Join us from Somerset for the final evening of Glastonbury 2011. Beyonce is headlining the Pyramid from 9.45pm, with Gruff Rhys, The Streets and Kool and the Gang also closing out the festival 11.33pm: More hardcore field action from Adam “dirty” Gabbett: Beyoncé’s down off the stage and shaking hands with a shrieking front row. She’s like Mother Theresa out here Hmmmm. No. She’s not. But she did help write this , which is a religious experience for those leaning like that. 11.19pm: Re: The medley of Destiny’s hits: Our man back-in-the-office, Ken MacFarlane, says: Take that Jive Bunny! Quite. Meanwhile Beyoncé’s American is showing. She’s singing Run The World and the video screens behind her are showing footage of President Barack Obama being sworn into office. The glory days, huh, Bonce? That could be a visual metaphor for this show. Good intentions, populist slant, bit mis-judged and slow in parts. And no guest stars (so far) other than Tricky. This is one of the three biggest popstars in the world, we’re talking about, mind. Best bring out Jay, Kanye, Chris Martin and Prince for your finale, Bonce. No. Gwyneth. No! Stay back there. 11.11pm: Here’s that Kool and the Gan tweet that you’ve all been waiting for: Take a moment now. I know that was big for all of us. Anyway, let’s keep it rolling. Bonce is doing a Destiny’s Child medley (Jumpin’ Jumpin’, Say My Name, Survivor) and would like us to say “We love you!” to The Other Two. I have never met either. So I will stick with a “I respect your music”, particularly this . 11.03pm: I’m sat in the cabin that I have been-warned-to-not-call-what-it’s-colloquially-known-as across the site from B’s performance, so I might be wrong when I say this but … it’s been a while since we heard a stone cold hit, hasn’t it? 10.53pm: There’s the Kings of Leon cover , which includes “a slow section where she’s lying down at the front the stage”. In other choice-of-movement-over-the-front-of-the-stage news Kool and the Gang’s lead singer has opted for roly-polying. Tweet proof to follow. 10.45pm: And then Tim adds: Suffice to say, we won’t be catching any QOTSA tonight. Which is a reminder that there is other stuff going here tonight. Personally my dream would be to see Josh “Big Duck” Homme of Queens of the Stone Age head Pyramid-ways and add some grit to the swish funk of Deja Vu . Or have Bonce scamper over to the Other stage to help out on backing vocals on Avon . One of these situations is more practical and likely than the other. 10.42pm: Re: The covers. Guardian.co.uk/music editor Tim Jonze says: An Alanis Morrissette cover can’t be my Glastonbury highlight can it? Can it?!?! 10.33pm: Here’s a cover of Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know and a cover of Eurythmics’s Sweet Dreams. Perhaps that “real music” will appease the minority of you in the comment field, who’ve decided to take your dislike of pop music on a wander through the stinky, slurpy bog of Ignorant Sexism. 10.31pm: Updates from our men and women quite literally in the field … Scott Cawley (tall, salt ‘n’ peppered, sensual) says: “He [Tricky, who has been involved in B's new album and came on briefly] looks like the cat that’s got the fuckin cream” Adam Gabbatt (tall, toned, personable) says: “She must be as strong as an ox. She’s averaging 30 squat thrusts per track” Tom Snell (Guardian reader, smaller, cynical) says: “Did Tricky actually sing?” 10.11pm: Naughty Girl. The track. Not the creepy chat-up line. Let’s have a look at what people who are only allowed to express themselves in 140 characters or less have to say about The Bonce’s performance so far: • Dizzee Rascal’s stage-mate DJ Semtex (@Semtex) says she’s “killing it”. • @HannaHanra says: “Beyonce is just so much better than lady gaga isn’t she?” • @timsowula mee-owws this: “I wonder where in Tottenham #Beyonce got her hair done this afternoon?” • And sort-of the Guardian’s @jonronson says this: “Beyonce’s ambitions for Glastonbury are exactly the same as my ambitions for twitter”. Which is cryptic. Fireworks, big hair and endless hits? I could go with that. 10.04pm: She’s come up through the floor and there’s fireworks going off and there’s a mass sing-a-long and she “looks hot” and “we are witnessing her dream” according to the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt and global pop superstardom’s Beyoncé. Many, many people in a field in Somerset are trying to do this dance , without spilling their drinks. 10.03pm: We’re still waiting on Beyoncé. The Guardian’s Peter Sale and Scott Cawley are down in the Pyramid arena. Scott says: Crowd so bored they’ve started Mexican waves and are cheering them. And Pete says: Not on yet, few boos from crowd And the Pyramid arena crowd drown them both out with a mass scream that reverberates around our tiny sorta-porta. She’s on. And she’s doing Crazy in Love. 9.51pm: A brief bit on Pendulum’s performance from the commenters: Even the man who works at Glastonbury post office, in his entire life, hasn’t said “Glastonbury” as often as the [something rude] with the goatee and the rubbish voice out of Pendulum. I might go and watch an actual pendulum instead. says @earwicker Pendulum are an easy listening throwback to the early 90s and dull as [something that is VERY rude] says @earwicker Pendulum – they’re killing it! says @MookieB Linkin Park if they weren’t [something leading to libel] says @earwicker Earwicker – no fan of Pendulum. 