Dec 01 2010

On This Day in History: December 1

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.

December 1 is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 30 days remaining until the end of the year

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On this day in 1990, the Chunnel makes breakthrough. Shortly after 11 a.m. on December 1, 1990, 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill an opening the size of a car through a wall of rock. This was no ordinary hole–it connected the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000 years.

The Channel Tunnel, or “Chunnel,” was not a new idea. It had been suggested to Napoleon Bonaparte, in fact, as early as 1802. It wasn’t until the late 20th century, though, that the necessary technology was developed. In 1986, Britain and France signed a treaty authorizing the construction of a tunnel running between Folkestone, England, and Calais, France.

The Channel Tunnel (French: Le tunnel sous la Manche), (also informally known as the Chunnel) is a 50.5-kilometre (31.4 mi) undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent near Dover in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 75 metres (250 ft) deep. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), the Channel Tunnel possesses the second longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. The Seikan Tunnel in Japan is both longer overall at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 mi), and deeper at 240 metres (790 ft) below sea level.

The tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, Eurotunnel Shuttle roll-on/roll-off vehicle transport-the largest in the world-and international rail freight trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines. In 1996 the American Society of Civil Engineers identified the tunnel as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over compromised national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. However, the eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. The project came in 80% over its predicted budget. Since its construction, the tunnel has faced several problems. Fires have disrupted operation of the tunnel. Illegal immigrants and asylum seekers have attempted to use the tunnel to enter Britain, causing a minor diplomatic disagreement over the siting of the Sangatte refugee camp, which was eventually closed in 2002.

 800 – Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.

1420 – Henry V of England enters Paris.

1821 – The first constitution of Costa Rica is issued.

1822 – Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.

1824 – U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate had received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1826 – French philhellene Charles Nicolas Fabvier forces his way through the Turkish cordon and ascends the Acropolis of Athens, which had been under siege.

1834 – Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

1864 – In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.

1913 – Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Buenos Aires Subway starts operating, it`s the first underground railway system in the southern hemisphere and in Latin America

1913 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.

1913 – Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.

1918 – Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28).

1918 – Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.

1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.

1919 – Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (she had been elected to that position on November 28).

1925 – World War I aftermath: The final Locarno Treaty is signed in London, establishing post-war territorial settlements.

1934 – In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead by Leonid Nikolayev at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad.

1941 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.

1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgenson, the first notable case of sexual reassignment surgery.

1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1958 – The Central African Republic becomes independent from France.

1958 – The Our Lady of the Angels School Fire in Chicago, Illinois, kills 92 children and three nuns.

1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.

1960 – Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.

1961 – The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.

1963 – Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India.

1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.

1964 – Malawi, Malta and Zambia join the United Nations.

1965 – The Border Security Force is formed in India as a special force to guard the borders.

1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.

1971 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.

1971 – The Indian Army recaptures part of Kashmir occupied forcibly by Pakistan.

1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.

1976 – Angola joins the United Nations.

1981 – The AIDS virus is officially recognized.

1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

1988 – Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.

1989 – 1989 Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d’etat.

1989 – Cold War: East Germany’s parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state.

1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed.

1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

2001 – Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA’s purchase by American Airlines.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast day:

         o Castritian

         o Eligius

         o Nicholas Ferrar (Episcopal Church (United States))

   * Damrong Rajanubhab Day (Thailand)

   * Military Abolition Day (Costa Rica)

   * National Day (Myanmar)

   * National Transit Tribute to Rosa Parks Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Public_Transportation_Association American Public Transportation Association])

   * of Independence or Restauracao da Independencia (Portugal)

   * Union Day (Romania)

   * World AIDS Day (International)

Dec 01 2010

Just Give Them the Keys, Mr. Obama

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Obama promises more outreach to GOP

From Ed Henry, CNN

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama told GOP leaders behind closed doors Tuesday that he had failed to reach across party lines enough during his first two years in office, a senior administration official told CNN.

Between this sell out and having OFA asking workers to write letters supporting a Federal wage freeze, he may as well just give the GOP the key to the executive mansion and go back to Chicago.

h/t Atrios

Dec 01 2010

Prime Time

Two Holiday classics, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff!) and Rudolph (Burl Ives).  Also Rockefeller Center.  Yippie!

Well, I don’t have anything to say, you’ve done the best you could. You really have, the best you could. You can’t expect to win em all. But, I want to tell you something I’ve kept to myself through these years. I was in the war myself, medical corps. I was on late duty one night when they brought in a badly wounded pilot from one of the raids. He could barely talk. He looked at me and said, “The odds were against us up there, but we went in anyway, I’m glad the Captain made the right decision.” The pilot’s name was George Zip.

George Zip said that?

The last thing he said to me, “Doc,” he said, “some time when the crew is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they got and win just one for the Zipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Doc,” he said, “but I won’t smell too good, that’s for sure.”

Later-

Dave in repeats (11/4).  Jon has Susan Casey, Stephen Tom Vilsack.  Conan hosts Charles Barkley, Drew Pinsky, and Bo Burnham.

Boondocks– The Story of Gangstalicious

You’d better tell the Captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

A hospital? What is it?

It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.

Dec 01 2010

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Ending gay ban poses little risk to military: Pentagon

AFP

2 hrs 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Pentagon study released Tuesday said ending a ban on gay soldiers serving openly would create no serious problem for the US military and that a “solid majority” of troops expressed no objection to the change.

The study, which the White House hopes will pave the way for Congress to lift the ban, concluded the risk “to overall military effectiveness is low” if the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is repealed.

“We are both convinced that our military can do this, even during this time of war,” wrote the report’s authors, General Carter Ham, and the Pentagon’s top legal adviser, Jeh Johnson.

2 Haiti ruling party acknowledges possible poll defeat

by Clarens Renois, AFP

1 hr 49 mins ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haiti’s ruling party acknowledged possible defeat on Tuesday in pivotal general elections, raising hopes of a peaceful power transfer in the quake-hit and cholera-gripped nation.

Widespread fraud allegations following Sunday’s polls had added to the climate of intimidation and fear that persists in Haiti, a Caribbean nation whose recent past was plagued by dictatorship and violent political upheaval.

Election results are not due to be announced for weeks, but an unexpectedly candid admission from the ruling INITE (Unity) party that it may have lost the polls mustered belief that a real political shift could be imminent.

3 Monitors give Haiti elections the green light

by Stephane Jourdain, AFP

Mon Nov 29, 6:45 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – International election monitors declared Haiti’s vital post-quake elections valid Monday, while two leading presidential candidates rowed back on allegations the polls had been rigged.

Gripped by cholera and traumatized by January’s earthquake, Haiti faced the specter of political unrest on Sunday when 12 of the 18 candidates cried foul before polls had closed. Thousands of protesters took to the streets.

On Monday, longtime opposition leader and pre-election favorite Mirlande Manigat and popular musician Michel Martelly, another leading candidate, dramatically reversed their calls for the polls to be scrapped.

4 US limits cable access after leak humiliation

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

42 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday cut off the military’s access to some sensitive diplomatic messages after a massive leak embarrassed and outraged governments around the world.

China demanded action and Russia’s spy agency indicated it was eager to hunt for secrets after the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks obtained thousands of classified US cables — apparently from a disgruntled US soldier.

The State Department said it had temporarily suspended the Pentagon’s access to some of its correspondence, halting a trend to greater information sharing within the US government launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

5 US slams WikiLeaks ‘attack’ as new memos drop

by Lachlan Carmichael, AFP

Mon Nov 29, 8:00 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Top US diplomat Hillary Clinton on Monday accused WikiLeaks of an “attack” on the world as key American allies were left red-faced by embarrassing revelations in a vast trove of leaked memos.

Meanwhile new diplomatic cables continued to trickle out, including one saying Iran’s supreme leader has cancer and will be dead “within months” and another saying that China would eventually accept a reunited Korea.

