local time was extinguished, the operator, Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco), said. More than 14,000 people are still missing following the disaster, and 152,000 survivors are living in evacuation centres. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, placed a message in newspapers in several countries, including Britain, China and the United States, thanking the international community for its support. Kan said the generosity shown towards Japan in its time of need demonstrated the human capacity for kizuna , or bonds of friendship, and vowed that Japan would emerge a stronger nation. “We deeply appreciate the kizuna our friends from around the world have shown and I want to thank every nation, entity, and you personally, from the bottom of my heart,” he said. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the current 12-mile (20km) evacuation zone would be extended to five other communities, including the village of Iitate, which lies 25 miles from the plant. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Fukushima Daiichi power plant emergency is now on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl warning Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale. But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan’s nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale. The scale, devised by the international atomic energy agency, ranks nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents by their severity from one to seven. Japan also temporarily issued tsunami warnings for parts of the north-east coast on Monday following another powerful aftershock. It is exactly a month since a magnitude-9 earthquake created huge waves that left an estimated 28,000 people dead or missing. NHK, the public broadcaster, warned of a tsunami up to 2 metres high on the coast of Ibaraki prefecture after the magnitude-7.1 quake. Although the waves were estimated to be much smaller than those that hit on 11 March, the meteorological agency warned people in Ibaraki to evacuate to higher ground. The warnings were later lifted. The aftershock came as the government said it was widening the evacuation zone around the plant due to high levels of accumulated radiation and fears about long-term effects on residents’ health. A fire that broke out at the plant’s number four reactor at 6.38am local time was extinguished, the operator, Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco), said. More than 14,000 people are still missing following the disaster, and 152,000 survivors are living in evacuation centres. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, placed a message in newspapers in several countries, including Britain, China and the United States, thanking the international community for its support. Kan said the generosity shown towards Japan in its time of need demonstrated the human capacity for kizuna , or bonds of friendship, and vowed that Japan would emerge a stronger nation. “We deeply appreciate the kizuna our friends from around the world have shown and I want to thank every nation, entity, and you personally, from the bottom of my heart,” he said. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the current 12-mile (20km) evacuation zone would be extended to five other communities, including the village of Iitate, which lies 25 miles from the plant. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fukushima Daiichi power plant emergency is now on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl warning Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale. But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan’s nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale. The scale, devised by the international atomic energy agency, ranks nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents by their severity from one to seven. Japan also temporarily issued tsunami warnings for parts of the north-east coast on Monday following another powerful aftershock. It is exactly a month since a magnitude-9 earthquake created huge waves that left an estimated 28,000 people dead or missing. NHK, the public broadcaster, warned of a tsunami up to 2 metres high on the coast of Ibaraki prefecture after the magnitude-7.1 quake. Although the waves were estimated to be much smaller than those that hit on 11 March, the meteorological agency warned people in Ibaraki to evacuate to higher ground. The warnings were later lifted. The aftershock came as the government said it was widening the evacuation zone around the plant due to high levels of accumulated radiation and fears about long-term effects on residents’ health. A fire that broke out at the plant’s number four reactor at 6.38am local time was extinguished, the operator, Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco), said. More than 14,000 people are still missing following the disaster, and 152,000 survivors are living in evacuation centres. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, placed a message in newspapers in several countries, including Britain, China and the United States, thanking the international community for its support. Kan said the generosity shown towards Japan in its time of need demonstrated the human capacity for kizuna , or bonds of friendship, and vowed that Japan would emerge a stronger nation. “We deeply appreciate the kizuna our friends from around the world have shown and I want to thank every nation, entity, and you personally, from the bottom of my heart,” he said. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the current 12-mile (20km) evacuation zone would be extended to five other communities, including the village of Iitate, which lies 25 miles from the plant. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Fukushima Daiichi power plant emergency is now on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl warning Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale. But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan’s nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale. The scale, devised by the international atomic energy agency, ranks nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents by their severity from one to seven. Japan also temporarily issued tsunami warnings for parts of the north-east coast on Monday following another powerful aftershock. It is exactly a month since a magnitude-9 earthquake created huge waves that left an estimated 28,000 people dead or missing. NHK, the public broadcaster, warned of a tsunami up to 2 metres high on the coast of Ibaraki prefecture after the magnitude-7.1 quake. Although the waves were estimated to be much smaller than those that hit on 11 March, the meteorological agency warned people in Ibaraki to evacuate to higher ground. The warnings were later lifted. The aftershock came as the government said it was widening the evacuation zone around the plant due to high levels of accumulated radiation and fears about long-term effects on residents’ health. A fire that broke out at the plant’s number four reactor at 6.38am local time was extinguished, the operator, Tokyo Electric Power company (Tepco), said. More than 14,000 people are still missing following the disaster, and 152,000 survivors are living in evacuation centres. The prime minister, Naoto Kan, placed a message in newspapers in several countries, including Britain, China and the United States, thanking the international community for its support. Kan said the generosity shown towards Japan in its time of need demonstrated the human capacity for kizuna , or bonds of friendship, and vowed that Japan would emerge a stronger nation. “We deeply appreciate the kizuna our friends from around the world have shown and I want to thank every nation, entity, and you personally, from the bottom of my heart,” he said. The government’s chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the current 12-mile (20km) evacuation zone would be extended to five other communities, including the village of Iitate, which lies 25 miles from the plant. Japan disaster Nuclear power Japan Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan Will ‘Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show’
April 11, 2011 No Comment
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday spent much of show scaring viewers about Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) recently released budget proposal. So apoplectic was the “Hardball” host that he told liberal guests Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe that Ryan's Medicare reform pland “is going to kill half the people who watch this show” (video follows with transcript and commentary): HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: The good thing for the president is the Paul Ryan Medicare plan, because it makes people angry. And, first of all, it scares seniors. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Yes. Well, it should. FINEMAN: Yes, and it should. But, at the same time, it exempts 55 and over, so it’s going to really annoy younger people who are going to at some point get — supposed to get the Medicare benefits — 40 to 55… If it exempts people 55 and over, why should it scare seniors? Exempts means they're not impacted by this whatsoever. Why should anybody be scared by something that doesn't impact them? People are encouraged to remember this as Matthews either doesn't understand it, or is an extremely dishonest person: MATTHEWS: Howard, you know — you’re close to me in age. Let me just point this out. FINEMAN: Yes. Right. MATTHEWS: Most people who follow the news and watch the newspapers every day and watch television shows like this on FOX or this network, MSNBC, or anywhere, on CNN, they — those most attuned to this debate over the budget are either retired or close to it. FINEMAN: Yes. MATTHEWS: They are very sensitive to the fact that they have planned in their retirement that their medical costs will be covered by their Medicare plan. They don’t have to save $20 million so they can pay for their medical expenses when they get older, right, which are going to get more costly as they get older. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s, that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs.Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore. FINEMAN: I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons… For the record, Matthews turned 65 last December. This means he is already eligible for Medicare and would not be impacted by Ryan's plan. I couldn't find Fineman's birthday, but as he graduated high school in 1966, he's probably 62 or 63 making him also exempt from Ryan's plan. As such, there's absolutely no reason for them to be scared that their Medicare benefits are at all at risk by what the Wisconsin Congressman has proposed, and no one 55 or over should be either. Yet, in the ensuing minutes, Matthews and his guests were actually going to wonder why seniors don't understand this: MATTHEWS: Right. FINEMAN: … it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either. MATTHEWS: Why not? FINEMAN: Because they’re going to turn it into the plan where you only get a certain amount of