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Moroccan military plane crashes into mountain killing scores of people

Morocco’s worst air accident in years believed to have claimed lives of 78 of 81 people on board Seventy-eight of the 81 people aboard a Moroccan C-130 military transport plane are believed to have died when it crashed into a mountain on Tuesday in bad weather. The aeroplane was preparing to land at Guelmim military air base in southern Morocco, near the disputed Western Sahara. The remains of 42 people have been found so far, and the Moroccan information minister, Khalid Naciri, said searches for bodies were continuing. The national MAP news agency said the three survivors were seriously injured. It said the aircraft was carrying 60 members of the military, 12 civilians and nine crew. MAP said the Morocco’s worst air crash in years was due to bad weather. Naciri said the aeroplane was due to make a stop at Guelmim en route from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara, to Kinitra, in northern Morocco. Guelmim is more than 600km (373 miles) southwest of the capital, Rabat, just north of the Western Sahara. Morocco took over the mineral-rich Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1979. The Saharawi people want to establish the region as an independent state. UN peacekeepers have been there since 1991. The UN has demanded a referendum but Morocco has instead proposed wide-ranging autonomy for the estimated 500,000 people who live in the sparsely populated desert flatland. Morocco Africa Air transport Western Sahara guardian.co.uk

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John Boehner, FOX News, the Tea Party and all of the GOP continue to make the claim that the Obama administration is almost entirely responsible for what they consider to be America’s debt problem. Bloomberg News did just a little digging and reports what we’ve been claiming all along. These Republicans are all a bunch of hypocrites. The same Republicans that are so outraged by the deficit voted to help put it there in the first place: “In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington – those days are over.” Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry. Together, a Bloomberg News analysis shows, these initiatives added $3.4 trillion to the nation’s accumulated debt and to its current annual budget deficit of $1.5 trillion. Obviously a few Democrats helped Bush out, but Boehner, Cantor and Paul Ryan have done their best to vote for bills that spend, spend, spend. Bush Tax Cuts The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which lowered tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains, increased the federal budget deficit by $1.7 trillion over a decade, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan left-of- center group in Washington that studies fiscal policy. The two-year extension of those tax cuts that Obama signed will cost $857.8 billion, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Boehner has defended the tax cuts, arguing that they didn’t lead to the deficit. “The revenue problem we have today is a result of what happened in the economic collapse some 18 months ago,” he told reporters on June 10, according to The Hill newspaper. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost almost $1.3 trillion since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to a March 29 analysis by the Congressional Research Service. Operations in Iraq have cost $806 billion, and in Afghanistan $444 billion. The analysis shows the government has spent an additional $29 billion for enhanced security on militia bases and $6 billion remains unallocated. Medicare Drug Benefit The 2003 Medicare prescription program approved by President George W. Bush and a Republican-dominated Congress has cost $369 billion over a 10-year time frame, less than initially projected by Medicare actuaries. Nine Senate Republicans, including Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel, along with 25 Republicans in the House, voted against the bill. Hagel argued that it failed to control costs and would add trillions in debt for future generations. “Republicans used to believe in fiscal responsibility,” Hagel wrote in a 2003 editorial in the Omaha World Herald. “We have lost our way.” TARP, the $700-billion bailout of banks, insurance and auto companies, has cost less than expected. McConnell, Boehner, Cantor and Ryan all voted in October 2008 for the program, which stoked the rise of the Tea Party movement. Many institutions have repaid the government. The latest estimated lifetime cost of the program is $49.33 billion, according to a June 2011 report by the Treasury Department. That figure includes the $45.61 billion cost of a housing program which the administration never expected to recoup. Rank-and-file Republicans are eager to pin the blame on Democrats, frequently pointing to the economic stimulus signed by Obama in 2009. The total cost of the stimulus will be $830 billion by 2019, according to a May 2011 Congressional Budget Office report. That’s half the cost of the Bush tax cuts and less than two-thirds of what has been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But of course there was a Republican president at the time, so as Dick Cheney famously said, deficits don’t matter. The new GOP leaders are as guilty as sin and are fooling only the beltway media establisment.

