Click here to view this media (h/t Digby for reminding me about the above video) Michele Bachmann received many positive reviews of her performance during the CNN GOP debate a few weeks ago by many famous TV pundits: Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst “I think she sort of stepped out of Sarah Palin’s shadow tonight. She was clearly one of the best-prepped candidates here. She let people know the depth of her experience on the intelligence committee, for example. David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst: “But Michele Bachmann, I thought, was the biggest surprise, because she was — I don’t think the country knew her well. She was pithy. She spoke in a much more cleaner sentences. She sprinkled interesting facts into it. And she introduced her biography. The 23 foster children, she said that twice.” Bloggers like myself and many others have followed her for years because of the insane and utterly ridiculous statements she’s made on the House floor and TV. Let’s just say her statements have always made me chuckle, but I’m laughing harder at the talking heads’ review of her performance. I doubt you’ll hear much about her history of religious fanaticism from the punditocracy unfortunately because why would cable pundits do some journalistic research, right? Enter Matt Taibbi, who serves up a must read article in Rolling Stone called: Michele Bachmann’s Holy War . He doesn’t think anyone should make the mistake of laughing at her: Young Michele found Jesus at age 16, not long before she went away to Winona State University and met a doltish, like-minded believer named Marcus Bachmann. After finishing college, the two committed young Christians moved to Oklahoma, where Michele entered one of the most ridiculous learning institutions in the Western Hemisphere, a sort of highway rest area with legal accreditation called the O.W. Coburn School of Law; Michele was a member of its inaugural class in 1979. Originally a division of Oral Roberts University, this august academy, dedicated to the teaching of “the law from a biblical worldview,” has gone through no fewer than three names — including the Christian Broadcasting Network School of Law. Those familiar with the darker chapters in George W. Bush’s presidency might recognize the school’s current name, the Regent University School of Law. Yes, this was the tiny educational outhouse that, despite being the 136th-ranked law school in the country, where 60 percent of graduates flunked the bar, produced a flood of entrants into the Bush Justice Department. Regent was unabashed in its desire that its graduates enter government and become “change agents” who would help bring the law more in line with “eternal principles of justice,” i.e., biblical morality. To that end, Bachmann was mentored by a crackpot Christian extremist professor named John Eidsmoe, a frequent contributor to John Birch Society publications who once opined that he could imagine Jesus carrying an M16 and who spent considerable space in one of his books musing about the feasibility of criminalizing blasphemy. This background is significant considering Bachmann’s leadership role in the Tea Party, a movement ostensibly founded on ideas of limited government. Bachmann says she believes in a limited state, but she was educated in an extremist Christian tradition that rejects the entire notion of a separate, secular legal authority and views earthly law as an instrument for interpreting biblical values. As a legislator, she not only worked to impose a ban on gay marriage, she also endorsed a report that proposed banning anyone who “espoused or supported Shariah law” from immigrating to the U.S. (Bachmann seems so unduly obsessed with Shariah law that, after listening to her frequent pronouncements on the subject, one begins to wonder if her crazed antipathy isn’t born of professional jealousy.) This discrepancy may account for why some Tea Party leaders don’t buy Bachmann as a champion of small government. “Michele Bachmann is — what’s the old-school term? — a poser,” says Chris Littleton, an Ohio Tea Party leader troubled by her support of the Patriot Act and other big-government interventions. “Look at her record and see how ‘Tea Party’ she really is.”… read on It’s a long article, but worth your time to see how she’s been able to make crazy statement after crazy statement and keep moving her political career forward. Even Bill O’Reilly has not taken her seriously either like many of the other GOP grand poobahs, but did say on The Factor that she could be a good VP candidate . Taibbi makes the case early on in his piece that she shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because she’s managed to keep getting elected. She uses teh crazy very well. You will want to laugh, but don’t, because the secret of Bachmann’s success is that every time you laugh at her, she gets stronger. Don’t miss the story about when she screams in the bathroom or her fear that public education turns children into socialist herds or when her state already had homophobic legislation already passed, but she wanted to pass it a second time. In 2003, after the Massachusetts Supreme Court issued its famous ruling permitting gay marriage, Bachmann proposed an amendment to the Minnesota constitution banning gay marriage — despite