money. MATTHEWS: Yes. FINEMAN: In other words, all the changes are going to be for those younger people. So they’re the ones who ultimately will get screwed. MATTHEWS: Yes. Here’s your Borders book $10 gift certificate that’s going to pay for your million dollar health care costs. It’s a joke. (CROSSTALK) RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. But here’s the perverse thing. For a start, the age exemption didn’t work for Bush when it came to Social Security. MATTHEWS: It went nowhere. WOLFFE: So they know that’s political… MATTHEWS: Why? Because people don’t hear this? FINEMAN: They don’t hear it. They don’t hear it. WOLFFE: They don’t hear it. Indeed. They don't hear it, because people like this misrepresent it. If Matthews, Fineman, and Wolffe all made it clear that Ryan's bill doesn't impact anyone 55 and older, retirees and soon-to-be retirees wouldn't be afraid of it. Instead, Matthews ignorantly or dishonestly claimed: “The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s , that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs. Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore.” And Fineman responded, “I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons, it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either.” And these so-called journalists why the exemption age of 55 didn't work for Bush when he tried to reform Social Security in 2005, and why it's going to be problematic for Ryan's Medicare reform plan. It's because shills like these are intentionally trying to scare and confuse the public. But the best was still to come: WOLFFE: But that’s a political opportunity that, perversely, this White House is not going to leap on right now. There may be lots of people in the Senate on the Democrats’ side who say, let’s use it as a political football, but this president… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Well, they’re saving it for November. WOLFFE: This president — no, no. The president is going to say, if there’s a deal out there, let’s do it, but the deal has to be reasonable; the deal has to include taxes. What’s unreasonable… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: This is smart. In other words, don’t… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Don’t let it be dead on arrival. WOLFFE: No. MATTHEWS: Let the Republican sit out there, sit out there, as the basis for a compromise. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: They’re that smart? They’re that smart? (CROSSTALK) WOLFFE: Yes. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: They’re that smart? (CROSSTALK) WOLFFE: They are smart enough to play that game, but they’re going to say, if you are serious about deficits, you cannot leave taxes off the table. MATTHEWS: OK. FINEMAN: Yes. He… MATTHEWS: Will — will that ever sell with the country? Will the Congress ever adopt a combination of some modification or cost-cutting, which we know has to come into place, somehow squeeze the costs of Medicare — medical costs, and a tax increase for people who can afford it, as a — as a more democratic, a more fair way to deal with this problem? Will they get that through and signed by the president, or is that just a posture? HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it’s a possibility but they’ll be glad to talk about it for the next few months. The one thing the president doesn’t want to do is talk about tax increases in isolation. MATTHEWS: Fair enough. I’m with you. FINEMAN: As Richard was saying, you’ve got — you can’t — that won’t work for Democrats, even if you’re just going to tax rich people. You have to put it in the context of a plan. MATTHEWS: OK. So, guys are so smart. I’m with the smart people here. FINEMAN: Right. MATTHEWS: So, the plan is the president says, look, let them offer a big slash in Medicare, which is going to kill half the people who watch this show. So the reform package for Medicare in Ryan's budget will kill half of the people who watch “Hardball.” And this is sadly what passes for journalism at MSNBC.
Continue reading …Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan Will ‘Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show’
April 11, 2011 No CommentMSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday spent much of show scaring viewers about Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) recently released budget proposal. So apoplectic was the “Hardball” host that he told liberal guests Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe that Ryan's Medicare reform pland “is going to kill half the people who watch this show” (video follows with transcript and commentary): HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: The good thing for the president is the Paul Ryan Medicare plan, because it makes people angry. And, first of all, it scares seniors. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Yes. Well, it should. FINEMAN: Yes, and it should. But, at the same time, it exempts 55 and over, so it’s going to really annoy younger people who are going to at some point get — supposed to get the Medicare benefits — 40 to 55… If it exempts people 55 and over, why should it scare seniors? Exempts means they're not impacted by this whatsoever. Why should anybody be scared by something that doesn't impact them? People are encouraged to remember this as Matthews either doesn't understand it, or is an extremely dishonest person: MATTHEWS: Howard, you know — you’re close to me in age. Let me just point this out. FINEMAN: Yes. Right. MATTHEWS: Most people who follow the news and watch the newspapers every day and watch television shows like this on FOX or this network, MSNBC, or anywhere, on CNN, they — those most attuned to this debate over the budget are either retired or close to it. FINEMAN: Yes. MATTHEWS: They are very sensitive to the fact that they have planned in their retirement that their medical costs will be covered by their Medicare plan. They don’t have to save $20 million so they can pay for their medical expenses when they get older, right, which are going to get more costly as they get older. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s, that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs.Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore. FINEMAN: I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons… For the record, Matthews turned 65 last December. This means he is already eligible for Medicare and would not be impacted by Ryan's plan. I couldn't find Fineman's birthday, but as he graduated high school in 1966, he's probably 62 or 63 making him also exempt from Ryan's plan. As such, there's absolutely no reason for them to be scared that their Medicare benefits are at all at risk by what the Wisconsin Congressman has proposed, and no one 55 or over should be either. Yet, in the ensuing minutes, Matthews and his guests were actually going to wonder why seniors don't understand this: MATTHEWS: Right. FINEMAN: … it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either. MATTHEWS: Why not? FINEMAN: Because they’re going to turn it into the plan where you only get a certain amount of money. MATTHEWS: Yes. FINEMAN: In other words, all the changes are going to be for those younger people. So they’re the ones who ultimately will get screwed. MATTHEWS: Yes. Here’s your Borders book $10 gift certificate that’s going to pay for your million dollar health care costs. It’s a joke. (CROSSTALK) RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. But here’s the perverse thing. For a start, the age exemption didn’t work for Bush when it came to Social Security. MATTHEWS: It went nowhere. WOLFFE: So they know that’s political… MATTHEWS: Why? Because people don’t hear this? FINEMAN: They don’t hear it. They don’t hear it. WOLFFE: They don’t hear it. Indeed. They don't hear it, because people like this misrepresent it. If Matthews, Fineman, and Wolffe all made it clear that Ryan's bill doesn't impact anyone 55 and older, retirees and soon-to-be retirees wouldn't be afraid of it. Instead, Matthews ignorantly or dishonestly claimed: “The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s , that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs. Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore.” And Fineman responded, “I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons, it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either.” And these so-called journalists why the exemption age of 55 didn't work for Bush when he tried to reform Social Security in 2005, and why it's going to be problematic for Ryan's Medicare reform plan. It's because shills like these are intentionally trying to scare and confuse the public. But the best was still to come: WOLFFE: But that’s a political opportunity that, perversely, this White House is not going to leap on right now. There may be lots of people in the Senate on the Democrats’ side who say, let’s use it as a political football, but this president… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Well, they’re saving it for November. WOLFFE: This president — no, no. The president is going to say, if there’s a deal out there, let’s do it, but the deal has to be reasonable; the deal has to include taxes. What’s unreasonable… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: This is smart. In other words, don’t… (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: Don’t let it be dead on arrival. WOLFFE: No. MATTHEWS: Let the Republican sit out there, sit out there, as the basis for a compromise. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: They’re that smart? They’re that smart? (CROSSTALK) WOLFFE: Yes. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: They’re that smart? (CROSSTALK) WOLFFE: They are smart enough to play that game, but they’re going to say, if you are serious about deficits, you cannot leave taxes off the table. MATTHEWS: OK. FINEMAN: Yes. He… MATTHEWS: Will — will that ever sell with the country? Will the Congress ever adopt a combination of some modification or cost-cutting, which we know has to come into place, somehow squeeze the costs of Medicare — medical costs, and a tax increase for people who can afford it, as a — as a more democratic, a more fair way to deal with this problem? Will they get that through and signed by the president, or is that just a posture? HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it’s a possibility but they’ll be glad to talk about it for the next few months. The one thing the president doesn’t want to do is talk about tax increases in isolation. MATTHEWS: Fair enough. I’m with you. FINEMAN: As Richard was saying, you’ve got — you can’t — that won’t work for Democrats, even if you’re just going to tax rich people. You have to put it in the context of a plan. MATTHEWS: OK. So, guys are so smart. I’m with the smart people here. FINEMAN: Right. MATTHEWS: So, the plan is the president says, look, let them offer a big slash in Medicare, which is going to kill half the people who watch this show. So the reform package for Medicare in Ryan's budget will kill half of the people who watch “Hardball.” And this is sadly what passes for journalism at MSNBC.