In a lengthy statement, the secretary of state had attempted to limit the damage as she told reporters the United States “deeply regrets” the release of the 250,000 diplomatic cables, all apparently from the State Department.

6 WikiLeaks under new pressure on cable dump

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

Tue Nov 30, 12:51 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – WikiLeaks came under intense pressure Tuesday after its mass dump of sensitive US documents, with China demanding action, the website facing cyber attack and a defector announcing a rival site.

Two days after the whistle-blower website began releasing a trove of files, signs emerged that more damaging disclosures were on the way with officials saying WikiLeaks had thousands of cables on the sensitive US role in Taiwan.

China warned against “any disturbance to China-US relations” after leaked cables indicated that Beijing was frustrated with longtime ally North Korea and may accept its collapse and absorption by the US-backed South.

7 WikiLeaks faces prosecution calls as backlash mounts

AFP

Tue Nov 30, 10:58 am ET

PARIS (AFP) – The founder of WikiLeaks faced calls for his prosecution on Tuesday as governments around the world closed ranks against the whistleblowing webist over its mass release of secret US diplomatic cables.

Japan echoed its key ally the United States in describing the leaks as “criminal” and said governments alone had the right to decide on the release of sensitive documents.

But WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, who defended the decision to reveal some 250,000 diplomatic cables, found support from leftist governments in South America, including an offer for sanctuary as the backlash widened.

8 Medvedev warns West of new arms race

by Dmitry Zaks, AFP

Tue Nov 30, 1:12 pm ET

MOSCOW (AFP) – President Dmitry Medvedev warned Tuesday that failure by Russia and the West to agree on a new missile shield for Europe could spark an arms race that would see Moscow deploy new weapons systems.

The stark warning from a president, who has a history of taking a softer line on Western policy, came during a wide-ranging state-of-the-nation address that Medvedev primarily devoted to domestic issues.

But he diverged briefly into foreign affairs to present the West with a choice — either work with Russia on missile defence or face the consequences.

9 Eurozone debt crisis deepens

AFP

1 hr 56 mins ago

PARIS (AFP) – The financial cloud hanging over the eurozone darkened Tuesday, with the euro falling and Italy hit by rising borrowing rates as EU measures to control sovereign debt left investors uncertain and anxious.

The euro fell under 1.30 dollars for the first time since mid-September, dropping at one point to 1.2969 dollars from 1.3121 dollars late Monday. The single currency later edged back up to 1.2982 dollars.

Upward pressure intensified on 10-year borrowing rates for countries seen at risk of needing a rescue after Greece and Ireland, with attention focused on Spain, a potentially much bigger problem for the EU.

10 Euro plunges to two-month low under 1.30 dollars

AFP

Tue Nov 30, 10:14 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – The euro sank under 1.30 dollars and bond rates rose on Tuesday when the eurozone debt crisis raged on unabated by Ireland’s bailout analysts said, but stock markets mostly rose.

In mid-morning London trading, the euro slid to 1.2999 dollars — the lowest point since September 16. It later stood at 1.3000 dollars, which compared with 1.3121 dollars late in New York on Monday.

The dollar fell to 83.98 yen from 84.25 yen on Monday.

11 Rate rises spread eurozone drama to Spain, Italy

AFP

Tue Nov 30, 7:21 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – The euro plunged and eurozone debt pressure rose again on Tuesday amid warnings that pricing eurozone debt is now so risky that funds may desert countries exposed after Ireland, such as Portugal and Spain.

The euro dropped under 1.30 dollars on Tuesday for the first time since mid-September to 1.2999 dollars — the lowest point since September 16.

The upward pressure on 10-year borrowing rates for countries seen as at risk of needing a rescue, after Greece and Ireland, rose, with particular attention focused on Spain because the size of its economy puts it in a far bigger problem category

12 More corruption claims mar World Cup race

by Peter Capella, AFP

1 hr 55 mins ago

ZURICH (AFP) – More claims of graft in world football marred the final stages of the race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups on Tuesday, as Olympic chiefs vowed to probe one of their own officials caught up in the allegations.

The renewed allegations and action by the International Olympic Committee failed to dampen an intense lobbying drive by British prime minister David Cameron in Zurich to woo support for England’s 2018 bid ahead of Thursday’s vote.

But a spokesman for Vladimir Putin said that the Russian premier would follow in his rival’s steps, as officials from Russia 2018 suggested that the members of the FIFA executive committee had already made up their mind.

13 New graft claims overshadow World Cup vote build-up

by Peter Capella, AFP

Tue Nov 30, 12:37 pm ET

ZURICH (AFP) – More corruption claims dogged FIFA on Tuesday, only two days before it picks the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, as Olympics chiefs vowed to probe one of their own officials caught up in the allegations.

As prime ministers and royalty headed for the Swiss city of Zurich ahead of Thursday’s two announcements, fresh media allegations even prompted a call for football’s world governing body to postpone the decision.

And Russia, one of the frontrunners to stage the 2018 tournament, railed against the move to award two tournaments in one go, saying it encouraged collusion.

14 Finnish vineyards use creativity, not grapes, for wine

by Aira-Katariina Vehaskari, AFP

Tue Nov 30, 12:03 pm ET

MARIEHAMN, Finland (AFP) – Can a near-Arctic island in a wind-scoured archipelago known for beer and herring produce drinkable wine without grapes?

Yes, says 72-year-old Ingmar Eriksson, the proprietor of Tjudoe Vineyard in the autonomous Finnish province of Aaland, where the wine is made from apples and served with slabs of ostrich steak.

And he is not alone.

15 Time for compromise, troubled UN climate talks told

by Richard Ingham, AFP

Mon Nov 29, 7:25 pm ET

CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) – A new round of UN climate talks got under way on Monday to appeals for action and compromise after the squabbles that drove last year’s global summit in Copenhagen close to disaster.

“A richer tapestry of efforts is needed,” UN climate chief Christiana Figueres warned, as she spelt out the tasks facing the 12-day conference in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

“A tapestry of holes will not work — and the holes can only be filled in through compromise.”

16 Negotiators get down to details at UN climate talks

by Richard Ingham, AFP

Tue Nov 30, 1:01 pm ET

CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) – Negotiators got down to the nitty-gritty on the second day of the world climate talks on Tuesday, grappling for a breakthrough on half a dozen issues that will revive the battered UN process.

By December 10, the 12-day gathering hopes to kickstart operational work after a year in which political interest in climate change has all but dropped off the map.

“The discussions yesterday were generally good, but there are holes,” said Nina Jamal of Indyact, a watchdog on green and social issues.

17 Japan Airlines rehabilitation plan approved by court

AFP

Tue Nov 30, 7:38 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Struggling Japan Airlines (JAL) on Tuesday said it had won approval from the Tokyo district court for a rehabilitation plan that will see thousands of job cuts, route closures and a debt waiver.

“The court today formally approved the restructuring plan,” said Hideo Seto, president of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. (ETIC), which is charged with leading the restructuring process.

“With the approval of the plan, we have built the foundation to create a new Japan Airlines,” he told a press conference.

18 Military study gives green light to end gay ban

By Phil Stewart and Ross Colvin, Reuters

52 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon unveiled a study on Tuesday that played down the impact of ending the military’s ban on gays, but worries among generals about the fallout on troops fighting abroad could delay action.

The results of the study dismissed or minimized concerns raised in Congress and some quarters of the military about President Barack Obama’s plans to repeal the 17-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — hopefully by the end of the year.

“We are both convinced that our military can do this, even during this time of war,” concluded study authors Army General Carter Ham and Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson.

19 Obama and Republicans agree to negotiate on taxes

By Jeff Mason, Reuters

2 hrs 35 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he still disagreed with Republicans on whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, but the two sides agreed to negotiate a deal in the coming days.

