enlarge Here is a story of Teapublicans who love the Constitution and liberty…until they don’t. In my copy of the Constitution, impeachment of a President is a grave and solemn act of Congress which is used in situations where there have been high crimes and misdemeanors. However, a couple of years ago Floyd Brown, former director of Citizens United and now just an Obama-hater at large, went on Alan Colmes’ radio show, and I called in. I was fortunate (?) enough to discover exactly how Teapublicans view impeachment : So, I asked him. His answer was remarkable. With condescending patience, he explained that impeachment is a political, not legal action. He justifies his position by interpreting the phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” as “bad behavior.” He further defends his allegation of “bad behavior” by claiming that President Obama has badmouthed the US in foreign countries, and acts in a way that “we don’t approve of.” When I pointed out to him in my mom voice that not only did the majority in this country approve of our President, he explained to me that he and his group did not. Remarkably, he went on to explain that in California where I live, recalls are the equivalent of a Federal impeachment (I could go on about his connection to the evil Howard Kaloogian, architect of the Gray Davis coup/installation of the Schwarzenegger puppet government, but the relationship map above explains it…look for Howard Jarvis). Alan Colmes summed it up pretty well when he shot this retort back at Brown: “So basically, you want to impeach him because you don’t like him. No other reason.” This is why it came as no surprise to me when I saw what Rep. Michael Burgess said in a town hall meeting with TeaPublicans in his district: However, Burgess vowed not to support another increase in the debt limit, and when a constituent suggested impeaching Obama to stop his agenda, Burgess said, “It needs to happen, and I agree with you it would tie things up. No question about that.” The newspaper said when Burgess was later asked about his comments, the congressman couldn’t specify what violations the Democratic president had allegedly committed to warrant impeachment but didn’t rule out pursuing his removal from office. Of course, Burgess comes at this conclusion from the premise that impeachment is just a tool in Teapublicans’ political toolbox to further their policy goals, not any reality-based premise. And more importantly, it came after he voted yes on the “deal,” which ticked off his Teapublican winger contingent. It doesn’t have anything at all to do with the Constitution or framers’ intent. This is because they only care about those things when it benefits them, like making corporations into persons and things like that. To me, tossing around threats of impeachment like they do is a little like threatening divorce when the spouse leaves dirty dishes in the sink. After awhile, there’s no weight to the threat, and it just floats around like unicorn farts in the wind. They look pretty, but stink to high heaven. But let me end this on a positive note. At least one newspaper took issue with the insanity that is Rep. Michael Burgess and his merry men. This Star-Telegram editorial takes him to task: Contacted Tuesday by a member of the Star-Telegram Editorial Board, Burgess would not back away from using the impeachment process against Obama to “tie things up.” He said the House should have held hearings and protested more strongly earlier this year when Obama involved U.S. forces in military action against Libya. Hearings and protests may be part of politics; impeachment must not. Burgess acknowledged that the time to act against Obama on Libya has passed. When pressed, he had no other “high crimes and misdemeanors” to cite. The last thing this country needs is another crisis. Wars, worldwide economic calamity and severe drought add enough to the current deep political divide. A member of the House should know better than to indulge talk of adding a frivolous use of the Constitution’s solemn power. But you see, for Burgess, power is what it’s all about. He and his compatriots want it all, and will stop at nothing to get it.
