Click here to view this media While I do not disagree with any of the points that CNN’s Fareed Zakaria made to Anderson Cooper after seeing the turn that this debt ceiling hostage taking has taken with the extreme level of obstruction by these so-called “tea party” freshmen in the House of Representatives and as Zakaria pointed out, their refusal to do any negotiating at all during this debacle. But what both of them failed to point out here is that there is no “tea party.” It’s the extreme right wing of the Republican base. It’s a drummed up astroturf movement sponsored by corporate America that is not only one of Fox’s making, but CNN’s as well . I don’t believe for one minute that any of these right wing Republicans actually believe that it’s not necessary to raise the debt ceiling. I also don’t believe that any of them are too naive to realize what kind of dangerous game they’re playing with our economy. I don’t believe they’re acting out of ideological purity. I think they’re willing to play bad cop to push the Overton window even further to the right so that the rest of them can jam through right wing policies that would otherwise be completely unacceptable to the electorate in the name of a fake, drummed up emergency. It’s shock doctrine and the “tea party” is playing their part as the useful idiots. And our media continues to pretend that they’re some grass roots movement that is just beholden to some ideological purity and not just the extreme right of the Republican Party who is helping them to achieve their goal of destroying our social safety nets, which Republicans have hated ever since they’ve been enacted. And they’re doing corporate America’s bidding with helping to turn us into a third world country where we have no middle class left. That’s their goal. They’re not crazy. They’re bought and sold. CNN helped to create this monster. Now we’ve got Zakaria and Cooper bemoaning how undemocratic they’re behaving with Zakaria saying the president should invoke the 14th Amendment and end this nonsense. I don’t disagree with him there either, but maybe if CNN was not playing cheer leader for these posers we would not be in the mess we are now with these right wing extremists dominating our House of Representatives and with having the power to threaten the United States’ and the rest of the world’s economy with their hostage taking during this kabuki theater. Here’s the transcript from CNN . Every time they say the words “tea party”, substitute far right wing Republicans and maybe we’d have a halfway honest discussion going on here with where we are now, but one that still ignores CNN’s willingness to prop these wingnuts and their “movement” up in the first place. One that they’re still being dishonest about here. COOPER: We’ll talk about this with our panelists coming up later on the program. As we said, the Boehner bill passed by narrow margin, 218-210 and only after the speaker spent the day rounding support from Tea Party conservatives. Fareed Zakaria, host of “GPS” and editorial at large at “TIME” magazine joins us now on the telephone. Fareed, you say the Tea Party is anti-democratic at this point. And you talked about the polarization that is occurring. How can you that — how do you mean that they’re anti-democratic? FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, “FAREED ZAKARIA GPS” (via telephone): Well, Anderson, if you think about what’s going on, the Tea Party is trying to pass a particular agenda, which is basically a balanced budget or, you know, this all cuts budget. It cannot get it through the Congress of the United States. It cannot get it through the political democratic process that we have which is that Congress passes something and the president must sign it. That’s the normal workings of democracy. So, instead of accepting some compromise that can get through the democratic process, what they’re saying is we’ll blow up the country if you don’t listen to us. We’ll hold hostage the credit of the United States, the good standing of the United States, and we’ll blow it up. Now, that is why even Charles Krauthammer, columnist for “The Washington Post,” fire-breathing conservative urged today in his column in “The Washington Post” not to go down this path because he called it counter constitutional. In other words, they are not acting in the way that constitutional democracy expects you to act. You are meant to respect the Democratic process. You try your best to convince to get a majority in the House, a majority in the Senate and the president to sign it. But if you control just one