Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Anti-Wall Street Protests Planned at Stock Exchange, in Subways

Esme E. Deprez, Charles Mead and Henry Goldman, ©2011 Bloomberg News
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- New York officials say they expect tens of thousands of demonstrators when Occupy Wall Street surrounds the New York Stock Exchange and takes its protest against economic inequality into the subway system today.

Activists intend to "raise a ruckus and clog up the works" in Lower Manhattan's financial district, said Mark Bray, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street.

"We are certainly anticipating tens of thousands of people protesting, aimed at significant disruption," said Howard Wolfson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's deputy for government relations, at a City Hall briefing yesterday. "Our forces will be deployed accordingly."

The rally follows the group's loss of its two-month campsite at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on Nov. 15, when police evicted protesters and cleared away their tents, tarps and sleeping bags. Demonstrators will gather at the park today at 7 a.m. to march to Wall Street, then fan out through the subways, ending with a 5 p.m. crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge.

"It's time we put an end to Wall Street's reign of terror and begin building an economy that works for all," the group said on its website. Demonstrators will "confront Wall Street with the stories of people on the front lines of economic injustice. There, before the stock exchange, we will exchange stories rather than stocks."


'The 99 Percent'

The Occupy Wall Street protests, which began in New York Sept. 17, has spread to cities on four continents, including London, Sydney, Toronto, Rome and Tokyo. The demonstrators refer to themselves as "the 99 percent," a reference to Nobel Prize- winning economist Joseph Stiglitz's study showing the richest 1 percent control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.

New York City police in riot gear swept into the Zuccotti encampment in the privately owned public park beginning around 1 a.m. on Nov. 15th. City cleaning crews in orange vests hauled away dumpsters full of the camp's remains.

About 200 people were arrested, police said. Among them were journalists and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, a north Manhattan Democrat, who said he was thrown to the ground while attending as an observer.

After the raid, lawyers for the demonstrators failed to convince a judge to reverse the eviction.

"The court's ruling vindicates our position that First Amendment rights do not include the right to endanger the public or infringe on the rights of others by taking over a public space," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Zuccotti Park will remain open to all who want to enjoy it, as long as they abide by the park's rules."

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.


Oakland, Portland

Camps have also been shut down by officials in cities including Oakland, California, and Portland, Oregon. A judge yesterday ordered Boston to refrain from removing protesters from Dewey Square until Dec. 1.

Protesters in New York said they remained unbowed by the city's move to ban sleeping bags, tarps and tents. More than 150 had regrouped in the park with umbrellas yesterday as rain blanketed the city.

"We've all realized that the movement's a lot more than just a physical occupation," Julien Harrison, a former college teaching assistant from Georgia, said by telephone. He said he's camped at the park sporadically since the occupation began.


'The Best Thing'

Expulsion from the park "was the best thing that could have happened to us strategically" because "it looks bad for a system that continually uses violence against non-violence," said Daniel Zetah, 35, from Minnesota, who's slept in the park most nights. "It's going to galvanize people" and inspire large numbers to attend today's events, he said in a telephone interview.

After "sleeping on granite in a very loud environment, the threat of staying in jail for a night or two is no longer a threat," Zetah said. Last month, police halted a march over the Brooklyn Bridge and took hundreds of activists into custody for blocking traffic.

The city has spent $6 million on protest-related costs, excluding the Nov. 15 raid, said Wolfson and Caswell Holloway, deputy mayor for operations. Protesters won't be allowed to camp at any other city parks, Wolfson said.

"Our goal is to ensure that the city continues to run, that essential services get provided to get to and from work," Holloway said yesterday at the briefing. "Public safety is first and foremost."


Nationwide Protest

New York's demonstrators will be joined by advocacy groups, the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO in a "nationwide 'We Are The 99%' day of action," Daniel Mintz, campaign director of MoveOn.org, said in an e-mailed statement. The online organization was started in opposition to President Bill Clinton's impeachment and became an advocate for overhauling health care.

Protests in almost every state will call on members of a congressional supercommittee looking for spending reductions "to protect vital programs like Medicare and Social Security, and finally make the super-rich pay their fair share instead of supporting a deal chock full of job-killing cuts," Mintz said.