Continue reading …Appeals court upholds Judge Bolton’s stay of SB1070, but Arizona nativists confident about Supreme Court
April 11, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Well, considering how obviously unconsitutional SB1070 is, despite its Constitution-lovin’ pedigree , you really can’t say this was a big surprise : A federal appeals court upheld Monday a lower court’s block of much of Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law aimed at illegal immigration. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court “did not abuse its discretion” in blocking parts of the law from taking effect last year. The decision, a victory for the Obama administration and immigration activists, means the SB 170 case will likely find its way to the Supreme Court. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction July 28 preventing sections of the anti-illegal immigration law from taking effect. Parts of the law that were blocked: The section that requires an officer make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested if there’s reasonable suspicion they’re in the country illegally, and the section requiring that anyone arrested have their immigration status verified. The section that creates a state crime of failure to apply for or carry “alien-registration papers.” The section that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to solicit, apply for or perform work (but not the section on day laborers). The section that allows for a warrantless arrest of a person where there is probable cause to believe they have committed a public offense that makes them removable from the United States. Despite the significant holes the court blew in Arizona’s claims, its nativist sponsors were quite confident about their prospects going foward : One judge asked Arizona’s lawyer, John Bouma, how the state could enforce federal law. “If I don’t pay my federal income tax, can the state make me?” the judge asked. The appellate panel seemed not to have problems with police officers asking about immigration status, but struggled with the notion implicit in the law that detainees could be held indefinitely while their immigration status was confirmed. The judges also questioned how a law enforcement officer could determine what constitutes a removable offense. The ruling isn’t unexpected. Bill sponsor Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, attended the hearing and predicted this outcome. “We know this will survive,” Pearce said of the law. “This is the most overturned court in the nation. We’ll win it in the Supreme Court.” The appeals court ruling is expected to be appealed. The state can ask the 9th Circuit to revisit the issue en banc, which is by a larger panel of judges. It also could eventually be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ignoring the example of Arizona — which really has suffered economically because it passed SB1070 — the geniuses running the Alabama Legislature are rushing to join them in ignominy . Meanwhile, back in Arizona, some of the state’s cooler heads are starting to bring some more intelligent thought processes to the issue — in the form of some thought-provoking plays being put onstage for the public at the state capitol in Phoenix: “Needless to say last year was a year in which Arizona caught the attention of the world,” said James Garcia, producing artistic director for the New Carpa Theatre Company. “In my work at the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce I was taking calls from Belgium and Germany and soforth, as well as those in the United States. In a way people were all asking the same question – why is there such a conflict over this issue? Why has it turned so ugly? I’ve been immersed in it since before the passage of Senate Bill 1070. I knew in some way, shape or form I had to deal with it as an artist as well.” Garcia, an Ahwatukee Foothills resident, is a former journalist and a longtime playwright. He says he has written news stories and plays about immigration, but has also seen it first hand with his family from Mexico. In recent years, Garcia has become more involved with community work and efforts to get the state to focus on things other than immigration. These short plays are part of that push to tell legislators to stop and let the federal government handle immigration. Garcia sent out a message across the nation looking for short plays and performance pieces about immigration. He was pleasantly surprised when he he received 70 responses. Not only did he receive a wide variety of performances, but he said the work was very high quality. “I sort of thought in my head, maybe prejudiced because I live here in the Southwest, that we were going to get plays about the border and about border patrol agents and immigrants from Mexico,” Garcia said. “That turned out not to be the case.” The 12 works chosen for the final production show Irish immigrants in the prohibition era, Canadian immigrants, Native Americans, abstract ideas about building walls between cultures, as well as Mexican immigrants and the fears surrounding SB 1070. Not that this will ever affect the Russell Pearces of the world. Tides can take awhile to turn — but this is one that will, eventually, inexorably.
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The House of Silk, written as tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle 81 years after his death, is narrated in first-person by Watson The answer, Watson, is elementary. The reason Sherlock Holmes’ latest adventure, The House of Silk, is only being published 81 years after the death of his creator Arthur Conan Doyle, and 106 years after his final story about the tenant of 221B Baker Street, is that the story was simply too shocking to reveal until now. The news in January that Anthony Horowitz – better known as a children’s author – had been commissioned to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel, was itself a literary sensation. The book, his publishers promise, is “stunning”, and the title has just been revealed for the first time. The book is set in 1890, but as written by Watson in a retirement home, a year after the death of Holmes. The story opens with a train robbery in Boston, and moves to the innocuous setting of Wimbledon – but, Holmes says, the tale was too monstrous, too appalling to reveal until now. “It is no exaggeration to say it could tear apart the very fabric of society”, he writes in the prologue. Horowitz is on a book tour in the US, but announced the title in a filmed interview, shown at a reception at the London Book Fair. The book is finished, and in a safe at his publishers, Orion. Jon Wood of Orion has read it – in one sitting – and obviously refused to reveal who dunnit, or any further hints about the plot. The 85,000-word book will be published in hardback on November 1, in a “very large” edition “I think it is going to be an absolute publishing sensation,” Wood said. “It has all the quality of the original, but with a much more modern pace and sensibility.” Horowitz said he had added very little to Holmes, having loved him since he first read the stories at the age of 16. The corpses he left across his scripts for television series such as Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War owed a lot to his early infatuation with the great consulting detective. “I have tried to be very, very careful. I really do admire these stories, and I would not want to take any liberties.” The author had time to take up the Meerschaum pipe as he is about to dispatch his awesomely successful teenage detective Alex Rider into the shadowy world of adulthood. Scorpio Rising, the ninth and final adventure in the series which has awed the book trade by having boys queuing outside bookshop doors on publication and signing dates, has just hit the shelves. Horowitz first revealed his own latest adventure, appropriately, in a speech in January to the Sherlock Holmes Society. The adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the pipe-smoking cocaine- injecting, easily bored detective, chronicled by his literal minded but devoted companion Dr Watson, were such a sensation in late Victorian England that when Doyle got bored and attempted to kill him off, dropping him into the Reichenbach Falls locked in battle with his deadly adversary Moriarty, he was forced by public demand to revive him. Despite innumerable adaptations and pastiches, and the great success of last year’s Sherlock in a contemporary BBC version, this is the first tine the Conan Doyle estate has authorised a new Sherlock Holmes novel. Until now even the title has been kept secret. Doyle’s last 13 stories were published as The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1905. The news that he has been down but still not out has mainly been received joyfully by both Holmes and Horowitz fans. On his website one wrote “I’m sure it’s going to be as kickass as all the rest of Anthony Horowitz’s books” – a concept which might have taken Holmes four pipes to get his head around. Crime fiction Arthur Conan Doyle Anthony Horowitz Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Former governor of Massachusetts seeks Republican nomination, saying ‘Obama’s policies have failed’ Mitt Romney , the former governor of Massachusetts and multimillionaire businessman, has officially confirmed that he will seek the Republican nomination to take on Barack Obama in next year’s White House race. Romney set up an exploratory committee that will allow him to begin raising campaign funds. The only other official candidate so far is Tim Pawlenty , the former governor of Minnesota. The former house speaker, Newt Gingrich , is semi-official, unable to set up a full exploratory committee until he has disentangled himself from financial commitments. Obama announced last week that he will seek a second term. In a short video , Romney, standing in front of a football field in New Hampshire, which normally holds the first primary, made unemployment his key campaign message. He said that he had spoken yesterday to many students at the University of New Hampshire who had wondered where the jobs would be when they graduated. He had also been to Nevada, where unemployment is 13%. “How has this happened in the nation that leads the world in innovation?” he asks. “The answer is that President Obama’s policies have failed.” Romney is prepared to spent tens of millions of his own money to become president and will be hoping that his background as a businessman will be an asset at a time when voters are concerned primarily about the economy. But he is a poor speaker, lacks charisma, and his Mormonism will lose him some voters, especially among Christian evangelists. And while he is a conservative on economic issues, many on the right will not forgive him for setting up a form of healthcare in Massachusetts with echoes of Obama’s subsequent healthcare reform. In 2008, Romney lost out in the early decisive states, beaten in Iowa by Mike Huckabee and in the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries by John McCain. Mitt Romney Barack Obama Republicans US elections 2012 US politics United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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