of those three branches of government, you can’t hijack the entire system and say I’m going to blow the country up unless you listen to me. COOPER: Well, Fareed, they’re saying though that — ZAKARIA: They have only won one election to one house once. COOPER: They’re saying they’re not holding anybody hostage. They’re saying, look, this is what we said we would do to get elected. We’ve been elected. This is what people elected us to do. ZAKARIA: Well, unfortunately, as I say I think they don’t understand the workings of democracy. They have not been elected as dictators of the United States. They have been elected to one house in one branch of the American government. The only way you can translate your wishes into public policy in America is if you can convince your branch and the other one, the Senate and the White House, to go along with it. If you can’t, you’ve got to figure out amongst yourself what you can agree on. This is why it is fundamentally anti-democratic, counter constitutional in the words of Charles Krauthammer to be trying to do this. You know, it’s just an extraordinary act of hostage taking on the part of the Tea Party. It is holding the country hostage. And it has already damaged the good standing of the United States. Our debts — it’s very important to understand that Tea Party talks a lot about morality. In a capitalist framework, the obligation you owe in terms of repaying your debts is a moral obligation. When the Visa bill comes you can decide that stuff you bought is stuff that you don’t want. You pay the bill. Then you can have an interesting conversation about how to reform your spending. But you can’t renege on your debts. COOPER: What do you think is going to happen now? ZAKARIA: It seems very difficult to see how the kind of people you were talking to, Anderson, are going to accept some kind of compromise. You know, it seems to me you have to accept that 300 million people in this country, not all of them agree with you. And so you make your best case, you take as much as you can. They had a deal. John Boehner provided a deal with $3 trillion of spending cuts for $1 trillion in revenue enhancements — all of it through closing tax loopholes, none of it through raising rates. Now, if that’s not acceptable, I really don’t know where you go. And my sense is, I hope that President Obama is seriously exploring the possibility of invoking the 14th Amendment. COOPER: Really? You think that’s a valid option? (CROSSTALK) ZAKARIA: — will not be questioned, and saying that he has the legal authority to simply raise the debt ceiling himself. I think that President Bill Clinton thinks that it is a viable argument. I’m not a constitutional lawyer. But I think we have reached a level of dysfunction here that this is the kind of national emergency almost like a war. And if the president were to invoke that and if it were to go to the Supreme Court, I have a feeling the court would as it does with War Powers issues say this is a political issue. We’re not going to get involved. And the president’s writ would stand. COOPER: And, Fareed, to the Republicans who say, well, look this August 2nd is not really going to be the ca cataclysm that people talk about? ZAKARIA: Look, it may not be August 2nd. It may be August 4th. Nobody doubts that we’re running out of money. Nobody doubts that we have to borrow more money, whether it’s August 2nd or 5th, or whether you can go some (INAUDIBLE). Is this how the greatest economy in the world should be run that we should be saying, well, we can first pay the — we’ll take the first 20 cents out of every dollar and pay the debt, but we won’t pay the veterans and we won’t — and if you listen to what the congressman said to you, Anderson, he said I don’t want any tax increases. No closing of loopholes. I want to pay the interest on the debt. I want to look after our seniors. That’s Medicare, Social Security. And then I want to look after the army. Well, you know, I’ve got news for you, Congressman. There ain’t much money left. If you aren’t willing to cut any of those things and not willing to raise tax revenues then you’re going to have to rely on magic to somehow balance the budget. That’s all the big money. That’s where it is. It’s not in some mythical waste fraud abuse. The bulk of the money is in Social Security, Medicare, the military, interest on the debt. You can abolish the space shuttle program and the Department of Education and that’s going to get you four days’ worth of money. COOPER: Fareed Zakaria — Fareed, appreciate it. Thanks very much. ZAKARIA: Thanks.