Obama said he appointed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and budget director Jack Lew to work with congressional Republicans and Democrats to come up with a compromise to prevent broad tax increases from occurring next year.

“We should work to make sure that taxes will not go up by thousands of dollars on hard-working middle-class Americans come January 1, which would be disastrous for those families but also could be crippling for the economy,” Obama told reporters after a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House.

20 Senate passes overhaul of food safety system

By Charles Abbott, Reuters

2 hrs 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate passed the largest overhaul of the U.S. food safety system in decades on Tuesday, a response to massive recalls such as last summer’s recall of half a billion eggs in a salmonella outbreak.

The Senate voted 73-25 to pass the bill. The House of Representatives backed a different version in July 2009. With their post-election session due to end by mid-December, lawmakers have just weeks to resolve their differences and send legislation to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

“I urge the House — which has previously passed legislation demonstrating its strong commitment to making our food supply safer — to act quickly on this critical bill, and I applaud the work that was done to ensure its broad bipartisan passage in the Senate,” Obama said in a statement.

21 Secretary of State Clinton pushes Central Asia on human rights

By Andrew Quinn, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 1:41 pm ET

ASTANA (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed Central Asian governments on Tuesday to expand democratic freedoms, saying countries which quash human rights only make themselves less competitive on the global stage.

Launching a tour amid uproar over the leak of a huge cache of classified U.S. diplomatic cables by a whistleblower website, Clinton also said she was committed to Internet freedom.

She said it was important that “governments don’t overreact” to information that they do not like being aired in public.

22 Euro zone periphery hammered as default fears rise

By Rex Merrifield, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 12:59 pm ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone’s debt crisis deepened on Tuesday, with investors pushing the single currency lower and the spreads on peripheral bonds up to new highs amid concern weak member states may ultimately be forced to default.

European policymakers came out in force to try to calm markets, with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warning that pundits were underestimating the determination of governments to keep the euro zone stable.

But markets paid little attention, pressuring Portugal, Spain and Italy only days after the EU agreed to an 85 billion euro ($110.7 billion) bailout for Ireland.

23 Pressure mounts on Portugal’s Socrates over crisis

By Andrei Khalip, Reuters

2 hrs 14 mins ago

LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese unions backed away from confrontation with the government on Tuesday over austerity plans it sees as vital to avoiding an international bailout.

Union leaders said they wanted to talk to Prime Minister Jose Socrates over their worries rather than take to the streets. A general strike last week paralyzed public transport and shut down many services.

Their words were a glimmer of good news for Socrates, who says the austerity measures can succeed in pulling Portugal out of its debt crisis even though many economists and investors believe a bailout is inevitable.

24 Trichet welcomes clarity on euro zone default plans

By John O’Donnell, Reuters

2 hrs 49 mins ago

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on Tuesday welcomed Europe’s decision to mirror the IMF’s approach to private investors in sovereign defaults and attacked talk of currency wars.

Europe has softened its tone on private investor involvement in any possible future default in recent days, saying it will follow the example of the International Monetary Fund rather than putting in place an automatic process.

“I had called upon governments to clarify their position and avoid ambiguity vis-a-vis investors, savers and market participants,” Trichet said at an European Parliament hearing.

25 Analysis: Is euro zone running out of time on debt crisis?

By Luke Baker, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 9:59 am ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone debt crisis is moving at such a pace, with pressure now mounting on several countries simultaneously, that European Union institutions may find it impossible to get ahead of the markets.

After Greece’s deficit and debt problems emerged in late 2009, there were five months of steadily rising Greek sovereign bond yields and efforts by EU officials to contain the threat before a 110 billion euro ($140 billion) bailout was arranged.

The lag was understandable because the EU had never had to deal with such a crisis since the euro’s introduction in 1999. Once a rescue mechanism was agreed for Athens, it was only a matter of days before the funds were disbursed.

26 Ireland deal to take time to calm markets: IMF

By Martina Fuchs, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 8:00 am ET

DUBAI (Reuters) – The deal to bail out Ireland from its debt crisis will take time to reverse market momentum, but growth is likely to return in the short term, the IMF’s first deputy managing director said on Tuesday.

The extension of Ireland’s deadline for plugging its budget black hole is also a positive step but the challenge to stabilize the country’s financial system remain.

“It isn’t just a matter of showing that banks are adequately capitalized. You have to show that they have adequate access to funding,” John Lipsky told Reuters Insider.

27 Russia’s Medvedev warns of new arms race

By Steve Gutterman, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 9:21 am ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Tuesday that a new arms race would erupt within the next decade unless Russia and the West forged an agreement to cooperate on building a missile defense system.

In his annual state of the nation address, Medvedev called for closer cooperation with the United States and the European Union, holding out the prospect of closer ties two decades after the Soviet Union’s collapse ended the Cold War.

He said tension would ratchet up fast, forcing Russia to bolster its military arsenal, if Western offers of cooperation on a system to defend against missile threats failed to produce a concrete agreement.

28 WTO’s Lamy says final Doha countdown has begun

By Jonathan Lynn, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 9:55 am ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Political leaders want negotiators to deliver them a global trade deal next year and the clock has started ticking on intensified talks, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said the G20 and APEC summits this month had signaled they wanted the nine-year-old Doha round concluded and 2011 was a window of opportunity.

“We have the political signal, we have the technical expertise and we have the work program,” Lamy told a WTO meeting called to review the state of the Doha talks.

29 China postpones Norway talks as Nobel tensions rise

By Gwladys Fouche and Walter Gibbs, Reuters

Tue Nov 30, 8:07 am ET

OSLO (Reuters) – Norway said on Tuesday that China had indefinitely postponed bilateral trade talks in what experts said was an escalation of tension ahead of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honoring Chinese rights activist Liu Xiaobo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee angered Beijing last month by awarding the Nobel to Liu, who is serving an 11-year jail term on subversion charges for his role in advocating democratic reform and an end to the Communist party’s power monopoly.

The Asian superpower has snubbed Norwegian ministers and pressured diplomats to boycott the December 10 award ceremony, set to focus the world’s media spotlight on human rights in China.

30 North Americans get plenty of calcium, D: report

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

Tue Nov 30, 2:30 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most people in the United States and Canada get plenty of vitamin D and calcium, and may damage their health by taking too many supplements, experts advised on Tuesday.

While both are important for healthy bones, North Americans may be confused about how much they need, the Institute of Medicine committee said.

Contrary to popular wisdom, many Americans and Canadians get plenty of vitamin D from the sun and do not need extra supplements to keep their bones strong, the expert panel advised.

31 Obama proposes freeze in federal worker pay

By Caren Bohan, Reuters

Mon Nov 29, 10:48 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama proposed a two-year freeze on Monday on the pay of federal workers and vowed to work with Republicans to cut the ballooning U.S. budget deficit.

The pay freeze is part of Obama’s efforts to push back against Republicans, who have labeled the president and his Democrats as big spenders while taking aim at his policies such as an $814 billion economic stimulus package and healthcare reform.

The White House estimates the pay freeze would save about $2 billion in the current 2011 fiscal year and $28 billion over five years. It would require congressional approval.

32 Pentagon study dismisses risk of openly gay troops

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press

23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon’s study on gays in the military has determined that overturning the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on serving openly might cause some disruption at first but would not create widespread or long-lasting problems.

The study provides ammunition to congressional Democrats struggling to overturn the law. But even with the release of Tuesday’s report, there is no indication they can overcome fierce Republican objections with just a few weeks left in this year’s postelection congressional session.

Still, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said Congress should act quickly because of a recent effort by a federal judge to overturn the law.

33 Obama, GOP promise to work on differences on taxes

By JIM KUHNHENN and DAVID ESPO, Associated Press

1 hr 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Seeking greater cooperation but with no quick fixes in sight, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans vowed on Tuesday to work toward resolving their sharply different views about tax cuts before year’s end.

“The American people did not vote for gridlock,” Obama said following their meeting at the White House. “They did not vote for unyielding partisanship. They’re demanding cooperation and they’re demanding progress, and they’ll hold all of us, and I mean all of us, accountable.”

There was no consensus on whether to keep Bush-era tax cuts in place for the middle class and wealthy alike. But the eight bipartisan congressional leaders and the president agreed to try to break through their differences by appointing a working group to negotiate a tax cut agreement in short order.

34 Wary meeting: Obama, GOP leaders pledge tax talks

By DAVID ESPO and JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

30 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Heralding a new era of divided government, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans pledged warily to seek common ground on tax cuts and reduced spending Tuesday in their first meeting since tumultuous midterm elections.

Obama also made a strong plea to Senate Republicans to permit ratification of a new arms control treaty with Russia by year’s end, raising the issue first in a session in the White House’s Roosevelt Room and then in a follow-up meeting without aides present, officials said.

No substantive agreements on essential year-end legislation emerged from the session, and none had been expected. Instead, the meeting was a classic capital blend of substance and style, offering a chance for Obama, House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell to become more comfortable in one another’s presence.

35 Senate shuns push for elimination of pet projects

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

25 mins ago

WASHINGTON – By a sizable – but dwindling – margin, the Senate on Tuesday voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to keep stocking bills with home-state projects like roads, grants to local police departments and clean-water projects.

But with the House set to tumble into GOP hands and anti-earmark reinforcements coming to the Senate in January, the window seems to be closing on the practice.

Tuesday’s 39-56 tally rejected a GOP bid to ban the practice of loading spending bills with so-called earmarks – those parochial provisions that lawmakers deliver to their states – but it appears the curtain is coming down on the practice.

36 GOP senators signal progress on nuclear treaty

By DONNA CASSATA, Associated Press

27 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Republicans reluctant to quickly ratify a nuclear weapons deal with Russia said Tuesday the Obama administration had addressed some of their concerns, raising the prospect for Senate approval of the landmark treaty.

President Barack Obama has insisted that completion of the treaty is a national security imperative and he argued for the pact at a White House meeting with congressional leaders on Tuesday.

“We need to get it done,” Obama told reporters after the morning session.

37 AP Enterprise: Guards shown watching inmate attack

By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press

12 mins ago

BOISE, Idaho – The surveillance video from the overhead cameras shows Hanni Elabed being beaten by a fellow inmate in an Idaho prison, managing to bang on a prison guard station window, pleading for help. Behind the glass, correctional officers look on, but no one intervenes when Elabed is knocked unconscious.

No one steps into the cellblock when the attacker sits down to rest, and no one stops him when he resumes the beating.

Videos of the attack obtained by The Associated Press show officers watching the beating for several minutes. The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Center uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates or risk being moved to extremely violent units.

38 Senate passes bill to boost food safety

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

Tue Nov 30, 1:56 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Senate passed legislation Tuesday to make food safer in the wake of deadly E. coli and salmonella outbreaks, potentially giving the government broad new powers to increase inspections of food processing facilities and force companies to recall tainted food.

The $1.4 billion bill, which would also place stricter standards on imported foods, passed the Senate 73-25. Supporters say passage is critical after widespread outbreaks in peanuts, eggs and produce.

Those outbreaks have exposed a lack of resources and authority at the FDA as the embattled agency struggled to contain and trace the contaminated products. The agency rarely inspects many food facilities and farms, visiting some every decade or so and others not at all.

39 Home prices falling faster in most metro areas

By JANNA HERRON and MICHELLE CONLIN, AP Real Estate Writers

59 mins ago

NEW YORK – Millions of foreclosures and weak demand from buyers are forcing home prices down in most major U.S. cities.

Prices are falling even in places like San Francisco and San Diego, which had posted strong increases just a few months ago. Analysts say many markets won’t improve until they see fewer foreclosures and more job gains.

“Unemployment is still high, people are afraid of losing their homes and credit is hard to get,” said Maureen Maitland, vice president of Standard & Poor’s indices.

40 Report: A bit more vitamin D is good, not too much

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

Tue Nov 30, 7:54 am ET

WASHINGTON – Got milk? You may need a couple cups more than today’s food labels say to get enough vitamin D for strong bones. But don’t go overboard: Long-awaited new dietary guidelines say there’s no proof that megadoses prevent cancer or other ailments – sure to frustrate backers of the so-called sunshine vitamin.

The decision by the prestigious Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, could put some brakes on the nation’s vitamin D craze, warning that super-high levels could be risky.

“More is not necessarily better,” cautioned Dr. Joann Manson of Harvard Medical School, who co-authored the Institute of Medicine’s report being released Tuesday.

41 EU launches antitrust probe into Google

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER, AP Business Writer

2 hrs 43 mins ago

BRUSSELS – European Union regulators will probe whether Google Inc. has been manipulating its search results to stifle competition, funnel more traffic to its own services and protect its global stranglehold of the online search market.

The European Commission’s move, announced Tuesday, is the first formal investigation by a major regulatory agency into these issues and could potentially result in billions in fines, as in the recent cases of Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

Several competitors, one owned by Microsoft, say that links to their services appear too low on Google’s general search results. They also claim that when Google offers similar services, such as online price comparison, it puts its own links higher on the sponsored search results, the ones companies have to pay for.

42 WikiLeaks release sparks alarm over diplomacy

By DAN PERRY, Associated Press

Tue Nov 30, 1:40 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Is diplomacy in danger?

The torrent of condemnation heaped on WikiLeaks from around the globe did suggest a widespread sense – among government officials, but also among the sometimes more jaded observer and analyst class – that in releasing U.S. diplomatic documents the group crossed a dangerous line.

The prime minister of Israel, a man hardly accustomed to representing global consensus, on Monday found himself in lockstep with most of his peers as he warned that statecraft itself was imperiled by a reality in which no secret is safe if it is written.

43 China bars US official from American’s appeal

By CHARLES HUTZLER, Associated Press

Tue Nov 30, 6:22 am ET

BEIJING – A Beijing appeals court barred U.S. diplomats from attending a hearing Tuesday for an American geologist sentenced to eight years in prison for obtaining information on China’s oil industry that the government says are state secrets.

The two-hour-plus hearing in the case of Xue Feng ended without a judgment. He and his lawyer argued the government wrongly applied its broad powers to classify as secrets information that should be commonly available, said the lawyer, Tong Wei.

Outside the Beijing High People’s Court, a senior U.S. Embassy official called for Xue’s release and return to the U.S. and fumed about the court’s decision to exclude American diplomats.

44 Conn. high court hears immigrant-benefits case

By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press

42 mins ago

HARTFORD, Conn. – A lawyer for 4,800 legal immigrants in Connecticut urged the state’s highest court Tuesday to strike down a state law aimed at taking away taxpayer-funded medical benefits from their impoverished clients.

The case follows similar legal fights in other states where courts have ruled that it is unconstitutional under equal protection rights to deny Medicaid coverage to legal immigrants while providing the coverage to citizens with similar health and economic problems.

The Connecticut Supreme Court didn’t immediately rule on the matter Tuesday. A decision could take months.

45 Mexican chief hopes Republicans change on climate

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

Tue Nov 30, 2:09 am ET

CANCUN, Mexico – Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he can understand why U.S. voters in an economic crisis turned to the opposition party, but he hopes the Republicans will eventually accept the need to protect the planet’s climate for “new generations.”

“I hope they can realize sooner or later how important it is for the future,” Calderon said Monday.

At the same time, in an implicit criticism of China, the Mexican leader also spoke of poorer nations taking a “radical” position against any legally binding commitments to rein in their emissions of carbon dioxide and other industrial, transport and agricultural gases blamed for global warming, something he said Mexico is willing to do.

