Calls for dispensers to be bolted down after alcoholic patient in Melbourne downed six bottles of alcohol-based handwash A man who is recovering after drinking six bottles of alcohol-based handwash while being treated for alcoholism in an Australian hospital has sparked calls for the anti-bacterial gels to be better secured. The 45-year-old patient was found to have a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.271%, more than five times above the legal driving limit. Doctors said the incident highlighted the need for hospitals to bolt the dispensers to walls. Dr Michael Oldmeadow, of the Alfred hospital in Melbourne, said the incident was not the first of its kind. “You’d think it would taste pretty bad,” he said. Australia guardian.co.uk
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VisitBritain to launch worldwide advertising push starring big British names to promote the UK as the place to be in 2012 With a clutch of global stars in harness and £100m to spend on marketing, tourism bosses are hoping that they can revive the Cool Britannia vibe in time for the Olympics and the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012. A TV commercial which aims to dispel Britain’s stuffy reputation abroad and promote a more contemporary image is to be broadcast around the world. Developed by advertising agency M&C Saatchi, the “You’re Invited” campaign features actors Dame Judi Dench, Dev Patel and Rupert Everett raving about their own personal favourite UK destinations. Jamie Oliver and Twiggy will also feature in the push, aimed at raising visitor numbers by four million a year. Patel, star of Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, woos potential travellers by promoting the “buzz” and “energy” of London’s Leicester Square, while Everett waxes lyrical about the “rickshaws, queens and bikers” of night time Soho. Twiggy, who was filmed on location on the Millennium bridge in London, promotes Britain’s “amazing stable of designers” and chef Oliver, who has been trying to break the US in the last year, talks up the UK’s “magpie culture” of “taking the world’s best bits”. Extolling the UK’s more traditional image of stately homes and rolling countryside, Dench chose to be filmed at Hever Castle in Kent, the ancestral home of Anne Boleyn, where the actor often walks her dog. Reclining on an antique sofa upholstered in union flag fabric, Dench, 76, says: “Our great bonus is that we have Shakespeare, whose plays we’ve been performing for over 400 years. “Thank goodness. He used to be known in our family as the man who paid the rent.” Attempting to capitalise on favourable exchange rates and the royal wedding, which was watched by a global audience of two billion, VisitBritain hopes to capture a “national mood of celebration” surrounding the diamond jubilee and the Games. Much of the campaign is expected to be targeted at the highly profitable US market. According to VisitBritain, last year American visitors spent £2.1bn in the UK. However numbers are still down from pre-9/11 levels. In 2010 there were just under 2.7m visits to the UK by US residents, down from a peak of 4.1m in 2000. VisitBritain’s £50m budget was cut by 34% in the government’s spending review, but it also receives funding from private firms such as British Airways, lastminute.com and hotel chain Radisson Edwardian. Royal wedding The Queen Monarchy London Olympic Games 2012 Advertising Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …VisitBritain to launch worldwide advertising push starring big British names to promote the UK as the place to be in 2012 With a clutch of global stars in harness and £100m to spend on marketing, tourism bosses are hoping that they can revive the Cool Britannia vibe in time for the Olympics and the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012. A TV commercial which aims to dispel Britain’s stuffy reputation abroad and promote a more contemporary image is to be broadcast around the world. Developed by advertising agency M&C Saatchi, the “You’re Invited” campaign features actors Dame Judi Dench, Dev Patel and Rupert Everett raving about their own personal favourite UK destinations. Jamie Oliver and Twiggy will also feature in the push, aimed at raising visitor numbers by four million a year. Patel, star of Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, woos potential travellers by promoting the “buzz” and “energy” of London’s Leicester Square, while Everett waxes lyrical about the “rickshaws, queens and bikers” of night time Soho. Twiggy, who was filmed on location on the Millennium bridge in London, promotes Britain’s “amazing stable of designers” and chef Oliver, who has been trying to break the US in the last year, talks up the UK’s “magpie culture” of “taking the world’s best bits”. Extolling the UK’s more traditional image of stately homes and rolling countryside, Dench chose to be filmed at Hever Castle in Kent, the ancestral home of Anne Boleyn, where the actor often walks her dog. Reclining on an antique sofa upholstered in union flag fabric, Dench, 76, says: “Our great bonus is that we have Shakespeare, whose plays we’ve been performing for over 400 years. “Thank goodness. He used to be known in our family as the man who paid the rent.” Attempting to capitalise on favourable exchange rates and the royal wedding, which was watched by a global audience of two billion, VisitBritain hopes to capture a “national mood of celebration” surrounding the diamond jubilee and the Games. Much of the campaign is expected to be targeted at the highly profitable US market. According to VisitBritain, last year American visitors spent £2.1bn in the UK. However numbers are still down from pre-9/11 levels. In 2010 there were just under 2.7m visits to the UK by US residents, down from a peak of 4.1m in 2000. VisitBritain’s £50m budget was cut by 34% in the government’s spending review, but it also receives funding from private firms such as British Airways, lastminute.com and hotel chain Radisson Edwardian. Royal wedding The Queen Monarchy London Olympic Games 2012 Advertising Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …“Do not think you can sell us out in June and buy us back in November.” What a great line. Labor was a major focus of this year’s Netroots Nation, and one of the things we want to plant firmly in the public perception is that cutting public employee wages and benefits is dictated by choice, and is not a true emergency . The real reason states have a problem balancing their budgets is that their Republican politicians are too afraid of Grover Norquist and the Club for Growth to raise taxes and risk a primary challenge. Instead, they’ve chosen to take out their cowardice and lack of leadership on the backs of workers. Make no mistake: This deal would dissolve collective bargaining rights in NJ as effectively as anything that Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin . The thing I can’t figure out is, why are these craven Democratic politicians going along with it? Why aren’t they standing up and fighting? Thousands of angry government workers swarmed New Jersey’s Capitol on Thursday and some were briefly arrested, one day after Gov. Chris Christie and legislative leaders agreed to sharply increase the contributions public employees must make into their health insurance and pensions plans. The proposed deal, which has yet to come to a vote in either house, would be a major victory for Mr. Christie, transferring billions of dollars a year in expenses from the government to its employees, and once again curbing the power of the governor’s favorite foil, the public employee unions. It would eliminate the longstanding practice of negotiating health care payments in contract talks with the unions, instead imposing those terms through legislation. The proposed deal puts Mr. Christie firmly in the ranks of fellow Republican governors who have curtailed public workers’ collective bargaining rights this year, including Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Kasich of Ohio, Paul LePage of Maine and Scott Walker of Wisconsin. But the recent conflicts in those states have been strictly partisan affairs, with Democrats opposing moves made by Republican majorities. In New Jersey, the battle over pensions and health care has turned into an intramural fight among Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, threatening to shake up the party’s leadership and weaken it in coming elections, thereby strengthening Mr. Christie’s hand. Union members packed a State Senate hearing in Trenton on Thursday, the first one to take up the proposal. Like thousands of their compatriots in the State House hallways and on the lawn outside, they noisily protested what they called an assault on collective bargaining and a betrayal by key Democrats. At one point, chanting protesters brought the hearing to a halt, which lasted until the State Police forced about two dozen of them out of the chamber. They were arrested, but then released. “There is a campaign across the country to use this economic crisis as an excuse to destroy the rights of working people,” said Robert Master, regional legislative and political director of the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents the largest number of state employees. “Real Democrats would not have collaborated with Chris Christie to make this attack on the democratic rights of public workers.”
Continue reading …“Do not think you can sell us out in June and buy us back in November.” What a great line. Labor was a major focus of this year’s Netroots Nation, and one of the things we want to plant firmly in the public perception is that cutting public employee wages and benefits is dictated by choice, and is not a true emergency . The real reason states have a problem balancing their budgets is that their Republican politicians are too afraid of Grover Norquist and the Club for Growth to raise taxes and risk a primary challenge. Instead, they’ve chosen to take out their cowardice and lack of leadership on the backs of workers. Make no mistake: This deal would dissolve collective bargaining rights in NJ as effectively as anything that Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin . The thing I can’t figure out is, why are these craven Democratic politicians going along with it? Why aren’t they standing up and fighting? Thousands of angry government workers swarmed New Jersey’s Capitol on Thursday and some were briefly arrested, one day after Gov. Chris Christie and legislative leaders agreed to sharply increase the contributions public employees must make into their health insurance and pensions plans. The proposed deal, which has yet to come to a vote in either house, would be a major victory for Mr. Christie, transferring billions of dollars a year in expenses from the government to its employees, and once again curbing the power of the governor’s favorite foil, the public employee unions. It would eliminate the longstanding practice of negotiating health care payments in contract talks with the unions, instead imposing those terms through legislation. The proposed deal puts Mr. Christie firmly in the ranks of fellow Republican governors who have curtailed public workers’ collective bargaining rights this year, including Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Kasich of Ohio, Paul LePage of Maine and Scott Walker of Wisconsin. But the recent conflicts in those states have been strictly partisan affairs, with Democrats opposing moves made by Republican majorities. In New Jersey, the battle over pensions and health care has turned into an intramural fight among Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, threatening to shake up the party’s leadership and weaken it in coming elections, thereby strengthening Mr. Christie’s hand. Union members packed a State Senate hearing in Trenton on Thursday, the first one to take up the proposal. Like thousands of their compatriots in the State House hallways and on the lawn outside, they noisily protested what they called an assault on collective bargaining and a betrayal by key Democrats. At one point, chanting protesters brought the hearing to a halt, which lasted until the State Police forced about two dozen of them out of the chamber. They were arrested, but then released. “There is a campaign across the country to use this economic crisis as an excuse to destroy the rights of working people,” said Robert Master, regional legislative and political director of the Communications Workers of America, the union that represents the largest number of state employees. “Real Democrats would not have collaborated with Chris Christie to make this attack on the democratic rights of public workers.”
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Mass walkouts over public sector pensions reform will allow chancellor to blame weak recovery on them, warns Balls Ed Balls has warned trade unions not to fall into George Osborne’s “trap” by striking over plans to reform public sector pensions. The chancellor was hoping for the unions to embark on industrial action , Balls said, so that he could blame any weak economic recovery on mass walkouts. The government and unions have been at loggerheads since unions felt ministers pre-empted negotiations by going public towards the end of last week with plans to extend the retirement age and increase pension contributions for millions of public sector workers. On Sunday, Unison leader Dave Prentis, whose union represents 1.4 million state employees, said the government had “scuppered” the talks by appearing unwilling to compromise. Prentis and other union leaders had threatened the biggest wave of industrial action since the general strike of 1926 after the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, made the announcement on Friday. The Treasury later said that Alexander was articulating proposals for reform, not settled government policy, but Prentis said that Alexander’s speech had effectively rendered the talks meaningless. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show , Balls said the government was deliberately “picking a fight” with the unions. “This is not a political decision from the unions, this is actually their members feeling very upset. George Osborne is desperate to have that confrontation – he’s been saying it for months. The trade unions must not walk into the trap of giving George Osborne the confrontation he wants to divert attention from a failing economy. “That’s why it’s so frustrating to see suddenly the Treasury breaking out of the negotiations and seeming to say, ‘We’ve made decisions.’” Three unions are due to strike on 30 June, but the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has said it will call off the walkout if the government is willing to discuss the level of increases to pension contributions. Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union , which represents almost 300,000 civil servants, told the BBC it was very unlikely that the walkout would be called off. Responding to Balls’s warning of a “trap”, Serwotka said: “The problem with what Ed is saying is this: if he’s me, representing people, many of whom are on £15,000 per year – they work hard, they’re on poverty pay, they don’t look forward to a very big pension. If all of that’s being taken away and you work longer, pay more and get less, what frankly are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to sit back, say it’s unfair and do nothing?” Prentis, whose union represents people working for local authorities, the NHS, colleges and the police, said he had not yet balloted his members on action but would if they continued “to be treated with disdain”. “If we go back into negotiations on the basis of dialogue but no changes in the proposals, what’s the point in that?” he told the BBC. “If we can get an assurance that the talks are meaningful … then obviously we’d continue the talks, but we didn’t get that impression on Friday.” “And it will be the biggest action since 1926 because up to 10 million people will be involved.” Responding to the same suggestion by Balls, Prentis said striking methods would be “smarter”. He told Sky’s Murnaghan programme, “It won’t be like the miners’ dispute where we will be starved back into submission. This will be a lot smarter than that – this will be about regional action, branch action, this will be sustained action. Because I believe that this government will not turn after one or two days, and our members have got to be prepared for that, and I believe that they are.” Alexander said the government was “absolutely not” trying to provoke a battle with unions. “There is a huge amount of room for dialogue,” he told Sky News. “There is a huge amount of detail about public sector pensions that we’ve been discussing in the talks … and we need to take that forward over the coming months.” He insisted the talks could still be constructive, adding: “I don’t think my message is uncompromising at all.” John Cridland, director of employers’ group the CBI, dismissed the impact that public sector union strikes could have on the economy. He said: “Today the most they can do is disrupt people’s lives – it probably won’t disrupt the economy.” Public sector pensions Ed Balls Public sector pay Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance George Osborne Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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Mass walkouts over public sector pensions reform will allow chancellor to blame weak recovery on them, warns Balls Ed Balls has warned trade unions not to fall into George Osborne’s “trap” by striking over plans to reform public sector pensions. The chancellor was hoping for the unions to embark on industrial action , Balls said, so that he could blame any weak economic recovery on mass walkouts. The government and unions have been at loggerheads since unions felt ministers pre-empted negotiations by going public towards the end of last week with plans to extend the retirement age and increase pension contributions for millions of public sector workers. On Sunday, Unison leader Dave Prentis, whose union represents 1.4 million state employees, said the government had “scuppered” the talks by appearing unwilling to compromise. Prentis and other union leaders had threatened the biggest wave of industrial action since the general strike of 1926 after the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, made the announcement on Friday. The Treasury later said that Alexander was articulating proposals for reform, not settled government policy, but Prentis said that Alexander’s speech had effectively rendered the talks meaningless. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show , Balls said the government was deliberately “picking a fight” with the unions. “This is not a political decision from the unions, this is actually their members feeling very upset. George Osborne is desperate to have that confrontation – he’s been saying it for months. The trade unions must not walk into the trap of giving George Osborne the confrontation he wants to divert attention from a failing economy. “That’s why it’s so frustrating to see suddenly the Treasury breaking out of the negotiations and seeming to say, ‘We’ve made decisions.’” Three unions are due to strike on 30 June, but the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has said it will call off the walkout if the government is willing to discuss the level of increases to pension contributions. Mark Serwotka of the Public and Commercial Services Union , which represents almost 300,000 civil servants, told the BBC it was very unlikely that the walkout would be called off. Responding to Balls’s warning of a “trap”, Serwotka said: “The problem with what Ed is saying is this: if he’s me, representing people, many of whom are on £15,000 per year – they work hard, they’re on poverty pay, they don’t look forward to a very big pension. If all of that’s being taken away and you work longer, pay more and get less, what frankly are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to sit back, say it’s unfair and do nothing?” Prentis, whose union represents people working for local authorities, the NHS, colleges and the police, said he had not yet balloted his members on action but would if they continued “to be treated with disdain”. “If we go back into negotiations on the basis of dialogue but no changes in the proposals, what’s the point in that?” he told the BBC. “If we can get an assurance that the talks are meaningful … then obviously we’d continue the talks, but we didn’t get that impression on Friday.” “And it will be the biggest action since 1926 because up to 10 million people will be involved.” Responding to the same suggestion by Balls, Prentis said striking methods would be “smarter”. He told Sky’s Murnaghan programme, “It won’t be like the miners’ dispute where we will be starved back into submission. This will be a lot smarter than that – this will be about regional action, branch action, this will be sustained action. Because I believe that this government will not turn after one or two days, and our members have got to be prepared for that, and I believe that they are.” Alexander said the government was “absolutely not” trying to provoke a battle with unions. “There is a huge amount of room for dialogue,” he told Sky News. “There is a huge amount of detail about public sector pensions that we’ve been discussing in the talks … and we need to take that forward over the coming months.” He insisted the talks could still be constructive, adding: “I don’t think my message is uncompromising at all.” John Cridland, director of employers’ group the CBI, dismissed the impact that public sector union strikes could have on the economy. He said: “Today the most they can do is disrupt people’s lives – it probably won’t disrupt the economy.” Public sector pensions Ed Balls Public sector pay Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance George Osborne Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Wearing FBI Wire, Alabama GOP State Sen Refers To Black Casino Patrons As "Aborigines"
June 19, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: TPM They don’t even try to hide it anymore . Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason, a cooperating witness in a federal corruption case, called black gambling hall customers “aborigines” when he was wearing an FBI wire and recording conversations with his fellow lawmakers, it was revealed in court this week. Beason and two other Republican legislators were joking about economic development in predominantly black Greene County and the customers of the Greenetrack casino, the Associated Press reports . “That’s y’all’s Indians,” one Republican said. “They’re aborigines, but they’re not Indians,” replied Beason. The transcript was read Wednesday in the federal trial of casino owner Milton McGregor. The Justice Department indicted eleven defendants , including McGregor, in a massive bingo bribery probe back in October. Feds charged that the four current and former state legislators, three lobbyists and two businessmen with casino interests were part of a conspiracy to influence pro-bribery legislation. Some defendants, including McGregor’s lobbyist, have plead guilty. McGregor’s trial got underway last week. In another recorded conversation, Beason — who cooperated with the feds’ investigation and has not been charged — agreed with other Republican legislators who said that there would be a big turnout of black voters if bingo was on the ballot because casino owners would offer free buffets and gambling credits to lure African-American customers and then bus them to the polls. Beason is the same bastion of tolerance that advocated that if the Republicans wanted to really deal with illegal immigration, they should just “ empty the clip, and do what has to be done. ” There are calls for Beason to resign for his racist statements , although so far, Beason has resisted doing so. Will the media hound him and his party relentlessly until he does resign? Or is this another case of IOKIYAR?
Continue reading …Wearing FBI Wire, Alabama GOP State Sen Refers To Black Casino Patrons As "Aborigines"
June 19, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Credit: TPM They don’t even try to hide it anymore . Alabama state Sen. Scott Beason, a cooperating witness in a federal corruption case, called black gambling hall customers “aborigines” when he was wearing an FBI wire and recording conversations with his fellow lawmakers, it was revealed in court this week. Beason and two other Republican legislators were joking about economic development in predominantly black Greene County and the customers of the Greenetrack casino, the Associated Press reports . “That’s y’all’s Indians,” one Republican said. “They’re aborigines, but they’re not Indians,” replied Beason. The transcript was read Wednesday in the federal trial of casino owner Milton McGregor. The Justice Department indicted eleven defendants , including McGregor, in a massive bingo bribery probe back in October. Feds charged that the four current and former state legislators, three lobbyists and two businessmen with casino interests were part of a conspiracy to influence pro-bribery legislation. Some defendants, including McGregor’s lobbyist, have plead guilty. McGregor’s trial got underway last week. In another recorded conversation, Beason — who cooperated with the feds’ investigation and has not been charged — agreed with other Republican legislators who said that there would be a big turnout of black voters if bingo was on the ballot because casino owners would offer free buffets and gambling credits to lure African-American customers and then bus them to the polls. Beason is the same bastion of tolerance that advocated that if the Republicans wanted to really deal with illegal immigration, they should just “ empty the clip, and do what has to be done. ” There are calls for Beason to resign for his racist statements , although so far, Beason has resisted doing so. Will the media hound him and his party relentlessly until he does resign? Or is this another case of IOKIYAR?
Continue reading …WaPo Runs Profile of Jewish Crisis Pregnancy Centers — Complete With Rabbis Who Insist on the Term ‘Fetus’
June 19, 2011 No Comment
On Saturday, the Washington Post’s religion page inside the Metro section highlighted a pro-life cause: what may be the only Jewish crisis-pregnancy center in the country, Erica Pelman’s group In Shifra’s Arms (ISA). Debra Rubin’s story for the Religion News Service relayed both sides and noted both Jewish law and Jewish public opinion. Liberal rabbis have railed against ISA, even for using the term “baby” instead of “fetus. Rabbi Peter Stein of Temple Sinai in Cranston, R.I. , is among ISA's detractors, criticizing the group for its use of the term “your baby,” rather than the medical term “fetus.” That's too narrow a perspective of Jewish law, he said.
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