Industrial action on capital’s Tube set to disrupt network from 19 June after talks over sacked driver break down Talks aimed at averting a series of strikes by London Underground workers in protest at the sacking of a driver have broken down. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union accused Tube bosses on Wednesday of refusing to discuss the reinstatement of the driver, Arwyn Thomas. He has taken a claim of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal, with the result due by the end of the month. The union is planning a series of strikes starting on Sunday evening, which will hit Monday morning commuters as well as those travelling to the Wimbledon tennis championships. Both sides met at the conciliation service Acas for two hours, but the RMT said the talks had broken down and the strikes were now set to go ahead. The action is set to take place from: • 9.01pm on 19 June to 3am on 20 June; • 9.01pm on 27 June to 11.59am on 28 June; • midday on 29 June to 11.59am on 30 June; • midday to 9pm on 1 July. London Transport Trade unions guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …How many times have you heard Glenn Beck tell his audience that Liberals and public schools are indoctrinating America to become socialists, Marxists, radical Muslims? Well, now there’s this from the Tampa12 Project. TAMPA — Here’s another option now that the kids are out of school: a weeklong seminar about our nation’s founding principles, courtesy of the Tampa 912 Project . The organization, which falls under the tea party umbrella, hopes to introduce kids ages 8 to 12 to principles that include “America is good,” “I believe in God,” and “I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.” Organized by conservative writer Jeff Lukens and staffed by volunteers from the 912 Project, Tampa Liberty School will meet every morning July 11-15 in borrowed space at the Paideia Christian school in Temple Terrace. “We want to impart to our children what our nation is about, and what they may or may not be told,” Lukens said. He said he was not familiar with public school curriculum, but, “I do know they have a lot of political correctness. We are a faithful people, and when you talk about natural law, you have to talk about God. When you take that out of the discussion, you miss the whole thing.” Tampa Liberty is modeled after vacation Bible schools, which use fun, hands-on activities to deliver Christian messages. One example at Liberty: Children will win hard, wrapped candies to use as currency for a store, symbolizing the gold standard . On the second day, the “banker” will issue paper money instead. Over time, students will realize their paper money buys less and less, while the candies retain their value. “Some of the kids will fall for it,” Lukens said. “Others kids will wise up.” Another example: Starting in an austere room where they are made to sit quietly, symbolizing Europe, the children will pass through an obstacle course to arrive at a brightly decorated party room (the New World). Red-white-and-blue confetti will be thrown. But afterward the kids will have to clean up the confetti, learning that with freedom comes responsibility. Still another example: Children will blow bubbles from a single container of soapy solution, and then pop each other’s bubbles with squirt guns in an arrangement that mimics socialism . They are to count how many bubbles they pop. Then they will work with individual bottles of solution and pop their own bubbles. “What they will find out is that you can do a lot more with individual freedom,” Lukens said. While the Liberty school is the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay area, Lukens said a group in Kentucky ran a similar school , and he learned from their ideas. I pray for these children. Digby: These people are raising their kids to be insufferable, proselytizing Ayn Rand adolescents or black-clad teen-age loners who love Death Metal and hate their parents. Even though Ayn Rand hated religion that won’t stop Tea Partiers from passing her teaching on to their children. It’s such an odd mix of ideas when you enter in the obsession of turning back the clock to the the gold standard, but the insanity of it all makes perfect sense and it fits all together like a mega puzzle of the Moral Majority , South African Apartheid , Friedmanism and Randian selfishness.
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I don't know about you, but I found the following headline from the Associated Press rather ironic: Obama 2012 Reelection Campaign: 'Hope' And 'Change' Aren't Enough To Inspire Voters Jim Kuhnhenn began his piece (emphasis added): As he weighed a presidential run back in 2006, President Barack Obama displayed a realistic sense of self-awareness: All the adulation he was receiving, he conceded then, was because he was a blank slate on which people could attach their aspirations. As he seeks re-election, his self-awareness is on display again, with a new conclusion. “It's not as cool to be an Obama supporter as it was in 2008, with the posters and all of that stuff,” he acknowledged to an intimate gathering of donors in Miami this week. It's a line he delivered with a chuckle, a variation on a theme that he is using with his base of supporters. But it holds an important truth for the Obama campaign: Obama is now a known quantity and he will not inspire voters this election the same way he did in the previous one . Well, Jim, how much was this “blank slate” due to the miserable job virtually every so-called news outlet in America including yours did in properly vetting the junior senator from Illinois after he first announced his candidacy in February 2007? Maybe if press members such as yourself would have spent their time digging into his background – ahem, kind of like you did going through 24,000 of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's email messages last week – he wouldn't have been such a “blank slate.” Politicians hire advisers to assist them in creating personas the public will buy into. It is supposed to be the job of so-called journalists to pierce this veil and inform the citizenry what candidates are really about so they can make informed decisions when they head to the polls. Unfortunately, in the 21 months that followed Obama tossing his hat into the ring, the press totally abdicated its solemn responsibility to the public by not only refusing to properly investigate and report who this man from Chicago was, but also assisting him at every turn to captivate the electorate with nothing but smoke, mirrors, and empty promises about Hope and Change. This raises a very important question as a new presidential campaign begins in earnest: the public might no longer be conned by Obama's pathetic platitudes, but have the Obama-loving media come out from under the ether yet?
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The 50cm tall puppet, which has a head full of electronics that enable the mouth to move, is expected to fetch up to £10,000 She was an aristocrat, a secret agent and, frankly, the subject of many a schoolboy crush in the late sixties and seventies. Now an original Lady Penelope puppet from the Thunderbirds television programmes is to be sold at auction and is expected to fetch up to £10,000. The marionette was one of the stand-out characters in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s beloved adventure series. Always perfectly turned out, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was wont to travel in a pink six-wheeled Rolls Royce, usually driven by her chauffeur Parker. She lived in a splendid stately home in the British countryside and communicated with International Rescue, the secretive do-gooders based on the tropical hideaway of Tracy Island, via a device hidden in her teapot. Since the mid-60s the 50cm (20ins) high puppet, which has a head full of electronics allowing the mouth to move, has been in the care of her maker, Christine Glanville. Stephanie Connell of auctioneer Bonhams said: “This puppet came from the collection of Christine Glanville, who died in 1999. “She was the puppet maker for the series and this is super-rare and important. It was an important piece of TV history and although it was first shown in 1965 it has been repeated ever since and all generations are aware of it. “This is an original Lady Penelope and there can be few, if any, left. She is wearing a 60s-style A-line dress and a cardigan. She has pink lipstick on and blue eyes and her hair is in a bob style. “There are lots of genuine Thunderbirds fans and there will be lots of people who would love to have her.” The characters Lady Penelope and Parker were designed to play up to an American audience’s perception of the British upper class. Her face was based on the character from a shampoo advert of the day. As well as the puppet, Bonhams is selling Lady Penelope’s miniature writing desk, chair and bookcase from the original set. They are expected to fetch more than £5,000. The sale is on 29 June, appropriately in upmarket Knightsbridge, London. Lady Penelope would have approved. Television Television industry Television Art markets Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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MPs and peers say more tightly-drawn anti-terrorism measures introduced in March need controls to prevent human rights breaches Peers and MPs have warned the home secretary, Theresa May, that extra safeguards for new random counter-terror stop-and-search powers are needed in order to prevent further human rights breaches. The more tightly-drawn powers were introduced in March after the European court of human rights ruled that the original measures – known as section 44 – were illegal because they were too broad and lacked adequate safeguards against being abused. Those powers, under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, allowed police to stop and search anyone in a designated area without having to show reasonable suspicion. Their use peaked in 2009 when they were deployed on more than 148,000 occasions, and they were regarded as key element of the counter-terrorism campaign. The new powers – introduced through an urgent remedial order in parliament to replace section 44 – are far tighter. They also allow police to stop and search people without suspicion, but can only be declared where a senior officer suspects an act of terrorism will take place. Authorisations have to be confirmed by the home secretary within 48 hours, and cannot last longer than 14 days. A report published by the parliamentary joint human rights committee on Wednesday welcomed the tighter definition, but said the remedial order, in its current form, did not go far enough. The peers and MPs said the authorising police officer must be required to explain why he or she believes there is an immediate threat of a terrorist incident. They also recommended that use of the powers should not be extended beyond 14 days without new information or a fresh assessment of the original intelligence that the threat was immediate and credible. And they said they would also prefer it if police got a judge to authorise the use of the power before they mount a counter-terror stop-and-search operation. The MP Hywel Francis, the chairman of the joint human rights committee, said: “We must ensure that the power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion does not breach the right to privacy in the same way as its predecessor. “We welcome the restrictions placed on the power by the government, but we believe it needs to be more tightly circumscribed, and it needs tougher legal safeguards if further breaches of human rights are to be avoided. “We also think the government should provide more information about why this power needs to be introduced so urgently, so that the issue can be given proper parliamentary scrutiny.” Terrorism policy House of Commons House of Lords Theresa May UK security and terrorism Human rights Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Group helped run CIA hideout in Abbottabad and watched comings and goings at fugitive’s compound, officials say Pakistani intelligence has detained five alleged CIA informants who spied on Osama bin Laden in the months before the al-Qaida chief was killed in a special forces raid, US and Pakistani officials have said. The Pakistani informants noted the details of vehicles visiting Bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad, and helped run a nearby house from which CIA spies watched the al-Qaida leader. A Pakistani official said the owner of the CIA hideout had been arrested along with several other people. A military spokesman denied a New York Times report that a serving army major had also been detained . The arrests highlight continuing tensions between the US and Pakistan in the wake of Bin Laden’s death. They are likely to intensify pressure from senior Washington politicians to cut Pakistan’s $2bn annual aid package. Last week the CIA chief, Leon Panetta, visited Islamabad to meet the Pakistani army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), General Shuja Pasha. Pakistani officials said Panetta was issued with stern warnings about CIA activities in Pakistan. US media said Panetta had confronted the Pakistanis with video footage that showed militants fleeing a bomb factory in Waziristan shortly after the CIA had informed the Pakistani military of its location. The CIA hideout in Abbottabad was set up some time after last August, when the CIA began to suspect Bin Laden could be hiding in the area, less than a mile from a major Pakistani military facility. Watching from behind mirrored glass, CIA officials used telephoto lenses and infra-red imaging equipment to establish a “pattern of life” inside the compound and eavesdropped on voices inside. But they never conclusively identified Bin Laden. A Pakistani official said the Americans hired locals because “the presence of white caucasians in Abbottabad would obviously have drawn attention”. Since being arrested men have claimed they did not know they were working for the CIA. “Some are saying they didn’t know they were working for a foreign organisation. They said they were approached by a Pakistani, reported to a Pakistani and they weren’t spying on Pakistan – they were spying on terrorists,” he said. One of those detained was believed to be a medic with the army medical corps, the official said. But the army spokesman said that was not true. The arrests may bring fresh attention to a house 200 feet behind Bin Laden’s back wall, on the far side of a field. Neighbours say it is owned by a serving army major. The nameplate, which read Major Amir Aziz, was removed within days of the raid . The occupants of the house refused to answer the door. A US official said only one of the arrested men was “related” to the US government and he was not a military official. Pakistani officials insist they are within their rights to crack down on soldiers or civilians involved in foreign espionage. “No country would allow its officials or people to spy for another country,” said one. But American anger is fuelled by Pakistan’s failure to locate any of the people who helped protect Bin Laden in Abbottabad for up to six years. In a closed briefing last week senior congressmen asked the CIA deputy director, Michael Morell, to rate Pakistan’s counter-terrorism cooperation on a scale of one to 10. “Three,” replied Morell according to the New York Times. Positions are hardening in Pakistan too. The military has shut down a US military training programme for the Frontier Corps paramilitary force, which leads the fight against the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal belt. Last week the army leadership disputed US claims of $15bn in aid over the past decade. The true figure was $1.4bn with another $6.2bn going to the civilian government, a statement said. The ISI is trying to expose undeclared CIA agents by scrutinising visas issued to suspicious foreigners. A US citizen living in Islamabad and married to a Pakistani has been arrested and charged with “anti-state activities”. Senior US officials have warned their Pakistani counterparts that if US personnel are barred from Pakistan, the CIA will find other ways of conducting espionage including drawing on the large Pakistani-American Muslim diaspora. The CIA’s biggest worry, though, is that Pakistan will restrict drone strikes against militant targets in the tribal belt. These attacks have continued unhindered since Bin Laden’s death. Some drones take off from an airstrip in western Balochistan province but are being moved to Afghanistan as a contingency measure. A senior Pakistani official said the dispute represented a clash between “Pakistani hyper-nationalism and American arrogance”. “The lesson we should have learned from the OBL raid is that America has the power to circumvent us. Instead we’ve gone into chest-thumping nationalist mode, and that’s not helping,” he said. Osama bin Laden Pakistan al-Qaida Global terrorism US foreign policy Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
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Libyan says Zlitan residents face annihilation and asks why Nato has not made good on threat to attack Gaddafi forces The leader of the besieged Libyan rebel city of Misrata has appealed to Nato to save the inhabitants of a neighbouring town facing annihilation from government forces. Sheikh Khalifa Zuwawi, chairman of Misrata council, made the appeal through the Guardian on Wednesday after reports that Muammar Gaddafi had demanded that rebel-held areas of Zlitan, 30 miles west of Misrata, surrender or face destruction. Zlitan’s uprising began on Friday with battles around the town’s hospital, but sources in Misrata say the rebels are now pinned into one district under heavy artillery fire. Photographers who got to within four miles of Zlitan on Tuesday took pictures of government rockets exploding in the town. Misrata’s rebel forces say that without heavy weapons or Nato support they are powerless to break through a fortified ring around the town and save residents. “As you know our forces could not get into Zlitan,” said Zuwawi. “We need Nato help. We are very surprised because Nato has delayed to bomb the grad [rocket artillery] forces.” Zlitan lies along the coastal highway from Misrata, about 100 miles east of Tripoli, and rebel commanders say its capture would open the road to the capital. But they face formidable foes in the shape of the elite 32nd brigade, controlled by Gaddafi’s son Khamis, which has made Zlitan its headquarters. On Tuesday rebel forces in Misrata pushed their frontline forwards five miles to try and relieve Zlitan, coming under fire from machine guns and rockets. But they pulled back after Nato, unaware of the advance, dropped leaflets on the area threatening pro-Gaddafi forces with destruction from Apache helicopters if they continued attacks on civilians. The Nato attacks have yet to materialise despite pro-Gaddafi forces bombarding Zlitan and Misrata late on Tuesday. Nato insists it is taking an active role, but Misrata’s rebels say the alliance’s current level of engagement will not be enough to save Zlitan’s population. Zuwawi, a judge, said that the National Transitional Council (the rebel government) was surprised at the delay, adding that Nato needs to apply UN resolution 1973, authorising the use of force to protect Libyan civilians, he added. In the village of Dafniya, the western-most point of Misrata’s frontline, rebels and civilians on Wednesday said they were baffled that Nato had not followed up on its threats, given the overnight shelling by Gaddafi’s forces. “No Nato,” said Mohammed, the 14-year-old son of a Dafniya rebel fighter drinking tea behind one of the giant sand berms that shield rebel positions from sniper fire. “Where is Nato?” Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Nato Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Labour leader tells prime minister measures in welfare bill could adversely affect as many as 7,000 cancer patients David Cameron has refused to back down over plans to cut up to £94 a week from some sickness benefits – a move that could affect as many as 7,000 cancer patients. He was challenged over the change at prime minister’s questions by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Cameron claimed Miliband had been shown to be a weak leader of a divided party, and claimed his attack was simply a smokescreen. Miliband – sounding more animated than normal – hit back at the prime minister, saying: “What an absolute disgrace to describe talking about cancer patients in this country as a smokescreen.” Cameron’s spokeswoman said afterwards that “the benefit changes will affect cancer patients that have been in remission for over a year”, but disputed claims that as many as 7,000 patients would be affected, saying the true number was not known. Miliband raised the issue in the wake of cancer charities complaining that the welfare bill going through the Commons on Wednesday night would time-limit contributory employment support allowance to a year. Some will be compensated by income- related employment and support allowance (ESA), but others, including those with a working partner or with income or capital, would lose entitlement to benefit completely. The broad changes to ESA, announced in the spending review, are designed to save £1.2bn net. Cameron accused Labour of raising the issue solely due to embarrassment that it was going to vote against the welfare bill in the Commons at its third despite saying it was in favour of tough welfare measures. An attempt by Labour to stage a Commons vote on the issue on Monday night was blocked by Conservative whips. During the opening exchanges between the two leaders, it appeared as if Cameron was not aware of the specific controversy about ESA. Miliband asked: “When the prime minister signed off his welfare bill, did he know that it would make 7,000 cancer patients worse off by as much as £94 a week?” Cameron said that was “simply not the case”, telling him: “We are using exactly the same definition of people who are suffering and are terminally ill as the last government. We want to make sure those people are helped and protected. “If you are in favour of welfare reform, you want to encourage people to do the right thing, it’s no good talking about it, you’ve got to vote for it.” Miliband said Macmillan Cancer Support had raised concerns about the bill’s measures for a year, and that Cameron should know what was in his own legislation. “These are people who have worked hard all their lives, who have done the right thing, who have paid their taxes and, when they are in need, the prime minister is taking money away from them,” he said. “How can it be right that people with cancer, 7,000 people with cancer, are losing £94 a week?” Cameron said: “All we see here is a Labour party desperate not to support welfare reform and trying to find an excuse to get off supporting welfare reform. “Anyone who is terminally ill gets immediate access to the higher level of support, and we will provide that to all people who are unable to work. “That is the guarantee we make, but you have got to stop wriggling off your responsibilities and back the welfare reform you talk about.” The shadow employment minister, Stephen Timms, wrote to the work and pensions minister, Chris Grayling, expressing dismay that no time had been allocated to debate and vote on the cancer issue in the Commons during the first day of two days of debate on the bill. He sought an undertaking from Grayling that the issue would be debated on Wednesday – but there is little likelihood of ministers changing a policy that saves so much money for the Treasury. On Monday, the welfare minister, Lord Freud, supplied a written answer defending the proposal, saying: “A time limit of one year strikes a balance between allowing people with longer-term conditions to adjust to their health condition and provides a level of access to contributory benefits that is appropriate for contributory benefits.” The Department of Work and Pensions defended its plans by saying that if a cancer patient is receiving treatment or is between treatments, they will be on the employment support allowance support group, and will not be in danger of losing benefit. But if following a medical assessment the cancer patient is deemed to be fit to work, they will go into the ESA work related activity group and after 12 months, they will be put onto income-related ESA, with the result that if they have savings, they will then lose benefit. Macmillan claims the means testing threshold is set so low that a cancer patient could lose all their ESA benefit if their partner earns more than just £7,500 a year. The DWP pointed out that Professor Malcolm Harrington — responsible for overseeing work capability assessment (WCA) on behalf of the DWP — is in discussion with cancer groups over any changes to WCA. The Macmillan cancer charity later said: “Under the government’s proposals, people eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) who have paid national insurance but are not considered severely ill, will only receive this support for one year. “After this time, the support will be dependent on your financial circumstances, and people with cancer will lose their benefit if their partner earns as little as £149 per week. As a result, some will be pushed into poverty as it often takes longer than a year to return to work following a cancer diagnosis.” Ciarán Devane, the Macmillan chief executive, said: “Many cancer patients will lose this crucial benefit simply because they have not recovered quickly enough. “The majority want to return to work, as it can represent a milestone in their recovery and a return to normality in addition to the obvious financial benefits. “This proposal in the welfare reform bill will have a devastating impact on many cancer patients. We are urging the government to change their plans to reform key disability benefits to ensure cancer patients and their families are not pushed into poverty.” Professor Jane Maher, the chief medical officer of Macmillan, added: “In my experience, one year is simply not long enough for many people to recover from cancer. “The serious physical and psychological side-effects of cancer can last for many months, even years, after treatment has finished. It is crucial that patients are not forced to return to work before they are ready.” Welfare David Cameron Ed Miliband PMQs House of Commons Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Tim Pawlenty Claims He’s for ‘Fair Trade’ During GOP Debate Despite Support for Free Trade Agreements
June 15, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media As Think Progress pointed out in their live blog : Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) declares: “I’m for fair trade.” Only last week, Pawlenty announced part of his economic plan and said that he favors quick ramification of “ free-trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama.” From the article linked above: Pawlenty also would use “performance-based management practices” to streamline other government agencies. And he thinks all federal regulations should be sunset, unless they’re approved by a vote of Congress. He thinks the Federal Reserve should focus only on curbing inflation and let Congress and the president worry about employment growth. He also favors quick ratifications of free-trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. So there you have it: Tim Pawlenty’s economic plan. Some may call it a fantasy, particularly the part about 10 consecutive years of 5 percent annual GDP growth, something that’s never happened. Transcript below the fold. KING: Governor Pawlenty, does the congressman have it right? PAWLENTY: There’s a number of things we need to do. Restore manufacturing in this country. And I grew up if in a meat packing town. I grew up in a manufacturing town. I was in a union for six or seven years. I understand what it’s like to see the blue-collar communities and the struggles that they’ve had when manufacturing leaves. So I’ve seen that firsthand. But number one, we’ve got to have fair trade, and what’s going on right now is not fair. I’m for a fair and open trade but I’m not for being stupid and I’m not for being a chump. And we have individuals and organizations and countries around this world who are not following the rules when it comes to fair trade. We need a stronger president and somebody who’s going to take on those issues. Number two, we need to make the costs and burdens of manufacturing in this country lower. We’re asking them to climb the mountain with a big backsack full of rocks on their back. We have to take the rocks out. One of them is Obamacare. I mean somebody in Arizona the other day. He’s moving his whole company out of the country just because of Obamacare. The taxes are too high. The regulations are too heavy, the permitting is too slow, and the message everywhere around this country, from business leaders large and small, including manufacturing, is get the government off my back. As president I will.
Continue reading …CNN Gives Maher Platform to Accuse GOP Candidates of ‘Horrible Society-Killing Ideas,’ Call Cheney ‘More Psychotic’ Than Weiner
June 15, 2011 No Comment
The night after CNN’s debate in New Hampshire with seven Republican presidential candidates, Anderson Cooper brought aboard left-wing “comedian” Bill Maher to ridicule them. Asked if he “had to vote” for one of them, he named Ron Paul since “he's a cut from a different cloth than the rest of those people who are of course selling their souls to the corporate interests who back them and who have just horrible, society-killing ideas about America.” Later discussing Anthony Weiner, Maher used it as an opportunity to deride one of the left’s favorite targets they never tire of vilifying: “Dick Cheney used to go out and shoot birds by the hundreds that were like in a cage. To me, that's a lot more psychotic than anything Anthony Weiner ever did.” Maher insisted: “He shot and killed an incredible number of birds for absolutely no reason than a blood lust.” Video below: From the pre-recorded interview aired on the Tuesday, June 14 Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, transcript below video: ANDERSON COOPER: You've been pretty hard on the field of GOP candidates so far. I think you said at one point that you've seen, and I quote, “more appealing lineups on an episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit.” Did you change your mind at all after last night's debate? BILL MAHER: No. Of course it got even worse. It's tough sledding there. As a progressive, as a sane person just to watch that, to see that, you know, Republicanism has really become a religion. And when I say religion, I mean they just have a series of baseless assertions that they cleave to, you know. And it's like if there was just one sane person in that room to give perspective. But there wasn't. So you have seven people up there who are all claiming things like, you know, things we know don't work like reducing taxes will somehow magically increase revenue and somehow by keeping the profit motive in the health care system that's going to solve that problem. So, you know, it's very hard for someone to watch that debate who is not in that bubble. And I am not in the bubble. COOPER: If you had to vote for one of them is there one you would vote for? Who would you vote for? I mean, if you had to pick? MAHER: I'd vote for Ron Paul, if I had to pick. I mean, Ron Paul is at least not a panderer. He's sincere. He's got the right ideas about getting our troops home. And I like Ron Paul. I think he's a cut from a different cloth than the rest of those people who are of course selling their souls to the corporate interests who back them and who have just horrible society-killing ideas about America. And either don't know what's real or don't care. COOPER: What do you mean by society-killing? MAHER: Well, like, like Tim Pawlenty and every one of them competing for this idea of continually reducing taxes when we are – on the one hand they are screaming about how we're in debt and on the other hand the answer is to somehow decrease revenues. You know, they all act like god created the world in January of 2009, and then Barack Obama completely screwed it up. …. COOPER: Do you think he [Anthony Weiner] should resign? MAHER: At this point, yes. Not because I think he did anything so incredibly awful. I mean, Dick Cheney used to go out and shoot birds by the hundreds that were like in a cage. To me, that's a lot more psychotic than anything Anthony Weiner ever did. But the point is this is America. We have to live in reality. COOPER: Dick Cheney wasn't shooting birds in a cage. He was hunting. MAHER: He was not hunting, Anderson. There's a difference between hunting which, I'm not a big fan of either, and when you go out into this controlled situation where they — I forget what they do to the birds but they do something where they can't fly. It's the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. And yes, look it up. That's what he did. He shot and killed an incredible number of birds for absolutely no reason than a blood lust.
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