9.46pm: In retrospect I wish I’d mentioned “crowd saucing” in that post about David Levine at the tomato fight. Unfortunately the ketchup pun pipped it. 9.44pm: Caspar Llewellyn Smith emails this from Pyramid stage, where the angry mob has turned on a couple of bully boys: Wedged into crowd for Beyonce. Great scenes when two big lads forced their way past us in deeper and then got so roundly booed by about 50 people that they beat an embarrassed retreat … 9.24pm: We’ve got a few minutes before Beyoncé gets on stage / performs a blinder / gets lauded in 5-star reviews that reference Jay-Z’s triumphant set in 2008, so let’s see what else is going on around the site: • Kaiser Chiefs are Wooooooooaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh-ndering off the Other stage after sounding a fair bit like golden era Blur for an hour. Chief Kaiser Ricky Wilson asked people to bob up and down and then called the bobbing “good”. • The mighty delts of many roadies are being strained as the burly men (it’s normally men) shuffle giant cans of Good Times onto the West Holts stage. Kool and the Gang will be there at to open them at 21:45. • The Man Who Bono Shot aka David Levene has been over at the Bullring, where people have been throwing tomatoes at each other, like what they do in Spain. We’ll ketchup with that story in a bit … 9.20pm: As ever you can sling your random thoughts / opinions / complaints about our drug intake (or a lack of) to us through an ambitiously broad variety of social media. There’s our Twitter account (@guardianmusic), where you can tweet a mini-review of any show you’ve seen today using the #gmreview hashtag. There’s our Flikr group , where you can send in your photos. And there’s our video email address ( your.videos@guardian.co.uk ), where you can stitch up your friends by posting embarrassing clips of them drunk and throwing up in their wellies. Or – you know – enjoying Pendulum. 8.57pm: Hello all. It’s the last night of the festival, so let us cater to you with a brief round-up of the best of our coverage from across the weekend. So far we’ve rang the alarm on the police’s “cheeky” request to drug test Glastonbury’s effluvia, given Billy Bragg the green light to jam with banjo man (and Guardian journalist) Tim Dowling and fallen crazy in love with Rastamouse . We’ve met baby boys and single ladies weird and wonderful both. And, mostly, it’s been so, so, so, so, so good . But, despite covering sets by two of the biggest bands in the world, we can’t shake the feeling that we’ve been building up to something. For me, that something is tonight’s headline set by Beyoncé “Bonce, B, Sascha Fierce, JuJu” Knowles who takes to the Pyramid stage in just under an hour. My name is Henry Barnes . I’m quite excited. And I am definitely ready for this jelly . You? 8.54pm: That’s it from me, I’m off to see Beyonce. Henry Barnes is taking over to steer the blog through the rest of Sunday. Bonne chance! 8.52pm: My colleague Vanessa Smith was in “the front of the Pendulum moshpit” during their set: Dodging flying toiletrolls, cider-can missiles and crowdsurfing blow-up T-Rexes, as 200 undersexed shirtless teenage boys bounce off each other like British Bulldogs. It’s pretty gnarly, and kind of like being caught in a riot at Borstal, only more fun. A shaved-headed ex-bouncer is beating people around the head with an inflatable flamingo. A crazed Banana-Man is bearhugging a man in a furry viking hat. Do you think I made them all angry when I offered them some face glitter, and asked if Pendulum was a folk band?? Hilarious. 8.47pm: Beyonce’s not adverse to the outdoors – as this Dazed and Confused snap of her barbecueing in highly practical clothing shows.. 8.42pm: Pendulum seem to have packed up after playing only half their allotted set, according to James Ball. The boys kicked off at 8pm but stopped playing at 8.35pm and don’t appear to be coming back – “I feel a bit shortchanged to be honest,” James laments. 8.29pm: Patrick Kingsley texts to say he’s just seen James Corden “pacing” – sounds quite a sight – towards the Other Stage. “Just in time for Kaiser Chiefs, perhaps,” Patrick speculates. 8.21pm: BREAKING: Tim Jonze has just confessed to eating my tin of fruit cocktail yesterday. Showing no remorse. 8.14pm: Gwyneth Paltrow was tweeting from backstage at the Coldplay gig last night – check out her pics:. 7.54pm: Caspar writes: Plan B: why? Although walking the path at the very back of the absolutely rammed field for the Pyramid, people are into it. EVEN WHEN HE MASSACRES Stand By Me… You can read Miranda Sayer’s Observer interview with Plan B here . 