the fact that the state legislature had already passed a law making same-sex unions illegal. Even the politicians who were sufficiently gay-phobic to have passed the original anti-marriage law were floored by the brazen pointlessness of Bachmann’s bill. “It’s unnecessary, it’s redundant, it’s duplicative,” said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Ann Rest. As much as she flip flops around the crazy train, she can never take back the love she showed for George Bush after the SOTU in 2007: After signing the autograph for Bachmann, the president turns away, but Bachmann doesn’t let go. In fact, the video shows her reaching out to get a better grip on him. Bush then leans over to kiss another congresswoman, but Bachmann is still holding on. Bachmann then gets more attention, a kiss and an embrace from the president. A few seconds later, Bachmann’s hand finally comes off the presidential shoulder. Bachmann has quite a thing for Bush, apparently. This press release from her campaigning days reads more like a diary entry for a 12 year old who got to meet her Tiger Beat teen idol: I have never been in the Presidential limousine before so I was a little unsure what to do when the limousine stopped at the custard stand. I wasn’t sure if I should exit with the President or get out of my side of the car. Karl Rove told me I would exit out the door on my side after The President steps out and someone would open the door for me. I could not believe I was discussing what flavor of custard to order with the President of the United States! Digby writes: She doesn’t have the sex appeal that Sarah Palin has, which is probably in her favor. (Social conservatives get over-stimulated and confused around female sexuality.) But she’s attractive and poised and is a professional politician who knows how the game is played. And she’s both ignorant and savvy, accessible and extreme. She’s very creepy. And she’ll play the Conservative victim card as well as anyone ever has. I imagine she may try to top Sarah Palin on that one as we get deeper into the presidential election cycle. Taibbi appeared on the new Countdown and discussed with Keith Olbermann his take on Bachmann (h/t Heather): Click here to view this media
Continue reading …NYT’s Risen Raises Hell, Claims Bush, ‘Right Wing Bloggers’ Out to Get Him for Wrecking Anti-Terror Efforts
June 24, 2011 No Comment
New York Times investigative reporter James Risen, notorious for exposing (along with colleague Eric Lichtblau) two anti-terrorist government programs during the Bush years, filed an affidavit in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday, refusing to comply with a subpoena that he identify a source in his 2006 book “State of War” about a C.I.A. plan to feed Iran bad information to cripple its nuclear program. After a long promotional listing of his journalistic credentials, Risen in the affidavit cites a 2006 report from ABC News claiming the Bush administration had harassed Risen and other journalists. “The Bush administration eventually singled me out as a target for political harassment,” Risen writes in the filing. Risen’s affidavit makes it clear he thinks he and Lichtblau properly exposed an illegal and unconstitutional wiretapping program by the Bush administration, with language more blunt than his reporting for the Times: In 2006, I was awarded the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, for reporting on President Bush’s illegal domestic wiretapping program ….the Bush Administration had, i n all likelihood, violated the law and the United States Constitution by secretly conducting warrantless domestic wiretapping on American citizens. “American citizens”? The phrase implies the monitoring of communications between citizens when in fact the National Security Agency surveillance program (which Congress voted to maintain in August 2007, to the paper’s chagrin ) focuses on international calls of people located in the U.S. suspected of terrorist ties — who aren't necessarily U.S. citizens. For someone who claims in the same document to be critical of the government “regardless of the administration in power,” Risen is quite sensitive to all the “right-wing groups” and “right-wing pundits and bloggers” out to get him. Risen insisted “the administration and its supporters” were after him: “…an organized campaign of hate mail from right wing groups with close ties to the White House was launched, inundating me with personal threats…Right wing pundits and bloggers supporting the Bush administration took to television and the Internet to call for the White House and the Justice Department to prosecute me for espionage.” You can read the full affidavit at the Federation of American Scientists page , where Steven Aftergood heads the Project on Government Secrecy. Risen even defended, though less vociferously, the more controversial wrecking, in a June 2006 article by he and Lichtblau, of a federal program (by all accounts perfectly legal) which monitored a database of international banking transactions known as SWIFT in order to detect terrorist financing. Risen called it “another government program of questionable legality .” Not even the Times’ public editor agreed with that. After public deliberation, he said the paper should not have published Risen and Lichtblau's expose .
