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Wednesday 4 August 2010
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Supporters and opponents of California's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage, outside the US district courthouse in San Francisco. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Richard Adams: Judge rules that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marriage, overturning California's controversial Proposition 8
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The figure used as the shooting gallery target, with 'The Prez' belt buckle and 'Health Bill' in hand. Photograph: lehighvalleylive.com
A carnival game that offered fair-goers the chance to win prizes by shooting a black man has been axed after complaints that the target resembled President Obama.
"I voted for the man. It wasn't meant to be him," Irvin Good Jr, the president of Goodtime Amusements, which ran the attraction, told the Morning Call newspaper. "If they took it that way, we apologise."
The fairground shooting gallery, named "Alien Invasion", appeared at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Big Time Fair in Roseto, Pennsylvania, last month, and attracted complaints for using using a lifesize figure of a black man in a suit, wearing a belt buckle labelled "The Prez" and clutching a rolled-up sheaf of papers marked "Health Bill".
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New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg passionately defended building of a mosque near the site of September 11 attacks. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP
As political controversy swirled around plans for an Islamic community centre and mosque near the site of the World Trade Centre, New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered a moving and powerful rebuke to its opponents, saying: "Muslims are as much a part of our city and our country as the people of any faith".
Speaking with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, and surrounded by religious leaders from the city, Bloomberg upheld the proposed mosque as an example of the religious tolerance that made New York famous, reminding his audience that Jews, Quakers and Catholics had all suffered religious discrimination within the city in the past.
"The World Trade Centre site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts," said Bloomberg, who at times appeared close to tears. "But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves – and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans – if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan."
Saying that he hoped the new mosque would bring the city closer together, he finished by declaring: "Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure – and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off limits to God's love and mercy."
The full text of Bloomberg's speech follows – and it is well worth reading.
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Tuesday 3 August 2010
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The site of the so-called Ground Zero mosque in New York City. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Plans to build an Islamic cultural centre in lower Manhattan, near the site of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre, today received approval for the first step in its construction process.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City voted unanimously to allow demolition of the derelict building currently standing on the site in Park Place.
Oz Sultan, a spokesman for the Park51 group behind the cultural centre, said in a statement after the result: "We are eager to begin working with our partners, supporters, neighbors and communities, to build a community centre for everyone."
Opponents of the plan to build what has been dubbed "the Ground Zero mosque" hoped to stop the project by having the existing building protected as an historic landmark – arguing it should be protected because debris from one of the hijacked planes hit the building on 9/11.
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Glenn Beck: rabble-rouser. Photograph: Jose Luis Magana/AP
Over on Comment Is Free, Dan Kennedy has an excellent deconstruction of a Glenn Beck rent-a-rant:
Beck, on his syndicated radio programme, pulled together that and several other audio clips, then launched into one of his signature monologues about "dictatorship", "fascism" and "communism". Drudge linked to the video using the headline "School kids chant: 'I am an Obama scholar'…", as though it were anything more than an attempt to inspire poor kids from a poor city to stay out of gangs and get an education.
In some respects this is another mini-Shirley Sherrod affair: taking a slice of video, distorting it out of context and using it to make ludicrous claims, amplified through the right-wing media.
Beck's not going to go away anytime soon. Maybe we should just stop paying attention?
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Newsweek: sold to 91-year-old audio manufacturer Sidney Harman
Newsweek, the rusting hulk of a news magazine that was once a gleaming media flagship, has been off-loaded by the Washington Post Company to a man who made his fortune selling car stereos and hi-fi equipment.
Sidney Harman, the 91-year-old founder of audio electronics manufacturer Harman International Industries, becomes the new proprietor of Newsweek, after the news weekly was put up for sale in the wake of years of sustained losses – including a $28m operating loss last year.
No figure for the sale was disclosed but the Washington Post Company said it "will not have a material effect" on its balance sheet, suggesting the price tag was insignificant. To make the deal sweeter for Harman, the Post has agreed to pick up redundancy cost for lay-offs the new owner makes, as well as staff pensions.
Jon Meacham, Newsweek's editor since 2006, said he will step down when the sale is finalised.
"In seeking a buyer for Newsweek, we wanted someone who feels as strongly as we do about the importance of quality journalism," said Washington Post Company chief executive Donald Graham after the sale was announced, setting the bar low.