7.49pm: Tim Jonze saw Paul Simon too. Read his full review here, and there’s a snippet below: “Yeah, I’m happy to be here,” shrugs Paul Simon. “I’ve got a throat infection so if I’m not at the top of my game, that’s the reason.” Well, they say get your excuses in early. Not that Simon needed to apologise – at least not at first. Boy in the Bubble kicked off the New Yorker’s first ever Glastonbury appearance, an earlier signifier that this was to be an uptempo, hit-heavy set, especially with his band drawing out the ending with handclaps and a full-throttle electric guitar solo. Bathiki Kumalo, who has been in Simon’s band for more than two decades, even adds a finger-crippling bass solo – proving he doesn’t need You Can Call Me Al for some good old-fashioned showing off. Simon, who apart from a blue bow around his hat is clad head-to-toe in sun-defying black, then pulls out 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, but after this the set threatens to drift away. The thing with Glastonbury is you can’t simply rely on your setlist. It’s a delicate balancing act, making sure your songs suit whatever the elements throw your way. With this in mind, you might imagine a laidback, sleepy set would be just what the crowd needed while basking in the glorious afternoon sun. But it’s baking out here, and packed too – the audience are in search of an adrenaline rush that’s not provided by the likes of The Obvious Child or new song So Beautiful or So What. Even Slip Slidin’ Away threatens to do just that. However, a glorious Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes pulls things back, its crystal clear guitar refrain ringing out as the crowd join in. Simon leaves the stage early but it’s a false alarm and he returns to finish with You Can Call Me Al, a song that would be criminal to leave out of a Glastonbury set. 7.19pm: Paul Lewis has been getting people to sing at him: Most people who heard the Paul Simon set seem to have left a bit disappointed. But I found these two fans who didn’t have a bad word to say about his performance. “Doo-du, dudu. Doo-du, dudu.” 7.14pm: Henry Barnes is out enjoying some choons: Took forever for TV On The Radio to get going on The Other Stage, then they one-two suckerpunched us into submission with a frantic Wolf Like Me and superb and ridiculous cover of the Ghostbusters theme tune. 7.08pm: Beyonce’s larking about backstage here, downing pints and chugging on Marlboro Lights as she gets ready to close the Pyramid stage later… of course she’s not. She’s probably being fanned by assistants somewhere. However there have been a few celebs knocking about, not least old mates Wayne Rooney and Angus Deayton , who I happened across in the bar last night . Others celebs spotted by Guardian staff this Glastonbury include Toby Anstis, “someone from Made in Chelsea” and Will Young – who everyone seems to have bumped into at least three times. 6.52pm: Remember when Bono plucked a photographer’s camera from the press gallery during U2′s Pyramid stage gig on Friday? Well the photographer was the Guardian’s very own David Levene . At the end of U2′s third song, Bono knelt down in front of me and stretched his hand towards the camera. At first, I thought he was just doing a rocker pose. But then he got closer and closer, and I thought: He wants my camera. So I just gave it to him. I was initially worried he wasn’t going to be able to use it. You can’t generally take a photo with the camera unless the auto-focus is engaged – and that’s quite a faff to figure out. So it was only when I had a look later that I saw he’d fired off four or five frames. Check out Bono’s pictures of David here . 6.34pm: Caspar Llewellyn Smith is out on the prowl: Up by Bella’s Bridge – built a couple of years ago in honour of the late Arabella Churchill , granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill and co-founder of this festival – there were some trolls, handing out free hugs . 6.20pm: Good evening, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the final evening of Glastonbury. Beyonce is due onstage at the Pyramid at 9.45pm, AND the sun’s out, AND lots of the mud has dried. Hallelujah! We’ll be here til the small hours, and you can tweet us @guardianmusic , if you like. If not, then sit back and relax as we bring you news and reviews from the last few hours of Glastonbury 2011. Glastonbury 2011 Glastonbury festival Festivals Adam Gabbatt Henry Barnes guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Organisation that has been criticised for failing to fight for workers now gets backing from dissident Han Dongfang: China’s main union is yet to earn its job A Chinese activist who helped create the country’s first independent trade union has urged foreign labour campaigners to now embrace the country’s much-criticised official body. Han Dongfang set up the Beijing Autonomous Workers’ Federation during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. It was broken up in the ensuing crackdown and he now works from exile in Hong Kong. Han says the ban on autonomous bodies has left workers with no choice but to take to the streets over their grievances. Activists often complain that the official union, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), is more concerned with ensuring social stability and protecting businesses than fighting for the rights of the world’s largest workforce. But in a striking commentary for the Guardian , Han, director of the workers’ rights organisation China Labour Bulletin , argues that a new era of worker activism has forced the ACFTU to look for ways to genuinely represent workers’ interests, such as helping to negotiate pay rises. “Times have clearly changed, and