City disappointed by falling manufacturing output and weak consumer demand, fuelling fears of return to recession The City was braced for the UK economy to grow by little more than 1% this year after the latest figures for national output showed that Britain’s deepest and longest postwar recession is being followed by the slowest recovery since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Analysts predicted the Treasury would be forced to cut its growth estimate after gross domestic production data showed that activity increased by just 0.2% in the second quarter of 2011 – after flatlining in the previous six months. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the level of activity still almost 4% below the peak in early 2008, with no sign of the rebalancing of growth towards manufacturing and exports predicted by the government. Germany and the United States have already recouped the ground lost during the recession of 2008-09, but at the current rate of progress it will be 2013 at the earliest before the UK economy is back to where it was at its peak in the first quarter of 2008. City analysts described the easing back of growth from the 0.5% recorded in the first quarter as disappointing, even though the ONS said one-off factors such as the royal wedding and the production shutdowns caused by the Japanese tsunami had probably knocked 0.5% off growth between April and June. With Britain’s main export market, Europe, affected by the sovereign debt crisis, the ONS estimated that output from Britain’s factories fell in the second quarter of 2011 and remains almost 8% below its level of five years ago. Overall industrial production – which includes output from the North Sea, mines and the electricity and gas industries as well as manufacturing – has suffered an even bigger fall during the recession and its aftermath, and is still more than 11% down on its 2006 level. The economy’s fastest growing sector since the slump has been business services and finance, which includes the City. The ONS figures showed the output of accountants, banks, lawyers and management consultants up by almost 5% since 2006, and by just over 3% since the banks began to recover from the financial crisis in the autumn of 2008. Neil Prothero, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “The UK economy is continuing to splutter along in first gear. Despite historically low interest rates and a still-huge fiscal deficit of around 10% of GDP, the economy has barely grown at all since September last year. “The official release tried to put a positive spin on things, estimating that the additional April bank holiday, the royal wedding and the after-effects of the Japanese tsunami had cut 0.5% from the quarterly GDP figure. While some downward impact is likely to have occurred, this seems an optimistic assessment, and there is no guarantee of a rebound effect in Q3. “Forward-looking surveys continue to point to an economy handicapped by insipid demand at home and weakening demand abroad. We expect GDP growth of 1.1% in 2011, well below official forecasts, which implies a high probability of the government missing its deficit-reduction target.” Britain started to emerge from recession in the final few months of 2009 and in the second quarter of 2010, when the coalition government was formed, activity expanded by 1.1%, its fastest rate of growth for nine years. But the pace of growth slowed to 0.6% in the third quarter of 2010 before GDP contracted by 0.5% in the final three months, in part due to the blizzards that shut down large parts of the economy last December. Richard Driver, analyst for Caxton FX, said 0.2% quarterly growth was “very poor indeed. With growth in the previous two quarters dead flat, the longer-term picture of the UK economy is pretty bleak. Manufacturing, industrial production and retail sales growth has slowed particularly badly in recent months, but in truth the situation is pretty dire across the board. “Sentiment towards the UK economy is rightfully very negative,” Driver said. “The financial markets value fiscal conservatism and deficit reduction, but fears that the UK economy will dip back into recession are mounting with every poor growth figure.” Businesses called on the Bank of England to restart its quantitative easing programme, which pumped £200bn into the economy in 2009 and 2010. David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “To sustain demand, we think the Bank of England should persevere with low interest rates and consider an increase in the QE programme. We believe increasing the productive potential of the economy is more important to our economic success than simply boosting consumption. This means implementing growth-enhancing policies and removing regulatory burdens that hamper businesses in their efforts to create jobs and export.” Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG, said: “Output has been broadly flat for the last nine months and – despite the depressing special factors – there is little reason to think things have improved much since. The big picture is that domestic demand is being weighed down by government cutbacks and falling real wages, and exports and investment are still not strong enough to take up the slack.” Economic growth (GDP) Economics Economic policy George Osborne Manufacturing data Manufacturing sector Consumer spending Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet Conservatives Liberal Democrats Liberal-Conservative coalition Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
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Norway gunman told lawyer he expected to be killed before he reached Utøya island The man behind Norway’s terror attacks has told his lawyer he was surprised he was not stopped straight after he bombed Oslo city centre, and that he expected to be killed before he reached the island where he shot dead 68 people. Anders Behring Breivik was a “very cold” man who had taken drugs to keep himself awake during the shootings, the lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told a press conference yesterday. Breivik, who has confessed to killing 76 people in the atrocities in Oslo and on Utøya island, told Lippestad he was at war with the world, and that killing was justified in a war. “He was a little surprised he succeeded – in his mind succeeded,” Lippestad said. “He was expecting to be stopped earlier by the police or someone else during the actual day. He was surprised that he reached the island. “He thought he would be killed after the bombing, after the action in the island, and he also thought he would be killed at the trial. He believes someone will kill him.” Breivik also claimed that he was part of an anti-Islam network that has two cells in Norway and “several” more abroad. Asked to explain Brievik’s mindset, Lippestad said: “He says he is sorry he had to do this but it is necessary. He looks upon himself as a warrior. And he started this war, and takes some kind of pride in that. “He believes this is the start of a war that will go on for 60 years,” Lippestad said. “He believes the other cells will continue the war.” Lippestad said that after several meetings with his client, he believed Breivik was mentally ill. “This whole case indicated that he is insane,” Lippestad said of the 32-year-old, who denies he is a criminal. The lawyer, a member of Norway’s Labour party whose youth wing was targeted by Breivik, said he did not know why the killer had chosen him to represent him. He added that if his client were to refuse to take psychological tests he would quit from his defence. Two psychiatric experts will now evaluate Breivik’s mental state. According to Lippestad, Breivik remains unaware of the revulsion his attacks have sparked and does not know the number of people he killed last Friday. Detained in isolation, a request by the suspect for a copy of the WikiLeaks files was reportedly rejected by the authorities last night. It also emerged the Utøya Island massacre was, partly, drug-fuelled. Lippestad said the gunman had taken unspecified drugs in order “to be strong, to be efficient, to keep him awake” during the shootings. Focus continues to intensify on links between UK far-right groups and Breivik with London, the city where the suspect claimed to have launched his so-called organisation to “save Europe from Muslim takeover”. Johan Fredrikson, the chief of Oslo police, said that despite an international investigation, including involvement by British police, they still had no evidence that there was an accomplice or network behind the attacks. Breivik’s claims that he was surprised not to have been stopped earlier will add to pressure on police, who have been criticised for taking more than an hour to reach Utøya island. It emerged on Tuesday that the nearest police helicopter available was not able to intervene during the massacre because its pilots were on holiday. Teenagers trapped on the island during the shootings last Friday claimed that they were told to stay off the line because authorities were dealing with the earlier Oslo bombing, according to relatives and local reports. Ambulances heading to the island to help the wounded were said to have been held up as police attempted to secure the area. But Fredrikson said on Tuesday evening it had taken police 47 minutes once they were notified to get counter-terrorism officers to the island and another two minutes on the island until Breivik surrendered. “I can’t see how this could have gone any faster. We would do it the same way if we had the same situation again,” he said. Broader questions have since emerged concerning the failure of Norwegian intelligence over the attacks. Breivik was allegedly placed on a watch list after buying fertiliser in Poland that may have been used to build the Oslo bomb. It is thought that no further action was taken. On Tuesday officials confirmed they have opened an investigation into a Polish chemist after he admitted supplying chemicals to Breivik. The internal security agency in Warsaw said that a Polish man faces up to eight years in prison for selling to Breivik via the internet “substances that could be potentially dangerous to the life and health of many people”. The device that exploded on Friday had a devastating ferocity. Since the blast, the justice minister, Knut Storberget, has revealed that employees from his department still remain missing in the ruins of the capital’s government building. Anders Behring Breivik Norway Europe The far right Mark Townsend Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …4000 workers and construction projects getting the shaft because of Tea Party attacks on the FAA
July 26, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media We posted a piece last week that alerted everybody what the televangelists and GOP were doing to our aviation safety and jobs because they want to ultimately go union-busting against the workers. Tea Party Crazy Dominated GOP Threaten Aviation Safety While Engaging In Union Busting Now that their plan is taking effect, we’re already seeing the odious results of the endeavor. Daily Kos: As anticipated , the Federal Aviation Administration’s operating authority expired at midnight Friday and the agency partially shut down. While air traffic controllers are still on the job and air travel continues more or less normally, nearly 4,000 other FAA employees are currently furloughed without pay . Additionally, nearly 87,000 construction jobs are affected as FAA-funded airport construction projects are forced to shut down. This includes projects from $10,000 to tens of millions of dollars, scattered across the country. All of which is probably fine with House Republicans, since the whole purpose of this exercise was to make things more difficult for workers, anyway. By trying to make union representation elections operate by undemocratic rules, they put people out of work instead—maybe that’s a job well done in their eyes. The FAA is also unable to collect taxes on airline tickets bought, depriving the government of $200 million a week in revenue. But the great little coda to this story is that consumers aren’t seeing savings : [I]nstead of passing along the savings, the airlines are pocketing the money while customers pay the same amount as before. American, United, Continental, Delta, US Airways, Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue all raised fares, although details sometimes differed. Most of the increases were around 7.5 percent. It’s like the Republican dream: Not only is the government not collecting revenue, that same revenue is going straight to corporations, for no reason. Why would they ever agree to end this shutdown? The AFL-CIO sent out an email urging people to take action: Last weekend, House Republican leaders proved just how far they are willing to go to achieve their ideological goals. At 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, they shut down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As if bringing America to the brink of default hasn’t done enough damage already. Are they out of their minds? Because of the extreme ideological agenda of House Republicans and their political game-playing, 4,000 workers were furloughed over the weekend and more than 90,000 jobs across the country are on the line—including 1,026 in DC.(1) Meanwhile, the government is out $200 million a week in airline ticket fees that normally fund our aviation infrastructure. That loss now will be added to the national debt. Tell your members of Congress the FAA needs to get up and running immediately. Republican House leaders’ hostage-taking needs to stop. And if you’ve been following the media, whenever a TV pundit asks a GOP politician about the FAA shutdown, they just lie in their responses. I really don’t expect many hosts or anchors to have much of a grasp on the story, but some basic knowledge wouldn’t be a bad idea to counter the spin. Laura catches the WaPo of doing Karl Rove’s handiwork for the GOP.
Continue reading …NBC: Obama for ‘Balanced Approach,’ Boehner ‘Seemed to Reject All Talk of Compromise’
July 26, 2011 No Comment
On Tuesday's NBC Today, correspondent Kristen Welker portrayed President Obama as the great compromiser while reporting on his Monday night address on the debt ceiling: “…the President still pushed for a balanced approach , cut spending and raise tax revenue….With time running out, the President called for compromise.” In contrast, Welker depicted House Speaker John Boehner as stubborn and unwilling to deal: “Boehner seemed to reject all talk of compromise , backing a House GOP plan….Earlier, the President did endorse a plan put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid….But Boehner said that's not the answer.” Welker touted how Obama called on the American people to do his bidding: “Monday night the President urged viewers to call Congress to push for his approach before it's too late.” Concluding her report, Welker lamented: “Despite the fact that the President has been calling for this balanced approach with spending cuts and new tax revenues, neither the House nor Senate plan includes new revenues.” She never suggested that Obama's insistence on tax hikes was stubborn or out of touch. Immediately following the President's address on Monday, Meet the Press host David Gregory actually claimed that Obama was doing Boehner a favor by attacking House Republicans. Here is a full transcript of the July 26 segment: 7:00AM TEASE ANN CURRY: Good morning. War of words. President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner clash in dueling prime time speeches over the cause and cure of the nation's debt crisis. BARACK OBAMA: This is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. JOHN BOEHNER: And the sad truth is that the President wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. CURRY: Which side will blink first? With the deadline now just one week away. 7:01AM TEASE MATT LAUER: And boy, it was interesting to watch these two speeches in prime time last night. The President went first and delivered a tough message at the White House. He warned Americans of an impending economic crisis if Congress fails to pass a comprehensive budget deal in only seven days. And, of course, he pointed a finger of blame directly at the Republicans. CURRY: That's right. And the President described what's happening in Washington as a, quote, 'partisan three-ring circus.' But House Speaker Boehner fired right back, saying even when a deal appears within reach, the President, he said, would not take yes for an answer. So we've got the latest in a live report from Washington coming up just ahead. 7:02AM SEGMENT CURRY: We begin this morning with the debt showdown in Washington. NBC's Kristen Welker is at the White House with more. Kristen, good morning. KRISTEN WELKER: Good morning to you, Ann. Well, with that deadline looming, there's really a heightened sense of urgency to get something done here at the White House and on Capitol Hill. This after a night of political theater in which both sides still seem as far apart as ever. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: One Week to Go; President & Boehner Take Debt Duel to Nation] BARACK OBAMA: Tonight I want to talk about the debate we've been having in Washington- WELKER: For only the seventh time in his presidency, Mr. Obama delivered a prime time speech, painting a dire picture of what will happen if Congress doesn't raise the nation's debt ceiling by next week. OBAMA: Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, on mortgages and on car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. WELKER: Despite weeks of partisan wrangling, the President still pushed for a balanced approach, cut spending and raise tax revenue. OBAMA: The only reason this balanced approach isn't on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a different approach, a cuts-only approach, an approach that doesn't ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. WELKER: With time running out, the President called for compromise. JOHN BOEHNER: I'm John Boehner. WELKER: But just two minutes after the President spoke, House Speaker John Boehner gave his side. BOEHNER: The sad truth is that the President wanted a blank check six months ago and he wants a blank check today. This is just not going to happen. WELKER: Boehner seemed to reject all talk of compromise, backing a House GOP plan that's a two-step approach. First, slash spending by $1.2 trillion and raise the debt limit, then revisit the issue next year before the 2012 election. BOEHNER: Obviously I expect that bill can and will pass the Senate and be sent to the President for his signature. And if the President signs it, the crisis atmosphere that he has created will simply disappear. WELKER: Earlier, the President did endorse a plan put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which would raise the debt limit to 2013, after the election. It calls for $2.7 trillion in spending cuts. But Boehner said that's not the answer. BOEHNER: The solution to this crisis is not complicated. If you're spending more money than you're taking in, you need to spend less of it. WELKER: Monday night the President urged viewers to call Congress to push for his approach before it's too late. OBAMA: If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know. BOEHNER: This debate isn't about President Obama and House Republicans, it isn't about Congress and the White House. It's about what's standing between the American people and the future we seek for ourselves and our families. OBAMA: It's a dangerous game that we've never played before, and we can't afford to play it now. BOEHNER: In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual. Well, I've got news for Washington, those days are over. WELKER: Now, looks like Speaker Boehner's plan will be voted on first, likely as early as tomorrow. One more interesting note, despite the fact that the President has been calling for this balanced approach with spending cuts and new tax revenues, neither the House nor Senate plan includes new revenues. Ann. CURRY: Alright, Kristen Welker this morning, thank you.
Continue reading …ABC Skipped Story of Dem Rep Sexually Assaulting a Teen; Will They Notice His Resignation?
July 26, 2011 No CommentABC, as of Tuesday morning, has skipped any coverage of embattled Democratic Congressman David Wu , accused of what The Oregonian called “an unwanted sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a childhood friend.” On Tuesday, Wu announced he would be resigning. Will ABC finally cover this story? CBS and NBC have both noted the story in news briefs, but ignored other Wu scandals. ABC last mentioned Wu back on February 22, when Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos interviewed Wu for other bizarre, but unrelated, antics. At that time, Wu was dealing with the fallout of wearing a Tiger costume and staff members who wanted him to seek psychiatric treatment. Regarding the now well circulated Halloween photo of Wu, Stephanopoulos wondered, “But [the pictures] were on your personal congressional account. And they included that photo of you in a tiger outfit. Did you send those emails to your staff?” In a question that previewed Wu's future problems, the anchor queried, “I think the big question for your constituents and the taxpayers is, can you handle the job of being a congressman right now? Can you assure them that you won't crack under the pressure again?” Apparently, ABC wasn't interested in following up on new allegations. CBS has covered the current allegations three times, noting with news briefs on the Saturday and Sunday Evening News. Russ Mitchell explained on July 23, “A young California woman reportedly is accusing Oregon Representative David Wu of a quote, “unwanted sexual encounter” last fall. The Oregonian newspaper reports the young woman appears to have been at least 18 years old at the time.” Monday's Early Show also featured co-host Chris Wragge discussing Wu with Ann coulter. NBC's Today offered two Wu news briefs on the July 25 Today show. Both networks identified Wu as a Democrat. David Gregory offered a few scant seconds of coverage on Sunday's Meet the Press. For more on this, see a blog by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth . However, both CBS and NBC have ignored Wu's previous erratic behavior, including the picture of him wearing a tiger costume
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IMF chief warns of serious consequences for world economy as Obama and Republicans fail to agree on approach America’s debt crisis has moved closer to disaster as the battle between Barack Obama and the Republicans intensified and talks appeared to have reached a stalemate. With no compromise in sight over a deal to increase the US’s borrowing limit ahead of an 2 August deadline, the IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, warned the political impasse in Washington would have serious consequences for the world economy. “The clock is ticking and clearly the issue needs to be resolved immediately,” Lagarde told the Council on Foreign Relations thinktank. Her warning came after the row over the national debt reached a new level on Monday night, when Obama and the Republican House speaker, John Boehner, addressed the nation about the looming debt crisis. With a week left until the deadline that could see the US default on its debt for the first time in its history, Obama expressed dismay over the standoff: “It is a dangerous game we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare.” A week ago the two men were in private negotiations on what Obama called “a balanced approach” and he said the only reason it isn’t “on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a different approach, a cuts-only approach, an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all”. He rejected a Republican proposal for a stop-gap deal, saying it would only mean them returning again next year to use the same tactics to seek more cutbacks. Boehner went live on television within minutes of the president to deliver his own statement: “The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank cheque six months ago, and he wants a blank cheque today. That is just not going to happen.” He said he had attempted to work with the president but Obama “would not take ‘yes’ for an answer”. Financial markets have reacted nervously to the debt crisis but economists said they still appeared to be betting that the fight was largely political posturing and likely to be resolved. If the two sides cannot reach a solution by next week, the government will run out of cash and have to stop paying many of its bills. Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody’s Analytics, said the consequences would be dire. “This could push us back into recession,” he said. “It would be a stupid, self-inflicted wound.” Ken Goldstein, economist at the Conference Board, said stock markets seemed to think a stop-gap solution was inevitable: “Asking them to do more than bungle through is asking them to do more than they are capable of.” He said a more long-lasting solution would have to wait until after the election in 2012. Some political pundits believe Tuesday’s deadline may pass without a resolution. Joshua Trevino, author of the conservative Redstate blog, said many Republicans were convinced it was better in the long-term to block any rise in the US debt and Democrats were convinced Republicans were damaging their political chances with their refusal to compromise. “At the moment each side does not see sufficient downside in default,” he said. Both the Democrats and Republicans say it is unthinkable for the US to default but time is running out fast to reach a compromise and get the necessary legislation passed by the House and Senate. Boehner and the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, on Monday released rival proposals aimed at resolving the crisis. The two roughly agreed on the total amount of proposed cuts to debt over the next ten years, with Reid proposing $2.7trn (£1.64trn) and Boehner $3trn. Crucially too for the Republicans, Reid has dropped Democratic demands for tax rises for the wealthiest. One of the biggest differences is over timing, with Reid wanting the debt ceiling raised to a point where it will not be an issue until after next year’s White House election in November. Boehner wants only a short-term deal and a return to the issue next summer. Obama, who earlier in the day threw his support behind the Reid plan, warned of the serious damage that will be caused to the US economy if the country defaults. “We would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly social security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses,” he said. “For the first time in history, our country’s triple-A credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether theUnited States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, mortgages and car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people.” “The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government,” he said. US economy Global economy Global recession US Congress US politics United States Democrats Republicans Barack Obama John Boehner Ewen MacAskill Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Lyin’ John Boehner’s dishonest response to Obama: Projection’s not just for theaters anymore
July 26, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media My Phony-O-Meter always starts beeping loudly whenever John Boehner comes on the tube. And last night in his response to President Obama’s debt-ceiling speech, it was shrieking. As Matt Finkelstein at Political Correction observes : If there was anything remarkable about the speech, it was Boehner’s ability to keep a straight face while accusing Obama of behavior that accurately describes Republicans, such as refusing to “take yes for an answer” and changing his demands. But perhaps the most galling aspect of Boehner’s speech was his assertion that Obama “created” the “crisis atmosphere” that has the U.S. on the brink of default. The reality is that the president inherited a projected deficit of more than $1 trillion, and the recent surge in debt is mostly the result of the fruitless Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As John already noted, it’s been demonstrated that all these Republicans voted for the big drivers in creating the massive debt in the first place. Just like they voted to increase the debt ceiling with nary a twinge nine times during George W. Bush’s presidency. As Finkelstein observes: Meanwhile, the immediate crisis is that the nation might default on its debt; that can be solved in a matter of minutes with a simple vote to raise the debt ceiling. But congressional Republicans are still refusing to do that unless they get a debt-reduction package that weakens the social safety net and requires no compromise on their part. If Boehner is wants to assign blame for creating a “crisis atmosphere,” he should take a hard look in the mirror. Nah. It’s much, much more satisfying to just project your own blackened psyche onto President Obama and claim that it’s his intransigence that’s causing the problem. Right. The only people who believe that are out sipping tea with the Mad Hatters and March Hares. Meanwhile, it’s looking like Boehner doesn’t even have the votes for his own plan . The Phony-O-Meter keeps going off. It’s like I said : Where do you guys get the balls to lecture Democrats about deficit spending and the state of the economy? Seriously. The previous Democratic president — a guy named Bill Clinton, who Republicans hounded with a meaningless sex scandal — handed off to his Republican successor a $46 billion federal surplus after having erased the deficit for three successive years. That surplus disappeared the first year George W. Bush was in office, even before the 9/11 attacks happened, in no small part because Bush began slashing taxes for the wealthy immediately upon taking office. And then he and his Republican allies running the Congress proceeded to ring up the deficit to unheard-of heights, thanks largely to a needless invasion of another nation under false pretenses. Where were all these Republicans in the years 2001-2006, when they were setting new records for federal deficits and destroying the economy along the way?
Continue reading …Media Ignore Alarmist Liberal Ad Warning Kids Will Die if Congress Trims EPA Budget
July 26, 2011 No CommentBroadcast and cable networks have failed to cover a liberal interest group's exploitative TV spot claiming any cuts to the EPA would be equivalent to spoon-feeding toxic particles to infants, even though the proposed cuts would only pare back funding to pre-recession levels. The video, released in March amid debates in Congress to curtail the EPA's regulatory authority, has since re-emerged as a commercial on MSNBC. While depicting an adult feeding a small child helpings of baby food from jars labeled dioxin, mercury, and arsenic, a narrator frets: ” If the EPA wasn't cleaning millions of toxic particles out of the air, they'd be going, well, somewhere else…Protect the EPA. Protect our kids .” Despite the impression left by American Family Voices, the group responsible for the advertisement, that cuts to the EPA would kill children, the numbers tell a different story. In February, President Barack Obama proposed an FY 2012 budget of $8.9 billion for the EPA. In April, House Republicans passed a budget (the Ryan Plan) that would trim EPA funding to 2008 levels, or approximately $7.5 billion . If baby food wasn't contaminated with dangerous amounts of arsenic in 2008, scaling back EPA funding to those levels in 2012 could hardly be construed as fatal to infants. Yet the media are allowing American Family Voices (AFV) to get away with such hyperbole and MSNBC is pocketing the ad revenue without scrutinizing the spot on any of its news programs. AFV has a history of advancing liberal causes on a wide range of consumer issues. Shortly after Mike Lux, president of Progressive Strategies, a liberal political consulting firm, founded AFV in 2000, the group started assaulting President George W Bush with allegations of corporate corruption. “I was outraged at the idea that Bush was going to do a big speech and pound his chest and say he is in favor of corporate responsibility when he is closer to the corporate world than any president since Ronald Reagan,” accused Lux, a former aide to President Clinton. AFV ran TV ads in 2002 claiming, “Bush played a key role at Harken Energy – they used Enron-style accounting to hide losses.” Since then, according to AFV's website , the group has focused on railroading the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, accusing then-Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) of collaborating with Tom DeLay in a money-laundering scheme, and supporting the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. Just like AFV has a history of attacking conservative politicians and promoting liberal policies, the media have a history of ignoring controversial liberal political ads. Back in May, ABC, MSNBC, and CNN, among others, avoided covering – for as long as they could – the Agenda Project's offensive Medicare video showing a Republican politician steering grandma and her wheelchair off a cliff. –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Venezuelan president accused of trying to rewrite history after dismissing scientists’ conclusions that liberation hero died of TB It was approaching 3am when a cluster of masked forensic doctors appeared on national television clad in white, astronaut-like suits. Few Venezuelans were tuned in for the pre-dawn exhumation of Simon Bolívar, the South American liberation hero, on 16 July last year. But for the country’s president, Hugo Chávez, it was an event of monumental importance. “My God. Bolívar lives,” he tweeted, as a tiny skeleton was hauled from its tomb in Caracas’ National Pantheon. “It’s not a skeleton. It’s the Great Bolívar, who has returned.” Chávez had hoped Bolívar’s exhumation would help solve what he has called “the great farce” surrounding his death. While most historians believe the inspiration for Chávez’s “Bolívarian revolution” died of tuberculosis in 1830, Venezuela’s outspoken president thinks otherwise. He claimed Bolívar was the victim of a murderous conspiracy and had been poisoned by Colombian oligarchs. He wanted forensic scientists to prove it. But was Chávez right? One year on and the answer is almost certainly, no. “We could not establish the death was by non-natural means or by intentional poisoning,” the country’s vice-president, Elías Jaua, admitted on Monday. DNA samples failed to provide the smoking gun sought by the Venezuelan leader. Scientists found traces of toxins, including arsenic, in Bolívar’s bones, leaving the door open to the idea that he had been accidentally poisoned, possibly by medicines, but no proof of deliberate assassination. Despite the findings, Chávez was unmoved. “They killed Simon Bolívar. They murdered him and, even though I don’t have proof, the circumstances in which he died point to that,” he insisted in an interview with state-controlled television. “The Venezuelan bourgeoisie continue to say that we are trying to change history. No. They changed it,” he said. By most accounts, Bolívar died of TB on 17 December 1830 at the age of 47. But a series of alternative theories have surfaced over the years, among them the Colombian conspiracy. In 2010, Dr Paul Auwaerter, from Baltimore’s John Hopkins University, provided Chávez with ammunition, casting doubt on claims that Bolívar had died from TB. “There were features that were incompatible with TB, like for example that he never coughed up blood,” he pointed out. Auwaerter, however, has distanced himself from the idea that Bolívar was intentionally poisoned. “Although President Chávez took my comments about arsenic to mean that he was assassinated, I thought Bolívar’s physicians were giving him arsenic medicines, which was quite popular at this time, to improve his health,.” he told the Guardian. “To me it was unintentional, but I think President Chávez took some of our discussions to make it fit into his own hypothesis.” Critics have dismissed the hullabaloo over Bolívar’s death as a handy distraction from more pressing domestic issues. With a tricky presidential election coming up next year, some opponents see the exhumation as a media spectacle designed to distract from economic and security problems. Others see the exhumation as a reflection of Chávez’s obsession with highlighting his image as a modern-day “liberator”. “You cannot force history’s arm to fit your whims,” said Inés Quintero, a historian and the biographer of Simon Bolívar’s sister, María Antonia Bolívar. “We know that Bolívar was not assassinated. There is no historical evidence or any documents pointing to an assassination,” she added, describing the exhumation as “irrelevant and unnecessary”. “It does not modify our understanding of who Bolívar was as a historical figure. Regardless of the actual reason for his death, the moment, the condition, the complexity of his human condition all combined for a fatal ending.” Still Chávez remains undeterred. On Monday he ordered forensic scientists to continue their hunt for the truth. “We must continue investigating and seeking new information about how Bolívar died. I invite you to carry on studying this mystery. I have no doubt that they killed Bolívar.” Venezuela Hugo Chávez Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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Hundreds of singer’s family and close friends – including Mark Ronson and Kelly Osbourne – attend service in north London To some she was a troubled rock star struggling with her demons, to others an astonishing voice with an excess of talent, but to her parents Amy Winehouse was their “angel”, and at a private funeral they have said goodbye. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, ended a 40-minute eulogy during which he talked about his daughter’s childhood and her talent, with the words: “Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much.” Hundreds of the singer’s family and close friends, including Mark Ronson, the producer of her hugely successful album Back To Black, and long-standing friend Kelly Osbourne, flew from around the world to pay their respects to the singer who died, aged 27, at her home in Camden, north London on Saturday. Winehouse told the mourners that his daughter had been off drugs for three years, and was working hard to combat her alcoholism, had found love again and “was the happiest she has been for years”. A service was held at the Edgwarebury cemetery in north London, before Winehouse’s body was taken to the Golders Green crematorium, where her grandmother was cremated. The family then headed to Schindler Hall in Southgate for the beginning of a shiva – a traditional period of mourning in the Jewish faith. In a statement Winehouse said his daughter had “conquered her drug dependency” and was “trying hard” to deal with her drinking. “Amy was the greatest daughter, family member and friend you could ever have,” he said. “Recently Amy found love with Reg. He helped her with her problems and Amy was looking forward to their future together. She was the happiest she has been for years. We all remember that great night at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, her voice was good, her wit and timing were perfect.” He added his daughter had seen his mother, Janis, on Friday as well as her boyfriend, film director Reg Traviss. On the night before she was found dead she was in her room singing and playing drums, he added. A security guard had checked on her in the morning and thought she was asleep, he checked again a few hours later and then raised the alarm,. “But knowing she wasn’t depressed, knowing she passed away, knowing she passed away happy, it makes us all feel better.” The first service, which included prayers in English and Hebrew, ended with a rendition of Carole King’s So Far Away, Winehouse’s favourite song. Earlier King, whose song Will You Love Me Tomorrow was covered by Winehouse, said she was “very grateful” the star had “put her wonderful talent” into recording the track. Alfie Ezekiel, a friend of her father’s, said: “Mitch gave a very good eulogy and he managed to get through it very well, considering.” Mitch Winehouse had been the only family member to speak during the service, attended by around 300-400 people. “It was very moving,” he said. Speaking outside the crematorium at Golders Green, another family friend who gave his name only as “Ginger” said that as guests had left the service each had kissed the coffin goodbye . “He [Mitch] seemed very brave, very proud of her.” His wife added that as a teenager Winehouse would sit at the kitchen table scribbling lyrics. “Nobody will forget her. Everyone is proud of her, what she became was so temporary.” Fans gathered to pay tribute to the singer. A woman who had brought a single red rose said she wanted to pay tribute to Winehouse and her “wonderful” voice, but she was sparing a thought for her troubled former husband Blake Fielder-Civil, currently serving time at Armley prison in Leeds for burglary and a firearms offence. “He can’t be here, but I’m sure he is thinking about her,” said Suzanne Marshall, 53. “We played Back to Black this morning – there were a lot of tears, and we will be raising a drink to her tonight in the Hawley Arms.” Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Winehouse’s image, 18-year-old Joshua Burke Murphy said he wanted to mark the event and pay his respects. “She is a legend, a very important person of our times, so I didn’t want to miss her funeral.” A postmortem examination carried out on Monday failed to establish the cause of the singer’s death. Further toxicology tests will take two to four weeks. Winehouse, who fought a well-documented battle with drugs and alcohol, was found dead at her home in Camden by her bodyguard at about 4pm on Saturday. Her father said on Tuesday he wants to create the Amy Winehouse Foundation, to help those struggling with substance abuse. Father’s tribute “Amy was the greatest daughter, family member and friend you could ever have. “I will talk a lot about her fantastic recovery. Recently Amy found love with Reg. He helped her with her problems and Amy was looking forward to their future together. “She was the happiest she has been for years. We all remember that great night at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, her voice was good, her wit and timing were perfect. “She told me that she had ‘thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed herself’. “The last time she called me she had found a box of old family photos and called me to go over to look. We spoke three times a day at least, she was very excited. “Three years ago, Amy conquered her drug dependency, the doctors said it was impossible but she really did it. She was trying hard to deal with her drinking and had just completed three weeks of abstinence. “She said, ‘Dad I’ve had enough of drinking, I can’t stand the look on your and the family’s faces anymore’. “She was not depressed. She saw Janis and Reg on Friday and was in good spirits. “That night, she was in her room, playing drums and singing. As it was late, her security guard said to keep it quiet and she did. He heard her walking around for a while and when he went to check on her in the morning he thought she was asleep. He went back a few hours later, that was when he realised she was not breathing and called for help. “But knowing she wasn’t depressed, knowing she passed away, knowing she passed away happy, it makes us all feel better. “I was in New York with my cousin Michael when I heard and straight away I said I wanted an Amy Winehouse Foundation, something to help the things she loved – children, horses, but also to help those struggling with substance abuse. “In this country, if you cannot afford a private rehabilitation clinic, there is a two-year waiting list for help. With the help of Keith Vaz MP, we are trying to change that.” Amy Winehouse Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
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