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Director’s outrageous idea to exhibit masterpiece becomes reality after two fraught years It began as a joke, an outrageous idea to exhibit a Picasso masterpiece at a tiny art school in the occupied Palestinian territory. Slowly the idea gained traction, turning into a logistical and financial nightmare for its supporters and finally a triumph as Buste de Femme (1943), valued at £4.5m, goes on show in Ramallah today. Thousands of visitors are expected to see the work, the first masterpiece to be exhibited in the Palestinian territories, although only three people will be allowed in at a time to ensure the humidity in the purpose-built viewing room does not damage the 100 x 80 centimetre oil-on-canvas work – a cubist deconstruction of a woman’s face, dominated by grey hues. The painting’s journey from the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven this week, at a cost of £50,000 in insurance and transport, began when Khaled Hourani, the director of the International Art Academy in Ramallah, visited the museum in 2008 and suggested a loan. “This started off as a crazy idea to bring a European masterpiece to a war-zone but I was only half-joking, ” he said. According to Remco de Blaaij, a curator at the Van Abbemuseum, staff began to take the idea seriously and work out how they could lend one of their works to a Palestinian gallery. It is relatively easy for internationally recognised museums to lend each other works of art, but the occupied territory is not a state and does not have a recognised museum. “Insurance was one of the first obstacles. One company declined but another responded with enthusiasm. The head of the company travelled to Ramallah to see how it would work and returned determined to help make it happen,” said De Blaaij. The insurance company required the normal safeguards: three guards in close vicinity and other guards nearby, camera surveillance, and temperature and humidity-controlled room. The academy had to build a room within a room, with a glass sliding door. But insurance was only one problem. Normally, Israeli customs would require a deposit of around 15% of the value of an imported work into its territory to ensure that it was not sold illegally. Buste de Femme has an estimated value of £4.5m. After negotiation, Israeli customs waived the deposit. Earlier this week the painting, weighing about 5kg, was loaded into a 200kg crate, which includes a glass case, layers of protection and shock absorbers. It travelled from Eindhoven to Amsterdam, from where it was flown to Tel Aviv. From there it was moved with a police escort to the Qalandia checkpoint, a regular scene of confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators, then driven for three miles without an escort through an area where Israeli forces rarely venture and Palestinian police are not allowed to operate. In Ramallah it was placed under Palestinian police guard. Once at the academy it was left to acclimatise for a day before it was unpacked, framed and hung. Hourani said that the Picasso was chosen by the art students and his mother. “I want this to appeal to people like my mother and art students. Picasso remains inspirational because his work is related to war, peace and freedom.” Hourani hopes that Buste de Femme will not be the last masterpiece to be exhibited in the territory. “We want this to become a normality but it is the last time I will do it. It has taken two years to bring one painting but the taboo has been broken and it will be easier for someone else to do it,” he said. “The journey here adds meaning to the painting. It highlights issues of the freedom of movement and political agreement.” The painting will be on display for a month before returning to Eindhoven, but not everyone likes it. Fatima Abdul Karim, the project co-ordinator, said: “I don’t think it’s a nice painting but it is a dream come true to have it here. Everyone has a different opinion about what the painting means. “I overheard the security guards discussing it and they came to the conclusion that it was a woman cradling her child in time of war as she has one eye on the child and one eye on the surrounding danger.” Palestinian territories Middle East Pablo Picasso Museums Netherlands Israel Conal Urquhart guardian.co.uk
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Murdoch says threat posed by vast tech and telecoms companies will be defining issue of News Corp’s next decade News Corporation’s James Murdoch has indicated that the takeover of BSkyB is just the beginning of a major expansion over the next decade, arguing that compared with “monolithic” technology and telecoms companies such as Google the global media business is “not big enough”. Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation, said that while the company may be considered to be a sprawling conglomerate in the media sector, the rise of the technology sector means there are “much, much bigger beasts” posing a threat. “The real issue becomes though, that as the competitive set changes we aren’t big enough,” he added, interviewed at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Friday. “So when you actually look at the competitive set in the all media marketplace, when you know you have sort of monolithic brands like Google, Apple… Telefonica, Deutsche Telecom, Verizon… there are much, much bigger beasts than a News Corp or a Time Warner.” Murdoch said that it was the threat posed by tech and telecoms companies that would be the defining issue facing News Corp’s next decade. “That is a real challenge for us going forward– how do we make sure we can compete at scale globally with these new players.. [and still be] quick and creative and risk-taking,” he added. “I think it is something very much unresolved. A big factor over how this plays out over the next five to 10 years is going to be how we do that. How we make ourselves as good at a much bigger scale as we can be.” Sir Martin Sorrell, the WPP chief executive, who interviewed Murdoch in Cannes, then interjected to ask if his comments meant that “Sky is just the beginning”, referring to News Corp’s proposed plan to buy the 60.9% of BSkyB that it does not already own. Murdoch dodged answering the question directly, saying that each Sky business — the pay-TV operator is in six