The Guardian’s Middle East editor will be online for two hours from 11.15am (UK time) on Wednesday to answer your questions about the uprisings in the region It is getting harder to follow the twists and turns of the Arab spring, and not only because the Middle East and north Africa are now in sweltering high summer as well as in the middle of the Ramadan fast. The label that was attached to the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year has stuck firmly, but it is looking a little worn – and in some cases irrelevant. There have always been significant differences in the circumstances of the countries affected. But they have much in common as well: young populations, lack of opportunities, authoritarian political systems, corruption and a lack of accountability by governments that have been tolerated by the west because of oil, strategic interests, fear of Islamists or attitudes to Israel. Reactions to the opening session of Hosni Mubarak’s trial in Cairo were a reminder that many across the region hope to see their own rulers brought to account. But Egypt’s own future looks deeply uncertain, with the military still firmly in control and a new constitution yet to be written. There are lots of interesting and important questions worth asking. But there are few easy or clear-cut answers. Will other Arab autocrats end up in the dock? Syria’s Bashar al-Assad seems intent on using all-out repression to save his regime – and accuses his enemies of fomenting sectarian violence. Now even ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia , which tolerates little dissent at home, has spoken out against Assad. Its Gulf neighbours have done the same even as they work to help Sunni-ruled Bahrain to contain Shia unrest that they blame – though with little evidence – on Iran. Unlike the Syrian president, King Abdullah has not killed 2,000 of his own people in the past five months – but he has tried to buy off dissent. So double standards are part of the story too. Libya looks like a special case. It is remote from the rest of the Arab world with a deeply unpopular leader. Nato’s intervention is proving far from decisive while the Benghazi-based opposition looks ineffective both as a military force and a future government. Opinions are deeply divided over the western response. Is Nato’s action a laudable example of the “responsibility to protect” – whose absence led to the slaughter of thousands Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s? Or was it a mistake to get involved in someone else’s civil war – however odious the regime. Is it simply hypocrisy to act in Libya and leave Syria alone? And what about Yemen , the poorest country in the Arab world? Do western oil interests mean that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states will remain exceptions to hopes for change? Or is it still possible that the Arab spring will push them toward peaceful reforms? What role should the US and other western countries be playing? What about the Palestinians – still stateless and struggling? Some argue that this 21st century Arab awakening has helped heal the bitter rift between the Islamists of Hamas and the secular nationalists of Fatah. Now there is a new wrangle over the wisdom of asking the UN to recognise an independent Palestine at the UN general assembly next month. How will Israel react if that happens? And how different might the Middle East and north Africa look by the spring of 2012? I look forward to discussing these and other questions with you. • Post your questions from 11.15am (UK time) on Wednesday, when Ian Black will be online for two hours to answer your questions and debate the issues Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Damage to retailers and homeowners after riots in London and elsewhere to be paid for by police authorities under 1886 act Taxpayers could face a £100m bill as a result of the riots seen in London and across the UK, with police authorities facing the prospect of picking up insurance costs for damage done to properties across the country. Retailers and homeowners were coming to insurers on Tuesday with the huge damage done to their properties and businesses as a result of three days of rioting in the capital and elsewhere. Shops around the capital were shutting early amid fears of further violence. The damage to both domestic and business properties is likely to be picked up by police authorities, and in particular the Metropolitan Police Authority, under the provisions of the Riots (Damages) Act 1886, which specifies that where damage is caused by people “riotously and tumultuously assembled”, local police authorities are required to compensate victims. The Met has suggested in a statement to the Guardian that it would meet the cost from its reserves, which are funded by the taxpayer. “No specific fund is maintained by the Metropolitan Police Authority to cover claims against such contingencies but we maintain general reserves to cover unexpected events. Such risks cannot be insured against,” a Met spokesman said. The bill could run to more than £100m, according to provisional estimates of the insurance claims resulting from the unrest. The MPA’s reserves stood at £70.6m at the end of March, the 2010/11 accounts for the authority show. Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at the Association of British Insurers, said: “It is too early for us to have an accurate picture of total costs, especially business interruption costs, but insurers are expecting significant losses, of well over £100m.” The liability for riot damages is a contentious issue. The Association of Police Authorities (APA) and the home affairs select committee have both called for it to be reviewed. Bedfordshire police was sued for £42m over the riot at the Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre in 2002, but was insured against the cost. Rob Garnham, chairman of the APA, said: “The potential implications of the Riot Damages act have been of considerable concern for police authorities for a number of years. It is crucial that riot damage is quickly repaired and communities restored but in a context of cuts the public will see little sense in a shrinking police fund being diverted to pay for criminal damage.” Businesses and individuals were being urged on Tuesday to get claims in as soon as possible. Insurers require claims to be submitted within seven days, since they in turn have to claim on police budgets within two weeks. Stuart White, a partner at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said: “The good news for some of the smaller retail units that have been damaged is that even if they do not have a property insurance policy they may be able to recover the value of any damage sustained because of the rioting directly from the police. “However the compensation under the act will not normally extend to the financial losses of the business while it is unable to trade. Trading losses are likely to be recoverable only by businesses with business interruption insurance.” The ABI has urged the government to extend the period to allow affected businesses more time to prepare claims. The body met with the home secretary on Tuesday, suggesting an extension of the claims period from the usual 14 days to the maximum 42. Caroline Woolley, from insurance broker Marsh, said that the losses could be much larger than figures being put out by insurers. “Any figures quoted will be in relation to insured losses, [and not include uninsured losses].” Across the UK on Tuesday shops closed early and were boarded up or emptied for the night. Carphone Warehouse in Clapham High Street posted a sign saying “All stock and money removed”, and the company’s Birmingham store was emptied of stock. Shops closed early in Wolverhampton, Coventry and many London neighbourhoods including Lewisham, Tooting, Camden, Hackney and Croydon. In London Whiteleys shopping centre closed at 3pm. In Birmingham shops such as Tesco and some banks in the jewellery quarter decided to close from mid-afternoon. Carphone Warehouse saw 20 of its stores around the country damaged or looted. Everything Everywhere, which runs the Orange and T-Mobile brands, saw 25 shops hit. The company is boarding up stores and calling in extra security personnel in certain areas. Rioters smashed up just under 20 Vodafone and O2 shops. Among the supermarkets, 16 Sainsbury’s stores were attacked, and three remain closed. Morrisons reported four attacks. Tesco said a number of stores around the country were attacked and a handful had yet to reopen. Peter Marks, group chief executive at The Co-operative Group, the country’s fifth largest food retailer, said: “There is no justification for this wanton and senseless violence, which has endangered people’s lives and destroyed property. The safety of our staff and customers is paramount, and over 100 Co-operative branches, primarily food outlets in the London area, were temporarily closed last night (Monday) on police advice. Two members of staff were attacked during looting at one of our petrol forecourts in Streatham and staff in other locations narrowly escaped mob violence, which is completely intolerable. “Although the vast majority of our stores have now re-opened, around a dozen remain closed due to damage incurred, including the three most seriously damaged food stores – London Road (Croydon), Hilton House (Brockley) and New Addington, which was completely destroyed by fire.” We are liaising with the police and local authorities in each of the affected areas and, as the UK’s largest community retailer, we are ready to play our part in helping affected communities to recover from these unprecedented attacks, and would urge the prime minister and the government to take firm and decisive action to quickly bring this appalling situation under control.” A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “A number of our stores were closed earlier than usual yesterday as a precaution, in some cases on the advice of police. Sixteen of our stores experienced serious incidents during the disturbances last night. All of these stores have now reopened, except three of our convenience stores, which remain closed and will reopen as soon as possible. All our other stores are open for business as usual. As far as we are aware, no customers or store colleagues have been injured, and their safety remains our priority. “We are assessing the situation on an hour by hour basis as the safety of our customers and store colleagues is paramount. We will continue to take advice from police and other authorities throughout the day.” A spokesman for Debenhams said the Romford store had suffered smashed windows but was open for business as usual. The Clapham store remains closed. “We don’t know when it will reopen yet, the whole area is cordoned off by police. We don’t know how much was taken. Thankfully no one was hurt. We are taking guidance with the police in all the areas we operate stores, and the safety of our staff is our main priority.” An Everything Everywhere spokesperson said: “We can confirm that 25 of our stores were affected, causing varying levels of property damage and some loss of stock. Most importantly, none of our team members have been hurt. We are putting additional security and safeguard measures into place in case there is further escalation of similar activities, with our top priority being the protection of our staff.” Security firms meanwhile reported increased inquiries from worried businesses. A G4S spokesman said: “The current disturbances in London and other cities have resulted in an understandable increase in requests for increased security from our business customers and some disruption to our cash transportation services. “We have been responding to requests for additional security personnel, as well as for security advice. We have also been contacting our customers to provide advice and, where needed, are helping them to develop contingency plans to deal with any incidents. UK riots Police Metropolitan police Insurance industry Retail industry Crime Carphone Warehouse Orange T-Mobile J Sainsbury Morrisons Vodafone London Co-operative Group Alex Hawkes Juliette Garside Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rick Perry’s Prayer Rally a Fraction of the Size of Back-to-School Event for Houston’s Poor
August 9, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Here’s Rick Perry’s Texas for you: While it seems his controversial prayer rally didn’t go over so well, you can’t say the same for a back-to-school event held just seven miles away the same day. From Democracy Now : Texas Gov. Rick Perry Leads Controversial Prayer Rally Texas Gov. Rick Perry led 30,000 people in prayer at a controversial rally in Houston this weekend titled “The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis.” The seven-hour gathering was designed by Perry and sponsored in part by the American Family Association, which opposes same-sex marriage and has condemned Muslims. The event, which drew 30,000 participants, was also backed by the International House of Prayer, whose evangelical founder argues Oprah Winfrey is a Satanic religious leader. Though billed as an apolitical day of prayer for a nation in crisis, the response was filled with calls for an end to abortion and gave Perry the opportunity to appeal to Christian conservatives. Perry is widely expected to soon announce his candidacy for U.S. president. Critics denounced the gathering for blurring the lines between church and state. Texas Rally Dwarfed by Back-to-School Event The Response was dwarfed in comparison to Houston’s first-ever, citywide back-to-school event held just seven miles away on Sunday. An estimated 100,000 people showed up to receive free backpacks, school supplies, uniforms, haircut vouchers, immunizations and fresh produce. The demand for the much-needed supplies was so great officials were forced to shut the event down at 10:00 a.m. and turn people away. And it looks like Perry is about to finally announce his candidacy this week — Report: Rick Perry To Announce Presidential Run Saturday .
Continue reading …If You Thought Newsweek’s Cover Photo of Bachmann Was Bad Wait Until You Read the Story…
August 9, 2011 No CommentWhen even the ultra-liberal National Organization for Women is attacking Newsweek's cover photo of Michele Bachmann as sexist it's clear that magazine has sunk to a new low, but the Lois Romano companion story may be even more insulting than the “Queen of Rage” photo itself. The article entitled, “Tea Party Queen, Why Michele Bachmann Is Riding High Going Into Iowa” oozes with contempt not only for the Minnesota Republican Congresswoman herself but also her Tea Party supporters. Early on in the story Romano depicts crowd at one of her speeches as a bunch of rubes who are falling for her “shtick,” as she observed: “Petite and prim, the 55-year-old mother of five delivers her stump speech with the earnestness of a preacher. She pulls out a huge whiteboard and for dramatic effect scrawls just how many zeros can be found in a trillion. The elderly, the unemployed, the exasperated, and even a few disillusioned Democrats crowd her rallies and cheer her not-going-to-take-it-anymore shtick, even as they recognize some of its inherent contradictions. 'You use the word 'anger.' It's not anger,' Bachmann told NEWSWEEK. Americans aren't expressing 'unhinged anger,' she says. 'People are saying the country is not working.' Romano goes on to use Bachmann's rise to prominence as a way to take cheap shots at a Tea Party that, according to Romano, has: “brought Washington to a standstill and the nation to the brink of default.” Just months ago, Bachmann was the butt of jokes on late-night TV for her flawed grasp of U.S. history. But all that changed one night this spring when she took the stage at the first major GOP presidential debate with the middle-aged, drab men running for the nomination, and set herself apart with poise and precision. When others meandered or waffled, she shot back with answers that reduced Washington's dysfunctional gridlock to understandable soundbites. In Iowa, where she was raised, Bachmann has become the living embodiment of the Tea Party. She and her allies have been called a maniacal gang of knife-wielding ideologues. That's hyperbole, of course. But the principled rigidity of her position has created some challenges for her campaign. One is overcoming the perception of hypocrisy. Democrats—and some of Bachmann's Republican opponents—have noted the gulf between her rhetoric and record. She earned a federal salary as a lawyer for the IRS (an agency despised by the Tea Party), for example. A little bit later in the story Romano continued her attack on the Tea Party via Bachmann: But far more damaging than the charge of double standards may be the growing realization among Americans of just how radical the Tea Party movement really is. The willingness of its most committed members to risk national default for the sake of achieving its political goals has no doubt contributed to the dramatic rise in the number of Americans who view the movement unfavorably. In a New York Times/CBS News poll published on Aug. 5, 40 percent of respondents described their opinion of the Tea Party as “not favorable”—up from 18 percent in April 2010. At a time of population growth, increasing health-care costs, swelling ranks of retirees, and a sharp and prolonged economic slump—all of which point to the need for increases in federal spending just to meet government's existing obligations—Bachmann and her Tea Party allies demand that Washington spend less…That means, of course, that its commitments would have to shrivel as well. In the Tea Party's ideal vision of America, large federal agencies and federal programs would be dismantled and the savings redirected to states with block grants and individuals through lower taxes. Whether that would leave people at the mercy of the freewheeling (and often treacherous) marketplace remains an open and untested question. At this point Romano transitioned to how Bachmann's religious views could hurt her chances: Asked if her positions are extreme , Bachmann replies that the Tea Party's ideals are simply the most rational solutions to a broken and profligate government, and that the only option is to stand tough. “I do not twist in the wind,” she says proudly. There's no telling if Republican primary voters will reward such intransigence. Even within the Tea Party itself, Bachmann is a polarizing figure. Many—especially in Iowa, with its high percentage of evangelical Christians—respond rapturously to her combination of antigovernment fervor and religiously inspired moral traditionalism on issues like abortion and gay marriage. But others are more consistent in their distaste for governmental meddling. For Matt Welch, editor in chief of the libertarian Reason magazine, Bachmann isn't the “queen of the Tea Party.” In fact, he says, “she will have trouble” with its rank and file “if she's seen as being more concerned about social issues” than cutting the federal budget. In her conclusion Romano managed to slam both Bachmann and her supporters with one final parting shot: For now, Bachmann revels in the Iowa crowds, which don't fuss about the missing fine print behind her ideas, the perceived contradictions among them, or their radicalism. David Dankel, a lifelong Democrat who voted for Obama, came to Ft. Dodge to see Bachmann because he was “tired of paying for everyone else.” In April, Dankel saw his $16-an-hour factory job of 23 years move to Mexico. “I was getting ahead and now I can't find a job. Obama promised change—well, where is it?” Sitting on the edge of a metal folding chair in a sweltering parking lot, Donna Fouts, 73, doesn't seem to care that Bachmann planned to vote against the debt-ceiling compromise that would ensure the arrival of her Social Security check and the military benefits owed to her sons and nephews. “Well, I'm sick of all them other politicians that tell me what to do with my life,” she answers. “Something about her tells me to follow her.”
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Movements inside fertilised eggs created in IVF could provide a quick, non-invasive way to identify which to implant Scientists have developed a technique that could significantly improve the success of IVF pregnancies by looking for telltale movements within fertilised eggs before they are implanted. The method could also cut the frequency of multiple births often associated with IVF, which are known to increase health risks both for the babies and their mothers. In a normal cycle of IVF treatment, fertilised embryos are implanted after around three days in culture. Embryologists look for abnormalities in the eggs as an indicator of how well each is progressing and how successful a pregnancy might be. Because of the uncertainties involved, several embryos are often implanted at once. This can lead to twins or triplets, which increases the potential health risks and risk of miscarriage. Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge led a team of researchers to look for ways to assess fertilised embryos more effectively, allowing fewer embryos to be implanted. In her experiments on mice, she found that when a sperm entered an egg, the egg’s jelly-like innards would start to pulsate soon afterwards. “The pattern of those movements is predictive of whether the embryo will have successful developments throughout the entire pregnancy,” said Zernicka-Goetz. “I believe this method has very important potential medical applications, as it provides a totally non-invasive and rapid way of making this prediction of which embryo will have successful and which will not have successful pregnancy.” Her findings were published on Tuesday in Nature Communications . Dr Jane Stewart, a spokesperson for the British Fertility Society and consultant gynaecologist at Newcastle Fertility Centre said that egg quality was fundamental to the success of both natural conception and fertility treatments. “In IVF the selection of the ‘best’ embryo to replace remains key to live birth success, but clinical approaches to this are not sophisticated. This work adds to our understanding of how ‘good’ eggs may function in the mouse model.” The oscillations seen by researchers in the egg’s cytoplasm – the jelly-like liquid inside the cell – is caused by the influx of calcium ions after an egg is fertilised. Zernicka-Goetz’s team filmed the eggs in the hours after fertilisation and used a technique called particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure the frequency of the movements. They then implanted the embryos and noted which ones led to successful pregnancies. The cytoplasm in an unfertilised egg moves at around 4 nanometres per second, said Anna Ajduk , a postdoctoral researcher in Zernicka-Goetz’s laboratory and an author on the research paperBut the oscillations speed up after fertilisation. Those embryos that were most successful at creating pregnancies had cytoplasm moving at around 10-15nm per second, with waves of movement peaking every 10-30 minutes. “It’s easy to identify embryos that will not develop well because they have low, low values,” said Ajduk. “Everything above, they seem to cope relatively well.” Movements in human embryos would probably be similar to those seen in mouse eggs, said Ajduk, because of similarities in their biochemical properties and size. “Our method provides a way of assessing the potential on the second day because you just need a few hours to analyse the data and make the movie, and you will know. We can provide a really fast method of assessing embryos – potentially, the fastest available.” Zernicka-Goetz said she was discussing with IVF clinics to initiate trials involving human embryos and hoped it could be done within a few months. “Within a year’s time we should know whether such movements are predictive of the successful development of human embryos,” she added. Dr Allan Pacey, an expert in reproductive biology at the University of Sheffield, said there were currently no satisfactory methods to predict which fertilised eggs would develop into good quality embryos, apart from waiting for several days to see what happens. “Clearly the technique of performing PIV is complex and will need to be simplified or automated for use in a busy IVF lab. This is the biggest hurdle I anticipate that might prevent more people experimenting with this approach. But I hope they do, as we really need to develop something more technical than the ‘watch and wait’ approach we have currently.” Reproduction Biology Medical research Fertility problems Health Alok Jha guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Wisconsin GOP Official and a FOX News ‘Plant,’ Crashes Car in Drunken Stupor and Resigns
August 9, 2011 No CommentYou may remember this video segment of Amber Hahn who appeared on Fox & Friends back in February as an angry parent who was fuming that Wisconsin schools were teaching their children about the history of unions and collective bargaining. In Fox-verse, unions are an immoral gathering of hooded people, cloaked in secrecy trying to destroy the company they work for by all means necessary. This morning, Fox & Friends hosted an “upset Wisconsin parent” to discuss her objection to Wisconsin public schools’ teaching of labor union history. Left unsaid during the segment: The parent, Amber Hahn , is also a local GOP official . Fox & Friends , which asked last week if teaching labor history in Wisconsin schools is “pro-union propaganda,” used the interview with Hahn to renew its attacks. A graphic that aired during the segment asked if Wisconsin schools are “pushing the union agenda,” and co-host Gretchen Carlson asked Hahn if she thought the lessons on unions are “biased.” At the end of the interview, Hahn thanked the hosts for “bringing light” to the issue. As Media Matters pointed out, Fox News repeatedly uses GOPers either in office or who have run for a seat to push an anti-union agenda in WI since the people have spoken out about Scott Walker’s radical anti-worker agenda without the necessary transparency required. It’s fraudulent news coverage even if it’s on Fox & Friends. Raw Story caught the latest from Amber Hahn and it ain’t pretty: Columbia County Republican Party chair Amber Hahn resigned on Friday after drunkenly crashing a car carrying herself and her three children , according to The Wisconsin State Journal . Hahn, 35, crashed her car Thursday night while driving drunk. No other vehicles were involved and fortunately no one was injured. Police were summoned by the car’s On-Star call system. Jane Kohlwey, the Columbia County District Attorney, also a Republican, has requested that a special prosecutor from neighboring Dane county handle the case. Ms. Hahn, a Poynette School Board Member and volunteer firefighter said in her resignation statement, “It is clear to me now that I have lost focus and I am trying to do too much. I have an addiction to alcohol and need to address it.” Listen, alcoholism is no joke so I hope she gets the help she needs if that’s the truth of it, but masquerading as an outraged parent to attack the history of “unions” which changed the lives of all working Americans is truly awful under any circumstance. I am grateful that her children walked away unscathed. Fox News faces no consequences for their actions though and that is the bigger story here in the end. This follows a continued pattern of Conservative behavior which runs from the veins of Richard Nixon’s dirty tricks playbook which is far dirtier than we knew. Before Breitbart got his operation up and running—you may remember Michelle Malkin attacking twelve year old Graeme Frost because he appeared in an ad supporting SCHIP. And this: Child stalking: Michelle Malkin defends attacking 11-year-old girl: “No Shame, No How” Or Michele releasing personal phone numbers of the students at UC Santa Cruz so they could get attacked. Lying and or intimidation is all part of their world as long as it gets them closer to the results they want.
