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One of the most absurd things to come out of American politics in recent months is the allegation that the president's proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans – bringing them back to the levels they enjoyed under Clinton -- amounts to "class warfare."
In the Huffington Post last week, PFAW's Michael Keegan called the GOP's renewed cries of "class warfare" both "ironic and cynical."
If you want to see what class warfare really looks like, you need look no further than Texas, where a group of oil companies has successfully lobbied to have a government panel re-examine a very large tax break that they were previously denied, and are now on the verge of receiving a $135 million gift from the state. Who's paying for that gift? Public schools.
Here's how the oil companies, led by Valero, are wrangling the refund from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, according to the AP:
Valero first asked for the refund for six of its refineries in 2007, and wants payment retroactive to that year. Since then, at least four other companies have asked for the same retroactive refund.
Valero argues the units should be exempt under a Texas law that says industrial plants don't have to pay taxes on equipment purchased to reduce on-site pollution. The law saves companies millions, and is meant to encourage investment in new technology.
At first, the request was denied. The commission's staff said the hydrotreaters reduce pollution in diesel and gas, not necessarily at the plant. In fact, staff said, the hydrotreaters actually increased sulfur dioxide pollution near the refineries because the toxic gas is now burned off in a flare.
Valero appealed, and the panel's chairman, Bryan Shaw, said last April that the Legislature likely intended a broader interpretation of the law. He instructed his staff to research whether they could award partial exemptions to Valero. Shaw declined to be interviewed for this story, saying it could present a conflict because the issue will be brought before him again.
Shaw, the environmental commissioner who encouraged the panel to take a new look at the oil company tax refund, was hand-picked for his post by Gov. Rick Perry. He's an odd choice to head an environmental quality panel – as Mother Jones reported last week, he's a climate change skeptic who has a long history of siding with industry over environmental groups.
But Gov. Perry's ties to the oil industry run deep – since 1998, he's raked in $11 million in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies, including $147,895 from Valero, the company that's leading the effort to get the $135 million tax refund.
While oil companies enjoy expensive access to the governor and an ally at the top of one of the committees charged with holding them accountable, it's the state's children who are breathing polluted air and whose schools are being asked to pay for new corporate tax breaks. From AP:
Now, the AP's analysis shows, the Pasadena Independent School District may have to refund $11.3 million to two refineries if commissioners grant the request.
Early Monday, Gonzales and others handed out fliers, collected petition signatures and offered $10,000 cookies and brownies at a mock "bake sale" designed to raise awareness about the money at stake. Eight Houston schools planned similar mock sales for later in the day.
The mom-turned-activist said she learned about the refineries' requests while unsuccessfully lobbying earlier this year to convince Perry and the Legislature to dip into the state's so-called rainy day fund to ease cuts to the schools.
Gonzales lives near a miles-long stretch of refineries, where massive pipes and stacks light the night like skyscrapers do in other cities. An intense, burnt chemical scent hangs over the town.
"You smell it. That's what we're known for. Stinkadena because of the refineries," Gonzales said. "There are days when we can't go out because our children's asthma is that bad ... and then they want money back?"
Just who is Jon Huntsman? At this stage, he is whatever anyone hopes that he will be. As he prepares to officially join the gaggle of GOP presidential candidates, his campaign strategists seem to have adopted an "all-things-to-all-people" approach: play up his conservative credentials for Republican primary voters while courting general election voters by promoting his media image as the only moderate in the race. A CNN commentator, for example, calls him "the lone standard-bearer of the center-right in a crowded GOP field." Katrina Trinko, a reporter at the conservative National Review Online, sees this all-things-to-all-people approach as a potentially winning strategy:
It remains to be seen whether Jon Huntsman can successfully be all things to all men. But if, by stressing different parts of his record, he can successfully sell himself as a moderate to centrists and a conservative to hard-liners, he could be difficult to beat.
An analysis of Huntsman's record shows that, faced with the reality that he must appeal to the increasingly far right Republican base, he is quickly trying to jettison formerly held "moderate" positions. We agree with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who has publicly rejected the notion that Huntsman is a RINO (Republican in Name Only), saying "there's no question he's a conservative."
It's worth noting that many Americans first met Huntsman when he introduced "my friend Sarah" Palin at the 2008 Republican National Convention, exulting that "history will be made tonight!" He praised her strength, tenacity, authenticity and originality, calling her a rebel and a renegade who is "not afraid to kick a few fannies and raise a little hell." Said Huntsman, "We are looking for a beacon of light to show us the way. We are looking for Sarah!"
Huntsman and the Religious Right: Ralph Reed's 'Great Friend'
There are plenty of reasons that former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed recently introduced Huntsman to a group of right-wing activists as "a good conservative and a great friend."
In 2009, Huntsman told a reporter that he has little patience for traditional "culture war" issues, saying "I'm not good at playing those games." That sounds like a promising and refreshing break from the norm of Republican presidential candidates, but in reality he has played those "games" devastatingly well. He made his efforts to make abortion completely unavailable to women a centerpiece of his address to Reed's "Faith and Freedom Coalition" summit:
"As governor of Utah, I supported and signed every pro-life bill that came to my desk," he said. "I signed the bill that made second-trimester abortions illegal and increased the penalty for doing so. I signed the bill to allow women to know about the pain an abortion causes an unborn child. I signed the bill requiring parental permission for an abortion. I signed the bill that would trigger a ban on abortions in Utah if Roe v. Wade were overturned."
Huntsman has also appealed to the public school-hating wing of the Religious Right. In 2007, he signed a statewide school voucher bill that provided up to $3,000 in taxpayer funds for students attending private schools. That was too much even for voters in conservative Republican Utah, who rejected the attack on public education and overturned the plan through a referendum.
At Reed's recent confab, Huntsman also joined the chorus of speakers warning Tea Party conservatives not to abandon social conservatives. The Republican Party, he said, should not focus on economics to the detriment of the fight to make abortion unavailable, saying that would lead to "a deficit of the heart and soul."
Huntsman and the Economic Right: A Full Embrace of the Ryan Budget
Huntsman, who is making his tax-cutting record as governor of Utah a major campaign theme, has praised Rep. Paul Ryan's radical budget proposal as a "very, very good one." Even though Republicans have been abandoning the Ryan plan in droves, Huntsman has said that he would have voted for the Ryan budget if he were a member of Congress. He has specifically embraced the Ryan budget's plan to essentially abolish Medicare, saying the size of the national debt required drastic policy changes. However, unlike some other Republican governors, Huntsman's concerns about the debt did not prevent him from welcoming federal stimulus funds.
He embraces the Tea Party's warnings about the economy and the suggestion that the nation is being destroyed by internal enemies. He says that America is "buying serfdom" with its deficit spending. Invoking Ronald Reagan's 1964 "A Time for Choosing" speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Huntsman says America is at a crossroads, with voters needing to choose "whether we are to become a declining power in the world, eaten from within, or a nation that regains its economic health and maintains its long-loved liberties."
As governor, Huntsman proposed abolishing corporate taxes altogether; campaigning in New Hampshire recently, he suggested that he would cut federal corporate taxes. The 2012 campaign, he says, will determine whether the nation will endure an economic "lost decade" or "unleash the economic magic."
Moving Right on Climate Change
This month the Salt Lake Tribune examined Huntsman's shift on climate issues. Four years ago, he supported a regional cap-and-trade program, saying, "If we do this right, our citizens are going to have a better quality of life, we're going to spawn new technologies and industries, and we're going to leave our most important belongings in better shape for the next generation." That was then, as the paper noted:
But now, in a political environment rocked by recession and a rowdy tea party, and with Huntsman's eyes on a possible presidential run in 2012, his position has evolved. He's still defending the science of climate change, but he has ditched his support for cap-and-trade.
Given that most of the GOP field is in full denial on climate change, Huntsman has gotten some credit for simply acknowledging reality. "All I know is 90 percent of the scientists say climate change is occurring," he told TIME magazine. "If 90 percent of the oncological community said something was causing cancer, we'd listen to them." But, he says, now "isn't the moment" to deal with climate change.
That led the Washington Monthly's Steve Benen to comment:
This is, in general, the worst of all possible positions. Much of the right believes climate change is a "hoax" and an elaborate conspiracy cooked up by communists to destroy America's way of life. These deniers have a simple solution to the problem: ignore it and pretend there is no problem. Much of the left takes the evidence seriously, is eager to address the crisis, and has a variety of possible solutions to the problem, including but not limited to cap-and-trade plans.
Huntsman apparently wants to split the difference -- he accepts the evidence and believes the problem is real; Huntsman just doesn't want to do anything about it.
To borrow his analogy, Huntsman has heard the collective judgment of 90% of the world's oncologists, but believes it'd be inconvenient to deal with the cancer or what's causing the cancer anytime soon.
Moderate Image, Conservative Reality
Huntsman's moderate image is based in large part on his 2009 endorsement of civil unions for gay couples. Five years earlier, when campaigning for governor, he had supported a state constitutional amendment that bans marriage and "other domestic unions" for same-sex couples. Huntsman's rhetorical shift did not find its way into any policy that offers legal protection for gay couples in Utah; he still opposes marriage equality, calling himself "a firm believer in the traditional construct of marriage, a man and a woman."
Huntsman has taken some heat from far-right activists who cannot tolerate the slightest sign of heresy against right-wing dogma. But former George W. Bush official Michael Gerson thinks Huntsman's moderate media image could actually help him by setting initial expectations low among GOP activists:
The media have often covered Huntsman as a liberal Republican -- a Rockefeller reincarnation. After all, he supports civil unions. He made it easier to get a drink at a bar in Utah. This easy press narrative gives Huntsman an odd advantage in a Republican primary: He is more conservative than his image. For many Republicans, he will improve upon closer inspection.
Huntsman's campaign is just getting under way, but his positioning is already clear. Tell Religious Right activists you're one of them by emphasizing your support for the most draconian anti-choice measures. Tell the Tea Partiers you're one of them by backing Paul Ryan's radically anti-government and anti-middle-class budget. And encourage more moderate Republicans to believe you're one of them by calling for civil discourse and offering rhetorical support for short-of-equality measures for same-sex couples. It's a calculated strategy that might make some sense politically, but it seems unlikely that trying to be all things to all people provides a path to victory through the restrictive gauntlet of the Republican primaries.
Cross posted on The Huffington Post
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty officially launched his presidential campaign today in Iowa. Although he has been campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire for a couple of years now, you may not know much about him. He has low name recognition and low poll numbers, and his book Courage to Stand is not selling that well. But journalists from The New Republic and National Review think he could well be the GOP candidate. So it's worth taking a good look at his record and his far-right ideology.
Part of Pawlenty's appeal is supposed to be that he is from Minnesota, and was elected as a conservative in a bluish-purplish state. Some people wrongly assume that being from Minnesota automatically makes him some kind of moderate. In fact, Pawlenty is campaigning as a hard-core, across-the-board conservative.
He makes appeals to Religious Right voters by talking up his faith and appearing on even the most offensive radio shows, like that of the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer, who is surely one of the most extreme, hateful and bigoted personalities in Christian radio. Pawlenty helped raise money for Ralph Reed's "Faith and Freedom Coalition" in Iowa. And he appointed an education commissioner who equated teaching of evolution with teaching of creationism but thought teaching sharing in kindergarten was "socialist."
Pawlenty's attacks on reproductive rights please anti-abortion advocates. A National Review Online blogger says Pawlenty "may be the strongest pro-life candidate" in 2012. As governor, Pawlenty signed legislation erecting barriers to women seeking abortions, including a required waiting period and anti-choice lecture. He has spoken at anti-choice rallies, looking forward to a day when Roe v. Wade would be overturned, saying: "We have a dream today that someday soon this will not be an anniversary of sadness, but an anniversary of justice restored."
Pawlenty has also fine-tuned his campaign and his record to be more attractive to the far-right Republican Party of the Tea Party era. He once actively supported regional action to address climate change and even filmed an environmental commercial. But now he apologizes, calls his former position "stupid," and has joined the ranks of climate change deniers. Pawlenty once voted for a gay rights bill as a state legislator, but then disavowed it and embarked on a journey that Think Progress described as "evolving homophobia." And he is a vocal supporter of the current effort to amend Minnesota's constitution to ban gay couples from getting married.
Pawlenty doesn't even support legal protections short of marriage, like those that could be provided by civil unions. He went so far as to sign an Orwellian letter defending the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and other anti-gay groups against criticism that they were promoting hate.
Pawlenty appears at Tea Party events and appeals to Tea Partiers with his opposition to health care reform. He denounces "Obamacare" as unconstitutional and one of the worst pieces of legislation in the history of the country. He compares the health care reform law to drug dealing and has joined legal efforts to prevent it from being implemented. In 2006, Pawlenty, in what opponents called election-year politics, pushed a wide array of proposals to crack down on immigration. Last year, he advocated amending the Constitution to deny citizenship to the American-born children of undocumented immigrants. Speaking to a Hispanic Republican group in January, he fudged his position, but said, "We can't have wide swaths of the country nodding or winking or looking the other way to broad violations of the law," rhetoric that echoes the "anti-amnesty" language used by opponents of comprehensive immigration reform.
And Pawlenty works hard to appeal to the economic and corporate right. He wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal last December slamming government employees and decrying a "silent coup, an inside job engineered by self-interested politicians and fueled by campaign contributions." The nonpartisan PolitiFact rated the column and its claims about government workers "Pants on Fire" -- its most-lying "Truth-o-meter" rating.
Pawlenty's self-portrait doesn't always mesh with reality. He rails against the "immoral debt" and touts his record as a governor of holding the line on growth in government. But in fact, as governor, he used short-term budget tricks that "left the state with a $5-billion projected deficit, one of the highest in the nation as a percentage of the state's general fund." He railed against the Obama administration's stimulus bill but then asked for $236 million from it.
He portrays himself as an anti-tax champion, but that's not how many Minnesotans experienced him. A state revenue department study in 2009 found that Minnesotans earning less than $129,879 saw their tax rates increase under Pawlenty. "Don't let anyone tell you Governor Pawlenty didn't raise taxes," said Sen. Al Franken. "It's about whom he raised them on. He raised them on lower- and middle-income families all across the state in order to pay for our kids' education."
Pawlenty promises right-wing groups that as president he will appoint "strict constructionist" judges -- code for judges with an 18th-century view of Americans' rights and interests. Last year he bypassed his state's Commission on Judicial Selection to appoint to a judgeship an attorney with strong Religious Right connections who served as counsel for the Minnesota Family Council in an anti-gay marriage case.
Back in 2008, when Pawlenty was frequently mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate, he was criticized for being too boring on television, maybe a bit too "Minnesota nice." So the 2012 Pawlenty has learned how to make himself sufficiently aggressive for the GOP zeitgeist. In speeches at conservative conferences, Pawlenty denigrates President Obama, accusing him of appeasing the nation's enemies. In his campaign launch message, Pawlenty said President Obama lacks both understanding of the nation's problems and the courage to address them.
While these may all be traits that will help Pawlenty win the Republican nomination, it's hard for me to imagine that a majority of American voters would agree that what we really need in the White House is a trash-talking, flip-flopping, science-denying, abortion-criminalizing, gay-rights-bashing, Religious Right-embracing politician who is so eager to get elected that he'll promise the far right just about anything. He even faked a southern accent when speaking to conservatives in Iowa, provoking well-deserved mockery back in Minnesota.
Pawlenty's backers are convinced that his polling numbers are low only because Americans haven't gotten to know him yet. But as Nate Silver noted back in November, Pawlenty was not that popular among those who know him best of all:
... a survey of Republican primary voters in Minnesota -- where Mr. Pawlenty is the governor and where his name recognition is near-universal -- showed him getting only 19 percent of the Republican primary vote there (although this was good for a nominal first place with Ms. Palin placing at 18 percent). Mr. Pawlenty's approval rating in Minnesota is also a tepid 47 percent.
Cross posted on The Huffington Post
Probable GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are both doing damage control today the disclosure of shocking past brushes with non-extremism.
Romney, who has come under fire from his fellow Republicans for shepherding through a universal health care plan when he was governor of Massachusetts, has been shying away from his pro-health care past, and today wrote an op-ed rolling out a plan that wrests control of health care regulations away from the federal government. Unfortunately for Romney's attempt to remake himself as a Tea Party Republican, a liberal Massachusetts group chose today to dig up the former governor's former support for a national health care plan that included an individual insurance mandate – the very part of health care reform that the Tea Party despises the most.
Then there's Gingrich, who will be announcing his presidential candidacy tomorrow, who is coming under fire from a right-wing group for his previous acknowledgement of climate change and support for being kind to the environment. (Here he is advocating for the cause with Nancy Pelosi). While far-right leaders seem to be ready to forgive Gingrich for his history of marital infidelity, his history of tree-hugging may be a bridge too far.
As the GOP's potential presidential candidates rush to endear themselves to leaders of the fringe right, we can expect to see a lot more instances of candidates disowning their previous brushes with centrism.
Recently a group of climate change skeptics released a list of "900+ Peer-Reviewed Papers Supporting Skepticism of 'Man-Made' Global Warming (AGW) Alarm." But where did those 900+ papers come from? GOOD reports that of the ten authors cited most frequently in the list, nine have financial ties to ExxonMobil.
It's hardly news that the oil and gas industry is pouring money into research dismissing the threat of climate change. But the extent of its influence continues to be staggering. Last month, we reported on the oil industry's wildly successful underwriting of the Religious Right's embrace of climate change denialism. In response to some prominent evangelical leaders joining the "creation care" movement, which see environmental protection as an imperative for those who want to protect God's creation, energy company-backed groups are joining with prominent Religious Right leaders to push a gospel that mandates human exploitation of our natural habitat.
In a relatively short amount of time, the oil and gas industry has managed to buy both its own body of questionable scientific research and its own gospel of environmental exploitation.
Here, for a refresher, is the Religious Right's response to climate science and creation care:
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a high-profile global-warming case: American Electric Power v. Connecticut. At issue is whether and how courts can hold corporate polluters accountable for the planetary climate damage they are causing.
Several states have sued power producers on the basis that they are creating a public nuisance. Instead of being tied to a specific federal statute or regulation, their claim is based on the common law of nuisance, which has been part of our legal system for centuries. (Common law is law developed over time by the courts in the absence of specific legislation or executive rules.) The Second Circuit ruled that the lawsuit could proceed on this theory, and the power companies appealed. However, as the Wall Street Journals reports:
The Supreme Court appeared deeply skeptical Tuesday about allowing states to sue electric utilities to force cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Both conservative and liberal justices questioned whether a federal judge could deal with the complex issue of global warming, a topic they suggested is better left to Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency.
An additional factor arising since the lawsuit began several years ago is a change in the EPA's stance. When the lawsuit began, the EPA claimed it lacked the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Now, having been corrected by the Supreme Court, the agency is deciding whether to adopt rules affecting facilities like the ones at issue in this case. Such regulations would, if adopted, trump the common law.
Why let the lawsuit go forward, when "the agency is engaged in it right now?" said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The lawyer representing the states acknowledged that the case was before the high court at a "peculiar moment," but said the court should block the lawsuit only if the EPA actually issues regulations. ...
Lawyers for the companies and the administration focused on the enormity of the climate change issue to argue against the lawsuit.
"You have never heard a case like this before," Neal Katyal, the acting U.S. Solicitor General, said. The term global warming, Katyal said, "tells you all you need to know."
The Justices seem likely to rule that the legislative and executive branches should address the issues raised in this case. That will serve the interests of giant corporations with a financial stake in the status quo, who, due to Citizens United, have an undue and growing influence over who populates those branches.
In Wisconsin and Michigan, we are seeing what appears to be the latest right wing tool to intimidate and harass its critics: extensive – and baseless – public records requests against academics at public universities. The consequences for the free and open debate on which our democracy depends are serious indeed.
Last week, Wisconsin Republicans clamped down on criticisms of their party's efforts to undermine workers' rights by filing a broad demand for copies of all of the emails of University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor William Cronon that mention Governor Scott Walker, the eight Republican state senators who have been targeted for recall, or unions that represent government employees. Cronon had recently penned a blog post calling attention to the work of a little-known group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its apparently significant influence on Republican state lawmakers, including those in Wisconsin such as Governor Walker. The message was clear. Criticize what we do and we'll come after you to see what we can dig up to smear you with.
Any thought that this might be an isolated response was quickly shattered when similar requests were made for Wisconsin-related e-mails at three Michigan universities. Rather than being from the Wisconsin GOP, these were from a right-wing organization called the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. They filed requests for e-mails of the faculty of the University of Michigan Labor Studies Center, the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues at Wayne State University, and the Labor Education Program of Michigan State University. The requests cover not only e-mails relating to the Wisconsin clash over the labor rights, but, according to press reports, also any e-mails mentioning Rachel Maddow.
Aside from their far right conservative ideologies, the Mackinac Center and ALEC have something else in common: Although not well known among the general public, they are part of a network of right wing ideological organizations that have been heavily funded over the years by many of the same small group of wealthy funders, including the billionaire Koch Brothers, the Coors family, the Scaife family, and corporate giant Exxon Mobil.
It is not likely a coincidence that these two right wing organizations employed the same unusual tactics in two different states just days apart. Who knows where they will go next. Clearly this is a pattern. And, unfortunately, it's a familiar one. Just as in the McCarthy era, academics face intimidation and harassment and possible threats to their reputations if they take public stands against the far right. The specific method of intimidation may be different (i.e., public records requests), but the goal is the same.
This intimidation is as insidious now as it was more than half a century ago, because it does not matter that the targets have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide. As we have seen, all it took was one purloined e-mail, taken out of context and distorted beyond all recognition, to manufacture the phony "Climategate" scandal that threatened the reputation of climate scientists around the world and set back climate change regulations by years.
Anyone doubting that the far right is both willing and able to destroy their reputations with such distortions needs look no farther than the devastating video "exposés" of ACORN, NPR, and Planned Parenthood. The ACORN video came first and essentially destroyed the organization. In the best traditions of McCarthyism, the right now uses any association with ACORN to discredit its opponents. They are hoping for equal success with NPR and Planned Parenthood.
People For the American Way strongly supports the Freedom of Information Act and its state and local equivalents. Opening government records to the public serves as an essential check on the abuse of government power. Indeed, the Bush Administration prepared for its long war against civil liberties in the administration's early days by essentially reversing the Clinton Administration's presumption that FOIA requests should generally be granted unless there is some reason to deny it.
Such laws exist to expand public dialogue and the dissemination of information affecting the public welfare. But the rights granted by FOIA laws, like so many others, have limitations and can be abused. A demand for information can be made not to hold government accountable and enhance public debate, but instead to harass, intimidate, suppress public debate, and keep information and opinions out of the public square. This is particularly true when it is aimed at individuals in state academic institutions.
That's what we see happening in Wisconsin and Michigan.
The public has a right to know about the activities of government entities working in its name. When a government entity has the authority to issue licenses, allocate funds, imprison people, conduct safety inspections, conduct elections – the core activities of government, all of which have substantial impacts on individuals, businesses, and groups – open records laws can help ensure that these tasks are done lawfully, without favoritism or waste. Reflecting how often members of the public request such information, many government organizations have entire offices dedicated to fulfilling these records requests.
So how often does a member of the public submit a record request for, say, the Labor Studies Center at the University of Michigan? I asked Roland Zullo, a research scientist there. He had to think about it because such requests are so rare, but he thinks the last one was about five years ago, a fishing expedition from a conservative organization essentially seeking all of their records going back to the 1950s. When the organization learned how much it would have to pay to cover the costs of its truly expansive request, it apparently backed off.
The Supreme Court has recognized the unique role that universities, including public universities, play in maintaining our liberties. As it stated in 1957, during the McCarthy era, "[t]eachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die."
That is why the American Historical Society has strongly condemned the efforts by Wisconsin Republicans to intimidate Professor Cronon:
The purpose of the state's Open Records Law is to promote informed public conversation. Historians vigorously support the freedom of information act traditions of the United States of which this law is a part. In this case, however, the law has been invoked to do the opposite: to find a pretext for discrediting a scholar who has taken a public position. This inquiry will damage, rather than promote, public conversation. It will discourage other historians (and scholars in other disciplines) employed by public institutions from speaking out as citizen-scholars in their blogs, op-ed pieces, articles, books, and other writings.
We should recognize that public universities are a unique hybrid. They are funded by the public, and we should be able to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent efficiently and legally. But their work also contributes to the robust debate over public issues without which our freedom will die. And that debate requires that we protect academic freedom and ensure that faculty have no reason to feel intimidated for asking difficult questions, conducting their research and writings, and making statements that those in power do not wish to hear.
That is the American Way.
Last week, we wrote about the negative reaction some local chambers of commerce have had to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's $75 million spending spree on campaign ads. It turns out small businesses aren't the only ones upset by the Chamber's political spending and wary of getting involved in national politics. Eliza Newlin Carney of the National Journal reports that many business leaders are questioning the wisdom of contributing to political campaigns, and especially of keeping those contributions secret:
In a Zogby International poll of more than 300 business leaders commissioned by the CED, fully 77 percent said that they "strongly" or "somewhat" support disclosure of the political money corporations spend, both directly and indirectly through third-party groups that run campaign ads. Two-thirds supported the statement that "the lack of transparency and oversight in corporate political activity encourages behavior that puts corporations at legal risk and endangers corporate reputations."
Caught in the crossfire is the U.S. Chamber, whose pro-GOP spending and advertising blitz was underwritten in part by seven-figure corporate contributions. A trio of Massachusetts investors last month filed shareholder resolutions at some half-dozen corporations that sit on the chamber's board, urging them to take a more active role on what they called the trade group's "passive and compliant" board.
Shareholders object to the chamber's aggressive and partisan midterm spending, its recent lobbying push to challenge or stall recently-enacted financial reforms, and to its policy positions on issues such as climate change, said Timothy Smith, senior vice president at Boston-based Walden Asset Management, one of three investor groups that issued the challenge. Shareholders have also approached close to two dozen companies that do not serve on the chamber's board, Smith said.
And it seems that many business leaders took to heart the lesson that Target learned the hard way this summer when it spent money to help the campaign of far-right Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and met with a strong backlash:
"I think there are real counter-pressures developing," said Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability, a nonprofit that advocates better corporate governance. Business leaders are increasingly sensitive to the risks that their campaign expenditures pose, said Freed. The uproar over Target Corp.'s indirect backing for a Minnesota gubernatorial candidate opposed to gay rights was a wakeup call, he added: "Companies are recognizing that we really need to protect ourselves."
When 77% of business leaders join 84% of Americans in agreeing that their political spending should be disclosed to the public, it makes you wonder just who Republicans in Congress are looking out for by refusing to pass disclosure legislation.
More and more Americans have noticed the Roberts Court's habit of twisting the law in order to benefit powerful corporations over the rights of individuals. As recently as a year ago, the national dialogue on the Court rarely touched on this issue. But last January's Citizens United decision was so outrageous that it made people see both the Court's previous decisions and its current work through a new lens. Evolving press coverage reflects the changing paradigm in how Americans view the Supreme Court.
For instance, earlier this week, the Supreme Court announced that it had agreed to hear a case of sex discrimination against Wal-Mart and a separate case involving global climate change. Press coverage recognized the common factor in the Court's decisions to hear these very different and unrelated cases.
The Los Angeles Times wrote:
The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear two major appeals from corporate America that seek to block mass lawsuits, one involving a huge sex bias claim against Walmart and the other a massive environmental suit that seeks to hold coal-fired power plants liable for causing global warming.
In both cases, the justices agreed to consider stopping these suits before they can move toward a trial.
Monday's move is only the latest sign that the Roberts Court is inclined to rein in big-money lawsuits against business. The conservative justices have been particularly skeptical of sprawling suits that could run on for years and lead to enormous verdicts.
Under a headline reading "Two Supreme Court Cases to Test Corporate Interests," the Washington Post reported:
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two major challenges brought by corporate interests, ...
In both cases, corporations are challenging decisions by federal appeals courts that the suits can go forward. They come before a court that traditionally has been sympathetic to business interests, but is sensitive about recent criticism from the left that it favors corporations over consumer and environmental groups.
Time wrote:
Two federal courts have ruled that their suit can proceed as a class action on behalf of between 500,000 and 1.5 million women, but on Monday the Supreme Court announced it would review that decision. It looks suspiciously like another case in which the court's conservative majority will twist a procedural rule to prevent victims of discrimination from getting a fair chance at justice
As Jeffrey Toobin observed in the New Yorker this week:
This is the rule in the current Supreme Court. If there is a human being on one side of the "v." and a corporation on the other, the corporation wins.
The Roberts Court is learning that if you look like a duck, walk like a duck, and quack like a duck for long enough, people will eventually realize that you are, indeed, a duck.
This morning, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case affecting whether and how corporate polluters can be held accountable for the planetary climate damage they are causing. Several states have sued power producers on the basis that they are creating a public nuisance. This is federal common law, not tied to any specific federal statutes or regulations. The Second Circuit ruled that the lawsuit could proceed on this theory, and the power companies appealed.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
The global warming case will decide whether judges and courts can put limits on carbon emissions on the theory that this pollution is a public nuisance. Eight states, including New York, California and Connecticut, joined with environmentalists and launched a lawsuit against the power producers in the Midwest, arguing that their coal-fired plants were contributing to climate change.
Environmentalists said they took the issue to court because Congress was not likely to take up the climate change issue and set limits on greenhouse gasses. They won a significant preliminary victory when the U.S. appeals court in New York cleared the suit to proceed.
But the power industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration joined in urging the high court to stop the lawsuit. They argue that the global warming issue and limits on carbon emissions should be decided by Congress and the White House, not by judges acting on lawsuits.
Justice Sotomayor has recused herself, since at the time she was nominated to the Supreme Court, she was a member of the Second Circuit panel considering this case.
People For the American Way has produced four new videos showing the extreme far-right views of four Republican candidates for US Senate: Ken Buck of Colorado; Rand Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; Paul of Kentucky, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. These candidates promise to bring their dangerous agenda into the US Senate, and our videos show the candidates in their own words revealing their radical views on topics such as civil rights, LGBT and gender equality, climate change, the economy, and Social Security. You can find more information about all of the GOP's extreme candidates for US Senate in People For the American Way's The Rogues' Gallery.
Ken Buck
Ron Johnson
Rand Paul
Pat Toomey
To the litany of public safety threats resulting from anti-Muslim fear-mongering, add the fact that Justice Department officials have had to spend time writing a brief explaining that Islam is, in fact, a religion. TPM reports on the DOJ's amicus brief supporting the expansion efforts of the Islamic Center of Mufreesboro, TN. Opponents have claimed that the Islamic Center can't get a religious permit to build a new mosque because, they say, Islam isn't really a religion. The Justice Department did a little research:
"To suggest that Islam is not a religion is quite simply ridiculous. Each branch of the federal government has independently recognized Islam as one of the major religions of the world," Martin said in the press release.
The brief painstakingly cites proof, from the Oxford English Dictionary, Supreme Court rulings, presidential proclamations by Clinton and George W. Bush and the writings of Thomas Jefferson, that Islam has long been recognized as a major world religion.
It also notes the definition of religion set forth by other federal courts, including that a belief system must address "fundamental and ultimate questions having to do with deep and imponderable matters" in order to be considered a religion.
In the brief, the DOJ argues that the lawsuit implicates two federal civil rights statutes, the Religious Land Use Act and the Church Arson Prevention Act, which fall under the DOJ's purview. The county, the brief argues, would be in danger of violating the land use act were it to deny building permits for the mosque.
A concerted right-wing misinformation campaign has succeeded in making denial of the scientific consensus about climate change a politically acceptable position. Will denying the existence of one of the world's largest and diverse religions be next?
Last week, we wrote about a voter suppression plan concocted by GOP and Tea Party-affiliated groups in Wisconsin meant to keep young and minority voters from the polls this November.
Think Progress dug further into the issue, and traced much of the plan—both the sinking of a proposed Wisconsin law that would have prevented voter caging efforts like this, and the coordinated caging effort itself—back to the network of the billionaire Koch brothers, who have provided the money behind much of the Tea Party movement. (The Kochs are also the main funder of Americans For Prosperity, one of the groups cited in the voter caging plan):
[I] appears that a network of Koch-backed groups killed a proposed Wisconsin law to protect voters, which then cleared the way for an overlapping set of Koch-backed groups to move with an alleged voter suppression plan. What's more, Koch-funded AFP is currently attempting to further influence the outcome of the election by airing millions of dollars in attack ads targeting Democratic U.S. House and Senate members in Wisconsin and other states.
Laurence Lewis at Daily Kos reminds us of the motivation behind the Kochs' generous political spending:
The Koch machine also is a leading financier of climate denialism, which must make sense to oil industry billionaires who clearly don't care about the science of climate change. Of course, ending regulation, taxes, and campaign finance laws would make the brothers effective royalty, with no possible means for those interested in the public good to check their dangerous and rapacious greed. And as Mayer points out, the 1980 Libertarian platform on which David Koch ran for vice president called for the abolition of Social Security and the minimum wage. After all, who cares about the tens of millions of people that rely on one or both when you're a billionaire who doesn't have such a need and apparently doesn't care about the needs of others?
Koch Industries has essentially declared war on the Obama administration. In Wisconsin, Koch-affiliated groups have essentially declared war on democracy. And all Wisconsin voters should know about it. And they should consider why a couple of oil billionaires who are not from Wisconsin seem to want to use any possible means to control Wisconsin's election. And Wisconsin voters should consider why organizations affiliated with these brothers are so determined to defeat Wisconsin Democrats, this November. After all, there is no evidence that these oil billionaires care about the general well-being of the general public, and there is particularly no evidence that they care about the well-being of the people of Wisconsin.
Well-funded corporate interests like the Kochs, who want to avoid government regulation, resist funding essential social services, and pretend that climate change doesn't exist, have a lot at stake in keeping progressives like Russ Feingold out of the Senate. So much so, apparently, that they'll do what it takes to drive progressive voters away from the polls.
God is speaking through Glenn Beck... or so he and many other Religious Right figures would have us believe. Despite an historical animosity towards Mormons like Beck from the evangelicals who control the Religious Right, his efforts to become the leader of a "spiritual awakening" are being aided by Religious Right figures like David Barton, Jim Garlow and Ralph Reed.
Photograph taken this morning by PFAW Foundation at the Kennedy Center. This is a tee shirt worn by a crowd member who showed up for tickets to the "Divine Destiny" event.
Beck's "Restoring Honor" event tomorrow will be preceded by a warm-up event at the Kennedy Center tonight called Divine Destiny. At tonight's event, Beck and others will present some good old fashioned revisionist history on "the role faith played in the founding of America." Tickets were to be distributed at 10am this morning, but so many people were already in line by 8:30pm on Thursday that tickets were gone far ahead of schedule -- talk about a "hot ticket!"
We need to seriously examine how Glenn Beck is perceived by the Right. According to a recent Democracy Corps study, among the Tea Party crowd, Beck is one of the most revered and highly regarded figures. According to the same study, Beck is more than a trusted commentator: he's an "educator." That's a chilling reminder that the hate-drenched right-wing propaganda Beck passes off as "history" is being swallowed whole by his millions of viewers and radio listeners. In Beck, the Right has added an atomic bomb to its arsenal in its war on science, history and reason. Beck insists that "progressives" -- whom he calls a "cancer" on our country -- "control the textbooks." He's an avid climate change denier. And with his attempt to "reclaim the civil rights movement" this weekend by holding a rally in the same spot as and on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, he is twisting our nation's history to serve a scary agenda.
Just the other night Glenn Beck aggressively attacked President Obama's Christianity -- fanning the flames of bigotry at a time when a whopping 18% of Americans think the president is a Muslim and some on the Right are trying to start a new "Birther-style" movement demanding proof of Obama's baptism. Is this the spirit of Dr. King's movement Beck is talking about reclaiming?
One would think that as someone whose own faith has come under attack, Beck would be more careful about attacking others' religion. But in the messianic light in which he sees himself, he can do no wrong and commit no hypocrisy.
Stay tuned. People For will be covering Beck's self-aggrandizing events in Washington, DC this weekend as well as Sunday's "early 9/12" Tea Party event.
Ron Johnson, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin running to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold, has been on a tear lately, apparently trying to out-crazy himself at every turn.
Yesterday I read that he was pushing an absurd theory of global warming being caused by sun spots -- part of his personal war on climate science. See, Johnson is a pro-corporate extremist who wants no regulation on polluters or protections for the environment that might get in the way of short-term profits for his corporate buddies. So, naturally, he has taken the view, "I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change. It's not proven by any stretch of the imagination."
In the same TPM post by Eric Kleefeld, Johnson is quoted downplaying global warming by saying, "There's a reason Greenland was called Greenland, it was actually green at one point in time. And it's been, since, it's a whole lot whiter now." Ugh... *smacks forehead*
Now, Johnson's jumping into the Cordoba House/Park51 fracas.
From Steve Singiser at DailyKos:
"Those folks are trying to poke a stick in our eye," Johnson said. "I just hope the zoning officials and the city, the state revisit that, rezone that piece of property."
The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate continued: "If they don't do it I hope the construction workers in New York show their outrage and say we are not going to do that."
Pretty cheeky of a multi-millionaire to demand that an industry where unemployment is as high as 20 percent should voluntarily refuse work in order to buttress a right-wing talking point.
Right now the polls have Johnson running neck and neck with Sen. Feingold... One more example of just how real the threat is of right-wing extremism on the march in this year's elections.
The day Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement, Senate Republican leadership vowed to obstruct the confirmation of whoever was nominated to replace him. Today, Republican Senators who had previously praised nominee Elena Kagan's intellect and qualifications have become strikingly less supportive.
And now we have evidence that the obstruction of Obama's Supreme Court pick, as a way of delaying progress on policy initiatives like climate change regulation and immigration reform, has been the GOP's explicit strategy all along.
Talking Points Memo's Brian Beutler obtained a recording of an April 22 RNC strategy call led by right-wing activist Curt Levey:
The crux of the GOP's strategy is to use Obama's nominee to wedge vulnerable Democratic senators away from the party, and drag the confirmation fight out until the August congressional recess, to eat up precious time Democrats need to round out their agenda.
"[I]t wouldn't take much GOP resistance to push a final vote into early August," Levey advised. "And, look, the closer we could get it to the election, frankly, the better. It would be great if we could push it past the August recess because that forces the red and purple state Democrats to have to go home and face their constituents."
Levey acknowledged that a filibuster likely won't last--that Obama's nominee, now known to be Solicitor General Elana Kagan, will almost certainly be confirmed. But he hammered home the point to Republicans that there's value in mischaracterizing any nominee, and dragging the fight out as long as possible, whether or not Obama's choice is particularly liberal.
This is frustrating, but not surprising, from a party that has recently displayed an unparalleled mastery of the Senate's rules for delay. If they're willing to stall the confirmation of one of their own party's most prominent spokespeople, why would they not draw out the confirmation process for an obviously qualified Supreme Court nominee?
As discussed in a number of previous posts, the Roberts Court has demonstrated its conservative ideological bent, striking down laws passed by Congress and demonstrating a willingness to ignore long-standing precedent. It reached out last term in the Gross age discrimination case to decide an issue that hadn't been briefed and changed the law in a way that will make it much harder for older workers to prove that they were discriminated against in the workplace. In the Ricci fire fighters case, the Court reached out to decide the case on the merits - even though no employee had actually been injured -- so that it could reach the merits and change the law with respect to proving discrimination in so-called disparate impact cases. And, in the recently argued Citizens United case, the Court re-opened the briefing in the case to re-visit what had been a settled question about whether regulating corporate expenditures in candidate elections is constitutional.
Will this trend continue? And what does this mean for President Obama's initiatives on health insurance reform? Climate change? Financial regulatory reform? Asnoted in Adam Liptak's article in yesterday's New York Times, the Court's docket this term includes a number of cases likely to signal its future willingness to support government intervention to address structural problems in our economy. In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a case growing out of the Enron debacle, the Court will consider the scope of Congress' power to delegate regulatory responsibility to independent regulatory boards. The issue in Jones v. Harris Associates, concerns the role of courts in regulating executive compensation for mutual fund investment advisers. And in Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz v. United States, the issue concerns the scope of a federal law concerning lawyers' advice to clients considering bankruptcy. Dry? Perhaps. But what we learn in these cases, may well signal how far the Court is willing to go in supporting or, perhaps more likely, frustrating, efforts by the Administration and Congress to address serious structural problems in our economy.
You think Justices' legal ideology matters? Stay tuned.


text:
Auburndale and Newman Catholic will represent the Marawood South conference in Saturday's Division 3 and 4 state title games after the Apaches upset Racine St. Catherine's and the Cardinals swept Hilbert in Friday's semifinal games.
Newman Catholic entered Friday's Division 4 semifinal having swept every one of it's postseason opponents, and the Cardinals stayed with the trend taking care of Hilbert in three games. (25-17, 25-21, 25-19)
Cardinals freshman Mariah Whalen led the team with 17 kills while also chipping in 9 digs. Shaefer Rupar had a game-high 16 digs and tallied 14 kills. Abbey Fox led the charge in assists with a game-high 32.
The Cardinals will take on Clayton in Saturday's Division 4 state title match. That game is set for 9 a.m. at the Resch Center.
Auburndale made it to the state tournament as a 5-seed, with four of it's five postseason games going to five sets. The Apaches faced Racine St. Catherine's, who knocked Auburndale out of the state tournament in 2010. The Apaches jumped out to a two set lead, but St. Catherine's rallied to take the third and fourth sets. In the final set, the Apaches got out to an early four point lead and never looked back, taking the set 15-10 and upsetting the St. Catherine's 3-2.
Camille Swart led the Apaches with 20 kills while Hannah Castellano had a game-high 26 digs.
Auburndale will face Regis in the Saturday's Division 3 state title game, starting at 11:30.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Derry News
---- — Council welcomes Benson back
Town Council Chairman Brad Benson was back at work at the group's Oct. 2 meeting after being out a few weeks following heart surgery last month.
Chairman Pro-tem Neil Wetherbee retained leadership of the Council as Benson continues to recuperate.
Benson thanked everyone that supported him and his family during his illness, something he called "very unexpected."
"We had tremendous support from the community," he said. "The people in the community who have reached out to me and my family is the coolest thing."
DAR hosts flag event
The Molly Reid Chapter DAR hosts a flag decommission and disposal ceremony Oct. 13 at noon at the Upper Village Hall in East Derry.
The public is invited to bring their old, torn or faded flags to the ceremony. You do not have to bring a flag to attend the ceremony.
Drop off locations for flags are also located at Auburn Town Hall, Londonderry Town Hall lobby, Salem Town Hall, Derry Municipal Center, Atkinson Town Hall and Kimball Library.
Fire department to host open house
October is National Fire Prevention Month. The Fire Department will host an open house Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Central Fire Station, 131 East Broadway. Firefighters will demonstrate ways to escape a smoke-filled room, offer cooking safety tips and fire prevention information and will interact with children to teach fire safety.
Knights sponsor a pro-life contest
The N.H. Knights of Columbus is sponsoring a student pro-life essay/poem/poster contest in conjunction with the national "March for Life" in Washington, D.C.
The contest is open to any junior high and senior high students in the state.
The theme is "What Does it Take to be a Pro-Life Leader?" Winners will win money and trips to Washington. Call for information at 434-4098 or visit marchforlife.com.
Transfer station holiday hours
The transfer station announces its schedule for the holidays. The hours are as follows: Nov. 12, Veterans Day, closed; Nov. 22, Thanksgiving, closed; Nov. 23, open; Dec. 22, open 7:30 a.m. to noon; Dec. 24, closed; Dec. 25, closed; Dec. 26, open all day; Jan. 1, closed.
Firefighters honored
Firefighters were honored recently for their efforts during a fire in Derry. The annual Committee of Merit Award rewarded members of Derry's Engine #4 and Derry Medic #1 with unit citations for their work during a fire June 27 on Walnut Hill Road.
Those honored were Jonathan Robertson, Greg Laro and Keith Munroe, Robert Degroot and James Richardson.
Responding to a call, crews found a vehicle heavily damaged, with fire engulfing the rear of the vehicle. The driver was trapped inside. Crews got the door open and rescued the driver, who is now fully recovered.
The unit citation is given to a group of firefighters operating together and performing meritorious service at the scene of a fire or emergency.
Town Administrator John Anderson heralded the firefighters' bravery and good work.
"They were among a very distinguished group of individuals from all over the state of New Hampshire," Anderson said. "They were recognized for saving lives."


text:
Jim Morrill, Charlotte Observer
Yvette Lewis, a Charlotte native who now chairs the Maryland Democratic Party, was midway through a tour of the city Monday when a fellow visitor offered an observation.
"Your hometown," he told her, "is very cool."
That appeared to be the reaction of many of the three dozen party officials from 14 states who toured the city and its hotels.
They were the vanguard of up to 6,500 delegates who will gather for their national convention a year from now. Many were getting their first look at the city. And many liked what they saw.
"One thing that's been pretty clear is that the city is going to pull out all the stops to make sure delegates from around the country are accommodated," said Norm Sterzenbach, executive director of Iowa's Democratic Party.
"Our delegates are not only going to have a positive convention experience but ... enjoy the city."
The visit was the first of three by party officials from around the country. After a Sunday night reception at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, they boarded a bus for tours of hotels in SouthPark and uptown.
Then they toured the convention site at Time Warner Cable Arena and heard from Mayor Anthony Foxx and former Mayor Harvey Gantt. Then it was on to a hotel near UNC Charlotte and a reception in Concord at the Speedway Club.
David Glass, general manager of the Hilton Charlotte University Place, sought to sell the visitors on his 393-room hotel. He bragged about the nearby lake and jogging trail, even the hotel food.
"A lot of people want to be downtown," he told them. "I'd just like to convince you that the university area is a great place to stay as well."
From Wi-Fi to pillows
Reporters followed Democrats as they toured the hotel, checking out rooms, meeting spaces and amenities.
They plopped on mattresses and fluffed pillows. Some snapped pictures. Others asked about Wi-Fi, restaurants and drug stores. Jaxon Ravens, executive director of the Washington state Democratic Party, flushed a toilet to check the water pressure. ("It was great, the best I've seen," he said.)
After they return home, they'll give convention officials a list of their three preferred hotel "zones" (the five choices are uptown, SouthPark, the university, the I-77-airport area and Concord) They'll also indicate whether they want premium- or economy-priced lodging, or something in the middle.
Some choices will be dictated by need. Some states, for example, will have a relative handful of delegates. California will have more than 700.
Convention officials will match delegations according to needs and preferences. If two delegations want the same hotel, lottery positions drawn last month will be a tie-breaker.
Hotel assignments will come early next year.
Choices outside uptown
Charlotte Flanary, compliance director of the Kentucky party, said the tour showed her that uptown isn't the only good choice for lodging.
"At first when we came here that's what we thought," she said. "But after we drove around and saw how close these (hotels) were, it's not so bad."
Ravens, from Washington state, said Charlotte is "full of delightful surprises." One, he said, was breakfast at Mert's Heart and Soul uptown.
Chip Forrester, chairman of the Tennessee party, said he was impressed as much by the symbolism of Charlotte as by the city's facilities and hospitality.
"It's clear that (President Barack Obama) has not written the South off," he said. "Having the convention in the South is a message that we're going to be competitive."
Lewis, who grew up on Charlotte's LaSalle Street, doesn't expect to go back to Maryland and have to sell Democrats on their convention city.
"I don't know that I'm going to have to do a lot of selling," said Lewis. "Charlotte sold itself very well."


text:
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HAINAULT: Open day at cycling centre (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)
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Redbridge Cycling Centre in Hainault to hold open day
7:51am Friday 7th September 2012 in News By Dominic Sutton, Senior reporter
CYCLISTS inspired by the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendelton can find out more about the sport at a cycling centre open day.
The success of Great Britain's Olympic and Paralympic teams has created plenty of interest in cycling and the Redbridge Cycling Centre in Forest Road, Hainault, is hoping to encourage people to get on their bikes.
As well as taster sessions on racing bikes, mountain bikes and BMXs, there will be adapted bikes for disabled people and free use of the centre's track.
Local cycling groups will be present to sign up new members and there will be free coaching sessions for children.
The open day takes place on September 16 from 9.30am-4.30pm. Entrance is free.
For more details visit www.redbridgecyclingcentre.co.uk or call 020 8500 9359.
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Comments are closed on this article.


text:
There are 14 bones in the fingers of each hand. Each finger has three bones except for the thumb, which has two. A joint between each bone allows the fingers to bend so that they can do everything from play the piano to grasp a golf club.
The fingers are connected to five bones in the hand that are connected to the eight bones that make up the wrist. These are called carpal bones, which is why the pinching of a nerve that runs through an archway of bones in the wrist is called carpal tunnel syndrome.
The carpal bones are connected to the two bones in the lower arm called the radius and ulna.
If the hand was nothing but bones and the skin that covers them, it would be useless. But there are dozens of muscles and tendons attached to the bones that allow the fingers, hand and wrist to move in all sorts of amazing ways.
A complex network of nerves controls these movements and gives us the sense of touch.
If you have never had carpal tunnel syndrome and you don't know anyone who has, you are probably in the minority.
It is the most common problem of the wrist or hand that doctors see.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is pressure on the median nerve, which goes through a structure in the wrist called the carpal tunnel.
"The nerve goes into the fingers and feeds a combination of muscles," says Mark Brenner, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon with Pinehurst Surgical. "The nerve also has a sensory function, carrying the sensations of the thumb, index and middle fingers."
If the carpal tunnel narrows, it can put pressure on the median nerve and cause numbness, tingling or pain in the fingers or hand.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can be caused by prolonged, repetitive motion—everything from typing to knitting to using tools that involve twisting the wrist. But there are many other causes, as well.
"It can be associated with a metabolic problem such as diabetes or thyroid dysfunction," says Dr. Brenner. "It also is common in pregnant women."
Fluid retention associated with pregnancy makes women more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
The condition and its symptoms can often be relieved by avoiding activities that irritate the wrist, by wearing a splint at night to keep the wrist from bending and by taking anti-inflammatory medication. Some patients require surgery to widen the carpal tunnel and relieve the pressure on the nerve.
Another problem that hand and wrist specialists frequently see is called trigger finger, but it has nothing to do with firing a gun. It is a form of tendonitis in which a finger becomes stuck in the bent position. It is caused by a tightening of the sheath of tissue that surrounds the tendon in the finger.
"The tendon starts to catch on a pulley inside the palm when you try to straighten your finger," Dr. Brenner says.
When the finger does straighten, it happens suddenly—often quite painfully—and with a popping sound, similar to that of a trigger being pulled.
Often, the finger remains bent only for a second or two. But in severe cases, it may become locked in that position.
Trigger finger is more common in women than in men and in people with diabetes. It can be caused by activities that involve tight gripping with the hand.
"It is often worse in the morning and can be worse with activity," Dr. Brenner says.
Mild cases of trigger finger often respond to rest, finger exercises and splints that keep the finger extended. More severe cases may require injections of anti-inflammatory drugs or, ultimately, surgery.
Tendonitis also can occur in other parts of the hand and wrist. A tendon on the outer side of the wrist is particularly susceptible to inflammation, often caused by repetitive motion.
Of course, says Dr. Brenner, arthritis causes hand and wrist problems for a lot of people.
"The base of the thumb is probably the third most common place for osteoarthritis after the knee and the hip," he says. "Because of the mechanics of the joint, it is subject to a lot of stress."
In the Sandhills, where so many people play golf, a sport that puts considerable stress on the wrist, it isn't surprising that orthopaedic specialists frequently find themselves treating golfers.
"We see a variety of wrist strains and ligament tears associated with golf," Dr. Brenner says. "There is quite a bit of that in people of all ages."
Ruth Gallagher plays tennis,
spends quite a bit of time at
the computer and does a lot of
gardening. All of those activities
can be hard on the wrists.
Several years ago, when she lived in
Virginia, she began having numbness in
the tips of the fingers of her right hand.
Over time, it got worse and her fingers
started to ache.
"I went to my doctor, but he didn't
know what it was," she says. "I tried
wearing a brace on my wrist to keep it
straight, and that helped for a while.
But as time went by, it wasn't helping
Gallagher continued to have
numbness and pain in her fingers after
moving to Southern Pines four years
ago, but she decided she would just have
to live with it. Then, last year, she went
to a neurologist who performed a test
to see how much feeling she had in her
The results indicated she had carpal
tunnel syndrome. That's when she
went to see Mark Brenner, M.D., an
orthopaedic surgeon with Pinehurst
Surgical. He operated on her right wrist
last September. Four months later, he
performed the same procedure on her
left wrist.
"I would recommend it to anyone
with carpal tunnel," says Gallagher,
who is 83. "It's very quick surgery and,
except for the shots they give you (local
anesthesia), there's hardly any pain. I'm
very pleased with the results."
Dr. Brenner operated on Gallagher's
left wrist Jan. 31, the same day he
operated on Lydia Sturdevant's left
Sturdevant says she inherited arthritis
from her mother, and she thinks she
inherited a predisposition for carpal
tunnel syndrome from her, too.
"She would complain about how her
hands got so hot when she went to bed
at night, and I couldn't understand what
she was talking about," Sturdevant says.
"At the time, we had never heard of
carpal tunnel."
A few years ago, Sturdevant began
having numbness in her fingers and
intense heat in her hand after she went
to bed. "The heat would go through
my hand and sometimes up the arm
to my elbow, and it would wake me
up," she says. "I thought, 'Now I know
what Mom was talking about.' It can be
almost excruciating when you have the
numbness and your hand heats up and
you can't get comfortable."
Sturdevant says she tried wearing
braces on her wrists at night for a while,
but she found them too cumbersome.
"I had decided I would just have to
live with it, but I finally couldn't take
it any longer," she says. "I had to do
something about it, so I went to Dr.
Brenner and had the operation."
Like Gallagher, Sturdevant was
surprised that something that had
bothered her so much for so long could
be fixed so quickly.
"Once the procedure starts, it takes
only about 10 minutes," she says. "It's
over before you know it."
And it gave her relief from the
numbness and heat. "It feels good," she
says. "It just breaks my heart to think
that my Mom went through this and
nothing was ever done about it."


text:
TSJ talked to Nate Schaefer, the founder of the manly company, The Hate Pimples, about dudes getting in on the makeup game.
The Smoking Jacket: So, dude makeup. Makeup for dudes. Here's the thing. I got my samples and they've been piled in a neat tower on my bathroom sink for a while, and even though I keep bugging my dude to slather some cover up over top of his muy perfect complexion to give them a test run, he won't get into it — not out of any kind of principle — he just keeps forgetting. He's not a makeup kinda guy, which might be one of the reasons things work out with us, chemically. But anyway, I've tried it myself. It's pretty solid cover up. It smells sort of all-natural-ish. Like tea-tree-oil-ish, which leads me to wonder: Is They Hate Pimples supposed to hide said pimples or kill them?
Nate Schaefer: They Hate Pimples delivers an immediate impact to cover up pimple problems. This hypoallergenic cream is a high-quality formulation with tea tree oil – an ingredient known to fight pimples.
TSJ: Alright — a little of both, then. So why should dudes get into makeup?
NS: A whopping 32 million pimple-prone guys will zit-out during their lifetime, and previously, there was no quick-fix pimple solution out there just for guys. There's no reason why guys shouldn't be able to cover up their zits like their female counterparts. However They Hate Pimples isn't about enhancement, it's zit camouflage for guys who just want to look in the mirror and see themselves. This actually hides the problem immediately.
TSJ: Where is it made?
NS: They Hate Pimples is American-made in Vermont.
TSJ: How many shades do you carry?
NS: There are three varieties to match many guy's skin tone – pale ale, medium lager and amber ale. Plans are in the works to introduce the 'stout' family for darker skin tones as well.
TSJ: Here's the dicey part — women take years to learn how to apply makeup, and we're constantly learning new tricks. Are dudes going around with dollups of coverup going on? Do you give them an educational video?
NS: Guys put on eye-black before a football game and sunblock before hitting the beach. It's as simple as any cream a guy puts on his skin. But for those that need visual or written instructions, we have created a video that includes easy instructions as well as tips on the website, "Dab your finger into the tin and then just start putting it on the pimple until you can no longer see it. Don't go too crazy. Play it cool, just like you do with the ladies."
TSJ: Why did you call it "They Hate Pimples" instead of "They Hate Zits"?
NS: During our initial "pimple" research, we found that the term "pimples" is more commonly used than "zit." So when guys are looking for a solution to their pimple problems, they'll be more likely find their answer quickly in "They Hate Pimples."
TSJ: With that kind of product name, you're saying dudes are covering up their nasty pock marks for the ladies. Do you think that makes it easier for them to consider trying it?
NS: We know guys make decisions about their grooming routine based on whether it makes them more or less attractive to women. Pimples make them less attractive. Scientific fact. Problem: there is shame in having a pimple on your face. Solution: camouflage it. We want guys to know there is nothing girly about this product. They Hate Pimples was built for guys, by guys.
TSJ: A lot of makeup lines are catering to men's skincare more and more. What do you think the future is for men's makeup?
NS: To the everyday guy, we say, "Make-up is for women. Make-normal is for guys." While the ingredients are in the same family of products, the reason for use is totally different. They Hate Pimples is meant to bring guys back to the base version of themselves. He gets peace of mind and the ladies get to maintain eye contact.


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Crash on A12 at Eight Ash Green (From Gazette)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting GAZETTE NEWS to 80360, or email
Crash on A12 at Eight Ash Green
1:03pm Thursday 10th July 2014 in News
POLICE are on the scene of a crash involving two cars and a lorry on the A12.
Officers were called to the London-bound stretch of road at junction 26, near Eight Ash Green, around 11am today, Thursday July 10.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "Police closed lane one of the southbound carriageway at J26. Police are currently at the scene. There are no reports of injuries."
Comments are closed on this article.


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Phoenix police release ID of fatal shooting victim
By Associated Press
Originally published: Jun 7, 2013 - 2:06 pm
Originally published: Jun 7, 2013 - 2:06 pm
PHOENIX -- Authorities have identified a man who was killed in a drive-by shooting in south Phoenix.
Phoenix police said Friday that the victim was 25-year-old Francisco Espinoza-Jauregui.
They said Espinoza-Jauregui was visiting a home just before midnight Wednesday when a car pulled up and someone inside the vehicle opened fire.
When police arrived on scene, they found Espinoza-Jauregui lying in the street and he was declared dead at the scene.
Police said they are still searching for the car that sped off. They have a description of it but no suspect.
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Corpus Christi police hope burglar's mannerisms give him away
Police release surveillance video of the crime
CORPUS CHRISTI - Corpus Christi Police Department's Auto Theft Task Force is hoping a suspected burglar's mannerisms will help bring him to justice.
Police released a surveillance video of a man burglarizing a maroon Ford F150 pickup truck and taking a laptop computer in the 2900 block of St. Joseph Street about 3 a.m. Wednesday.
"The image of the suspect is not clear, but his mannerisms are unique," said Lt. Christopher White, the Task Force supervisor.
Police ask is anyone has information about this man to call the Corpus Christi Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 361-886-2841 or if you would like to remain anonymous call 888-8477. Tips can also be submitted at www.888TIPS.com.


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No one would argue that the Tennessee Titans are one of the best teams in football at 3-3, but the team has been surprisingly good at times this season, with wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers and New York Jets, and a narrow enough loss on the road to the Seattle Seahawks last week to inspire some confidence among the fanbase. With the Houston Texans down and the Indianapolis Colts just one game ahead at 4-2, the Titans, through six games, have a very real chance of winning the division.
Enter: The San Francisco 49ers, a team projected to be one of the best in the league going into the season. They got off to a slow start but are beginning to feel their oats. If the Titans can somehow pull off the upset, it would be a massive coup and confidence boost to a young, opportunistic team. The 49ers are simply looking to assert that they are, in fact, the best team in the NFL.
Meet the Titans
The Titans are missing Jake Locker. It's perhaps no surprise that the team is 0-2 since he went down with a hip injury in Week 4. Granted, Ryan Fitzpatrick has gone up against two of the league's better defenses in the Kansas City Chiefs and the Seahawks, but just one touchdown pass to four interceptions won't cut it if the Titans have real playoff aspirations. Locker will be missing yet again, putting hopes of an upset in the hands of an opportunistic defense.
The Titans are second in the NFL (behind only Kansas City) with a plus-8 turnover differential on the season. A defense that seemingly lacked big names heading into the season has become one of the league's best under Jerry Gray and Gregg Williams. The team has forced 13 turnovers, and several players have emerged as budding stars, notably cornerback Alterraun Verner, who has four interceptions already this season.
Meet the 49ers
After suffering back-to-back losses in Weeks 2 and 3, the 49ers have reeled off three straight double-digit wins. Offensively, the running game has been outstanding. Frank Gore averaged 112 yards rushing per game over the stretch, and 49ers averaged 182 yards as a team. The rushing attack masked uneven play by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, though he played well in the win against the Arizona Cardinals last week, going 16-for-29 passing for 252 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The 49ers' defense has also forced 13 turnovers on the season, and the unit's pass- and run-stopping capabilities both best the Titans on a per-attempt basis. The 49ers' paltry plus-2 turnover differential highlights how poorly the offense has taken care of the ball, however. Kaepernick has thrown five interceptions and lost four fumbles. If he is careless yet again, the Titans should have a puncher's chance of winning.
Local Takes: Titans
Titans blogger gunnelsj at Music City Miracles looked at the silver lining from last week's loss to the Seahawks, and determined that Ryan Fitzpatrick could improve greatly in coming weeks.
- Ryan Fitzpatrick could get better. Most, not all, of Fitzpatrick's poor plays were a result of bad throws not bad decisions. He looks more and more comfortable with what's happening on the field and hopefully is just getting the last of the rust off. He's making the right reads and throwing to the right receivers, it's just that the throws themselves are bad. This is more being extremely hopeful than finding a silver lining, but hey, a man has to dream.
Local Takes: 49ers
David Fucillo at Niners Nation discusses Jim Harbaugh and turnovers. Needless to say, the 49ers will need to be much more careful with the ball Sunday than they have been.
But this is still a serious point. The 49ers defense has forced eight turnovers the last two weeks, and much like we saw in 2011, it is key to setting up the offense in prime field position. The 49ers have not exactly impressed in the giveaway department. They are tied for eighth in the NFL in terms of most giveaways. They are currently second in the NFC in fumbles lost, and sixth in interceptions. They've cleaned it up a bit the last two weeks, but that will be a key this weekend. It's a key every weekend, but even more so given the Titans ability to force turnovers.
Follow the Fun
Be sure to check out SB Nation's team blogs, Niners Nation and Music City Miracles, for more analysis and highlights from the game.
Add these fine follows to your Twitter timeline:
Very interesting tidbit from @hutton1045 on @Midday180- All of CJ's runs on Sun were 6 or 7 hole runs-meaning designed to go outside tackles— TitansMCM (@TitansMCM) October 15, 2013
Harbaugh: Titans are probably the best team 49ers have seen at punching, clubbing the ball out, forcing turnovers— Niners Nation (@NinersNation) October 16, 2013
@jwyattsports -- Titans beat writer
Fitzpatrick feels like he has let his teammates down the last few weeks by not playing better #Titans— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) October 16, 2013
@mattbarrows -- 49ers beat writer
Colin Kaepernick says foot injury that has landed him on the injury report is a hang nail in his pinky toe. Couldn't tell if he was joking.— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) October 16, 2013
It helps that the Titans are playing at home, but the team's success this season has been too reliant on turnovers. The 49ers like to take the ball away just as much as they like to give it, and Fitzpatrick hasn't been as good a caretaker of the ball as Locker was. The 49ers will win on the road, and cover.
Prediction: 49ers 27, Titans 17
The 49ers are favored from 4-5 points, depending on which sports book you consult over at OddsShark.com.
Next Week
The 49ers will be on the road again to play the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday. The Titans will be take their bye week before taking on the St. Louis Rams at Edward Jones Stadium on Nov. 3.
More from SB Nation NFL
• NFL power rankings: Room for debate at the top
• NFL Week 7 picks: Predicting division upsets
• Nick Foles, the new Eagles starting QB?
• PFT Commenter: President Ditka and the lunchpail gang
• Week 6 post-mortem: Bucs continue to set the standard for suck


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that is the question.
What would you do if you were Steven Ross?
My view is that as owner, you want the Fins to stay competitive in every remaining game, hopefully winning as many as possible. Then you have to fork out less money to avoid a blackout and fans stay longer at the stadium...to purchase more food and drinks...and parking.
Paying 2-3 million dollars as an "insurance policy" in the event that Moore is injured is worth it if it keeps the Fins competitive down the stretch. There is no margin for error. They have to win all of their remaining games. There are two games (v the Raiders and Patriots) that Losman can not win.
Orton will be very motivated if put into the starting role to audition for a new contract next year and put a good spin on a bad start to this year. He does have some experience with Brandon Marshall who is the most talented player on the team and perhaps the key to winning out down the stretch.
If Moore stays healthy, and that's a big "if" behind our Offensive Line, then we can roll with him. But if he gets injured, you are going to need a backup ready to step in to win out with the slim margin of error left. The sooner we pick up Orton, the more time he has to get ready to play versus the Raiders..the greater the chance of success.
Time is of the essence...IMHO
What do you think?


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At 7:30 on a chilly Sunday morning, while many Elk Grovians were still snug in their beds, Sherri Simunich was standing outside , waving a sign that read, 'Save Our Store.'
Simunich and about two dozen of her neighbors had gathered to protest at 8787 Elk Grove Blvd by March. While Raley's calls the store "underperforming" compared to the company's three other Elk Grove locations, locals say they'll miss its friendly service and the convenience of having a full-service grocery within walking distance.
"It's our community store, it's been here over 30 years, and we don't want it to close," said Simunich, 48, who organized the Sunday rally. Behind her, protesters chanted, "We care! Save Bel Air."
Protesters said the store serves senior citizens and others with limited mobility who live nearby and wouldn't be able to drive even a few miles to another supermarket.
"I know a gentleman in a wheelchair who lives down the street and comes here to get his groceries," said Diane Araiza, an employee who frequents the store. "Where is he going to shop?"
Others at the rally cited their sentimental attachment to a store they'd shopped at for decades.
"Our kids learned to count and do math here," said Tom Dove, 54, who stopped by with his wife Ronie. "There are kids that were raised with ours and now we see them working here."
In a neighborhood that rarely sees protests, Dove said this was one cause that inspired him to pick up a picket sign.
"I'm not an Occupier type," he said. "I'm 54 and I've never held a sign for anything. But here I am."
Like other customers at the rally, the Doves said they might drive the extra distance to shop at another Bel Air—or they might take their business to a competitor like WinCo Foods in search of lower prices.
Some protesters expressed concern that businesses were fleeing Elk Grove's historic center for shopping centers on the outskirts of town.
"It's taking away a store in central Elk Grove and all the stores are going to be on the perimenter," sad Pamela Baker, a 30-year resident of the neighborhood. "There's going to be nothing here for the people that have been here for years."
Raley's told Elk Grove Patch earlier in the week that increased competition in the local grocery market had played a role in the decision to shutter the store.
"It's getting really difficult to be able to compete unless we can reduce our operating costs," said John Segale, a spokesperson for the West Sacramento-based chain. "The feeling was that this was an area that could best be handled by the other stores we have there."
Simunich, who lives down the street from the store, said she was "stunned" to learn of the planned closure earlier in the week and went online to vent her feelings. "Someone said, 'What about an old-fashioned protest?' and I said, 'Yeah!' "
Simunich organized the rally through online message boards and Facebook, and by 8:30 a.m. Sunday had collected close to 50 signatures on a homemade petition asking that the store be kept open. Shoppers also vented their frustration on Raley's Facebook page.
The rally was set to last until early evening Sunday.
"It's nice to hear that we have some support," said one store employee who spoke briefly with Elk Grove Patch. "I don't know that it's going to help us."
Raley's has said some of the store's 81 workers will be eligible to transfer to other locations, while others will lose their jobs. The workers are represented by Local 8 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
The employee, who like other Raley's workers was barred by management from giving media interviews, said that he would be able to transfer to another store but added that it wouldn't be the same.
Some employees had already moved to other stores, he said.
Segale, the Raley's spokesperson, said Sunday that the protest and petition drive "is definitely a sign of the type of community support we've seen throughout the company."
"But at this time the decision is still final."


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Communities offer views on future of Aboriginal education at Queen's
Members from diverse Aboriginal communities and Queen's representatives came together last week in a vision-gathering session aimed at finding ways to co-create a healthy, effective and representative Aboriginal Council at Queen's and a university environment that is responsive to the learning needs of all Aboriginal students.
"I was pleased to see students and communities working together as equal partners to help improve Queen's Aboriginal programs and services," says Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) Caroline Davis, co-chair of the Aboriginal Council.
In his keynote address to participants, Amos Key Jr., Trustee, The Amos Key Jr. E-Learning Institute
from the Six Nations of the Grand River community, noted that Aboriginal education councils are natural strategic partners and leaders and more importantly they represent the community and stakeholders. He suggested that since they already exist empowering them with more capacity, confidence and profile could help them become more effective and affective.
Circle processes and open space discussions focused discussion on activities, behaviours, processes and structures that will support and foster the four directions of Aboriginal learning: mental, spiritual, emotional and physical.
"Education and community cultural support is the key to success for all Aboriginal peoples," says Robert Rittwage, President of the Katarokwi Native Friendship Centre. "Community input, interaction and participation throughout the process is essential in developing a balanced holistic vision. I look forward to listening and actively sharing my thoughts in the future."
The broad range of ideas discussed included reinstating the elders at Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre, establishing a separate Aboriginal graduating ceremony in addition to regular convocation, and developing a web portal for Aboriginal students at Queen's.
"I am hoping this is a great start and the ideas that were shared will come to be. I am looking forward to seeing great improvements at Queen's for our Aboriginal students," says Elder David Jock.
An illustrated map showing the path toward a desired future where the university environment sustains and attracts members of Aboriginal communities was one of the session's guiding tools.
The input from the day-long session will be compiled into a report and future meetings and dialogues will take place as the process continues.


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September 20, 2006
Albany -- Flint River Habitat for Humanity hopes to nail down a renovation project at its new downtown office by the end of the year.
The project has taken two years to get this far because the organization must rely on extra donations and volunteers to get the Pine Avenue office built.
Nearby businesses that donated money to the project say that when it's done it will greatly impact the city.
Habitat volunteers say it's fufilling to help the group.
"I am one of those people who are not able and proud to say it because what you go through builds who you are and it can make you or break you, and so far it's been making me," said volunteer and future homeowner Mesha Harris.
"It's very nice looking out the window and seeing this building come from where it was. It was a dilapidated old building, it was not being used. Now it has color and we're just excited about seeing it being improved," said Security Bank donor Pam Simmons.
Those who want to help rebuild the office should specify their donations toward the Pine Avenue Office. All other donations go to building homes for families in need. Donations can be made at the Habitat Store on West Broad Avenue.
Feedback: firstname.lastname@example.com?subject=HabitatOffice/NJ
P.O. Box 3130
Albany, GA 31706
(229) 446-1010
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