Continue reading …All 140 passengers survive ordeal after Caribbean Airlines jet breaks in two on landing at Georgetown airport near 200ft ravine A Caribbean Airlines jet carrying 140 passengers from New York crashed and broke in half on landing in Guyana, injuring several people but causing no deaths. The Boeing 737-800 reportedly overshot the 7,400ft (2,200m) runway at Cheddi Jagan international airport in rainy weather, just missing a 200ft ravine that would have made fatalities more likely, according to the Guyanese president, Bharrat Jagdeo. “We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured,” he said as authorities closed the airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and delaying dozens of flights. Authorities struggled at first to remove passengers without adequate field lights and other emergency equipment. About 100 people received medical attention, with four treated for serious injuries, said Devant Maharaj, transportation minister in Trinidad, where Caribbean Airlines is based. He said the company was sending a team to Guyana to help investigate the crash. No further details were available. Maharaj spoke at a press conference in Trinidad and took no questions, saying the investigation is ongoing. Among the injured was Geeta Ramsingh, 41, of Philadelphia, who said passengers had just started to applaud the touchdown “when it turned to screams”, she said, pointing to bruises on her knees. She said she hopped onto the wing and then onto the dirt road outside the runway fence. “I am upset that no one came to rescue us in the dark, but a taxi driver appeared from nowhere and charged me $20 to take me to the terminal. I had to pay, but in times of emergencies, you don’t charge people for a ride,” she said, sitting on a chair in the arrival area surrounded by relatives. She was returning to her native country for only the second time in 30 years. The plane had left New York and made a stop in Trinidad before landing in Guyana. Jagdeo said he has asked the US National Transportation Safety Board to help investigate the crash. He said crews were pushing to reopen the airport as soon as possible. The crash of Flight BW523 is the worst in recent history in Guyana, and only one of the few serious incidents involving the Trinidad-based airline. It is the single largest carrier in the region, operating at least five daily flights. Plane crashes Guyana New York United States Air transport Airline industry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …I’ve always liked Rep. Tim Ryan’s ability to articulate his positions. Congressman Tim Ryan Speaks Out Against ‘Cut, Cap and End Medicare’ Act
Continue reading …Schools council rules Peter Harvey can never teach again after he bludgeoned pupil, 14, about head shouting ‘die, die, die’ A science teacher who attacked a 14-year-old pupil with a dumbbell has been banned from teaching for life. Peter Harvey, now 51, had been provoked by pupils during a lesson in July 2009 when they called him a “psycho” and “bald-headed bastard”. He lost control and hit the teenager about the head with the 3kg weight while shouting “die, die, die”. Described as a “fundamentally decent man”, Harvey was handed a two-year community order at Nottingham crown court in May last year after admitting bludgeoning the boy at All Saints Roman Catholic school in Mansfield. He was cleared by a jury of attempting to murder the boy or intending to cause him serious injury . It emerged during the four-day trial that pupils were trying to wind up Harvey so his reaction could be caught on a camcorder being used secretly by a girl in the class. The footage was then to be passed around the school as a way of humiliating him. After the sentencing the married father-of-two was sacked from the school, where he had worked since 1993, for gross misconduct. On Friday a General Teaching Council committee in Birmingham banned him from teaching for life. The Professional Conduct Committee’s decision said: “There is no doubt that prior to this incident Mr Harvey was a highly respected teacher having taught in the school for 17 years. He was held in high regard both by the school and the wider community. There were issues in Mr Harvey’s personal life and medical reasons which possibly explain, but do not excuse, Mr Harvey’s behaviour.” The committee said Harvey accepted he would not be able to teach again. It said the seriousness of the offence meant a conditional registration order or a suspension order would not be sufficient. “Mr Harvey’s behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with being a registered teacher and therefore the only appropriate and proportionate sanction is a prohibition order.” Harvey is no longer eligible to register as a teacher and the committee said he would not be entitled to apply “for restoration of his eligibility for registration”. He could appeal to the Queen’s bench division of the high court within 28 days from being given notice of the order, the committee said. Teaching Teachers’ workload Schools Pupil behaviour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Click here to view this media As anyone who follows cable news knows, Rep. Joe Walsh (Blowhard-IL) has done quite a job making a name for himself by coming on television and chastising President Obama for lying to the public, asking him if “he has no shame” and with bemoaning the debt that the United States has incurred (primarily due to Bush administration policies) being laid on the backs of his children — one of the favorite Republican talking points du jour. Well it appears the recent news that Karoli reported on here about Walsh’s troubles with owing back child support was finally enough for MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to say that Walsh was banned from appearing on his show again — or at least until he finds out that he’s made good with the obligations to his children. My question is why has the media been giving this guy so much air time he doesn’t deserve in the first place? Please do us all a favor Lawrence. Even if he does settle with his ex-wife, don’t have him back on again. That said, I do hope the rest of the cable news shows would follow his lead here and spare us his rantings for now.