46 Swastika case another race issue for NM town

By TIM KORTE, Associated Press

Mon Nov 29, 9:48 pm ET

FARMINGTON, N.M. – Three friends had just finished their shifts at a McDonald’s when prosecutors say they carried out a gruesome attack on a customer: They allegedly shaped a coat hanger into a swastika, placed it on a heated stove and branded the symbol on the arm of the mentally disabled Navajo man.

Authorities say they then shaved a swastika on the back of the 22-year-old victim’s head and used markers to scrawl messages and images on his body, including “KKK,” `’White Power,” a pentagram and a graphic image of a penis.

The men have become the first in the nation to be charged under a new law that makes it easier for the federal government to prosecute people for hate crimes.

47 Dem state lawmakers defecting to GOP post-election

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press

Mon Nov 29, 9:47 pm ET

ATLANTA – Staggering Election Day losses are not the Democratic Party’s final indignity this year. At least 13 state lawmakers in five states have defected to Republican ranks since the Nov. 2 election, adding to already huge GOP gains in state legislatures. And that number could grow as next year’s legislative sessions draw near.

The defections underscore dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party – particularly in the South – and will give Republicans a stronger hand in everything from pushing a conservative fiscal and social agenda to redrawing political maps.

In Alabama, four Democrats announced last week they were joining the GOP, giving Republicans a supermajority in the House that allows them to pass legislation without any support from the other party. The party switch of a Democratic lawmaker from New Orleans handed control of Louisiana’s House to Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction.

48 Governors seek ‘road map’ for N. Rockies wolves

By BEN NEARY and MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

Mon Nov 29, 7:59 pm ET

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – After years of legal wrangling over wolf management, the Obama administration and three governors on Monday discussed crafting an end-game – including whether Congress should pull the plug on the debate by declaring the animals’ numbers have fully recovered in the Northern Rockies.

The federal government has been turned back twice in its efforts to get wolves off the endangered species list. Success would open the door to public hunting – something the governors of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming say is badly needed to keep the predators’ expanding population in check.

All three states are anxious to reduce wolf numbers to protect other wildlife and reduce livestock attacks.

49 N.O. officer says he burned body after Katrina

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

Mon Nov 29, 7:50 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans police officer on trial for burning the body of a man who was fatally shot by a different officer testified Monday that he set the fire because he didn’t want to let another corpse rot in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

“I was exposed to so much death, so many bodies,” said Officer Gregory McRae, one of two officers charged with burning the body of 31-year-old Henry Glover in the back seat of a car on Sept. 2, 2005.

McRae said nobody ordered him to torch the car or Glover’s body, and he denied setting the fire to cover up a police shooting. McRae said his decision was influenced by having seen other bodies floating in the flood waters that inundated New Orleans.

Nov 30 2010

Fracking A! New York

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

This has got to be the best political news I’ve read in a long time. A little before 1:00 a.m. last night, by a vote of 94-44, the New York State Assembly passed the moratorium on hydraulic fracture drilling.

Well it may only be state legislature and the governor still need to sign but apparently this moratorium to protect our drinking water is a first. It’s not top down and the Working Families Party humbly takes some of the credit for more than 52,000 New Yorkers signing the petition urging the Assembly to act.

Go ahead: get up from your chair. Do a little dance, pump your fist, or do whatever you do to celebrate a victory of grassroots action over corporate power.

I just received a letter form the WFP and I was doing just that.  

Seeing how the moratorium is temporary, and only lasting six months the news could be better.

The moratorium — which calls for no drilling permits to be issued until at least May 15, 2011 — was approved by the state Senate in August.

The legislation now heads to Governor David Paterson, who leaves office in January and has until the end of this year to sign the measure into law.

In an interview last week on a local radio program, Paterson indicated support for the bill, saying the state would not “risk public safety or water quality.”

High-volume hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, involves blasting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into deep shale rock to free the gas trapped inside.

But it gets better. Thank you David Paterson.

The environmental risks aren’t worth the economic boon, said outgoing Gov. David Paterson, who is expected the vote the measure into law.

“Even with the tremendous revenues that will come in at this time “» we’re not going to risk public safety or water quality, which will be the next emerging global problem after the energy shortage,” he told WAMC-FM radio last week.

(snip)

“It’s an astounding acknowledgement by a sitting governor that this isn’t safe,” said Ramsay Adams, executive director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, whose supporters were in Albany on Monday lobbying for the bill.

A spokesman for the drilling industry called Paterson’s statement “a little bit troubling.”

Coming on the heels of Pittsburgh saying no to hydraulic fracking this statewide moratorium should get noticed by state regulators.

“This is the first time any state has ever taken this kind of action to protect the health and safety of its residents from the consequences of gas drilling,” said Kate Sinding, deputy director of the New York Urban Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It sends a powerful message that New Yorkers don’t want new fracking here unless the industry proves it can be done safely.”

Doesn’t protecting the health and safety of state residents over business interest sound so good. Isn’t it great to hear about a grassroots victory. The Working Families Party did not take all the credit and called this action “an incredible alliance of Frack Action, Environmental Advocates, MoveOn.org, Mark Ruffalo, Pete Seeger, Assemblymembers Robert Sweeney and Steve Englebright, Borough President Scott Stringer, and so many others to pass a bill that everyone thought was dead – first through the New York State Senate, then the Assembly.”

For more news on how this progress came about you can read these links;

New York Observer: WFP Teams Up With Mark Ruffalo For Last-Minute Fracking Ban Push

“The Working Families Party is out with a last-minute push to pressure the Assembly to ban hydro-fracking during the special session, slated to get underway shortly in Albany. …the WFP, Move-On and others have gathered 50,000 signatures calling on the lower house to follow suit.”

Albany Times-Union: Hydrofracking Moratorium Supporters Hopeful on Assembly Prospects

“MoveOn and the Working Families Party are touting a 50,000-signature petition supporting the moratorium… If it comes to the floor, advocates are confident it will pass.”

Ithaca Journal: Assembly Approves Gas Drilling Moratorium

“Actor Mark Ruffalo, a Sullivan County resident and an anti-drilling advocate, also released a statement through the Working Families Party, pushing for the Assembly to pass the bill and urging New Yorkers to sign a petition in favor of the moratorium.”

But I think it is time to celebrate and the best way to celebrate this inspiration is to go to Chris Bowers’ DKos front page diary and follow the instructions on Calling Congress to protect Social Security.

Who knows? It could be back to back victories for the people.  

Nov 30 2010

But, but, but…

More hopey changiness-

OFA Tries to Get Supporters to Write Letters to the Editor Praising a Federal Worker Pay Freeze

By: David Dayen Tuesday November 30, 2010 9:55 am

That’s right, the organizing project of the Democratic National Committee wants you to organize in support of freezing public worker salaries.

And don’t worry, later in the email, OFA tells you how the Administration has really been responsible on this issue – they’ve frozen salaries of White House officials and political appointees, froze non-defense discretionary spending, and more.

So go out there and sharpen those pencils and tell everyone how great it is to cut people’s pay!

Is there any core principle of the Democratic Party Barack Hussein Obama isn’t willing to sell out?

Nov 30 2010

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”.

The Pundit and Political “Poutrage” about the recent release of over 250,000 documents by Wikileaks, or as Keith Olbermann so aptly phrased it, “Wiki TMZ”, is below the fold.

John Kampfner: Wikileaks shows up our media for their docility at the feet of authority

Mr Assange is an unconventional figure, a man who lives in the shadows and enjoys doing so

You should never shout “fire” in a crowded theatre. Once you have accepted this old adage, you accept that there are limits to free expression. The important word in the first sentence is not “fire”, but “crowded”. A crowded theatre would lead to a stampede. Where there is a real and identifiable danger, restraint should be shown. Context is everything in the free-speech debate; risk to life is an undeniable caveat. Most other caveats are, however, mere ruses by the powerful to prevent information from reaching the public domain.

