Current News: October 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Algae-fuelled gunship 'runs just fine'

It looked like a pretty ordinary day on the water at the United States naval base in Norfolk, Virginia: a few short bursts of speed, a nice tail wind, some test manoeuvres.
But the 14m-long gunboat had algae-based fuel in the tank in a test hailed by the navy as a milestone in its creation of a new, energy-saving strike force.
The experimental boat operated on a 50-50 mix of algae-based fuel and diesel.
"It ran just fine," said Rear Admiral Philip Cullom, who directs the navy's sustainability division.
The tests were part of a broader drive within the navy to run 50% of its fleet on a mix of renewable fuels and nuclear power by 2020.
The navy plans to roll out its first group of about 10 ships, submarines and planes running on a mix of biofuels and nuclear power in 2012.
Fuels made from algae oil burn more cleanly than fossil fuel, but preventing climate change is not a major factor in the Pentagon's calculations.
"Our programme is about combat capability, first and foremost," Cullom said. "We no longer want to be held hostage by one form of energy."

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-10-29-algaefuelled-gunship-runs-just-fine

North and South Korean troops trade fire across border

South Korean soldiers in Hwacheon — South Korean soldiers patrolling near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Hwacheon in 2006.

North Korean troops have fired across the heavily armed border towards South Korea, whose soldiers fired back in what is believed to be the first cross-border shooting on land since 2006.

The incident occurred in Hwacheon, north-east of the South's capital, Seoul, according to reports from South Korea's YTN TV. Seoul is preparing to host a meeting of world leaders from the G20 group of nations on 11 and 12 November.

North Korean troops fired at a South Korean guard post in the demilitarised zone (DMZ), according to an official at the joint chiefs of staff in Seoul. There were no South Korean injuries and it was unclear whether it was an accident or an intentional provocation, the official said.

Other reports suggested that the North fired two rounds towards a frontline unit. The shots came hours after the North vowed to retaliate against South Korea for its rejection of a proposal for military talks.

The border between the two Koreas is one of the most heavily fortified in the world, with many thousands of troops station on either side of the DMZ. There have been frequent incidents at sea, and relations between the neighbours sank to a recent low after the South accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships with the loss of 46 lives in March. Pyongyang denied it was responsible for the sinking.

Tensions have eased in recent months, with the South sending aid to its impoverished neighbour, and at the weekend the two sides will resume reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean war.

However, earlier today the North warned that relations with its neighbour would face a "catastrophic impact" if the South continued to reject talks. Seoul has said it will not return to bilateral negotiations until the reclusive North admits responsibility for the attack on the warship.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/29/north-south-korea-border-shots

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Latin leaders oppose pot legalization vote

Obama Attends Meetings With World Leaders In NYC During UN General Assembly

President Juan Manuel Santos Calderon of Colombia attends a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama (not pictured) September 24, 2010 in New York City. Obama has been in New York since Wednesday attending the annual General Assembly at the United Nations, where yesterday he stressed the need for a resolution between Israel and Palestine, and a renewed international effort to keep Iran from attaining nuclear weapons. UPI/Spencer Platt/POOL

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Three Latin American presidents are urging California voters to reject the legalization of marijuana in next week's balloting.
Felipe Calderon of Mexico, Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica attended a summit on drug trafficking in Cartagena, Colombia, where California's Proposition 19 was discussed, the BBC reported Wednesday.
"It is confusing for our people to see that while we have lost lives and we invest vast resources in the drug war, in the consumer countries they promote proposals like the Californian referendum to legalize the production, the sale and the consumption of marijuana," said Santos.
Chinchilla, in an interview with Colombian media, said, "If we think that each country on its own is going to successfully face this problem, we're very wrong."
Interviewed on the BBC's "Hardtalk" program, Calderon said Americans "have a clear responsibility in this because they are providing the market for the drug dealers and the criminals."
"They need to do a lot more in terms of reducing the consumption of drugs and to stop the flow of weapons towards Mexico," he said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/27/Latin-leaders-oppose-pot-legalization-vote/UPI-33001288190347/

Privacy watchdog lowers White House's grades

Gives Obama a D on report card and tells Europe to sort out US data sharing

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) last week issued a report card on privacy, civil liberties and cyber security that found the White House faring even worse than it had last year.