Continue reading …National Transitional Council minister says rebel-aligned Obaida Ibn Jarrah group murdered defector from Gaddafi regime The gunmen who shot dead the Libyan rebels’ military chief Abdel Fatah Younis were members of an Islamist-linked militia allied to the campaign to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, according to a National Transitional Council minister. After 24 hours of confusion surrounding the death , the NTC’s oil minister, Ali Tarhouni, said Younis had been killed by members of the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade, a militia named after one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, suggesting that Islamist elements were involved. Tarhouni told reporters in Benghazi that a militia leader who had gone to fetch Younis from the frontline had been arrested and had confessed that his subordinates carried out the killing. “It was not him. His lieutenants did it,” Tarhouni said, adding that the killers were still at large. The NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said on Thursday that Younis had been recalled for questioning to Benghazi but was killed before he arrived. Relatives said they retrieved a burned and bullet-riddled body. The Gaddafi government has said the killing is proof the rebels are not capable of ruling Libya. Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said: “It is a nice slap [in] the face of the British that the [NTC] they recognised could not protect its own commander of the army.” Ibrahim said Younis was killed by al-Qaida, repeating a claim that the group is the strongest force within the rebel movement. “By this act al-Qaida wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region,” he said, adding: “The other members of the National Transitional Council knew about it but could not react because they are terrified of al-Qaida.” Younis’s death has raised fear and uncertainty in Benghazi, the rebel stronghold. Thousands marched behind his coffin, wrapped in the rebels’ tricolour flag, to the graveyard for his burial, chanting that he was a martyr “beloved by God”. Troops fired a military salute as the coffin arrived, and angry and grieving supporters fired wildly into the air with automatic weapons. At the graveside, Younis’s son, Ashraf, broke down in tears as they lowered the body into the ground. And in a startling and risky display in a city so allied to the rebel cause, pleaded hysterically for Gaddafi’s return to bring stability back to Libya. “We want Muammar to come back! We want the green flag back!” he shouted at the crowd, referring to Gaddafi’s national banner. Younis’s death appeared to shake both the NTC and its western allies, who have heavily backed the rebels controlling most of eastern Libya. Two weeks ago 32 nations including the US made a major commitment by formally recognising the NTC as the country’s legitimate government. On Wednesday the British foreign secretary, William Hague, declared the council Libya’s “sole governmental authority” and invited the body to set up full diplomatic relations with London. Western worries will likely be deepened if Younis’s death opens major splits among the fractious rebels. Divisions would also weaken the opposition’s campaign to oust Gaddafi, which has largely stalled in a deadlock despite the four-month-old Nato bombing campaign against regime forces. In Washington, state department spokesman Mark Toner said the circumstances of Younis’s death remained unclear. He pressed the opposition to shore up any cracks in their front against Gaddafi. “What’s important is that they work both diligently and transparently to ensure the unity of the Libyan opposition,” Toner said. Abdel Fatah Younis Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Chiefs of general staff, army, navy and air force take ‘early retirement’ in protest at detention of 250 officers Turkey’s military is in turmoil after the country’s four most senior commanders quit in protest over the detention of 250 officers on charges of conspiring against the government. General Işık Koşaner, the chief of general staff, stepped down on Friday night along with the army, navy and air force commanders, plunging Nato’s second-largest army into uncertainty shortly before a senior promotions board convenes. In a farewell message to “brothers in arms”, Koşaner said it was impossible to continue in his job as he could not defend the rights of men who had been detained as a consequence of a flawed judicial process. The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, swiftly appointed General Necdet Ozel, formerly commander of the military police, as the new head of the military. The collective “early retirement” of the top four came hours after a Turkish court charged 22 suspects, including several generals and officers, with carrying out an internet campaign aimed at undermining Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) government. Miltary chiefs have repeatedly denied the existence of plans for the so-called Sledgehammer coup. “There are two important reasons for this move”, Cengiz Aktar, professor for EU relations at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University, told the Guardian. “On the one hand the AKP government’s increasing interference in the appointment of military personnel – which was previously handled solely by the military itself – and on the other hand the arrests in the Sledgehammer coup trials.” The government’s relations with the military, who regard themselves as the guardians of the secular Turkish republic, have been strained ever since the Islamic AKP came to power in 2002. In a move aimed at decreasing the power of the military, the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed decisive reforms in 2003 assuring a civilian majority in the traditionally military-dominated Security Council (MSK). When the ruling AKP proposed Abdullah Gül as its presidential candidate in 2007 the military published a text on its website stating that the Turkish military would “defend secularism in Turkey by all means.” The Turkish military had staged coups in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1991, forcing the ruling government to resign. But the AKP government confidently defied the 2007 “e-coup” and former AKP politican Gül was voted to become the next Turkish president. In a first reaction to the military resignations from the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), deputy chairman Gürsel Tekin said: “The law clearly states how generals should be promoted. It’s a pity that the government does not care about the laws. The government wants to redesign the military along their own lines. As a reaction to this the generals have resigned.” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the CHP, has interrupted his summer holidays to return to Ankara. Following the resignations, Erdogan met with the head of the gendarmerie (military police), Necdet Özel, the only high commander who remained in office. While Turkish news outlets dubbed the situation a “bomb” and a “political earthquake”, several political analysts argued against overreaction. “The situation has clearly become intolerable for the military forces and they subsequently resigned,” Cengiz Aktar told the Guardian. “This is nothing to make too much of a fuss over; these things are bound to happen in a democracy.” Turkey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Frenzied efforts to avoid ‘economic disaster’ as parties wrangle over formula to raise debt ceiling and cut spending The frenzied legislative manoeuvring to avert a crippling US debt default is continuing as Tuesday’s deadline to raise the country’s debt ceiling looms and Congress remains split down party lines. Late on Friday night the Republican-controlled House finally approved a bill to raise the debt ceiling in return for billions of dollars in spending cuts, but the Democratic Senate quickly rejected it. The back-to-back votes broke weeks of political inertia in efforts to lift the $14.3tn (£8.7tn) US debt limit by Tuesday, after which the world’s largest economy will be unable to pay all of its bills. The Democratic Senate leader, Harry Reid, ceded some ground when he revised his own deficit-reduction proposal to incorporate parts of a “back-up plan” first proposed by the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell. Reid is seeking a vote on the new proposal on Saturday. “Unless there is a compromise or [Republicans] accept my bill we’re headed for economic disaster,” Reid said. The new version would essentially give Barack Obama the authority – and the blame – for raising the debt ceiling in three stages to cover US borrowing needs through the 2012 elections when he is running for a second term. Obama and the Democrats had hoped to avoid multiple votes before the election. Speaking after dismal figures for US growth increased the pressure on politicians to prevent a fresh meltdown in global markets, Obama said: “I am confident we can solve this problem. I am confident we will solve this problem. “For all the intrigue and all the drama that’s taking place on Capitol Hill right now I’m confident that common sense and cooler heads will prevail.” But Congress remained in disarray for much of Friday with the Republican leader in the House, John Boehner, in a dangerous mood after failing to quell a humiliating revolt by the Tea Party wing. Boehner scheduled a vote on Thursday on a Republican bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending, but hardcore conservatives refused to back it and the vote had to be temporarily abandoned. The bill was substantially rewritten to meet conservative rebels’ demands. The febrile mood in Washington was matched on Wall Street and in the City of London, where news that the US grew at an annual rate of just 1.3% in the three months to June prompted renewed concern that the world’s biggest economy could lapse back into recession if ratings agencies downgrade its debt. Speculation that the Federal Reserve might need to embark on a third round of quantitative easing – the creation of electronic money – intensified after revisions to past figures for US gross domestic product showed the recession was deeper than originally believed and the subsequent recovery weaker. America’s peak-to-trough drop in output between 2007 and 2009 is now put at 5.1% rather than the 4.1% originally estimated. With the International Monetary Fund warning the US that a continued impasse risks reigniting Europe’s debt crisis, bond yields in Italy and Spain rose. The interest rate on 10-year Italian bonds rose to 5.89%, while that for Spain – where the government called a general election – climbed to 6.09%. Shares in London closed 1% lower, a drop of 58.02 at 5815.19, while the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 96.87 points at 12,143.24, completing a week of daily falls. Sources close to George Osborne, the British chancellor, said the new figures from the US showed that the American and British experience during and after the global downturn had been similar, weakening the argument for the coalition to revisit its tough austerity plans. If the US does not raise its debt ceiling by 2 August it risks being unable to continue borrowing and pay its bills. Obama has said that default is not an option so the US treasury will prioritise keeping up interest payments, which could mean cuts elsewhere. The president reiterated that the victims could be people expecting federal cheques for welfare, and military veterans and government contractors awaiting payments. “This is not a situation where the two parties are miles apart,” Obama said. “There are a lot of crises in the world that we can’t always predict or avoid: hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist attacks. This isn’t one of those crises. The power to solve this is in our hands.” US politics US economy Economics United States Democrats Republicans Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Title: Forever Artist: Pete Drake Here’s some sweet talkin’ steel guitar from one of the all-time greats. Happy Friday!
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