According to the May Nielson ratings, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart beat the entire Fox News network in terms of total viewers. Stewart averaged 2.3 million viewers, while the Fox News prime time and day time line up averaged 1.85 million viewers.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
At Least 5 Killed In Arizona Shooting Rampage
p to five people have been killed in Yuma county in the U.S. state of Arizona when an elderly gunman went on a shooting spree before taking his own life, reports said on Thursday.
The cold-blooded killings occurred early Thursday across a stretch of the Arizona desert, 34 kilometers north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The assailant was identified as 73-year-old Carey Hal Dyess. Senior lawyer Jerrold Shelley, who represented Dyess' wife in their 2006 divorce, was among those killed.
Yuma police chief Jerry Geier told reporters that it was a pre-meditated attack as the victims were targeted. "This is not a random act. These victims were targeted," he added.
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1638334&SM=1
Alabama Senate Approves Abortion-Related Bills
The new Republican-controlled Alabama Senate rushed through a package of bills Tuesday designed to make it tougher to get an abortion in the state and to define that life begins with fertilization and implantation in the womb.
The lopsided votes on the five bills were a dramatic departure from the old Democrat-controlled Senate, when abortion bills usually died in committee. The votes came after Republicans cut off stalling tactics by some Democrats.
"Today was historic," Republican Sen. Phil Williams of Rainbow City said.
The Senate voted 25-7 for one bill that would block abortion coverage by any health insurance plan that participates in a health insurance exchange the state is supposed to set up under the federal health care law. By the same vote, it approved a bill prohibiting health insurance plans in Alabama from offering coverage of elective abortions as part of their basic policies. People could still buy coverage as a separate insurance rider.
The Senate voted 23-7 for Williams' bill providing that the word "persons" in state laws "shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization and implantation in the womb."
A bill to require a doctor to perform an ultrasound on a pregnant woman before performing an abortion sailed through 26-3. The bill provides the doctor must show the ultrasound images to the woman and explain what they mean — a require proponents hope will cause the woman to change her mind.
By a 26-6 tally, the Senate approved a measure requiring a doctor to examine a woman in person before prescribing an abortion-inducting drug and to do a follow-up visit.
All five bills now go to the House with six meeting days left in the 2011 session. They must be passed by the House and signed by the governor to become law.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43154496/Alabama_Senate_approves_abortion_related_bills
John EdwardE Expected to be Indicted Friday, Source Says
Former senator and 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards is expected to be indicted on Friday, barring any last-minute developments, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
There have been plea discussions ongoing between Edwards' defense lawyers and federal prosecutors, but no agreement has been reached.
A grand jury has been investigating that money given to support Edwards' mistress Rielle Hunter by benefactors of Edwards should have been considered campaign donations -- a contention Edwards' team has disputed.
Edwards had not wanted to plead guilty to a felony because he could lose his law license, a source familiar with the inquiry previously told CNN.
The case involves the financial aid given to Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter. During their affair, Hunter became pregnant with Edwards' baby, though at first he denied he was the father.
While prosecutors believe the monetary help given to Hunter by two of Edwards' political backers should have been considered campaign donations, Edwards' attorneys disagree.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Massachusetts Emergency After Tornadoes Kill Four
A cluster of tornadoes has hit the US state of Massachusetts, killing at least four people.
They roared through some 20 towns, ripping off roofs, uprooting trees and scattering debris.
Worst hit was Springfield, the third largest city in the state, where 33 injuries were reported.
A state of emergency has been declared and the National Guard has been called in.
Tornadoes are rare, but not unheard of, in the north-eastern US.
State Governor Deval Patrick said the path of damage from the first and most powerful tornado rampaged from Westfield, just west of Springfield, and extended east to the community of Douglas.
A second, slightly less powerful twister, cut a path from West Springfield to Sturbridge in the central part of the state. The damaged area is about 90 miles (145km) west of Boston.
Ala. Legislature Expands Brew Pubs, Breweries
Beer enthusiasts are toasting the Alabama Legislature for passing a bill that they hope will lead to a resurgence of brew pubs and the opening of more breweries.
The Senate voted 19-6 Wednesday to go along with changes the House made Tuesday night in a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Holtzclaw of Madison. If it is signed by the governor, it will allow brew pubs to sell their beers through other locations and allow breweries to serve their products at their plants.
"It's the biggest change in Alabama brewing laws since the repeal of prohibition," said Gabe Harris, president of Free the Hops. The grassroots group of beer enthusiasts has been pushing for several years to change Alabama's beer laws.
Holtzclaw said he expects the bill to result in more brew pubs and breweries because it will create new revenue streams to help ensure their profitability. "I view this as an economic development bill," he said.
Free the Hops vice president Stuart Carter said he foresees the day when Alabama will have enough of the businesses that state tourism officials will want to print a tourism brochure for driving tours like they do for music attractions, civil rights landmarks, top restaurants and other tourist attractions.
Does Michele Bachmann Think the Apocalypse is Imminent?
Almost immediately after President Obama's recent Middle East address, in which he reaffirmed his administration's commitment to a two-state solution in Israel, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R–Minn.) sprang into action. Blasting the president's "shocking display of betrayal towards our ally," the tea party icon attacked the speech (which did not actually represent a policy shift) in robocalls and online ads that appeared the key primary states of Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.
Bachmann's support for Israel isn't simply an embrace of an ally in a historically volatile region; it's rooted in biblical prophecy. As Bachmann explained in a 2010 speech, she believes that if the United States turns its back on Israel, "a curse" will be placed on the land. As proof, she cited Genesis 12:3, in which God says to Abraham, "The one who curses you I will curse." It was an uncommonly explicit blurring of policy and theology from a prominent politician—but for Bachmann, who's expected to formally enter the presidential race in the coming weeks, it was hardly an isolated incident.
Over the last decade, Bachmann has enjoyed an on-again off-again relationship with Olive Tree Ministries, an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to "interpreting current events from a Biblical perspective." Bachmann has appeared on Understanding the Times, the radio program hosted by Olive Tree's founder Jan Markell, at least half a dozen times, discussing topics like gay marriage, the war on terror, and biblical prophecy. As she told Markell in 2004, "We're seeing the fulfillment of the Book of Judges here in our own time, where every man is doing that which is right in his own eyes—in other words, anarchy.http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/does-michele-bachmann-think-world-ending
How Fraudulent Is the GOP Budget Plan? It Wouldn't Even Make a Dent In the Deficit!
A plan being sold to the public as a “serious” attempt to reduce the federal deficit would cut the budget gap by just one-seventh of one percent over the next decade.
The Republican budget plan is the purest expression of the Right's longstanding desire to dismantle the social safety net. It's not about the budget deficit—that's simply a premise -- it's the "Shock Doctrine" in action.
How radical is it? According to an analysis by the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the plan would slash all public spending other than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid by almost three-quarters by 2050. And because the “budget does not envision defense cuts in real terms,” what this means is that “most of the rest of the federal government outside of health care, Social Security, and defense would cease to exist.”
It's the epitome of anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist's fantasy of shrinking the government down to a point where he could “drown it in a bathtub.” And it's not just a matter of bait-and-switch; the entire proposal is a fraud.
Just consider this: while selling their plan to the public as a “serious” and “bold” attempt to reduce the federal deficit, Republicans are overstating how much it would cut the budget gap by ten-fold.
That's right, Rep Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, says his plan would reduce the deficit by $160 billion per year over the next decade, but it actually trims just $15 billion per year over that period – which is next to nothing in the context of budgets that run well over $3 trillion.
To put that figure in perspective, it represents less than half of the spending cuts proposed by Barack Obama for next year; the average savings would have reduced this year's deficit by just one measly percent.
Civil Union Law for Same-Sex Couples takes Effect in Illinois
With 30 of their closest friends and relatives on hand, and with Chicago’s stunning skyline as a backdrop, Mary Bernas and Hiliana Leon plan to exchange vows at a June 25 commitment ceremony at the John Hancock Observatory. Then there will be a big celebration and dinner at a downtown restaurant.
But today is a big day for the New Lenox women, too. Bernas and Leon and scores of other same-sex couples across Illinois are expected to apply for civil union licenses as a new state law takes effect, bestowing on them rights already granted to married couples.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed the historic civil unions legislation into law in January, making Illinois the seventh state, along with the District of Columbia, to give same-sex couples significant legal protections. They include the power to decide medical care for an ailing partner, the right to inherit a partner’s property, get full hospital visitation rights and be considered next of kin.
Cross-Border Attack Kills at Least 65 in Northwest Pakistan
Pakistani authorities say an estimated 200 militants crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked a Pakistani border post starting a lengthy battle that has left at least 27 security troops and three civilians dead. Pakistani officials say more than 35 of the militants were also killed.
The clash in the Dir tribal area of Pakistan began Wednesday and lasted well over 24 hours, although Pakistani officials say the area had calmed by midday Thursday, with Pakistani forces regaining control of the area.
The location borders Afghanistan's Kunar province and has been a center for al-Qaida and other militants in the past.
U.S. and NATO officials have long complained that insurgent fighters in Pakistan's northwest tribal region have launched attacks against their troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Google Says Chinese Hackers Broke Into Gmail
Google Inc. is blaming computer hackers in China for a high-tech ruse that broke into the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.
The breach announced Wednesday marks the second time in 17 months that Google has publicly identified China as the home base for a scheme aimed at hijacking information stored on Google's vast network of computers.
This round of attacks isn't believed to be tied to a more sophisticated assault originating from China in late 2009 and early last year. That intrusion went after some of Google's trade secrets and triggered a high-profile battle with China's Communist government over online censorship that has made it more difficult for the company to do business in the world's most populous country.
The latest duplicity appeared to rely on so-called "phishing" scams and other underhanded behavior that hackers frequently use to obtain passwords from people and websites that aren't vigilant about protecting the information.
Google credited its own security measures for detecting and disrupting the intrusions. All the victims have been notified and their Gmail accounts secured, according to the company. Mila Parkour, a security researcher who helped alert Google to the Gmail breach, said the attacks had been occurring for at least a year before they were finally uncovered.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/06/01/technology/AP-US-TEC-Google-Hacking-Attack.html?_r=1&hp
Julian Assange Awarded Top UK Journalism Prize
The internet activist and founder of whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, has been awarded the highly prestigious Martha Gelhorn Prize for Journalism 2011.
The prize is presented annually to a journalist "whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or 'official drivel', as Martha Gelhorn called it."
The judges ruled unanimously in favour of Julian Assange, whose work in exposing classified information to the public was described as "a truth-telling that has empowered people all over the world."
"As publisher and editor [of WikiLeaks], Julian Assange represents that which journalists once prided themselves in - he's brave, determined, independent: a true agent of people not of power."
WikiLeaks rose to prominence in early 2010 when it published documents on the American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In November 2010, the website published a cache of several thousand U.S. Diplomatic cables that revealed the diploma workings behind American foreign relations. This lead to the denouncement of the website and its founder by several high-profile politicisans, including U.S. Secretary of state Hilary Clinton and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
http://www.newstatesman.com/digital/2011/06/journalism-prize-wikileaks
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Monkey "Witch" Burned by South African Township Mob
Animal welfare workers were contacted by a Kagiso resident traumatized by the incident, in which a vervet monkey was beaten, pelted with stones, shot at and burned to death.
Animal welfare groups in South Africa have condemned the “barbaric” killing of a vervet monkey by a mob of township residents who said it was a talking witch.
The monkey was beaten, pelted with stones, shot at and then doused with gas and burned to death in Kagiso near Johannesburg, by residents chanting “Kill that witch!”, reports South Africa’s Star newspaper.
The vervet monkey had reportedly wandered into the township after becoming separated from its troop.
Residents said the monkey had been going around Kagiso “talking to people,” and believed it was linked to witchcraft and would bring them bad luck.
They pelted the monkey with stones, and the monkey fled into a tree but was pulled down, put in a bucket and doused with gas.
Alaska Getting Ready to Release Palin Emails
24,000 PAGES: Some will be withheld or partly blacked out
Alaska is about to release more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails from her time as governor. But officials are also going to withhold another 2,415 pages the state deems privileged, personal or otherwise exempt from Alaska's disclosure laws.
News organizations and individuals requested the Palin emails under Alaska's public records law more than two years ago when she was running for vice president.
http://www.adn.com/2011/05/31/1892284/state-prepares-to-release-palin.html#ixzz1O2Qo4wBF
The Next Bubble Is About to Burst: College Grads Face Dwindling Jobs and Mounting Loans
Today's graduates face miserable job prospects, and experts say the student loan crisis could be worse than the credit card or housing bubbles.
It's the beginning of summer: warmer weather, longer days, the end of the school year. And that means graduation for thousands of young people across the U.S.; graduation with more student debt than ever before, and into a job market that is anything but promising.
Young people between the ages of 16 and 24 face an unemployment rate nearly twice that of the rest of the population, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute. 2010's 18.4 percent rate for youth was the worst in the 60 years that economists have collected such data. ColorLines notes that in 2010, 8.4 percent of white college graduates were unemployed, 13.8 percent of Latino graduates, and a dismal 19 percent of black graduates.
Those bright, shiny new degrees simply aren't worth the paper they're printed on all too often. The cost of a college degree is up some 3,400 percent since 1972, but as we all know too well, household incomes haven't increased by anything close to that number -- not for the bottom 99 percent of us, anyway.
Fox News Ticker Gets Hacked in New York
Most news station headquarters in New York have building-spanning tickers blasting the breaking news of the day to the street.
And recently, some resourceful soul decided to bring the real "fair and balanced" reporting to said ticker, hacking into the mainframe and broadcasting the truth.
Some other people with a video camera took the train up to Rockefeller Center to capture the magic, which in all-caps displays such items as "Our country is not broke" and "We are being lied to.
Florida Governor Signs Welfare Drug-Screen Measure
Saying it is "unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed legislation requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening.
"It's the right thing for taxpayers," Scott said after signing the measure. "It's the right thing for citizens of this state that need public assistance. We don't want to waste tax dollars. And also, we want to give people an incentive to not use drugs."
Under the law, which takes effect on July 1, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services will be required to conduct the drug tests on adults applying to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The aid recipients would be responsible for the cost of the screening, which they would recoup in their assistance if they qualify. Those who fail the required drug testing may designate another individual to receive the benefits on behalf of their children.
Shortly after the bill was signed, five Democrats from the state's congressional delegation issued a joint statement attacking the legislation, one calling it "downright unconstitutional."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/01/florida.welfare.drug.testing/index.html
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