Obama's administration got grade C for consumer privacy, a B for medical privacy, a D for civil liberties and a B for cybersecurity - the only grade not to have fallen since 2009.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/27/privacy_whitehouse_europe/

Obama appearance, rally confirm Jon Stewart's reach

Stewart has many Americans' attention, and that's

just one reason why a sitting president would appear

on his show.

(CNN) -- Jon Stewart is not a newsman, but polls show he has the reach of one at the top of his profession. He's not a politician or an activist, but he's set to host a rally expected to draw tens of thousands to Washington's National Mall.

And with President Obama ready to appear on his Comedy Central show Wednesday -- less than a week before the midterm elections -- Stewart is reconfirming that he's more than just an entertainer and satirist.

Obama will be the first sitting U.S. president to appear on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" when it airs Wednesday night. He's been on ABC's "The View," NBC's "The Tonight Show," and other programs as president. But the show Obama picked for an appearance days before the midterms -- with Democrats anxious to turn out the voters who helped propel him to the presidency in 2008 -- is Stewart's.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/26/jon.stewart.obama/index.html?eref=rss_politics&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+Politics%29

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Biden appearance kicked out of high school

Biden hosts Medal of Valor Recipients at White House

Vice President Joe Biden asks guests to be seated during a Medal of Valor ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House in Washington on September 22, 2010. The Medal of Valor is awarded to public safety officers who have exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect others from harm. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg

RADNOR, Pa., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A suburban Philadelphia school district has barred a candidate for Congress from holding a rally with Vice President Joe Biden in the high school gym.
Campaign aides for Bryan Lentz, now a Democratic state representative, told The Philadelphia Inquirer the Radnor school district had given final approval for Wednesday's rally. The campaign announced the rally Saturday, only to be told Monday it was off.
Biden will now be appearing with Lentz at Sulpizio's Gym in Wayne.
"I think the Republicans on the school board arranged for the event to be killed," said Kevin McTigue, Lentz's campaign manager.
Lentz and Patrick Meehan are running for the congressional seat now held by Joe Sestak, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/26/Biden-appearance-kicked-out-of-high-school/UPI-61351288111910/

Obama to test Republicans after November 2 elections

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks after touring the facilities of American Cord & Webbing in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, October 25, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's senior aides on Tuesday accused Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of promoting political gridlock and gamesmanship for saying he wants to ensure Obama is a one-term president.A week before congressional elections, White House officials acknowledged that Republicans would gain seats in the U.S. Congress in next Tuesday's midterm elections, and said Obama would test whether Republicans are willing to work with him.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69929420101026?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20Reuters/PoliticsNews%20%28News%20/%20US%20/%20Politics%20News%29

US veteran who killed unarmed Iraqis wins Tea Party support

Ilario Pantano, who is standing as a Republican candidate in the US midterm elections — Ilario Pantano, who is standing as a Republican candidate in North Carolina's

The basic facts are undisputed: on 15 April 2004 Ilario Pantano, then a second lieutenant with the US marines, stopped and detained two Iraqi men in a car near Falluja. The Iraqis were unarmed and the car found to be empty of weapons.

Pantano ordered the two men to search the car for a second time and then, with no other US soldiers in view, unloaded a magazine of his M16A4 automatic rifle into them, before reloading and blasting a second magazine at them – some 60 rounds in total.

Over the corpses, he left a placard inscribed with the marine motto: "No better friend, No worse enemy."

Six years later Pantano is on the verge of a stunning electoral victory that could send him to the US Congress in Washington. He is standing as Republican candidate in North Carolina's 7th congressional district, which was last represented by his party in 1871.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/26/us-veteran-killed-iraqis-tea-party

Fiorina hospitalized

"Carly learned more than a year and a half ago that she, like millions of women, had breast cancer. After successfully battling cancer, she had reconstructive surgery this summer and remains cancer free today. However, this morning Carly came down with an infection associated with the reconstructive surgery and, as a result, she was admitted to the hospital to receive antibiotics to treat this infection. While this will impact her campaign schedule today, Carly is upbeat and her doctors expect her to make a quick and full recovery and be back out on the campaign trail soon. Carly is looking forward to getting back to her full campaign schedule and to defeating Barbara Boxer on November 2."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/26/5354367-fiorina-hospitalized

