Paul Krugman Calls for Space Aliens to Attack Earth Requiring Massive Defense Buildup to Stimulate Economy
August 14, 2011 No Comment
Oh those whacky liberals. On Sunday's “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” New York Times columnist – and, ahem, Nobel laureate – Paul Krugman actually advocated space aliens attack earth thereby requiring a massive defense buildup by the United States that would stimulate the economy (video follows with transcript and commentary): KENNETH ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Infrastructure spending, if it were well-spent, that's great. I'm all for that. I'd borrow for that, assuming we're not paying Boston Big Dig kind of prices for the infrastructure. FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST: But even if you were, wouldn't John Maynard Keynes say that if you could employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again, that's fine, they're being productively employed, they'd pay taxes, so maybe Boston's Big Dig was just fine after all. Oh those whacky liberals. So in Zakaria's view, the government employing people to do absolutely nothing of value would fix the economy. If this is the case, why doesn't the government just give money to everyone? The economy, in Zakaria's opinion, would therefore grow at a record pace.
Continue reading …Facing Ninth Deployment, Army Ranger Kills Himself. ‘No Way’ That God Would Forgive Him For What He’d Seen, Done, He Told Wife
August 14, 2011 No CommentThe people who should be worried about going to hell are the bastards who sent these soldiers over there for no good reason, and then refuse to pay for the help they need when they come back: JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. – A soldier’s widow says his fellow Army Rangers wouldn’t do anything to help him before he took his own life – after eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army found Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann’s body at a training area of Joint Base Lewis McChord a few weeks ago. A spokesman for the base tells KOMO News that the nature of the death is still undetermined. But Staff Sgt. Hagemann’s widow says her husband took his own life – and it didn’t need to happen. “It was just horrible. And he would just cry,” says Ashley Hagemann. Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he’d seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. “And there’s no way that any God would forgive him – that he was going to hell,” says Ashley. “He couldn’t live with that any more.” More U.S. soldiers and veterans have died from suicide than from combat wounds over the past two years. And as a special way of thanking those who served, Texas Republicans want to make it harder for young, homeless and traumatized veterans to vote.
Continue reading …Ex-NBC News Chief Gartner: People Don’t Blame Obama ‘for Anything That’s Wrong in This Country’
August 14, 2011 No Comment
Asked how Iowans view President Barack Obama, Michael Gartner, the President of NBC News from 1988 to 1993, insisted on this weekend’s Bloomberg TV’s Political Capital : “I think people have a fondness for him and I don’t think people blame him for anything that’s wrong in this country,” except, that is, “the far-right of the Republican Party.” For the Bloomberg TV show which first runs on Friday nights, Al Hunt interviewed Gartner, an Iowa native, at a game of the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs which Gartner co-owns. From the end of the August 12 Bloomberg interview: AL HUNT: What kind of shape is Barack Obama in for the 2012 campaign in Iowa? MICHAEL GARTNER: I think he’s in pretty good shape. First of all, people out here have an attachment to him because he was out here. I think people have a fondness for him and I don’t think people blame him for anything that’s wrong in this country, unless – I think the far-right of the Republican Party does, but I don’t think the moderates do and certainly the Democrats don’t. He generally shows up quite well in Seltzer’s Iowa poll. That’s the Des Moines Register ’s “Iowa Poll ” and in the latest one Obama ticked up to a 48 to 47 percent approval over disapproval, so unless Gartner thinks 47 percent of Iowans are part of the “far-right,” a lot more than just them blame Obama for something. Gartner’s had a long career in journalism , including top editor of the Des Moines Register and Louisville Courier-Journal and, after his stint running NBC News, a time in charge of Iowa’s Ames Daily Tribune where he won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Liberal editorials, that is, based on the kind of columns he composed for USA Today where he was a columnist in the mid-1990s. An April of 1997 MRC CyberAlert compiled some of his liberal pontificating, such as: From the October 17, 1995 USA Today : It's nice, of course, if we have a President we like. But there's more to governing than likability. We learned that from the likable Ronald Reagan, who charmed us with stories as he amassed huge deficits and spent billions on goofy defense plans. No, the record is more important. And Bill Clinton's record is just short of terrific. From June 11, 1996: How can anyone argue that Bill Clinton has not been a good President? Business should love him. The country has been in a controlled boom since he bludgeoned through by one vote his first economic package….Workers should love him. There are more jobs than ever….Minorities should love him. He has a terrific record of appointing women and minorities to judgeships and high federal posts. He has put civil rights back on the table after 12 years of Republican neglect…. No, it makes you wonder what the President and his wife could have accomplished these four years if they had not been consumed by these scandals, these lawsuits and these clippings. By almost any measure, the past four years have been spectacular for many Americans. Still, if Bill Clinton had been a full-time President, if Hillary Clinton had been a full-time First Lady… Would the poor be a little richer? Would the old be a little healthier? Would the young be a little smarter? Would the nation be a little more prosperous? Would the world be a little less troubled? You wonder. And you wonder if he wonders.
