Axis Event

2011-09-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

(Charles Dharapak/AP)
“Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency.”
— President Obama, June 4, 2011
This post has been updated.
With some of the economic indicators looking a bit dicey, President Obama traveled to Ohio last week to tout what the administration considers a good-news story: the rescue of the domestic automobile industry. In fact, he also made it the subject of his weekly radio address.
We take no view on whether the administration’s efforts on behalf of the automobile industry were a good or bad thing; that’s a matter for the editorial pages and eventually the historians. But we are interested in the facts the president cited to make his case.
What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.
Let’s look at the claims in the order in which the president said them.

“Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency — and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule. And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake. That means soon, Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands.”

Wow, “every dime and more” sounds like such a bargain. Not only did Chrysler pay back the loan, with interest — but the company paid back even more than they owed. Isn’t America great or what?
Not so fast. The president snuck in the weasel words “during my presidency” in his statement. What does that mean?
According to the White House, Obama is counting only the $8.5 billion loan that he made to Chrysler, not the $4 billion that President George W. Bush extended in his last month in office. However, Obama was not a disinterested observer at the time. According to The Washington Post article on the Bush loan, the incoming president called Bush’s action a “necessary step . . . to help avoid a collapse of our auto industry that would have had devastating consequences for our economy and our workers.”
Under the administration’s math, the U.S. government will receive $11.2 billion back from Chrysler, far more than the $8.5 billion Obama extended.
Through this sleight-of-hand accounting, the White House can conveniently ignore Bush’s loan, but even the Treasury Department admits that U.S. taxpayers will not recoup about $1.3 billion of the entire $12.5 billion investment when all is said and done.
The White House justifies not counting the Bush money because, it says, that money was completely spent when Obama was making a tough political decision on whether to extend another loan. In other words, a decision to do nothing at the time would have resulted in the immediate loss of the $4 billion that Bush had extended.
This is chicanery. Under the president’s math, Chrysler paid back 100 percent of Obama’s loan and less than 70 percent of Bush’s loan. A more honest presentation would combine the two figures to say U.S. taxpayers got back 90 percent of what they invested. In fact, that is how the Treasury and other administration officials frequently portray it; it is just when Obama speaks that the numbers get so squishy.
The White House justifies saying that Chrysler will be in 100 percent “in private hands” because there will no longer be government ownership once Fiat completes its purchase of the U.S. stake. For the record, the United Auto Workers will own 46 percent of the company.

“All three American automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s.”

The White House says the data to back this claim concerning the Big Three automakers is not public information. The official Bureau of Labor Statistics data refers to the entire auto industry — including foreign auto manufacturers, auto parts manufacturers, auto parts dealers and auto dealers. If you look at the data, the 113,200 jobs added between June 2009 and May 2011 amounts to about a 5 percent increase — from a rather low base.
UPDATE, 10:45 AM: Yen Chen, automotive business statistical analyst at the Center for Automotive Research, says CAR's analysis of Big Three auto data shows this statistic is correct. The Detroit Three are expected to add 10,000 hourly and 5,000 salaried workers this year, from a base of 115,805 hourly workers and 56, 432 salaried workers. That's an increase of about eight percent in each case. More than 16,000 hourly workers were added in 1991, but from a much higher base--440,000-- and 10,000 were also added in 1995, when there were 433,000 hourly workers. Meanwhile, salaried workers have been on a steady decline since 1990 (when the big Three employed 157,000).

“GM plans to hire back all of the workers they had to lay off during the recession.”

This is another impressive-sounding but misleading figure. In the five years since 2006, General Motors announced that it would reduce its workforce by nearly 68,000 hourly and salary workers, creating a much smaller company. Those are the figures that generated the headlines.
Obama is only talking about a sliver of workers — the 9,600 workers who were laid off in the fourth quarter of 2008. About 4,100 were sent home for a few weeks. Another 5,500 were put on indefinite leave, meaning there were no jobs at the time for them. All but 1,000 have returned to work, and the rest should be back at work by year’s end, according to GM spokesman Greg A. Martin.

“In the year before I was President, this industry lost more than 400,000 jobs, and two great American companies, Chrysler and GM, stood on the brink of collapse. Now, we had a few options. We could have done what a lot of folks in Washington thought we should do — nothing.”

This is quite a straw man — that many people wanted to do nothing. It was never so black and white. The debate was over the right course to take in the bankruptcy process.
The Wall Street Journal published Monday an interesting conservative critique of the government’s intervention by David Skeel, a law professor at University of Pennsylvania. Skeel says that the revival of the auto industry “is a very encouraging development,” but “to claim that the car companies would have collapsed if the government hadn’t intervened in the way it did, and to suggest that the intervention came at very little cost, is a dangerous misreading of our recent history.”
To support the claim that “a lot of folks” wanted to do nothing, the White House referred us to statements by the House minority leader, John Boehner (R-Ohio), and Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).
We do not read Boehner’s quote that way; in this 2009 comment, he is questioning the administration’s approach while saying, “The success of our automotive industry is critical.”Shelby and Kyl in 2008 were protesting the use of taxpayer funds by Bush to delay a bankruptcy filing; they preferred immediately putting the companies through the bankruptcy process.
It will be up to historians to decide what the best solution would have been for taxpayers and the auto industry. We can understand why the president wants to portray himself as making a lonely and tough decision. But the debate was not either/or, bur rather what was the best policy to bring the automakers back to financial health.

The Pinocchio Test

The president is straining too hard. If the auto industry bailout is really a success, there should be no need to resort to trumped-up rhetoric and phony accounting to make your case. Let the facts speak for themselves.

President Obama’s phony accounting on the auto industry bailout

2011-09-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

“Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency — and it repaid that money six years ahead of schedule. And this week, we reached a deal to sell our remaining stake. That means soon, Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands.”

“All three American automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s.”

“GM plans to hire back all of the workers they had to lay off during the recession.”

“In the year before I was President, this industry lost more than 400,000 jobs, and two great American companies, Chrysler and GM, stood on the brink of collapse. Now, we had a few options. We could have done what a lot of folks in Washington thought we should do — nothing.”

The Pinocchio Test

Capture aux Philippines d'un crocodile de mer géant

2011-09-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

Le reptile, qui pèse 1.075 kilogrammes et mesure 6,4 mètres, aurait tué un fermier en juillet et dévoré des buffles d'eau, près de la ville de Bunawan, sur l'île méridionale de Mindanao, a indiqué le chasseur de crocodiles Rollie Sumiller.
Le ministère de l'Environnement le rend également responsable de la mort d'une fillette de 12 ans en 2009, dont la tête avait été arrachée par la morsure d'un crocodile, toujours dans cette région.
Cet animal est l'un des plus gros jamais capturés, a affirmé Josefina de Leon, chef de la division faune et flore sauvage au ministère. "Selon les compte-rendus, le plus gros capturé jusqu'à présent faisait 5,48 mètres de long", a-t-elle déclaré à l'AFP.
Le crocodile est un mâle âgé de plus de 50 ans, selon Rollie Sumiller. "C'est le plus gros que j'ai jamais attrapé en 20 ans de carrière", a-t-il dit.
Selon le Guinness Book des Records, le plus gros crocodile marin vivant en captivité est un spécimen de 5,40 mètres, Cassius, détenu dans un parc naturel près de Cairns (nord-est de l'Australie).
La presse a également évoqué un animal de 6,2 mètres capturé et tué en Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée en 1982, qui avait été mesuré une fois dépouillé.
"La population locale est soulagée. Mais nous ne sommes pas certains que ce soit celui qui s'est attaqué à des hommes car plusieurs crocodiles ont été aperçus dans cette zone", a déclaré Rollie Sumiller.
Le crocodile ne va pas être tué mais confié à un parc naturel, a indiqué le maire de Bunawan, Edwin Cox Elorde. "Il sera la vedette du parc", a-t-il dit à la presse.
Bunawan est une ville de 30.000 habitants construite dans une plaine marécageuse, près d'une rivière et de la mer.
Le crocodile marin, qui vit dans les régions côtières et supporte aussi bien l'eau douce que l'eau salée, est le plus gros reptile au monde.

Executives Dispute Account of Murdoch Son in Hacking Case

2011-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

LONDON — As the phone hacking scandal in Britain continues to gnaw at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, a parliamentary panel opened new hearings on Tuesday, seeking to determine who knew about unauthorized voice mail intercepts ordered by the now defunct News of the World tabloid.

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Parliamentary Recording Unit, via Associated Press

The former editor of the News of the World Colin Myler testifying before a parliamentary panel in London on Tuesday.

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Two of four former executives called to testify said they had informed Mr. Murdoch’s son, James, at a 15-minute meeting in 2008 that the use of hacking went further than his company had publicly acknowledged at the time. But one of the executives, Tom Crone, the former legal manager at the tabloid, denied that there had been a cover-up.

Mr. Murdoch ordered The News of the World closed as the scandal crashed around it earlier this year following disclosures that it had hired a private detective to hack the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl who was murdered in 2002.
The hearings on Tuesday could revive the surge of revelations about the scandal that has shaken the British media, politics and police in recent months. They could also determine whether the panel recalls James Murdoch to give further evidence.
In July, James Murdoch, who runs the European and Asian operations of the News Corporation media giant, testified in Parliament that he had no knowledge of a wide pattern of hacking at the newspaper. Mr. Crone and Colin Myler, a onetime editor of The News of the World, challenged him, saying his testimony was “mistaken,” but Mr. Murdoch immediately denied their assertion.
Mr. Myler and Mr. Crone were called to testify again on Tuesday before Parliament’s select committee for culture, media and sport — the panel that questioned Rupert and James Murdoch in a dramatic hearing in July when a prankster slipped by security guards to throw a shaving cream pie at the elder Mr. Murdoch.
The panel also summoned Jonathan Chapman, the former director of legal affairs at News International, News Corporation’s British newspaper subsidiary, and Daniel Cloke, the group’s former director of human resources.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the committee, said the latest round of questioning was an attempt to uncover the truth in the “continuing difference in the accounts of James Murdoch and Tom Crone and Colin Myler about whether or not James Murdoch was aware of the so-called for Neville e-mail.” He was referring to a 2005 e-mail containing transcripts of hacked phone messages. It was headed “for Neville,” an apparent reference to the News of the World’s chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck.
The e-mail came to light in April 2008 when the soccer union leader Gordon Taylor brought a lawsuit alleging voice mail interceptions. At that time, James Murdoch chose to make a record $1.4 million settlement, which also included a confidentiality clause. The company had long asserted that phone hacking was limited to a “lone rogue reporter” but, had the case proceeded, documentary evidence undermining that assertion would likely have emerged publicly.
James Murdoch testified in July that he had made the settlement because it made financial sense, and not because he wanted to disguise the truth.
Testifying on Tuesday, Mr. Crone, the former legal manager, said the contentious e-mail was “clear evidence that phone hacking was taking place beyond” Clive Goodman, the newspaper’s former royal reporter who was the only journalist who had been publicly identified at that time as having intercepted voice mails. Mr. Goodman and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, both served prison terms in 2007 for hacking the voice mails of members of Britain’s royal family.
“It was the reason we had to settle the case and in order to settle the case, we had to explain the case to Mr. Murdoch and get his authority to settle, so clearly it was discussed,” Mr. Crone told the parliamentary panel. “I can’t remember the conversation and there isn’t a note of it. The conversation lasted about 15 minutes. It was discussed, but exactly what was said I can’t remember.”
Mr. Myler, the former News of the World editor, also confirmed that account of the meeting with James Murdoch in 2008. “There was no ambiguity about the significance of that document and what options were there for the company to take,” he said, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency. “Mr. Murdoch was the chief executive of the company. He’s experienced. I am experienced in what I do. Mr. Crone is experienced as a legal manager. I think everybody perfectly understood the seriousness and the significance of what we were discussing."
Last month, the phone hacking inquiry released a potentially damning four-year-old letter from Mr. Goodman claiming that voice mail intercepts were routine and were “widely discussed” at the paper,
In light of the scandal, James Murdoch has faced calls to step down as the chairman of British Sky Broadcasting, also known as BSkyB, a satellite television company of which the News Corporation owns 39 percent.
A $14 billion bid by the News Corporation to take full ownership of the broadcaster earlier this year became mired in political controversy as the phone hacking scandal broke, and was eventually withdrawn amid allegations that improper links between politicians and the Murdoch family had tainted the process.
The hacking scandal is also under investigation by British police, who last Friday arrested a 30-year-old man — the 15th person held since early this year.
An official at News International, the parent company of the now-shuttered News of the World, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the man as Ross Hall, a former reporter with the newspaper. A spokeswoman for News International declined to comment.

Nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer mental illness

2011-09-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Europeans are plagued by mental and neurological illnesses, with almost 165 million people or 38 percent of the population suffering each year from a brain disorder such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or dementia, according to a large new study.
With only about a third of cases receiving the therapy or medication needed, mental illnesses cause a huge economic and social burden -- measured in the hundreds of billions of euros -- as sufferers become too unwell to work and personal relationships break down.
"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," the study's authors said.
At the same time, some big drug companies are backing away from investment in research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.

"The immense treatment gap ... for mental disorders has to be closed," said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at Germany's Dresden University and the lead investigator on the European study.
"Those few receiving treatment do so with considerable delays of an average of several years and rarely with the appropriate, state-of-the-art therapies."
Wittchen led a three-year study covering 30 European countries -- the 27 European Union member states plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway -- and a population of 514 million people.
A direct comparison of the prevalence of mental illnesses in other parts of the world was not available because different studies adopt varying parameters.
Wittchen's team looked at about 100 illnesses covering all major brain disorders from anxiety and depression to addiction to schizophrenia, as well as major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
The results, published by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ENCP) on Monday, show an "exceedingly high burden" of mental health disorders and brain illnesses, he told reporters at a briefing in London.
Mental illnesses are a major cause of death, disability, and economic burden worldwide and the World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages.
Wittchen said that in Europe, that grim future had arrived early, with diseases of the brain already the single largest contributor to the EU's burden of ill health.
The four most disabling conditions -- measured in terms of disability-adjusted life years or DALYs, a standard measure used to compare the impact of various diseases -- are depression, dementias such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, alcohol dependence and stroke.
The last major European study of brain disorders, which was published in 2005 and covered a smaller population of about 301 million people, found 27 percent of the EU adult population was suffering from mental illnesses.
Although the 2005 study cannot be compared directly with the latest finding -- the scope and population was different -- it found the cost burden of these and neurological disorders amounted to about 386 billion euros ($555 billion) a year at that time. Wittchen's team has yet to finalize the economic impact data from this latest work, but he said the costs would be "considerably more" than estimated in 2005.
The researchers said it was crucial for health policy makers to recognize the enormous burden and devise ways to identify potential patients early -- possibly through screening -- and make treating them quickly a high priority.
"Because mental disorders frequently start early in life, they have a strong malignant impact on later life," Wittchen said. "Only early targeted treatment in the young will effectively prevent the risk of increasingly largely proportions of severely ill...patients in the future."
David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology expert at Imperial College London who was not involved in this study, agreed.
"If you can get in early you may be able to change the trajectory of the illness so that it isn't inevitable that people go into disability," he said. "If we really want not to be left with this huge reservoir of mental and brain illness for the next few centuries, then we ought to be investing more now."

German company involved in talks to take over NHS hospitals

2011-09-06T09:39:00.001-07:00

Helios involved in discussions about 'potential opportunities in London' with officials from the health department

Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 September 2011 20.44 BST
Article history

NHS hospitals could soon be run by non-British firms. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

A German company has been in talks to take over NHS hospitals, the first tangible evidence that foreign multinationals will be able to run state-owned acute services, a market worth £8bn, the Guardian can reveal. On the eve of the last Commons vote on the government's bill before it heads to the Lords this week, freedom of information requests reveal a series of meetings focused on "potential opportunities in London" between officials from the Department of Health, the NHS, the management consultant McKinsey and one of the largest German private hospital chains, Helios. Once EU competition law applies to the health service there would be no barrier to handing over the running of NHS hospitals to non-British firms. Helios has a record of turning around failing hospitals, largely by cutting staff or wage levels. Local politicians have accused it of being motivated more by revenues than by patient care. The news came as key Lib Dems broke cover with a series of amendments designed to defang the government's radical pro-market health bill. The vote has the potential to cause a major rift between the coalition partners and comes before a crunch meeting between Nick Clegg and his parliamentary party. The Lib Dem leader will seek to persuade potential rebels that there cannot be any more changes to the bill. Sources close to Clegg said the leadership had already "used up a lot of political capital" by halting and then recasting the bill earlier this year. "We expect MPs to vote with the government. Otherwise we won't last very long [in power]." Evan Harris, a former Lib Dem MP and grassroots activist, warned the leadership it risked a revolt over the issue. He said the amendments showed "the bill in its current form does not have Lib Dem support and unless the necessary concessions are made it will fare extremely badly at the party conference and in the Lords". Key rebels – such as the Lib Dem MP Andrew George and John Pugh, co-chairman of the Lib Dem backbench health committee – have tabled a dozen changes to the bill, almost all seeking to roll back the "competition and choice" agenda of the health secretary, Andrew Lansley. George calls for the restoration of the health secretary's "duty to provide or secure" services, to elevate GPs' duties to tackle health inequalities above those that promote choice, remove "all references to promoting competition directly or indirectly" from the remit of the regulator Monitor and to keep the cap limiting the proportion of total income hospitals can earn from the paying sick. George said: "We are on the slippery slope in the direction of a US-style insurance system and have to stop patient choice being used a crowbar to lever in the marketisation of the NHS." Pugh's amendments would also close a loophole that would allow private companies to "wholly or mainly" run the new GP commissioning groups set up to buy treatments for patients. However, there is evidence that market reforms are taking root. Documents obtained by campaigners at Spinwatch show the Department of Health secretly plans to hand over the running of up to 20 NHS hospitals to foreign firms, despite the prime minister's pledge that there will be "no privatisation of the NHS". In the papers McKinsey warned the department not to bundle off all the hospitals to the private sector at once – and instead start "from a mindset [of] one at a time". The consultants told officials to be mindful of the "various political constraints" associated with privatisation. The documents lay bare what "international hospital provider groups" consider as a minimum for running NHS hospitals. "International players can do an initiative if [£]500 million revenue [is] on the table." They also need to have "a free hand on staff management". The NHS would be allowed to "keep real estate and pensions". So far the department has only given approval for one NHS hospital, Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, to be handed over to a private company, Circle Health, which is backed by two Tory donors – financiers Paul Ruddock and Crispin Odey. Another three hospital trusts, Trafford Healthcare NHS trust [see footnote] , the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital and the Whiston hospital in St Helens have publicly said they would consider a private takeover. The Department of Health identified 32 NHS trusts that were "underperforming", raising the prospect of private firms being put in charge of £8bn of NHS money. Managers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are considering a proposal to shut St Mary's in Paddington and sell off the site to property developers according to today's Independent. Helios's plans were revealed in a meeting last December where McKinsey organised a workshop at NHS London's offices. Attending were Ian Dalton, head of provider development at the department of health, Ruth Carnall, chief executive of NHS London, and Helios' representatives.The workshop was to discuss "how international hospital provider groups may help to tackle the performance improvement of UK hospitals". The agenda details a discussion with Helios over "potential opportunities in London". The company gave a presentation on "what an international player would suggest". Helioswas given an update on the "situation for NHS hospitals" and the "specific situation in London". The meeting also included discussions on "requirements for policy". The workshop was held a month before Lansley published his NHS bill. Just after the bill was published a representative from McKinsey was invited to the department to talk about the Helios bid. John Healey, Labour's health spokesman, called on Lib Dems to "join with Labour this week to put a stop to David Cameron's damaging plans for the NHS". He said it looked like there was "a well-worked secret plan for privatising hospitals". "Cameron promises one thing on NHS privatisation in public, while at the same time his government attends secret meetings with those ready to take advantage of the prime minister's market-driven plans for our health service." A Department of Health spokesperson said: "It is not unusual for the Department of Health to hold meetings with external organisations. Any decisions to involve outside organisations, such as the independent sector or foundation trusts, in running the management of NHS hospitals would be led by the NHS locally and in all cases NHS staff and assets would remain wholly owned by the NHS." Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Claims that we aim to privatise the NHS amount to nothing more than ludicrous scaremongering. We have made it crystal clear, time and again, that we will never, ever, privatise the NHS. "The reality is that we're giving more power and choice to patients over how they get treated, keeping waiting times low and cutting bureaucracy so more cash gets to the front line. We will not allow these lies to block the progress we want to achieve for patients. "Under this government, the NHS will be available to all, a comprehensive quality service, free at the point of use, based on need, not ability to pay. NHS providers such as Foundation Trusts will continue as publicly accountable bodies. The Bill makes this absolutely clear." • This article was amended on 5 September 2011. To clarify: the board of Trafford has now selected Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as its preferred acquisition partner.

Decomposed body found in suitcase on Bronx block

2011-09-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

Siede Preis/Getty

An unidentified and decomposed body was found stuffed in a suitcase on a Bronx street Sunday.

A decomposed body was found stuffed inside a suitcase on a Bronx street Sunday, sources said.
The unidentified body was discovered by cops on Needham Ave. near Wilson Ave. in Williamsbridge after a neighbor called about 3:30 p.m. to report the luggage appeared suspicious, the sources said.
It was not clear how long it had been since the suitcase had been dumped on the block, but the body was decomposed, a source said.
The city medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to try to identify the body and find the cause of death.

8 Killed In Holiday Weekend Violence

2011-09-06T09:34:00.001-07:00

(CBS)

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CHICAGO (CBS) – An 18-year-old boy who lost his life to gunfire in the North Lawndale neighborhood has brought the total number of deaths caused by violence in the city this Labor Day weekend to at least eight.
Sadarius Sims was shot and killed around 9:15 p.m. Monday in the 1300 block of South Kildare Avenue, authorities said. Someone approached on foot and fired shots, hitting him in the shoulder, according to police.
Sims was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 10:23 p.m. Monday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
On Sunday night, a 29-year-old man was shot and killed in a street fight in the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city’s Far South Side.
The latest happened about 10:25 p.m. in the 600 block of East 133rd Street. Nicholas Jackson, 29, of 640 E. 133rd St. was pronounced ded at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 11:37 p.m. after being shot in the chest, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said.
He was fighting with several people during a street fight when a gunman pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest.
Four other men were killed on Saturday in shootings, while one was stabbed to death.
In one incident, a man was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Marquette Park neighborhood.
The man — identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as David Lucas, 38 — was shot about 2:50 p.m. in the 6500 block of South California Avenue, police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala said.
Police said the man was walking when a light-colored four-door vehicle approached, a gunman exited and began shooting then fled in the vehicle.
Lucas, of the 6900 block of South Mozart Street, was pronounced dead at 4:01 p.m. Saturday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, the medical examiner’s office said. Police said he was shot in the chest.
Also Saturday afternoon, two men standing on an East Garfield Park neighborhood street were killed in another drive-by shooting.
The men were standing in the 2900 block of West Adams Street when the driver of a passing car pulled a gun about 12:45 p.m. and shot the men, Zala said.
The medical examiner’s office identified the men as Deandre Boatman, 18, and Devonne Polk, 34.
Boatman, of an unidentified home address, was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m. at Stroger Hospital of Cook County. Polk, of the 5300 block of West Harrison Street, was also taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:22 p.m.
Police described the vehicle as a light-colored two-door car of an unidentified make and model.
Police said both men suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Earlier Saturday, a gunman walked up to a 32-year-old man in a wheelchair and killed him in the North Austin neighborhood.
The victim was identified by the medical examiner’s office as Martez Benton.
About 1:45 a.m., Benton was in his wheelchair on the sidewalk in the 5400 block of West Division Street when a male approached him on foot and fired at him, striking him in the neck, head and back, a report from police News Affairs said.
Benton, of the 1400 block of 59th Street in Maywood, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
Violence even hit the northwest corner of the trendy Lincoln Park neighborhood, where one man was killed another injured in a stabbing early Saturday.
The two were stabbed during a fight about 12:50 a.m. in the 1100 block of West Wrightwood Avenue, between Racine and Seminary avenues, police said. A 19-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and abdomen and was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he later died.
Rodney Kyles Jr., of the 5100 block of Roberta Lane in Richton Park, was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m. after being stabbed in the street, according to the medical examiner’s Office.
An 18-year-old man was stabbed in the buttocks and was taken in good condition to Illinois Masonic.
And on Friday, a man was shot and killed while he sat on a park bench in the South Side’s Hamilton Park neighborhood, police said.
Tyrone Robertson, 20, of the 10600 block of South Wentworth Avenue, was pronounced dead at Saint Bernard Hospital at 9:36 p.m. after being shot at 449 W. 72nd St., according to the medical examiner’s Office.
He was sitting on a park bench at the park of Hamilton Park about 8:50 p.m., when shots rang out from behind the field house and struck him, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
No one was in custody for any of these homicides as of Tuesday morning.

Italian forensic expert defends Knox DNA evidence

2011-09-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Amanda Knox, foreground, is escorted by a police officer as she arrives for a hearing …
Amanda Knox attends an hearing of her appeals case at the Perugia court, Italy, Tuesday, …

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) — A police forensic expert who conducted the original investigation in the Amanda Knox case insisted Tuesday that there was no contamination on crucial pieces of evidence linking the American student and her co-defendant to the murder of her British roommate.

Patrizia Stefanoni examined DNA traces in the aftermath of the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher in Perugia. But her work was criticized by independent experts appointed by the court to review the evidence. They have alleged glaring errors in evidence gathering, below-standard testing which they said raised doubts about the attribution of DNA traces, and possible contamination of the evidence.

Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of sexually assaulting and killing Kercher in the apartment that Knox and the 21-year-old Briton shared while studying in Perugia. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25. Both deny wrongdoing and have appealed the December 2009 verdict.

Debate over DNA evidence has taken the center stage at the appeals trial, with genetic experts taking the stand in the frescoed courtroom in Perugia. A verdict is expected by month's end.

Detailed explanations of DNA extraction techniques and genetic science — often performed with slides in a dimly-lit, hot courtroom — have sorely tested the attention spans of many attendees. Knox herself appeared to nod off for a second, at one point apparently closing her eyes and her head falling forward.

Even Presiding Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann joked about it Tuesday.

"I'm glad to see you have no slides," he said with a wry smile as a geneticist was taking the stand — only to have his hope dashed.

In testimony spread over two days, Stefanoni has rejected accusations of shoddy forensics work. On Tuesday, she told the appeals court that she could rule out contamination on a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon and on the clasp of Kercher's bra — both key pieces of evidence in the case.

In the original trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the knife's handle and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They say Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mixed trace that also included the victim's genetic profile.

Stefanoni said the knife, found at Sollecito's house, was tested in a lab six days after the investigators had analyzed a trace of Kercher's DNA — excluding contamination.

The bra clasp was also controversial because it was recovered off the floor at the crime scene 46 days after the killing. The independent review said that the "context ... was highly suggestive of ambient contamination."
Stefanoni insisted that in that period "nothing from outside the victim's room was brought inside." She insisted that out of 133 specimens analyzed in the house of the murder — including 89 in Kercher's room — Sollecito's genetic profile was only found in a cigarette butt in an ashtray, mixed with Knox's.

"If Sollecito's DNA had somehow traveled from the butt to the clasp, then there would be Knox's DNA as well on the clasp," she said.

However, defense lawyers pointed out that the clasp, when collected, was a few feet (meters) away from where it was originally seen in a crime scene police video.

"It was moved by somebody, we don't know how, and it's possible that it was turned upside down," said Adriano Tagliabracci, a genetic expert who took the stand Tuesday for the defense. "How can we be certain that that is a reliable exhibit?"

The proceedings Tuesday started about one hour late as some members of the jury were stalled due to a national strike affecting transportation.

More Print Gunfire erupted today near the massive West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn -- not far from where Mayor Bloomberg was marching -- as the entire city reeled from a epidemic of shootings over the past two days. By noon today, a total of 46 people had been shot in the city since Saturday morning, authorities said. At just before noon, a gunman fired into the air several blocks away from the start of the West Indian Day Parade route in Crown Heights before hopping into a cab and fleeing. COUNCILMAN, PUBLIC ADVOCATE STAFFER BUSTED AT PARADE Bloomberg, who has decried the recent spate of gun violence, had just started marching. Police have a man in custody after he allegedly fired shots into the air at the West Indian Day Parade before fleeing the scene in a cab. G.N. MIller/NY Post Police have a man in custody after he allegedly fired shots into the air at the West Indian Day Parade before fleeing the scene in a cab. At 6 a.m., a man was shot in the leg in a McDonald's at 57 Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, and was in stable condition. Theodore Parisienne At 6 a.m., a man was shot in the leg in a McDonald's at 57 Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, and was in stable condition. Witnesses said the unidentified gunman got out of the car at E. 94th and Winthrop streets, and then ran off after tossing his gun. Cops caught him down the street after Macing him. Police then washed the Mace out of his eyes with a carton of milk. The frightening incident came as people around New York City continued being shot in a frenzy that began early Saturday morning. Twenty five people had been shot as of 6 a.m. Sunday -- including three kids at a house party-turned-shooting gallery in The Bronx early Sunday. By early Monday morning, seven more people were shot in four separate incidents in Brooklyn -- one of them fatally. By noon, another seven people had been shot -- bringing the shocking toll to 46 people injured by gunfire since Saturday morning. In one incident today Tyrief Gary, 18, was fatally shot to the chest at 12:45 a.m. at 109 E. 54th Street in Brooklyn. Three others were shot during the same incident, all of whom were in stable condition at Kings County Hospital. Police sources believe that three of the shootings this morning are connected to the pre-dawn festivities leading up to today's West Indian Day parade. The traditional celebration, known as J'ouvert, has been the scene of numerous shootings in the past, although cops have had it under control in recent years. Separately, another man was shot in the chest today at 4:24 a.m. at Linden Blvd and Nostrand Avenue. He was in critical condition at Kings County Hospital At 6 a.m., a man was shot in the leg in a McDonald's at 57 Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, and was in stable condition at the same hospital. At 11:48 a.m., a 41-year-old man was shot at 7th Avenue and W. 127th St. in Manhattan and taken to Harlem Hospital, where his condition was unknown. A 50-year-old man was in custody and being questioned. Calling the chilling violence "just unconscionable," Bloomberg demanded that the feds step up their efforts to get illegal weapons off the streets. "We just cannot continue to have these guns in the hands of kids who don't understand the value of human life," he said. The crime wave mirrored the city's drug-fueled epidemic of violence in the 1980s and '90s, police sources said. "Last night was unbelievable," one source said yesterday. "I can't remember a couple of hours like these since the days of crack." A total of eight people alone were shot at 3:40 a.m. at the out-of-control house party on East 221st Street in The Bronx Sunday, authorities said. The violence erupted after one man crashed the gig and then got into an argument with another male partygoer, sources said. Each opened fire on the other, spraying the panicked crowd with at least 21 bullets. "I heard three shots, then a bunch more," said a neighbor who asked that her name be withheld. "Then I heard people going over the fence and women screaming." Sabine Walters, 48 -- whose daughter threw the "liquor barbecue" bash and whose 11-year-old son, Shaquan, was hit in the right calf by a bullet -- said, "I looked around, screaming, 'Where's my son? Where's my son?' " Shaquan, his leg wrapped in white gauze, looked terrified as he whimpered to a reporter from his bed at Jacobi Hospital, "My foot hurts." Police apprehended one unidentified man suspected in the shooting, and were questioning him today. They said they still are searching for 17-year-old Oneil DaSilva, of Mount Vernon, in connection with the shooting. His rap sheet includes nine arrests for attempted murder, third-degree assault and burglary. The other two wounded kids were a 13-year-old girl hit in the left thigh and a 14-year-old girl shot in the back. Both were in stable condition last night. Five men were also shot at the party. A 24-year-old victim, shot twice in the chest, was in critical condition. The most gravely injured victim in the other shootings was a man shot on East 93rd Street in Brooklyn. He later died. Additional reporting by Christina Carrega, Kirstan Conley, Sally Goldenberg and Kevin Sheehan

2011-09-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

Gunfire erupted today near the massive West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn -- not far from where Mayor Bloomberg was marching -- as the entire city reeled from a epidemic of shootings over the past two days.
By noon today, a total of 46 people had been shot in the city since Saturday morning, authorities said.
At just before noon, a gunman fired into the air several blocks away from the start of the West Indian Day Parade route in Crown Heights before hopping into a cab and fleeing.
COUNCILMAN, PUBLIC ADVOCATE STAFFER BUSTED AT PARADE
Bloomberg, who has decried the recent spate of gun violence, had just started marching.

G.N. MIller/NY Post

Police have a man in custody after he allegedly fired shots into the air at the West Indian Day Parade before fleeing the scene in a cab.

Theodore Parisienne

At 6 a.m., a man was shot in the leg in a McDonald's at 57 Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, and was in stable condition.

Witnesses said the unidentified gunman got out of the car at E. 94th and Winthrop streets, and then ran off after tossing his gun. Cops caught him down the street after Macing him.
Police then washed the Mace out of his eyes with a carton of milk.
The frightening incident came as people around New York City continued being shot in a frenzy that began early Saturday morning.
Twenty five people had been shot as of 6 a.m. Sunday -- including three kids at a house party-turned-shooting gallery in The Bronx early Sunday.
By early Monday morning, seven more people were shot in four separate incidents in Brooklyn -- one of them fatally.
By noon, another seven people had been shot -- bringing the shocking toll to 46 people injured by gunfire since Saturday morning.
In one incident today Tyrief Gary, 18, was fatally shot to the chest at 12:45 a.m. at 109 E. 54th Street in Brooklyn. Three others were shot during the same incident, all of whom were in stable condition at Kings County Hospital.
Police sources believe that three of the shootings this morning are connected to the pre-dawn festivities leading up to today's West Indian Day parade.
The traditional celebration, known as J'ouvert, has been the scene of numerous shootings in the past, although cops have had it under control in recent years.
Separately, another man was shot in the chest today at 4:24 a.m. at Linden Blvd and Nostrand Avenue. He was in critical condition at Kings County Hospital
At 6 a.m., a man was shot in the leg in a McDonald's at 57 Empire Blvd in Brooklyn, and was in stable condition at the same hospital.
At 11:48 a.m., a 41-year-old man was shot at 7th Avenue and W. 127th St. in Manhattan and taken to Harlem Hospital, where his condition was unknown. A 50-year-old man was in custody and being questioned.
Calling the chilling violence "just unconscionable," Bloomberg demanded that the feds step up their efforts to get illegal weapons off the streets.
"We just cannot continue to have these guns in the hands of kids who don't understand the value of human life," he said.
The crime wave mirrored the city's drug-fueled epidemic of violence in the 1980s and '90s, police sources said.
"Last night was unbelievable," one source said yesterday. "I can't remember a couple of hours like these since the days of crack."
A total of eight people alone were shot at 3:40 a.m. at the out-of-control house party on East 221st Street in The Bronx Sunday, authorities said.
The violence erupted after one man crashed the gig and then got into an argument with another male partygoer, sources said. Each opened fire on the other, spraying the panicked crowd with at least 21 bullets.
"I heard three shots, then a bunch more," said a neighbor who asked that her name be withheld. "Then I heard people going over the fence and women screaming."
Sabine Walters, 48 -- whose daughter threw the "liquor barbecue" bash and whose 11-year-old son, Shaquan, was hit in the right calf by a bullet -- said, "I looked around, screaming, 'Where's my son? Where's my son?' "
Shaquan, his leg wrapped in white gauze, looked terrified as he whimpered to a reporter from his bed at Jacobi Hospital, "My foot hurts."
Police apprehended one unidentified man suspected in the shooting, and were questioning him today.
They said they still are searching for 17-year-old Oneil DaSilva, of Mount Vernon, in connection with the shooting. His rap sheet includes nine arrests for attempted murder, third-degree assault and burglary.
The other two wounded kids were a 13-year-old girl hit in the left thigh and a 14-year-old girl shot in the back. Both were in stable condition last night.
Five men were also shot at the party. A 24-year-old victim, shot twice in the chest, was in critical condition.
The most gravely injured victim in the other shootings was a man shot on East 93rd Street in Brooklyn. He later died.
Additional reporting by Christina Carrega, Kirstan Conley, Sally Goldenberg and Kevin Sheehan

2 Cops Among 47 Shot in Weekend Violence; Teen and 56-Year-Old Bystander Killed

2011-09-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

NBCNewYork

Three men shot in broad daylight along a parade route in Brooklyn Monday were among more than 40 injured by gunfire during a Labor Day weekend of violence.

Three people were killed and two police officers were wounded in a shooting a few blocks from the annual West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, capping a violent holiday weekend in which 47 people were injured by gunfire.

Bullet fragments hit one police officer in the left arm and chest Monday night. He was hospitalized but was expected to survive. Another officer was grazed by a bullet.

One shooters was killed along with a bystander, 56-year-old Denise Gay, who was shot while sitting on a stoop with her daughter nearby just two doors down from the exchange of gunfire. Another shooter was in serious condition at the hospital.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday the city should not consider shutting down the parade, which often sees violence and had fatal shootings in 2003 and 2005.

"It's our biggest parade," Kelly said. Because of the density of people, he said, "you can't watch everything."

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Kelly said the gunman who killed Gay had an extensive criminal history, including criminal possession of a firearm and assault and drug charges.

The gunshots rang out just after 9 p.m. Monday in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood after the hours-long parade, which also was marred by fatal shootings in 2003 and 2005. Post-parade parties are common.

The shootings started as an exchange between two armed men, and when officers who had been assigned to parade duties arrived at the scene, they were fired upon and returned fire, police said.

Witnesses said the shooting went on for at least 30 seconds. Thomas Kaminsky, who lives near where the shootings occurred, said it sounded like machine-gun fire outside his building.

Earlier Monday, as revelers filled the streets in colorful costumes during the parade, separate gun violence brought the festivities to a stop in spots, scattering the panicked crowd. Police said four people were shot and wounded along the parade route and a 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet nearby.

A city councilman was briefly detained after getting into a confrontation with police after the parade.

The holiday weekend was particularly violent and included a Sunday shooting in the Bronx in which eight people, including children, were wounded. Four other people were shot in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn early Monday, including a 17-year-old boy who died.

The upcoming 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and holiday weekend violence had put the city "on heightened alert," Kelly said before the parade stepped off.

Police helicopters hovered overhead during the parade, and officers on scooters and on foot patrolled the surrounding blocks.

Officer Omar Medina, 36, was being treated for his arm and chest wounds. Officer Avichaim Dicken, whose arm was grazed, was at a second hospital.

Before the violence Monday, the parade thundered down a Brooklyn thoroughfare with its usual colorful, musical energy.

The annual Labor Day parade celebrates the culture of the Caribbean islands and is one of the city's largest outdoors events. Modeled on traditional Carnival festivities, it features dancers wearing enormous feathered costumes, music and plenty of food.

Robert Redford disappointed in Obama

2011-09-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

(Photo Credit: Reuters)
Though many stars have already signed on to support Obama’s re-election, not everyone in Hollywood is happy with the president. The latest disillusioned celeb: Robert Redford.
The actor has penned a column in the Huffington Post questioning Obama's dedication to environmental causes.

“One reason I supported President Obama is because he said we must protect clean air, water and lands. But what good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?” Redford writes. “Since early August, three administration decisions -- on Arctic drilling, the Keystone XL pipeline and the ozone that causes smog -- have all favored dirty industry over public health and a clean environment. Like so many others, I'm beginning to wonder just where the man stands.”

Poll illustrates California voters' anger

2011-09-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Poll illustrates California voters' anger

Nearly 3 in 4 say the country is on the wrong track, and nearly half favor slashing government spending — a potentially dismal finding for President Obama, who will unveil a jobs plan this week.

California voters are increasingly downcast about the direction of the country, but — like their leaders in Washington — many would rather adhere to party orthodoxy than compromise to address the current economic problems, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll shows.

The findings offer little guidance for President Obama, who will unveil a jobs package this week that he hopes to push through a polarized Congress. Further troubling for the president: The survey results suggest that Republicans, even in deep-blue California, are winning the rhetorical war of words over how to frame the country's economic troubles, and how to get out of them.

Although Obama has previously called for strategic government investments to stimulate the economy, only 37% of California voters said they favor such an approach. Instead, the Republican view — that slashing government spending to restrain the deficit will better lead to prosperity — was preferred by 49% of respondents, according to the survey sponsored by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and The Times.

"The argument of 'We need to cut the size of government, we need to reduce the deficit' has won, even in California," said David Kanevsky, research director for American Viewpoint, a Republican firm that co-directed the bipartisan poll. "Stimulus is almost a four-letter word here."

With California unemployment mired at 12%, the electorate is clearly dissatisfied with the status quo. Nearly 3 in 4 voters say the country is on the wrong track, up sharply from the 55% who felt that way in November 2009.

"We're going to hell in a handbasket, what can I say," said Esther Morales, 68, a Republican poll respondent who lives in a retirement community in Indio. She scoffed at the term "retirement," however, pointing out that most of her neighbors still have to work odd jobs to make ends meet: "We're on the fast track to nowhere."

Dissatisfaction with the nation's trajectory topped 60% across every age range, party, region and level of education, and among women and men. But sharp disagreements remain over how the federal government should guide the country away from the recent recession. And neither side wants to give ground.

California Republicans and Democrats alike said they would prefer their leaders stick to their guns when it comes to core issues — rejecting tax hikes for Republicans, avoiding cuts to Social Security and Medicare for Democrats — even if concessions are needed to tame the federal deficit or lure the other side out of its ideological corner.

Republicans preferred the hard-line stance, 50% to 35%, and Democrats concurred by an even larger ratio, 57% to 32%.

"People are essentially putting their priorities above compromise," said Drew Lieberman, a pollster with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, the Democratic firm that co-directed the survey.

Voters' concede-nothing mentality has been colored by the summer's protracted fight in Washington over raising the federal debt ceiling, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a former GOP strategist.

Obama had sought a "grand bargain" to raise taxes and trim entitlements in exchange for lifting the borrowing limit. Republicans in Congress refused to contemplate taxes and threatened a federal default unless deep spending cuts alone were adopted. Obama and the Democrats ultimately acquiesced.

"The lesson that Republicans learned in the fight over the debt limit is it pays not to compromise," Schnur said. "It appears the Democrats have learned exactly the same lesson."

By a nearly 2-1 ratio, Democrats in the poll now said they would rather Obama "stand up" and "fight" Republicans rather than compromise, even at the expense of solving problems. Democrats were somewhat split along ethnic lines on the issue, however. Forty-five percent of Latinos embraced the more confrontational approach, compared with 64% of whites and 84% of African Americans.

Among those who want a more aggressive posture from the president is Sacramento Democrat Jerry Montoya, 44, a theater writer and director who said he is sick of watching Democrats "ceding ground before you even fight the battle."

Montoya said he hoped Obama would roll out an ambitious, New Deal-like vision in his jobs speech before a joint session of Congress on Thursday. He wants to hear about vast new infrastructure projects of the future that will boost the economy today. Such strident pro-government rhetoric has largely been absent from Obama's vocabulary.

"This is the one place Obama has failed," Montoya said. "He hasn't given us a simple message to move forward with."

In the survey, scaling back government to spur the sluggish economy resonated more than further federal stimulus. A retooled and more nuanced Democratic message, which suggested that the rollback of corporate taxes, targeted spending cuts and investments in education would jump-start the economy, was received better. Even then, though, the Democrats' message lagged behind with only 43% support, compared with 45% for the Republican agenda.

Obama hits all-time lows, according to NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll

2011-09-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Obama hits all-time lows, according to NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll

When Barack Obama unveils his jobs and economic plan to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, he'll do so at the lowest point of his presidency, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Other political news of note
1. First Read: A damaging summer for Obama
  The debt ceiling fight and credit downgrade helped make the president’s summer his worst yet.
2. Super PAC backing Perry to spend $55 million
3. GOP candidates vow to carry Tea Party banner
4. Key Bachmann aide quits, says she's '3rd candidate'
5. Obama plan may not be enough to fix jobs market

After the bruising debt-ceiling fight — as well as Standard & Poor's subsequent downgrade of the nation's credit rating — Obama's job approval rating has sunk to a low of 44 percent, a 3-point drop since July. His handling of the economy stands at a low of 37 percent. And only 19 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction, the lowest mark for this president.
Perhaps most ominously for Obama, a majority of poll takers — 54 percent — think he's facing a longer-term setback from which he's unlikely to recover. Back in January, just 39 percent agreed with that assessment.

Indeed, that 54 percent is virtually identical to George W. Bush's score on the same question in the Nov. 2005 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which was released just months after Bush's widely criticized handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Read full poll here (.pdf) "When [Obama] addresses the American public, he is going to have one more chance to provide some sense of hope and optimism that he ... can provide answers to what is a woeful economy," said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
But both Hart and McInturff contend that Obama wasn't the only party damaged by the debt ceiling debacle. A whopping 82 percent now disapprove of the job Congress is doing. In the history of this poll, it's an all-time high level of dissatisfaction with Capitol Hill.
Story: Obama says Congress must pass jobs program In addition, when asked who is most to blame for the S&P downgrade, a plurality points to congressional Republicans. And a majority of respondents say they would vote out every single member of Congress if they could.
"Everybody in Washington is taking a substantial hit," McInturff said.
Silver linings for Obama Yet Obama, in particular, took a gut punch. According to the poll, just 42 percent give the president high marks for possessing strong leadership qualities. That’s a 12-point drop from May (in the days following Osama bin Laden’s death).
In addition, his high marks for being a good commander in chief have plunged 10 points (from 51 percent in May to his current 41 percent rating); his high marks for having the ability to handle a crisis have dropped 14 points (from 53 percent to 39 percent); and his high marks for achieving his goals have declined another 14 points (from 41 percent to 27 percent).
Video: Obama hits all-time low in new poll (on this page) If there's a silver lining for Obama, it's that a combined 70 percent of respondents still find him likeable (though nearly six in 10 say they disapprove of many of his policies). And 50 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy, which Hart says is significant because it suggests that the public doesn't think that everything Obama touches can be viewed negatively.
What's more, in a hypothetical general election contest, Obama leads Texas Gov. Rick Perry by five points, 47 percent to 42 percent. And he leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by one, 46 percent to 45 percent, though that margin is down five points since June.
But for the first time in the poll, more say they'd probably vote for a generic Republican candidate (44 percent) than say they'd probably vote for Obama (40 percent).
"Obama is no longer the favorite to win re-election," Hart said, explaining that a head-to-head score will usually conform to the generic one, especially when so many believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Perry takes commanding GOP lead And there's a new favorite in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Heading into the post-Labor Day sprint and the NBC News/Politico-sponsored debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday, Perry is the first choice among 38 percent of GOP voters — followed by Romney at 23 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 9 percent and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann at 8 percent.
Story: Michele Bachmann's campaign manager quits, says she's the 'third candidate' Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain are tied with 5 percent of GOP voters each, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gets 3 percent and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman gets 2 percent.
The NBC/WSJ survey is the latest poll to show Perry leading Romney nationally. In recent days, Gallup, Quinnipiac and CNN have had Perry out in front.
On the 'super committee' and 9/11 Also this week, Congress returns to work, and topping the agenda is the start to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — better known as the “super committee.”
In the poll, 60 percent say it would be acceptable if the "super committee" considers reducing the deficit by ending the so-called Bush tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or more per year. Moreover, 56 percent say it would be acceptable if it considers reducing the deficit by a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.
By comparison, just 37 percent believe it’s acceptable for the committee to reduce the deficit by only cutting spending and not raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. And only 20 percent say it’s acceptable to lower the deficit by reducing spending on Medicare.
Story: Late GOP entrant Perry gets set to meet his competition Finally, this Sunday will be the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. According to the poll, 42 percent believe the U.S. is now safer than it was before the attacks — a 9-point increase from Aug. 2010.
Thirty-six percent think the U.S. is about as safe as it was before the attacks, and 21 percent say it’s less safe.
But, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, respondents maintain that the 9/11 attacks had less of a personal impact to them than the economic recession did.
Forty-six percent cited the recession as the event that had the greatest effect on them, versus 20 percent who cited the 9/11 attacks.
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was conducted of 1,000 adults (200 reached by cell phone) from Aug. 27-31, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.
Mark Murray covers politics for NBC News

Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades

2011-09-06T09:09:00.001-07:00

Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/ AP ) - President Barack Obama is hugged by a member of the audience after speaking at a Labor Day event at Detroit's Renaissance Center, headquarters of General Motors, Monday, Sept., 5, 2011, in Detroit, Mich.

By Jon Cohen and Dan Balz, Updated: Tuesday, September 6, 6:05 AM

Public pessimism about the direction of the country has jumped to its highest level in nearly three years, erasing the sense of hope that followed President Obama’s inauguration and pushing his approval ratings to a record low, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation. Just 43 percent now approve of the job he is doing overall, a new career low; 53 percent disapprove, a new high.

FOX & Friends Showdown: Wasserman Schultz Avoids Hoffa Question

2011-09-06T09:05:00.001-07:00

OX & Friends Showdown: Wasserman Schultz Avoids Hoffa Question

Will Barack Obama condemn Joe Biden and Jimmy Hoffa for calling Republicans 'barbarians' and 'son of a bitches'

2011-09-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

Barack Obama campaigning in Chicago last year. Photo: Toby Harnden

I enjoy political hardball as much as the next reporter. It’s barely concealed truth that campaign journalists, like the operatives we cover, love negative campaigning and revel in OTT insults and martial rhetoric. Even candidates often lapse into the language of “rip his throat out”, “tear his eyes out” or “drive a stake through her heart”.

It’s no secret either that many Republicans despise Democrats with a passion and vice versa. Just as British MPs hide their contempt of their opponents by referring to them as “the honourable member’, American politicians have their own, albeit less formal, ways of masking their true feelings with anodyne language for public consumption.
But the statements today by Jimmy Hoffa Jr and Vice President Joe Biden demean the presidency and, tactically speaking, are stupid own goals.
Hoffa, the Teamsters president, was warming up a Detroit crowd when he said: “President Obama, this is your army, and we are ready to march. Everybody here’s got a vote. If we go back, and we keep the eye on the prize, let’s take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”
Biden, whose mouth has long been a liability for Obama, was at an AFL-CIO rally when he told union members: “You are the only folks keeping the barbarians from the gates…the other side has declared war on labour’s house.”
These comments were not nearly as bad as the statement last week by Congressman Andre Carson that members of the Tea Party want black people “hanging from a tree”. Let’s not get too sanctimonious here – they’re fairly common sentiments behind the scenes on both sides of the political divide.
The difference, of course, is that they were uttered publicly by someone chosen by the White House to introduce Obama and by the sitting vice-president at a time when Obama is calling for a bipartisan coming together to tackle the economy. To add to their foolishness, they follow on from Obama’s sensible call in January for “civility” in public discourse and for people to talk “in a way that heals, not a way that wounds”.
Hoffa’s comments were much worse than Biden’s, though the vice-president’s demeanour suggests he could be a liability on the campaign trail (I’d wager there’s a campaign plan for him to be used only in “rev up the base” type events). Put together, they are embarrassing enough to require an apology from Obama.
But will Obama have the political and moral courage to repudiate a powerful union boss and his own vice-president?
(POST UPDATED TO INCLUDE FULL HOFFA QUOTE AND LINK TO FULL VIDEO)
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Tags: Andre Carson, Barack Obama, Jimmy Hoffa, Joe Biden, tea party

Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out"

2011-09-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out"

Italy drops proposal for levy on high earners

2011-08-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

Italy dropped Monday a proposal for a levy on high earners approved by the cabinet earlier this month as part of an austerity package aimed at calming the markets by balancing the budget before 2013.
The "solidarity tax" had proved highly controversial within Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition. The government said it would instead step up measures to fight tax evasion in order to raise revenues.

The decision was the result of a meeting between Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League party and a key coalition partner whose support the 74-year-old prime minister needs to stay in power.
The government emphasised in a statement that the changes to the austerity plan would not alter the overall savings of 45.5 billion euros ($66 billion).
Berlusconi -- a billionaire media tycoon -- had said he was against taxing the rich, which would have gone against a campaign promise not to raise taxes.
The temporary tax would have been five percent on revenues of more than 90,000 euros a year and 10 percent on revenues of more than 150,000 euros.
In response to the demands of the Northern League, the government also agreed to moderate some of its cuts on local government but said it would still do away entirely with provincial administrations -- a form of local authority.
It also said it planned to cut the number of parliamentarians by half.
The latest measures still have to go before parliament for final approval, expected next month, and come on top of a three-year 48-billion-euro austerity package adopted in July which failed to reassure investors over Italy's debt.
Italy has one of the highest debt levels in the world and a low growth rate.
Under pressure from investors and the European Central Bank, the government this month said it planned to restore budget balance by 2013 instead of by 2014 as previously planned.

Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

One in four Democrats wants to dump Obama

2011-08-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

A group carries signs asking for immigration reform as they protest outside of the Fairmont Hotel before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for a fundraiser May 25, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Hundreds of protestors from different political groups staged the demonstration at a campaign fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012.
In response to the question, "Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party's candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?" -- 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.
The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The new poll is another indication of Democratic unhappiness with the president, but it does not mean Obama will face a challenge in his party's primaries. Despite the complaints of a few liberals like Sen. Bernard Sanders, the odds of a Democrat opposing the president appear to be something less than zero. But the new poll is still a matter of concern to Democrats, because it is yet another indication that there is significant disillusionment with the president within his own party. Whether those disaffected Democrats will come around to supporting Obama next year is an open question -- and perhaps the most worrying of the president's re-election bid.

Carney Grilled Over Potential Hillary Primary Challenge: "You'll Have To Ask Her"

2011-08-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Iran 'discreetly aided Libyan rebels'

2011-08-29T18:45:00.001-07:00

TEHRAN — Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to Libyan rebels before the fall of Tripoli, Jam-e-Jam newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday as saying.
"We were in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of (Moamer) Kadhafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi," Salehi told the daily.
"The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, sent a letter of thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for having been on their side and helping," he added.
Since the Libyan uprising erupted in mid-February, Iran has adopted a dual approach -- criticising the Kadhafi regime for its violent assaults on the rebels while at the same time condemning NATO's military intervention.
On Tuesday, Iran "congratulated the Muslim people of Libya" after rebels overran the capital Tripoli, but it has so far distanced itself from officially recognising the NTC.

Robert Ford attacked in Syria (VID

2011-08-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

A video has emerged of U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford being assaulted by a pro-regime demonstrator on the streets of Damascus last week.
The assault took place before Ford's unapproved trip to the city of Jassem on Aug 23. Ford was present at a gathering of demonstrators who support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad outside the Cham Palace Hotel in Damascus when one demonstrator ran up to Ford and tried to wrap him in a poster that featured Assad's face.

Ford's security intervened quickly and rushed Ford to his car. The incident was then replayed in a highly produced segment on a Syrian television station owned by Mohamed Hamsho, a businessman is the brother-in-law of the president's brother, Maher al-Assad. Hamsho was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month for siding with the Assad regime during its brutal crackdown on protesters.
Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian activist opposed to Assad living in Maryland, said the TV report accuses Ford of trying to lead a protest in Damascus and even features an out-of-context quote from Edward Peck, the former U.S. diplomat who is now a strong critic of U.S. policy in the Middle East and took a ride on the May 2010 flotilla that tried to break the Gaza blockade and was attacked by the Israel Defense Forces.
"The reporting is of course stupid" Abdulhamid wrote. "The plain facts are: as Ambassador Ford observed a loyalist demonstration, some of the demonstrators jumped at him when they recognized him and tried to wrap a poster of Bashar Al-Assad around him, but the Ambassador's security details managed to rush him safely into his car. There was no anti-Assad demonstration at the time, security in that area is simply too tight."
A State Department official told The Cable today that the video was "a weak, banal, laughable attempt by the Syrian thugs to have the international community focus on anything but the real story, which is the government's continuing campaign of terror on its own people through torture, murder and illegal imprisonment."
Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of the new book about the U.S.-Syria relationship In the Lion's Den, said that the Assad regime has been harassing Ford for weeks with stunts like this.
For example, the same TV station recently showed a video of fireworks in downtown Damascus, after which the anchor said Ford must have been "shitting his pants with diarrhea," Tabler recounted.
After Ford visited anti-regime protests in the city of Hama in July, the regime encouraged supporters to pelt the U.S. embassy with rocks and eggs. The protesters smashed embassy windows and wrote graffiti on the walls calling Ford a "dog."
"It's annoying and shows you the base nature of that regime," said Tabler. "This regime hates to be in the spotlight. Robert Ford's actions there place those kinds of things in the spotlight and that's why they are harassing him."
Of course, it's possible that Ford is actually trying to get himself kicked out of Syria by the Assad regime. That would allow the Obama administration to spotlight Assad's intolerance and allow the State Department to avoid a fight over Ford's Senate confirmation.
Until that happens, Ford is going to continue to do his job and try to interact with the Syrian people, said Tabler. But, he added, "the way things are going, it's probably a matter of time" before Ford gets booted.
View the video here:

Final NASA shuttle mission clouded by rancor

2011-07-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

CAPE CANAVERAL — The last shuttle, Atlantis, sits on Pad 39A, ready for its valedictory flight.
It is the nature of a shuttle to look kind of lonely out there on the pad, kept at a safe remove from the control room, the hangars, the observation platforms. The pad is not far from the beach, one of the last stretches of Florida coastline unblemished by hotels and condos. Beach houses were torn down years ago when the federal government showed up with rockets. Old-timers talk of 11 graveyards and an old schoolhouse lurking somewhere out there, the remnants of the era before the coming of the spaceport.
Now the U.S. space program itself is middle-aged, facing a painful transition. Atlantis will blast off, if all goes as planned, at 11:26 a.m. Friday for a 12-day mission to the international space station. And then . . . what?
Then a lot of uncertainty. The only sure bet is that thousands of people here will be out of a job.
NASA’s critics say the human spaceflight program is in a shambles. They see arm-waving and paperwork rather than a carefully defined mission going forward. NASA has lots of plans, but it has no new rocket ready to launch, no specific destination selected, and no means in the near term to get American astronauts into space other than by buying a seat on one of Russia’s aging Soyuz spacecraft.
The space agency’s leaders say everything’s on track, that the private sector will soon launch astronauts into orbit and let NASA focus on the hard work of deep-space exploration. There is a new heavy-lift rocket in the works, one capable of going far beyond the stamping grounds of the shuttle. President Obama has picked a destination, a near-Earth asteroid, though he did not say which one.
“We have a program. We have a budget. We have bipartisan support. We have a destination,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. “We are just putting finer points on the rocket design.”
But Garver and other administration officials are getting heat from some of the most famous astronauts on the planet, not to mention members of Congress and aerospace industry executives. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, and someone never known to be a rabble-rouser, recently co-wrote with fellow Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan an op-ed in USA Today declaring that the space policy of the Obama administration is in “substantial disarray.” The astronauts protested the decision to kill the Constellation program, the George W. Bush-era plan for a new lunar mission with new rockets and spacecraft.
Here’s Bob Crippen, who was the pilot of the first shuttle mission, STS-1, back in 1981: “I’ve never seen NASA so screwed up as it is right now. . . . They don’t know where they’re going.”
Even one of NASA’s senior people here at the Kennedy Space Center, Mike Leinbach, the launch director who will supervise the final countdown and launch of Atlantis, has blasted his agency for the lack of direction.
“We’re all victims of poor policy out of Washington, D.C. — both at the NASA level and the executive branch of the government,” Leinbach said recently at a news conference here. He said he was “embarrassed” about the lack of guidance.
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. said he respects Crippen and Leinbach but “could not disagree more” with their comments. “Our future is bright, and the U.S. will continue to be a world leader in space exploration for many years to come,” he said.
Garver suggested that the agency’s critics fail to recognize the dire condition of the human spaceflight program when Obama took office.
“We have brought the program back from the brink,” Garver said. “We inherited a program that was in disarray.”
And so the shuttle era comes to an end amid acrimony. To some extent, the pain and hurt and recrimination go with the territory — because, as Garver said repeatedly, “change is hard.”
But if the critics are right, the final flight of Atlantis will be a flare for a space program in trouble.
‘More left in them’
On a recent morning, NASA let reporters take a peek into the retired space shuttle Discovery, which is headed to the Smithsonian. Right now it’s in a customized hangar, or processing bay, here at the space center. Technicians are “safing” it, stripping it of explosive charges designed to blow hatches in an emergency. A shuttle won’t need those when it’s on display in a museum.
Surprise: It’s cramped inside. Seven astronauts had to pack into a modest crew compartment and, just above it, the flight deck. All the spaciousness is in the rear, in the payload bay, where the shuttle hauled jumbo telescopes and satellites and chunks of the international space station. So when people called it a “space truck,” they were not joking. It’s a pickup. A space pickup.
Discovery first flew in 1984 and has logged 148 million miles in space, which is equivalent to flying to the sun and most of the way back.
“It’s sad. There’s a lot more left in them. The airframes are certified for 100 flights. This one had 39 flights,” said senior mechanical technician Bill Powers, 58, who works for United Space Alliance, the primary contractor for the shuttle. USA already has laid off thousands of shuttle workers across the country. On July 22, the contractor will lay off about 1,900 more people here in Florida.
“It’s not wore-out. It’s just broke-in,” said Tim Keyser, lead mechanic for the orbiters. “It could fly another 20 years. We get into the guts of this thing, it’s pristine.”
The fleet was small, just five spaceships, plus a prototype, named Enterprise, that was used in low-altitude tests but never made it to orbit. Collectively they have flown 537 million miles (but, because it’s NASA, there’s an exact number: 537,114,016). Discovery, Endeavour (also parked in a processing bay here) and Atlantis are the three surviving orbiters. Two of the shuttles met disaster. Challenger blew up in 1986 as it soared into the Florida sky, and Columbia disintegrated over Texas as it returned to Earth in 2003.
The tragedies are recorded in various NASA documents with an identical, to-the-point phrase: “Loss of vehicle and crew.”
A versatile performer
The space shuttle goes into the history books with a mixed record. It was never truly loved. It was confined to low-Earth orbit — LEO — and never flew higher than 384 miles above the surface.
But in twilight, it has flowered into something attractive. It can do things that the next generation of spacecraft won’t be able to do. Bolden, the NASA administrator and former shuttle commander, speaks for many, “We are going to miss this incredible flying machine,” he said.
Versatile is the word that the engineers use. The space shuttle could not only carry 50,000 pounds of cargo into orbit; it could house seven astronauts, dock with orbiting space stations, grab satellites and telescopes and pull them into the payload bay for repairs, and haul enormous amounts of cargo back to Earth for a soft landing.
In retrospect, that was arguably too much spaceship for most of what was needed for missions in low-Earth orbit. NASA wants to get away from using a single vehicle to carry humans and cargo. It’s safer and cheaper to send cargo separately.
Cost will always tarnish the shuttle’s reputation. Once sold to Congress with promises of weekly flights for just $7 million a pop, the shuttle program never managed to make spaceflight routine or inexpensive. The shuttle program, in its totality, has cost more than a billion dollars per flight.
The historians will also note that the shuttle had a fundamental design flaw. The shuttle’s components at launch were arrayed side by side rather than stacked, as in Apollo-era rockets. The orbiter (the spaceship itself) was adjacent to a huge external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. That configuration meant the failure of one component could cause the failure of an adjacent one.
Which happened twice. In the Challenger accident, a jet of flame destabilized a solid rocket booster, which slammed into the fuel tank and caused a catastrophic eruption that blew apart the orbiter. In the second, foam falling during lift-off from the external tank damaged a protective tile on the leading edge of one wing of Columbia. That damage proved fatal when the orbiter disintegrated upon reentry.
After Columbia, NASA needed to make a fundamental change. President George W. Bush signed his name to the Vision for Space Exploration in 2004. The new strategy called for retiring the shuttle and using the freed-up money to go to deep space again. The new program, Constellation, featured plans for two rockets, a new crew capsule and a lunar lander. The agency vowed to put astronauts on the moon by 2020 and develop the tools and techniques for an eventual mission to Mars.
But the administration and Congress never funded the Constellation program at the level that NASA managers had envisioned. A new rocket, Ares I, ran into technical issues and fell behind schedule. By the time President Obama took office, it was clear that the United States faced a major gap, five years minimum, between the shuttle’s retirement and the availability of Ares I.
A presidential review panel led by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine concluded that, without an extra $3 billion a year, Constellation would not be able to get astronauts to the moon until 2028 at the earliest, and there’d be no money left in the program for the lunar lander. In essence, NASA could afford only to crash astronauts into the moon. The Augustine report said NASA was “perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources.”
Big eyes, little funding.
Obama zeroed out Constellation in the president’s 2011 budget request. Under the NASA authorization act passed by Congress, Constellation is officially dead, though some major elements are still lurking, rebranded. Constellation’s crew capsule, Orion, has been retained and was given a different, clunkier name. It’s the multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV).
Constellation envisioned a heavy-lift vehicle known as Ares V, capable of taking astronauts to the moon. NASA is replacing that with the “Space Launch System,” a heavy-lift rocket that is supposed to be ready to fly in an initial configuration by 2016 and evolve into something larger. The agency has pondered myriad designs and is seeking final approval for its preferred architecture from the frowning officials of the Office of Management and Budget.
The shortest path to orbit for NASA is likely to come via “commercial crew,” a program advanced by the Obama administration in which private contractors, with upfront government assistance, are developing spaceships that could take astronauts to the space station by the middle of this decade. The dream is for spaceflight, at least in low-Earth orbit, to become akin to commercial aviation. Buy a ticket, blast off. For example, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, currently in a hangar on the cape just a few miles from Atlantis, could carry astronauts to orbit inside a reusable capsule named Dragon.
Here at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA managers say they plan to build a “21st-century spaceport,” but the effort has a cart-before-horse problem. NASA is trying to get infrastructure in place for rockets that haven’t been approved and destinations that haven’t been selected.
The space center has a new half-billion-dollar mobile launcher, soaring 355 feet into the air and designed for Constellation’s Ares I rocket. But with Ares I defunct, the launcher is an expensive piece of hardware searching for a purpose.
Among those most displeased with the state of NASA is former administrator Mike Griffin, who masterminded the Constellation program.
“What they did was abandon a plan for no plan,” Griffin said. “We are retiring the shuttle in favor of nothing.”
Bolden, Griffin’s successor, is pushing back against the critics. In a message to NASA employees delivered Friday morning, he wrote: “Some of my best friends died flying on the shuttle. I’m not about to let human spaceflight go away on my watch. And I’m not going to let it flounder because we pursued a path that we couldn’t sustain.”
Relics of a bygone time
One of the powerful impressions of the Kennedy Space Center is how antiquated the place has become in certain respects. It’s not digital, it’s analog. The Kennedy Space Center wants to be a 21st-century spaceport, but there are places where it looks like the Rust Belt of the Space Age.
On a recent day, an 87-year-old former NASA employee, Charlie Parker, volunteered to give a reporter a tour of the abandoned pad where the three Apollo 1 astronauts died in a fire in 1967. Pad 34, on the Air Force side of the cape, is a forlorn place surrounded by weeds and scrub. Two plaques and three stone benches honor the martyred astronauts.
Just to the north, one pad away, stood the Delta IV rocket, privately owned and operated, and primarily used for lifting military cargo into space. The massive structure housing the Delta IV is a reminder that the space program is hardly dead. The U.S. military spends more on space than NASA does. The future promises many rockets, big and small, civilian and military, public and private.
Pad 34 is the past, draped in silence, its only obvious inhabitant a lumbering gopher tortoise that dives into his burrow at the approach of visitors. Two rusting structures, flame deflectors that look like skateboard ramps, have been parked at the edge of the vacant concrete pad. In the center is a monolithic platform that once held rockets. A pillar has three words stenciled on it: Abandon In Place.
“We call this Stonehenge West,” Parker said. “It just costs too much to tear down.”

Minnesotans frustrated, angry over state government shutdown

2011-07-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Sat Jul 2, 2011 3:19pm EDT

(Warning: Use of strong language in paragraph 3)
By Todd Melby
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Tara and Jose Garcia wanted to spend the holiday weekend camping with their four children.
But a Minnesota government shutdown prevented them from pitching a tent at a state park. So they checked out county campgrounds, only to find those parks overflowing with people.
"It's bulls--t," said Tara Garcia of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. "I am just feeling, 'Are you kidding? C'mon!'"
So the Garcias parked their minivan at Ft. Snelling, a state historical site nestled on the edge of the Mississippi River, just outside Minneapolis. That too was closed. They wandered the desolate paths anyway, with nerf guns in hand and a gaggle of kids, all under age 8.
After Democratic Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders failed to reach agreement on a $5 billion budget deficit Thursday, state offices, parks, highway rest areas and a state zoo were shuttered. In addition, 22,000 government workers were hit with layoff notices.
When negotiations broke down, the two sides were about $1.4 billion apart with Democrats insisting on a tax increase for the rich and Republicans strongly opposed. The partisan impasse angered many people.
"You have a job to do, figure out how to do your job," said Laura Sandquist, 27, of Bloomington, Minnesota, who was at Ft. Snelling with her husband. The pair were not there to visit, but to unload their bikes and go for a ride along the river.
Jeff Sandquist, also 27, did not think the shutdown would actually happen. "It's mean," he said. "I'm sure they are both to blame."
At nearby Minneapolis park, Jeff Freidson, 63, of New Hope, Minnesota, was relaxing at picnic table with his family. As a bus driver for a private company with a government contract, he worries the shutdown may threaten his livelihood.
"If this goes on long-term, I'll lose my job," Freidson said.
Freidson's wife was laid off from a teaching job more than two years ago. His job is their only source of income and health care insurance. "Times are tough," he said. "We really cannot cut back much more than we have already."
Landing another job seems unlikely, he said, because employers would rather hire young workers than someone nearing retirement.
Mussette Wade, 37, hoped to buy Minnesota Lottery tickets at a Minneapolis gas station. But the state shutdown prevented her from doing that. "I usually buy scratch-offs once a week when I get paid," she said. "It's just something I leisurely do."
Wade was more upset by a bigger shutdown inconvenience: She was not able to visit a friend who is incarcerated in a Minnesota prison. Staff cutbacks at correctional facilities have ended visitation rights for inmates.
Wade had driven to Indiana to pickup the inmate's parents for the visit. "My friend was really looking forward to seeing his Dad and Mom," she said. "It's sad. It's really sad."

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