markets, including Germany and Italy — is a “local business”. “The national nature of those businesses doesn’t work well with competing on a global basis with monolithic brands like Google,” he said. “We co-operate with them as well but there is competitive dynamic.” Murdoch went on to illustrate this by pointing out that you can have a “deep partnership” with a company in one market – as News Corp does with ESPN in parts of Asia – while “wanting to throttle them over here”, a reference to Fox Sports versus ESPN in the US. “It is about playing the ball, not the man,” he said. Murdoch also said that News Corp shared similar issues about fears that economic conditions globally appear to be worsening, admitting that the “mood music” had changed for the worse. “In the last couple of weeks, the last four or five weeks, the mood has not been great,” he said. “Hopefully companies are in good enough shape after the shock of 2008-2009. We are in a better position. We feel healthy about the business but nervous about the macroeconomic [situation].” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook James Murdoch BSkyB Television industry News Corporation BSkyB Media business Cannes Lions Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Unions allege coalition encouraging strikebreaking tactics | Hélène Mulholland and Dan Milmo
June 24, 2011 No Comment
Claim follows minister’s remarks that contingency plans for public sector walkouts could use existing laws to hire strike cover Trade unions have accused the government of encouraging “strikebreaking” tactics over contingency planning for public sector walkouts that could include hiring staff to keep key services going. In a call likely to fuel tensions between government and unions, Ed Davey, the minister for employment relations, said the public would expect “sensible contingency planning” to be put in place. He said bosses could work within existing laws to hire cover for striking workers, as unions warn of co-ordinated and sustained strike action in the autumn unless the government compromises on proposals to overhaul public sector pensions. His remarks follow those of the education secretary Michael Gove, who raised union hackles earlier this week by reminding headteachers of their “moral duty” to keep schools open during a 24-hour strike by three unions on Thursday. Davey ruled out tightening up union legislation on the grounds that it would be “antagonistic and inflammatory”. But in comments that signal the government’s preparedness to face down industrial unrest, he cited the example of London Underground, which has trained managers to drive trains during strikes. Recruiting staff to fill the posts of striking workers is within the law, as long as they are not recruited via an employment agency. “If you look at how London Underground have tried to manage strike days in recent years they have managed to run a lot more services than they used to five years ago and so by that action they have mitigated the impact of strikes – that’s contingency planning,” said Davey. Pressed on how this could apply in public services, he added: “You as an employer could go out and hire 10 nurses, a hundred drivers, whatever it is. It’s not a tactic as if there is some nefarious plot going on behind the scenes. The point is it’s in the law at the moment. Employers making contingency plans can make use of that law.” Ahead of crunch talks on pensions reforms between unions and ministers on Monday, the TUC warned that such a move would be counterproductive. Sarah Veale, head of equality and employment rights at the TUC, said: “Using the vernacular, it is strikebreaking. It has always been possible for employers to find ways of breaking a strike but it would be highly unusual in the public sector. This would not help to resolve the dispute.” Bringing in workers posed significant logistical difficulties, said Marc Meryon, head of industrial relations at law firm Bircham Dyson Bell. “Few employers are set up to recruit large amounts of people straight off the street. Therefore, they are not in a position to do that at short notice because they don’t have the skills to process, interview and manage people coming off the street in that way.” He added: “That is why, in ordinary circumstances, companies go through agencies to obtain short-term labour. But a determined employer can place adverts in the papers, get people in, interview them and appoint them and there will be nothing illegal about it.” Ahead of planned strikes on Thursday by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the National Union of Teachers and the Public and Commercial Services union, Gove wrote to school heads saying that they did not have to stick to the national curriculum and that there was no limit on class sizes, except in infants’ schools. In these schools, senior and support staff could be classed as teachers to meet limits on class size. Schools should “employ all available staff and consider the full range of local resources available to them, both from within the school staff and the wider school community”, the education secretary said in the letter. His missive prompted Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, to accuse the government of preparing a “scab army” to undermine industrial action. Christine Blower, the general secretary of the NUT, said general union rules state that staff should not cover the work of union members who are on strike. Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, which represents the majority of classroom assistants, said the union has urged members to refuse to carry out duties that lie outside their contract. Prentis, who warned of a long fight over public sector pensions at Unison’s annual conference this week, said: “Urging heads to pressure school support staff into covering for striking teachers, is just not on. Our advice to school and college staff is clear – do not cover unless it is part of your job.” Davey urged unions to “put their weapons down , adding that while there was “no compelling case” to change strike laws, he conceded that ministers would “revisit these issues” if industrial unrest caused severe disruption to the economy or the public. “That’s not our intention,” he said. “Our strategy is driven by a desire to engage with the trade unions.” Trade unions Public sector pensions Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Michael Gove Liberal-Conservative coalition Education policy Hélène Mulholland Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …I’m taking a risk by writing this post but I think it’s worth it to consider all aspects of our involvement in Afghanistan. The video above is from Assignment Earth, a PBS series. It details some of the alternative energy solutions being deployed by our military in Afghanistan. Solar panels, not guns. Wouldn’t it be great if more of this were happening here? But it’s not, largely thanks to the Koch/TeaBircher cabal. Here’s something else about Afghanistan. They are in the midst of a growing food crisis , brought on by drought and poppy profiteers. USAID has been instrumental in working with Afghans to secure their crops and with the assistance of US foreign aid, has begun to establish what could possibly be a stable agricultural economy one day. These are not acts of war. It can be argued that the money would be better spent here in the US, but I would counter-argue that investments in humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan wouldn’t happen without the assistance of the US military, and if that money were not spent, it would not find its way into the hands of those in this country who need it most. At least, not with our current House of Representatives. Afghanistan is, and will remain, a country that fascinates me, frustrates me and rips my heart out, all at once. I have followed events in Afghanistan since 1975, when a relative of mine was posted there. I have pictures of family there over the years, and have met some wonderful Afghan people. It is complex, difficult, and worth more consideration than to simply write it off as hopeless. In 2009, I wrote this : Here is my dilemma. Leaving Afghanistan means leaving a country with a weak government which will likely topple just as it has in the past. Only this time, a government overthrow could easily place the Taliban back in power like a bacteria that has mutated from abortive antibiotic treatment. It comes back stronger and harder to eradicate the second time around, with the possibility of a more lethal result. Leaving Afghanistan means sanctioning a thriving illegal opium market as the primary economic driver in their country. Leaving Afghanistan means leaving men, women and children in extreme poverty with no real defense against those who exploit them. Leaving Afghanistan means abandoning all hope of the possibility of helping to build a nation that can actually survive the regional and internal conflicts that have torn it apart in the past. Leaving Afghanistan means breaking promises we made when we sent our troops there. I’m sure my fellow progressives and Democrats will demand my card at the door for the conflict I’m feeling over this. From everything I read, their answer is to get out and stay out, that it’s a losing proposition and we’re better off cutting our losses and moving on. The problem I have? Accepting the idea that while it’s fine to pay verbal service to the poverty and genocide in the world, we’re unwilling to make a sacrifice to actually help end it. Our fight in Afghanistan doesn’t seem to be a fight for domination of their country, but for stabilization and a pathway to a self-sufficient, self-governing Afghan state. Whether we withdraw 33,000 by the end of 2012 or 73,000, the dilemma remains the same. So I don’t really know whether to shake my fist over the whole damn thing or not. Pakistan still has nukes, leaving that region vulnerable to extremists. Afghans still suffer from corruption, food shortages and need. George W. Bush still made the initial decision to deploy thousands of troops in Afghanistan and then leave them and the country to languish while pursuing their Iraq conquest. Perhaps the most important part of President Obama’s speech last night was this: We must chart a more centered course. Like generations before, we must embrace America’s singular role in the course of human events. But we must be as pragmatic as we are passionate; as strategic as we are resolute. When threatened, we must respond with force — but when that force can be targeted, we need not deploy large armies overseas. When innocents are being slaughtered and global security endangered, we don’t have to choose between standing idly by or acting on our own. Instead, we must rally international action, which we are doing in Libya, where we do not have a single soldier on the ground but are supporting allies in protecting the Libyan people and giving them the chance to determine their destiny. In all that we do, we must remember that what sets America apart is not solely our power — it is the principles upon which our union was founded. We are a nation that brings our enemies to justice while adhering to the rule of law, and respecting the rights of all our citizens. We protect our own freedom and prosperity by extending it to others. We stand not for empire but for self-determination. That is why we have a stake in the democratic aspirations that are now washing across the Arab World. We will support those revolutions with fidelity to our ideals, with the power of our example, and with an unwavering belief that all human beings deserve to live with freedom and dignity. Above all, we are a nation whose strength abroad has been anchored in opportunity for our citizens at home. Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and hard economic times. Now, we must invest in America’s greatest resource — our people. We must unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industry, while living within our means. We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy. And most of all, after a decade of passionate debate, we must recapture the common purpose that we shared at the beginning of this time of war. For our nation draws strength from our differences, and when our union is strong no hill is too steep and no horizon is beyond our reach. America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home. That last point is one upon which I think we can all agree. History will decide whether the president made the right decision or not. I reiterate what I said in 2009: I’m glad I’m not the one who had to decide when and how many troops to bring home, and I’m sure the weight of it is soul-crushing.
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Reid Epstein at Politico rounded up the blogosphere reaction to former Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas proclaiming he's an illegal alien (including Billy Hallowell , Meredith Jessup , and NewsBusters yesterday). On the left, he found, Vargas “has become the embodiment of the American dream.” His examples: At Daily Kos, Laura Clawson lectured that Vargas winning a Pulitzer prize was “exceptional,” and the lying wasn't his fault, it was ours: “He shouldn’t have had to break so many laws and tell so many lies to get where he is. This is the kind of ability and drive our immigration laws stifle and deny us, and it’s one more reason those laws need to be reformed.” The Huffington Post, which for 10 months employed Vargas as an editor, ran a story headlined “Jose Antonio Vargas Is an American Hero.” Rory O'Connor, a documentary filmmaker for PBS and other “mainstream” outlets, argued: Jose Antonio Vargas is incredibly brave to risk everything he has accomplished in this country in order to tell the truth and to shine, yet another but still much-needed, light on the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform in this country. He, and millions like him, have much to contribute to America — and without people like them, our country will be far poorer. If there isn't room in the United States for people like Jose Antonio — the precise type of people who made this country great — I despair for our collective future. And Matthew Yglesias at Think Progress compared Vargas to people demonstrating for freedom in dictatorships: When we look at photos of poverty-stricken people in poor countries, we feel sympathy. When we look at photos of people demonstrating for political freedom in dictatorships, we feel sympathy. And when we look at photos of people sneaking across the border or preventing fake papers, what we ought to feel is sympathy. Sympathy for poor people in poor and misgoverned countries who are trying to take control of their lives and do something about it. The vast majority of people alive in the United States today are descended from people who decided at some point to get out of a bad situation by moving. The fact that we’ve managed to become a society that feels only fear in the face of people wanting to do the same thing our ancestors did — go someplace better to build a better life — is extremely sad. # # #
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At least 29 dead in El Rodeo violence as hundreds of inmates remain barricaded inside One week after thousands of troops stormed a riot-torn prison in Venezuela , hundreds of rebelling inmates remained barricaded inside on Friday as a bitter political blame game continued to escalate. Security officials, whose forces stormed the El Rodeo prison complex on Friday last week after clashes killed at least 22 people, predicted an imminent surrender. But instead of capitulating prisoners, all that was brought out of the prison’s charred cellblocks in the early hours of Thursday was four dead bodies, reportedly in an advanced state of decomposition. So far the official death toll is 29, with the government blaming the violence on heavily armed “mafia” leaders, known in Venezuela’s crumbling prison system as pranes . José Argenis Sánchez, an evangelical preacher who has been attempting to negotiate a truce, said prisoners feared being killed if they surrendered. “In the past the national guard [has] killed men in prisons,” he said. Sánchez conceded, however, that gang leaders in El Rodeo were also reluctant to lose their grip on the lucrative business they controlled: selling drugs and guns and charging protection money, known as la causa . “There are too many interests involved. They make a lot of money inside prisons. They charge inmates and they buy and sell weapons. I think the national guard has cleared out a lot of spider’s webs, but they need to get to the spider.” All week tearful female relatives of inmates have flocked to El Rodeo, clutching improvised banners. “Mr President: Stop this massacre. We don’t want any more dead,” read one appeal to Venezuela’s leader, Hugo Chávez, who remains in Cuba after undergoing emergency surgery earlier this month. Another implored: “National guard: Stop firing weapons of war at the prisoners!” The crisis has sparked a war of words between government supporters and opposition politicians. Chávez supporters accused the opposition of inciting violence and vowed to investigate the role of “hasty” media outlets that had “manipulated” the situation. One high-ranking government official, who refused to be named, told the Guardian: “We have strong evidence that suggests articulation between the pranes and some opposition leaders. There is an effort on behalf of the opposition to build up destabilising actions following the current jail crisis and extend it to other jails across the country.” Opposition leaders scoffed at the allegations, claiming the government was attempting to divert attention from its own failures. Ismael Garcia, leader of the opposition Podemos party, said: “This is all a clear excuse to go after the opposition media, and an excuse not to talk about the real problems of corruption we face. Why is no one talking about how the inmates got all the weapons the national guard has seized? It wasn’t just makeshift knives, it was war armament that only the national guard has access to.” Garcia, who travelled to the besieged jail on the first night of violence, said he believed El Rodeo’s true death toll might never be known. There were “close to 40 to 60 family members who have not seen the names of their relatives in the published lists [of transferred prisoners] and have had no other news,” he said. Writing in the opposition El Universal newspaper, Jorge Sayegh criticised both sides for squabbling over blame instead of addressing deeper issues. “What a nerve, for the government and the opposition to attempt to wear the mask of innocence, accusing each other of [being responsible for] the murderous anarchy, which we all know predominates in the prisons. What good does it do to call for the resignation of a minister, when it is clear that the entire prison system, the police and the judiciary are rotten?” Venezuelan jails had become “cathedrals of delinquency”, he added. On Thursday there were reports that four prisoners had been killed and three injured during shooting at Uribana prison, in Lara state. According to one local NGO, the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones, 466 Venezuelan inmates were killed last year compared with a total of around 100 in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Venezuela Hugo Chávez Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …At least 29 dead in El Rodeo violence as hundreds of inmates remain barricaded inside One week after thousands of troops stormed a riot-torn prison in Venezuela , hundreds of rebelling inmates remained barricaded inside on Friday as a bitter political blame game continued to escalate. Security officials, whose forces stormed the El Rodeo prison complex on Friday last week after clashes killed at least 22 people, predicted an imminent surrender. But instead of capitulating prisoners, all that was brought out of the prison’s charred cellblocks in the early hours of Thursday was four dead bodies, reportedly in an advanced state of decomposition. So far the official death toll is 29, with the government blaming the violence on heavily armed “mafia” leaders, known in Venezuela’s crumbling prison system as pranes . José Argenis Sánchez, an evangelical preacher who has been attempting to negotiate a truce, said prisoners feared being killed if they surrendered. “In the past the national guard [has] killed men in prisons,” he said. Sánchez conceded, however, that gang leaders in El Rodeo were also reluctant to lose their grip on the lucrative business they controlled: selling drugs and guns and charging protection money, known as la causa . “There are too many interests involved. They make a lot of money inside prisons. They charge inmates and they buy and sell weapons. I think the national guard has cleared out a lot of spider’s webs, but they need to get to the spider.” All week tearful female relatives of inmates have flocked to El Rodeo, clutching improvised banners. “Mr President: Stop this massacre. We don’t want any more dead,” read one appeal to Venezuela’s leader, Hugo Chávez, who remains in Cuba after undergoing emergency surgery earlier this month. Another implored: “National guard: Stop firing weapons of war at the prisoners!” The crisis has sparked a war of words between government supporters and opposition politicians. Chávez supporters accused the opposition of inciting violence and vowed to investigate the role of “hasty” media outlets that had “manipulated” the situation. One high-ranking government official, who refused to be named, told the Guardian: “We have strong evidence that suggests articulation between the pranes and some opposition leaders. There is an effort on behalf of the opposition to build up destabilising actions following the current jail crisis and extend it to other jails across the country.” Opposition leaders scoffed at the allegations, claiming the government was attempting to divert attention from its own failures. Ismael Garcia, leader of the opposition Podemos party, said: “This is all a clear excuse to go after the opposition media, and an excuse not to talk about the real problems of corruption we face. Why is no one talking about how the inmates got all the weapons the national guard has seized? It wasn’t just makeshift knives, it was war armament that only the national guard has access to.” Garcia, who travelled to the besieged jail on the first night of violence, said he believed El Rodeo’s true death toll might never be known. There were “close to 40 to 60 family members who have not seen the names of their relatives in the published lists [of transferred prisoners] and have had no other news,” he said. Writing in the opposition El Universal newspaper, Jorge Sayegh criticised both sides for squabbling over blame instead of addressing deeper issues. “What a nerve, for the government and the opposition to attempt to wear the mask of innocence, accusing each other of [being responsible for] the murderous anarchy, which we all know predominates in the prisons. What good does it do to call for the resignation of a minister, when it is clear that the entire prison system, the police and the judiciary are rotten?” Venezuelan jails had become “cathedrals of delinquency”, he added. On Thursday there were reports that four prisoners had been killed and three injured during shooting at Uribana prison, in Lara state. According to one local NGO, the Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones, 466 Venezuelan inmates were killed last year compared with a total of around 100 in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Venezuela Hugo Chávez Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
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Father of Milly Dowler says family have paid ‘too high a price for justice’ during trial of her killer Levi Bellfield Milly Dowler’s family today spoke of the “mental torture” they endured as witnesses in the trial of her killer, Levi Bellfield, as the jury were discharged before it reached a verdict on allegations that he attempted to abduct another girl, Rachel Cowles, 11. On the steps of the Old Bailey, Milly’s father, Robert, said: “My family have had to pay too high a price for justice for Milly” and described it as a “truly mentally scarring experience on an unimaginable scale”. During the trial, Bellfield’s defence harshly scrutinised details of the Dowler family’s personal life . The family said they had been made to feel like they were the criminals. Roger Coe Salazar, chief crown prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service in the South East said he