the approach of the international trade union movement needs to change too,” he writes. His remarks follow fresh unrest among workers, including riots and strikes in the Pearl river delta, the country’s manufacturing heartland. Fast-rising food prices and broader concerns about their treatment by officials have exacerbated grievances over wages and conditions. Han argues that the increasingly globalised market makes it vital to give China’s hundreds of millions of workers a voice and says the International Trade Union Confederation should discuss affiliation with the ACFTU. He suggests experienced overseas unions could help it to serve its members better “and eventually become a real trade union”. While the Communist party will determine its development, even the party now has to listen and respond to workers’ “increasingly clear and angry calls for change,” he concludes. China Human rights Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Click here to view this media [h/t David ] Mitch McConnell’s smarmy nonsense is the reason people hate politics. In a day and age where politicians can say anything and go unchallenged while the public shrugs, he can toss something out there that sounds great until you actually look at what he said. Then it falls apart. Here’s one of those. AMANPOUR: And do you accept the administration’s position that if this, and Secretary Geithner’s position, that if this is not worked out, at least by the deadline, that it will have catastrophic reaction aroundthe world and could even trigger another recession here? MCCONNELL: I think what would reassure the world more than anything we could do would be to come together and use this opportunity,presented by the president’s request of us to raise the debt ceiling, to do something about the debt. So I view it as a great opportunity to bring the two sides together and do something really significant for the country. AMANPOUR: And one final question. On this issue of raising revenue, you talked about not wanting any sort of tax hikes, but you did agree to cut ethanol subsidies, the Senate did agree. Isn’t that sort of — doesn’t that give some kind of hope that there is some sort of flexibility on this issue? MCCONNELL: Well, the talks continue. I’ve already made the point that tax increases are not likely to pass the House or Senate, but the talks continue. We think it’s important to take advantage of this opportunity to do something really important to move the country in a different direction. We’ve increased, under this administration, spending 35 percent in 2.5 years. We need to stop that. We need to go in a different direction, and this hopefully will be the opportunity to begin to do that. AMANPOUR: Senator McConnell, thank you, and we’ll keep our eye on those talks tomorrow. MCCONNELL: Thank you. When President Obama took office in 2009 and went to work on the 2010 budget, the first thing he did was bring the cost of the wars into the budget process. This is why it appears that spending increased by a staggering sum. Bush had waged the wars off the books for his 8 year term, and Obama felt that their cost was a budget item and should be transparently disclosed. In fact, actual spending in other areas has remained basically the same and is on track to decrease in the coming years. enlarge That chart comes from the OMB. NationalPriorities.org analyzes it more carefully: Today, federal spending accounts for more than 24% of GDP. About one-third of that spending, $1.2 trillion in FY2012, is devoted to Social Security and Medicare – programs aimed at senior citizens, the disabled and children and spouses of deceased workers (see chart below). Spending on ‘national defense’ (a government definition) amounts to 20% of total federal spending. This does not include, however, foreign military financing grants, other military assistance, or other military-related expenditures. The high deficits in the 1980s accelerated the accumulation of federal debt. Servicing this debt now consumes approximately 6% of spending, or about $242 billion. Remember, entitlement spending comes from the respective trust funds for Medicare and Social Security. In Social Security’s case, that spending is offset by payroll tax revenues for the most part, with some coming from the trust fund surplus. We’re still paying off debt incurred by Reagan using the national credit card and Bush undoing the Clinton plan to pay that debt off. This isn’t rocket science. The facts have been available for a long time. Now let’s have a look at revenues: enlarge The blue line is corporate taxes as a percentage of total revenue. The red line is individual income tax as a portion of federal revenue. At the point where tax revenues (individual) were highest, we were also in times of great prosperity. So no. We don’t have a spending problem. We have a revenue problem, and it’s high time we started dealing with it responsibly. When people are in debt beyond their ability to pay, they have no option but to declare bankruptcy. When countries are in debt beyond their ability to pay, they have a moral obligation and the mechanisms in place to raise revenue to cover expenses. It’s time for Republicans to grow up and act like adults instead of petulant spoiled children.