In Nevada, it's can't live with Harry Reid and can't live without him

Across the way from Harry Reid Elementary - where the laptops were bought with federal money - and next to Harry Reid Road sits a giant plot of rocks and scrub that was supposed to be a development called Cottonwood Lake Homes. Instead of the trailers favored by most town residents, Cottonwood Lake was planned as a gated community of suburban dream houses, with "different floorplans to accommodate all homebuyers."

Reid attended the subdivision's groundbreaking in 2005. He even helped developer Gary Wells resolve permit problems that delayed construction. But he couldn't prevent the 2008 collapse of Silver State Bank, which dried up credit for Cottonwood Lake Homes and helped drive Wells into bankruptcy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/25/AR2010102505824.html?nav=rss_email/components

Why the White House is turning slightly pink

Boost: The gay and lesbian community

are among President Obama's strongest

supporters

Why the White House is turning slightly pink: Obama appoints more openly gay officials than any other U.S. president
President Barack Obama has appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in U.S. history, it has been
Gay activists say the estimate of more than 150 appointments so far surpasses the previous high of about 140 reached during two full terms under President Bill Clinton.
'From everything we hear from inside the administration, they wanted this to be part of their efforts at diversity,' said Denis Dison, spokesman for the Presidential Appointments Project of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute.
The pace of appointments has helped to ease broader disappointment among gay rights groups that Obama has not acted more quickly on other fronts, such as ending the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.
In a sign of how times have changed, few of the appointees - about two dozen required Senate confirmation - have stirred much controversy.
It's a far cry from the 1993 furor surrounding Clinton's nomination of then-San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg as assistant secretary for Housing and Urban Development.
Achtenberg was the first openly gay official to serve at such a senior level, and she won confirmation despite contentious hearings and Senator Jesse Helms, a Republican, who denounced her as a 'militant extremist.'
'It's both significant and rather ordinary,' said Michael Cole, a spokesman for the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign.
'It's a simple affirmation of the American ideal that what matters is how you do your job and not who you are.'
Gay activists had hoped he would be the first to appoint an openly gay Cabinet secretary.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323934/Why-White-House-turning-slightly-pink-Obama-appoints-openly-gay-officials-U-S-president.html?ITO=1490#ixzz13UVpQN1f

New York murder rate soars

New York's murder rate has increased by more than 15 per cent over the last year, according to the latest figures released by the NYPD.

The New York Police Department said 425 murders had been committed across the city, compared to 367 by this stage in 2009.

The number of rapes also rose, from 943 in 2009 to 1,075 this year.

The figures were even more grim in certain parts of the city, like in East Harlem's 25th precinct. The murder rate there rose a staggering 400 percent, with 10 slayings compared with just two last year.

Authorities, however, underlined that New York is still one of the safest cities in the United States and has improved dramatically since two decades ago when the annual murder rate hovered around 2,000.

A rampage by gun-slinging youths through New York's Times Square in April underscored the surge in murders and shootings early in the year that had some New Yorkers fearing a return to the city's dark past.

The mayhem, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg described using the dreaded 1980s-era term "wilding" highlighted growing fears that crime was returning

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/27/3049101.htm

Monday, October 25, 2010

Pot and the GOP

Is the party of ‘Just Say No’ morphing into the party of ‘Just Say Grow’?

Ann Lee, a Texas Republican and devout Catholic, thought marijuana was the “weed of the devil.” Like so many Americans, Lee believed pot was a dangerous “gateway” drug that tempted the unwary into a dissolute existence. But when Lee’s son, Richard, suffered a severe spinal injury two decades ago and became paralyzed from the waist down, she was given a crash course in the devil drug. “I had to open my eyes, and I also had to pray a lot and believe in Richard’s integrity,” says Lee, now 81. “When I saw the good it did for Richard’s spasticity, I said, ‘Well, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.’?” Since then, Lee and her husband have been steadfast in their support of Richard as he opened a California medical-marijuana dispensary and founded a trade school in Oakland devoted to the study of pot, aptly named Oaksterdam University. Today Richard, 47 and a millionaire thanks to his pot business, is leading the charge for passage of Proposition 19, the controversial California ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for personal use. And Mom and Dad, now avid Tea Partiers, are manning the phones in support of their son and his efforts.

You’d expect aging flower children to fight for the right to get high. But aging conservatives? As the ideals of the Tea Party’s most vocal libertarians infiltrate the Republican ranks, and state and federal officials slash budgets even as they pump cash into an expensive war on drugs, some conservatives are making the case for legalizing marijuana. It isn’t Nancy Pelosi who’s speaking out in favor of legalized pot—she’s been careful not to take a position on Prop 19—but rather her Republican challenger in California, John Dennis. And in Massachusetts, Barney Frank’s Tea Party–backed Republican opponent, Sean Bielat, has said he leans libertarian on the issue, and it hasn’t hurt his race against the longtime congressman, who strongly supports decriminalization of pot. “As you see the liberty wing of the Republican Party grow, you’ll see more support for legalization,” says Dennis, who drew cheers during a campaign stop recently at the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in San Francisco, where his staff altered his campaign sign to sport Rastafarian colors and a pot leaf. Republican power broker Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, points out that legalization can make sense from a conservative perspective because it touches on issues of national security and fiscal prudence. “First, there is the mess that is Mexico. Narcoterrorism is made possible by our drug prohibition in the U.S. Then there is the cost of incarceration,” he says. Gary Johnson, the Republican former governor of New Mexico and a putative presidential candidate for 2012, says he believes that “Proposition 19 has the opportunity to be the domino that could bring about rational drug policy nationwide.”

Pundits like Fox News’s Glenn Beck and former judge Andrew Napolitano have also joined in the debate, on the pro-legalization side. “You know what, I think it’s about time we legalize marijuana. Hear me out for a second…” Beck told viewers in April. “We have to make a choice in this country. We have to either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars, or we legalize it. But this little game we’re playing in the middle is not helping us, is not helping Mexico, and is causing massive violence on our southern border.” Even Sarah Palin, who’s opposed to legalization, has called pot a relatively “minimal problem,” telling Fox Business Network this summer, “I think we need to prioritize our law-enforcement efforts. And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society.” (Palin has copped to trying pot during the time it was decriminalized in Alaska, but said she didn’t like it.)

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/25/the-conservative-case-for-legalizing-pot.html

'Hiccup Girl' charged with first-degree murder

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A teenager who attracted national media attention after she couldn't stop hiccuping for five weeks has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly luring a man to a house where he was robbed and fatally shot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39827189/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Pa. charges planned after infant skeletons found

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A coroner says a Pennsylvania woman found with infant skeletal remains in her home will be charged with several counts of homicide.

Berks County Coroner Dennis Hess says officials believe the remains come from five of Michele Kalina's pregnancies. He says it's not yet clear how many of those pregnancies led to live births.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=13381886

Indonesia warns volcano could erupt at any time

Javanese women carry grass to feed their cattle as Mount Merapi spews volcanic smoke in the background in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010. Located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) — The Indonesian government warned Monday that the country's most volatile volcano could erupt at any time and started evacuating some of the thousands of villagers living on the mountain's slope.

Mount Merapi has seen increased volcanic activity over the past week, and officials have raised the alert level for the 9,737-foot-high mountain to the most urgent level, said government volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name.

The mountain last erupted in 2006, when it sent an avalanche of blistering gases and rock fragments that killed two people as it raced down the mountain. A similar eruption in 1994 killed 60 people, while 1,300 people died in an eruption in 1930

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/25/indonesia-warns-volcano-could-erupt-any-time/

Italian mayor seeks ban on miniskirts that reveal too much

Versace - Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 — Would this
Would this Versace dress be long enough to get around the proposed ban on revealing miniskirts in Castellammare di Stabia? Photograph: Venturelli/WireImage

Bees' tiny brains beat computers, study finds

Honeybees — Researchers found that bees could solve the 'travelling salesman's' shortest route problem, despite having a brain the size of a grass seed. Photograph: Rex Features

Friday, October 22, 2010

NPR Should Pay its Own Way

NPR's firing of Juan Williams puts a fine point on something that we've known for years: NPR's claim to neutrality in its news coverage is hogwash,

More than that, NPR's bias is a direct violation of the public charter it signed pledging strict neutrality more than 40 years ago. That it receives a dime of public funds for its news operations is an outrage. Its history of bashing on anyone who doesn't fit its ideological and politically correct bent is a fact that even its supporters now acknowledge.

Here's Ibrahim Hooper from the organization CAIR, which encouraged NPR to fire Williams for comments he made to Bill O'Reilly about Muslims: “[Juan] was increasingly leaning towards the right and NPR obviously has a more liberal viewpoint.”

If even NPR friends are willing to admit that it banishes folks like Juan Williams for being too far to their right, something is fundamentally wrong with that organization.

A few obvious things about Williams: He's a liberal journalist. He's a fair and precise journalist, but when asked to give his opinion on any political matter, nine times out of ten it will skew to the left. For him to be perceived by NPR as too far to the right shows just how far to the left NPR has turned.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/10/22/npr-pay-way/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20foxbusiness/latest%20%28Internal%20-%20Latest%20News%20-%20Text%29

Republicans eye NPR funding

National Public Radio's Juan Williams shown in this April 2001 file photo has been fired for comments he made regarding Muslims. UPI/Bill Greenblatt/FILES

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. House Republicans suggested Friday that federal funding for National Public Radio be eliminated following the dismissal of commentator Juan Williams.
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the minority whip, said he would add NPR to the "YouCut" list of suggested programs for online voting on which ones should lose funding, The Hill reported. Cantor called Williams' firing an example of "overreaching political correctness."
Minority Leader John Boehner, who described NPR as a "left-wing radio network," said Republicans will examine its funding if they win control of the House. In the Senate, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said Thursday he would introduce legislation to cut NPR from the budget.
Most of NPR's funding comes from other sources.
Williams was fired Wednesday after an on-air discussion of Islam with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. Williams said he becomes nervous when he spots people in "Muslim garb" on airlines, a remark that was part of a longer and more nuanced discussion in which Williams argued Muslims should not be lumped together as potential terrorists.
Muslim-American activists and scholars said they fear the firing of a radio analyst will expand the gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims in America.
"The greater American public remains unsure about Islam and very often hostile about Islam," Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University, who examines the schism in his film and book, "Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam," told the Los Angeles Times.
"Now the debate is, are we being oversensitive to Muslims?" he added.
NPR said Williams's Muslim comments were the last straw and dismissed him, saying his remarks were "inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices."
"This isn't the first time we have had serious concerns about some of Juan's public comments," NPR chief executive Vivian Schiller said in an e-mail to affiliates.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/22/Republicans-eye-NPR-funding/UPI-76801287722078/

Schwarzenegger declares state of emergency after mall fire

(CNN) -- The closing of a mall heavily damaged by fire will cause a heavy economic toll, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday in declaring a state of emergency. The governor's order suspends a one-week waiting period for store employees who will seek unemployment in Placer County. It also expedites the removal of hazardous and nonhazardous debris so that rebuilding can begin.
Investigators have begun damage assessments at the mall in Roseville near Sacramento, where a man barricaded himself inside a video game store before setting it on fire, authorities said.
"The fire department is monitoring the scene in case of possible flare-ups or hot spots," said Sgt. Jason Bosworth of the Roseville Police Department.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/22/california.mall.standoff/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29

Juan Williams Firing Prompts Jim DeMint Bill to Defund NPR

News analyst Juan Williams appears on the "Fox &amp; friends" television program in New York, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. Williams, who has written extensively on race and civil rights in the U.S., has been fired by National Public Radio after comments he made about Muslims on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," on Monday.

(Credit: Richard Drew)

Conservative Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina today announced plans to introduce legislation stripping federal funding from National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.

The move comes following the firing of NPR contributor Juan Williams for comments about Muslims.

Williams said among other things that he gets "nervous" when he sees Muslims on his airplane flights.

The firing prompted calls from Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and others on the right to strip NPR of funding, and now DeMint, who is beloved in the Tea Party movement despite his Senate perch, has taken up the call.

"Once again we find the only free speech liberals support is the speech with which they agree. The incident with Mr. Williams shows that NPR is not concerned about providing the listening public with an honest debate of today's issues, but rather with promoting a one-sided liberal agenda," he said in a statement.

The release said U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a California Republican, is putting forth legislation matching DeMint's in the House. He previously put forth such legislation in June. If Republicans take control of the House in the midterm elections they could bring the matter to a vote in the next Congress. (The same is true in the Senate, though a GOP takeover there is less likely.)

NPR and PBS get funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which got a $422 million total allocation from the federal government in FY2010. Much of that money goes to member stations, not NPR or PBS directly, though the member stations pay dues to NPR and PBS.

While NPR does not get any direct money from CPB, it does get grants as well as funding indirectly through member stations. Hotsheet dug into the numbers yesterday and calculated that between the two sources it gets less than ten percent of its budget from the federal government.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020458-503544.html?tag=contentAux;rBoxPromo

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Bush: From presidential pampering to pet poop

Former US President George W. Bush says he made a swift transition from the White House pampering to picking up his pet's poop, according to a news report on Wednesday.

President George W Bush: George W Bush sings a presidential goodbye

Former US President, George W. Bush

Mr Bush told a university lecture hall in his home state of Texas on Tuesday that, shortly after leaving Washington, he faced a decidedly un-stately moment when his dog Barney relieved himself on a neighbour's lawn.

"Ten days out of the presidency, there I was with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up that which I had been dodging for eight years," he was quoted as saying by the Tyler Morning Telegraph in remarks confirmed by his office.

The former president has mostly shied from the limelight since leaving office – except for a high-profile stint raising money to help Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake – and kept a low political profile.

But Mr Bush now plans a round of interviews to coincide with the November release of his book about his time in office, "Decision Points".

"This will come as a shock to some people in our country who didn't think I could read a book, much less write one," joked the former president, who left office deeply unpopular amid the US economic crisis.
"It's not a judgmental book," he told some 2,000 people on the campus of the University of Texas at Tyler. "It's not a 'Bush is cool' (book)."

The former president spared a little bit of nostalgia for his eight years in office, telling the audience: "I miss being pampered; I miss Air Force One; I miss being commander in chief of an awesome (military)."

Bush also firmly defended his decision to seek a massive government rescue of troubled banks in late 2008, even as fellow Republicans now fiercely denounce such bailouts ahead of critical November 2 elections.

He told the audience that he acted after leading economic advisers warned that failure to do so could lead to a crisis worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"Depression, no Depression," he was quoted as saying in the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "It wasn't that hard for me, just so you know. I made the decision to use your money to prevent the collapse from happening."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8077317/Bush-From-presidential-pampering-to-pet-poop.html

Hot air? White House takes credit for Bush-era wind farm jobs

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is crediting its anti-recession stimulus plan with creating up to 50,000 jobs on dozens of wind farms, even though many of those wind farms were built before the stimulus money began to flow or even before President Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Image: Blades of windmill blur as they catch the wind on Stetson Mountain, Maine.

Robert F. Bukaty / AP file

The blades of a windmill blur as they catch the wind on Stetson Mountain near Stetson, Maine. The project by First Wind was eligible for $40 million in the 2009 stimulus program, although federal records show that its wind towers were up by July 2008. Should jobs at Stetson Mountain be counted among those created by the Obama economic stimulus?

Out of 70 major wind farms that received the $4.4 billion in federal energy grants through the stimulus program, public records show that 11, which received a total of $600 million, erected their wind towers during the Bush administration. And a total of 19 wind farms, which received $1.3 billion, were built before any of the stimulus money was distributed. ( See a list of the projects here.)

Yet all the jobs at these wind farms are counted in the administration's figures for jobs created by the stimulus.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39759042/ns/business/

Poll results not so good for Democrats

The same folks that broke the economy under Clinton now want to fix it.

U.S. President Obama Signs Finance Reform Bill Into Law in Washington

(L-R) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) attend the signing ceremony for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on July 21, 2010 in Washington, DC. A sweeping expansion of federal financial regulation in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression, the bill will create a consumer protection agency, lay out a blueprint for disassembling financial entities considered "too big to fail," and many other reforms. UPI/Chip Somodevilla/Pool

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A majority of voters in battleground races say U.S. President Obama hasn't changed Washington or brought change for the worse, a poll by The Hill indicates.

