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Friday 5 August 2011

Obama To Announce New Steps To Get Veterans Back To Work

Today the president will announce new steps aimed at helping the nation’s one million unemployed veterans get back to work. In a speech at the Washington Navy Yard, the president will challenge the private sector to hire 100,000 veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013 and will propose extending tax credits for wounded warriors and service members returning from combat.

“The president feels that our veterans who have served the country, put their lives on the line and are coming into a difficult labor market, deserve all the support we as a country can give them to find new careers, new private sector job opportunities that will allow them to have economic security for themselves and their families,” an administration official said.

The president will advocate for a “Returning Heroes Tax Credit,” which would offer participating companies a $2,400 tax credit for hiring short-term unemployed veterans. The White House would also offer additional incentives of $4,800 to companies hiring service members who have faced unemployment for six months or longer.

“This is not a tax credit that we believe necessarily has to be continued indefinitely, but we believe that with the significant number of veterans entering the workforce at a time of significant long-term unemployment as our nation is recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression, that this is both appropriate and fair and something the American people will strongly support,” the official said.

The president will also propose continuing an existing tax credit for firms that hire veterans with disabilities and increasing the credit to companies that hire wounded warriors who have faced long-term unemployment. “We believe that this is right from an economic point of view, right from a values point of view, right in terms of honoring the brave men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country and have already sacrificed so much,” the administration official said.

In addition to tax incentives, the president will float the idea of a “reverse bootcamp” to help veterans transition back into the workforce. The idea is just one concept that will be considered by a new task force working to ensure the career readiness of veterans.

The bootcamp would be an extended transition period on the back end of service where members would receive counseling, learn more about the benefits available to them, and pursue job training opportunities.

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Gambling corruption trial: Jury could get case today

Following a colorful and emo­tional day of closing arguments Thursday, the judge presiding over a federal corruption case expects to conclude arguments this morn­ing and allow the jury to begin de­liberating by 1 p.m.

Attorneys for eight of the nine defendants have concluded their closing arguments, with Susan James set to deliver her arguments on behalf of Country Crossing spokesman Jay Walker at 8 a.m. She will have an hour.

Following James, prosecutors will have almost two hours to con­clude their closing arguments.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson will then give the jury its instructions, which could be lengthy with more than 35 counts and nine defendants, and said he hopes the jury will begin deliberat­ing by no later than 1 p.m.

Closing arguments in the case, which began in early June, started Wednesday.

James will follow Ron Wise, at­torney for former state Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega, who talked Thursday about lobby­ists -- who pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the prosecution -- playing on the senator's emotions after the suicide of his grandson.

She will also follow Jim Parkman, attorney for state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, who referred to "American Idol," Scooby-Doo and Seinfeld in his colorful closing argu­ment, one that led Thompson to threaten to clear the courtroom if spectators didn't stifle their laughter at the attorney's sarcasm and stinging statements.

Attorneys for Sen. Quinton Ross, former Sen. Larry Means, and legislative ana-
lyst and attorney Ray Crosby also delivered their closing arguments Thursday.

The other defendants are VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and two of his lob­byists, Tom Coker and Bob Geddie.

The nine defendants are accused of participating in a conspiracy in which casino owners and their lobbyists bribed state lawmakers to pass gambling legislation.

Country Crossing develop­er Ronnie Gilley and two of his lobbyists, Jarrod Massey and Jennifer Pouncy, have already pleaded guilty in the case.
No respect

Parkman said the prosecu­tion's case is based on liars, thieves, con-men, convicted felons, egomaniacs, and "people that have no respect for women, people that have no respect for African-Amer­icans."

News Link:
Thursday 4 August 2011

Ripples from Central Falls bankruptcy could harm whole state, experts say

In the city once known as “Chocolateville” because it attracted one of America’s first chocolate factories, the nonprofit Confectioners Mill Preservation Society and the family behind Mars chocolate bars considered investing millions of dollars in Central Falls.

They wanted to build a replica of the original chocolate mill and create a museum. But those plans are now on the back burner because of fiscal woes at the city, state and national levels.