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John Boehner, FOX News, the Tea Party and all of the GOP continue to make the claim that the Obama administration is almost entirely responsible for what they consider to be America’s debt problem. Bloomberg News did just a little digging and reports what we’ve been claiming all along. These Republicans are all a bunch of hypocrites. The same Republicans that are so outraged by the deficit voted to help put it there in the first place: “In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington – those days are over.” Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry. Together, a Bloomberg News analysis shows, these initiatives added $3.4 trillion to the nation’s accumulated debt and to its current annual budget deficit of $1.5 trillion. Obviously a few Democrats helped Bush out, but Boehner, Cantor and Paul Ryan have done their best to vote for bills that spend, spend, spend. Bush Tax Cuts The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which lowered tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains, increased the federal budget deficit by $1.7 trillion over a decade, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan left-of- center group in Washington that studies fiscal policy. The two-year extension of those tax cuts that Obama signed will cost $857.8 billion, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Boehner has defended the tax cuts, arguing that they didn’t lead to the deficit. “The revenue problem we have today is a result of what happened in the economic collapse some 18 months ago,” he told reporters on June 10, according to The Hill newspaper. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost almost $1.3 trillion since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to a March 29 analysis by the Congressional Research Service. Operations in Iraq have cost $806 billion, and in Afghanistan $444 billion. The analysis shows the government has spent an additional $29 billion for enhanced security on militia bases and $6 billion remains unallocated. Medicare Drug Benefit The 2003 Medicare prescription program approved by President George W. Bush and a Republican-dominated Congress has cost $369 billion over a 10-year time frame, less than initially projected by Medicare actuaries. Nine Senate Republicans, including Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel, along with 25 Republicans in the House, voted against the bill. Hagel argued that it failed to control costs and would add trillions in debt for future generations. “Republicans used to believe in fiscal responsibility,” Hagel wrote in a 2003 editorial in the Omaha World Herald. “We have lost our way.” TARP, the $700-billion bailout of banks, insurance and auto companies, has cost less than expected. McConnell, Boehner, Cantor and Ryan all voted in October 2008 for the program, which stoked the rise of the Tea Party movement. Many institutions have repaid the government. The latest estimated lifetime cost of the program is $49.33 billion, according to a June 2011 report by the Treasury Department. That figure includes the $45.61 billion cost of a housing program which the administration never expected to recoup. Rank-and-file Republicans are eager to pin the blame on Democrats, frequently pointing to the economic stimulus signed by Obama in 2009. The total cost of the stimulus will be $830 billion by 2019, according to a May 2011 Congressional Budget Office report. That’s half the cost of the Bush tax cuts and less than two-thirds of what has been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But of course there was a Republican president at the time, so as Dick Cheney famously said, deficits don’t matter. The new GOP leaders are as guilty as sin and are fooling only the beltway media establisment.

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NBC’s Gregory Claims Obama ‘Trying to Help’ Boehner by Pressuring House GOP to Accept ‘Balanced Approach’ of Tax Hikes

During an NBC News special report following President Obama's Monday night speech that blamed the GOP for the debt ceiling stalemate, Meet the Press host David Gregory argued the President was doing John Boehner a favor: “…this is a president trying to help the Speaker of the House make the case to freshman Republicans who won't give at all on the idea of tax increases.” Gregory declared that Obama was “trying to create more pressure on them [Republicans] among the public, who are fed up with this, to say we've got to find some way to compromise here…. he's actually trying to create some political room for his adversary in this fight.” Nightly News anchor Brian Williams began the exchange by observing: “…a big item on the President's list that is a deal-breaker for so many on the other side, the wealthy Americans, millionaires, billionaires, can afford to pay more.” Gregory repeated Obama's talking points: “Well, you heard him, time and again, say a balanced approach is reasonable here.” Interestingly, special coverage of the speech on ABC had a very different take on the political impact of the President's address, suggesting it may actually energize the GOP. Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos noted that Obama was trying to “put pressure” on Republicans, but wondered: “…is there a chance that it could actually backfire and unify those House Republicans?” Correspondent Jon Karl replied: “You are exactly right, George. The House Republicans who don't want to vote for an increase can now be told, “This is your chance to stick it to the President, to go against the President who is trying to force us to do something we don't want to do,” so I think this will actually help John Boehner, kind of rally those really, on the right of his caucus, the real conservatives.” Here is a transcript of the July 25 NBC exchange between Williams and Gregory: (…) BRIAN WILLIAMS: Let's bring David Gregory back in, he's watching all of this with us from Boston. And David, of course a big item on the President's list that is a deal-breaker for so many on the other side, the wealthy Americans, millionaires, billionaires, can afford to pay more. DAVID GREGORY: Well, you heard him, time and again, say a balanced approach is reasonable here. It took us a long time to get this far into debt. And we know the debt has gone up 35% since the President came into office. If the debt limit is extended through 2012, it would be up 54%. But his point was, it took us a long time to get here. And behind the scenes here, Brian, the message, this is a president trying to help the Speaker of the House make the case to freshman Republicans who won't give at all on the idea of tax increases. He's trying to create more pressure on them among the public, who are fed up with this, to say we've got to find some way to compromise here, and do it in a way that will have the rest of the world, including the credit agencies, think that U.S. is taking a serious step here, and get us through the 2012 election. It's a big argument, but he's actually trying to create some political room for his adversary in this fight. WILLIAMS: That's right. David Gregory, again, watching from Boston. (…) Here is a transcript of the July 25 ABC exchange between Stephanopoulos and Carl: (…) GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Jon, the President clearly hoping that by going to the public tonight he'll be able to put pressure on those Republicans, but is there a chance that it could actually backfire and unify those House Republicans? JON KARL: You are exactly right, George. The House Republicans who don't want to vote for an increase can now be told, “This is your chance to stick it to the President, to go against the President who is trying to force us to do something we don't want to do,” so I think this will actually help John Boehner, kind of rally those really, on the right of his caucus, the real conservatives. STEPHANOPOULOS: But as he was coming into this speech tonight, he was not sure that he had those Tea Party Republicans, the most conservative members of his caucus behind this plan. (…)

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NBC’s Gregory Claims Obama ‘Trying to Help’ Boehner by Pressuring House GOP to Accept ‘Balanced Approach’ of Tax Hikes

During an NBC News special report following President Obama's Monday night speech that blamed the GOP for the debt ceiling stalemate, Meet the Press host David Gregory argued the President was doing John Boehner a favor: “…this is a president trying to help the Speaker of the House make the case to freshman Republicans who won't give at all on the idea of tax increases.” Gregory declared that Obama was “trying to create more pressure on them [Republicans] among the public, who are fed up with this, to say we've got to find some way to compromise here…. he's actually trying to create some political room for his adversary in this fight.” Nightly News anchor Brian Williams began the exchange by observing: “…a big item on the President's list that is a deal-breaker for so many on the other side, the wealthy Americans, millionaires, billionaires, can afford to pay more.” Gregory repeated Obama's talking points: “Well, you heard him, time and again, say a balanced approach is reasonable here.” Interestingly, special coverage of the speech on ABC had a very different take on the political impact of the President's address, suggesting it may actually energize the GOP. Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos noted that Obama was trying to “put pressure” on Republicans, but wondered: “…is there a chance that it could actually backfire and unify those House Republicans?” Correspondent Jon Karl replied: “You are exactly right, George. The House Republicans who don't want to vote for an increase can now be told, “This is your chance to stick it to the President, to go against the President who is trying to force us to do something we don't want to do,” so I think this will actually help John Boehner, kind of rally those really, on the right of his caucus, the real conservatives.” Here is a transcript of the July 25 NBC exchange between Williams and Gregory: (…) BRIAN WILLIAMS: Let's bring David Gregory back in, he's watching all of this with us from Boston. And David, of course a big item on the President's list that is a deal-breaker for so many on the other side, the wealthy Americans, millionaires, billionaires, can afford to pay more. DAVID GREGORY: Well, you heard him, time and again, say a balanced approach is reasonable here. It took us a long time to get this far into debt. And we know the debt has gone up 35% since the President came into office. If the debt limit is extended through 2012, it would be up 54%. But his point was, it took us a long time to get here. And behind the scenes here, Brian, the message, this is a president trying to help the Speaker of the House make the case to freshman Republicans who won't give at all on the idea of tax increases. He's trying to create more pressure on them among the public, who are fed up with this, to say we've got to find some way to compromise here, and do it in a way that will have the rest of the world, including the credit agencies, think that U.S. is taking a serious step here, and get us through the 2012 election. It's a big argument, but he's actually trying to create some political room for his adversary in this fight. WILLIAMS: That's right. David Gregory, again, watching from Boston. (…) Here is a transcript of the July 25 ABC exchange between Stephanopoulos and Carl: (…) GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Jon, the President clearly hoping that by going to the public tonight he'll be able to put pressure on those Republicans, but is there a chance that it could actually backfire and unify those House Republicans? JON KARL: You are exactly right, George. The House Republicans who don't want to vote for an increase can now be told, “This is your chance to stick it to the President, to go against the President who is trying to force us to do something we don't want to do,” so I think this will actually help John Boehner, kind of rally those really, on the right of his caucus, the real conservatives. STEPHANOPOULOS: But as he was coming into this speech tonight, he was not sure that he had those Tea Party Republicans, the most conservative members of his caucus behind this plan. (…)