In 10 competitive House district races, 41 percent of likely voters told pollsters change had been for the worse while 30 percent said he has made no difference, results of The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll released Thursday indicated.

Twenty-six percent said they thought Obama had delivered on his promise of ending business-as-usual in Washington.

"All change is not good change, and the voters are expressing overall dissatisfaction with the direction of change so far," pollster Mark Penn said of the findings.

In another segment, The Hill survey indicated likely voters in 10 key congressional districts said they believe the media have become more partisan in the past five years.

The poll reported that 51 percent of respondents said they think media outlets became either more partisan Republican or more partisan Democrat since 2005. Thirty percent said the media are more biased in favor of Democrats and 21 percent said they though the media favored Republicans.

The results indicated 30 percent said they thought the level of partisanship in the media was about the same since 2005.

A third portion of the poll indicated three in five independent voters in key House district races said they thought Congress's Democratic leadership was more left than them on the political spectrum.

The Hill 2010 Midterm Election Poll also indicated 61 percent of likely independent voters in 10 battleground House districts said they thought the leadership under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was more liberal than they are.

"That's a very significant finding that tells you where independents are likely to go," Penn said. "In terms of independents, Reid and Pelosi are viewed as out of step."

The overall poll conducted for the Washington publication by Penn Schoen Berland surveyed 4,276 voters in 10 House districts held by two-term Democrats from Oct. 9-17. The margin of error is 1.5 percentage points.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/21/Poll-results-not-so-good-for-Democrats/UPI-16671287678297/

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Shots hit Pentagon; temporary lockdown

Law enforcement officers search for evidence along Interstate 395 adjacent to the Pentagon in Arlington on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010. The entrances to the Defense Department headquarters were locked down early in the morning after a report of possible shots fired near the building. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

By Pauline Jelinek

Associated Press

Updated: 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, October 19, 2010

ASHINGTON (AP) — Someone fired shots at the Pentagon early Tuesday, hitting the building and causing minor damage, defense officials said.Police who protect the massive Defense Department headquarters temporarily locked down some road and pedestrian entrances to the building after a civilian reported he may have heard shots at about 5 a.m. on the south side of the facility.
A sweep of the area and facility found that some shots had hit the building, Marine Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said. He didn't know how many shots or from what kind of weapon.
Roads and pedestrian entrances leading to the Pentagon were reopened a little after 5:30 a.m., but part of nearby Interstate 395 was later temporarily closed for part of the investigation.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/19/pentagon-locked-down-after-possible-shots-fired/

Monday, October 18, 2010

Facebook in Privacy Breach

Kim White Bloomberg

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed the F8 developer conference this spring.

Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

The issue affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook's strictest privacy settings. The practice breaks Facebook's rules, and renews questions about its ability to keep identifiable information about its users' activities secure
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us#articleTabs%3Darticle

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Staff Sgt. Robert Miller was killed in 2008 while taking fire from Taliban insurgents to protect his team, the Army says.

Oviedo, Florida (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will award the nation's highest military honor Wednesday to a Green Beret who died after willingly taking fire to protect U.S. and Afghan soldiers.
Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller, killed on January 25, 2008, will be the seventh service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Army said he fended off fire from Taliban insurgents to allow his team to fall back to a safe position. The battle took place in the village of Barikowt, near the Pakistani border.
"Miller deliberately moved forward making himself vulnerable as he engaged several enemy positions to provide suppressive fire, buying time for his teammates to take cover," the Army's website states.
"We were fish in a barrel," said Sgt. James Lodyga, Miller's commander in Afghanistan. "Enemy on right, on the left. Robby immediately started firing."
By "exposing his position repeatedly, he drew fire from more than 100 enemy fighters" and saved the lives of his fellow Green Berets and 15 Afghan soldiers, the Army said.
Miller's parents take consolation that their son gave his life so that others could live.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/06/obama.medal.of.honor/index.html?eref=rss_politics&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+Politics%29

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