Sources say US secretary of state and White House have discussed her leaving post in 2012 to become head of Bank Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has been in discussions with the White House about leaving her job next year to become head of the World Bank, sources said on Thursday. The former first lady and ex-presidential candidate quickly became one of the most influential members of Barack Obama’s cabinet after she began working at the state department in early 2009. Clinton has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the state department for more than four years. Associates say Clinton has expressed interest in having the World Bank job should the Bank’s current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012. “Hillary Clinton wants the job,” said one source who knows the secretary well. A second source also said Clinton wants the position. A third source said Obama has already expressed support for the change in her role. It is unclear whether Obama has formally agreed to nominate her for the post, which would require approval by the 187 member countries of the World Bank. The White House declined to comment. A spokesman for Clinton denied she wanted the job or had had conversations with the White House about it. The revelations could harm Clinton’s efforts as America’s top diplomat if she is seen as a lame duck in the job at a time of great foreign policy challenges for the Obama administration. However, the timing of the discussions is not unusual given that the United States is considering whether to support another European as head of the World Bank’s sister organisation, the IMF. The head of the IMF has always been a European, and the World Bank presidency has always been held by an American. That unwritten gentleman’s agreement between Europe and the US is now being challenged by fast-growing emerging economies that have to date been shut out of the process. The United States has not publicly supported the European candidate for the IMF, French finance minister Christine Lagarde, although Washington’s support is expected. Neither institution has ever been headed by a woman. If Clinton were to leave her current post, John Kerry, a close Obama ally who is chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, is among those who could be considered as a possible replacement for her. Clinton’s star power and work ethic were seen by Obama as crucial qualities for her role as the nation’s top diplomat, even though she did not arrive in the job with an extensive foreign policy background. She has embraced the globetrotting aspects of the job, logging many hours on plane trips to nurture alliances and to visit hot spots like Afghanistan and countries in the Middle East. She has long been vocal on global development issues, especially the need for economic empowerment of women and girls in developing countries. Her husband, Bill Clinton, has also been involved in these issues through his philanthropic work at the Clinton Global Initiative. The World Bank provides billions of dollars in development funds to the poorest countries and is also at the centre of issues such as climate change, rebuilding countries emerging from conflict and recently the transitions towards democracy in Tunisia and Egypt. Hillary Clinton US politics World Bank Obama administration United States Economics Global economy guardian.co.uk
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enlarge Damn….I think this might be a little overkill in the collections department : The Department of Education isn’t generally seen as the threatening powerhouse that say the Department of Defense or even public safety offices are. Until now…. Last week a father of 3 had his door broken down by a SWAT team looking for the man’s wife who had defaulted on her student loans. They threw him to the ground, handcuffed him, put him in a patrol car for 6 hours, and traumatized his kids. Holy crap…when did we start sending in SWAT teams for loan defaults? You know, I’ll admit that I got behind on my loan payments after I split up with my ex and I had to move and find a new job and start a new life. The loan people were surprisingly understanding, giving me a year’s amnesty to get my life pulled together. I’m going to give the Dept. of Ed. the benefit of doubt that they at least tried to reach the wife via telephone first, but still…is this the best use of taxpayer dollars?
Continue reading …Greta Van Susteren Brings on Mr. Bastion of Morality Donald Trump to Discuss Weiner Scandal
June 9, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media I guess Newt Gingrich wasn’t available to discuss Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal, so Fox brought in the next best thing, Donald Trump. Who else would I want to hear preach to Fox’s Greta Van Susteren how terrible what Anthony Weiner has done than laughing stock and serial tail chaser for a younger and hotter wife at every opportunity than “the Donald?” I assume John Ensign, Tom Coburn and David Vitter were also too busy to come visit Greta as well. Van Susteren and Trump are apparently unaware of the concept that those in glass houses ought not to be throwing stones. I sincerely hope they both find themselves skewered for this by the late night comics.
Continue reading …Fred Goodwin told by judge details of his affair were in the public interest
June 9, 2011 No Comment
Judge tells former chief executive of RBS he is ‘public figure’, distinguishing him from someone like Ryan Giggs Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), could not have expected to keep an alleged affair with a colleague concealed by the use of privacy injunctions because the nature of his job meant there was a public interest in his relationships, a judge has said. Mr Justice Tugendhat, ruling for the fourth time on the controversial case, also said it was reasonable to identify the woman’s job description as “an important feature”, but she should not be named because it would “be likely to cause distress to her”. Sir Fred had a “reputation as an exceptionally forceful businessman”, said the judge. He was “chief executive of one of the largest publicly quoted companies in the United Kingdom, doing business on a global scale” which made him “a public figure” whose private life was more likely to be of interest to the public. This public interest, it was said, distinguished Goodwin, under whose stewardship RBS had to be bailed out with £45 billion of taxpayers’ money, from “sportsmen or celebrities” – such as footballer Ryan Giggs – who do not normally carry out “official functions” unless their indiscretions were to impact upon, for example, their football team. Few details of the nature of the alleged relationship between Goodwin and his colleague emerged in court, with neither party prepared to offer details in witness statements. Formally, RBS seems to have been unaware of the relationship until February 2011, more than two years after Goodwin left the bank, and just days before The Sun newspaper first contacted him regarding the allegation. Evidence from the woman stated that an internal investigation had been conducted by RBS, after which she had “not been criticised or disciplined” and it had “not been suggested by anyone at RBS that she was in a position of conflict or in breach of the RBS code [of conduct]“. RBS refused to elaborate, other than to repeat its statement that it was “co-operating fully” with the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority. However, a witness statement from Goodwin in March – when he was still trying to maintain an injunction preventing the publication of his name – said he believed publication of the alleged affair would “lead to considerable, intrusive and disturbing speculation as to my private life and relationships”, and “have a very substantial impact on the way in which friends, colleagues and business contacts relate to me and therefore a serious negative impact on my personal life and career”. The Sun originally began inquiring about a story about Goodwin and the unamed woman on 1 March, and lawyers acting for the bank boss succeeded in obtaining an injunction preventing Goodwin being named via a telephone hearing later that day. However in May, the injunction was altered allowing Goodwin – but not the woman – to be named, hours after Lord Stonenham, speaking on behalf of Lord Oakeshott, used parliamentary privilege to identify Goodwin as somebody who had taken out a privacy injunction. In the ruling Tugendhat also criticised Lord Stoneham, who used parliamentary privilege to name Goodwin publicly for the first time, for deliberately “frustrating” the court order. In reply, Lord Oakeshott said: “Every taxpayer has the right to know all the relevant facts leading up to the collapse of RBS, including failures of corporate governance. Each individual failure of corporate governance might not have been enough to bring down the bank on its own, but every single emergency break had to fail for RBS to crash so disastrously off the Forth Bridge.” Sir Fred Goodwin Privacy Royal Bank of Scotland The Sun Injunctions Privacy & the media Superinjunctions Media law Newspapers & magazines Newspapers Dan Sabbagh James Robinson Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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Western and Arab governments pledge funds and fuel at Abu Dhabi meeting on Libya’s future Western and Arab governments have pledged more than £800m to support Libya’s rebel administration as they seek to keep the pressure on Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and prepare for the era after his departure. Italy announced a loan of €400m (£355m) in cash and fuel for the National Transitional Council (NTC) to be drawn from frozen Libyan state assets, while France offered a €290m loan. Qatar and Kuwait said they would to set up a $260m fund for the rebels, who have been fighting loyalist forces on several fronts since the February uprising, and are headquartered in eastern Libya. Turkey also promised financial support. The pledges were made in Abu Dhabi, where more than 30 countries and groups were meeting to discuss Libya’s future. As more Nato bombs fell on Tripoli, where Gaddafi is in hiding, it emerged that efforts were still under way to persuade him to leave the country. Trinidad Jiménez, Spain’s foreign minister, said Turkey and South Africa were working on Gaddafi’s exit even though he has repeatedly pledged – as recently as Tuesday – to die rather than leave. “We still don’t even know if Gaddafi will accept a negotiated exit, but of course there are many countries willing to facilitate this because it will end the conflict,” Jimenez told reporters in Abu Dhabi. “Finding a place for him is now the critical issue, since everyone has agreed he has to go.” Senegal’s president, Abdoulaye Wade, also appealed to Gaddafi to stand down, and offered to help ease his departure. “I can be one of those who help you pull out of political life and the sooner you leave the better, to save the lives of Libyans,” Wade said on a visit to Benghazi, the rebel capital. Gaddafi and his family have been forced underground by Nato’s bombing campaign against command centres and military sites. The operation has escalated this week, with air strikes day and night. But alliance defence ministers were warned on Thursday that without extra assets and participants the campaign could falter. “Those who are bearing the brunt of the strike burden are increasingly pressed,” said Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, at a meeting in Brussels. “I think they’ll be able to sustain it. But the question is just how much more painful it becomes, if other countries that have the capabilities […] don’t step up.” Only eight of 28 Nato member states are involved in the bombing campaign. France and Britain are doing most, while Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Canada are also heavily involved. The US is supplying the intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance air capacity as well as most of the air-to-air refuelling needed to keep the campaign running. At a closed meeting of Nato defence ministers on Wednesday, Gates singled out the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey for refusing to take part in the strikes. He also voiced his exasperation with Germany and Poland, which have refused to commit to any aspects of the Libyan operations. Liam Fox, the defence secretary, amplified the criticism. “We will await their responses to what were uncompromising and crystal-clear messages,” he said. “We need to show Colonel Gaddafi that not only is there no lack of resolve, but also that there is no lack of capacity.” In addition to the military pressure, international criminal court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday he had evidence linking Gaddafi to mass rape by government soldiers, and was considering bringing charges on the issue. Moreno-Ocampo has already asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and Libya’s spy chief, Abdullah Senussi, for crimes against humanity while trying to crush the rebellion. He said there was some evidence that Libya had acquired impotency drugs “to enhance the possibility to rape women”. In Tripoli government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim described the accusation as “the same old nonsense”. “Unfortunately many people accuse us cheaply of many crimes, and they refuse to come on the ground and investigate, not only on the charge of rape but to many, many charges,” he said. “This tells you there is a plan behind every charge. People do not want to listen and see with their own eyes, they just want to charge us.” Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, set the tone for the third and latest meeting of the international “contact group” when she spoke of the need to work “through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Gaddafi Libya”. Abdurrahman Shalgham, one of the most senior defectors from the regime, predicted rebel forces will reach Tripoli within “some weeks”. British officials highlighted the participation at the meeting for the first time – albeit as observers – of South Africa and Egypt. South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, has played a key role in seeking to mediate with Gaddafi; Egypt, still in the aftermath of its own revolution, has been reluctant to get involved in Libyan affairs. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Nato South Africa Egypt Europe Foreign policy Liam Fox US foreign policy Hillary Clinton United States Xan Rice Ian Traynor Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Metropolitan police told to look into dark arts of private investigator Jonathan Rees Lord Mandelson has become the most influential Labour politician to demand the Metropolitan police deepens its investigation into unlawful newspaper practices after it was revealed his bank accounts had been targeted by a private investigator in the pay of tabloid journalists. Mandelson, the former business secretary and one of Tony Blair’s closest confidantes, contacted the Met on Thursday asking to know what information it holds on illegal targeting of his bank accounts, as well as those of his family. Friends of Mandelson noted that Jonathan Rees of Southern Investigations did not just work for News of the World, but also for the Daily Mirror, partly during the editorship of Piers Morgan. Now hosting a chatshow on CNN, Morgan edited the Mirror between 1995 and 2004. Scotland Yard has confirmed that a small team of officers, known as Operation Tuleta, is assessing whether to set up an investigation. They are understood to be examining a mass of material seized from Rees to see whether it contains evidence of lawbreaking on behalf of newspapers. The Met already has 45 detectives working on Operation Weeting, the separate phone hacking inquiry which began in January. In a recent interview in the Financial Times, Morgan declared his sympathy for Andy Coulson, who resigned as News of the World editor over phone hacking and then stood down as David Cameron’s communications chief, saying the allegations made it impossible for him to do his government job. Coulson insists he had no personal knowledge of phone hacking. Morgan said he had edited papers “where you hadn’t got a clue what’s going on half the time”. Last night a spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: “Many years ago some of our journalists used Southern Investigations. They were last used in 1999. Trinity Mirror’s position is clear. Our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct.” The Met has had access to surveillance data detailing Rees’s dealings with Fleet Street titles including the News of the World and the Daily Mirror. Mandelson’s intervention, expected to be followed by other former senior cabinet ministers, raises the seriousness of the phone hacking scandal to another level. He is determined that the police investigation does not focus solely into allegations of phone hacking undertaken on behalf of the News of the World by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. He said: “It really isn’t acceptable to keep pointing the finger at one newspaper when, clearly, the use of unlawful means of investigating was, or is, widespread. This is a bigger issue than the wrongdoing of one rogue investigator and that’s why this whole issue should be pursued more widely. That is why I have contacted the Met police today to ask them what information they may hold from current or previous investigations.” Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, called for a public inquiry into newspaper ethics, a call Downing Street will resist for as long as the police are conducting inquiries. He said the “criminal activity by our press” had polluted a number of institutions in the country, including the Met, which he said had refused to accept that phone hacking was widespread. “Having told me personally that my phone messages had not been tapped at all, there was no evidence, the new inquiry comes along and tells me there were 44 occasions. “You can’t trust the police if they are producing misleading information, deliberately so.” Tony Blair, named this week as one of the political figures targeted by Rees, said he was not going to contact the police personally. “I assume that if someone’s got something, they will get in touch with me,” he said. Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World News International Daily Mirror Trinity Mirror Peter Mandelson Crime Police John Prescott Patrick Wintour James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Republican Dirty Tricks With Fake Primary Challengers in WI Recall Elections Could Backfire
June 9, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media As was already reported here , the Republicans in Wisconsin got caught planning to recruit fake Democrats to run primary races against the Democrats in the upcoming recall elections. It now appears they have their third candidate — Former GOP lawmaker Otto Junkermann to run as Democrat against Nancy Nusbaum in Rob Cowles recall primary : A former Republican state representative plans to run as a Democrat against Nancy Nusbaum in an attempt to thwart her efforts to unseat Sen. Rob Cowles in a recall race. Otto Junkermann, 82 of Allouez, said he thinks “very highly” of Cowles, a Republican also from Allouez, and will run against Nusbaum as a “conservative Democrat.” “I respect Rob a great deal. I’ve known him, I followed him into the Assembly and took the position he had when he went into the Senate, and I always admired him,” Junkermann said. Junkermann served in the Assembly as a Republican for one term from 1987-88. He was also a Brown County supervisor from 1982-87 and ran again in 2002, 2004 and 2008 but lost. Asked if he was a so-called “spoiler candidate,” Junkermann said: “I don’t know how I could avoid being considered that.” So they don’t even care who knows that they’re willing to win an election by any means necessary. As Rachel pointed out, even the National Review is saying this could backfire on them : If both Hopper and Kapanke lose, that leaves only one more seat Democrats have to pick up to retake the Senate. In order to delay recall elections, the GOP has planned to run fake Democratic primary candidates against the GOP challengers, which would push the elections back another month. That would give Republicans an extra month’s worth of distance from the collective-bargaining imbroglio that got them in this situation, and would allow more time to campaign. Yet this will almost certainly be seen as a “dirty trick” by media and some voters. It certainly appears like an admission that Republicans are struggling. And while it can be argued that the recall elections in themselves are merely dirty tricks, enough of a double standard exists that this ploy could backfire. Here’s more from TPM — Octogenarian Former GOP State Rep To Run As Fake ‘Democrat’ In Wis. Recalls : Don’t let anyone say there isn’t bipartisanship in Wisconsin. The newest example of Wisconsin Republicans recruiting fake Democratic candidates, to force Dem primaries and make trouble in the state Senate recalls: Otto Junkermann, an 82-year old former Republican state representative , who will challenge official Democratic candidate Nancy Nusbaum for the recall against GOP state Sen. Rob Cowles. As the Green Bay Press Gazette reports, Junkermann very openly professes to support Cowles Over in another district, a 25-year old county GOP official has signed up to run as a ringer Democrat in a primary. And in another district, a retiree who has donated to multiple Republicans is running as a fake Dem. The key here is that recalls are now tentatively scheduled for July 12, under the state election officials’ proposed timelines, targeting six Republicans. If there were only one Democrat against each one Republican, then the July 12 date would immediately be held as the general election. But if there were additional Democrats, the July 12 date would then become the primary, giving the incumbents more time to campaign for a general election in August. Also, thanks to Wisconsin’s open primary system in which anybody can vote in a party primary, it would force the Democrats to spend time, money and resources campaigning for their own nominations. The strategy is being officially coordinated by state Republican leaders , and has been endorsed by state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.
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World Health Organisation says disabled people more likely to be denied healthcare and less likely to find work The proportion of disabled people is rising and now represents 1 billion people – 15% of the global population – according to the first official global report on disability. An ageing population and an increase in chronic health conditions, such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, mean the proportion has grown from an estimated 10% in the 1970s. But, despite a robust disability rights movement and a shift towards inclusion, disabled people remain second-class citizens, according to the report by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. One in five experience “significant difficulties”. In developed countries, disabled people are three times more likely to be denied healthcare than other people. Children with disabilities are less likely to start or stay in school than other children, while employment rates are at 44%, compared with 75% for people without disabilities in OECD countries, the report found. Barriers include stigma, discrimination, lack of adequate healthcare and rehabilitation services, and inaccessible transport, buildings and information. In developing countries the picture is even worse. Tom Shakespeare, one of the authors of the World Report on Disability , said: “The clear message from the report is that there is no country that has got it right. Italy is a world leader in terms of inclusive education and de-institutionalisation of people with mental health problems but in other areas it is not. In the US the access is phenomenal – it is a civil rights issue. However, if you are looking at poverty and employment it is not good. “Disabled people do not need to be poor and excluded; they do not need to be segregated. They do not need to be second class citizens.” One of the most “shocking and powerful” issues to come out of the report, according to Shakespeare, was the discrimination in healthcare. Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said disability was part of the human condition. “Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled at some point in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the margins of society.” Professor Eric Emerson, of the Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University, said the findings on healthcare were not surprising. “In the UK, there have been numerous independent reports documenting the systemic discrimination faced by people with disabilities, particularly people with learning disabilities. The health and wellbeing of disabled people is not simply as a direct result of their impairment. It’s a result of the way that people with impairments are treated by society.” Last year, the Life Opportunities Survey found many disabled people in Britain were isolated, cash-strapped and struggling to participate in normal activities, with a fifth saying they suffered from so much anxiety and lack of confidence that they lacked the ability to work. The WHO report, which did not compare countries directly but highlighted best practice, singled out the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which places a duty on public bodies to promote equality and its direct payment policies for disabled people as an example of good practice. But Shakespeare said: “The UK has done very well, due to its direct payment mechanisms, and benefits like independent living allowance and access to work. It appears that many of these developments are under threat. The axing of the independent living fund and other changes to benefit appear to move away from what was a good situation.” Liz Sayce, of the disability campaigning organisation Radar, said: “The UK has made some real progress and it’s good to be reminded that there’s something to celebrate, but the employment rate of disabled people has crept up by only 6% in recent years to 47%. But it is still only 47% and many people are working below their potential.” Tim Wainwright, of ADD (Action on Disability and Development) International, said: “We welcome the fact that there’s a lot more clarity on the figures. It confirms that disabled people are the world’s largest minority. Great strides have been made in making sure that women are included in international development programmes. The next biggest group is disabled people.” Disability Health World Health Organisation Karen McVeigh guardian.co.uk
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enlarge Oops. This can’t be good : WASHINGTON (AP)— AP sources say senior aides on Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign have resigned en masse. There’s no other details as yet, other than one of those rumored to have resigned was campaign manager Rob Johnson. Maybe the aides felt that Gingrich was less than serious about his campaign when he decided to take a luxe two week Mediterranean cruise rather than glad hand the good people of New Hampshire and Iowa like his rival would-be Republican nominees. Whatever the reason, I have to think this will not be good for Newt’s presidential aspirations. I wonder if he’s buying farewell gifts for them at Tiffany’s.
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