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Jesse Lee Peterson leads Tea Partiers’ protest of NAACP convention — with a side order of nativism

Click here to view this media Leonard Zeskind covered the meager Tea Party protest outside the NAACP Convention in Los Angeles this past weekend led by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. And as he notes, there was little mention of any fiscal issues: Almost 100 Tea Partiers and anti-immigrant activists mounted a small and sometime languid protest of the NAACP, at the venerable civil rights organization’s 102nd national convention in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 24. The dress for the day was Tea Party casual: No colonial era garb and wigs. Several Surf City Tea jackets and some yellow “We the People” t-shirts. One large Gadsden flag, three large American flags and smaller individually hand held flags for anyone who wanted one. From the speakers there was little patter about the Founding Fathers, and just a tad more discussion of taxes and debt. The topic of the day was the NAACP, how it might once have had a “noble” purpose, but its failure to stop violence by black mobs and Latino gangs rendered it just another cog in the Obama liberal-socialist-communist machine. The principle organizer of the event, Jesse Lee Peterson, told the crowd he wanted to “end the NAACP.” He received great applause. He also compared the NAACP to the Ku Klux Klan, as you can hear in the video above: PETERSON: The NAACP is no different than the KKK in that the KKK harmed black Americans by their physical bodies, but the NAACP steals their hearts and minds and souls. And they kill black Americans by making black Americans or causing black Americans to hate their country, to hate what’s right, to depend on the government rather than depending on themselves. This largely in line with what Peterson told a writer for the Grio : “That’s’ the problem I have with the NAACP,” said Peterson in an exclusive interview with theGrio. “Their a political pawn of the liberal-elite, white, racist Democratic Party and not really for the people.” He hopes black Americans (he views the term “African-American” as a “dumb” title and unpatriotic), stop supporting the NAACP financially and with their manpower. For decades, Peterson argues, the organization has supported left-wing policies, which have created dependency on government and destroyed black families and hurt race relations. Peterson also said the NAACP is not needed and until black people stop hating “the white man”, they won’t be free. Zeskind sizes Peterson up about right: As the SPLC notes, Peterson has quite the colorful history, including the time he thanked God for slavery: Click here to view this media One thing you’ll note about the video from the protest: Not only are the fiscal issues that are supposed to be the Tea Parties’ focus almost completely unmentioned, the hottest topic for many of the speakers — afer abortion — was immigration. Peterson himself cites one of the event’s speakers, Barbara Coe, who is a well-known piece of work : Vitriolic, conspiracy-minded and just plain mean, Coe routinely refers to Mexicans as “savages” and “invaders” out to destroy America. In 2003, for instance, she responded to the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which sought to open a road to citizenship for all immigrant workers, by writing her CCIR members an urgent “Action Now!” message urging them to flood Congress and the White House with calls demanding the arrest of the riders. “These people are criminals,” said Coe. “As such, they have NO ‘RIGHTS’ other than emergency medical care and humane treatment as they are being DEPORTED! We can only wonder how many in this group of foreign invaders have robbed, raped and possibly murdered law-abiding American citizens and legal residents.” Coe claims to have exposed a secret Mexican plan (the “Plan de Aztlán”) to reconquer the American Southwest. In May 2005, at a “Unite to Fight” anti-immigration summit in Las Vegas, she launched the kind of defamatory — and just plain unhinged — rant for which she has become infamous. “We are suffering robbery, rape and murder of law-abiding citizens at the hands of illegal barbarians,” she warned her audience, “who are cutting off heads and appendages of blind, white, disabled gringos.” She offered no proof for this wild-eyed assertion, as is her wont when attacking immigrants from Mexico. After his election in 2005, Coe attacked the Latino mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, accusing him of seeking to return Southern California to Mexico. In 2004, Coe confirmed her membership in one of the crudest white supremacist groups, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), while being interviewed by the Denver Post for a profile of her close friend and nativist ally, then-U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). The CCC is the modern reincarnation of the White Citizen Councils that were formed in the South in the 1950s and 1960s to resist school desegregation ordered by the Supreme Court. Of course, these same people find it ludicrous that most people can see through the black facade being offered by Jesse Lee Peterson to see the rivers of xenophobic fear and loathing coursing through the Tea Parties.

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Jesse Lee Peterson leads Tea Partiers’ protest of NAACP convention — with a side order of nativism

Click here to view this media Leonard Zeskind covered the meager Tea Party protest outside the NAACP Convention in Los Angeles this past weekend led by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. And as he notes, there was little mention of any fiscal issues: Almost 100 Tea Partiers and anti-immigrant activists mounted a small and sometime languid protest of the NAACP, at the venerable civil rights organization’s 102nd national convention in Los Angeles on Sunday, July 24. The dress for the day was Tea Party casual: No colonial era garb and wigs. Several Surf City Tea jackets and some yellow “We the People” t-shirts. One large Gadsden flag, three large American flags and smaller individually hand held flags for anyone who wanted one. From the speakers there was little patter about the Founding Fathers, and just a tad more discussion of taxes and debt. The topic of the day was the NAACP, how it might once have had a “noble” purpose, but its failure to stop violence by black mobs and Latino gangs rendered it just another cog in the Obama liberal-socialist-communist machine. The principle organizer of the event, Jesse Lee Peterson, told the crowd he wanted to “end the NAACP.” He received great applause. He also compared the NAACP to the Ku Klux Klan, as you can hear in the video above: PETERSON: The NAACP is no different than the KKK in that the KKK harmed black Americans by their physical bodies, but the NAACP steals their hearts and minds and souls. And they kill black Americans by making black Americans or causing black Americans to hate their country, to hate what’s right, to depend on the government rather than depending on themselves. This largely in line with what Peterson told a writer for the Grio : “That’s’ the problem I have with the NAACP,” said Peterson in an exclusive interview with theGrio. “Their a political pawn of the liberal-elite, white, racist Democratic Party and not really for the people.” He hopes black Americans (he views the term “African-American” as a “dumb” title and unpatriotic), stop supporting the NAACP financially and with their manpower. For decades, Peterson argues, the organization has supported left-wing policies, which have created dependency on government and destroyed black families and hurt race relations. Peterson also said the NAACP is not needed and until black people stop hating “the white man”, they won’t be free. Zeskind sizes Peterson up about right: As the SPLC notes, Peterson has quite the colorful history, including the time he thanked God for slavery: Click here to view this media One thing you’ll note about the video from the protest: Not only are the fiscal issues that are supposed to be the Tea Parties’ focus almost completely unmentioned, the hottest topic for many of the speakers — afer abortion — was immigration. Peterson himself cites one of the event’s speakers, Barbara Coe, who is a well-known piece of work : Vitriolic, conspiracy-minded and just plain mean, Coe routinely refers to Mexicans as “savages” and “invaders” out to destroy America. In 2003, for instance, she responded to the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which sought to open a road to citizenship for all immigrant workers, by writing her CCIR members an urgent “Action Now!” message urging them to flood Congress and the White House with calls demanding the arrest of the riders. “These people are criminals,” said Coe. “As such, they have NO ‘RIGHTS’ other than emergency medical care and humane treatment as they are being DEPORTED! We can only wonder how many in this group of foreign invaders have robbed, raped and possibly murdered law-abiding American citizens and legal residents.” Coe claims to have exposed a secret Mexican plan (the “Plan de Aztlán”) to reconquer the American Southwest. In May 2005, at a “Unite to Fight” anti-immigration summit in Las Vegas, she launched the kind of defamatory — and just plain unhinged — rant for which she has become infamous. “We are suffering robbery, rape and murder of law-abiding citizens at the hands of illegal barbarians,” she warned her audience, “who are cutting off heads and appendages of blind, white, disabled gringos.” She offered no proof for this wild-eyed assertion, as is her wont when attacking immigrants from Mexico. After his election in 2005, Coe attacked the Latino mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, accusing him of seeking to return Southern California to Mexico. In 2004, Coe confirmed her membership in one of the crudest white supremacist groups, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), while being interviewed by the Denver Post for a profile of her close friend and nativist ally, then-U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). The CCC is the modern reincarnation of the White Citizen Councils that were formed in the South in the 1950s and 1960s to resist school desegregation ordered by the Supreme Court. Of course, these same people find it ludicrous that most people can see through the black facade being offered by Jesse Lee Peterson to see the rivers of xenophobic fear and loathing coursing through the Tea Parties.

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NYT’s Brooks: Obama Behaved ‘Like a Spurned Prom Date’ Friday

Has Barack Obama lost New York Times columnist David Brooks? In his piece Tuesday, the so-called conservative said the President last Friday ” lectured the leaders of the House and Senate in the sort of patronizing tone that a junior high principal might use with immature delinquents…personalizing the issue like a spurned prom date”: Obama never should have gone in front of the cameras just minutes after the talks faltered Friday evening. His appearance was suffused with that ''I'm the only mature person in Washington'' condescension that drives everybody else crazy. Obama lectured the leaders of the House and Senate in the sort of patronizing tone that a junior high principal might use with immature delinquents. He talked about unreturned phone calls and being left at the altar, personalizing the issue like a spurned prom date. Certainly strange to see on the pages of the Gray Lady, especially from its so-called conservative columnist who at times has exhibited the same thrill up his leg for Obama that MSNBC's Chris Matthews unashamedly boasts about. But that, for the time being, seems to be waning as Brooks said the President has diminished himself in this debate ceding authority to more experienced political leaders: This should be a humbling moment for the White House, and maybe a learning experience. There are other people who have been around Washington a long time. They know how to play this game. As a result of their efforts, we may see some debt reduction but nothing big and transformational. Obama won't get his centrist election boost. Republicans won't have to wrestle with tax increases. Democrats won't have to wrestle with entitlement reform. The Old Guard wins. Obama's televised campaign speech Monday night was behind the times. The action has moved to Capitol Hill. Indeed. Through his own actions, the former junior Senator from Illinois has effectively rewritten Rudyard Kipling's classic renaming it “The King Who Would Be Man.” That someone at the Times – even one of its phony conservative columnists – would play the part of the narrator makes it even more entertaining.

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BBC journalists plan work to rule

An indefinite work to rule among BBC journalists will begin after another 24-hour strike on Monday More disruption to BBC news programmes is on the cards over the coming weeks with journalists “indefinitely” working to rule following a 24-hour strike on Monday. The BBC News Channel is like to be most affected by the action, which is taking place in protest over compulsory redundancies . Following last Friday’s strike , another 24 hour stoppage is due to take place on Monday. National Union of Journalists’ members at the corporation have been told in an internal memo that “an indefinite work to rule will begin across the BBC from 00.01 on Tuesday August 2nd immediately following the 24 hour strike”. According to corporation sources, working to rule could be more effective at causing disruption because many staff on the BBC News Channel “act up” to cover more senior positions during busy news days. On Tuesday afternoon, talks are taking place between the NUJ and BBC management over the three members of staff in BBC Monitoring and the World Service who have been made compulsorily redundant. It is understood that another NUJ member has been made compulsorily redundant since last week’s strike, despite sitting and passing a test for an alternative job. According to the internal memo there is also a claim that “work which could be done by a second member dismissed from BBC Monitoring is being done by individuals flown in from overseas instead”. Meanwhile, BBC management has agreed to meet all the broadcasting unions on 11 August to discuss the corporation’s stance on redundancies in light of the cuts due to take place as a result of the Delivering Quality First initiative . A BBC spokeswoman said: “We are disappointed that the NUJ has chosen to take industrial action and implement work to rule over these redundancies. These actions do not alter the fact that the BBC is faced with a number of potential compulsory redundancies following significant cuts to the central government grants that support the World Service and BBC Monitoring. “We will continue with our efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies. However, the number of posts that we are having to close means that unfortunately it is likely to be impossible for us to avoid some compulsory redundancies. “The BBC has been in continuous dialogue with the NUJ over the past week.” BBC National Union of Journalists Media unions Television industry Radio industry Tara Conlan guardian.co.uk

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Amy Winehouse: private funeral to be held

Jewish ceremony for Amy Winehouse will take place in undisclosed location after postmortem results are inconclusive The family of Amy Winehouse will hold a private funeral for the singer, who was found dead on Saturday at the age of 27. The funeral will be held in an undisclosed location with only family members and close friends present, said family spokesman Chris Goodman. It is understood it will be held in three different stages, with the body of the singer expected to be cremated. The Jewish ceremony of bereavement, shiva, will be observed at a synagogue and later at the family home. A postmortem carried out on Monday following the sudden death of the singer did not establish the cause of her death. Further toxicology tests will be carried out with a definitive result expected in two to four weeks. A postmortem was carried out on Monday, hours after Winehouse’s parents formally identified her body, paving the way for a funeral. According to Jewish tradition the funeral of a deceased loved one should be happen as soon as possible after the death, with the mourning period lasting for seven days. An inquest into the singer’s death was opened at St Pancras coroner’s court and adjourned until 26 October. The 27-year-old singer, who fought a well-documented battle with drugs and alcohol, was found dead at her home in Camden Town by her bodyguard at around 4pm on Saturday afternoon. Police have said only that her death is unexplained, and that speculation regarding an overdose is “inappropriate”. Janis and Mitch Winehouse made a tearful appearance outside their daughter’s north London home and spoke to mourners, thanking them for their support. Mitch Winehouse, who flew back from New York immediately after hearing the news of his daughter’s death, told her fans, leaving handwritten notes and bouquets in memory of the singer: “I can’t tell you what this means to us – it really is making this a lot easier for us. Amy was about one thing and that was love, her whole life was devoted to her family and her friends and to you guys as well. We’re devastated and I’m speechless but thanks for coming.” He appeared also to address reporters, many of whom he has known for several years. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I know a lot of you, we’ve been together for five, six years. I’m glad you’re all here anyway,” he said. The impromptu shrine outside her home features photos as well as cards and notes, including an image of Winehouse posing in a bar. There is also a picture amended by artist Mysterious Al, showing her face with monochrome cartoon eyes and a white lightning strike in her beehive hair. Other less wholesome tributes were also on display, including half-full bottles of vodka and packets of cigarettes. Camera crews from around the world gathered outside her home on Monday as fans talked about their love of the singer, and some took photos of themselves in front of her house. Many left flowers and notes. One read: “Too fragile, too beautiful, too big a talent for this world.” Another thanked the star, saying: “Thanks to you I kept struggling in the toughest times.” At St Pancras coroner’s court the assistant deputy coroner, Suzanne Greenaway, said further toxicology tests would be carried out to establish how the singer died. During the brief inquest opening she mentioned only the bare facts of the death. Winehouse released only two albums in her short career. The first, Frank, went relatively unnoticed but the follow-up Back to Black propelled the artist to stratospheric success, winning her five Grammy awards. After the release of the album she was often in the headlines as much for her chaotic personal life as her music, including well-documented drug and alcohol problems and a tempestuous relationship with her former husband Blake Civil-Fielder. Fans have reacted to her death not only by laying flowers and writing tributes, but by buying her albums, with both of her records entering the charts. Her influence on a ream of female stars has been noted, with artists like Lady Gaga saying she “changed pop music forever”. She tweeted: “I remember knowing there was hope, and feeling not alone because of her. She lived jazz, she lived the blues.” Adele, a singer who like Winehouse has achieved huge success with her second album, paid tribute to the singer on her website. “Amy paved the way for artists like me and made people excited about British music again whilst being fearlessly hilarious and blasé,” she wrote. “Although I’m incredibly sad about Amy passing I’m also reminded of how immensely proud of her I am, and grateful to be inspired by her.’ Amy Winehouse Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk

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