Continue reading …
Nationalist message on T-shirt changes to call for tolerance when taken home and washed Rightwing rock fans at a nationalist music festival in eastern Germany were taken by surprise when souvenir T-shirts they were given were emblazoned with a secret anti-extremist message. The slogan on the shirts first read “hardcore rebels” along with a skull and nationalist flags. But once the T-shirts were washed, the tagline turned into a message from a group offering to help far-right extremists break away from the neo-Nazi scene. “If your T-shirt can do it, you can do it too – we’ll help you get away from right-wing extremism,” reads the slogan on the shirts after their first washing. The shirts were handed to 250 people at a “Rock for Germany” festival in Gera by organisers after they had been donated anonymously. They were provided by Exit, a group which helps people disassociate themselves from the far-right. Exit claimed to have pulled off the stunt after contacting festival organisers in the eastern state of Thuringia using a false name, saying they wanted to support the scene while retaining their anonymity. The T-shirts were in lieu of a donation, they claimed. The organisers accepted and dished out the freebies at the festival on Saturday. Twenty-four hours later a warning message was sent from the organisers via Facebook and SMS warning festival-goers that the T-shirts were not all they seemed. “Exit has wasted several thousand [euros] of tax payers’ money,” said the missive. But Bernd Wagner, founder of Exit, insisted that no state funds had been used in the initiative. “It was all paid for by private money – not one cent came from taxpayers,” he said in a phone interview. He said a supporter had approached Exit with the idea, saying he had developed a special fabric ink for concealing hidden messages. “It had never been done before. It was completely new. We had to experiment with it a lot to make sure it worked, to ensure the top layer would not wash away in rain, for example,” he said. Gordon Richter, a member of the far-right NPD party who organised the festival, said the stunt was a waste of money. But Wagner said the stunt went better than they ever dared hope. “We wanted to raise awareness about our programme, especially among the young and less committed,” he said. “There were so many points along the way where our plan could have failed, but it all went perfectly.” Germany The far right Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Artist and activist detained by authorities for 81 days for alleged tax evasion has spoken little of his ordeal Police interrogated Chinese artist Ai Weiwei more than 50 times during his detention and threatened him with up to 10 years in jail for inciting subversion, Reuters news agency has reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the events. Authorities released Ai in June, amid international outcry over his 81-day detention. State media said he was held for economic crimes and released “because of his good attitude in confessing” and a chronic illness, adding that he had agreed to pay back taxes he had evaded. But according to Reuters, the source – who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution – said questioning focused on the proposed “Jasmine Revolution” protests in China in February and writings that could constitute subversion. Police officers discussed the contents of Ai’s blog and Twitter account “line by line”. His family has always maintained his detention was retaliation for his social and political activism. It came amid a sweeping crackdown on dissidents, activists and lawyers, apparently triggered by the anonymous call on an overseas website for “Jasmine” protests inspired by the Arab spring. The source said interrogators asked Ai whether he knew who the organisers of the “Jasmine” protests were, but the artist denied all knowledge. The call drew little response in China. According to the account given to Reuters, plainclothes officers who halted Ai at Beijing airport on 3 April hooded him before putting him in a car and driving him to a secret location where he was held for a fortnight. The 54-year-old was later moved to another location where two officers watched him round the clock, their faces often inches from his, even monitoring him as he slept and insisting he put his hands on top of the blanket. He was not allowed to speak and had to request permission to drink water and use the toilet. “It was immense psychological pressure,” the source said. When Ai told police their actions were illegal, officers replied: “Do you know before Liu Shaoqi died, he was holding the constitution? … Talk about illegality, there’s no difference between the country that we are in now and the time of the Cultural Revolution.” Liu was one of China’s top leaders but was purged and died during the brutal political