Continue reading …French Alps climbers died after falling from mountainside, investigators say
June 26, 2011 No Comment
Accident on Neige Cordier peak in Hautes-Alpes region that killed six may have been result of human error Six climbers have died in an accident in the Alps in one of the worst mountain tragedies in France in recent years. The apparently experienced mountaineers, climbing in two groups in what were described as “ideal conditions”, are thought to have become unattached from the mountain and fallen into a steep pass 200 metres (656 feet) below to their deaths. Their bodies lay on the mountain for around 24 hours before being found by an English hiker, following a similar route, who made the macabre discovery on Sunday morning. The hiker immediately called a mountain rescue team to report finding the bodies at an altitude of 2,700 metres on the Neige Cordier peak, three miles (5km) from the village of Villar-d’Arène in the Hautes-Alpes region. The spot, in the Massif Ecrin mountain range, just south east of Grenoble in the southern French Alps, is popular with climbers and is not considered by mountaineering experts as especially dangerous. French police have launched an investigation into the accident. The sky was clear and locals say conditions could not have been better when the six French mountaineers – two men and three women aged between 42 and 64 and a 16-year-old youth – set off from the Villar-d’Arène area at 6am on Saturday, aiming to climb the 3,614-metre Neige Cordier peak. Police believe the group, equipped with crampons, ice axes and suitable climbing clothing, and making the ascent roped together in two groups of three, had not gone far before tragedy struck.Although they have not established the exact cause, investigators say that at some point on Saturday morning all six fell up to 200 metres into a steep pass that locals said was frequently used by snow walkers and mountaineers. At first it was believed the group had been hit by an avalanche of snow and rocks, but first examinations of the scene suggested human error. “On the face of it there wasn’t an avalanche. They came unattached [from the mountain]. At the moment we don’t know why,” local magistrate Rémy Avon said. He said that the first investigations showed “traces of slippage” in the Plate des Agneaux pass, a steep corridor where the bodies were discovered “halfway up”, and added that the first group appeared to have reached the top of the corridor before
Continue reading …
On Wednesday, CNN's ” Obama Adviser ” aka Fareed Zakaria praised the current White House resident's Afghanistan address as a “remarkable speech for an American president.” On the CNN program bearing his name Sunday, Zakaria continued lavishing praise on our Commander-in-Chief saying, “Obama has basically made the right call” (video follows with transcript and commentary): FAREED ZAKARIA: This week, we got a real insight into the way Barack Obama's strategic mind works. From his campaign on, Obama has clearly felt that the United States has a lopsided foreign policy, with too large a military commitment to certain crisis points on the globe. He has wanted to rebalance American foreign policy to shift the focus away from the problems of the past — Iraq, Afghanistan — and focus on the challenges of the 21st Century, the rise of China and Asia more generally. Well, this week, he made good on those ideas, announcing a significant drawdown of troops from Afghanistan, effectively reversing the surge that began 18 months ago. When he came into office, the United States had almost 200,000 troops engaged in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. By next year, it will have half that number, most of them in non-combat operations. Some would wish this drawdown was slower, others faster, but Obama has basically made the right call. The Messiah has now become Goldilocks. This is why NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell asked Zakaria last month to recuse himself from covering foreign policy affecting the United States. The very idea that Zakaria has had private meetings with the President to discuss such issues makes it impossible for him to be impartial in his reporting of them. Sunday was just the most recent example. Unfortunately, CNN doesn't seem to care about such impropriety. I want to show you something – it's my shocked face:
Continue reading …Chris Wallace Defends Fox Editing His Interview with Jon Stewart But Doesn’t Mention Bill Sammon Edit
June 26, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Chris Wallace continued Fox’s defense of his highly edited interview with Jon Stewart last week, but Wallace conveniently forgot to mention them editing out Stewart’s remarks about their managing editor Bill Sammon that John wrote about here . Surprise, surprise. WALLACE: Now the surprising fallout from our interview last Sunday with Jon Stewart. I figured it would get some reaction, but not that it would light up the Internet. One of Jon’s arguments was that the bias of the mainstream media is not to push a liberal agenda. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JON STEWART, “THE DAILY SHOW”: The bias of the mainstream media is towards sensationalism, conflict and laziness. (END VIDEO CLIP) WALLACE: The Huffington Post seemed to prove that Sunday afternoon when it ran this headline that seemed more appropriate to a declaration of war. Then, on Monday, Stewart led his show by complaining about the editing of our interview. True, we did cut our 24-minute conversation down to 14 minutes, but we posted the full interview on our Web site. That’s the only reason you could see it. I was more surprised by Jon’s claim we left out the takeaway moment, the moment where I gave away the game. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEWART: Do you believe that Fox News is exactly the ideological equivalent of NBC News? WALLACE: I think we’re the counterweight. STEWART: You believe that? WALLACE: I think that they have a liberal agenda, and I think we tell the other side of the story. (END VIDEO CLIP) WALLACE: But I made exactly the same point in the interview we ran on the air. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WALLACE: I don’t think our viewers are the least bit disappointed with us. I think our viewers think, finally, they’re get somebody who tells the other side of the story. WALLACE: Jon seemed to think that was a big deal, that I said we tell the other side of the story. While I wish I had said the full story, here is what I meant. As we showed today, we don’t go easy on Republicans. But we try to provide a fuller perspective. For instance, pointing out the strengths and some of the problems with Obamacare before anyone else did. But let me give you a classic example of what fair and balanced means to me. After Hurricane Katrina, the mainstream media piled on FEMA for its failure to respond to the crisis. And the federal government did a lousy job. But it was Fox News that started reporting on the failure of the first responders, the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to help people. Yes, we reported FEMA’s problems, but we also told the other side of the story. And then there was that heated moment of the interview. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEWART: Who is the most consistently misinformed media viewers? The most consistently misinformed? Fox. Fox viewers. Consistently, every poll. (END VIDEO CLIP) WALLACE: The Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site Politifact looked into that statement, and on its Truth-o-Meter it rated Jon’s claim false. But the details are even more interesting. In a survey called “Misinformation in the 2010 Election,” people were asked a series of fact questions like, “Which president signed TARP?” But the poll also asked questions like this, “As you know, the American economy had a major downturn starting in the fall of 2008. Do you think that now the American economy is A, starting to recover, or B, still getting worse?” Starting to recover was the so-called right answer. If you said, “still getting worse,” you were officially misinformed. And if you questioned whether climate change is occurring or whether Obamacare will add to deficit, you were also mistaken. Then there was last year’s Pew poll which asked four fact questions like, “What job did Eric Holder have?” It turns out Fox News scored better, not worse, than MSNBC, CNN, the network evening news, and the network morning news. As for individual shows, 31 percent of “Hannity” viewers got all four questions correct. Twenty-nine percent for O’Reilly. And all the way down near the bottom, viewers of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” at 22 percent. So, folks, all that talk about you’re the most consistently misinformed viewers, I guess the joke is on Jon Stewart. And that’s it for today. Have a great week, and we’ll see you next “Fox News Sunday.”
Continue reading …
Senior Conservative was ‘big rock in my life’, says PM, as details emerge of communications surrounding controversial note Christopher Shale, the close ally of David Cameron’s whose body was discovered in a toilet at Glastonbury on Sunday morning, may have died as early as the previous afternoon, according to a family friend who said he was briefed by medical staff. It emerged that Downing Street had contacted the senior Conservative on Saturday to warn him that a controversial note he had written describing parts of his party as crass and grasping had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. One official contacted him by text just after 12.30pm to advise him not to speak to reporters; another suggested he get in touch with Conservative headquarters. Shale, chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association and a prominent Eurosceptic, appears to have suffered a massive heart attack as early as lunchtime on Saturday. The prime minister said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, “devastated”, adding “a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away”. Cameron had been aware of the note’s existence and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed. The paper was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take” and needed to radically change. Judging by its blunt language, the memo was clearly not written for wide circulation in his local party. Shale’s family is said to have a history of heart failure. Earlier reports, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggesting Shale had killed himself, were dismissed. Avon and Somerset police said that the death was not being treated as suspicious. Party officials had earlier said that there was no suggestion from Shale’s behaviour that he was overly concerned about the leak of parts of his memo to the Mail on Sunday. Shale’s contacts with Downing Street officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior party source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.” After receiving the texts, Shale did contact the Witney constituency agent Barry Norton, a West Oxfordshsire councillor. Norton said: “He was absolutely in good health, we understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. There is a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.” Asked if Shale was aware of the Mail article which used information he had gathered, he said: “Yes he was. He was very aware of that article. “He was very circumspect with it and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue and he was looking forward to increasing our membership and was working on a pilot to try and do that.” It was pointed out that Shale, 56, who worked in public relations, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character who would not be fazed by the interplay of media and politics. He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind the Pyramid Stage. His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. But Shale may have died in the early afternoon of the previous day, according to the family friend. Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and has been helping co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had told him and Shale’s family that they believe he died of a massive heart attack “around lunchtime” on Saturday. The prime minister, who has been MP for Witney in Oxfordshire for 10 years, said Shale had been “a huge support over the last decade”. Cameron said: “Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm and above all his love of life. “It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They’ve lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.” In a statement, Michael Eavis said: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of the man whose body was found on the site early on Sunday morning.” Conservatives David Cameron Glastonbury festival Festivals Patrick Wintour Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Education secretary accuses unions of militant strike action as Vince Cable intervenes over ‘war-like rhetoric’ A war of words has broken between Michael Gove and the teachers’ unions in an echo of the bitter divisions of the 1980s on the eve of crucial talks to avoid mass strike action on Thursday. Teaching unions reacted with anger after the education secretary accused them of risking their members’ professional reputations by taking “militant” strike action and suggested that parents could volunteer to break the strike and keep schools open on Thursday. Thousands of schools – along with colleges, universities, ports, courts and jobcentres – are expected to close in the walkout over pensions. Crunch talks with ministers are scheduled for Monday, with some unions billing them as the government’s last chance to avoid strikes. Ministers have extended the deadline for negotiations into the summer. Gove told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday: “I do worry that taking industrial action, being on the picket line, being involved in this sort of militancy will actually mean that the respect in which teachers should be held is taken back a little bit.” He said he didn’t want to ratchet up rhetoric against unions, but added: “The public have a very low tolerance for anything that disrupts their hard-working lifestyles.” Mary Bousted, the head of the normally moderate Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), told the Guardian: “I think the threat to get parents to cover teachers is just ludicrous, the idea that children can usefully spend time in school being baby-sat ups the ante even more. This is inflammatory and it is inept. Michael Gove’s intervention is further evidence of ineptitude and cack-handedness. “The last thing my members want to do is strike. This is the first time in 127 years. We’re looking for government to negotiate in good faith.” Tensions have escalated in the runup to Monday’s talks amid renewed suggestions the government would try to change the strike laws and public funding of union activity should industrial action get out of hand. Whitehall sources confirmed that the use of public money to pay union officials to organise is now “under review” as part of a wider rethink in the civil service. Bousted said her union would challenge any attempt to toughen up strike laws – such as raising the threshold of the proportion of union members who take part in a ballot in order to trigger a strike – in the European court of human rights. But the business secretary, Vince Cable, who is responsible for strike laws, intervened to cool the rising tension. Insisting that he was speaking for the government, he said it had no plans to change strike laws and no need to prepare anti-strike contingency plans. His tone was markedly different from what he said was war-like rhetoric coming from some parts of government, including Gove. Cable told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There are people who are pushing from both sides, some people want strikes, some people want strike legislation. That’s not the way I’m going, the way the government wants to deal with this is through negotiation.” He added: “What I’m expressing is a government view. I’m not just expressing a personal or Lib Dem view. “And there is