The GOP barely bothers to hide its desire to “refudiate” every civilizing advance of the 20th Century—everything from Medicare to Voting Rights to Civil Rights to Labor laws to universal education to clean air, water and food. But the made up “refudiate” itself has yet to be chiseled into Frank Luntz’ tablets of holy doublespeak. Instead, again and again, the GOP reiterates the same magic mangled words and phrases to spit and polish its deconstructive aims: enlarge Job Killing , adj.: Used to modify anything proposed or enacted by the Democrats, it actually speaks the truth about the GOP’s primary goal: Kill as many jobs as possible, thwart the economic recovery from the 2008 Bush collapse in order to mar President Obama’s reelection hopes in 2012. See public sector layoffs in GOP controlled states like Florida, Wisconsin & Ohio as well as cuts in Washington spending on infrastructure, education and disaster relief. Synonyms: economic terrorism, treason. Free Market , adj., sometimes n.: Two happy, cuddly words that actually translate to “unchecked corporate looting of the taxpayers’ money.” This phrase cheerleads corporations like Halliburton, Blackwater and perhaps Anthem Blue Cross as they feast on huge pots of public money for services the government should probably supply itself. The phrase also awards license to corporations to pollute, exploit, discriminate and serve up defective products without fear of oversight or repercussion. Privatize , v.: Corporate looting of the public treasury, the political version of Willie Sutton’s, I rob banks because “that’s where the money is.” See Free Market. See also Paul Ryan’s Vouchercare aka Medikill. Synonym: Throw Grandma To the Wolves and then Under the Bus. enlarge Patriot , n.: Almost always a white American who hates all Americans of a different race and probably, when pressed, pretty much every other white American too. Mostly patriots hate the idea of a black president, and they adopt this pose of bravado in an effort to deny that reality. Patriots generally believe foremost in the 2nd Amendment uber alles and/or a Jesus who doesn’t tolerate universal health care, unemployment benefits, the interstate highway system or a black man in the White House. Ironic synonym: Confederate Flag bearer. The American People , n.: Intoned repeatedly and with reverence to demonstrate that GOP leadership is absolutely committed to exercising the will of the common American billionaire. Synonyms: corporate lobbyists, enormous campaign donors, Koch brothers. Antonym: the actual American People. Uncertainty , n.: Multipurpose excuse for all things, it implies that no matter what we do, everything will suck as long as there is a Democrat in power anywhere on the planet. Can be used to justify implementation of the Chamber of Commerce’s wettest dream: tax cuts for the wealthy, tax subsidies for the biggest richest oil companies, the repeal of any and all corporate regulations, and even in defense of something called tort reform. Synonym: The rich don’t have every damn red cent quite yet. Constitution , n.: Some document easily conflated with the Declaration of Independence or Paul Revere’s Bell Ringing that was written by wealthy white men to protect the rights of wealthy white corporations. Some contemporary Constitutionalists, like the Old Testament/New Testament folk before them, believe that the original has been superceded by a superior document published in 1957 by Ayn Rand. enlarge Demagoguery , n.: A big word that resides in few American’s vocabularies but sounds like a really bad thing no matter what it means. Translation: Hey you mean, socialist, Death Panelly, Muslim Democrats, quit telling the truth about how we are trying to destroy the humanizing social fabric of this country. Again see Paul Ryan’s Vochercare aka Medikill. Doing “The People’s” Business , v.: Abortion bills, more abortion bills, bills decrying the evils of Big Bird and pap smears, more abortion bills and of course killing that Medicare thing that no “real American” likes anyway. See 112th Congress, January 2011 to June 2011.
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Here at TIME.com, we were ahead of the curve in recognizing Representative Anthony Weiner’s Twitter prowess. In March, long before Weinergate broke out, this reporter listed the New York congressman as one of the top 10 politicians to follow on Twitter. I applauded his brashness, his willingness to poke fun at himself (see: Weiner’s profile
Continue reading …It’s only natural that the medium that led to his downfall was abuzz with jokes and jabs during yesterday’s press conference. Here are our favorite tweets about Weiner’s endeavors.
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Supporters of female candidates in Guatemala, Honduras and Argentina hail successes but critics fear entrenched dynasties Hillary Clinton failed to make the transition, but former first ladies across Latin America are following in her footsteps and campaigning to become presidents, in what may become a fresh wave of female heads of state in the region. Former “primeras damas” in Guatemala, Honduras and Argentina have waded into traditionally macho Latino politics in the hope of staying in, or returning to, presidential palaces. Their ambitions have provoked excitement and controversy, with supporters acclaiming a breakthrough for women – and critics concerned at
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Four regions to be given official drought status and have controls applied to water supply Four major regions of the UK will be officially declared drought-stricken this week, in a move that is likely to see special powers introduced over water supplies on farms and businesses across large swaths of the country. Wales, the south-west, the Midlands and East Anglia will be raised to official drought status, enabling the government and water companies to invoke extra controls over water supplies as a lack of rain afflicts a huge band across the middle of the country. However, regions that have suffered drought in the past, such as Kent and the south-east, will be spared many of the restrictions as rainfall has been at normal or almost normal levels there in the past six months. Scotland and the north of England are also drought-free. Paul Leinster , chief executive of the Environment Agency, said this year would not see a repeat of the scenes of 1976, as some commentators have predicted , as last winter there was enough rain and snowfall to fill reservoirs. But he added: “It depends on what we see this winter – next year could be the crunch year.” The drought of 1976 followed a dry autumn and winter, during which stocks in reservoirs were severely depleted. “We are in a much better position this year,” he said. “Then one of the big issues was that the previous year had been so dry, so you did not get a ground water recharge.” Leinster added that the UK’s water supply system had been made more resilient in the intervening decades. “We have learned lessons since then,” he said. Although at present there are no domestic hosepipe bans in force in reaction to the drought, consumers may face restrictions if the dry weather continues. Recent rainfall has not been enough to make up for the last six months, after the warmest spring since 1659 and the second driest since 1910 . East Anglia was the worst afflicted region, receiving only a fifth of its average rainfall. Businesses and farms in the worst hit areas are already suffering , as the Environment Agency has brought in changes to 70 licences to abstract water. The agency is also looking closely at a further 200 licences to remove water from rivers and underground sources as the drought takes hold. Businesses affected are likely to include power generators, food processors, breweries and manufacturers, though the agency was unable to pinpoint specific companies. One of the changes brought in that could become permanent is that farmers, especially in East Anglia, have been asked to irrigate their crops at night instead of during the day. The Environment Agency said this made sense as irrigating fields in daytime leads to much of the water evaporating off, whereas at night the crops get the full benefit. Farmers have resisted this change to their working practices as it is less convenient and they may have to rearrange staff working patterns. Most modern irrigation systems can be easily switched to different timings, however. So far, farmers have made the move voluntarily, but Leinster did not rule out compulsion in future. The Environment Agency is also helping to set up co-operatives to share water among farmers and other businesses that have licences to remove river water. As oxygen levels in some rivers have fallen along with water levels, the agency has brought in special measures to save wildlife, including moving fish trapped in pools in the river Teme and river Lathkill, and putting in place pumping equipment to replenish oxygen levels, to protect fish and other aquatic life which could otherwise be in danger. The agency said it was closely monitoring fish stocks such as migrating salmon and sea trout, both of which can be affected by low river flows. Measures including water rationing in extreme conditions, could be brought in by ministers through drought order and drought permits if water companies demonstrate they need to conserve stocks and have followed all reasonable measures to avoid the restrictions. Leinster said the key to protecting against future droughts was to use water more efficiently. This will mean preventing losses, for instance from leaking pipes, but could also mean greater use of metering in future. But one of the problems with managing water use, he said, was the variation in rainfall across the UK. In regions where there has been a lot of rain, consumers are unsympathetic to concerns over shortages elsewhere, and unwilling to countenance water-saving measures. “If you go to the north of England, to talk about the sustainable use of water, you would have a different conversation than if you went to Cambridgeshire,” he said. Leinster said the spread of drought this year showed the extent of annual variation in the UK. “Kent and Sussex have both held up well in terms of rainfall, unusually,” he said. “The pattern we are seeing this year is different to patterns seen in past years.” The variation showed how difficult it was to make plans for water provision in the decades ahead, when climate change is also expected to wreak further damage on water supplies – water flows in rivers in the south of England are predicted to be reduced by half or even 80% by 2050. Flooding patterns remain equally unpredictable, with severe floods afflicting nearly all of the country’s regions in the last decade, in both winter and summer. Water Drought Rivers Farming Weather Utilities Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Over three-quarters of the guests featured on nine television networks have expressed opposition to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate to regulate greenhouse gasses (GHG), according to a new report. On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act gave the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. It wasn’t until December 2009, after President George W. Bush left office, that the EPA began to move toward regulation by issuing a GHG scientific endangerment finding. The report released by the liberal watchdog group Media Matters Tuesday concluded that over the 17 months since that EPA finding, 152 of the 199 guests — or more than 76 percent — opposed regulation. Only 17 percent of the guests spoke in favor of climate regulations. The report said that Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC were the worst offenders. More than 81 percent of Fox News guests and 83 percent of Fox Business guests criticized the EPA’s effort to reign in climate change. CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS featured primarily straight news stories that did not rely on opinionated guests. Of all the broadcast networks, Fox’s Sunday news show Fox News Sunday had the most opponents of EPA regulations. MSNBC was the exception with four times as many proponents of EPA greenhouse gas regulations. Media Matters also found that Republicans outnumbered Democrats six to one during cable news channel discussions. Again, the worst offenders were Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC. Only MSNBC had more Democrats than Republicans. Both Fox News and Fox Business hosted one Democrat each, but those Democrats were both against greenhouse gas regulations. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) appeared on Fox News and then-Gov. Joe Manchin (D-WV) appeared on Fox Business. For its part, CNBC hosted no Democrats. In every case, Republicans invited to appear were against the EPA regulations. An analysis by the liberal watchdog group determined that the elected officials appearing on news shows had received more than $3 million from fossil fuel interests. The Cato Insitutes’s Patrick Michaels — the only climate scientist to appear on any news show — was also opposed to EPA regulations. He appeared twice on Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto . In a 2010 interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Michaels admitted that 40 percent of his funding came from the petroleum industry. Polls taken over the 17 months period covered in the report showed that the views depicted Fox News, Fox Business, the Fox broadcast network and CNBC were at odds with public opinion. A June 2010 survey (PDF) by Stanford University found that 76 percent favored limiting greenhouse gasses created by U.S. businesses. That same month, ABC News reported (PDF) that 71 percent thought the government should limit greenhouse gasses created by “from sources like power plants, cars and factories.”
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Report on Prevent counter-terrorist strategy also reveals referrals of ‘at-risk’ people four times higher than thought There is no evidence to indicate widespread, systematic or deliberate funding of extremist groups by the Home Office, the police or local authorities, the official review of the government’s Prevent counter-terrorism strategy concludes. The 120-page official report does concede that there have been cases where groups “whom we would now consider to support an extremist ideology have received funding” but says this just demonstrates stricter monitoring is needed to ensure it does not happen again. The tone of the report appears to be at odds with the way the home secretary, Theresa May, trailed her Commons announcement of a revision of counter-terrorism strategy, introduced after the 7 July 2005 bombings, to tackle the roots of homegrown terrorism. It reveals that 1,120 people – four times the publicly known figure – have been referred since 2007 to the government Channel programme as being at risk of being involved in violent extremism, including 290 under-16s and 55 children under 12. The majority were named by schools, colleges, the police and youth offending teams but the report acknowledges that not all of them were specifically at risk of being drawn into terrorism. It also warns that identifying very young children in this way risks undermining the credibility of the Channel programme as a whole. The report confirms that progress has been made in preventing violent extremism but says the effort has not consistently reached the few people who are most susceptible to terrorist propaganda. “It has failed to recognise the way in which terrorist ideology makes use of ideas espoused by extremist organisations and has not fully understood the implications this should have for the scope of our work.” While it concludes that money has been wasted on ineffective overseas projects, it says work abroad should continue and the Foreign Office will continue to provide £10m of the £46m to be spent on the Prevent programme this year. It will also introduce a new definition of extremism as “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance for different faiths and beliefs. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas.” The review found evidence that some funding had reached “a small number of organisations who had expressed (or employed people who had expressed) extremist views” but says that investigations are continuing. The document goes on to make clear that, while neither funding nor support will be given to extremist organisations, that does not mean it will shun them totally. “There may be cases where the government judges that there is a need to engage with groups or individuals who it would never choose to fund. That may particularly be the case overseas where we may need to engage with groups or individuals that are seen as moderate in their own country but not in the UK.” Whitehall sources said the agreed strategy has the flexibility to allow Liberal Democrat ministers to appear on some Islamic platforms which Conservatives may choose to shun. The review says there has been no systematic attempt to recruit or radicalise people in full-time education but does acknowledge that groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir have targeted colleges with a large number of Muslim students. It notes that 40 universities were identified in 2009 as at risk but the Home Office seems more concerned that some of the institutions involved failed to take the warning seriously. It cites examples of students engaging with terrorism while members of university societies affiliated to the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and says the organisation should strengthen its engagement with the National Union of Students. In the Commons, the home secretary unequivocally told MPs that Prevent funding had reached “the very organisations that it should have been confronting” and insisted it would now be extended to tackle “the insidious impact of non-violent extremism”. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the review demonstrated a massive gap between the government’s rhetoric and the reality of their policies. UK security and terrorism Theresa May Terrorism policy Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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Liam Fox says government departments under sustained attack – and claims more needs to be done to protect infrastructure Criminals and foreign spy agencies launched more than 1,000 cyber attacks on the Ministry of Defence last year in an effort to steal secrets and disrupt services, Liam Fox has revealed. In a speech on Tuesday night, the defence secretary laid out the growing threat to the country from cyberspace, saying that government departments were now under sustained attack. He underlined the problem by saying that “across the core defence networks there were an average of over a million security alerts every day”. These comprise mainly of spam emails that are blocked before entering government computer systems. But many turn out to be deliberate attempts to infiltrate and steal from the MoD’s computer systems. Last week the Guardian revealed that the UK is now developing a cyber weapons programme to give ministers an attacking capability in cyberspace. It also emerged that the FBI is investigating allegations that the Google mail accounts of senior US government officials have been attacked by Chinese hackers. In his speech, Fox set out why the government had committed an extra £650m for cyber security in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. He also warned more would need to be done to protect the UK’s core infrastructure from cyber attack. “Between 2009 and 2010, security incidents more than doubled,” he said: “Was this in Afghanistan? No. This was in cyberspace and the target was the MoD. I and my senior colleagues are routinely alerted to incidents that could have had severe consequences if they’d not been stopped. “Our systems are targeted by criminals, foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors seeking to exploit our people, corrupt our systems and steal information. “To give you an idea of the challenge, last year we in the MoD blocked and investigated over 1,000 potentially serious attacks. ” Fox described it as the “war of the invisible enemy” and said the boundaries between government, business and every individual internet user were becoming blurred.”This threat is growing in scale and sophistication. My department is a prime target. Across the core defence networks there were an average of over a million security alerts every day.” He said the opening of a new Global Operations and Security and Control Centre would help to coordinate the Whitehall response to cyber attacks, but conceded that government could not do this alone. “We now see weekly reports of cyber attacks against businesses, institutions and networks used by people going about their daily lives,” he said. “The cost to the UK economy of cyber crime is estimated to be in the region of £27bn a year and rising. These are attacks against the whole fabric of our society. “There is no Maginot Line in cyber space … our national intellectual property in defence and security industries is at risk from a systematic marauding. Not only could it severely affect the future success of British industry, our economic advantage, and the country’s financial recovery, but also directly impacts upon our national security today.” Last week, the US government said it was intending to rewrite its military rule book to make cyber-attacks a possible act of war. In May, the chancellor George Osborne said foreign intelligence agencies were carrying out cyber-attacks on the Treasury, targeting it with programs designed to steal information. Some experts have warned against government’s over-exaggerating the problems in cyberspace, noting that 80 per cent of all such attacks can be thwarted with better computer ‘hygiene’ – such as people using less obvious passwords. Terrorism policy Global terrorism Internet Computing UK security and terrorism Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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Agriculture commissioner forced to promise better deal to European farmers who lost income during public health panic The European commission on Tuesday promised to pay more than €150m (£134m) to farmers hit by the E coli crisis, following robust lobbying by Spain and France. The agriculture commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, proposed sharing out to farmers affected by falling sales amid the public health panic the sum of €150m, equating to payments worth about 30% of the average market price for the unsold crops. But at the meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg, representatives from several member states demanded more help. Spain immediately warned the €150m would not be enough. Spain has suffered disproportionately from the economic impact of the outbreak, in part because it grows a significant share of Europe’s salad produce but also because blame for the bacteria outbreak at first was attributed to its cucumber crop . “No, Spain does not see €150m as sufficient,” the country’s agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, said. She was backed by her French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire. Ciolos then said he would “come back tomorrow with an improved proposal”, but warned that Spanish demands for compensation of 90% or even 100% of market price were unrealistic. “We have to bear in mind that this is public money, and we have to account for its use,” he said. The outbreak, of a newly identified and especially virulent strain of the E Coli bacterium has killed 23 people, all either in, or recently returned, from northern Germany, according to figures compiled by the European Centre for Disease Control. More than 4,200 people have become ill, almost 700 of whom have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a serious complication that affects the blood, kidneys and nervous system. The rate of cases is now slowing. Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks, the health minister for Hamburg, the city thought to be at the centre of the outbreak, said medical staff believed the situation was gradually improving. “We are seeing the first patients discharged, others are getting much better, so the first glimmers of hope are on the horizon.” However, scientists appear to be no closer to establishing the source of the outbreak. After Spanish cucumbers were ruled out, German officials confidently named a bean-sprout farm in Lower Saxony as the likely culprit, only for bacteriological tests to come back negative. German ministers had said there were “strong and clear indications” that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm, 40 miles from Hamburg, had spread the E coli bacteria. However, more tests have failed to link the farm to the outbreak. The confusion has seen many Europeans stop buying a range of products, while Russia has banned all EU vegetable imports. EU farming representatives said the sector’s losses had exceeded €400m. Spain has been at the forefront of calls for Germany to pay the bulk of the compensation, a move ruled out by Ciolos, who said it would come from central budgets. At a press conference he refused to speculate on the total bill, saying only that it would be increased, the revised offer to be approved within the next few days. The EU’s health commissioner, John Dalli, has criticised Germany for its “premature conclusions” on the source of the outbreak. “I would like to stress it is crucial that national authorities do not rush to give information on the source of infection which is not proven by bacteriological analysis, as this spreads unjustified fears in the population all over Europe and creates problems for our food producers selling products,” he said before the farm ministers’ meeting. He added: “While such intensive investigations are ongoing, we must be careful not to make premature conclusions.” He said the outbreak had been contained to a relatively small area. He told the European parliament: “I stress that the outbreak is limited geographically to the area surrounding the city of Hamburg, so there is no reason to take action on a European level. [EU-wide] measures against any product are disproportionate.” Scientists say the longer the wait for a definite source, the more likely it is that none will ever be identified. “If we don’t know the likely culprit in a week’s time, we may never know the cause,” said Dr Guénaël Rodier, an infectious diseases expert at the UN’s World Health Organisation. European commission Europe European Union E coli Spain France Farming Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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