marmar
marmar's JournalLink to the Free Speech TV May Day coverage live feed......
https://www.freespeech.org/fstvmaydayPS - I think the actual "live" coverage begins this afternoon.
Rupert Murdoch 'not fit' to lead major international company, MPs conclude
from the Guardian UK:
Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person" to exercise stewardship of a major international company, a committee of MPs has concluded, in a report highly critical of the mogul and his son James's role in the News of the World phone-hacking affair.
The Commons culture, media and sport select committee also concluded that James Murdoch showed "wilful ignorance" of the extent of phone hacking during 2009 and 2010 – in a highly charged document that saw MPs split on party lines as regards the two Murdochs.
Labour MPs and the sole Liberal Democrat on the committee, Adrian Sanders, voted together in a bloc of six against the five Conservatives to insert the criticisms of Rupert Murdoch and toughen up the remarks about his son James. But the MPs were united in their criticism of other former News International employees.
The cross-party group of MPs said that Les Hinton, the former executive chairman of News International, was "complicit" in a cover-up at the newspaper group, and that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and the paper's ex-head of legal, Tom Crone, deliberately withheld crucial information and answered questions falsely. All three were accused of misleading parliament by the culture select committee. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/01/rupert-murdoch-not-fit-select-committee
US under-reporting Afghan attacks
from the Guardian UK:
The military is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops
The US-led coalition routinely reports each time an American or other foreign soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But the AP has learned it does not report insider attacks in which the Afghan wounds – or misses – his US or allied target. It also doesn't report the wounding of troops who were attacked alongside those who were killed.
Such attacks reveal a level of mistrust and ill will between the US-led coalition and its Afghan counterparts in an increasingly unpopular war. The US and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014.
In recent weeks an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force, or Isaf, as the coalition is formally known. It was disclosed to the AP by a US official who was granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the "insider" problem. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/30/us-military-under-reports-insider-attacks
Conservatives going apesh*t in Great Britain
from the Independent UK:
Boris Johnson today launched his second expletive-strewn tirade of the London mayoral election when he swore on camera about the investigative work of a BBC journalist.
With the campaign to run City Hall entering its final 72 hours, Mr Johnson sought to swat aside questions about his dealings with News International by accusing Tim Donovan, the political editor of BBC London, of talking “fucking bollocks” following a report about the London Mayor’s attempts to secure sponsorship from Rupert Murdoch’s empire.
The outburst, which was broadcast by the BBC in a lunchtime news bulletin, followed an earlier incident last month in which the Conservative incumbent called his Labour opponent Ken Livingstone a “fucking liar” in a lift following a dispute over their tax arrangements.
Mr Johnson’s latest brush with controversy followed a report by Mr Donovan which focused on the Tory candidate’s meetings with senior NI figures in 2010 shortly after he had dismissed the News of the World phone hacking scandal in front of the London Assembly as “codswallop”. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-turns-the-airwaves-blue-after-bbc-mentions-links-to-murdoch-7697648.html
....................
The Prime Minister was dragged to the House of Commons yesterday to face hostile questioning from MPs on why he still refuses to allow an inquiry into whether his Culture Secretary broke ministerial rules over the BSkyB deal.
Downing Street was angered after David Cameron was forced to cancel an election visit to Milton Keynes to be pulled before Parliament. Facing criticism that he was using Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry as a "smokescreen" to avoid a full investigation into the conduct of Jeremy Hunt, an irate Mr Cameron admitted that Lord Leveson did not have the power to adjudicate on breaches of the Ministerial Code.
The Prime Minister declined to act now and said that he would wait until Mr Hunt had given evidence to the inquiry, rather than order his own investigation. Pressure will intensify today as a DCMS report will criticise James Murdoch of failing to provide parliament with a full account of News International's internal knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World.
Mr Cameron's unscheduled appearance before Parliament – which was sanctioned by the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who granted an urgent question on the affair to the Labour leader, Ed Miliband – also incensed Tory backbenchers who are already at loggerheads with Mr Bercow. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cornered-cameron-rejects-inquiry-on-hunt-7697843.html
David Cameron shows his ass
from the Independent UK:
The Prime Minister was dragged to the House of Commons yesterday to face hostile questioning from MPs on why he still refuses to allow an inquiry into whether his Culture Secretary broke ministerial rules over the BSkyB deal.
Downing Street was angered after David Cameron was forced to cancel an election visit to Milton Keynes to be pulled before Parliament. Facing criticism that he was using Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry as a "smokescreen" to avoid a full investigation into the conduct of Jeremy Hunt, an irate Mr Cameron admitted that Lord Leveson did not have the power to adjudicate on breaches of the Ministerial Code.
The Prime Minister declined to act now and said that he would wait until Mr Hunt had given evidence to the inquiry, rather than order his own investigation. Pressure will intensify today as a DCMS report will criticise James Murdoch of failing to provide parliament with a full account of News International's internal knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World.
Mr Cameron's unscheduled appearance before Parliament – which was sanctioned by the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, who granted an urgent question on the affair to the Labour leader, Ed Miliband – also incensed Tory backbenchers who are already at loggerheads with Mr Bercow. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cornered-cameron-rejects-inquiry-on-hunt-7697843.html
Laissez-faire with strip-searches: America's two-faced liberalism
Laissez-faire with strip-searches: America's two-faced liberalism
Recent supreme court hearings sum up the US polity's central contradiction: liberty is sacrosanct for the market, not the citizen
Bernard Harcourt
guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 April 2012
There is a deep tension in contemporary US political thought between the notion of freedom that tends to dominate in the socio-economic domain and the concept of liberty that predominates in the penal sphere. In socio-economic matters, the idea of freedom tends to be shaped by classic economic liberalism: the belief that an invisible hand shapes favorable public outcomes, that individuals need robust protection from the government, that the state should refrain from interfering in commerce and trade. In the law enforcement and punishment context, by contrast, the dominant way of thinking about liberty gives far more ground to the government, to the police and to the state security apparatus.
This tension, when it gets acute, gives rise to what I would call "two-faced" or "Janus-faced liberalism". Over the last 40 years, during a period characterized by increased faith in free markets, in deregulation, and in privatization, America's Janus-faced liberalism has worsened and fueled the uniquely American paradox of laissez-faire and mass incarceration. In the country that has done the most to promote the idea of a hands-off government, our government runs, paradoxically, the single largest prison system in the whole world.
This past month, the great American paradox took a distinctly dystopian turn, particularly at the US supreme court. The oral argument on the constitutionality of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, in conjunction with the court's decision on the constitutionality of strip-searching all persons arrested even on the most minor traffic infractions, crystallize this worrisome trend. My sense is that I am not alone in this assessment; there appears to be growing recognition across the US that this two-faced liberalism may, in fact, be pushing the country, inch-by-inch, in the direction of a police state. This is surely true of the recent strip-search case, Florence v County of Burlington. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/30/laissez-faire-with-strip-searches-liberalism
US military found under-reporting insider attacks in Afghanistan
from the Guardian UK:
The military is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops
The US-led coalition routinely reports each time an American or other foreign soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But the AP has learned it does not report insider attacks in which the Afghan wounds – or misses – his US or allied target. It also doesn't report the wounding of troops who were attacked alongside those who were killed.
Such attacks reveal a level of mistrust and ill will between the US-led coalition and its Afghan counterparts in an increasingly unpopular war. The US and its military partners are working more closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility to them by the end of 2014.
In recent weeks an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of American soldiers but missed the group entirely. The Americans quickly shot him to death. Not a word about this was reported by the International Security Assistance Force, or Isaf, as the coalition is formally known. It was disclosed to the AP by a US official who was granted anonymity in order to give a fuller picture of the "insider" problem. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/30/us-military-under-reports-insider-attacks
"The strike, the boycott, the refusal to serve, the ability to paralyze the functioning ........
[font size="4"]...... of a complex social structure-these remain potent weapons against the most fearsome state or corporate power."[/font]
- Howard Zinn
The fact that so many people are trying to discourage it indicates it's already having an impact.
[font size="4"]“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”[/font]
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Global 'Austerity Trap' Has Caused 'Alarming' Jobs Crisis
Published on Monday, April 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
Global 'Austerity Trap' Has Caused 'Alarming' Jobs Crisis
New report from ILO highlights failures of austerity model to improve global jobs crisis
- Common Dreams staff
The current global jobs situation is "alarming," and many countries have fallen into the "austerity trap," according to the new report “World of Work Report 2012: Better Jobs for a Better Economy” from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The report finds the path of austerity that many countries have chosen simply has not generated jobs and has worsened the economic situation.
"The narrow focus of many Eurozone countries on fiscal austerity is deepening the jobs crisis and could even lead to another recession in Europe,” said Mr. Raymond Torres, Director of the ILO Institute for International Labor Studies and lead author of the report.
In contrast to the austerity choosing countries, "countries that have chosen job-centered macroeconomic policies have achieved better economic and social outcomes,” added Mr. Torres. ....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/30-3
"Corporate Socialism" alive and well in America
Companies are able to extort tax revenue out of state governments in a broken capitalist system based on private profits and public losses, says Reuters columnist David Cay Johnston in this episode of Fast Forward. (April 30, 2012)
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Fri Oct 29, 2004, 12:18 AM
Number of posts: 77,066