Archive: 2 August – 8 August 2010
-
Thursday 5 August 2010
-
Barack Obama introduces Elena Kagan as his choice for Supreme Court justice. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Richard Adams: Elena Kagan's confirmation continues the White House's run of victories this year. But now Obama faces a rougher time
Continue reading... -
Wednesday 4 August 2010
-
Shelly Bailes (left) and Ellen Pontac in San Francisco celebrate the end of California's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Declaring that "same-sex love and intimacy are well-documented in human history," a judge has overturned California's ban on homosexual marriage as unconstitutional – in a sweeping victory for gay and lesbian civil rights.
US district judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the ban on gay and lesbian marriage imposed by the Proposition 8 referendum in 2008 – when it was backed by 52% of California's voters – violated the right to equal protection under the US Constitution.
"This is a victory for the American people. It's a victory for our justice system," said Theodore Olson, the former US Solicitor General who made the closing arguments at the trial opposing Proposition 8.
The trial hinged on the civil rights question of whether California's voters had a right under the US Constitution to make a moral judgment by discriminating against sexual orientation.
Supporters erupted in celebration outside the court in San Francisco where the case was heard, as the news of the demise of "Prop Hate" filtered out. But little will change immediately, as the ruling will remain suspended while Proposition 8's backers attempt to have their case heard by the US 9th circuit court of appeals.
Whatever the result, the issue will almost certainly be decided by the US Supreme Court, perhaps by 2012, according to legal experts.
Continue reading... -
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".
Continue reading... -
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.
Continue reading... -
Tuesday 3 August 2010
-
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.
Continue reading... -
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?
-
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.
Continue reading... -
Monday 2 August 2010
-
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.