MP says hardliners of both sides should reflect on effects of being strident, but that immediate action is ‘sensible’ Hardliners on opposing sides in the battle over climate change are guilty of a weird “religiosity” which hinders a sensible debate, energy minister Greg Barker has said. In a Guardian interview, Barker said sceptics were failing to accept the “broad base” of scientific opinion, while climate change campaigners could be guilty of behaving in an arrogant manner. Amid frustration in Whitehall at the tone of the debate, Barker said: “If you look at the extremes of the climate debate, whether it is the extreme climate sceptics or the extreme climate zealots, there is a slight religiosity there which is weird.” He said hardliners on both sides should reflect on the consequences of adopting such strident stances. “I think the broad base of sound scientific opinion, of sensible and respected science, supports urgent climate action,” he said to sceptics who question the need for action. “Of course science is constantly evolving. The notion that you need to have 100% certainty on any given issue is unhelpful anyway. Acting now on climate is the prudent sensible thing to do.” But Barker warned that climate change campaigners needed to be careful not to dismiss sceptics such as the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby. “We need to make sure don’t behave in an arrogant or offhand way because that really pisses people off,” he said. Barker, a close ally of the prime minister, has been a key figure in building up Tory credibility on climate change since being given the brief by David Cameron after his election as Tory leader in 2005. This allows Barker, who travelled with Cameron on his famous “huskies” trip to a Norwegian glacier in 2006, to deliver messages that could alarm climate change campaigners. Barker, who sits next to a cushion in his Whitehall office emblazoned with the words “Save Our Planet”, said: • Mistakes made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the email scandal at the University of East Anglia had put the climate agenda “on the back foot”. • In rebalancing the economy away from an over-reliance on service industries to new green technology, the government needed to be careful not to penalise traditional industries which were “energy intensive users”. Barker, who announced an extra £20m to encourage the growth of marine energy during a visit to Edinburgh, indicated that ministers believe climate change scientists have done themselves few favours in recent years. The IPCC faced intense criticism after its fourth assessment in 2007 included the mistaken statement that the Himalyan glaciers could disappear by 2035. Climate scientists at the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia were accused in an official report last year of being “unhelpful and defensive” in response to “reasonable requests for information”. But they were cleared of accusations that they fudged results and silenced critics. Barker said: “Over the last two years the climate agenda has been on the back foot. The IPCC scandal last year, the email leaks from the University of East Anglia – all were grist to the mill of the climate sceptics. “Although their significance was greatly exaggerated and the actual substance of those incidents did nothing to undermine the science, the impact on the reputation of climate science was huge. We underestimate it at our peril. There is a need for new voices and a new coherence for those advocating urgent action on climate change. Hopefully that will have shaken us out of that slight complacency that the climate establishment had wandered into. I do not underestimate for a second that all of us who are passionate about finding urgent solutions to the global issues have got a big job to do and need to be incredibly responsible at the COP [UN Conference of the Parties climate change negotiations in Durban later] this year.” Barker was careful not to talk in detail about the emails at the UEA, but he said: “That was symptomatic of a view that you must win at all counts. In science, it is really important that dissenting voices are heard and listened to.” Barker acknowledged that the Conservative party includes one of the most prominent climate change sceptics – Lawson – who needs to be handled with care. “Nigel has got a long history in this area. The important thing is those of us in office shouldn’t dismiss out of hand people that have concerns or refuse to engage.” There was a clear explanation why sceptics are more likely to be found in his party, he said. “The climate debate, which was started by Margaret Thatcher who was the first world leader to call for concerted action on man-made climate change, was subsequently almost hijacked by the centre left,” Barker said. “They gave it the narrative and it became a post-cold war means of advocating large-scale government programmes. It almost instinctively drew the antipathy of free marketeers and the centre right who felt uncomfortable with some of the language of the climate change agenda.” Barker was speaking to the Guardian after a busy period on climate change which has seen the government announce ambitious targets for the fourth carbon budget, to run from 2023-27, outline how the £3bn Green Investment bank will work and introduce plans to insulate 14m homes by 2020. The climate change minister believes he has built up enough credibility with the green lobby to make clear that the government is keen to make space for “energy intensive users” such as the steel and aluminium industries. “The big shift in thinking on climate change policy is a recognition that we need to rebalance our economy. But decarbonisation must not mean de-industrialisation,” he said. “On the contrary, we actually need to build an economy that has more advanced manufacturing where we stop just reducing our carbon emissions by sending stuff offshore to less regulated markets and actually see the energy challenge of the next two decades as a real opportunity to see more advanced manufacturing here in the UK, importing less and looking to successful advanced economies like Germany as the way forward rather than thinking we can simply be ever more dependent on the services sector.” Climate change Climate change Climate change scepticism Green politics Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The debt-ceiling drama is getting very tedious, and some of the op-eds penned by writers such as Eugene Robinson are especially annoying. Matt Browner Hamlin debunks him pretty easily in his post, “That’s not a compromise.” The bipartisan fetish in the D.C. Beltway is getting worse by the minute. They are panicking more than Wall Street, so even Robinson starts writing garbage. Why do the Villagers allow Republicans to get away with the negotiating practice of “it’s either my way or the highway” tactics? Paul Krugman simply writes: So, here’s where we are on the debt limit discussions : Democrats have agreed to large spending cuts, but are holding out for doing something about a rule that lets businesses value their inventory at less than they bought it for in order to lower their tax burden, a loophole that lets hedge-fund managers count their income as capital gains and pay a 15 percent marginal tax rate, the tax treatment of private jets, oil and gas subsidies, and a limit on itemized deductions for the wealthy. And Republicans walked out. Think about it. There’s a significant chance that failing to raise the debt limit could provoke a renewed financial crisis — and Republicans would rather take that chance than allow a reduction in tax breaks on corporate jets. What this says to me is that Obama cannot, must not, concede here. If he does, he’s signaling that the GOP can extract even the most outrageous demands; he’s setting himself up for endless blackmail. A line has to be drawn somewhere; it should have been drawn last fall; but to concede now would effectively mean the end of the presidency. After the debt ceiling there’s the 2012 budget talks coming. What will the Democrats give up next if they allow Republicans to carve them up on the debt ceiling when they know it must be raised, or if it’s not, then unconscionable harm will come to the economy of the U.S.? I thought this article was a joke, but maybe not : For their part, Obama and Reid appear prepared to reach much higher, putting substantial Medicare savings on the table if Republicans would accept added revenues. With the House GOP leadership in New York, all of Monday’s White House maneuvering was Senate-centric. But Obama’s hope is that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), with whom he met privately last week, will be intrigued by a bolder package that might also help neutralize the Medicare issue now hurting the GOP among elderly voters Why would the Dems even consider giving Republicans cover on the Medicare issue? mcjoan writes: Maybe Reid has already decided they can’t defend the Dem Senate majority, so what the hell, give in now and maybe get something in return down the road from Republicans. Because that has already worked out so well for him. It’s hard to say what Obama is thinking. But “substantial Medicare savings,” beyond what we know is already on the table, can only mean benefit and provider cuts. Which is giving up not just a big chunk of this critical program for seniors and the disabled, but all of the ground gained against House Republicans for voting for Ryan’s disastrous budget. Nobody knows what they are thinking, but unless the unemployment rate drops significantly, Obama will have a tough time selling himself to the American people if they give up on seniors by cutting benefits to either medicaid, Medicare or Social Security even if Michele Bachmann is the GOP candidate. Democrats not standing up and fighting for longstanding Democratic positions on our social safety net will only lead to ruin.
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Culture minister says country will take serious action over films that ‘ruin Muslims’ sanctity’ Iran’s minister of cultural and Islamic guidance has attacked an upcoming BBC2 documentary series on the life of the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad, saying the “enemy” was attempting to “ruin Muslims’ sanctity”. The three-part series, The Life of Muhammad, presented by Rageh Omaar, a Somali-born British Middle East correspondent for Al Jazeera English, is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC2 in mid-July and has been drawing increasing criticism from senior figures in Iran. The documentary makers say it seeks to “retrace the actual footsteps of the prophet” from his birthplace in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, his struggles with his prophetic role and divine revelations, his migration to Medina and establishment of the first Islamic constitution before his final return to Mecca following armed conflicts. But the Iranian culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, who has not seen the programme, said in an interview on Monday that he was worried about the BBC film. Speaking to Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, he said: “The BBC’s decision to make a documentary on the life of [the] prophet Muhammad seems dubious and if our suspicions are proved to be correct, we will certainly take serious action.” Hosseini added: “What the enemy is trying to do in ruining the Muslims’ sanctity is definitely much more than causing us to react and unfortunately, some Islamic countries are not taking this issue seriously. One way to show objections is to express condemnation of the West over their despicable actions.” Iran and the West have previously clashed, famously, over publication of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in 1988 and more recently in the row over threats to burn the Qur’an by a US pastor. It is thought officials in Iran, where the population is predominantly Shia, could be worried that the BBC2 documentary might only be limited to a Sunni interpretation of Muhammad’s life. But Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s commissioning editor for religion and ethics, told the Guardian that they had consulted a Shia scholar for
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Labour and Tory MPs attack prison plans to limit remand in custody and tackle explosion in use of indeterminate sentences The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, faces another embarrassing U-turn over his controversial sentencing reforms on Wednesday as the Labour frontbench combines with rightwing Tory MPs to further attack his prison plans. Tory backbenchers and Labour spokesmen served notice on Tuesday night that they would fight Clarke’s plans to limit the use of remand in custody and tackle the explosion in the use of indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs). Clarke’s Commons opponents scent fresh blood after last week’s U-turn when Downing Street disowned his plan to introduce a 50% maximum discount for early guilty pleas, although it would have stabilised the growth in the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales. The move took out 3,400 of the 6,000 prison places Clarke was hoping to save over four years as part of his “rehabilitation revolution” and left him with a £140m hole in his spending plans. A fresh revolt against his plans to limit the use of remand in custody would lose a further 1,300 saved places and mean he would have to find a further £40m from his justice budget. The IPP reforms would have saved 600 prison places and £10m. Clarke is expected to battle on Wednesday to save what remains of his reforms when he opens the Commons second reading of his legal aid, sentencing and punishment bill. He further infuriated the Tory right on Tuesday when he insisted the only change in the law on self-defence – hailed last week by the tabloids as a “bash a burglar charter” when announced by Downing Street – would be a further clarification of the law. It comes as a supreme court justice, Lady Hale, warned that £350m legal aid cuts in the bill would hit the “poorest and most vulnerable in society” and amid predictions that more than one-third of law centres in England and Wales would have to close as result. In a speech to the Law Society on Monday, she said: “There is a well-known ironic saying … that in England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz. Courts are and should be a last resort but they should be a last resort which is accessible to all, rich and poor alike. The big society will be the loser if everyone does not believe that the law is there for them.” Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, gave Clark a taste of the argument to come on Tuesday when he cited the opposition of victims and witnesses commissioner Louise Casey, circuit judges and magistrates to the plan to take away from courts the option of remanding in custody defendants who are unlikely to receive a prison sentence if convicted. Defendants on domestic violence charges have already been exempted from the move. Khan said that banning the use of remand in this way was simply a cost-cutting measure to reduce prison numbers which undermined a vital tool of the courts. Khan also served notice that Labour would oppose any plans to “water down the protection given to the public” by IPPs, claiming the government’s proposal to review their use showed it was out of touch with public concerns. The rightwing Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, Clarke’s self-appointed bugbear on the Tory backbenches, also weighed in against any reform of IPPs, describing the sentences as “the single best part of the criminal justice system”. Clarke strongly defended his plans, saying there were now 6,000 IPP prisoners without a definite release date. The IPP system, which has been condemned as a national scandal by prison governors, includes more than 3,000 prisoners who had already passed their tariff indicative release date: “They’re only released when they can demonstrate to the Parole Board that they are a minimal risk to society, which is the present test, but in a prison cell they will find it almost impossible to satisfy that test. We need long, determinate sentences for serious criminals. That is the way the criminal justice system works,” Clarke told MPs. He said Labour’s 10-year IPP experiment had “undoubtedly failed” and one in 10 prisoners would soon be serving indefinite sentences unless a better alternative was found. David Cameron has suggested that a new “two strikes and you’re out” mandatory sentence for repeat serious sexual or violent offenders should be introduced instead. Hale’s comments came as figures provided by Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Federation, showed that at least 18 of the 52 centres in England and Wales would have to shut, because three-quarters of their income comes from legal aid that will no longer be available. Last year, law centres helped 120,000 people, Bishop said. Soon, because of the government’s determination to slice £350m out of its annual £2.1bn legal aid budget, the number who can be helped will fall by two-thirds to 40,000. Hale, who is the patron of Hammersmith and Fulham’s law centre, noted in her speech that legal aid was now being removed from “most civil and legal cases”. But providing legal advice at an early stage, she said, could often save greater costs for government agencies at a later stage when problems spiralled out of control. Prisons and probation UK criminal justice Kenneth Clarke Alan Travis Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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Thorntons joins growing list of casualties in a week of retail misery that could cost 10,000 jobs More than 10,000 retail jobs face the axe as the British high street faces one of its most painful bouts of contraction since the second world war amid the biggest squeeze on household budgets for decades. As the government’s austerity measures take hold, experts warned that the number of retailers going bust would continue to rise this year with a number of household names facing insolvency. The confectioner Thorntons emerged as the latest high street casualty when it said on Tuesday it would close up to 180 stores, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk. The flooring chain Carpetright followed suit, saying 50 stores could close as consumers shun purchases amid fuel and food price inflation and rising job insecurity, especially in the public sector. Over the last week, a clutch of high street names announced they were in trouble. Habitat was among several to call in the administrators, putting 750 jobs on the line. The electronics retailer Comet is also shutting stores. The department store chain TJ Hughes said it was planning to appoint an administrator after a slump in sales, raising a question mark over the future of 4,000 employees who work at its 58 stores in England and Wales. The retail carnage will intensify the debate around the coalition’s spending cuts and, on Thursday, 750,000 teachers and civil servants hold a one-day strike to protest at reforms to pay and pensions which they claim will leave them worse off despite having to pay more to into their retirement plans. In parliament, Labour is lobbying for a cut in VAT payments to bring relief to consumers and cushion shops from spiralling rent bills. Underlining the difficulties, final figures on growth in the first quarter of this year released on Tuesday showed it remained at 0.5%. With growth in the last quarter of 2010 at -0.5%, this means zero growth between the end of September last year and the beginning of April. Data also showed households ate into savings to make up for a squeeze on incomes. The Bank of England governor, Sir Mervyn King, told the Treasury select committee: “I am definitely concerned by … the squeeze on real income. This is the way in which we as a country are adjusting to the consequences of a crisis, and the macro economic rebalancing that is necessary to get through that.” There was some better news for workers when the administrator to the women’s fashion chain Jane Norman sold 33 of the company’s stores to Edinburgh Woollen Mill, saving hundreds of jobs. However, more than 1,000 staff at other shops face redundancy adding to a toll that includes nearly 3,000 staff and related employees at Homeform, which controls Moben Kitchens, Sharps Bedrooms and Dolphin Bathrooms, and which called in administrators last week. Several thousand jobs are also going at Focus DIY. Maureen Hinton, senior retail analyst at Verdict Research, said: “It feels every bit as bad as at the height of the credit crunch when Woolworths collapsed. We are going through a retrenchment that is probably as severe as we have seen since the war.” Supply was outstripping demand, she said, and weak operators were at a high risk of going to the wall. “If you are not covering your costs and you are subject to upward-only rent reviews on leased properties, you are in dire straits,” she said. Analysts said the British retail sector was at “saturation point” and companies were able to make money only by poaching custom from rivals as the underlying market was not growing. Other operators viewed as vulnerable were specialists selling stationery or kitchenware, or those who confined themselves to footwear or other products when general retailers were diversifying. Hinton said: “Even the supermarkets can see there are limits to how much they can expand in Britain, which is why they are looking to open businesses abroad.” Mike Jervis, a restructuring expert at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that firms with mediocre management or who bought the wrong stock at the wrong time of the year “are probably toast”. He added: “I think the sector is going to have a very rough time over the next six months.” Carpetright, Britain’s biggest floor coverings retailer, said it expected tough trading conditions to continue over the next two years as it posted a 40% fall in profits and axed the final dividend. “Looking forward, over the next two years we expect the consumer environment to remain difficult and have adapted our plans accordingly,” said its chairman, Philip Harris. Carpetright, which trades from about 700 stores in Britain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, has suffered from fragile consumer confidence. Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said the struggles of discount chains like TJ Hughes indicate that no retailer was immune to the problems facing the high street. She said: “The discount end of the retail market was previously thought to be recession-proof but now it is starting to show cracks as consumers cut down on even life’s little luxuries to pay for necessities like food.” Kevin Green, chief executive at the recruitment and employment confederation, said the “feelgood factor in April and early May caused by the royal wedding and the bank holidays that gave retail a much-needed boost has now evaporated.” Retail industry Recession Thorntons Economics Consumer spending Richard Wachman guardian.co.uk
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Thousands of Greeks brave police teargas to march against austerity measures, as protesters vow to continue the ‘big battle’ There is a ritual to Greek rallies. They start out quiet, then get rowdy, and then violent. this ritual jumped gear when violence broke out before the rowdy stage as thousands marched against austerity in Athens during a general strike triggered by tomorrow’s parliamentary vote on some of the toughest economic measures in modern Greek history. Witnesses said it began on Filellinon street just after midday. “Without any provocation riot police began firing off rounds of teargas,” said Fotis Fieris, a student holding a handkerchief to his mouth. “They fired and fired until we had to disperse.” So ferocious was the volley that soon pungent smoke had wafted down through the alleys of Plaka, the ancient district beneath the Acropolis, sending teary-eyed tourists running for cover. By then, the action had moved to Syntagma Square, site of the Greek parliament and seat of the people’s assembly, the body behind the growing movement of “indignant citizens” that has been the focus of protests for the past month. Within minutes the square resembled a battlezone, plumes of acrid smoke rising from burning rubbish bins as youths in bandanas, hoods and crash helmets lobbed marble slabs, rocks, broken bits of pavement, incendiary devices – anything they could find – at police. “Our aim,” said Pavlos Antonopoulos, a ponytailed teacher who had marched through Syntagma Square with thousands of trade unionists hours before, “is to demonstrate peacefully. “If there is violence it may well be deliberately provoked because we have heard that the aim of the government is to clear the square before Wednesday’s vote on the measures. “That’s when we will fight the big battle, when we will try to blockade the parliament, when we will do everything humanly possible to stop parliamentarians voting through the measures.” A new spirit is stalking Greece. Chaos, too, is also present amid power cuts (engineered by militant trade unionists protesting the partial privatization of the public power corporation), lawlessness and a growing sense that the debt-stricken country is not only headed for economic collapse but social disarray. Increasingly, Greeks fear there is no one to turn to, no leader or moral authority that they can trust. In the absence of hope, solidarity has grown. Eighteen months after the crisis erupted and barely a year after Athens received €110bn in emergency loans – in exchange for draconian budget cuts and reforms — Greeks are united as never before in the battle against further austerity. Many believe the latest €28bn package of spending cuts, privatisations and tax increases – deemed vital if Greece is to secure further aid from the EU and IMF – will wipe out society’s great connector, the middle class. “After a year of austerity where have we got?” asked Antonopoulos, who in 1990 staged a 25-day hunger strike in an attempt to improve teachers’ rights and standards in schools. “What have politicians done to earn this debt? We live in a country with no productive base, whose economy is in tatters, which after 30 years as a signed-up member of Europe has no infrastructure to speak of. That’s why we’re now demanding that the government goes, that the debt be written off and that Greece leaves the EU. Otherwise generations will be forced to live under a regime of austerity on the poverty line.” At 61, the wiry teacher embodies the people power now surging through Syntagma Square. Unsettlingly for the government, his views appear to be echoed by an ever greater number of Greeks. Olli Rehn, the EU’s economic affairs chief, made it clear that if the radical measures were not ratified by Athens’s 300-member parliament, there was “no plan B”. After a year of Greece’s failing to deliver on promised reforms, mandarins in Brussels are too mistrustful. Greece would not receive the next infusion of cash – €12bn crucial to paying wages and pensions in the coming month – and would automatically default on its €355bn (about £320bn) debt pile, he said. “The only way to avoid immediate default is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme … they must be approved if the next tranche of financial assistance is to be released.” There is a growing consensus that the measures will be passed. Despite the chorus of criticism from austerity-weary MPs in the ruling socialist party, sources close to prime minister George Papandreou said they were confident that when the vote is held, dissidents would rally and “do the right thing.” “They know that the country’s future hangs on it and they know that if Greece goes under it will throw Europe into unprecedented financial turmoil,” one aide said. But even if the measures are passed, the battle will be only partly won. The real fight begins when the government actually starts streamlining the country’s profligate public sector and implementing the sort of reforms now viewed as urgent if Greece is to catch up with the rest of the western world. “The measures will pass but the government’s victory will be pyrrhic,” said Nikos Dimou, author of the bestselling The Misfortune to be Greek. “The challenges ahead are enormous.” Greece European debt crisis European banks Europe Economics Global economy Helena Smith guardian.co.uk
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Taliban militants with at least one suicide bomb attack popular Kabul hotel, with Afghan police reportedly locked in gun battles A famous hotel in Kabul is under attack from a commando squad of Taliban militants armed with small arms, at least one suicide bomb and rocket propelled grenades. The assault on the old Intercontinental, which is popular with Afghan politicians and foreign visitors, began late on Tuesday night when it is thought at least two receptions were taking place. Although details about the ongoing assault are still unclear, a Taliban spokesman, contacted on the phone by journalists, was quick to claim credit for the assault. A Kabul police chief, Mohammad Zahir, said the assault involved “several gunmen shooting”, and that a “number” of police had been wounded. According to a tweet by Bette Dam , a Dutch journalist at the scene, the attackers also appeared to be armed with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Dam reported seeing at least four RPGs being launched from the hotel into the nearby house belonging to Mohammad Qasim Fahim, one of Afghanistan’s vice-presidents. Reuters reported that a wedding party was in progress at the 1960s hotel, which is no longer part of the Intercontinental chain, at the time of the assault. The attack on such a well-defended hotel, which is impossible to approach without going through at least two security checkpoints, is embarrassing for the Afghan government as it prepares to take responsibility for security in Kabul province, as part of much-vaunted “transition” strategy. Afghan authorities have already been nominally in charge of the capital city for some time. Attacks in Kabul have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the 2 May killing of Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Pakistan, and since the start of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive. On 18 June, insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms stormed a police station near the presidential palace and opened fire on officers, killing nine. Afghanistan Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …As tempting as it is to answer the title question with the words “Rick Scott”, it goes back farther than Scott and paints a picture of what this country would look like if Republicans were able to win back the Presidency in 2012. Three stories today highlight Florida’s decline. Education Florida’s school voucher program was a Jeb Bush special, passed in 2006. Five years later, the Miami New Times is taking a close look at some of the “results” . The goal of the voucher program was to give more “school choice” to parents of disabled children, but it appears to be a program that isn’t regulated, has few standards, and lines the pockets of corrupt businessmen. While the state played the role of the blind sugar daddy, here is what went on at South Florida Prep, according to parents, students, teachers, and public records: Two hundred students were crammed into ever-changing school locations, including a dingy strip-mall space above a liquor store and down the hall from an Asian massage parlor. Eventually, fire marshals and sheriffs condemned the “campus” as unfit for habitation, pushing the student body into transience in church foyers and public parks. Meanwhile, Brown openly used a form of corporal punishment that has been banned in Miami-Dade and Broward schools for three decades. Four former students and the music teacher Norris recall that the principal frequently paddled students for misbehaving. In a complaint filed with the DOE in April 2009, one parent rushed to the school to stop Brown from taking a paddle to her son’s behind. “He said that maybe if we niggas would beat our kids in the first place, he wouldn’t have to,” the mother wrote of Brown. “He then proceeded to tell me that he is not governed by Florida school laws.” The school received over 2 million dollars between June 2006 and November 2010 that could have been spent on public schools, with no oversight. Read the entire article. It’s worth the time. This is privatization at work. Take public funds, turn them over to for-profit entities for the purpose of accomplishing a public purpose. The problem, of course, is that profit-making and the public good do not always make harmonious partners. [h/t Liz Ditz ] Religion What happens when freedom of religion smacks up against freedom of speech? In Florida, religion wins. EllenBeth Wachs is an avowed atheist living in Polk County. She has been harassed by the county sheriff since she dared to speak out against the donation of publicly owned basketball hoops to churches. Well, not just harassed. She’s been arrested twice. But it’s not just the arrests, it’s the reasons for the arrests. The Ledger.com Wachs was last jailed in May when she was accused of simulating sex sounds from inside her home while within earshot of a neighbor’s 10-year-old son. Sheriff’s deputies said she made the noises in an attempt to make the boy stop playing basketball outside her house. Later that month, deputies charged her with possession of marijuana, alleging they found marijuana in a safe confiscated from her home. Her suit claims that a search warrant served at Wachs home was too general, allowing deputies to seize items related to litigation and other materials protected by the First Amendment. It also says that a detective attended a civil hearing on an injunction Wachs’ neighbors sought related to the alleged sexual sounds she had made at home. The detective immediately arranged a meeting with the family, “seizing the opportunity to continue his campaign of harassment against” Wachs, which is “misusing the state criminal law enforcement process.” Via MadFloridian , more details about that search warrant and allegation of ‘making sexual noises’ : EllenBeth Wachs was arrested Sunday, accused of making noises in her home that sounded as though she was having sex. The arrest warrant says she made noise in her home on March 13 that “sounded like a woman experiencing sexual gratification in an extremely loud fashion.” So much for the Fourth Amendment in Polk County. The judge in the case had a stern warning for Wachs: On Friday, the judge settled on a $6,000 bond for Wachs. He also warned her not to make unusual noises around the house. She’s also banned from making contact with her neighbors or minors. So there you go. In this country, you can’t make noises in your own house? At least, not ‘sex noises’. Wachs has filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging they are targeting her because she is an atheist. Sheriff Judd is a Baptist who isn’t shy about quoting Scripture, holding events in churches, or bragging about prisoner baptisms. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine this guy arresting the town atheist in order to try and ‘convert her’, or barring that, just make her life hell. The bottom line : “While the above listed actions may seem innocent in isolation, they point to an obvious and deeply-ingrained tradition of Christianity within the agencies and officials overseen” by the sheriff, Walters writes. “The atheist, Jew, Muslim, or other non-Christian who reads Defendant Judd’s newsletters receives a clear message — ‘you are not one of us.’” Florida’s Highway Patrol Nearly Disbanded With the above two stories in mind, this one made me shake my head and wonder if it’s time to give up on Florida altogether. Via the Palm Beach Post : Florida Highway Patrol troopers came close to wearing the green uniforms of Sheriff’s deputies this past legislative session. The jobs of more than 1,500 troopers were almost given to local sheriffs. It would have been the biggest outsourcing in recent history and it was backed by Governor Rick Scott. It was the sheriffs, not the patrol that pushed back and said no. “If a deal was worked out, the funding might be here one year and the funding could disappear in the next legislative session,” said Florida Sheriff’s Association President Harrell Reid. The switch could have potentially raised local property taxes, but the fight is not over. Tucked into a Senate bill is legislation requiring a study of consolidating all law enforcement functions, everything from the FHP to the Fish and Wildlife Commission, Agricultural agents and more. That same legislation moved Florida Department of Transpiration officers who inspect large 18-wheelers to the Florida Highway Patrol. There’s a reason for having the Highway Patrol at a state level. Highways cross county boundaries, go from one part of the state to another. Handing them over to local counties has not only the fiscal impact of putting the costs on them, it ensures chaos when it comes to law enforcement on the highways. Anyone who has ever watched a high speed chase knows it’s already hard enough to coordinate local and state law enforcement when the one pursued is hopping on and off freeways, but imagine the nightmare it would become with every county having their own quirky ways of enforcing the laws, which, by the way, are state laws governing state highways. The bottom line Florida is an incubator for disaster. Between privatization, greed, zealotry, and ignorance, the citizens of Florida are paying taxes for very little in return. If ever there was a state that illustrated the abject failure of tea party ‘liberty’, it’s Florida. That’s what’s the matter with Florida. Oh, there’s one other thing wrong with Florida. Rick Scott’s cozy relationship with the Kochtopus .
Continue reading …NY Times Magazine Editor on Vargas Tale: Come On, Lying’s Hardly ‘Unprecedented in Journalism’
June 28, 2011 No Comment
Over the weekend, NPR’s On The Media found that the New York Times was so fascinated by self-proclaimed illegal alien activist Jose Antonio Vargas and found his story so compelling, the credibility of the author was not an issue. New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Hugo Lindgren (that “great magazine head” ) said all the lying about his citizenship is not an issue for journalists: That's something that's come up today. You know, people say, you know, you lie about one thing and people can't stop lying if they do that. And I think some of that misses the point. This is not unprecedented in journalism. This is not the first person who's ever told a lie who then goes on to write about it. “The point” not to be missed is political: the injustice isn't the lying, Lindgren is saying, it's the system that “forces” illegals to lie. Substitute host Mike Pesca then turned to San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein for a more “ambivalent,” less cynical take on lying: BRONSTEIN: Jose, who I really like and I consider a friend, nonetheless basically told me the day before he came out in this article, look, I did this story when I worked for The Chronicle about illegal immigrants in the Mission District of San Francisco, buying fake driver's licenses, at the same time that he had a driver's license which he obtained with phony documents. So there's a [Laughs] — there's a fundamental conflict there where, you know, full disclosure would normally be required. But since no one but Jose knew about it, it wasn't required and we didn't get it. MIKE PESCA: But did Jose say, at the time, that he didn't want to report on such issues, issues that there would be a conflict? BRONSTEIN: He said that he himself decided at the time that that was just too much of a conflict and he wasn't gonna report on it again. So I'm not sure he recused himself from covering that topic entirely. And it's a very slippery slope because what's he gonna tell his editor? I, I don't want to do immigration stories anymore? That generally is not a very popular kind of approach when you're a young journalist. In fact, Vargas reported four stories on immigration at the Chronicle. At least Pesca cited Jack Shafer’s complaint that journalists shouldn’t lie to their editors: PESCA: “There's something about this guy” — this is Jack Shafer writing — “something about this guy does to make a journalist's nose itch.” Did you have that itchy feeling? BRONSTEIN: I do, and my inclination is not to want to have it, ‘cause I know Jose and I've followed his career over the years and I have, you know, advised him on occasion. But I – I think that he is a consummate self-promoter. That's one of the ways that he was able to survive, you know, with this sort of big secret hanging over him. You know, Phil Bennett, the former managing editor of The Washington Post, did not agree with Marcus Brauchli, the current editor of The Post. Phil thought that it was a courageous thing to do, that, that it was very troubling that he lied to people at The Post and elsewhere but that, you know, this was the right thing for Jose to do and there was a greater good involved. PESCA: I would just submit that there are understandable or even laudable stances for individuals to take that would at the same time also disqualify them from being journalists, no? BRONSTEIN: Yeah, and I think that Jose has disqualified himself from being a journalist. He's now an advocate. So at a minimum I wouldn't hire him. Bronstein added with a laugh that at most media outlets, lying about your citizenship status isn’t the worst offense: “You know, which is worse for journalism, a plagiarist or somebody like Jose who’s lying about his residency? I think probably plagiarism [laughs], you know, would still be seen as the more egregious sin in our profession.” Earlier on TimesWatch: Hugo Lindgren insists Lori Berenson terrorism whitewash is a “classic Times Magazine story”
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