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Monday 2 August 2010
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Barack Obama announces the end of US combat missions in Iraq this month. Photograph: John Bazemore/AP
Barack Obama said the US strategy in Iraq will shift "from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats" by the end of this month, in the first of a series of speeches trumpeting the success of his administration's policy.
After a seven-year conflict costing US taxpayers some $700bn and the lives of more than 4,000 American troops, Obama proclaimed that the withdrawal of US forces was happening "as promised, on schedule," fulfilling his pledge as a presidential candidate to bring the conflict in Iraq to a "responsible end".
"As we mark the end of America's combat mission in Iraq, a grateful America must pay tribute to all who served there," Obama told the Disabled Veterans of America conference in Atlanta today, using a phrase that recalls George Bush's ill-fated claim on 1 May 2003 that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
In an attempt to avoid the premature triumphalism that damaged Bush's presidency, Obama also warned: "The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq."
Today's speech comes after a year in which Obama's administration has been concentrating on the conflict in Afghanistan and on US domestic policy, as the economy has remained the public's top concern and Democrats have wrestled with passing landmark healthcare and financial regulation reform
The withdrawal of American troops and the shift to a "civilian effort" will, however, likely include a build-up in contractors working for the US State Department, driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft and disposing of explosive devices, according to a report by McClatchy Newspapers.
By the end of August this year, according to Obama's plan, the total number of American military in Iraq will have fallen to 50,000 – from a peak of 144,000 at the start of Obama's term in January 2009. The remaining US troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
Republican leaders argued that the US military and the earlier surge strategy of the Bush administration deserved credit for the success. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said: "Despite many difficult debates in 2007 and 2008, Republicans stood on principle against the irresponsible plans put forth by congressional Democrats to withdraw all our troops and leave Iraq in chaos."
In his speech before an audience pf 2,500 veterans, with many in wheelchairs or having lost limbs, Obama also paid tribute to America's soldiers, and outlined the "major investments" he said the government was making in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, "no matter what war you served in".
After the relatively up-beat news from Iraq, Obama attempted to make comparisons with Afghanistan, where coalition forces are still struggling to contain the Taliban. "We face huge challenges in Afghanistan," Obama said. "But it's important that the American people know that we are making progress and we're focused on goals that are clear and achievable."
Those goals include targeting the Taliban's leadership, building up Afghan security forces and encouraging Pakistan to "begin to take the fight to violent extremists within its borders".
"Because in this region and beyond, we will tolerate no safe [haven] for al-Qaida and their extremist allies. We will disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately defeat al-Qaida. And we will give our troops the resources and equipment to get the job done and keep our country safe," Obama said, to strong applause from the audience in Atlanta.
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Friday 30 July 2010
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Al Gore will not face criminal charges after police said a "lack of credible evidence" means they will not pursue allegations of sex abuse made against the former vice president by a Portland massage therapist.
In a story first reported by the National Enquirer, therapist Molly Hagerty had claimed Gore had assaulted her in a hotel room in Portland, in 2006. Portland detectives reopened an investigation last month and interviewed the 2000 Democratic party presidential candidate.
The Oregonian newspaper reports:
Prosecutors said they declined to pursue the case for several reasons including: Hagerty failed a polygraph test, hotel workers provided conflicting information about that evening and Hagerty appears to have been paid by the National Enquirer, which first broke the story of the accusations.
"Mr Gore unequivocally and emphatically denied this accusation when he first learned of its existence three years ago," a spokeswoman for Al Gore said in a statement. "He respects and appreciates the thorough and professional work of the Portland authorities and is pleased that this matter has now been resolved."
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Another ill-fated attempt to beautify Washington DC. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters
A unfortunate feature of summer in Washington DC – along with humidity and mosquitoes – is The Hill's "50 Most Beautiful", an annual attempt to convince itself that the politicians, staff members and hangers-on in the nation's capital are sexy.
And every year, it fails. For the obvious reason that almost nothing about Washington DC is sexy, certainly not the people who live here.
While we wait for the far more amusing takedown by The DCeiver blog, let's delve into the sad cavalcade of the 50 unfortunates who let themselves be interviewed and photographed for this exercise in futility.
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The frustration of the Democratic party in Congress was illustrated loudly last night by Anthony Weiner, the outspoken congressman from New York City, who lost it on the floor of the House of Representatives.
In stark contrast to the normally sedate debates in Congress, Weiner launched a minute-long harangue at his Republicans opponents for employing procedure tactics to derail a $7bn measure designed to give aid to first responders – firefighters and similar – on the scene at Ground Zero and who subsequently became ill.
Despairing at Republicans who wanted to block the bill in order to use it for their own ends, Weiner erupted:
It is a shame! A shame! If you believe this is a bad idea to provide healthcare, then vote no! But don't give me the cowardly view that 'Oh, if it was a different procedure'.
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Thursday 29 July 2010
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President Barack Obama appears on ABC's The View, with co-hosts from left, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Photograph: Steve Fenn/AP
Richard Adams: Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to appear on a daytime television chat show, The View
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Newspapers: boring? Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Years ago in the New Republic, Michael Kinsley ran a competition to find the most boring newspaper headline. The winner was "Worthwhile Canadian initiative". Unlike "Small earthquake in Chile; not many dead", which never appeared in print, "Worthwhile Canadian initiative" was real – it lives online in the New York Times archive from 10 April 1986.
Now Kinsley has a new competition, this time for the most boring article ever published in a newspaper. Kinsley explains:
The story that grabbed my inattention was in the New York Times on Monday, July 26. It was about a man who used to take long walks around the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, until he died last week. That's it. That's the story. In Silver Lake, he was wittily known as "the Walking Man." (You see, it's because he walked all the time).
I saw that particular piece in the NYT but didn't read it because it seemed, well, too boring. And that's the trouble, in the US at least, there's a lot of competition. Take almost any edition of the Washington Post, for example. But you'd have to read the damn thing in the first place.
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Wednesday 28 July 2010
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Demonstrators protest against Arizona's controversial immigration law in Phoenix. Photograph: Joshua Lott/Reuters
A federal judge today blocked the most controversial measures in an Arizona immigration law, placing an injunction on new police powers only hours before they were to come into effect at midnight.
The ruling delighted the law's opponents, which require Arizona police to demand immigration documents from anyone they have stopped. In practice, say opponents, the new law would target Hispanics and subject them to racial profiling, as well as conflicting with existing federal law and wasting police time.
While the statute remains on Arizona's books, and will take effect at midnight tonight, the ruling by US district judge Susan Bolton means the most controversial provisions are suspended for the time being. That could mean appeals by both supporters and opponents going all the way to the US Supreme Court, according to legal experts.
In her 36-page ruling [pdf], Judge Bolton wrote: "There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new [law]. By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a 'distinct, unusual and extraordinary' burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."
The US Justice Department, civil rights groups and local police had all asked the court for an injunction by the Ninth US Circuit Court to stop the law – SB 1070 – from going into effect.
Specific sections of the law barred by the ruling include:
• Requiring a police officer to make a reasonable attempt to check the immigration status of those they have stopped
• Making it a crime for non-citizens to fail to carry immigration papers
• Creating a new crime of seeking to work while not a legal resident
• Allowing police to make arrests without warrants if there is a belief the person has committed an offense that allows them to be expelled from the US
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As has already been extensively reported, last night saw the incumbent Queen of Soul and the former US Secretary of State appear onstage last night to perform a duet – a brief moment of which you can enjoy in this badly-edited and poorly-recorded AP video above.
The YouTube commenters aren't amused. "I can't believe these war criminals are walking around free," writes one – in a possible reference to Aretha Franklin's involvement in the Bosnian war.
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Harvard University. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
Among of the few joys of the New York Times Sunday edition is its baroque "weddings and celebrations" section, a distillation of the modern American bourgeoisie. Apart from the voyeurism, it's usually worth reading for what Jon Stewart might call a "moment of zen", such as this:
The bride, 31, is the entertainment manager for the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association; she oversees the rehearsals and on-court performances of more than 70 dancers, gymnasts and other entertainers. From 2003 to 2005, she performed as a New York Knicks City Dancer. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard.
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1. California's Proposition 8 gay marriage ban overturned by court
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RichardA: Waiting on the California Prop 8 court decision ... anytime in the next several hours ... [whistles]
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RichardA: Charming: PA fairground shooting gallery used Obama figure as a target http://gu.com/p/2tztm/tw
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