And now that Central Falls has filed for bankruptcy, some economic-development experts and business leaders say the latest news weakens Rhode Island’s chances for jump-starting its economy and attracting out-of-state investments.

“The real problem is the message it sends for Rhode Island, which is struggling, right now, to be an attractive place for investment,” said Robert D. Atkinson, who was the first executive director, in 1996, of what was then the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council.

In a state they say is recognized for high unemployment, high taxes and a difficult business climate, several former directors of the state Economic Development Corporation say they’ve watched local municipalities mismanage finances for years.

“I had said that things have to get worse before they can get better and, hopefully, this is a wake-up call,” said Michael McMahon, a former EDC executive director and now managing director of a private equity firm in New York.

But with other towns and cities throughout Rhode Island struggling with the same unfunded-pension liabilities that helped lead to Central Falls’ financial downfall, this first municipal bankruptcy in the state may be a harbinger of more to come, says Richard C. Reed, a former deputy director of the EDC.

“Central Falls may well be the canary in the coal mine for Rhode Island,” Reed said.

But even worse, the city may be among the first of many financially troubled municipalities around the country to file for bankruptcy.

“It creates uncertainty, and markets don’t like uncertainty,” he said.

Companies that might have considered moving to Rhode Island may now reach the conclusion that promises from municipalities about taxes and services probably won’t be kept, said Atkinson, now president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, D.C.

And yet, others remain optimistic that the bankruptcy filing sends a message that Central Falls is working to get its finances in order.

“We are talking about shoring up the city’s finances, which were really dysfunctional and really needed to be restructured,” said Edinaldo Tebaldi, assistant economics professor at Bryant University. “The way the city was being run at this point was a lose-lose situation.”

Mark Higgins, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, says the impact on local businesses will become clearer once the state-appointed receiver presents his plan for how the city will work its way out of bankruptcy.

But for Rhode Island businesses farther away, Higgins doesn’t see Central Falls’ troubles having much impact.

“I don’t think there’s any impact on a business in Narragansett,” he said.

The confectioners society decided in May that 2011 was not the right time for a project of its scope, said Robert D. Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council. The council is now working on a more modest proposal to create a small park overlooking the site.

“The Blackstone Valley has been working on developing itself as a destination for 25 years now,” Billington said. “You take one step forward, and then maybe one step back. This is one of those times that makes it more difficult.”

But he said he’s worried more about Central Falls’ reputation among Rhode Islanders than out-of-state visitors, who don’t really care about a city’s financial problems.

“If Rhode Islanders feel negative toward the Blackstone region, that’s harder for me to overcome,” he said.

In neighboring Cumberland, the CEO and president of Hope Global worries about her employees. Cheryl Merchant says many of the textile company’s 250 to 275 employees live in Central Falls. If municipal services disappear, she worries some of her workers will leave the state.

“If they move, where do they move to?” she said. “We have a very stable work force, a very loyal and hard-working team.... I don’t think things like this will do us any good.”

She’s also concerned about the state’s business reputation.

“I truly see this rippling all through the state.... It becomes our reputation,” she said. “We do business internationally, and people always ask ‘Why are you in Rhode Island’ and ‘What’s going on there?’ Stability is a huge concern for everyone. Being in a state that’s unstable is not good.”

Cities go bankrupt for two reasons, Atkinson said: their underlying economics are not strong, or they have high levels of inefficiency or ineptitude.

He thinks both are true here in Rhode Island.

“And now, the chickens are coming home to roost,” he said. “I think it sends the message to companies that Central Falls may not be an anomaly. It’s not one city. This is an endemic problem to the state.” 
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Wednesday 3 August 2011

Inclusion in Iowa GOP debate will be finalized Aug. 9

Fox News officials have rejected Iowa GOP officials’ recommendation to include all nine presidential candidates on the straw poll ballot in the lineup for the Aug. 11 Iowa debate.

The final rules say the participants must have an official presidential campaign or exploratory committee, meet all constitutional requirements, and an average of at least one percent in five national polls.

That means several candidates – Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman – will likely qualify for the debate.

But it could leave out Thaddeus McCotter, who is the most recent to enter the race and isn’t registering on some public opinion polls yet.

The deadline for meeting the established criteria for participation is 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

Rules set by the Republican Party of Iowa’s central committee, which organizes the Aug. 13 straw poll, guarantee that any candidate who pays the $15,000 minimum for a tent space lands on the ballot.

The committee voted unanimously last month to include everyone listed on the ballot in the debate. But final rules provided by Iowa GOP officials show that idea didn’t make it onto the list.

Fox News is co-sponsoring the debate with the Iowa GOP and the Washington Examiner newspaper.

“The barriers for entry are very low by design to make sure an inclusive list of candidates is featured on stage,” said Casey Mills, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Iowa.

The debate begins at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 at Iowa State University in Ames, two days before the Iowa straw poll.

The Washington Examiner’s chief political correspondent Byron York and chief congressional correspondent Susan Ferrechio will question the presidential candidates along with Fox News anchors Chris Wallace and Bret Baier.
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Tuesday 2 August 2011

Tuesday's letters: Political corruption holds us back

Our problem is larger than the debt ceiling. The problem is a political system that allows politicians to be paid off by special-interest groups that promote single-item issues. Does anybody look at the big picture?

We are rapidly falling behind other developed countries in health care, technology, education, etc., and this fall will not cease until we change the rampant corruption within the political system.

Is it the politicians to blame or is it us, the American people, who have become obsessed by our own individual priorities without considering their effect on others?

The majority of us are guilty of spending money we do not have, ignoring the day when debts will have to be paid; and that day is upon us.

God help America.

John Lythgoe, Dunedin

The economy

Think for themselves

To move our country forward, politicians should begin with a rebuke of all signed pledges so they can keep an open mind and truly negotiate with all options on the table.

Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform pledge prevents any discussion of ending tax cuts for billionaires and ensures that Big Oil retains its multibillion-dollar tax subsidies. I was appalled to learn that Florida has 14 national legislators who have signed this pledge, including Sen. Marco Rubio, and Reps. C.W. Bill Young, Gus Bilirakis, Dennis Ross and Vern Buchanan.

I thought my senator and representative were actually able to do their jobs without checking first with Norquist. Voters should revisit who has signed this pledge prior to the next election and put people in office who can think for themselves.

Scott Willis, St. Petersburg

The wrong medicine

The news that second-quarter economic growth was weak should come as no surprise to anyone with a basic knowledge of economics. Not only was the original stimulus legislation too small to sustain a recovery from the worst recession this country has ever seen, but the current political momentum for decreased federal spending, along with belt tightening at the state level, is exactly the wrong medicine for this sluggish recovery.

Corporations are sitting on vast reserves, but will not create jobs in uncertain times. Only the government can prime the economic pump enough to break the poor employment cycle. Yet, the only question being asked today is how much money will we take out of the economy.

We need only look to FDR's error in 1937 when, after setting the nation on a path toward a strong recovery from the Great Depression with deficit spending, he succumbed to conservative budget hawks and began to curtail spending significantly. The nation slid back into Depression from which it could not recover until spending for World War II broke the ice.

Once again, the old saying holds true: "What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right."

Ernie Ciarrocchi, Wimuama

Remove the instability

Here's an idea:

Change or replace the current debt ceiling law so that all congressional appropriations implicitly authorize the Treasury to borrow whatever funds are necessary to meet the cash requirements of the appropriations. But also require most all revenue collected to be applied first to debt service and retirement. Then, for Congress to reduce the deficit and the total debt, it must either raise more revenue, i.e. increase taxes, or appropriate less.

This policy would resemble the cash/credit management policies of many if not most major U.S. corporations.

The result will be that Congress will retain control of the "purse strings" as intended by the Constitution without the micromanaging that it does not seem to be able to do competently.

There will be no room for U.S. creditors to doubt the soundness of their investment in U.S. debt due to any perceived political "instability."

Tom Klecker, Safety Harbor

Clean energy

Decades of dithering

We have an energy problem, yet our solution is more of the same dead-end programs, "drill baby drill," and more nukes. Germany has energy problem too, yet its solution is to build giant solar and wind farms as far as the eye can see. It sees the folly of nuclear at Fukushima and decides to end its nuclear program in favor of the clean energy of the future. If cloudy Germany can do solar, surely we can.

The technology has been here since before the Carter administration, but we have been dithering for almost 40 years. The solution is right in front of us; we just have to try.

David Slaggie, Tampa

'Lone wolf' attacks stir angst in Europe July 29

Hijacked by extremists

This story in reports on unease about right-wing extremism in Europe following the killings in Norway by a self-professed extreme rightist.

During the election cycle in the United States last year, we witnessed extreme right-wingers wearing and carrying guns to political rallies while spouting hateful rhetoric against the government.

Are we paying attention here in the United States? Those frightening individuals were also successful in electing the most radical right-wing politicians this country has ever seen. Those same politicians are now sabotaging our country financially.

The once great Republican Party has allowed itself to be hijacked by the large freshman class of extremists.

It is imperative that we who love our country, regardless of party affiliation, vote these radical individuals out of office in 2012 so we can return to some level of sanity in Congress.

Jim Slaughter, Land O'Lakes
News Link:
http://www.tampabay.com
Tuesday 26 July 2011

Debt crisis could 'do serious damage' to economy: Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Democrat and Republican lawmakers to put politics aside to reach a compromise on the nation's debt crisis, warning that failure to do so "could cost us jobs and do serious damage to our economy."

In a televised address to the nation Monday night, Obama told the American people that the bickering between lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum has left the country "with a stalemate." The president said the impasse could prevent him from moving forward with efforts to rein in the deficit and keep the United States from defaulting on its bills.

Obama said that for the last decade, the United States government has "spent more money than we take in," a situation made worse by the economic downturn.

"Every family knows a little credit card debt is manageable," Obama said. "But if we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to our economy."

Obama said failure to reach a deal by next week will lead the government to default on its debts, which will send interest rates soaring, prevent businesses from hiring and leave little money for investments in education, infrastructure and social programs such as Medicare.

While the president said both parties carry some responsibility for the current crisis, he laid the blame for the failure to reach a deal squarely on Republicans who have rejected Obama's debt-crisis plan because it doesn't contain the deep cost-cutting measures they would like.

Earlier Monday, both Democratic and Republican leaders were busy selling their debt-crisis strategies to their respective parties, ahead of the looming Aug. 2 deadline and after weeks of fruitless discussions to end the stalemate.

The two parties have reached an impasse over the crisis, with Obama seeking an extension to the debt ceiling and Republicans demanding deep cost-cutting measures in return for any co-operation.

Some members of the so-called Tea Party wing of the Republican caucus have been accused of opposing Obama's proposition in favour of pandering to conservative voters who got them into office.

Washington has reached its current debt-ceiling limit of $14.3 trillion, and will likely begin to default on its bills as of Aug. 2 if the limit isn't increased.

North American markets took a hit as uncertainty over the U.S. debt limit dragged on. The Dow Jones industrial was down 88.36 points to 12,592.8, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 16.03 points to 2,842.80. In Canada, the S&P/TSX slipped 58.68 points to finish the day at 13,435.95.

On Monday, Republican Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid began selling their respective plans to their caucuses before publicly releasing their proposals later in the day.

Boehner's plan proposes the following:

    Introduce an immediate US$1.2 trillion in cuts and spending caps over 10 years
    Increase the U.S. debt ceiling by $900 billion (which would last a few months)
    Create a committee tasked with finding nearly $2 trillion in additional cuts

The plan would also require a constitutional amendment that would force the federal government to run balanced budgets.

Reid's plan, by comparison, would do the following:

    Spending cuts of $2.7 trillion over 10 years
    Introduce no new taxes (a key provision for Republicans)
    Raise the debt ceiling to a level that will cover the government through all of 2012, a key factor for Obama and the Democrats.

Boehner criticized the Democratic proposal for being "full of gimmicks," while Reid blamed the impasse on "extremists" in the Republican Party.

During his speech, Obama at first praised Boehner for working with him for weeks on a "balanced approach" to solving the crisis. But he said the Republicans' new proposal would "force us to face the threat of default, but six months from now."

"We know what we have to do to reduce our deficits," the president said. "There's no point in putting our economy at risk by kicking the can further down the road."

Immediately after Obama spoke, Boehner was given a few moments of television time to rebut the president's remarks.

"The president has often said we need a 'balanced' approach, which in Washington means we spend more, you pay more," Boehner said.

"The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank cheque six months ago, and he wants a blank cheque today. That is just not going to happen."

The U.S. has never been in a federal default position, and there have been warnings that the situation could result in higher interest rates, a reduced credit rating for the U.S., and the stoppage of some government cheques.

Obama said lawmakers can't allow Americans to become "collateral damage" in a war between Democrats and Republicans, and said he hopes both sides "will ultimately put politics aside.

"This is not the way to run the greatest country on earth," Obama said. "It's a dangerous game that we've never played before and we can't afford to play it now." 

Durbin: GOP 'irresponsible' on debt ceiling debate

The No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Illinois’ Dick Durbin, today called Republicans "irresponsible" and "hypocritical" for their role in the impasse over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

Durbin's comments came at a Chicago news conference to announce federal funding for CTA improvements. He said he hoped a plan being floated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, could appease House Republicans and pass before an Aug. 2 deadline that carries potentially severe economic risks. He repeatedly warned that Republicans were putting the economy and jobs in jeopardy.

“The same Republicans who wanted us to go to war, who want us to stay in war, to spend $10 billion a month to sustain our war in Afghanistan, refuse to give the authority to the president to borrow the money to execute the war,” Durbin said. “That is irresponsible and it’s hypocritical.”

Making a reference to tea party conservatives, Durbin said there are forces within the House Republican caucus who want to bring the debate to a crisis stage.

House Republicans pushing sizable cuts in domestic spending have opposed Democratic conditions set by President Barack Obama that include new revenue from higher taxes on the wealthy and the closing of some tax loopholes.

Democrats also are refusing to back a proposal being offered by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that would lift the debt ceiling in two steps over this year and next. Obama wants to increase the debt limit by more than $2 trillion to get the country through 2013 and past next year’s presidential election.

“This is exactly the wrong time to do this,” Durbin said of the Boehner plan, contending it won’t satisfy credit agencies warning of lowering the nation’s credit rating due to uncertainty over future debt.

“With economies failing all around Europe, with our own economy under attack by those giving credit reports, we should not be lurching from one political and economic crisis to another,” he said. “This may serve someone’s political purposes but it doesn’t serve the purpose of getting the American economy moving forward and creating jobs.”

Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, is expected to unveil a proposal that would increase the debt ceiling past next year’s election and include $2.7 trillion in spending cuts. Durbin acknowledged that none of the cuts involve entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which has prompted Republicans to question whether Reid’s proposal satisfies their demands.

President Obama embraced Reid’s proposal, saying it was a “reasonable approach.”

Durbin said Republicans were risking a “self-inflicted wound” by leading an “irresponsible” effort to “push us to absolute brinksmanship here.”

Illinois’ junior senator, Republican Mark Kirk, has consistently maintained he believes the debt ceiling will be extended in an 11th hour move by Congress.

Durbin also said it was his “understanding” that the failure of Congress to extend funding for the Federal Aviation Administration by a midnight deadline last Friday had stopped “workers from going to work this morning at O’Hare for modernization.” But FAA officials said that is not the case with the O’Hare International Airport modernization project, which already received funding.

Durbin’s comments came after announcing $18.5 million worth of CTA projects, including $11 million in federal funding, for rebuilding the Loyola Red Line station and for environmental studies to extend the line south of 95th Street. Construction will begin next year on the Loyola station and is expected to be complete in 2014, CTA officials said.

Six Possible Paths in the Debt-Ceiling Debate

According to President Obama, Congress has become mired in negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and trim federal deficits. The way ahead is unclear — every path has hurdles, if not roadblocks, obstructing the way. As Congress rapidly approaches the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a government default on its credit obligations, there are six possible paths forward:

1. The House bill passes: House Speaker John Boehner declared on Monday that there is “no stalemate in Congress.” His way forward is through a bill that, until Sunday, he was drafting with Democratic congressional leaders. The bill would enact $1.2 trillion in immediate cuts and then empower a commission — a variation of an idea put forth by Senate majority leader Harry Reid — to scour entitlements and other spending to find another $1.8 trillion in cuts over the next six months. Congress would then hold a second vote on those cuts and whether to raise the debt ceiling through December 2012. Democrats object to holding two votes — if raising the debt ceiling is hard now, imagine doing it in the middle of the 2012 primary season (the Iowa caucuses are on Feb. 6). They also don’t like the prospect of cutting entitlements.

Even Boehner’s own conference is not enamored with the plan. A coalition of several dozen right-wing members who support a more stringent House plan, known as Cut, Cap and Balance, which failed to pass the Senate, panned Boehner’s proposal on Monday. And when asked if he could get even a majority of Republicans to vote for his plan, given the GOP criticism, Boehner in a press conference deferred to House majority whip Kevin McCarthy, who said they hoped to get Democratic support given that five Dems voted for the Cut, Cap and Balance bill. “We ask all Democrats that want to join with us to put this House on the right path that they could join with us on this bill,” McCarthy said. Unfortunately for them, they are going to need a lot more than five Democratic votes, which is unlikely. Without strong support in the House and tepid Republican support in the Senate, Boehner’s plan faces many obstacles to becoming law.

2. The Senate bill passes: Reid walked away from talks with Boehner on Sunday in opposition to the idea that the U.S. should or could handle two debt votes in the next year. Instead, he is proposing a debt-ceiling increase offset by $2.7 trillion worth of cuts. The plan is potentially appealing on paper as it meets House GOP criteria that 1) the debt-ceiling increase through the 2012 elections must be offset by an equal or greater amount of cuts — $2.4 trillion, according to the Treasury — and 2) it must not include any new revenue increases. This, Democrats say, is a major concession: they are willing to give trillions of dollars in cuts without any shared pain from the GOP in the form of tax increases. Republicans argue that Reid’s bill is full of gimmickry. For example, more than $1 trillion of the “cuts” are savings from accelerated troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Republicans counted savings the same way in the $6.2 trillion budget introduced by Paul Ryan. The plan also includes a commission, though this one would not look at entitlements and the second vote would lack the teeth of an accompanying debt-ceiling increase. Obama and Democrats feel this is the best way forward, but it remains to be seen if Reid’s plan — or anything for that matter — can pass the House.

3. The Senate and House bills are combined: There’s only a week left till the deadline, but — theoretically — if both chambers end their game of chicken and pass their own bill by the end of the week, House and Senate leaders could go through a quick conference process to reconcile their differences. There are many similarities between the two bills, and the two chambers could bang out a compromise over the weekend and ram it through both chambers before the deadline. The likelihood that the bills will pass, the leaders will get along and both chambers will pass a new version in time is not good. But it’s still a distant possibility.

4. The grand bargain comes back: Sure, Obama and Boehner twice tried to take the political leap on a grand bargain of $4 trillion–plus in cuts. And they got really, really close. Boehner said on Fox News on Sunday that his final offer remains on the table. And frankly, the calculus that got both of them interested in a grand bargain remains the same: the political cost of doing something small is similar to the cost of doing something big, so they might as well go big. If Boehner’s bill fails to launch in the House, he has all the more reason to go back to the negotiating table with the President, rather than swallow the Senate bill. And the President has said that the only circumstances under which he’d accept a short-term extension is if they hammer out the details of a big deal. But as Boehner also said on Fox, it is “hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” And after the grand bargain shattered twice — or three times, if you count when House majority leader Eric Cantor abandoned Vice President Joe Biden’s deficit negotiations — there’s not a lot of trust left.

5. No deal is reached: The markets don’t seem to think this is a possibility — and for my 401(k)’s sake, I certainly wish it were not one. But the two parties were never further apart on a deal than they were on Tuesday. It’s hard to imagine who will finally give in. And so it’s not irrational to predict that the Treasury Department might have to take radical action in suspending government services to avoid a default after Aug. 2. Despite the confidence among congressional leaders that a deal will be struck, no one has a path to prevent a failure. That’s terrifying.

6. Some combination of all of the above: With so few viable options, it’s not hard to imagine the deadline being missed and the ensuing panic forcing Congress to enact some combination of these paths. Or they could go right up to the brink, and then some combination of these paths happens. As Doc Brown from Back to the Future said, “Road? Where we’re going, there are no roads.”

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/26/six-possible-paths-ahead-in-the-debt-ceiling-debate/
Saturday 23 July 2011

Facebook Hacks Put California Stalker In Jail For 4 Years

A man in California who was caught not only hacking into women’s Facebook accounts, but storing and sharing folders with nude or semi-nude images of the women was sentenced to four years in jail on Friday by a state judge.

George Bronk was able to use clues on Facebook to guess the security questions to user’s profiles. Once he got into an account he would search for nude pictures or videos women sent their husbands or boyfriends, and then distribute the images to all those women’s friends.

(Warning: It doesn’t matter how difficult your password is to guess if you make your security question something obvious. For example, if you choose “what was the name of your highschool?” for your security question, but you display the name of your highschool on Facebook, you can probably easily get hacked).

Bronk would send emails of the photos to the woman’s families, friends, and coworkers in more than 17 different states, the District of Columbia, and England, according to Associated Press.


“This case serves as a stark example of what occurs in so-called cyberspace. It has very real consequences,” Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown said. “The intrusion of one’s profile is no different than intruding one’s home.”

Bronk received eight more months for charges related to child pornography.

His attorney, Monica Lynch, had sought a sentence of one year in local jail followed by probation, or two years in state prison with no probation. The judge rejected her plea for a lighter sentence, saying Bronk was no different from a peeping Tom.

At a hearing earlier this year, his mother, Joyce Bronk, said her son told her he needed help for a drinking problem. He was allegedly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and taking classes to be trained as an emergency medical technician, according to reports.

His mom told AP, “This was an Internet persona he created when he was a drunk.”

His dreams to be a paramedic will never be able to come to fruition, as he’ll have to register as a sex offender once he gets out of the slammer, his attorney said.

Do you think Bronk received a fair sentence?.
News link:

Murdoch Papers Could Lose Special Access to 2012 Athletes

Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers could lose exclusive access to the country’s athletes as they prepare for next year’s Summer Games in London because of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closing of the tabloid The News of the World and testimony before Parliament by Murdoch and his son James.
“The shuttering of The News of the World means that the terms of the contract could no longer be fulfilled,” said Andrew Owen, a spokesman for Team 2012, which raises money for British Olympians.

He said that the media partnership with Team 2012 and News International, the unit of the News Corporation that owns the newspapers, had not been terminated.

Owen said that News International could “explore remedies” for its deal with its other newspapers — The Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun. But it was unclear how much leeway Team 2012 has contractually to end the deal, with The News of the World gone, and seek a new media sponsor.

It is also not known how vigorously News International will fight to retain the deal as it copes with the phone-hacking scandal, which has embroiled not only the company but also Scotland Yard.

A spokeswoman for News International declined to comment.

Team 2012 is a joint venture of the British Olympic Association, the London Olympic organizing committee, the British Paralympic Association and UK Sport. The presenting sponsor of the fund-raising organization is Visa, which is also a worldwide Olympic sponsor.

The deal between Team 2012 and News International involved all four of its newspapers, which were all entitled to carry the slogan “Official Newspaper of Team 2012.” But the potency of the partnership with News International was diminished by the loss of The News of the World’s 2.7 million Sunday circulation.

According to a news release last January that announced Team 2012’s partnership with News International, the four newspapers were part of a campaign to help the British public “get behind each of the athletes, their sports and their personal stories.”

At the time, Rebekah Brooks, who was the chief executive of News International, offered a reason for the company’s interest in the deal. “This unique partnership gives our newspapers unrivaled access to the Team 2012 athletes,” she said, “and means we will be able to throw our full support behind the team and give our readers the inside track.”

Brooks, who was the editor of The News of the World when the phone-hacking abuses began in 2002, has resigned from the company and testified before Parliament, along with the Murdochs. 

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