turmoil which Mao Zedong unleashed in the 1960s. Reuters’s source said police told Ai: “You criticised the government, so we are going to let all society know that you’re an obscene person, you evaded taxes, you have two wives, we want to shame you. We’ll not use politics to deal with you.” Even on the day of his release, officers reminded Ai he could still face 10 years in jail for inciting subversion to state power – a vaguely-worded charge often used against dissidents – the source said. He had to agree to conditions including no media interviews, no meetings with foreigners, no use of the internet and no interaction with human rights advocates for one year from his return home. Ai has given few details of his detention, beyond saying that he experienced “extreme conditions”, and says he is not able to give interviews. But he has spoken to media including the Guardian, and this week attacked the treatment of friends held because of him in several Twitter messages . Ai Weiwei China Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Former News of the World editor and lawyer claim that statement to select committee on phone hacking was ‘mistaken’ James Murdoch is expected to explain within the next 24 hours why he did not mislead a parliamentary select committee investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. He has until Thursday to reply to a list of detailed questions asked by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, following allegations by the former editor and former head of legal affairs of the now defunct News International tabloid that one of his statements was “mistaken” . The former News of the World editor, Colin Myler, and the paper’s ex lawyer, Tom Crone, who alleged that Murdoch had misled the committee, will also be sending letters to MPs ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for supplementary evidence. The three letters, along with a fourth letter from the former overall head of legal affairs at News International, Jon Chapman, are expected to reopen the scandal over just who knew how widespread phone hacking was at the News of the World. “These letters are going to be dynamite,” said one source with knowledge of proceedings. The committee considers them so important that they are returning from their holidays to have a private meeting to discuss the new evidence on Tuesday. It is believed Murdoch has been asked a series of forensic questions in relation to payments to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator formerly employed by the News of the World to hack voicemail messages. The committee want to know why Myler and Crone, who lost their jobs when the paper closed last month, publicly challenged Murdoch’s claim at the committee hearing that he knew nothing of an internal email providing evidence that more than one “rogue reporter” was involved phone-hacking . Murdoch has said he “stands by his testimony to the select committee” and Thursday’s letter is expected to provide evidence to back this claim up. Myler and Crone are, in effect, jointly accusing Murdoch of being part of the cover-up, one in which the company’s executives twisted and turned to conceal the truth about phone hacking and blame it on a single “rogue reporter”. Murdoch’s crucial claim to the committee was that although in 2008 he had personally agreed to a payout of £700,000 to hacking victim Gordon Taylor, he had done so in ignorance of the true facts. He said Crone and Myler had told him the payout was legally necessary. Murdoch, sitting alongside his father Rupert, claimed that Crone and Myler had concealed from him the crucial piece of evidence in the case: that an email had come to light with a voicemail hacking transcript, marked “for Neville”, allegedly a reference to Neville Thurlbeck, the News of the World’s chief reporter. The existence of this email, had it been made public at the time, would have exploded the “rogue reporter” defence and begun to implicate the rest of the NoW newsroom. John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture sport and media select committee, said after Myler and Crone issued their statement in July: “We as a committee regarded the ‘for Neville’ email as one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the whole inquiry. We will be asking James Murdoch to respond and ask him to clarify.” •
Continue reading …While telling every one else not to panic in reaction to drops in the stock market after the S&P downgrade, Stephen Colbert packed his “hobo satchel” full of gold, weapons and a chicken as he prepared to make his escape from the United States. After noting that the only other two countries with a rating of AA+ are Belgium and New Zealand, Colbert concluded: The credit downgrade reduces Americans to waffle-eating Kiwis who put mayonnaise on their French fries and have a serious Hobbit infestation.
