We’ve remarked from the get-go that the most remarkable thing about the Tea Partying Republican Right is that they represent a political bloc predicated on people believing things that are provably untrue. This has, of course, ranged from the Birth Certificate nonsense to the belief that Obama is going to take everyone’s guns away, and everything in between. But these are in many ways secondary add-ons to Tea Partyism, whose core mantra really revolves around the federal deficit and spending: We’re on the verge of bankruptcy, they claim, and it’s being caused by “out-of-control” federal spending. In the video above, Van Jones — who knows all about right-wing lies — deconstructs the Really Big Lie that is a cornerstone of Tea Party beliefs, not to mention right-wing media talking points, namely: We’re going broke. We’re not. Meanwhile, Brian Beutler at TPMDC deconstructs the claim that “federal spending is out of control”: But a close look at the numbers reveals a few important, and frequently overlooked facts. Domestic discretionary spending is a small sliver of the budget. Our deficit and debts can be traced to the fact that spending on entitlement programs and defense has shot up, and tax revenues have plummeted to their lowest level in decades. But spending on domestic discretionary programs has grown much more slowly. And, if you correct for inflation, and for growing population, it turns out we’re spending exactly the same amount on these programs as we were a full decade ago. These numbers come from Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee, who are doing their best to guard this turf. “Although non-defense discretionary spending in nominal dollars has increased, when taking inflation and population growth into account the amount contained in the [2011 budget] represents no increase over what we spent in 2001, a year in which we generated a surplus of $128 billion,” said chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) in a prepared statement. “So the right question to ask is: Are we really spending too much on non-defense programs? The answer is clearly no.” Beutler provides some graphic illustrations of the reality behind the numbers that make it clear, as he suggests, just who the chief culprit in this matter really is: right-wing governance and its mania for cutting taxes. In the wake of the Bush tax cuts, and the Great Recession, tax revenue has fallen through the floor to near-historic lows. As a percentage of GDP, it’s fallen 24 percent since 2001, and if you correct for inflation, the government is collecting nearly 20 percent less per person than it was a decade ago. At the same time, the population-adjusted costs of mandatory spending programs — driven by Medicare, including its new prescription drug benefit, and Medicaid — have increased by over 30 percent. And, of course, defense spending has skyrocketed. But if you isolate domestic discretionary programs, a decade later we’re spending no more on a per-person basis than we were back then. Meanwhile, Robert Reich explains all this in detail: Yes, it’s true: Right-wing ideology is increasingly built on a foundation of lies.
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Study of 129,000 wines reveals some vintners deliberately – but legally – market wine as less alcoholic than it is Wine drinkers suffering an unexpected hangover after what they thought was a moderate drink may have just found someone else to blame but themselves. A study of the alcohol content of 129,000 wines from vineyards across Europe and the new world over a 16-year period has suggested that many vintners have been “systematically” understating their wines’ strength on labels. The American Association of Wine Economists found that 57% of the wines analysed were stronger than declared on the label. The average alcohol content was 13.6% when the average reported strength was 13.1% according to the biggest study of its kind undertaken yet. It was based on imports into Ontario, Canada, one of the few places to test the alcohol content of every incoming wine. Bottles from Chile, Argentina and the US were the worst offenders overall, but all of the wine-making countries analysed, including France, Italy and Spain, on average underplayed alcoholic power. Just under a third of the wines overstated their alcohol content and these were typically the weaker bottles. The authors of the report, titled Splendide mendax: false label claims about high and rising alcohol content of wine, said informal discussions with winemakers showed they appeared to be reducing the alcohol levels printed on labels to improve sales in an era of rising strength level in wine caused by increased temperatures, changing tastes and improved wine-making techniques. “Some winemakers … have admitted they deliberately chose to understate the alcohol content on a wine label, within the range of error permitted by the law, because they believed that it would be advantageous for marketing the wine to do so,” said the report, written by a team led by Julian Alston at the University of California. “We observe systematic patterns in the errors: a tendency to overstate the alcohol content for wine that has relatively low actual alcohol content and a tendency to understate the alcohol content for wine that has relatively high alcohol content.” Winemakers exporting to Britain are obliged to express alcohol in units of half a per cent but can claim a 14.5% bottle is 14% because the European regulations only require the label strength is not more than half a per cent out. Ontario allows a 1% tolerance. “I think winemakers want to endow their wines with the sensory appeal associated with ripe flavours and concomitant high alcohol but know that many consumers are intellectually opposed to high alcohol levels,” said Jancis Robinson, a leading British wine critic. “They know that lots of people first ‘taste with their eyes’, by checking the alcohol level printed on the label.” “Historically we haven’t worried about alcohol levels in wine too much,” said Jasper Morris, a master of wine at Berry Brothers and Rudd, the Queen’s wine merchant. “It used to be all around 12% to 13%. It certainly wasn’t like the difference between buying lager, where premium brands can be twice as strong.But labelling is beginning to become more of an issue when you have wines at 14.5% and 15%. Like everybody else, I want the product to be the same as what it says on the label.” Michael Cox, UK director of Wines of Chile, denied there was a systematic approach to under-reporting alcohol content in Chilean wines and said there were some cases where consumers were attracted by strength. But he added: “There is a trend towards lower alcohol wines and so to some extent there is a marketing angle.” The analysis also revealed that strength of wine across the world has risen by almost a whole percentage point in recent years. Between 1992 and 2006, the average alcohol in a bottle of wine that passed through Ontario rose from 12.6% to 13.6%. In some cases alcohol levels have risen to double that. American wine is typically almost one percentage point stronger than their European counterparts and Australian wine half a percentage point. But some of France’s prestigious wines are now producing their own blockbusters. Last week, Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion in Bordeaux released a £580 bottle of wine with 15% alcohol. Tests on individual wines present a mixed picture. Jon Bonné, the wine critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, ordered tests on 19 wines and found that 14 had understated alcohol levels, three by a whole percentage point. The Guardian this week commissioned analysis on six bottles on sale in Majestic from Australia, California, France and Italy. The tests were conducted using the EU standard distillation method and the analyst was able to check the bottles to a tolerance of 0.3 percentage points. Taking that into account, none breached EU regulations but in each case customers were getting less alcohol than they bargained for, not more. The true extent of inaccurate reporting remains unclear in the UK. The Food Standards Agency which is charged with ensuring labels on imported wines do not make false claims only carries out spot checks on non-EU wine and then only checks against the alcohol level provided on official documentation provided by the winemaker and does not carry out its own alcohol analysis. Pricey vintage The 2010 Bordeaux vintage is the most expensive ever, according to wine merchants. Many of the Grands Crus Classés, including Chateau Palmer and Chateau Pontet Canet, have announced record prices, higher even than for their 2009 wines, which was declared by critics the “vintage of the century”. Ausone from St Emilion went on sale last week at £1,030 a bottle. Mouton Rothschild is £650 a bottle, but within 25 minutes of going on sale wine merchant Berry Brothers and Rudd (BBR) sold 500 cases. Even Lynch Bages, a fifth growth which suggests it should be inferior, is on sale at £1,250 a dozen, up from £865 for the 2009. “It is without doubt the most expensive vintage ever,” said Gary Boom, director of Bordeaux Index. “The chateaux have priced it very high and I believe they have misjudged the mood.” The quality has inspired euphoric responses. “It is exceptionally unctuous, silky, almost with the consistency of single cream,” said Simon Staples, sales director of BBR, of Mouton. “Incredible, ripe, but not overly so, with red and black fruits, and a really dense compote of woodland lushness. “The tannins are gloriously wrapped up within the satin creaminess of its dense but elegant body and it has an extraordinary finish of minutes not seconds.” Wine Alcohol Food & drink Food & drink industry Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
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Against the backdrop of a Corfu beach resort, Jack Shenker meets frustrated but unbowed campaigners Many late-night forms of entertainment attract the crowds to Gouvia beach. The Elvis impersonators and happy hour cocktail offers are long-running staples; political agitation and naval blockades are not. For the past week, however, visitors have witnessed a strange addition to Corfu’s budget-holiday mecca: dozens of pro-Palestinian activists, huddled together around outdoor tables and debating intensely while British stag parties and groups of Slovenian teenagers in togas stumble drunkenly past. It is perhaps the unlikeliest of backdrops to a diplomatic row that has drawn in Ban Ki-moon, Hillary Clinton and some of the Middle East’s most entrenched political foes. But it is from here in Gouvia that this month’s “freedom flotilla” hoped to defy the diktats of government and break Israel’s siege of Gaza, after similar attempts in Athens were thwarted by the Greek authorities. On Tuesday that dream, for now at least, came to an end. “They can keep us here and break our boats, but they cannot break our spirits,” announced Rotterdam council member Nourdin El Ouali from the deck of the Stefano Chiarini, an old 1950s minesweeper now festooned with peace flags. He was speaking after it emerged that the requisite paperwork for departure had not come through, and that most of the passengers were unwilling to risk flouting the law by setting off regardless. “We are not sailing today but one day we will sail, with more ships, more passengers and more determination than ever before to bring aid and freedom to the people of Gaza,” El Ouali added. Amid the drama of ships breaking out of port and racing coastguard vessels to the high seas, and in the thick of mutual mud-slinging between the Israeli government and flotilla organisers – the former accusing activists of receiving funding from jihadists, the latter claiming that Israeli operatives risked human lives by sabotaging their boats – the realities of life in Gaza, supposedly the very thing lying at the heart of this whole affair, have sometimes felt forgotten. Since Israel began blockading the Palestinian territory in June 2007 in response to Hamas taking power, numerous aid organisations have concluded that the quality of life for 1.6 million people trapped within has sharply declined, regularly precipitating a humanitarian crisis and potentially amounting to the collective punishment of a population – an act deemed illegal under international law. Israel believes the blockade is necessary to stop weapons being smuggling into the territory. Last year Israel partially eased its restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, largely as a response to the international outcry that accompanied its violent raid on the Turkish vessel the Mavi Marmara , which left nine people dead. But in a report released only three months ago the UN concluded that this shift in policy “did not result in a significant improvement in people’s livelihoods”, highlighting the fact that 52% of the Gazan families still suffer from food insecurity and that unemployment levels in the territory remain among the highest in the world. David Cameron has labelled Gaza an open-air “prison camp” , and even the Greek government – which over the past week sanctioned the armed commandeering of American and Canadian ships in an effort to stop the flotilla – says publicly that the Israeli blockade must end. It’s this chasm between the stated opposition of most world leaders to Israel’s tight grip over Gaza and their almost universal condemnation of a group of boats aiming to peacefully break it that has got activists in Corfu shaking their heads in frustration – and rethinking what their mission stands for in the context of a much broader struggle. “Most states ignore civil society: they don’t take it seriously as a political player,” says Ewa Jasiewicz, a British-Polish campaigner who had been planning to sail to Gaza from Corfu. “What the flotilla does is actually bring civil society into a space where states have to deal with us. Our actions are exposing the lack of adherence to international law among nation states supporting the siege, and through that we can show that it’s only grassroots movements and people power from below that has an impact on changing policy. We’re exposing the inertia and complicity of governments and really undermining the idea that we’re living in democracies – and that’s especially clear in Greece.” In the midst of the Arab spring, Jasiewicz’s argument – that direct actions like the flotilla serve to delegitimise not only Israel’s occupation of Palestine but also the wider status quo of power relations in western democracies – is an explosive one, particularly in a country like Greece where the elected government is facing a powerful crisis of legitimacy from below. According to Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti, the flotilla and the extraordinary diplomatic mobilisation against it have revealed the vulnerability of established political elites and the growing momentum for change in the Middle East and beyond. “If you really support the Arab spring, you should support the flotilla,” he recently told national leaders at a meeting of the Socialist International. Many of those involved in the flotilla believe that this year’s revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the ongoing battles being waged against autocratic rulers elsewhere in the Arab world, have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well. “People have had their stereotypes of Arabs smashed over the past six months, particularly when you see protesters in Sana’a wearing brightly coloured wigs and children resisting armed police in Cairo – you can’t call these people terrorists,” argues Jasiewicz. “And in TV pictures of these scenes, the Palestinian flag is everywhere. You can’t cut the Palestinian freedom struggle out from the Arab Spring – it’s becoming recognised as a pro-democracy movement, and hence more widely accepted.” The real intention of the flotilla has always been less about physically transporting humanitarian aid and geared more towards political subversion of the Israeli blockade. At this level the challenge was not so much to set sail – although one small French craft has reached international waters, the only boat in the flotilla to do so – but rather to win the media battle and create an opening for Palestinian voices to be heard. Whether this year’s efforts have helped achieve this will be bitterly contested by both sides for many months to come. The diverse array of activists who travelled to Corfu – from a Dublin-based professional rugby player to a member of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood – all had different metrics of success, differences which often bubbled over during hard-fought disagreements over strategy and tactics. This motley crew of Corfu campaigners will now go their separate ways – some back home to Holland, Italy, Bosnia and elsewhere, others onto Athens to join continuing protests there by flotilla activists, including hunger strikes and occupations of some national embassies. Meanwhile the Stefano Chiarini will carry on bobbing among the pleasure yachts and the local ferries, waiting for the next attempt to voyage on to Gazan waters. “The flotilla action is the culmination of decades of anti-occupation struggle,” says Jasiewicz. “It involves activists from civil rights movement backgrounds, anti-capitalist backgrounds, many different social justice movements, and inevitably sometimes those people will view things in different ways. But last year, when we were in prison [following the Israeli interception of a similar flotilla which included the Mavi Marmara] an Israeli lawyer walked in and said ‘you have changed the world’. We haven’t stopped trying to do that.” Gaza flotilla Gaza Middle East Israel Europe Palestinian territories Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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Hama residents erect barriers to stop tanks re-entering – but say raids are widespread days after biggest anti-regime protest Residents of Hama in Syria are resisting an army advance that has reportedly claimed 14 lives as violence returned to the flash-point city. Barriers have been erected at entrances Hama to stop tanks and armoured columns re-entering en masse, five days after the largest anti-regime demonstration yet seen in the four month Syrian uprising. But residents reported that the military had easily broken through the barriers and was conducting widespread raids. Less than a week earlier, all security forces withdrew from the city of 800,000 in what demonstrators had viewed at the time as yielding to their demands. Raids started again soon after the mass rally that drew ire from Damascus and led to the president, Bashar al-Assad, sacking the area’s governor. “The situation is bad – there is security on the streets and gunfire in several neighbourhoods,” a Hama resident, who did not want to be names, told the Guardian. Doctors were appealing for blood donations as security forces and regime loyalists vandalised cars and broke into commercial shops, activists reported. Hama has been a hot bed of anti-government militancy for many decades. Tensions between the city’s mostly Sunni residents and the ruling Alawite elite have simmered since 1982 when Assad’s father sent his army in to the city in a massacre that killed between 10,000-40,000 people and came to define his rule. “I don’t think Hama’s residents will let the authorities to retake the city,” said one man, who identified himself as Tarif. “If they try, it could turn into a bloodbath.” The foreigin secretary, William Hague, condemned the crackdown. “Violent repression in Hama will only further undermine the regime’s legitimacy and raise serious questions about whether it is committed to the reforms it has recently announced,” he said. “No meaningful political dialogue can take place while there is a brutal military crackdown.” Hague repeated the UK’s demand that Assad should reform or step aside, saying: “If the regime continues to choose the path of brutal repression, pressure from the international community will only increase.” Diplomats in Damascus say the ongoing military crackdown is causing increasing damage to the regime. Despite official assurances that the economy is fine, Assad last month warned of the danger of economic collapse and state media has reported campaigns around the country to “support the Syrian pound”. Unofficial money changers have valued the Syrian pound (SYP) at least 10% lower than the official rates. Some have been shut down by the authorities, according to local business newsletter the Syria Report . Syrian authorities are reportedly making a one-off pay deduction for current and former public sector employees in a move that may raise anger levels in Hama. Several public sector employees report being told 500 SYP (£7) will be docked from their pay packet next month, while activists said pensions have not yet been paid this month. “Some employees seem to have had their salary reduced and others not,” said Wissam Tarif, the head of human rights organisation Insan which is monitoring events in Syria. The average wage in the public sector – which employs the bulk of Syrians – is 13,000 SYP a month, according to the most recent figures available. Government employees say this is barely enough to get through the month. The pay deduction would be at odds with an increase in subsidies on certain goods as Assad, facing a resilient challenge to his family’s 40 year rule, seeks to subdue potentially restive groups including through raising subsidies on certain goods. Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest William Hague Nidaa Hassan guardian.co.uk
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Last remaining train maker in UK halves its workforce and calls on government for rethink after losing £3bn contract Four months ago David Cameron brought his “march of the makers” to Derby in a morale-boosting exercise for Britain’s blue-collar sector. Now more than 1,400 manufacturing jobs have walked out of the city as Bombardier, the last remaining train maker in the UK, announced plans to cut nearly half its workforce in the wake of the government’s decision last month to select Siemens of Germany for a £3bn contract. Trade union leaders and local politicians rounded on the prime minister, who had brought his cabinet to Derby amid talk of weaning the economy off financial services and pledging to “do everything we can” to help local businesses create jobs. The criticism was particularly stinging from Bombardier employees and executives, who are cutting 1,429 staff, comprised of 446 full-time workers and 983 agency employees. The Canadian engineering group said it needed the £3bn Thameslink contract to have a hope of retaining the bulk of its 3,000-strong workforce at the former British Rail factory in central Derby, which survived a zeppelin bombing in 1916 but according to the government has fallen foul of a new continental menace: European Union procurement rules. Ministers believe their hands were tied by Brussels guidelines that forbid favourable treatment of domestic manufacturers. Standing in front of freshly minted commuter trains at the 172 year-old plant, one Bombardier executive was scornful of the cabinet visit and its immediate legacy. “What makes it most inexplicable for me is David Cameron being in Derby of all places a few months ago talking about hi-tech manufacturing and moving the UK away from financial services in London,” said Francis Paonessa, head of Bombardier’s UK passenger division. “This would have been the perfect opportunity to put some actions behind those words. As a taxpayer I find it very difficult to see how this decision makes any economic sense for the UK.” Paonessa added that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills had invited Bombardier to a conference on transferring hi-tech jobs at risk in the wake of the defence budget cuts to other sectors such as car and train manufacturing. “We are now adding to the problem,” said Paonessa. Asked if he still plans to attend the BIS seminar he said: “Funnily enough, I will not.” Bombardier’s UK chairman, Colin Walton, said the jobs announcement was “the worst day in my entire career.” Walton started out on the railways as a 15-year-old but last week closed the door on youngsters seeking to emulate him when he was forced to cancel Bombardier’s annual apprenticeship intake. Despite government claims that Siemens could not be unseated as preferred bidder for the Thameslink contract, the executive said there was still hope for Bombardier as the second choice. “The department could bring us back to the table and that would in no way infringe on European laws.” Labour’s shadow business secretary, John Denham, also urged the government to break off with Siemens and install Bombardier as preferred bidder. The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said his department had no choice but to select Siemens in a tender drawn up by the previous government. Vince Cable, the business secretary, set up an “economic response task force” on Tuesday to mitigate the impact of the job cuts in Derby, as the government hit back against Bombardier’s claim that the cuts were directly linked to the Thameslink contract. They pointed to a recent letter to Hammond in which Bombardier warned that 1,200 jobs were at risk even if the company did not win the order. Industry sources said the company would have had to scale back as orders began to deplete. From September four of Bombardier’s five production lines, still thrumming with activity, will be idle. Bombardier said that it would not have axed permanent staff, while securing the £3bn deal would have put the business in pole position to make rolling stock for the £16bn Crossrail route. The talk among shell-shocked staff in Derby was of a full plant closure. Bombardier is reviewing its UK operations in the wake of the Thameslink decision and it has not ruled out closing Derby by 2014, when its last contract ends. Paul Stead, 49, a Derby resident who oversees production of nearly 1,400 tube carriages, said: “This is the last of the train manufacturing sites in the UK and it will probably be dissolved. There are no orders. The whole principle of Thameslink is it would have lasted us until Crossrail. A place of this size needs a big order.” He added: “We are prepared to take the skills into another country and pay them to do it instead of doing it here. Our apprentices and trades people will be obsolete.” Siemens has confirmed that the carriages will be made in Germany, but has claimed that 2,000 jobs will be created in the UK. Asked what will become of the Derby plant, Stead said: “Most likely they will put houses on it,” adding that the Royal Ordnance Factory site in Derby where he used to work is now a B&Q store. Others spoke glumly of re-employment prospects. The head of the factory’s works committee, John Pearson, said Derby’s flagship industrial player, Rolls Royce, would struggle to absorb more than 1,000 jobless workers, while internet bank Egg is preparing to cut 650 posts in the City. “Derby has had a bad time lately. There is Royce’s but it will not be able to take everybody.” Jane Moss, a 35 year-old agency worker who has been doing fitting work at the plant, said: “It is a bit frightening because there is not much in industry in England anyway. It is just dwindling away.” Bombardier Job losses Transport policy Manufacturing sector Rail transport Transport Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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Youngsters, who say they were detained for more than six hours, launch legal challenge in high court Metropolitan police officers illegally detained children as young as 11 for more than six hours during a “kettling” operation against tuition fee protesters, the high court has been told. Three of those held last year are challenging the decision by senior officers to contain youngsters – some of whom were wearing school uniforms – among masses of demonstrators on Whitehall. The case focuses attention on police use of the tactic to prevent groups of people moving through the streets. It has been criticised for its indiscriminate punishment of everyone present. Lawyers for Adam Castle, 16, his sister Rosie, 15, and Sam Eaton, 16, all from north London, argued the police operation was unlawful because no release plan had been prepared to cope with the presence of children. Martin Westgate QC, counsel for the children, said the police failure constituted a breach of their obligations under section 11 of the Children’s Act and of their responsibilities to respect human rights. The children had, with their parents’ permission, joined the National Student Walkout demonstration against the rise in university fees on 24 November. “The claimants were entirely innocent of any misconduct,” Westgate said. “Other children were also prevented from leaving. One 11-year-old was told to ‘get back’ at a fairly late stage in the containment.” The “kettle” operation began at 12.30pm and children repeatedly presented themselves at the police lines asking to be allowed to leave. They showed Oyster cards and offered other proof of their age but were not allowed to depart. “Children … were reasonably capable of being identified as non-violent participants,” Westgate said. “There’s no suggestion there were a significant number of violent children.” Radio logs of the police operation showed that officers feared some protesters had knives or, in one case, a gun. “It seems that the release took longer … because the police wanted to secure evidence for arrests,” Westgate said. “That’s not a lawful use of containment.” The children were among 10 friends who joined thousands of students, lecturers and teachers in Trafalgar Square to march towards the Houses of Parliament. Rosie was trapped for about six hours and the boys, who were in court, for seven-and-a-half hours. Westgate said he accepted the decision to impose the kettle was lawful because of police fears breaches of the peace were imminent but added that the operation became unlawful because of the failure to have a release plan communicated to frontline officers. Lawyers for the Met police argued that the containment had not been pre-planned, that there was no expectation that schoolchildren would join in and that provision had been made to help vulnerable people caught up in the protests. Requiring the police to record every possible consideration in preparation for large operations would be a “sterile exercise”, the force added. Two portable toilets were provided, but only five hours after protesters had been penned in. Outside court Sam said: “I just felt like we were being punished for demonstrating, as opposed to us doing anything illegal.” Adam added: “I hope the judges see that kettling broke our rights. We were punished for protesting and everyone was left demoralised. It was one of the coldest days of the year and we had not been prepared for being held into the night. “As children we can’t vote, so one of the best ways for us to voice our opinion is through protest and if that’s stopped or inhibited by kettling then where are we left?” His sister Rosie was released earlier and separated from her brother. Adam said: “She knew where she was, but she didn’t know how to get home. She didn’t expect to be separated and left out in the middle of London in the evening. No one was prepared for that.” The hearing continues. Kettling Police Metropolitan police Tuition fees Higher education Students Children Human rights Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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Sir Richard Dearlove says al-Qaida may have passed its zenith but could still muster a spectacular outrage Al-Qaida is facing a “crisis of credibility” and the Arab Spring is “complete anathema” to it, a former head of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, declared on Tuesday. The organisation spawned by Osama bin Laden, killed in May in Pakistan by US special forces, may have already passed its zenith in the Arab world, Sir Richard Dearlove, told an audience in London. But he warned that, as a result, al-Qaida had a “pressing need to pull off a spectacular”. He stressed: “Clearly there is a high risk of a spectacular.” Dearlove, chief of MI6 at the time of the 11 September attacks on the US and the invasion of Iraq, made clear he believed it was time to reduce the proportion of their resources – about 70% – that Britain’s security and intelligence agencies currently devoted to countering terrorism. More important now, he suggested, were political developments in the Middle East following what he called the “Arab awakening”. What was the actual threat, he asked, adding that events in Arab countries suggested that intelligence agencies were facing a world on the cusp of a hugely significant change of direction. He added that in Afghanistan a clear distinction had to be made between al-Qaida and the Pashtuns who, he indicated, were fighting an insurgency inspired more by nationalist and tribal ambitions than extreme ideological ones. Dearlove was speaking at a meeting sponsored by the Global Strategy Forum, chaired by Lord Lothian, the former Conservative frontbencher Michael Ancram. He suggested more resources should be diverted from the defence budget to Britain’s intelligence agencies. He observed that one of MI5 and MI6′s roles set out in statutes was to protect Britain’s “economic well-being”. Dearlove said: “We should not be squeamish about using all means at our disposal to protect ourselves economically.” One question was the extent to which Britain’s intelligence budget – about £2bn annually – should be used to protect the country’s financial and energy security, he said. Dearlove added that there was a “strong argument” for MI5 and MI6 to help the new National Crime Agency tackle serious and organised crime. The security and intelligence services had that role before the 9/11 attacks triggered a massive switch of resources to countering terrorism. Dearlove’s suggestion that al-Qaida has passed its peak chimes with the view of many serving intelligence officers and independent analysts. It reflects the stance of MI6 and now of Britain’s defence chiefs too that the time has come to talk to the Pashtun-led Taliban, and that al-Qaida has been seriously weakened in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, al-Qaida “franchises or surrogates, are increasingly active, in Yemen, Somalia, and in pockets of north Africa, and could carry out a spectacular attack there or in Europe, including Britain, intelligence sources agree. al-Qaida MI6 Middle East MI5 Iraq Pakistan Osama bin Laden Taliban US military Arab and Middle East unrest Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Speaking just for myself, I think that President Obama tapping into America's strategic oil reserve was an extremely unwise and dangerous move. They can say that the didn't do it for political purposes, but until the cows come home and set up housekeeping, I still won't believe it. The reason being that, at best, it is a temporary measure which will be nothing more than a blip on the radar screen of the world's crude oil prices. Whatever fleeting effect it causes will do absolutely nothing to ease our real problem of depending on people who hate our guts to keep our cars and industries running. Why has it been impossible for all our presidents and both political parties to face the fact that the only energy supplies we can really rely on are the ones that exist below the lands and the waters of The United States of America? I have come to believe that there is something much more sinister than the Sierra Club and Greenpeace that prevents us from exploiting our plentiful energy resources, something organized and dirty with the strings being pulled in the highest political offices and the most prestigious corporate boardrooms in the world. But that's another subject for another time. Let's get back to the one at hand. The oil we take out of our reserves will have to be replaced at whatever the price happens to be at the time we replace it, which could very well be higher than it is now. And even worse than that, was this truly a strategic need or a political need? I personally opt for the latter. I think it was political and foolish. Our strategic oil reserves are supposed to guard against a time when something happens that critically disrupts our flow of oil and threatens to shut the country down. To provide fuel so our planes can fly and our defenses can be maintained. Fuel to be used to harvest and move food around the nation in case of a worldwide breakdown, which looks entirely possible in the next few years. What do we do when the fanatics close down the Persian Gulf or blow up the pipelines in Saudi Arabia? What if we sustain a major domestic attack? Our strategic oil reserves should be for the defense of this country, not to bolster the sagging poll numbers of a reckless president. What do you think?
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Click here to view this media CNN host Ali Velshi gave Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum some math advice Tuesday after the former Pennsylvania senator claimed President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus had resulted in 30 million fewer jobs. “[Obama] passed a huge stimulus package that now we know, over the past two quarters, has actually cost American jobs, and that’s from the report of his own administration,” Santorum asserted. “They claimed in December that by the end of last year that they created 280 million jobs, and now they’re saying that they created only 240 million jobs.” “Senator, I’m going to ask you to restate that, I’ve never heard that in my life,” Velshi interrupted. “If you look at the report that came out on Friday, the President’s own economic advisers said that the jobs stimulus package actually created fewer jobs over the period of time, since the stimulus package went in place than it did when they reported back in December. In other words, there’s 30 million less jobs as a result of the stimulus package,” Santorum explained. “That’s not a loss of jobs, Senator, that’s a smaller aggregation of jobs,” Velshi noted. “You can’t go on a campaign, a national campaign with this kind of math Senator. It’s just incorrect.” “One report says that there were 280 and now there are 240,” Santorum insisted. “I know you’ve got a lot of interviews to do. You might want to check that math,” Velshi advised. “It’s dangerous to go around saying that the stimulus didn’t create jobs.” “Look it up,” Santorum said. “Let’s not make a campaign slogan out of something that’s incorrect. I think you might thank me for the guidance but it’s your campaign so you do what you see fit,” Velshi added. “Let’s just be clear: that’s just not right information.” Think Progress pointed out that there are currently 13.9 million people unemployed, and only 153 million in the entire U.S. labor force. “If the Obama administration had created 240 to 280 million jobs, the unemployment crisis would have been solved several times over, and America would have so many jobs that it would need to start employing workers from all over the world just to fill all the available positions,” Think Progress’ Pat Garofalo wrote.
Continue reading …NY Times Skips Charitable Nature of Limbaugh’s July 4 Visit to Tornado-Damaged Joplin, Missouri
July 5, 2011 No CommentBrian Maloney at The Radio Equalizer reports that Rush Limbaugh’s July 4 appearance in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri drew a whiff of coverage from Dan Barry in The New York Times : “There will be ice cream, and games, and country-western music, and inflatable bouncy houses, and fellow Missourian Rush Limbaugh, who will seize the moment to promote an iced tea drink flavored with Tea Party fervor.” But the Times line implied that Limbaugh came on a profit-seeking promotional tour, instead of a charitable event celebrating the greatness of the country and this city: After Joplin fans won a listener contest, Rush personally delivered 3800 cases of Two If By Tea, his new iced beverage, free of charge to attendees. In addition, the Missouri native was to make a contribution to the tornado relief fund while there. Your Radio Equalizer caught up with Rush just before his plane landed to get a sense of the visit's aims: “It's all about keeping the spotlight on Joplin, dropping in here personally. The Tea is second, it's just a gift,” Limbaugh said. “I'm personally donating to the relief fund here and am paying all the vendors here $500 each to offset any missed sales because of free tea. [There's a] huge semi-trailer, chilled, with 3800 cases of Two If By Tea. [I'll give] a 25-minute little speech between bands about 8:15 on why America, and Joplin, are unique and great. No politics. No mention of conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican. It's about the people of Joplin,” he added. The local newspaper The Joplin Globe summarized: Limbaugh, a commentator and talk show host known for his conservative stances, stayed away from politics and instead vowed to keep telling the story of Joplin’s recovery. “What I am going to do is keep the spotlight on Joplin, Missouri,” he said, “and what you are doing and how you are overcoming something that was thrown your way.” Some of those who attended the event said they were grateful that Limbaugh came to Joplin. “I got a lot of friends. Some like Rush and some don’t,” said David Weaver, of Duquesne, who said he lost two houses in the tornado. “It was neat of him. He got some national attention for us. He has brought something to Joplin. “It is neat to see a national figure, whether it is President Obama or Rush Limbaugh, two opposite ends of the spectrum, both come to Joplin to find a welcome.”
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