Continue reading …Sam Seder takes a look at an amazing clip from a large rally against Verizon. More than 40,000 workers — members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — went on strike this week after Verizon refused to even begin to bargain fairly with the workers. The workers on strike include “telephone field technicians, call center workers and cable installers from Massachusetts to Virginia.” Verizon has canceled multiple bargaining sessions and refuses to back down from any of their original concession requests, something that flies in the face of the basic idea of negotiating. Workers say they are prepared to return to work as soon as management shows a willingness to sit down and work out a fair agreement. There is no need for Verizon to pursue the level of cuts to compensation for their workers that they are after. Verizon had a $6 billion profit last year (on revenues of $108 billion ) and just paid a $10 billion dividend. Over the last four years, the company has a total of more than $19 billion in profits . Verizon’s profits not only make them one of the richest and most successful companies in the country, they are outperforming the overall communications industry . The company’s chair, Ivan Seidenberg makes more than 300 times what the average Verizon worker makes. The top five executives have been paid more than $250 million in the past four years. On top of all this, it turns out Verizon not only paid $0 in federal taxes last year, they also received $1 billion in subsidies. Verizon is looking for $1 billion in concessions , an average of $20,000 per family that is supported by a Verizon worker, and will not back down from any of their demands. The workers, on the other hand, have shown a willingness to make concessions , particularly when it comes to health care benefits. The extreme concessions Verizon is seeking include: -Continued contracting out of work to low-wage contractors, which means more outsourcing of good jobs overseas. -Eliminating disability benefits for workers injured while on the job. -Elimination of all job security provisions. -Eliminating paid sick days for new hires and limiting them to no more than five for any workers. -Freezing pensions for current workers and eliminating them for future employees. -Replacing the current high-quality health care plan with a high-deductible plan requiring up to $6,800 in additional costs. Verizon’s attack on its workers is not new . In recent years, it has cut is percentage of unionized jobs nearly in half. The company has also outsourced more than 25,000 jobs . Verizon’s cell phone division is mostly non-union . The assault on Verizon’s workers is part of a larger battle taking place across the country , where conservatives in government and business are blaming unions and working families for larger problems that unions either have nothing to do with or the alleged problems don’t even exist. Corporate profits are at the highest proportion of the national income that has ever been recorded, and they continue to increase. At the same time, the percentage of national income that makes up wages has slipped below 50 percent of the overall total for the first time in recorded history, and the decline goes on. Not surprisingly, Verizon is an active member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) , the same organization behind the assaults on unions in numerous states. There are a number of ways you can get involved of follow the developments in the strike: Find picket lines to participate in if you are in the area. Take action via the CWA website or AFL-CIO’s web site Read more about the strike directly from the CWA . You can keep up with the events on Twitter at @VZLaborfacts or by following the hashtag #verizonstrike. Learn more on Facebook as well. Watch even more in-depth video of the protests:
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Fiona Donnison used son and daughter as ‘ultimate pawns’ by killing them to get revenge on her ex-boyfriend A woman has been found guilty of murdering her two young children and placing their bodies in holdalls in the boot of her car after the breakdown of her relationship with their father. Fiona Donnison, 45, used Harry, three, and Elise, two, as the “ultimate pawns” by killing them to hurt Paul Donnison in the most extreme way possible, Lewes crown court heard. She went into Heathfield police station in East Sussex on the morning of 27 January and told officers she had killed her children. The court was told she had smothered them with their bedding the night before. The defendant, who sat through much of the evidence with her head bowed, chose to stay in the cells as the jury returned its unanimous verdict. Paul Donnison, 48, looked strained and stared straight ahead as he sat in the public gallery flanked by his family. The four-week trial heard that Fiona Donnison, who was in a distressed state with superficial cuts to her wrists when she went to the police station, was not able to tell officers where the children were. A search of the area soon located them in the boot of her Nissan car, which was parked in Mill Close, Heathfield, around the corner from Meadowside, the former family home. Prosecutors believe the reason it was parked there and not on the driveway of the large detached house was because, after killing the children, she had planned to kill their father, with evidence suggesting she had laid in wait for him armed with two kitchen knives. However, jurors heard that Paul Donnison had been staying at the home of his new girlfriend, Alison Shimmens, that night. The defendant, a former City worker who was not married to the children’s father but had changed her name by deed poll without telling him, had suddenly moved out of Meadowside five months earlier. Jurors were told that, on 1 September 2009, the day after returning from a family holiday to Ireland, Paul Donnison came home from work to find the defendant had moved out, taking Harry and Elise and her two teenage sons from her first marriage with her. She did not tell him where she had gone but he later discovered she had moved into a house in Lightwater, Surrey, 100 yards from where his first wife lived with their own two teenage children, despite having no connections to the area. He and the defendant later reconciled and made plans to move in together again but the defendant remained jealous of Shimmens, a former schoolfriend Paul Donnison had started dating. Jurors heard that the couple, whose first child, Mia, died at nine months of suspected cot death in April 2004, ended their eight-year relationship on 14 January last year. Fiona Donnison went to court on 26 January to make an appeal for an occupancy order for Meadowside to force Paul Donnison to move out but was told it would not be immediate. She was also trying to stop him seeing the children, and made what was thought to be a false account to police of him assaulting her, and lying to the director of their nursery school that he was not allowed to pick them up. However, prosecutors believe she began to realise her attempts to make Paul Donnison’s life difficult were not succeeding, so she plotted to kill their children. On the evening of 26 January she drove to Heathfield, stopping at two supermarkets to buy sleeping tablets on the way, and parked the car in Mill Close with the children’s bodies inside. The court heard that, at about 10.45am the next day, Fiona Donnison went to the police station where she admitted killing her children. It was found that she had taken a large quantity of the tablets and was taken to Eastbourne district general hospital where police overheard her say: “Harry, where are you? There you are. Peekaboo, I’m going to kill you.” During her defence case it was claimed she was also not in her right mind at the time of the children’s deaths, and that the charges should be reduced to manslaughter. But prosecutors dismissed this, pointing to the level of planning involved in the killings and the fact that, after her arrival at the Dene mental health facility in West Sussex, she joined in activities and took out books from the library, which suggested she did not have a serious level of depression. The defendant also claimed she had amnesia and could not remember killing Harry and Elise. However, unlike other patients she appeared to have no problems finding her way around the new building. One clinical psychologist who gave evidence told jurors she believed Fiona Donnison to have been “100% likely to be feigning” psychological problems or symptoms. The defendant, who was described as a narcissist with an overdeveloped sense of self-importance and entitlement, declined to give evidence herself during the trial. Despite having a well-paid job in financial services, she often amassed thousands of pounds’ debt. She was made redundant in July 2009, which was said to have been a blow to her ego and could have contributed to events. Crime guardian.co.uk
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George Osborne is flying back from his California holiday to address MPs on the state of the economy on Thursday George Osborne is to return from his holiday in California to address MPs about the state of the economy on Thursday, when parliament is being recalled following the riots across London. The Treasury did not release information about what the chancellor intended to say but he will be speaking the day after the Bank of England is widely expected to reduce its growth forecast for the UK. Osborne is expected to address MPs after the prime minister, David Cameron, has made a statement about the public unrest that began on Saturday. On Wednesday the Bank is expected to predict in its quarterly inflation report that GDP this year will not rise by as much as the 1.8% it had forecast in May. Forecasts for GDP growth have been falling since data showing the economy grew just 0.2% in the second quarter. While economic growth is slowing, the Treasury has been insisting that the chancellor’s tough austerity measures are working because the UK has retained its AAA credit rating while the US has been stripped of its top notch ranking by Standard & Poor’s. Even so, the stock market has been tumbling and last week endured trading patterns last experienced in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The triple point fall in the FTSE 100 index on Monday was the first time in the 27 years of the blue chip index that the market had lost 100 points or more on four consecutive days. Banking stocks, including those of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, have borne the brunt of the downturn in the markets and at their lows on Tuesday were creating losses of the taxpayer of £35bn on the £65bn investment in the two banks. In the past two weeks, the FTSE 100 has lost nearly 16% of its value. Gold is today enjoying its biggest rally since 2008 as investors seek safe havens from the crisis in the eurozone and fears about the strength of the US economy. George Osborne Financial crisis Global recession Banking Stock markets Bank of England London Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Scarborough Tells Mika ‘A President That Cannot Control 45 Backbenchers…Is Too Weak to be President’
August 9, 2011 No Comment
Joe Scarborough on Tuesday told his “Morning Joe” co-host an inconvenient truth that she and most of her colleagues in the media just can't handle. “A president that cannot control 45 backbenchers in the opposing Party in the House of Representatives is too weak to be President of the United States. It is that simple” (video follows with transcript and commentary): JOE SCARBOROUGH, CO-HOST: [Obama’s] a mediator. And he sits and, “What do you think? What do you think?” MIKA BRZEZINSKI , CO-HOST: Well. SCARBOROUGH: “We’ll go halfway.” He… BRZEZINSKI : Look. SCARBOROUGH: He doesn’t understand, Mika, he controls the world stage. He has a power with that bully pulpit that nobody else has and he will not use it. BRZEZINSKI : He controls the world’s stage unless the Republicans say they will not negotiate on anything. SCARBOROUGH: That’s just not true. That’s just not true. BRZEZINSKI : I want to read from Joe’s piece on Saturday. SCARBOROUGH: That is just not true. BRZEZINSKI : Hold on. EUGENE ROBINSON: Just to interject quickly, when he drew a line, when the President drew a line in the debt… BRZEZINSKI : Yes. ROBINSON: …in the debt ceiling debate, and when he said, you know, this and no further, I, it’s got to be a longer-term deal that gets us past the election, he got it. He got what he wanted. SCARBOROUGH: Right. ROBINSON: When he used the bully pulpit, he swayed public opinion. BRZEZINSKI : Who he already negotiated on way down in the House. ROBINSON: Exactly. Yeah, no that’s true. Wow. So after months of haggling, the only thing the most powerful man in the world got was a deal that kicked the can further down the road until after the election, and Brzezinski as well as Robinson, ever the dutiful shills, see that as a huge victory. Scarborough didn’t: SCARBOROUGH: A president that cannot control 45 backbenchers in the opposing Party in the House of Representatives is too weak to be President of the United States. It is that simple. Lyndon Johnson would have eaten these people up for breakfast and spit them out before lunch. BRZEZINSKI : Okay. These people though are the very people that I think don’t care… SCARBOROUGH: Ronald Reagan wouldn’t put up, I mean, a strong leader doesn’t put up with it. BRZEZINSKI : …about… SCARBOROUGH: It doesn’t matter whether they care or not. You make them irrelevant to the process if you’re strong enough to do that. Scarborough, who clearly is coming around to the obvious leadership deficiencies of this President, was spot on. As much as I love the Tea Party, a huge part of their success stems from the weakness of Barack Obama. A minority faction in one chamber of Congress should not be wielding the kind of power this fledgling movement is. Don't get me wrong, I am quite thrilled that this is the case, but agree with Scarborough that a Reagan, Johnson, or even a Clinton would have pushed back much more effectively. Consider that the real legislative impact of the Republican revolution in the '90s didn't happen until after their second successful election in 1996. Clinton stonewalled their budget and tax cuts until 1997 thereby furthering his own reelection. By contrast, Obama began caving to Tea Party demands in December weeks before any of them was sworn in. Now, eight months later, he has become almost irrelevant, a situation that as NewsBusters pointed out earlier has been enabled by his equally hapless fans in the media. This of course includes Brzezinski and Robinson. Maybe with more exchanges like this, they'll come around – but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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