Continue reading …
General John Allen says F-16 strike killed those responsible for deaths of 38 US navy Seals and colleagues in crash A US air strike has killed the Taliban militants believed to be responsible for shooting down a Chinook helicopter, killing 38 US and Afghan troops, the top commander in Afghanistan said. Marine Corps General John Allen told a Pentagon news conference that forces learned where the insurgents had fled to and killed them in an early morning F-16 air strike on Monday. A separate statement from Afghanistan said the strike killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohibullah and the insurgent who fired the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) that downed the Chinook helicopter. It said the two men were attempting to flee the country. Thirty US troops – most of them elite navy Seals – were killed in the crash, the single deadliest incident for American troops in the Afghan war. Eight Afghans were also killed. President Barack Obama flew to Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday to watch the arrival of the remains of those killed. The military has launched an investigation into the incident. The Chinook was shot down while attempting to come to the aid of a team of soldiers engaged in a firefight. They were on a mission to capture a senior Taliban leader in the Tangi valley responsible for a series of attacks, including the planting of roadside bombs. Allen acknowledged that the main Taliban leader sought in the operation was still at large. The general defended the decision to send in the elite team, saying it was deemed necessary at the time to go after “elements that were escaping” from an ongoing operation to target the Taliban leader. “We committed a force to contain that element from getting out. And, of course, in the process of that, the aircraft was struck by an RPG and crashed,” Allen told Pentagon reporters via video-conference from Kabul. “We’ve run more than a couple of thousand of these night operations over the last year, and this is the only occasion where this has occurred,” he said. “The fact that we lost this aircraft is not … a decision point as to whether we’ll use this aircraft in the future.” While officials believe the helicopter was shot down by an RPG, Allen said the military’s investigation into the crash will also review whether small-arms fire or other causes contributed to the crash. Allen said the subsequent F-16 air strike killed the insurgents believed to be behind the attack – an assertion the Taliban immediately challenged. In Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said: “The person who shot down the helicopter is alive and he is in another province operating against [foreign forces],” he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. Afghanistan Taliban US military United States Nato guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Although Sesame Street’s creators have never said that the two characters are gay, viewers have long speculated that roommates Bert and Ernie are more than just friends. Perhaps the petition, started by Illinois resident Lair Scott, was prompted by the changing tide in the U.S.: In June, New York became the sixth — and largest
Continue reading …Red Cross brands assaults on medics in conflict zones a ‘humanitarian tragedy’
August 10, 2011 No Comment
Violence against medical personnel in areas of unrest costing millions of lives, according to ICRC report Attacks on doctors and healthcare workers in conflicts from Somalia to Afghanistan have a drastic knock-on effect by jeopardising the health of millions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a report on Wednesday. “Violence that prevents the delivery of healthcare is currently one of the most urgent, yet overlooked, humanitarian tragedies,” Yves Daccord, ICRC director-general, said in a statement. “Hospitals in Sri Lanka and Somalia have been shelled, ambulances in Libya shot at, paramedics in Colombia killed, and wounded people in Afghanistan forced to languish for hours in vehicles held up in checkpoint queues. The issue has been staring us in the face for years. It must end.” According to Dr Robin Coupland, who led research carried out in 16 countries, millions could be spared if the delivery of healthcare were more widely respected. “The most shocking finding is that people die in large numbers not because they are direct victims of a roadside bomb or a shooting,” he said. “They die because the ambulance does not get there in time, because healthcare personnel are prevented from doing their work, because hospitals are themselves targets of attacks or simply because the environment is too dangerous for effective healthcare to be delivered.” In one case cited by the report, Health Care in Danger, Israeli forces prevented ambulance teams from reaching a house in the Zaytun neighbourhood that had been shelled during an offensive in Gaza in 2009. When the teams finally reached the house after disobeying soldiers’ orders to turn back, they found four young children who had been crouching by the bodies of their mothers for four days. The report cited several egregious attacks on healthcare workers. In 2009, a suicide bomber killed more than 20 people, most of whom had just graduated from medical school in Mogadishu, Somalia. The attack, the report said, not only prematurely ended the lives of young doctors – only the second batch of medical graduates in the past 20 years – but also destroyed any chance that tens of thousands of people might have had of receiving medical attention in the future. A month later, the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital in the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka was shelled, suffering two direct hits, killing and wounding many of the 500 patients. Last