It is within these parameters that the furore over Wikileaks and its exposures should be seen. The latest document dump is larger than the Iraq files and potentially more embarrassing, with its State Department assessments of governments and statesmen – from Hamid Karzai to Silvio Berlusconi to Nicolas Sarkozy. Diplomats have launched a frantic round of damage limitation. Oh to have been a fly on the wall during the excruciating conversation between the US ambassador and Downing Street. The Americans are entitled to put their side of the story, to seek to assuage any inconvenience caused.

Robert Reich: National Fiscal Hypocrisy Week

Welcome to National Fiscal Hypocrisy Week.

Today (Monday), Congress takes up a measure delaying by one month a scheduled 23 percent cut in federal reimbursements to doctors. The cut will automatically go into effect unless Congress acts. But of course Congress will act. Doctors threaten to drop Medicare patients if their rates are cut. Congress has delayed scheduled Medicare cuts for years.

The best outcome would be an agreement to contain future health-care costs by allowing Medicare to use its bargaining power with drug companies and medical suppliers to reduce rates; by allowing Americans to buy drugs from Canada; by applying the antitrust laws to health insurers; and by giving the public an option to buy their health care from a government-run public option.

The likelihood of any of this happening over Republican and Democrats-in-name-only (DINO) objections is zero.

Pearl Korn: Deficit Commission Member Rep. Jan Schakowsky Offers a Better Plan

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), one of the 18 members of the Deficit Commission, has offered her own plan in response to the Commission’s proposals, which she has rejected. Rep. Schakowsky’s major concern is that the Commission’s recommendations to raise the age of enrollment in Social Security and cut Medicare benefits will take a serious toll on the middle class. Indeed, the two “deficit Hawks” chairing the Commission have shown their willingness to privatize Medicare and end Social Security, with an out-of-control Alan Simpson blustering, “Medicare is like a cow with 300 tits that keeps on giving” and casting Americans who receive support from government programs as worthless, undeserving, lazy people with his “lesser people” comment. Of course, Simpson should have been dumped then and there.

John Nichols:

But those who might want, for reasons of partisanship or ideology, to imagine the end of the Bush-Cheney era ushered in more frank and responsible spokespeople will surely be disabused of that foolish notion by the response of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the latest WikiLeak.

On Sunday, Gibbs achieved the rare combination of utter shamelessness and utter shamefulness when he claimed that by releasing classified diplomatic communications “WikiLeaks has put at risk…the cause of human rights.”

Reasonable people may debate the way in which WikiLeaks obtains and releases classified documents. But for Gibbs to try and claim that transparency and openness pose broad threats to the cause of human rights-in the face of all of the compromises of US administrations over the past several decades-is intellectually and practically dishonest.

Norman Solomon: WikiLeaks: Demystifying “Diplomacy”

Compared to the kind of secret cables that WikiLeaks has just shared with the world, everyday public statements from government officials are exercises in make-believe.

In a democracy, people have a right to know what their government is actually doing. In a pseudo-democracy, a bunch of fairy tales from high places will do the trick.

Diplomatic facades routinely masquerade as realities. But sometimes the mask slips — for all the world to see — and that’s what just happened with the humongous leak of State Department cables.

“Every government is run by liars,” independent journalist I.F. Stone observed, “and nothing they say should be believed.” The extent and gravity of the lying varies from one government to another — but no pronouncements from world capitals should be taken on faith.

Richard N. Haass: How to Read WikiLeaks

The latest unauthorized release, i.e., leak, of some 250,000 documents by WikiLeaks does not appear to constitute a national security crisis, although it will cause more than a little near-term awkwardness and create some longer-term problems for the United States and its partners.

Much of what we have seen thus far confirms more than it informs. We are not surprised to read U.S. diplomatic cables reporting that corruption in Afghanistan is rampant; that prominent Sunni Arab leaders are more worried about Iran and its nuclear program than they are about Israel; that it has been difficult to get other governments to accept Guantanamo detainees; that Syria’s government maintains close ties to Hezbollah despite assurances to the contrary; or that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a man of questionable character.

In some cases, though, the publication of these documents will likely cause immediate problems. Working with Pakistan’s weak government to ensure that its nuclear materials remain under tight control — a process described in the WikiLeaks papers — will prove even more difficult. Counterterrorism efforts in Yemen might also be set back as the leadership there might well feel the need to distance itself from the United States.

Patrick Cockburn: America should be glad anyone is paying attention to its inconsequential messages

The US State Department should stop complaining about Julian Assange and Wikileaks publishing a quarter-of-a-million of its cables. It should instead be grateful to the leakers for impressing the public with the idea that its diplomats do something so important that secrecy is essential.

Much of the reaction by governments and the media to the Wikileaks revelations is mean-spirited and misleading. The State Department cables are interesting, informative and amusing, but they certainly do not contain the deep secrets of American foreign policy.

Since several million people potentially had access to this data via America’s online repository only information which was not particularly sensitive was included. Newspapers promoting or denouncing supposed insights into the way the US deals with foreign government to be gained from the cables are not dwelling on how well-known and unsurprising are these disclosures.

Rupert Cornwell: After 9/11, it was always going to be impossible to keep secrets

The massive leak of US diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks organisation is in part an unintended consequence of a decision to step up data-sharing between government agencies to prevent a repeat of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

It quickly emerged from postmortems on 9/11 that vital information that might have thwarted the attacks did not reach the right people because of barriers between departments and bureaucratic turf wars, not least between the CIA and the FBI

Accordingly, the Bush administration ordered a wider pooling of information, and a sweeping expansion and reorganisation of the country’s fragmented intelligence and security community

. The overhaul also entailed a huge increase, to between 500,000 and 600,000, in the number of people with access to Siprnet – the Secret Internet Protocol Network – used by the Pentagon to transmit classified information.

Nov 30 2010

So, how’s that bailout thing working?

Ireland Gets $113 Billion Aid as Bondholders Win Bailout-Payment Reprieve

By James G. Neuger and Simon Kennedy, Bloomberg News

Nov 29, 2010 11:42 AM ET

“The notion that a rescue package for Ireland would create a firewall and stop the fear of contagion is clearly discredited,” said Preston Keat, director of research at Eurasia Group, a political consultancy, in London. “Portugal and Spain are already facing pressures in the markets.”

…

Germany, which built the euro on the principle of budgetary rigor, unleashed the latest phase of the crisis by demanding a “permanent” system as of 2013 that would enable fiscally troubled countries to restructure their debts and cut the value of bond holdings.

The German push ran into criticism from policy makers elsewhere, who called it mistimed, and from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who warned it would unsettle bondholders. Merkel, who has faced domestic criticism for aiding EU neighbors, yesterday backed away from the pitch for an automatic penalty, agreeing to give the International Monetary Fund a role in determining losses on a case-by-case basis.

Bank bondholders escape again as a protected species of capitalism

JOHN McMANUS, The Irish Times

Monday, November 29, 2010

FOR A brief moment on Friday, it looked as though for the first time in Europe’s handling of the financial crisis the holders of senior bank bonds were going to join the rest of us in the world of moral hazard.

But it now seems that the issue of the senior bond holders in the Irish banks being asked to participate in the fourth bailout of these institutions was effectively shelved on Saturday.

…

The speed with which even the mere suggestion of burden sharing with Irish bank senior bond holders sent the market into paroxysms indicates that they know the day of reckoning is coming.

…

The authorities may have blinked first, but a process may have been set in train that will see the abandonment of the position that senior bond holders in European banks are a protected species.

Markets Remain Focused on Debt Crisis

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 30, 2010

“Ireland’s bailout package has clearly failed to stop the rot in euro zone markets and if anything it has focused attention on other countries in the periphery especially Portugal but also to Spain, Belgian and Italian government debt,” an analyst at Crédit Agricole, Mitul Kotecha, said.

…

At the heart of the problem is that the austerity measures these countries need to take to reduce their deficits threaten to backfire by weakening economic growth and hurting state revenues. That is what’s happening in Greece, which has been able to drastically cut its spending but is struggling to raise tax income as economic and corporate activity wilts.

Just as badly as predicted.

Nov 30 2010

On This Day in History: November 30

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.

November 30 is the 334th day of the year (335th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 31 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1886, the Folies Bergère in Paris introduces an elaborate revue featuring women in sensational costumes. The highly popular “Place aux Jeunes” established the Folies as the premier nightspot in Paris. In the 1890s, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and quickly gained a reputation for its spectacular nude shows. The theater spared no expense, staging revues that featured as many as 40 sets, 1,000 costumes, and an off-stage crew of some 200 people.

In 1886, the Folies Bergère went under new management, which, on November 30, staged the first revue-style music hall show. The “Place aux Jeunes,” featuring scantily clad chorus girls, was a tremendous success. The Folies women gradually wore less and less as the 20th century approached, and the show’s costumes and sets became more and more outrageous. Among the performers who got their start at the Folies Bergère were Yvette Guilbert, Maurice Chevalier, and Mistinguett. The African American dancer and singer Joséphine Baker made her Folies debut in 1926, lowered from the ceiling in a flower-covered sphere that opened onstage to reveal her wearing a G-string ornamented with bananas.

The Folies Bergère remained a success throughout the 20th century and still can be seen in Paris today, although the theater now features many mainstream concerts and performances. Among other traditions that date back more than a century, the show’s title always contains 13 letters and includes the word “Folie.”

Located at 32 rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, it was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It was patterned after the Alhambra music hall in London. The closest métro stations are Cadet and Grands Boulevards.

It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with fare including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after a nearby street, the rue Bergère (the feminine form of “shepherd”).

Édouard Manet‘s 1882 well-known painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère depicts a bar-girl, one of the demimondaines, standing before a mirror.

The painting is filled with contemporaneous details specific to the Folies-Bergère. The distant pair of green feet in the upper left-hand corner belong to a trapeze artist, who is performing above the restaurant’s patrons.

The beer which is depicted, Bass Pale Ale (noted by the red triangle on the label), would have catered not to the tastes of Parisians, but to those of English tourists, suggesting a British clientèle. Manet has signed his name on the label of the bottle at the bottom left, combining the centuries-old practice of self-promotion in art with something more modern, bordering on the product placement concept of the late twentieth century. One interpretation of the painting has been that far from only being a seller of the wares shown on the counter, the woman is herself one of the wares for sale; conveying undertones of prostitution. The man in the background may be a potential client.

But for all its specificity to time and place, it is worth noting that, should the background of this painting indeed be a reflection in a mirror on the wall behind the bar as suggested by some critics, the woman in the reflection would appear directly behind the image of the woman facing forward. Neither are the bottles reflected accurately or in like quantity for it to be a reflection. These details were criticized in the French press when the painting was shown. The assumption is faulty when one considers that the postures of the two women, however, are quite different and the presence of the man to whom the second woman speaks marks the depth of the subject area. Indeed many critics view the faults in the reflection to be fundamental to the painting as they show a double reality and meaning to the work. One interpretation is that the reflection is an interaction earlier in time that results in the subject’s expression in the painting’s present.

 1700 – Battle of Narva – A Swedish army of 8,500 men under Charles XII defeats a much larger Russian army at Narva.

1718 – Swedish king Charles XII dies during a siege of the fortress Fredriksten in Norway.

1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris – In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).

1783 – A 5.3 magnitude earthquake strikes New Jersey.

1786 – Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty. Consequently, November 30 is commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day.

1803 – In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.

1804 – The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begins an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase.

1824 – First ground is broken at Allenburg for the building of the original Welland Canal.

1829 – First Welland Canal opens for a trial run, 5 years to the day from the ground breaking.

1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Franklin – The Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions commanded by John McAllister Schofield around Franklin, Tennessee, with Hood lost six generals and almost a third of his troops.

1868 – The inauguration of a statue of King Charles XII of Sweden takes place in the King’s garden in Stockholm.

1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.

1886 – The Folies Bergère stages its first revue.

1902 – American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor.

1908 – A mine explosion in the mining town of Marianna, Pennsylvania kills 154.

1916 – Costa Rica becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1934 – The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman becomes the first to officially exceed 100mph.

1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.

1939 – Winter War: Soviet forces cross the Finnish border in several places and bomb Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the war.

1940 – Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.

1942 – World War II: Guadalcanal Campaign: Battle of Tassafaronga – A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizo Tanaka defeats a US cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.

1953 – Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda.

1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges Meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap in the only documented case of a human being hit by a rock from space.

1966 – Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1967 – The People’s Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1967 – The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who becomes its first Chairman later as the Head of state and Head of government after the 1971 Civil War.

1971 – Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the United Arab Emirates.

1972 – Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.

1981 – Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).

1989 – Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction terrorist bomb.

1993 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill) into law.

1994 – The National Football League announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the league’s 30th franchise.

1994 – MS Achille Lauro fire off Somalia coast.

1995 – Official end of Operation Desert Storm.

1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign a $73.7 billion USD agreement to merge, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world’s largest company.

1999 – In Seattle, Washington, United States, protests against the WTO meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies.

1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.

2001 – In Renton, Washington, United States, Gary Ridgway aka The Green River Killer is arrested.

2004 – Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with US$2,520,700, television’s biggest game show winnings.

2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.

Holidays and observances

   * Andres Bonifacio Day (the Philippines)

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Andrew

         o November 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Cities for Life Day

   * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Barbados from the United Kingdom in 1966.

   * National day (Scotland)

Nov 30 2010

Morning Shinbun Tuesday November 30




Tuesday’s Headlines:

Rifts mar Cancun climate conference

USA

U.S. and South Korea Reject Talks With North

NJ must pay $271M to feds for killing tunnel to NY

Europe

Bailout fails to calm markets as costs rise in Spain and Portugal

271 Picasso paintings discovered in Paris

Middle East

Israel accused over ‘cruel’ Gaza blockade

Now we know. America really doesn’t care about injustice in the Middle East.

Asia

WikiLeaks: China weary of North Korea behaving like ‘spoiled child’

Teetering Asian dominoes test Obama

Africa

Mogadishu: Life on the front line in a city laid bare by war

Africa rejects joint stand with EU on climate

Latin America

Haggling with Allies over New Homes for Detainees

Estimate of TARP losses falls to $25 billion

The projected cost of the $700-billion financial bailout fund drops sharply, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times

November 30, 2010

Reporting from Washington –

The projected cost of the $700-billion financial bailout fund – initially feared to be a huge hit to taxpayers – continues to drop, with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimating Monday that losses would amount to just $25 billion.

That’s a sharp drop from the CBO’s last estimate, in August, of a $66-billion loss for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. Going back to March, the budget office estimated that the program would cost taxpayers $109 billion.

Rifts mar Cancun climate conference

Mexico’s president urges nations to look beyond their nations’ border and consider all humanity at climate summit.

Last Modified: 30 Nov 2010  

Frustrated at past failures, climate negotiators have begun a critical two-week conference with a call from Mexico’s president to think beyond their nations’ borders and consider all humanity as they bargain over an agreement to fight global warming.

“The atmosphere is indifferent to the sovereignty of states,” Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, said in the keynote speech opening the conference on Monday.

“It would be a tragedy if our inability to see beyond our personal interests, our group or national interests makes us fail,” Calderon said in a speech to 15,000 delegates, business leaders, activists and journalists.

Three years of talks have been stymied by a sometimes acrimonious divide among industrial and developing countries about their responsibilities in fighting climate change and accepting legal limits on how much they can continue to pollute.

USA

U.S. and South Korea Reject Talks With North



By HELENE COOPER and SHARON LaFRANIERE

Published: November 29, 2010

WASHINGTON – The United States, South Korea and Japan are all balking at China’s request for emergency talks with North Korea over the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, as high-profile military exercises between South Korea and the United States in the Yellow Sea continued on Monday in a show of force.

Obama administration officials said that a return to the table with North Korea, as China sought this weekend, would be rewarding the North for provocative behavior over the past week, including its deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island and its disclosure of a uranium enrichment plant. Beijing called for emergency talks with North Korea, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Russia, participants in the six-party nuclear talks, which have been suspended indefinitely.

NJ must pay $271M to feds for killing tunnel to NY



By ANGELA DELLI SANTI

The Associated Press  

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey owes the federal government more than $271 million after canceling a rail tunnel connecting the state with New York, according to a debt notice obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The letter from the Federal Transit Administration’s chief financial officer to NJ Transit’s executive director demands payment of $271,101,291 by Dec. 24.

It’s money the government wants New Jersey to repay for work done on the Hudson River tunnel before Republican Gov. Chris Christie terminated the project. The notification follows a warning letter earlier this month estimating the charges.

Europe

Bailout fails to calm markets as costs rise in Spain and Portugal

The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 30, 2010

ARTHUR BEESLEY, DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN and HARRY McGEE  

A RENEWED wave of volatility swept through European markets as the €85 billion EU-IMF bailout of Ireland failed to dampen anxiety that Portugal and Spain may need external aid.

As the euro fell to its lowest level for two months against the dollar, pressure on heavily indebted counties such as Italy and Belgium was seen as evidence that the Irish rescue has failed to avert contagion in the euro zone.

EU leaders had hoped markets would take comfort from the completion of the Irish rescue deal and their steps to clarify how private investors would shoulder a burden in any sovereign rescues after 2013..

271 Picasso paintings discovered in Paris  

As a retired odd job man and electrician, Pierre Le Guennec is the unlikeliest of art collectors to be discovered with a haul of 271 unknown works by Picasso.

By Henry Samuel, Paris

It is perhaps why the French police arrested the 71-year-old when they discovered the cache of sketches and paintings worth £50m at his Riviera home.

Mr Le Guennec claims that he was given the collection by the artist when he carried out odd jobs for him at his Côte d’Azur home 40 years ago.

However, Picasso’s son, Claude, suspects that the works were stolen.

The pieces, dating from 1900 to 1932, include portraits of Picasso’s first wife, Olga, nine highly-prized Cubist collages worth €40 million (£36 million), a watercolour from his “blue” period, studies of his hand on canvas, gouaches, around 30 lithographs and 200 drawings.

Middle East

Israel accused over ‘cruel’ Gaza blockade  

Report calls for end to embargo, saying easing agreed by Israel six months ago has done little to improve plight of Gaza civilians

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem

The Guardian, Tuesday 30 November 2010  

Gaza’s 1.5 million people are still suffering from a shortage of construction materials, a ban on exports and severe restrictions on movement six months after Israel agreed to ease its blockade on the territory, according to a report from 21 international organisations.

The loosening of the embargo has done little to improve the plight of Gaza’s civilians, according to the coalition, which includes Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid and Medical Aid for Palestinians. It calls for fresh international action to persuade Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade.

Now we know. America really doesn’t care about injustice in the Middle East.  

 

Robert Fisk  Tuesday, 30 November 2010

I came to the latest uproarious US diplomatic history with the deepest cynicism. And yesterday, in the dust of post-election Cairo – the Egyptian parliamentary poll was as usual a mixture of farce and fraud, which is at least better than shock and awe – I ploughed through so many thousands of American diplomatic reports with something approaching utter hopelessness. After all, they do quote President Hosni Mubarak as saying that “you can forget about democracy,” don’t they?

It’s not that US diplomats don’t understand the Middle East; it’s just that they’ve lost all sight of injustice. Vast amounts of diplomatic literature prove that the mainstay of Washington’s Middle East policy is alignment with Israel, that its principal aim is to encourage the Arabs to join the American-Israeli alliance against Iran, that the compass point of US policy over years and years is the need to tame/bully/crush/oppress/ ultimately destroy the power of Iran.

Asia

WikiLeaks: China weary of North Korea behaving like ‘spoiled child’

 

By Tim Lister, CNN

New documents posted on the websites of the Guardian and The New York Times suggest Chinese officials are losing patience with long-time ally North Korea. Senior figures in Beijing have even described the regime in the North as behaving like a “spoiled child.”

According to cables obtained by WikiLeaks, South Korea’s then vice foreign minister, Chun Yung-woo, said earlier this year that senior Chinese officials (whose names are redacted in the cables) had told him they believed Korea should be reunified under Seoul’s control, and that this view was gaining ground with the leadership in Beijing.

Teetering Asian dominoes test Obama

“You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.”

– Dwight Eisenhower, former US president  

By Victor Kotsev  

TEL AVIV – The domino theory once governed American strategic thinking with respect to communism in Asia. It was one of the main justifications for the disastrous war in Vietnam, and was discredited greatly in the wake of it. However, looking at the situation in Asia today from the point of view of the United States government, it seems that the specter of the falling dominoes is rapidly coming back to haunt President Barack Obama, if not in its classical form, at least as a kind of a ripple effect in an already fragile region.

The crisis between North and South Korea is a good example of that. The tension that soared last week after North Korean shelled an island south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), killing four, has not subsided yet, and the ripples are being felt throughout the Asian continent.

Africa

Mogadishu: Life on the front line in a city laid bare by war  

Daniel Howden, in the first of a series of dispatches from Mogadishu, reports on the battle to defeat Islamist militants

The Independent  

The sea breeze carries the sound of Mogadishu’s dawn chorus of munitions as far as the sand dunes high above the Indian Ocean. On the horizon, the grey hull of a foreign warship patrols for pirates; inland, mortars thud out from the African Union (AU) positions around the old harbour and volleys of automatic fire reply from the direction of al-Shabaab’s stronghold at the notorious Bakara Market. The exchanges are interspersed with the sharp crack of sniper fire.

In a seemingly endless war, the battle for the shattered Somali capital has reached another turning point. In among the warren of ruined buildings the African peacekeepers, sent here to protect Somalia’s weak UN-backed government from the onslaught of Islamic extremist militias,are inching forward.

Africa rejects joint stand with EU on climate



TRIPOLI, LIBYA    

A joint declaration on climate change was to have been signed at the conclusion of a two-day Africa-European Union (EU) summit opening in the Libyan capital on Monday. But African diplomats said the idea was rejected by African foreign ministers at a meeting on the eve of the summit.

“The declaration was rejected as it reflected European rather than African priorities,” one African source said.

Asked for comment, an EU diplomat said “it’s not over” and added that further efforts would be made during the summit to find common ground.

Latin America

Haggling with Allies over New Homes for Detainees  

America’s Guantanamo Files

By John Goetz and Frank Hornig

Why was Germany being so intractable? Dan Fried even traveled to Berlin to hand deliver proposals from Washington — and was snubbed. Every attempt by the US special envoy to coerce Germany into taking Guantanamo detainees seemed predestined to fail. German Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schäuble was “very skeptical,” US Ambassador Philip Murphy cabled back home in frustration.

The Americans had similar problems with several countries. In September 2009, US President Barack Obama was keen to finally fulfill his promise to close the Guantanamo detention center on Cuba and send all the remaining prisoners to destinations around the globe. But nobody wanted them — neither his countrymen nor his allies. And least of all the Germans.

Ignoring Asia A Blog

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