a view across government that we want to talk sensibly to the trade unions and we recognise the vast majority of trade unionist we talk to, whatever the rhetoric in public, is basically constructive and they want to avert large-scale disruption and we have to negotiate in good faith with them and will do so.” Most of the unions refused to comment in advance of the crunch talks. But Mark Serwotka, the head of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), whose members will also strike on Thursday, said: “My prediction to you now is that they will have the shock of their lives on Thursday. “And it is just the beginning unless the talks develop. Our task is to attend those meetings, represent our members, but to organise for a sustained battle.” PCS and ATL will be joined by the National Union of Teachers and Universities and College Union on Thursday’s strike. They are calling for the government to reverse a decision to change the method of uprating pensions, which they say has already drastically reduced their members’ pension pots. They are also calling on ministers to put the question of whether their contributions should increase by an average of three percentage points from next April – not just how they go up – on the negotiating table. Ministers say contributions must go up to reduce the taxpayers’ cost and safeguard defined-benefit schemes in the public sector. Most other public sector unions – along with the professional associations representing headteachers – are poised to ballot for strike action. The British Medical Association will debate whether to ballot for industrial action at its annual conference in Cardiff this week. Tensions are also simmering between the unions and the Labour party after the head of Unison, Dave Prentis, told his conference last week that his union would withdraw support from Labour candidates who did not back their aims during the selection process. In a Guardian interview on Saturday, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said that this week’s strikes were a “mistake”. On Sunday, the former prime minister Tony Blair urged unions to “engage with the process of change”. He told the BBC’s Politics Show that the unions “have got to modernise” and added: “The thing about the trade unions is that they too have got to modernise. I said this constantly when I was leader and they used to think that meant I was anti-union. I’m not. I’m in favour of strong trade unions – I think it’s great. But you’ve got to understand today how fast the world is changing. “What you’ve always got to be careful of – particularly with public sector unions – is you don’t become ‘small c’ conservatives.” Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, said: “I can assure the public now that we have rigorous contingency plans in place to ensure that their essential services are maintained during the strike action on Thursday.” Michael Gove Teaching Vince Cable Trade unions Dave Prentis Mark Serwotka Labour Ed Miliband Tony Blair Francis Maude Patrick Wintour Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Gov. Chris Christie Would Veto A New York-Style Marriage Equality Bill In NJ
June 26, 2011 No Comment
Gov. Cuomo just praised the passage of NY’s Marriage Equality bill: The other states look to New York for the progressive direction. And what we said today is you look to New York once again, because New York made a powerful statement, not just to the people of New York, but to people all across this nation. We reached a new level of social justice this evening, marriage equality. I said to the legislators, you look at the first word, marriage, it’s really about the second word, equality. It’s really about New Yorkers, our brothers and sisters, looking at us and saying, we want equality. We want equality in society, equality in our relationships, equality in our love, equality in our families. We want full recognition, marriage equality, and we did it today. NJ’s Governor Chris Christie was on Meet The Press today, why? Because it’s Conservative Talk Show Sunday, naturally. But besides that, he made several comments today that were offensive. To me, the lead was that he would veto any bill that would pass NJ legislature sanctioning marriage equality similar to the one that just passed in New York . Christie: ..In our state we’re going to continue to pursue civil unions. I am not a fan of same sex marriage. It’s not something that I support. I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman. That’s my view. And– and that’ll be the view of our state because I wouldn’t sign a bill like the one that was in New York Christie’s religious views outweigh common decency and so he would deny the right of the gay community to have equality through his veto power. Maybe that’s why his polling numbers have dropped like a balloon. enlarge Credit: Meet The Press Gov. Chris Christie’s falling poll numbers You’d never know his popularity has been plunging like a rock since he’s become Governor if you watch the national news. By anointing him with superstar status, the media has been helping build him his own national campaign for when he decides to run for the Oval Office. At least MTP flashed some reality on the screen.
Continue reading …
Judge has ordered the paper to hand over the tape, but Sunday Times is considering an appeal against his decision Essex police are taking legal action to seize a tape recording that might implicate the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, for avoiding taking penalty points over a speeding offence. The police have won a court order directing the Sunday Times to hand over an alleged tape recording between Huhne and his former wife, Vicky Pryce. According to an account of the conversation published by the Sunday Times two months ago, Pryce can be heard talking about her fears of a police inquiry if the claims became public. “It’s one of the things that worried me when I took them; when you made me take the points in the first instance,” she says. Huhne is non-committal about the episode, according to the published account, but urges her not to discuss the matter with journalists. The taped conversation then found its way to the Sunday Times. It is understood that after the police mounted an investigation into whether Huhne had asked his wife to take penalty points on her licence, Pryce said she was unable to provide the police with any further evidence to substantiate claims she had made in newspapers. After a private hearing at Chelmsford crown court last week, a judge ordered that the taped evidence be handed to the police. The Sunday Times has said it might appeal on the grounds of keeping sources confidential. Essex police is investigating claims that Huhne avoided a driving ban by persuading Pryce to say she was driving when his car was clocked speeding in 2003. Huhne has denied any wrongdoing. If there is sufficient evidence, either Huhne and Pryce, a respected economist, could both be charged with a criminal offence. Pryce has been involved in complex divorce proceedings, and all sides face the danger of failing to co-operate with a police inquiry. Chris Huhne Sunday Times Newspapers & magazines News International National newspapers Newspapers Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …