Syndicated columnist Mark Shields said Friday that today's low income tax rates are “fundamentally un-American.” Such happened on PBS's “Inside Washington” (video follows with transcript and commentary): MARK SHIELDS, HOST: I assume that the President has a position which Joe Biden represents, and he is going to be confronted to make that known before August 1. I mean, he is playing golf with the Speaker this weekend. I imagine that will come up in those discussions. But this is the reality, and Evan is absolutely right. You have to have everything on the table. And it has to be, you cannot, Charles says 25 percent spending. That’s in large part because we have two wars and, and in fact the stimulus package. But we got 14 and a half percent in revenues, Charles. That is unsustainable and it’s unacceptable and it’s fundamentally un-American. Imagine that. People not being taxed more than they currently are is fundamentally un-American. Would our Founding Fathers agree with Shields's sentiments? Hardly. What folks like Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison would say is that almost half of the public not paying taxes while the other half shoulders all the burden is what's un-American. But liberals like Shields don't see it that way. For them, taxation is a means to redistribute from those that have to those that don't, a concept our Founding Fathers would have been appalled by. Of course, one quite imagines Mr. Shields and his accountants do everything in their power to make sure his tax burden is the lowest they can get away with. I doubt they think that's un-American.
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Human rights council narrowly votes to protect rights of gay people, despite opposition from Islamic and African members The United Nations issued its first condemnation of discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people on Friday, in a cautiously-worded declaration hailed by supporters including the US as a historic moment. Members of the UN human rights council narrowly voted in favour of the resolution put forward by South Africa, against strong opposition from African and Islamic countries. “You just witnessed a historic moment at the human rights council and within the UN system with a landmark resolution protecting human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people,” the US representative to the UNHCR, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, told reporters after the vote. Couched in delicate diplomatic language, the resolution commissions a study of discrimination against gay men and lesbians around the world, the findings of which will be discussed by the Geneva-based council at a later meeting. The proposal went too far for many of the council’s 47-member states, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan. Speaking on behalf of the powerful Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva said the resolution had “nothing to do with fundamental human rights”. “We are seriously concerned at the attempt to introduce to the United Nations some notions that have no legal foundation,” Zamir Akram said. Nigeria claimed the proposal went against the wishes of most Africans. A diplomat from the north-west African state of Mauritania said it was “an attempt to replace the natural rights of a human being with an unnatural right”. The resolution passed with 23 votes in favour and 19 against, with three abstentions, including that of China. Backers included the US, the European Union, Brazil and other Latin American countries. “If you look at the history of human rights and the ever-expanding circle of who counts as human, every time that circle has expanded there have been those that have dissented and in every case they have been proven wrong over time,” Daniel Baer, a US deputy assistant secretary, said after the vote. Baer told reporters the administration of Barack Obama had chosen what he described as a “course of progress” on gay rights, both domestically and internationally. In March, the US issued a non-binding declaration in favour of gay rights that gained the support of more than 80 countries at the UN. This has coincided with domestic efforts to end the ban on gay people openly serving in the US military and discrimination against them in federal housing. Asked what good the resolution would do for gay and lesbian people in countries that opposed the resolution, Baer said it was a signal “that there are many people in the international community who stand with them, and who support then, and that change will come”. “It’s a historic method of tyranny to make you feel that you are alone,” he said. “One of the things that this resolution does for people everywhere, particularly LGBT people everywhere, is remind them that they are not alone.” Gay rights United Nations guardian.co.uk
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enlarge Credit: Salon.com Great scoop from Gawker, who confirms that Roger Ailes, the alleged news executive, is one of NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s confidential advisers: The office of Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is claiming that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes is a confidential adviser whose interactions with the governor should remain secret under New Jersey’s executive privilege. Last month, after New York magazine reported that Ailes met with Christie last summer and called him this year to urge him to run for president, Gawker filed a request under New Jersey’s Open Records Act seeking any correspondence between the two men, as well as any records of meetings or phone calls with Ailes from Christie’s schedule or call logs. Last week we received a rather surprising response: While declining to confirm the existence of any such records, Christie’s office said they “would be exempt from disclosure…based upon the executive privilege and well-settled case law.” In other words, Christie’s staff refused to search for any records—which, given the undisputed reports of a dinner and phone call, almost certainly exist—on the basis that Ailes is a confidential adviser whose comments should be shielded from public scrutiny. New Jersey has a rather robust executive privilege—former Gov. Jon Corzine successfully employed it to keep his email exchanges with his ex-girlfriend and former union boss Carla Katz secret in the face of a public records act request—and there’s nothing particularly unusual about Christie invoking it. What is unusual is his attempt to use it to cover conversations with someone who is, ostensibly at least, a news executive. It amounts to a rather bald admission that Ailes provides Christie with political advice. New Jersey’s Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s executive privilege extends to “communications pertaining to the executive function,” a judgment based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of the “president’s need for complete candor and objectivity from advisers.” It was obviously never a secret that Ailes, who spent most of his career as a communications guru to right-wing politicians, is still a communications guru to right-wing politicians. But it’s strange to see it spelled out in writing. Christie’s office did not respond to questions about the nature of his communications with Ailes and whether the privilege should apply. Ailes said in a statement, “Whatever the Governor wants to do is his business.”
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As troops gather near Turkish border, the Foreign Office warns it may not be able to help if the violence gets worse British nationals have been urged to leave Syria immediately due to the ongoing civil unrest as troops backed by tanks mass at a town near the Turkish border. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said Britons should use commercial flights to leave while they are still available as it would be “highly unlikely” that its embassy in Damascus would be able to help if the situation were to deteriorate further. Evacuation options would also “be limited”, it added. Violence between protesters opposed to Syria’s leadership and the security forces has flared across the country, particularly near the border with Turkey, where thousands of refugees have fled. In the latest assault, Syrian troops backed by tanks and firing heavy machine guns swept into the village of Bdama, about 12 miles from the border, as the army intensified operations in the north-west of the country, which has seen the fiercest clashes. The Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a group that documents anti-government protests, said troops backed by six tanks and several armoured personnel carriers entered Bdama in the morning. On Friday, Syrian forces swept into Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway linking Damascus, the capital, with Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. Saturday’s assault on Bdama was about 25 miles (40km) to the west. The LCC raised the death toll in Friday’s anti-government protests to 19. The three-month uprising has proved extremely resilient despite a relentless crackdown by the military, pervasive security forces and pro-regime gunmen. Human rights activists say more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained as President Bashar Assad tries to maintain his grip on power. Bdama is next to Jisr al-Shughour, a town that was spinning out of government control before the military recaptured it last Sunday. Activists had reported fighting in Jisr al-Shughour between loyalist troops and defectors who refused to take part in a continuing crackdown on protesters seeking Assad’s ouster. The fighting in the area, which started nearly two weeks ago, displaced thousands of people including some 9,600 who are sheltered in Turkish refugee camps. On Friday, UN envoy Angelina Jolie travelled to Turkey’s border with Syria to meet some of the thousands of Syrian refugees. The uprising has proven to be the boldest challenge to the Assad family’s 40-year dynasty in Syria. Assad, now 45, inherited power in 2000, raising hopes that the lanky, soft-spoken young leader might transform his late father’s stagnant and brutal dictatorship into a modern state. But over the past 11 years, hopes that Assad was a reformist dimmed as it became apparent that he was a hardliner determined to keep power at all costs. On Friday, 12 people were killed in the central city of Homs, two in the eastern town of Deir el-Zour and two in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, one in the northern city of Aleppo. Two protesters, one a boy believed to be 16 years old, died in the southern village of Dael, the LCC said. Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Bashar Al-Assad Middle East Angelina Jolie guardian.co.uk
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A year after she ousted previous Labor leader Kevin Rudd, only one in four Australians say they would vote for her One year after Australian prime minister Julia Gillard ousted Kevin Rudd to become the country’s first female leader, she’s in serious trouble herself. The enthusiasm that greeted Gillard on a crisp June day last year has all but evaporated, with barely one in four (27%) Australians now prepared to vote for her, according to a new poll – the worst for any major federal political party in almost four decades. With a majority of just one in the hung parliament and Gillard having to rely on the support of three independents and a Greens MP to govern, a single by-election could spell disaster for her. With her personal approval rating collapsing (nearly 60% of those polled disapprove of her), Kevin Rudd is now the preferred Labor leader by a margin of two to one. Gillard has urged her colleagues to hold their nerve, suggesting that, unlike Mr Rudd a year ago, she has a strategy to get things back on track. “We’ve got a plan which we are working through to deliver, which we did not have at the start of my prime ministership,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Gillard used a newspaper interview to publicly attack the leader she overthrew a year ago, Kevin Rudd, in a move some analysts say is proof she is feeling her job is under threat. Gillard told News Corp newspapers her center-left party “lost a sense of purpose and plan for the future” under Rudd. “We didn’t have a clear plan as to how we were going to deal with a set of difficult questions or a clear plan generally about where the government was driving toward,” she said. “What I’ve done as prime minister is inject that sense of clarity of purpose.” Nick Economou, a Monash University political scientist, said Gillard’s comments were evidence that her colleagues are considering replacing her. “They’re gone unless something absolutely spectacular happens,” Economou said of the government’s prospects at the 2013 elections. “Whether bringing back Rudd is that spectacular thing, I don’t think it would be,” he said. “But there’s still two years to go until the next election and anything is possible and they have to do something because if they don’t, they’ll be absolutely wiped out.” Gillard’s woes began in February when she announced plans for a carbon tax, having expressly ruled one out just days before last year’s election. “I was determined to get the hard, big things done early so people had the benefits of seeing those reforms in action – not just contemplation,” Gillard told the Herald. But the conservative opposition branded her a liar and her backflip on the tax rang alarm bells amongst the electorate. Support for her carbon tax has dropped from 46 to 38 per cent. The hung parliament has meant negotiations on the reform have been protracted. Powerful vested interests in Australia’s mineral and resources export industries, the bedrock of the economy, have also rallied against the tax. Kevin Rudd, now foreign minister, has meanwhile told a major newspaper that his unceremonious dumping last year had led him to a “genuinely soul-searching experience”. He said: “At the start, you’re a bit too bruised to reflect intelligently – that’s being human. For me, it’s been good to open up discussion of what went right and what went wrong.” His continued presence on the front bench – and the fact that Gillard’s approval ratings are now lower than his when he was ousted – is likely to continue to fuel speculation, however unlikely, about a Rudd comeback. Julia Gillard Australia Alison Rourke guardian.co.uk
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Japanese nuclear plant halts operation to clean contaminated water because of a rapid rise in radiation Officials at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it had begun because of a rapid rise in radiation. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is investigating the cause and could not say when the clean-up will resume, company spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said. Fresh water is being pumped in to cool damaged reactor cores, and is becoming contaminated in the process. Around 105,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water have pooled across the plant, and could overflow within a couple of weeks if action is not taken. In earlier tests, the water treatment system reduced caesium levels in the water to about one ten-thousandth of their original levels. The system began full operations on Friday after a series of problems involving leaks and valve flaws. The system was suspended in early Saturday when workers detected a sharp radiation increase in the system’s caesium-absorbing component, Matsumoto said. Radioactivity in one of 24 cartridges, which was expected to last for a few weeks, had already reached its limit within five hours, he said. Japan’s 11 March earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the nuclear plant, incapacitating its crucial cooling systems and causing three reactor cores to melt. Tepco aims to bring the reactors to a stable cold shutdown state by January next year. The water treatment system is to be eventually connected to a cooling system so the treated water can be reused. But treating the water will create an additional headache – tons of highly radioactive sludge will require a separate long-term storage space. The Fukushima crisis shattered Japan’s confidence in the safety of nuclear energy and prompted anti-nuclear sentiment. But there are also concerns that Japan will face a serious summertime power crunch unless more of its reactors get back on line. Of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors, more than 30 – including six at Fukushima Daiichi and several others that stopped due to the quake – are out of operation. The economy and industry minister, Banri Kaieda, said on Saturday that the rest of the nuclear plants in Japan are safe and their reactors should resume operations as soon as their ongoing regular checks are completed. He said nationwide inspections this week have found that Japanese nuclear power plants are now prepared for accidents as severe as the one that crippled Fukushima Daiichi. Resumption of about a dozen reactors undergoing regular checkups is up in the air amid growing local residents’ fear of nuclear accidents. Many of the plants’ hometown officials have said restarting any pending reactors would be impossible amid the ongoing crisis. Kaieda, however, said Japan needs the power. “Stable electric supply is indispensable for Japan’s reconstruction from the disaster and its economic recovery,” he said in a statement. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency instructed Japanese nuclear operators to improve their preparedness for severe accidents earlier this month and then conducted nationwide on-site inspections. The inspections focused on measures to reduce the risk of hydrogen explosions inside containment buildings as one of the lessons learned from the Fukushima crisis, the world’s worst atomic accident since Chernobyl. Japanese nuclear plant operators have already taken other steps to improve accident management since the disaster to maintain core cooling capacity during blackouts. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Energy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …How Liberal is NPR? Post-GOP Debate Show Had Seven Liberal Calls and E-mails (and One GOP Leaner)
June 18, 2011 No Comment
One reason NPR staffers seem to think their output is so fair and balanced and centrist? The NPR listeners. Listen to NPR talk shows, and see how badly the sample leans left. It was especially noticeable on Tuesday morning, after the Republican presidential debate. The Diane Rehm Show had a conservative on (Steve Hayes), and a lefty (Michael Tomasky) and two “mainstream” journalists. But the callers who came through were all leftists (expect the last one was neutral). Rehm began the show saying “I really want to hear your thoughts,” but it appears she wasn't talking to everyone in the audience. If you counted the e-mails Rehm read to the guests, the tally was seven questions from the left, one neutral, and one right-leaning — in an hour on the Republican debate. Maybe if they said only Republicans should call in, they'd have no callers? The most provocative caller was Barry from South Bend, Indiana, who insisted he had a friend die who lacked insurance on Debate Day, and could not believe how “hypocritical” Republicanswere to
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• Email simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Follow it on the sly with our pop-up report • Watch video highlights of the Test here • Barney Ronay on cricket and booze 10.53am: It’s raining! 10.45am: A very random thing that’s amazed me this week: Amon Tobin’s set design . The bad news: you can’t see it – his one UK show was in London last night. The good news: it’s just as well – he well might have given you a bit of a headache. Incredibly impressive bit of design, though. You can see more here (with the volume down, if necessary). And it’s not his only great contribution to musical achievement: this might be the best song ever written about muffins . I’m assuming it’s about muffins. Obviously none of this has any place in an OBO, but I had to tell someone. Morning world! The good news? The weather forecast for the Rose Bowl is great – 24C and sunny. The bad news? That’s the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. But there’s better news from Southampton, as well – it’s rained already this morning, the clouds have cleared and it looks pretty bright. Play should start on schedule, though there will be interruptions this afternoon . If you got here early, you might just have time to check out Mike Selvey’s report on yesterday’s play: Given the apocalyptic predictions for today’s weather, it was a bonus to get any cricket at all. Mizzle held things up in the morning and torrential stuff finished things off before the tea interval. In between times 23 overs were managed as Sri Lanka advanced from 81 for four to 177 for nine, sufficient overs for Chris Tremlett to reinforce the mighty impression he has created, with career best figures of six for 42. They were sufficient also for Stuart Broad to continue his struggle to make any sort of impact other than occasionally on the body of opposing batsmen; and for Sri Lanka’s lower order to be let off the hook by some indifferent captaincy and another brave performance from the wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who made 43. England have been presented with a pitch in Southampton that is the antidote to all those bland, consistent surfaces around the world that appear to have the half life of uranium in their rate of deterioration. Raising the mower blades a smidgen offers the bowler something with which to work and provides a challenge to the techniques and fortitude of batsmen. For the full report, click here . Sri Lanka in England 2011 England cricket team Sri Lanka cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Simon Burnton Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• Email simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Follow it on the sly with our pop-up report • Watch video highlights of the Test here • Barney Ronay on cricket and booze 10.53am: It’s raining! 10.45am: A very random thing that’s amazed me this week: Amon Tobin’s set design . The bad news: you can’t see it – his one UK show was in London last night. The good news: it’s just as well – he well might have given you a bit of a headache. Incredibly impressive bit of design, though. You can see more here (with the volume down, if necessary). And it’s not his only great contribution to musical achievement: this might be the best song ever written about muffins . I’m assuming it’s about muffins. Obviously none of this has any place in an OBO, but I had to tell someone. Morning world! The good news? The weather forecast for the Rose Bowl is great – 24C and sunny. The bad news? That’s the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. But there’s better news from Southampton, as well – it’s rained already this morning, the clouds have cleared and it looks pretty bright. Play should start on schedule, though there will be interruptions this afternoon . If you got here early, you might just have time to check out Mike Selvey’s report on yesterday’s play: Given the apocalyptic predictions for today’s weather, it was a bonus to get any cricket at all. Mizzle held things up in the morning and torrential stuff finished things off before the tea interval. In between times 23 overs were managed as Sri Lanka advanced from 81 for four to 177 for nine, sufficient overs for Chris Tremlett to reinforce the mighty impression he has created, with career best figures of six for 42. They were sufficient also for Stuart Broad to continue his struggle to make any sort of impact other than occasionally on the body of opposing batsmen; and for Sri Lanka’s lower order to be let off the hook by some indifferent captaincy and another brave performance from the wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who made 43. England have been presented with a pitch in Southampton that is the antidote to all those bland, consistent surfaces around the world that appear to have the half life of uranium in their rate of deterioration. Raising the mower blades a smidgen offers the bowler something with which to work and provides a challenge to the techniques and fortitude of batsmen. For the full report, click here . Sri Lanka in England 2011 England cricket team Sri Lanka cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Simon Burnton Rob Smyth guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media A Democratic candidate for California’s 36th Congressional District says that her Republican opponent knows more about a raunchy online ad than he is letting on. The conservative group Turn Right USA released video earlier this week depicting Janice Hahn as a stripper. GOP congressional candidate Craig Huey has publicly denounced the ad . “Along with many other residents of the South Bay I am outraged over this racist and sexist ad,” Huey said. “I unequivocally denounce it.” “The ad was not authorized and not affiliated with my campaign. Whether people agree with my politics or not, anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I would not participate in something of this nature.” Hahn appeared on MSNBC Thursday after filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). “Explain exactly why your campaign believes your opponent’s campaign has got something to do with this,” MSNBC’s Ed Schultz asked Hahn. “What’s the connection that you believe to be?” “Well, you know, we’re asking for — we filed a complaint with the FEC, and we’re asking for an investigation because we think there are some links between my opponent’s campaign and this so-called independent expenditure,” Hahn replied. “The P.O. box from one of his campaign vendors and this Super PAC Turn Right USA had the exact same address in the same retail shopping center.” “It portrays, you know, the African-American community as being a bunch of gangsters and thugs and wielding an AK-47s while they’re, you know, calling me the B word. It is sexist. It is racist. And it is vulgar. And again, has no place in a congressional campaign — in any campaign,” she added. “Are you going to call your opponent on it?” Schultz wondered. “Well, you know, I have called him on it. And I think he took way too long to come out and denounce it. It was like 36 hours that video was up that he didn’t denounce it,” Hahn explained. “And I’ve been asking him to call for it to be taken down, which he has not done.” As of Friday morning, the video was still available on YouTube .
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