April, Taliban insurgents in the southern city of Kandahar used an ambulance packed with explosives to kill 12 people at a police training base, the ICRC said. Such incidents represent the tip of the iceberg, according to the ICRC, as attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel have become common in conflicts and upheavals around the world. Libya, for instance, has been affected by an exodus of healthcare professionals since unrest broke out early this year. Similarly, Iraq has reported that 18,000 to 34,000 doctors fled the country between 2003 and 2006. The ICRC expressed particular concern at the long-term effects of attacks on medical personnel. The fight to eradicate polio has faced setbacks in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the safety of vaccination teams is difficult to assure. “These disruptions to healthcare caused by violence are less visible and more difficult to measure than overt attacks against healthcare personnel and facilities,” the report said. “But they are just as deadly for all the wounded and sick who never manage to reach the help they require.” The ICRC said the healthcare community alone cannot address the challenge. “It is imperative that states, their armed forces but also others exercising authority recognise that violence that disrupts the delivery of healthcare is one of the most serious and widespread humanitarian challenges,” it said. Daccord called on parliaments and courts to ensure domestic legislation recognises the criminality of those who violate international humanitarian law and hold the perpetrators of violations accountable. “Violence against healthcare facilities and personnel represents one of the most serious yet neglected humanitarian issues of today,” he said. “Not only is it morally reprehensible, it is illegal under international law.” Conflict and development Mark Tran guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Care home providers at the centre of abuse scandal close a second property
August 10, 2011 No Comment
Castlebeck, the company that owned Winterbourne View care home in Bristol whose staff were filmed by undercover journalists abusing residents, is to close a second residence A second care home owned by the company at the centre of allegations of abuse of vulnerable patients is to close, it was announced on Wednesday. Castlebeck, which owned the Winterbourne View care home in Bristol where abuse was filmed by an undercover BBC journalist for Panorama, has said it will close Rose Villa, also in Bristol. Four members of Rose Villa’s staff were suspended last month following an inspection by regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) while allegations of misconduct were investigated. But Castlebeck today said it was closing the rehabilitation centre for adults with learning disabilities, which has five patients and 30 staff, for “operational reasons”. Winterbourne View, which saw 13 staff members suspended over allegations of abuse, closed in June. Castlebeck’s chief executive, Lee Reed, the company was closing the site “with regret”. “The service is being closed purely for operational reasons,” he said. “Whilst we recognise the concerns raised in the recent CQC inspection report, our decision has resulted from the fact that in reviewing operational practicalities, Rose Villa would be left on its own in the South West – some distance from the support that could be provided by our services in the West Midlands. “The decision is purely voluntary and not at the instigation of CQC. “We very much appreciate the support given to Rose Villa by commissioners since the service opened. However, we also understand the scrutiny they are under in terms of continuing to commission from a service where CQC have identified concerns, albeit that these could, in our opinion, be relatively easily addressed.” The CQC carried out an inspection of Rose Villa on 1 July, and two members of staff were suspended after concerns were raised about safeguarding. According to the BBC, another member of staff was suspended in June after a whistleblower went public, and the fourth worker is accused of mishandling a patient. The CQC, in a report released at the end of July, said Castlebeck must make “root and branch improvements” to its homes. In addition to Rose Villa, the CQC said it had serious concerns about three other Castlebeck services, while another seven did not fully comply with essential standards of quality and safety. Castlebeck has 23 sites – 11 independent mental health hospitals and 12 adult social care centres. The four which the CQC said raised serious concerns are: Arden Vale in Solihull, Cedar Vale in Nottingham, Croxton Lodge in Melton Mowbray, and Rose Villa. The seven non-compliant sites are: Acrefield House in Wirral, Briar Court Nursing Home in Hartlepool, Chesterholme in Hexham, The East Midlands Centre for Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation in Melton Mowbray, Hollyhurst in Darlington, Oaklands in Hexham and Willow House in Edgbaston. Staff at Rose Villa, which opened in the Brislington area of the city in December 2009, were told of the decision to close it this morning, the company said. It said it was looking to transfer patients to other facilities with minimal disruption. All staff, it said, “will be able to apply for alternative employment within Castlebeck as appropriate”. Winterbourne View, in the Bristol suburb of Hambrook, was closed in June after horrifying allegations of abuse were made. The Panorama footage appeared to show vulnerable residents with learning disabilities being pinned down, slapped, doused in cold water and repeatedly taunted and teased. Learning disability Disability Social care Long-term care Bristol Healthcare industry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …