Mar 03 2011

Word

New Country for Old Men

Mar 03 2011

Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”

New York Times Editorial; The Hollow Cry of ‘Broke’

“We’re broke! We’re broke!” Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday. “We’re broke in this state,” Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said a few days ago. “New Jersey’s broke,” Gov. Chris Christie has said repeatedly. The United States faces a “looming bankruptcy,” Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

It’s all obfuscating nonsense, of course, a scare tactic employed for political ends. A country with a deficit is not necessarily any more “broke” than a family with a mortgage or a college loan. And states have to balance their budgets. Though it may disappoint many conservatives, there will be no federal or state bankruptcies.

The federal deficit is too large for comfort, and most states are struggling to balance their books. Some of that is because of excessive spending, and much is because the recession has driven down tax revenues. But a substantial part was caused by deliberate decisions by state and federal lawmakers to drain government of resources by handing out huge tax cuts, mostly to the rich. As governments begin to stagger from the self-induced hemorrhaging, Republican politicians like Mr. Boehner and Mr. Walker cry poverty and use it as an excuse to break unions and kill programs they never liked in flush years.

Robert Reich: How Democrats Can Become Relevant Again (And Rescue the Nation While They’re At It)

Republicans offered Democrats two more weeks before the doomsday shut-down. Democrats countered with four. Republicans held their ground. Democrats agreed to two.

This is what passes for compromise in our nation’s capital.

Democrats have become irrelevant. If they want to be relevant again they have to connect the dots: The explosion of income and wealth among America’s super-rich, the dramatic drop in their tax rates, the consequential devastating budget squeezes in Washington and in state capitals, and the slashing of public services for the middle class and the poor.

Nicholas D. Kristof: Here’s What We Can Do to Tackle Libya

In 1986, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi gave an interview to a group of female foreign journalists. Then he invited them, one by one, into a room furnished with just a bed and television and propositioned them.

They rebuffed him, and after three successive rejections he got the message and gave up. But the incident reflects something important about Colonel Qaddafi that is worth remembering today: He’s nuts.

The Libyan “king of kings” blends delusion, menace, pomposity, a penchant for risk-taking – and possession of tons of mustard gas. That’s why it’s crucial that world powers, working with neighboring countries like Egypt and Tunisia, steadily increase the pressure while Colonel Qaddafi is wobbling so that he leaves the scene as swiftly as possible.

E.J. Dionne Jr.: No glory for governors trying to do the right fiscal thing

If you want to get national attention as a governor these days, don’t try to be innovative about solving the problems you were elected to deal with – in education, transportation and health care. No, if you want ink and television time, just cut and cut and cut some more.

Almost no one in the national media is noticing governors who say the reasonable thing: that state budget deficits, caused largely by drops in revenue in the economic downturn, can’t be solved by cuts or tax increases alone.

There is nothing courageous about an ideological governor hacking away at programs that partisans of his philosophy, including campaign contributors, want eliminated. That’s staying in your comfort zone.

Jim Hightower: The Kochs and the Guv Stir up a Hornets’ Nest

Thank you, Scott Walker! And you, too, Charles and David Koch! Thanks for being so ham-handed in pushing your self-serving, virulently anti-union agenda on the schoolteachers, health care workers, park rangers and other public employees of Wisconsin.

The Birchite billionaire Koch brothers and Walker, their gubernatorial hatchet man in the Badger State, have unwittingly done a tremendous favor for our country’s progressive movement. Thanks to them, America’s workaday majority has been awakened. With eyes wide open, middle-class working folks everywhere now have their attention riveted on Wisconsin, where a plutocratic, autocratic conspiracy between uber-wealthy corporate elites and obsequious GOP politicos has raised its ugly head for all to see.

Amy Goodman: The Battle of the Budgets: New Fronts in the Afghan and Iraq Wars

Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Idaho … these are the latest fronts in the battle of budgets, with the larger fight over a potential shutdown of the U.S. government looming. These fights, radiating out from the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol building, are occurring against the backdrop of the two wars waged by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. No discussion or debate over budgets, over wages and pensions, over deficits, should happen without a clear presentation of the costs of these wars-and the incalculable benefits that ending them would bring.

First, the cost of war. The U.S. is spending about $2 billion a week in Afghanistan alone. That’s about $104 billion a year – and that is not including Iraq. Compare that with the state budget shortfalls. According to a recent report by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “some 45 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totaling $125 billion for fiscal year 2012.” The math is simple: The money should be poured back into the states, rather than into a state of war.

John Nochols: Why a Wisconsin Sheriff Refuses to Serve as Governor Walker’s “Palace Guard”

No one has worked harder – and smarter – to keep the peace in Madison during the dispute over Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to crush public employee unions than Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney.

A veteran lawman who came up through the ranks of the sheriff’s department in the state’s second largest county before being elected sheriff in 2006, he’s hugely popular in the capital county – winning reelection in 2010 with 71 percent of the vote. He’s also hugely respected, as a key contributor to the work of the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence, the Governor’s Council on Wisconsin Homeland Security, the Wisconsin Supreme Court Task Force on Mental Health and Criminal Justice System, Wisconsin law-enforcement groups and the National Sheriff’s Association.

That respect has served Sheriff Mahoney as he has worked long hours to help coordinate the response of various law-enforcement agencies to demonstrations that have attracted over 100,000 people, round-the-clock sleep-ins and sit-ins at the state Capitol and even clashing rallies between a small Tea Party contingent and a very large union crowd.

There has been no serious violence, no serious destruction and no serious arrests.

Ted Rall: The Phony Budget Crisis: Forget Austerity, Tax the Rich

Everywhere you look, from the federal government to the states to your hometown, budget crises abound. Services are being slashed. Politicians and pundits from both parties tell us that the good times are over, that we’ve got to start living within our means.

It’s a lie.

Two case studies have made news lately: California, where new/old governor Jerry Brown is trying to close a $25 billion shortfall with a combination of draconian cuts in public services and a series of regressive tax increases, and Wisconsin, where right-winger Scott Walker says getting rid of unions would eliminate the state’s $137 million deficit.

Never mind the economists, most of whom say an economic death spiral is exactly the worst possible time for government to cut spending. Pro-austerity propaganda has won the day with the American public. A new Rasmussen poll funds that 58 percent of likely voters would approve of a shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut.

Laura Flanders: Capital or Community in Wisconsin?

It should be the sound of the other shoe dropping, but you’ll have to listen hard to Governor Scott Walker’s budget address because most media will miss most of it.

It’s a funny thing about covering budgets. Cutting spending garners a whole lot more attention than cutting taxes. How many Americans know, for example, that Governor Walker gave $140 million in tax breaks to corporations — right before he announced this fiscal year’s deficit of $137 million?

The good people I met last week at the Wisconsin Budget Project call that a structural deficit. I’d go further. It’s not only structural; it’s structured – to bring about exactly this phony budget crisis.

As Scott Walker refuses to budge on his so-called budget repair bill, Wisconsin is bracing now for his actual budget. It’s anticipated to cut almost a billion from education, literally scuttling public schools in heavily African-American cities like Milwaukee. And we already know Walker’s plans include shrinking Medicaid while privatizing public utilities, cutting off yet more routes for public revenue.

Mar 03 2011

On This Day in History March 3

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

March 3 is the 62nd day of the year (63rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 303 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1887, Anne Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age of 19 months. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller flourished, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later dubbed “the miracle worker,” remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until the older woman’s death in 1936.

Sullivan, age 20, arrived at Ivy Green, the Keller family estate, in 1887 and began working to socialize her wild, stubborn student and teach her by spelling out words in Keller’s hand. Initially, the finger spelling meant nothing to Keller. However, a breakthrough occurred one day when Sullivan held one of Keller’s hands under water from a pump and spelled out “w-a-t-e-r” in Keller’s palm. Keller went on to learn how to read, write and speak. With Sullivan’s assistance, Keller attended Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904.

Helen Keller became a public speaker and author; her first book, “The Story of My Life” was published in 1902. She was also a fundraiser for the American Foundation for the Blind and an advocate for racial and sexual equality, as well as socialism. From 1920 to 1924, Sullivan and Keller even formed a vaudeville act to educate the public and earn money. Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, at her home in Westport, Connecticut, at age 87, leaving her mark on the world by helping to alter perceptions about the disabled.

 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.

1575 – Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi.

1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.

1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.

1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.

1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.

1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.

1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.

1865 – Opening of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.

1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.

1875 – Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen receives its premiere at the Opera Comique in Paris.

1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Canada as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.

1878 – Bulgaria regains its independence from Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano; shortly after Congress of Berlin stripped its status to an autonomous state of the Ottoman Empire.

1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.

1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison’s phonograph cylinder.

1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly, the Duma.

1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy.

1915 – NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.

1918 – Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia’s involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.

1924 – The 1400-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished when Caliph Abdul Mejid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Ataturk.

1931 – The United States officially adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.

1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.

1939 – In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest at the autocratic rule in India.

1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.

1943 – World War II: In London, England, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.

1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila in the Philippines.

1945 – World War II: A former Armia Krajowa unit massacres at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawlokoma, Poland.

1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records “Rocket 88”, often cited as “the first rock and roll record”, at Sam Phillips’ recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

1958 – Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.

1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.

1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.

1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the Valparaiso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.

1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

1991 – In concurrent referenda, 74% of the population of Latvia votes for independence from the Soviet Union, and 83% in Estonia.

1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.

2002 – Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favor of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.

2004 – Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agree to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that forms InBev, the world’s largest brewer.

2005 – Mayerthorpe Incident: James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. It is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.

2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Cunigunde of Luxembourg

         o Katharine Drexel

         o March 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Hinamatsuri or “Girl’s Day” (Japan)

   * Liberation Day (Bulgaria)

   * Mother’s Day (Georgia)

   * Sportsmen’s day (Egypt)

Mar 03 2011

Wikileaks War Log: Manning May Face the Death Penalty

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Twenty-two additional charges have been brought against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the alleged source of documents to Wikileaks. One of those charges, aiding the enemy, carries the death penalty, although according to Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft, the government will not seek it. Since the government case against Julian Assange is going nowhere and is falling apart because they haven’t been able to link Manning to Assange and getting Manning to say otherwise by using isolation and drugging him has failed, the military, obviously under the tutelage of the Obama DOJ, has upped the ante to break him.

The military has continued to hold Manning in solitary confinement against the evaluation of three Quantico brig psychiatrists. They have so far not responded to the two January Article 138 complaint filed by Manning and his lawyer, David Coombs:

   Both complaints requested that I be removed from POI watch and that my classification level be reduced from MAX to MDI. CWO4 Averhart did not respond to either complaint as required by SECNAVINST 1649.9C PP 8301(21)

   Based on the foregoing, I believe that the action of holding me under POI watch for over five months and placing me on suicide risk is wrong under Article 138, UCMJ. I do not believe that CWO4 Averhart, as the Brig commander, has the discretion to keep me in confinement under these circumstances.

David House, Manning’s friend and only visitor other than his lawyer, wrote this at FDL;

Through WikiLeaks we have been given direct evidence that the White House openly lies to congress and the American people in order to achieve political ends. Richard Nixon, in an attempt to stifle government transparency, once called Ellsberg “the most dangerous man in America” and accused him of “providing aid and comfort to the enemy.” Today we see the Obama administration continuing the legacy Nixon started by declaring whistleblowers as enemies of the state. It is a sad and dangerous day for transparency advocates everywhere.

Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, released this statement:

Over the past few weeks, the defense has been preparing for the possibility of additional charges in this case.  The decision to prefer charges is an individual one by PFC Manning’s commander.  The nature of the charges and the number of specifications under each reflects his determination, in consultation with his Staff Judge Advocate’s office, of the possible offenses in this case.  Ultimately, the Article 32 Investigating Officer will determine which, if any, of these additional charges and specifications should be referred to a court-martial.

Jane Hamsher at FDL so correctly states:

So let me get this straight. The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, says that the “leaked cables created no substantive damage – only embarrassment.”  So they’re going to charge Manning with “aiding the enemy”  because they claim he knew WikiLeaks would publish them on the internet, the “enemy” can see the internet,  and the cables “bring discredit upon the armed forces.”

They want to lock a 23 year-old up for the rest of his life, using a charge designed for terrorists and spies, because he embarrassed them in front of the bad guys?

There is no other point to this treatment, or these trumped up charges that took 8 months to conjure, but to get Manning’s false testimony against Julian Assange because they are embarrassed by these cables.

Sign the petition: Tell Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Drop Ridiculous “Aiding the Enemy” Charges Against Bradley Manning

Mar 03 2011

From Translator: My Friend is a Slob! 20110302

Like many of you, I have been keeping up with the activity at the Madison, Wisconsin capitol.  Whilst I have been sympathetic to the folks bivouacking there, it got very personal to me a little while ago.

A Kossack, her name to be not reported here, sent me a Happy Birthday email complete with a picture of her in the rotunda!  This person and I go back several years, only online and always platonic, but I love her very much in a political way this evening.

She is a fine example of what this community represents.  I almost always back off from political posts, because others do it much better than I could hope to try.

State Senator Glenn Grothman (R) has called the folks who came to stay in the State Capitol “slobs”.  I maintain that he is the one that is not using proper decorum, and his attitude is quite usual for the extreme right wing.  HE is the slob, not our friend.

I do not have a whole lot more to say, except to reiterate that she puts her presence where it is required.  I cherish her not only for our friendship, but also for her convictions.

If she chooses to reveal herself, then fine.  If not, I have not betrayed our confidence since I never mentioned anything about her except her gender and her political activities, with no personally identifiable information.

I just wanted to point out that many in this community are not like me.  Some of us actually take action, and I respect her very much for that.  We all could take a lesson from her.

Please, if she reveals who she is, shower her with tips and recommendations.  Thanks!

Warmest regards,

Doc

Mar 03 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for March 2, 2011-

DocuDharma

Mar 03 2011

Prime Time

Mostly premiers, only American Masters (Carole King and James Taylor) and Great Performances (Harry Connick Jr.) worth mentioning.

How do we seem to you? Do you find us beautiful, magical? Our white skin, our fierce eyes? “Drink” you ask me, do you have any idea of the thing you will become?

We searched village after village, country after country. And always we found nothing. I began to believe we were the only ones. There was a strange comfort in that thought. For what the damned really have to say to the damned?

Later-

All I hear from you, you spineless cowards, is how poor you are; how you can’t afford my taxes. Yet somehow, you managed to find the money to hire a gunfighter to kill me. If ya got so much money, I’m just gonna have to take some more. Because clearly some of you haven’t got the message! This is my town! I run everything! If you live to see the dawn, it’s because I allow it! I decide who lives and who dies!

Dave hosts the Donald (ugh), Vanessa Hudgens, and Oh Land.  Jon has Allison Stanger, like Great Performances Stephen also has Harry Connick Jr..  Conan hosts Chelsea Handler, Anthony Mackie, and Mavis Staples.

Sorry, John. Changed the rules. From now on, all the fights are fair.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Mar 03 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Kadhafi warns of bloodbath if West intervenes

by Antoine Lambroschini

2 hrs 9 mins ago

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi warned on Wednesday “thousands” would die if the West intervened to support the uprising against him, as rebels drove back an attack by his forces on an eastern town.

The chilling warning came as western powers dampened expectations of any early imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, amid a clamour from western states for action to prevent Kadhafi’s warplanes from attacking his own people.

The United States is a “long way” from deciding on whether to impose a no-fly zone, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as two US Navy ships steamed into position off Libya.

AFP

2 Kadhafi says will fight ‘to last man and woman’

by Antoine Lambroschini, AFP

Wed Mar 2, 8:45 am ET

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi vowed on Wednesday to fight an uprising against his 41-year rule to “the last man, the last woman”, as rebels repulsed an attack by his forces on an eastern town.

His speech at a ceremony of loyalists in the capital Tripoli came as the UN refugee agency made a plea for hundreds of planes to end a gridlock at the Tunisia border with Libya, where “acres of people” fleeing the violence are still waiting to cross in freezing conditions.

As two US warships steamed through the Suez Canal towards the Mediterranean and Western nations began flexing their military muscle, Arab League chief Amr Mussa told a Cairo meeting that the situation in Libya was “catastrophic.”

3 Christian government minister slain in Pakistan

by Sajjad Tarakzai, AFP

17 mins ago

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Gunmen shot dead a Catholic Pakistani government minister in broad daylight on Wednesday, claiming a second high-profile victim among beleaguered opponents of an Islamic blasphemy law.

The assailants sprayed at least 25 bullets at the car of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti after he came out of his mother’s home in a residential area of Islamabad, police said.

A letter was found at the scene, purportedly from supporters of Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, claiming responsibility, police said.

4 French court looms for designer Galliano despite apology

AFP

Wed Mar 2, 1:56 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – John Galliano is to appear before a Paris court on allegations of anti-Semitism, prosecutors said Wednesday as the superstar designer apologised for a drunken tirade but denied the charges against him.

The case will be heard in the second quarter of 2011 and, if found guilty, the couturier — who was sacked on Tuesday by the fashion house Dior — could face a sentence of six months in jail and a fine of 22,500 euros ($31,000).

“John Galliano will be prosecuted … before the criminal court for public insults towards an individual on grounds of their origin or religion … following complaints from three people,” the prosecutor’s office said.

5 Expressionism meets fashion on day two of Paris shows

by Gersende Rambourg and Robert MacPherson, AFP

1 hr 26 mins ago

PARIS (AFP) – Dries Van Noten took cues from his latest menswear line on Wednesday for a fall-winter pret-a-porter collection that featured coats with assymetric lapels and jackets in wool and tweed.

Showing in the Hotel de Ville on day two of Paris fashion week, the Belgian designer sent out a raft of silk prints that could have stepped out of an art gallery, tinges with such novelties as a T-shirt that morphed into a sarong.

Trousers were voluminous, more so than others seen so far this season in the French capital, and a psychedlic pattern on a pair of socks inside satin-blue peep-toe shoes was a quirky touch.

6 In surprise appearance, Jobs unveils iPad 2

by Glenn Chapman, AFP

1 hr 22 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Apple chief executive Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave on Wednesday to unveil a new version of the iPad designed to tighten the company’s grip on the booming tablet computer market.

The iPad 2 is thinner and lighter than the original version released last year and features cameras for photography, movie-making or video chat.

“We’ve been working on this product quite awhile and I just didn’t want to miss a great day,” said Jobs, who appeared gaunt but energetic and was dressed in his trademark long-sleeve black turtleneck and blue jeans.

7 Ireland’s O’Brien flays England in famous win

by John Weaver, AFP

Wed Mar 2, 1:07 pm ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Kevin O’Brien smashed the fastest century in World Cup history off just 50 balls against England on Wednesday as Ireland recorded their greatest win on cricket’s biggest stage.

O’Brien came to the crease with Ireland struggling on 106 for four chasing a mammoth 327 for eight in Bangalore and flayed the England attack, striking six sixes and 13 fours including the biggest of the tournament.

In an astonishing display of power-hitting he obliterated the previous fastest Cup century record held by Australia’s Matthew Hayden, who hit 100 off 66 balls against South Africa at St Kitts in the 2007 tournament.

8 US Congress OKs plan to avert shutdown, for now

by Olivier Knox, AFP

Wed Mar 2, 12:35 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate on Wednesday sent President Barack Obama a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown, giving feuding lawmakers and the White House just 14 days to find a lasting compromise.

Obama said he was “pleased” by the 91-9 vote but warned “we cannot keep doing business this way” and directed Vice President Joe Biden and other top aides to meet with top lawmakers to work out a long-term spending plan.

“This agreement should cut spending and reduce deficits without damaging economic growth or gutting investments in education, research and development that will create jobs and secure our future,” he said in a statement.

9 Gadgets galore at world’s top tech fair

by Richard Carter, AFP

Wed Mar 2, 11:01 am ET

HANOVER, Germany (AFP) – A Shakespeare-reciting robot, the world’s most merciless alarm clock and “intelligent” cocktail shakers were among the gadgets wowing visitors at the CeBIT high-tech fair on Wednesday.

Ranging from the futuristic to the ingenious to the downright pointless, the world’s biggest IT expo this year showcased thousands of the latest gadgets to pull in the 350,000 visitors expected to travel to Hanover in northern Germany.

No one finds it easy to wake up in the morning. But even the heaviest sleeper has found his match in the “intelligent” alarm clock designed by students at the Technical University of Wildau in Germany.

10 Nobel laureate Yunus sacked by Bangladesh bank

by Shafiq Alam, AFP

Wed Mar 2, 10:15 am ET

DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladesh’s central bank on Wednesday fired Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus from the celebrated microfinance lender he founded, capping months of political pressure for him to quit.

Yunus, the talismanic 70-year-old leader of Grameen Bank, earned the enmity of Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina four years ago and an increasingly vicious power struggle has since ensued between the company and the government.

Bangladesh Bank said Grameen had failed to seek its prior approval when Yunus was reappointed managing director in 2000, violating one of the statutes of the partly state-owned company.

Reuters

11 Gaddafi strikes at town, rebels eye foreign help

By Mohammed Abbas, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 12:38 pm ET

BREGA, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi launched a land and air offensive to retake territory in Libya’s east at dawn on Wednesday, sparking a rebel call for foreign air strikes on African mercenaries they said were helping him stay in power.

The veteran ruler twinned the attack with a fiery propaganda broadside against the rebels, playing on both nationalist opinion and Western jitters by saying much blood would be shed in “another Vietnam” if foreign powers intervened in the crisis.

“We will enter a bloody war and thousands and thousands of Libyans will die if the United States enters or NATO enters,” Gaddafi told Tripoli supporters at a gathering televised live.

12 Gaddafi stages east Libya offensive, rebels defiant

By Mohammed Abbas, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 11:10 am ET

BREGA, Libya (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked the oil export terminal of Brega in the first sign of a counter-offensive by Libya’s leader in the rebel-controlled east, which rebels said they had repulsed.

Sanousi Jadran, a rebel volunteer fighter, said Gaddafi’s forces backed by foreign mercenaries had hit the town early in the morning.

“They bombarded us with heavy weapons including air strikes,” he told Reuters. “You see the Israeli attacks on Palestinians? This was worse.”

13 Migrant workers fleeing Libya appeal for help

By Douglas Hamilton, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 7:06 am ET

RAS JDIR, Tunisia (Reuters) – Thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers, desperate to leave Libya, pressed up against the gates of the Tunisian border crossing on Wednesday, angry at their government for sending no help.

Some have been sleeping for four days in the open on the Libyan side of the border at Ras Jdir with no food aid, through hot days and cold nights.

In an appeal written in English on a bedsheet, they called on the governments of Tunisia and the world to save the lives of 30,000 Bangladeshis.

14 Ohio panel votes to end union right to strike

By Mary Wisniewski, Reuters

1 hr 55 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) – An Ohio state Senate panel voted on Wednesday to strip public sector unions of some collective bargaining rights and end their right to strike, in the latest swipe at the power of unions by a state.

The Senate Labor Committee vote was 7-5, with one Republican and four Democrats voting against. The measure now moves to the Republican-controlled state Senate, which could approve it as early as Wednesday.

If endorsed by the state legislature and signed by Republican Governor John Kasich, Ohio would become the biggest state so far to enact sweeping restrictions on public sector unions.

15 Bernanke sees 200,000 hit to jobs from budget cuts

By Mark Felsenthal, Reuters

2 hrs 49 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday a Republican spending cut plan would not cause a big dent to U.S. economic growth, but could cost around 200,000 jobs over two years.

That estimate is at odds with losses of as much as 700,000 cited by Democrats but also clashes with forecasts of job gains Republicans have pointed to.

Bernanke said that a $60 billion cut along the lines being pursued by Republicans in the House of Representatives would likely trim growth by around two-tenths of a percentage point in the first year and one-tenth in the next year.

16 Wisconsin governor unveils deep spending cuts

By David Bailey and Stefanie Carano, Reuters

Tue Mar 1, 8:30 pm ET

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker unveiled a budget that makes deep cuts in spending on Tuesday, and he said the cuts could be even worse if Democrats continue to block his plan to curb the power of public sector unions.

Walker, whose proposal to restrict collective bargaining sparked huge protests and a nationwide debate, said his budget would reduce state spending by 6.7 percent and slash more than 21,000 state jobs.

He said the cuts would reduce the state’s structural budget deficit by 90 percent to $250 million by the end of fiscal 2013, the lowest in recent history.

17 Buffett sees uneven recovery, craves big deals

By Ben Berkowitz and Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 9:46 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Billionaire Warren Buffett said the U.S. economy is “coming back” and does not need more stimulus, despite an uneven recovery that mirrors the fortunes of businesses at his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Buffett also said he remains on the prowl for a big acquisition, having lost a sizable one in the last day or two, but that there is not a “high probability” of one soon.

Speaking on CNBC television, Buffett maintained his “enormous respect” for the efforts of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to move the economy forward.

18 Apple’s Jobs puts on lively iPad 2 show

By Gabriel Madway and Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters

28 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A thin but energetic Steve Jobs made a surprise return to the spotlight on Wednesday, taking the stage to unveil Apple Inc’s new iPad and drawing a standing ovation.

The Silicon Valley legend has been out on medical leave since late January and his reappearance, in trademark turtleneck and jeans, bolstered Apple shares and reassured investors and fans worried about his health.

Defying speculation in some tabloid reports that he was at death’s door, Jobs took swipes at rivals and mocked competing tablet computers. Striding back and forth across the stage at the Yerba Buena Center, Jobs spoke passionately about the iPad 2’s features as No. 2 and heir apparent Tim Cook looked on.

19 Supreme Court allows military funeral anti-gay protests

By James Vicini, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 1:16 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that members of a fundamentalist church have a free-speech right to hold anti-gay protests at military funerals to promote their view that God hates America for tolerating homosexuality.

In a case pitting free-speech versus privacy rights, the nation’s highest court held that the picketing at a private funeral and even hurtful protest messages were protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The decision by an 8-1 vote was the latest in a long line of Supreme Court rulings that free-speech rights protected even outrageous or offensive conduct, including the burning of the American flag.

20 Militants say killed Pakistani minister for blasphemy

By Augustine Anthony, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 9:54 am ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Taliban militants on Wednesday shot dead Pakistan’s only Christian government minister for challenging a law that mandates the death penalty for insulting Islam, the latest sign of instability in a country where many fear radical Islam is becoming more mainstream.

Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti is the second senior official this year to be assassinated for opposing the blasphemy law. Provincial governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by his own bodyguard in January.

These killings, along with frequent militant attacks and chronic economic problems have raised fears for the future of U.S.-ally and nuclear-armed Pakistan, where an unpopular coalition government is struggling to cope.

21 Special Report: Huntsman’s path to White House starts in China

By Ken Wills and Sui-Lee Wee, Reuters

Wed Mar 2, 5:03 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Jon Huntsman is a savvy operator who knows how to work a crowd. But it was someone in a crowd who worked Huntsman on a bitterly cold Sunday last month when the U.S. envoy to China was seen at a small anti-government protest in Beijing.

“Mr. Ambassador, why are you here?” an unidentified Chinese man called out to Huntsman, who is thinking about running for the White House in 2012. “Just taking a look,” replied the silver-haired Huntsman in Chinese, wearing sunglasses and a brown leather jacket with an American flag patch sewn on the shoulder.

“Do you want China to be chaotic?” added the Chinese man in an exchange captured on video and posted on Youtube.

AP

22 Rebels corner fleeing Gadhafi forces after battle

By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press

20 mins ago

BREGA, Libya – Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime’s first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes to help them oust the longtime leader.

The attack on Brega, a strategic oil facility 460 miles (740 kilometers) east of Gadhafi’s stronghold in Tripoli, illustrated the deep difficulties the Libyan leader’s armed forces – an array of militiamen, mercenaries and military units – have had in rolling back the uprising that has swept over the entire eastern half of Libya since Feb. 15.

In the capital of Tripoli, Gadhafi warned against U.S. or other Western intervention, vowing to turn Libya into “another Vietnam,” and saying any foreign troops coming into his country “will be entering hell and they will drown in blood.”

23 Realistic options for ousting Gadhafi look limited

By ROBERT BURNS and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

1 hr 13 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Short of a U.S.-led military offensive, international options to quickly force Moammar Gadhafi from power now appear to be highly limited, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for an end Wednesday to “loose talk” about steps that would amount to an act of war.

There are still hopes that U.N. sanctions and other diplomatic moves can undermine Gadhafi’s authority, and Libyan rebels pressed their fight against troops loyal to Gadhafi on Wednesday.

But while a leading U.S. senator urged the Pentagon to be prepared to provide air cover for the rebels, there was little evidence of an appetite by the U.S., Europe or other powers to risk the consequences of military intervention.

24 Over 180,000 refugees flee to Libya’s borders

By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press

10 mins ago

GENEVA – Libyan border crossings were overwhelmed Wednesday by tens of thousands of hungry, fearful people fleeing its burgeoning civil war. Egypt and a handful of European nations launched emergency airlifts and sent ships to handle the chaotic exodus.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told The Associated Press that over 180,000 refugees have reached the border. Over 77,300 people have crossed east from Libya into Egypt, most of them Egyptians, while a similar number have fled west from Libya into Tunisia, she said. Another 30,000 more were still waiting in Libya at the border, trying to get into Tunisia.

Thousands of angry Egyptian workers packed into a U.N. refugee camp in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia. The young men shouted and waved, pressing against soldiers, or climbing over each other and passing bulging suitcases overhead – all in a frenetic, desperate bid to remain in Tunisia.

25 Supreme Court: Anti-gay funeral picketers allowed

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

22 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

The decision ended a lawsuit by Albert Snyder, who sued church members for the emotional pain they caused by showing up at his son Matthew’s funeral. As they have at hundreds of other funerals, the Westboro members held signs with provocative messages, including “Thank God for dead soldiers,” `’You’re Going to Hell,” `’God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.

26 Anti-abortion groups adopt in-your-face tactics

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press

22 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Anti-abortion activists have recently conducted hidden-camera stings at clinics, put up a billboard declaring abortion the No. 1 threat to blacks, and on Wednesday performed ultrasounds on pregnant women in front of Ohio legislators.

Emboldened by new Republican majorities and a political climate they see as sympathetic, abortion foes are mounting a renewed assault on Roe v. Wade – and employing some in-your-face tactics to do it.

“They’re trying to find a way to reframe this issue, and using this imagery is the way they’re trying to do this,” said Thad Hall, a political scientist at the University of Utah and author of a recent book on abortion politics. “It’s very rational political behavior. There is survey data to suggest that when people see these images, it does affect how they view the viability of the fetus.”

27 Senate sends Obama stopgap GOP spending bill

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

1 hr 15 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday sent President Barack Obama a Republican-drafted stopgap funding bill that trims $4 billion from the budget, completing hastily processed legislation designed to keep partisan divisions from forcing a government shutdown.

Moments later, Obama called on congressional leader to meet with top administration figures including Vice President Joe Biden to discuss a longer-term measure to fund the government through Sept. 30.

“We can find common ground on a budget that makes sure we are living within our means,” Obama said. “This agreement should be bipartisan, it should be free of any party’s social or political agenda, and it should be reached without delay.”

28 Barbour says Obama cheers for higher gas prices

By PHILIP ELLIOTT and DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press

54 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential Republican presidential contender, accused the Obama administration Wednesday of favoring a run-up in gas prices to prod consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars.

Obama administration officials rejected the charge, saying they view rising gasoline prices as bad for average Americans and the economic recovery.

Barbour suggested that President Barack Obama wants to see higher energy taxes that would lead to more expensive gasoline. But his comments came amid a spike in gas prices that has been primarily driven by unrest in the Middle East, particularly Libya, that has diminished crude oil production. That, coupled with increased demand, has pushed prices to almost $3.39 per gallon, according to auto club AAA.

29 Gingrich, Santorum off Fox to consider POTUS run

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

47 mins ago

NEW YORK – Fox News Channel on Wednesday suspended the contracts of on-air contributors Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum for two months as the men explore a possible White House run.

The network, in an on-air announcement by Bret Baier, said Gingrich and Santorum would be dropped by Fox entirely on May 1 unless they notify the network by then that they are not running for president.

As the top-rated news network and one with a big Republican audience, Fox is expected to be a big player in the contest for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Some critics have suggested that frequent exposure on Fox is a big advantage for Republicans seeking the White House.

30 Wis. Schools face deep cuts under gov.’s budget

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press

Wed Mar 2, 9:49 am ET

MADISON, Wis. – Gov. Scott Walker is plowing ahead with his full plan for balancing Wisconsin’s budget, proposing massive cuts to public schools even as he faces a stalemate over his proposal to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights.

With Senate Democrats still missing, Walker presented the second part of his two-year spending plan to the Legislature on Tuesday. It relies on getting concessions from government employees to help pay for about $1 billion cuts in aid to schools, counties and cities while avoiding any tax or fee increases, furloughs or widespread layoffs as lawmakers grapple with a projected $3.6 billion shortfall.

Jamie Domini, a project coordinator at Badger Rock Middle School in Madison, said Walker’s proposal – which includes an 8 percent cut in aid to schools amounting to about $834 million – would “completely gut the public education system in Wisconsin.”

31 AFL-CIO leader: Wisconsin fight energizing unions

By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press

1 hr 33 mins ago

WASHINGTON – In trying to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state workers, Wisconsin’s governor may have unintentionally given the American labor movement the lift it needed after years of decline.

That was the sentiment this week at the annual meeting of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation.

“We’ve never seen the incredible solidarity that we’re seeing right now,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters Tuesday at the federation’s headquarters.

32 Pope exonerates Jews for Jesus’ death in new book

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

27 mins ago

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity in a new book.

In “Jesus of Nazareth-Part II” excerpts released Wednesday, Benedict explains biblically and theologically why there is no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus’ death.

Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

33 Jobs breaks from medical leave to unveil iPad 2

By RACHEL METZ and JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writers

28 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly emerged from his medical leave and walked on stage to a standing ovation Wednesday to unveil the second generation of the popular iPad. It comes with two cameras and will go on sale March 11 in the U.S.

Jobs looked frail as he appeared in his signature black mock turtleneck, blue jeans and wire-rimmed glasses.

“We’ve been working on this product for a while, and I just didn’t want to miss today,” Jobs told an audience that included bloggers and Apple enthusiasts. “Thank you for having me.”

34 Study: 50-year-old with diabetes dies 6 yrs sooner

By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press

31 mins ago

NEW YORK – A 50-year-old with diabetes dies six years sooner than someone without the disease, and not just from a heart attack or a stroke, new research suggests.

The large international effort to measure diabetes’ toll found the disease also raises the risk of dying prematurely from a host of other ailments, even breast cancer and pneumonia.

“It’s quite a wide sweep of conditions,” said Dr. John Danesh of Cambridge University in Britain, who led the team of researchers. While most people think of heart problems, diabetes surprisingly “appears to be associated with a much broader range of health implications than previously suspected.”

35 Militants kill Christian minister in Pakistan

By NAHAL TOOSI and CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press

2 hrs 13 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – Militants gunned down the only Christian in Pakistan’s government outside his widowed mother’s home Wednesday, the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.

Shahbaz Bhatti was aware of the danger he faced, saying in a videotaped message that he had received death threats from al-Qaida and the Taliban. In it, the 42-year-old Roman Catholic said he was “ready to die” for the country’s often persecuted Christian and other non-Muslim minorities.

The slaying in Islamabad followed the killing of Salman Taseer, a liberal politician who was gunned down in the capital by one of his guards. Both men had campaigned to change blasphemy laws in Pakistan that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam and have been loudly defended by Islamist political parties.

36 Paris prosecutors say Galliano to stand trial

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Associated Press

Wed Mar 2, 2:37 pm ET

PARIS – Paris prosecutors on Wednesday ordered John Galliano to stand trial over alleged racial insults – a development welcomed by the famous fashion designer’s attorney, who said his client has been the victim of a “veritable lynching” in the court of public opinion.

The trial could take place between April and June, and Galliano could face up to six months in prison and euro22,500 ($31,000) in fines if convicted, the prosecutors office said in a statement.

Capping a five-day whirlwind of scandal around the designer, the prosecutors said he will face allegations of “public insults based on the origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” against three people.

37 NFL, union exit mediation after 4 hours Wednesday

By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Pro Football Writer

35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A large group of NFL owners and players’ union president Kevin Mawae participated in mediated labor talks for the first time Wednesday, attending a meeting that ended with fewer than 35 hours left until the collective bargaining agreement expires.

The ninth session at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service came on the same day that the league’s 32 team owners were gathering at a hotel about 25 miles away in Chantilly, Va. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and all 10 members of the owners’ labor committee left the mediation after about four hours of talks.

Members of both sides were planning to return later Wednesday evening to resume mediation.

38 Federal researchers declare eastern cougar extinct

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press

1 hr 51 mins ago

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The “ghost cat” is just that.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday declared the eastern cougar to be extinct, confirming a widely held belief among wildlife biologists that native populations of the big cat were wiped out by man a century ago.

After a lengthy review, federal officials concluded there are no breeding populations of cougars – also known as pumas, panthers, mountain lions and catamounts – in the eastern United States. Researchers believe the eastern cougar subspecies has probably been extinct since the 1930s.

39 Calif. AG latest to seek resumption of gay unions

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press

Wed Mar 2, 6:35 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO – The state’s top attorney has dealt another setback for seekers of gay marriage bans with her request to allow the unions to resume immediately in California, the latest in a string of about-faces siding with same-sex couples.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris’ request Tuesday to an appeals court considering the constitutionality of California’s gay marriage ban comes a week after the Obama administration said it would no longer defend a federal law that prohibits the U.S. from recognizing gay unions.

Together, the two actions represent a blow to opponents of gay marriage, as well as to Proposition 8, the voter-approved initiative that banned the unions in California in 2008.

40 Fire chief unaware of gas line before explosion

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

43 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Until a deadly explosion south of San Francisco last year, local firefighters had no idea there was a large gas transmission pipeline underneath their town – a recurring problem in pipeline accidents, federal safety officials said Wednesday.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which owned the line, did not tell the San Bruno fire department about it or provide a map with its location, the town’s fire chief, Dennis Haag, told a National Transportation Safety Board hearing Wednesday. Gas company training materials provided to the fire department were generic, he said.

Haag acknowledged his department hadn’t made use of a federal website that provides first responders with maps of gas lines in their community.

41 Court hears argument over post-9/11 arrest

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press

2 hrs 1 min ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Wednesday considered whether to allow former Attorney General John Ashcroft to be sued for an American Muslim’s post-Sept. 11 arrest and detention using a law intended to make sure witnesses testify in criminal proceedings, a move a couple of justices worried could have a profound effect in how federal prosecutors fight crime.

Lower court judges have come down on opposite sides about whether an arrest under a material witness warrant like the one used on Abdullah al-Kidd in 2003 is constitutional. Making prosecutors financially liable in that situation might be unfair to them when they have to make high-pressure decisions on how to fight crime and terrorism, Chief Justice John Roberts said.

“And that type of burden is particularly heavy when you’re talking about if they guess wrong, it comes out of their pocket,” Roberts said. “And if I’m the officer in that situation, I say, well, I’m just not going to run the risk of, you know, having to sell the house because I agreed with” the losing side in a judicial opinion.

42 Man says he had no plan to harm drilling auction

By CHI-CHI ZHANG, Associated Press

2 hrs 8 mins ago

SALT LAKE CITY – A Utah man hailed as a symbol of opposition to U.S. oil and gas drilling policy told a federal jury Wednesday that he had no advance plan to thwart a government auction where he won $1.7 million in leases he couldn’t afford.

Tim DeChristopher took the stand in his own defense and said he felt compelled to take stronger action at the 2008 auction than the protesters who had gathered outside. He said it looked like he could only get into the auction – the last one of the Bush administration – if he was a bidder.

“I didn’t have any intent to do anything inside the auction at that point. My impression was that I had to sign up,” he said.

Mar 02 2011

from firefly-dreaming 2.3.11

(midnight. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Regular Daily Features:

  • Depeche Mode are in the spotlight at Late Night Karaoke, mishima DJs
  • Six Brilliant Articles! from Six Different Places!! on Six Different Topics!!!

                    Six Days a Week!!!    at Six in the Morning!!!!

Essays Featured Wednesday, March 2nd:

Mar 02 2011

A Union Victory

Now you may have a personal problem with Players Unions because your small market loser Owners are too cheap to field a competitive team.

That’s a problem with your Owners, not your players.

The fact is that a professional sports franchise is not a profit making business, it’s a Billionaire Bauble like the Planes and Yachts and Office Towers and the collection of Faberge Eggs, a pure expression of conspicuous consumption to prove that your penis is bigger.

But, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Owners want to pretend there’s some kind of “budget problem”; not so they can actually make money, they don’t need the money, but so they can demean and oppress their serfs.  Nothing says penis power like slaves.

On the other hand you have the players who make sums that seem princely until you consider the shortness of their careers and the lifetime physical damage they suffer.

I think a professional sports player is entitled to every dime they can extort based solely on the fact that they provide original entertainment in a way that our so-called “creative class” no longer can.  When was the last time you watched TV or a movie where you couldn’t predict the end in 5 minutes?  Even predictability has become a cliche, as even Philip J. Fry (not the most perspicacious critic) puts it-

It was just a matter of knowing the secret of all television: at the end of the episode, everything is back to normal.

Which is why I’m gratified to read news like this-

Federal Judge Favors NFL Union Over Owners In TV Dispute

DAVE CAMPBELL, Huffington Post

03/ 2/11 03:16 AM

Writing that the NFL enhanced “long-term interests at the expense of its present obligations,” U.S. District Judge David Doty overturned a special master’s ruling and backed the NFL Players Associaton’s claim that the league illegally secured a potential $4 billion revenue stream for 2011 to wield against the union as lockout protection.

…

In his ruling, the judge also revealed previously confidential details of NFL TV contracts and said that the league “consistently characterized gaining control over labor as a short-term objective and maximizing revenue as a long-term objective … advancing its negotiating position at the expense of using best efforts to maximize total revenues for the joint benefit of the NFL and the Players.”

Doty said at least three networks expressed “some degree of resistance to the lockout payments” and that the NFL “characterized network opposition to lockout provisions to be a deal breaker.” He also wrote that DirecTV would have considered paying more in 2009 and 2010 to make the lockout provision disappear.

His decision revealed that DirecTV, in fact, would pay up to 9 percent more to the NFL if no games are played in 2011 than if they go on as scheduled. Of the total amount payable if there is a canceled season, 42 percent of DirecTV’s fee is nonrefundable.

Load more