recognised that the family feel the “jury trial process has let them down” but hoped the pain and anguish they are presently feeling will be somewhat diluted as a result of the convictions secured”. He said the “adversarial nature of our criminal trial system in this country is designed to test the evidence given by witnesses; be they for the prosecution or defence so as to ensure safe conviction and acquittal of the innocent”. Former home secretary David Blunkett said the case gave “pause for thought” and questioned defence barristers’ actions. Earlier Mr Justice Wilkie said that publicity in the case had left him no option but to discharge the jury which had been due this morning to continue deliberations on allegations Bellfield had attempted to abduct Cowles a day before Milly was snatched three miles away in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. Judge Wilkie said he must refer the matter to the attorney-general, Dominic Grieve, over possible contempt. The judge said that there would be no retrial over Cowles and that an attempted abduction charge would lie on file. Cowles, now 21, whom the serial killer allegedly tried to abduct her the day before he snatched Milly, said she was “extremely hurt and angry that some of the media reporting has robbed me of justice”. As Bellfield refused to come to the court from his prison cell, judge Mr Justice Wilkie described him as a “cruel and pitiless killer” who had “not had the courage to come into court to face his victims and receive his sentence”. The judge on Friday sentenced the former doorman and wheelclamper to life in jail with a whole life tariff for Milly’s abduction and murder and told him he would never be released. He is thought to be the first person to have received a second whole-life sentence. Outside the court, Milly’s family welcomed the conviction, but said the trial had been a “horrifying ordeal” in which they were treated like criminals. Milly’s sister, Gemma, described the day her parents were cross-examined, during which her mother collapsed, as worse than when she was told her sister’s remains were found. Bellfield was already in prison for murdering 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange, 22, and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004. Bellfield, 43, was given three life sentences for those crimes in February 2008 and told then that he would never be released. The judge said today: “He robbed her [Milly] of a promising life, he robbed her family and friends of the joy of seeing her grow up into a self-confident, articulate and admirable young woman. “He treated her in death with total disrespect, depositing her naked body, without even a semblance of a burial, in a wood far away from her home, vulnerable to all the forces of nature.” He added: “He is marked out as a cruel and pitiless killer.” But the cruellest thing he did, added the judge, was in an attempt to divert responsibility from himself: “He instructed his lawyers in this trial to expose to the world her most private, adolescent thoughts, secrets and worries”. As Milly’s sister Gemma, sobbed, and her mother Sally and father sat quietly comforting her, the judge said Bellfield had “sought to hint she was a dark, unhappy, troubled person”, which “flew in the face ” of her family’s evidence. She was a “funny, sparky, enthusiastic teenager, fully exploring her developing emotional life,” he said. Turning to the Dowler family’s ordeal: he added Bellfield must have known that that process “could do nothing other than hugely increase the anguish of her family, particularly her mother Sally Dowler, in ways which were made dramatically clear in court”. “No one who has been on court can have been in any doubt that the Dowler family had suffered indescribable agonies during almost a decade over the loss of their beloved daughter, for which all our hearts go out to them. “In an important sense this agony may be thought to have culminated in this trial.” He added: “I appreciate that the trial process has been excruciating for them by reason of the issues the defendant instructed his lawyers to raise in his defence.” “I understand that they feel let down by the trial process in that respect. Unfortunately given the nature of the defence it was unavoidable,” he added. “All I can do is hope that they may in time come to terms with that and that the outcome of the trial in some small way contribute to their grieving process and assist them in coming to a semblance of closure.” The only sentence he could pass was one of life. The fact it was a killing of a child was an aggravating factor, as was his “macabre attempt to conceal her body”, and his “substantial record of serious violence”. He made a whole life order so Bellfield will “never be released from custody”. In addition he was sentenced to 12 years for the kidnap to run concurrently. It can now be reported that Surrey police force has apologised for missing opportunities in the hunt for Milly’s killer that could have led to Bellfield’s arrest before he went on to murder two more victims. Bellfield, who lived 50 yards from where Milly was last seen, also escaped the net when police, conducting extensive house-to-house inquiries, knocked 10 times at his rented flat without response but made no inquiries of the landlord as to who lived there. By the time they did, the flat had seen several tenants come and go, with any potential forensic evidence obliterated by redecorating and steam cleaning. Surrey’s chief constable, Mark Rowley, has privately apologised to Milly’s parents and to Cowles. He is set to meet relatives of the other victims. “Mistakes were made,” said assistant chief constable Jerry Kirkby. Outside the court, Detective Chief Inspector Maria Woodall, leading the inquiry, said she was “extremely disappointed” that the jury were discharged before they could reach a verdict on Cowles. Milly Dowler Crime Caroline Davies Karen McVeigh guardian.co.uk
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