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Anti-government activists say gunboats and armoured vehicles have fired on Sunni-majority city, killing at least 19 people At least 19 people were shot dead in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Sunday morning as the Assad regime’s aggressive military campaign to quell protests during the holy month of Ramadan continued. Machine guns were fired from at least one ship and several armoured vehicles at the neighbourhood of Ramel, according to local residents and activists. “Tanks and armoured cars entered as far as possible into the narrow streets and they started to use machine guns to fire at some houses,” said Amer al-Sadeq, a pseudonym for a representative of the Syrian Revolution Co-ordinators Union. Another local activist network, the Local Co-ordination Committees, posted amateur footage on its Facebook page showing a boat apparently patrolling the Latakia coastline, although its location could not be confirmed. Local residents say the latest incidents began on Saturday when armed vehicles approached the neighbourhood and opened fire, activists said. The death toll across Syria has escalated during the first half of Ramadan, bringing the total to around 2,000 people since the uprising began five months ago. A resident from Latakia, who identified himself only as Ahmad, said women and children fled the area on Saturday night as gunfire started and two people were shot dead. He said mosques called on regime forces not to shoot, to no avail, and that the assault continued on Sunday morning. Ahmad said only one nurse was currently operating in the area, where more than 50 people required treatment, after doctors from the local medical clinic were arrested two months ago. There have been large and persistent protests in the Ramel neighbourhood, in the south of Latakia on Syria’s small stretch of coastline. The Sunni-majority city is in the heartland of the Alawite sect, to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs, and is home to religiously diverse neighbourhoods. In March when protesters took to the streets for a sit-in protest against the crackdown in the opposition hub of Deraa, presidential adviser Buthaina Shaaban attributed the unrest to sectarian strife, encouraged by a sermon by Qatar-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Since then residents say the shabiha , a gang of former smugglers loyal to the Assad family, and security forces have sought to pin down areas and scare people about the danger of sectarian clashes. Over the past five months residents have spoken of Sunni neighbourhoods being warned of attacks by Alawites and Alawite neighbourhoods being warned of a Sunni backlash if the regime falls. Activists say sectarianism is not playing a part and a handful of defections are fuelling continuing clashes. Ahmad said a small number of soldiers had defected in the area to join the fightback against the regime. “Now there is a battle between defected soldiers and the others,” he said. Radwan Ziadeh, a US-based Syrian human rights expert, told the Guardian: “The regime is repeating what it did in Hama and Deir Ezzor to try to put an end to this. And every time we see more violence, some soldiers defect, and we see more violence.” Opposition figures are looking for greater splits in the army than handfuls of defectors, which they see as key to toppling the regime. The regime, which has not spoken about the assault in Latakia, claims it is fighting armed gangs and Islamists. Nour Ali is the pseudonym of a journalist based in Damascus Syria Bashar Al-Assad Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Nour Ali guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 for all of the latest updates from the match • Stats centre: league tables, top scorers and much more • And you can email jacob.steinberg.casual@guardian.co.uk 3 min: Pennant curls it into the six-yard box, but the whistle blows for a foul on Cech. 2 min: The first Rory Delap long throw of the season. The first of many. He hurls it in from the right and with some difficulty, Cech, flapping slightly, punches clear. Ramires hooks it out of the box, but Stoke keep the pressure up, Walters winning a corner on the left. 1 min: At a very loud Britannia Stadium – as if that needed saying – we’re off. Chelsea, kicking from right to left, get us going. Fernando Torres doesn’t mess up the kick-off, so he’s already looking better than he did last season. “Going by the success of debutants so far I reckon Villas-Boas’ll get manhandled by Shawcross and get red-carded,” offers Oliver Lewis. Or he’ll nick Tony Pulis’s baseball cap. These youngsters get up to all sorts. Ray Wilkins, in the commentary box, makes a very good point about Drogba’s absence from the starting line-up meaning Chelsea will be weaker when defending set-pieces. Good old Raymondo. The first email. “Did he?” asks Benjamin List of Adrian Mole. “He quoted from it in his impassioned argument about the Falklands, he must’ve had some knowledge, even if it was only an inkling, as to it’s intended meaning. Anyway, 1-1. Lampard with Chelsea’s, Woodgate for Stoke. But he’ll injure himself in the process and it’ll turn from triumph to tragedy.” Chelsea won’t have fond memories of Jonathan Woodgate as well. Everyone’s been asking about what to expect from Villas-Boas. I’ve got no idea to be honest, having not followed the Portuguese league last season. I do know that he’s 33 and worked for Jose Mourinho though. Stoke (4-4-2): Begovic; Huth, Shawcross, Woodgate, Wilson; Pennant, Delap, Whelan, Etherington; Jones, Walters. Subs: Sorensen, Collins, Pugh, Diao, Whitehead, Wilkinson, Shotton. Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Torres, Malouda. Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Benayoun, Drogba, Ferreira, McEachran, Anelka. Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire) Some early team news for you. Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea. He suffered concussion during Spain’s defeat to Italy on Wednesday, but is deemed fit to play. Well. That’s a big vote of confidence in the Spaniard from Villas-Boas. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are apparently left on the bench. So can Andre Villas-Boas do it on a dry, warm Sunday afternoon in Stoke? There are probably better places than the Britannia Stadium for the manager – who is 33 years old and used to work for Jose Mourinho – to get acquainted with English football. In this fixture last season, Stoke gave Chelsea a good going over and were desperately unlucky not to come away with all three points, the match ending in a 1-1 draw. There shouldn’t be too many surprises from Stoke: no-nonsense defending, set-pieces, a reliance on Matthew Etherington to provide the creativity, plenty of long balls and no end of endeavour from their two attackers. It sounds simple, but then Adrian Mole thought Animal Farm was a pleasant novel about a group of animals on a farm. Although Chelsea have a new look in the dug-out, not much has changed on the pitch. In fact, three years after Sir Alex Ferguson suggested that Chelsea were too old to win the title, there squad largely remains the same from then, barring a few tweaks here and there. The days of big spending at Stamford Bridge increasingly appear to be over, the splurge on Fernando Torres and David Luiz in January the exception rather than the rule. From 2003 to 2006, Chelsea bought the likes of Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and, er, Andriy Shevchenko. This summer, they’ve bought Oriol Romeu and Thibault Courtois, with Romelu Lukaku on the way. Not quite the same, is it? The problem for Villas-Boas’s predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, during Chelsea’s dodgy spell last season was a thin squad and that problem hasn’t been rectified. Today Chelsea are likely to have a clutch of youngsters, squad players and Fernando Torres on the bench. Perhaps Luka Modric will be signed. Wesley Sneijder’s available as well. Hint, hint. Right now, Chelsea do not have a team capable of keeping up with the Manchester clubs, let alone one that can harbour realistic hopes of winning the Champions League, the holy grail for Roman Abramovich. No pressure, AVB. Premier League 2011-12 Stoke City Chelsea Premier League Jacob Steinberg guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …On Morning After the Republican Debate, CBS Skips GOP, Interviews Only Obama Spokesman
August 14, 2011 No CommentCBS's Early Show had a strange way of picking guests around the Republican presidential debate on Fox News. On Thursday morning, they interviewed former candidate Steve Forbes about the economy, but had no current candidates. On the day after the debate, CBS brought on Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod to denounce the GOP candidates — but didn't invite any actual GOP candidates. Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis began by letting Axelrod just launch, but did conclude by asking about how Obama can win considering dissatisfaction among Democrats: JARVIS: So, I want to start where Norah [O'Donnell] and Chris [Wragge] left off, and is with Rick Perry. He has called the President's job creation record abysmal. Now, he's in the GOP race. What is your reaction to that? AXELROD: Well, he's also called for secession from the United States of America and all kinds of other things. So, I'm not going to respond specifically to things that Rick Perry has to say. We'll see when he becomes a candidate what specifically he has to propose, what he has to say. His record will get scrutinized, his record on things like education and health care, and some very key issues in Texas. He's been the beneficiary down there of the boom in oil prices, and, obviously, that, in a state like Texas, is going to benefit from that, and increased military spending because of the wars, because Texas is home to many military bases . But- JARVIS: Do you think that's why that Texas- AXELROD: His leadership will get — excuse me? JARVIS [skeptically]: Is that what you attribute, then- Texas's unemployment rate being about a percent lower than the national unemployment rate? To the war and to oil? AXELROD: Well, I don't think there's any question that those were major contributors to it. I don't think very many people would attribute it to the leadership of the governor down there. But, look, there will be plenty of time for that debate and that back and forth. He isn't a candidate yet. We really don't know what kind of candidate he'll be. We don't know how he'll perform when he gets out there, how he'll answer some of the tough questions facing this country. And so, that will unfold in the days to come. JARVIS: When you look at what did unfold last night, it's one thing to get slammed by all of the GOP candidates in the running, to say that this president is a one-term president by them. But then, also David, to have the base, the Democratic base, come out against President Obama in such a significant way. How does the President win re-election under these terms? AXELROD: Well, Rebecca, first of all, let's be clear. Every poll that I've seen, including the most recent this week, show very, very strong support among Democrats for President Obama, almost historically high levels of support. But let's talk about the debate last night, because that's going to help frame this discussion. What we saw- what was surprising was not that all of them attacked Barack Obama, or even that they attacked each other. What was stunning was when they were asked, when you look at the problem of the debt of this country, would you accept any more revenues, any higher taxes, even if it were ten parts cut and one part taxes. And they all raised their hand and said, no, essentially pledging allegiance to the Tea Party, instead of resolving the problems of this country — not one more dime from corporate special interests and loopholes, not one more dime from the wealthiest Americans, just shifting the burden to the middle class. And on that subject, Rebecca, what was also stunning was, an entire debate, two hours, the two words you never heard from one Republican candidate for president was middle class. They didn't address the problems that are facing people in their lives in this country — JARVIS: Okay — AXELROD: And that is what this election is going to be about: who has a vision that's going to move this country forward and restore security for the middle class? JARVIS: David, we have to end it there. Thanks for being with us this morning. David Axelrod.
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Ignacio Estrada ties the knot with Wendy Iriepa, whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state A gay man and a woman whose sex-change operation was paid for by the state tied the knot this weekend in a first-of-its-kind wedding for Cuba. The bride, Wendy Iriepa, 37, arrived at the wedding hall in Havana in a full white wedding gown, with flowers in her hair and holding a rainbow flag. Inside, a public notary joined the couple in a brief civil ceremony and the newlyweds kissed to cheers from friends and family. “This is the first wedding between a transsexual woman and a gay man,” said the 31-year-old groom, Ignacio Estrada. “We celebrate it at the top of our voices and affirm that this is a step forward for the gay community in Cuba.” Gay marriage is not legal in Cuba and Saturday’s wedding does nothing to change that, since Iriepa – born Alexis – is a woman in the eyes of the law. She underwent sex-change surgery in 2007 as part of a pilot programme that began in earnest the following year and made gender-reassignment procedures part of the island’s universal healthcare system. One other transgender woman married years ago, but Iriepa is the first to do so having benefited from the new policy. In the early years after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, homosexuality was considered highly suspect in Cuba along with other “alternative” forms of expression, such as US fashion trends and rock’n’roll. Many gay and transsexual people were fired from government jobs, jailed, sent to work camps or went into exile. That climate of persecution was chronicled by the exiled writer Reinaldo Arenas’ autobiographical Before Night Falls, which became a feature film starring Javier Bardem. Today the island and its government are much more tolerant. Cuba’s most prominent gay rights activist is Mariela Castro, Fidel’s niece and the daughter of the president, Raul Castro. She heads the National Sex Education Centre and, at a transgender event on Friday, she spoke of the institution’s work, including anti-homophobia campaigns and pushing for the state to cover sex-change operations. “One of our accomplishments has made it possible for Wendy to get married,” she said. “It seems she found the love of her life and we wish her many congratulations, because all of our work has been for this, the wellbeing and happiness of our sisters.” Castro’s words belied divisions that have taken hold within the gay movement. Some have accused her of monopolising the cause and struck out on their own, organizing a separate, smaller pride march this year and coming to be labelled members of a “dissident” gay community. Estrada was part of that march, and Iriepa left her job at the Sex Education Centre, reportedly after Castro questioned the relationship. Castro said she was not invited to the wedding. Iriepa thanked Castro for wishing them well. “I think this has been politicised by the Cuban government. I have not wanted to make this into a circus or something really political,” she said. “It is the happiest day of my life.” Estrada, in recent comments to the US-based Radio Marti, called the marriage a “birthday present to Fidel Castro to remind him of the atrocities he committed against the Cuban gay community, above all in the 1960s.” Castro, who turned 85 on Saturday, has expressed regret in recent years over the treatment of gay people during that period. Cuba Gay rights guardian.co.uk
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Deputy first minister attacks dissident republicans after disturbances at the climax of loyalist marching season Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has branded republican youths involved in rioting in his native Derry this weekend as sectarian. It was one of the strongest attacks McGuinness has made on dissident republicans and their supporters since the Real IRA and other anti-ceasefire groups have escalated their violent campaigns over the past two years. Four men were arrested overnight in connection with the disturbances during which cars were hijacked and in one incident a mother and daughter were pulled out of their vehicle. Petrol bombs were thrown at police officers and vans by masked youths in the Bogside area, and at the Apprentice Boys’ Memorial Hall HQ in Derry at the climax of the loyalist marching season. Dissident republicans were also believed to be behind a pipe bomb attack at police lines close to Derry city centre on Saturday evening. No one was injured during the disturbances, which lasted for several hours. The violence erupted after supporters of the Real IRA-linked 32 County Sovereignty Movement attempted to make their way into the city centre. At the time up to 15,000 members of the Apprentice Boys along with their supporters were marching in Derry. McGuinness said on Sunday: “What we witnessed last night in Derry was completely unacceptable. I challenge those who were behind this violence to come out and try and defend the incidents that occurred in our city. “Let them stand over a mother and daughter being dragged from their car in Creggan and other people’s livelihoods being destroyed with work vans being burnt. “The attacks on the Memorial Hall were motivated entirely by sectarianism and whoever carried them out should know that such behaviour goes against everything about Irish Republicanism.” He added: “The vast majority of people in Derry want to get on with the job of moving this city forward. Those behind last night’s violence seem to be wedded to an entirely different agenda.” Dissident republicans had staged protests against the parade and were involved in scuffles with police as the march passed through the centre of the city. The Apprentice Boys’ celebrations marked the 322nd anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 and has in the past been the focal point of violent republican counter-demonstrations. Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness Real IRA Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …55-year-old director of Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina was one of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers One of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers died on Saturday when the car in which he was travelling collided head-on with a speeding bus outside Dhaka. Tareque Masud died along with Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, the head of a local television channel, and three other people. Masud’s American-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and the Bangladeshi painter Dhali Al Mamun are in a serious condition in hospital. Masud, 55, rose to prominence with the films Muktir Gaan in 1995 and Matir Moina in 2002, the latter of which is based on Masud’s experiences as a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The film won a Fipresci prize at the 2002 Cannes film festival and was the first Bangladeshi film to compete for the best foreign-language film award a the Oscars. Mishuk, 52, was an eminent cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Thousands of people gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka on Sunday to pay their respects. The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said: “It is a very unfortunate incident for us. Masud through his movies had given a new dimension to liberation war. Mishuk was an immensely talented journalist. It is a national loss.” Professor Mazharul Hoque, a road safety expert at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh had one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year, but independent research funded by agencies such as Britain’s Department for International Development have put the figure twice as high. Activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers. Last month 43 schoolchildren died near the port city of Chittagong when the truck taking them home from a football match overturned. Bangladesh Road transport guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …55-year-old director of Muktir Gaan and Matir Moina was one of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers One of Bangladesh’s most prominent and celebrated film-makers died on Saturday when the car in which he was travelling collided head-on with a speeding bus outside Dhaka. Tareque Masud died along with Ashfaque Munier Mishuk, the head of a local television channel, and three other people. Masud’s American-born wife and producer, Catherine Masud, and the Bangladeshi painter Dhali Al Mamun are in a serious condition in hospital. Masud, 55, rose to prominence with the films Muktir Gaan in 1995 and Matir Moina in 2002, the latter of which is based on Masud’s experiences as a madrassa student during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The film won a Fipresci prize at the 2002 Cannes film festival and was the first Bangladeshi film to compete for the best foreign-language film award a the Oscars. Mishuk, 52, was an eminent cinematographer and journalist who had worked for BBC World, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Thousands of people gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar monument in Dhaka on Sunday to pay their respects. The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, said: “It is a very unfortunate incident for us. Masud through his movies had given a new dimension to liberation war. Mishuk was an immensely talented journalist. It is a national loss.” Professor Mazharul Hoque, a road safety expert at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said Bangladesh had one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year, but independent research funded by agencies such as Britain’s Department for International Development have put the figure twice as high. Activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers. Last month 43 schoolchildren died near the port city of Chittagong when the truck taking them home from a football match overturned. Bangladesh Road transport guardian.co.uk
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