--With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch in New York, Charles Stein in Boston and Alison Vekshin in San Francisco. Editors: Pete Young, Ted Bunker

To contact the reporters on this story: Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net; Charles Mead in New York at cmead11@bloomberg.net; Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net


Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/16/bloomberg_articlesLUSAXD6K50XV.DTL#ixzz1dwLxhuhK


A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER



by D.L. Cuddy, Ph.D. Arranged and Edited by John Loeffler

(Excerpt)

1967 -- Richard Nixon calls for New World Order. In Asia after Vietnam, in the October issue of Foreign Affairs, Nixon writes of nations' dispositions to evolve regional approaches to development needs and to the evolution of a "new world order."

1968 -- Joy Elmer Morgan, former editor of the NEA Journal publishes The American Citizens Handbook in which he says:

"the coming of the United Nations and the urgent necessity that it evolve into a more comprehensive form of world government places upon the citizens of the United States an increased obligation to make the most of their citizenship which now widens into active world citizenship."

July 26, 1968 -- Nelson Rockefeller pledges support of the New World Order. In an Associated Press report, Rockefeller pledges that, "as President, he would work toward international creation of a new world order."

1970 -- Education and the mass media promote world order. In Thinking About A New World Order for the Decade 1990, author Ian Baldwin, Jr. asserts that:

"... the World Law Fund has begun a worldwide research and educational program that will introduce a new, emerging discipline -- world order -- into educational curricula throughout the world... and to concentrate some of its energies on bringing basic world order concepts into the mass media again on a worldwide level."

1972 -- President Nixon visits China. In his toast to Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, former CFR member and now President, Richard Nixon, expresses "the hope that each of us has to build a new world order."

May 18, 1972 -- In speaking of the coming of world government, Roy M. Ash, director of the Office of Management and Budget, declares that:

"within two decades the institutional framework for a world economic community will be in place... [and] aspects of individual sovereignty will be given over to a supernational authority."

1973 -- The Trilateral Commission is established. Banker David Rockefeller organizes this new private body and chooses Zbigniew Brzezinski, later National Security Advisor to President Carter, as the Commission's first director and invites Jimmy Carter to become a founding member.

1973 -- Humanist Manifesto II is published:

"The next century can be and should be the humanistic century... we stand at the dawn of a new age... a secular society on a planetary scale.... As non-theists we begin with humans not God, nature not deity... we deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds.... Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government.... The true revolution is occurring."

April, 1974 -- Former U. S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Trilateralist and CFR member Richard Gardner's article The Hard Road to World Order is published in the CFR's Foreign Affairs where he states that:

"the 'house of world order' will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down... but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault."


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Religious Freedom vs. State’s Nondiscrimination Statutes

Posted by Shane Vander Hart at 7:00 pm.
Nov 15 2011.


Caffeinated Thoughts contributor Emmett McGroarty & Jane Robbins both of whom work for American Principles Project remind readers in a recent op/ed for The Public Discourse how the religious freedom of individuals have been violated in order to defer to the homosexual agenda:

The denigration of religious freedom extends to areas of purely private, commercial conduct. Governments increasingly apply nondiscrimination statutes to force private individuals and businesses to participate in conduct that violates their religious beliefs. So far, defenses based on the First Amendment have been unavailing. Some examples:

•The New Mexico Human Rights Commission found that a small photography business unlawfully discriminated against a same-sex couple by declining, because of the owners’ religious beliefs, to photograph the couple’s commitment ceremony (Willock v. Elane Photography).

•The California Supreme Court ruled that doctors violated the state nondiscrimination statute by refusing, on religious grounds, to artificially inseminate a woman who was in a lesbian relationship (North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group v. San Diego County Superior Court).

•A federal court in California found that administrators of an Arizona adoption-facilitation website were subject to California’s statute banning discrimination in public accommodations because they refused to post profiles of same-sex couples as potential parents (Butler v. Adoption Media).

•A New Jersey agency found probable cause to believe that a church violated a public-accommodations statute by declining to rent its pavilion for a same-sex wedding (a different agency, enforcing nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, revoked the tax exemption the church had enjoyed under a statute promoting the use of private property as green space) (Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Ass’n of United Methodist Church v. Vespa-Papaleo).
•A federal appeals court found that an employer’s denial of insurance coverage to an employee’s same-sex partner constituted illegal sex discrimination (In Re Levenson).

In none of these cases did the religious defendants discriminate against homosexuals just because of their orientation—i.e., they did not refuse to serve them in a restaurant or work on their cars or give them standard medical care. Rather, they declined to participate in an endeavor, such as same-sex marriage or adoption, which was inconsistent with their religious beliefs. But the courts and agencies found that nondiscrimination trumps religious values. The courts will not protect a for-profit business that wants to operate according to biblical principles.

This further demonstrates why we must have a Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Iowa (among other states).

Originally posted at American Principles in Action

Source

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Gingrich: U.S. Must Back Israel Against Iranian Nuclear 'Holocaust'

Tuesday, 15 Nov 2011 05:20 PM

By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter

By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter




Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says the United States has a “moral obligation” to support Israel if it launches an attack on Iran to prevent a “second Holocaust.”

The former House speaker has called for the United States to take military action against Iran if sanctions do not stop their nuclear weapons development program. In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, he was asked how much longer the U.S. can afford to wait before striking.


http://www.newsmax.com/video/viewid/f57e68c1-3f8f-4f32-88c8-75f69fb6c6ac

“I think what the Iranians have to understand is that we are not going to allow them to develop that program,” Gingrich responds.

“And frankly the Israelis, who are much more threatened than we are, may decide to do that much earlier than we would, in which case I think we have a moral obligation to back the Israelis.

“If the Iranians gave up their nuclear program, nobody in Israel is going to attack Iran. But if the Israelis allow them to get a nuclear program, there’s a very real danger that they are going to annihilate Israel and create a second Holocaust by wiping out millions of people.

“So I think the Israeli prime minister is under enormous pressure to not allow that to happen.”

Source

China: Google Earth spots huge, unidentified structures in Gobi desert

Vast, unidentified, structures have been spotted by satellites in the barren Gobi desert, raising questions about what China might be building in a region it uses for its military, space and nuclear programmes.


All of the sites are on the borders of Gansu province and Xinjiang... some less than 100 miles from Jiuquan, the headquarters of China's space programme and the location of its launch pads
Photo: GOOGLE EARTH



By Malcolm Moore, Shanghai and Thomas Harding, Defence correspondent
1:50PM GMT 14 Nov 2011


In two images, available on Google Earth, reflective rectangles up to a mile long can be seen, a tangle of bright white intersecting lines that are clearly visible from space.

Other pictures show enormous concentric circles radiating on the ground, with three jets parked at their centre.

In one picture from 2007, a mass of orange blocks have been carefully arranged in a circle. In a more recent image, however, the blocks, each one the size of a shipping container, appear to have been scattered as far as three miles from the original site.

Another image shows an array of metallic squares littered with what appears to be the debris of exploded vehicles while another shows an intricate grid that is some 18 miles long.

All of the sites are on the borders of Gansu province and Xinjiang, some less than 100 miles from Jiuquan, the headquarters of China's space programme and the location of its launch pads.

The two reflective rectangles lie 70 miles from the nearest main road and there is no sign of any surrounding activity. However, Ding Xin military airbase, where China carries out its secret aircraft testing programme, is relatively nearby, at a distance of some 400 miles.

400 miles in the other direction is Lop Nur, the salt lakes where China tested 45 nuclear bombs between 1967 and 1995.

The purpose of the structures is unknown, but some experts suggested that they might be optical test ranges for Chinese missiles, to simulate the street grids of cities.

Tim Ripley, a defence expert from Jane's Defence Weekly, compared the structures to similar grids in Area 51, the secret United States military test base in Nevada. "The picture of the circle looks very like a missile test range, with target and instrumentation set out to record weapon effects. The Americans have lots of these in Nevada – Area 51!" he said.

Conspiracy theorists believe that Area 51 is home to the remains of an alien spacecraft found at Roswell, and there was no shortage on Monday of similar hypotheses about the Chinese sites.

"It looks like our own Area 51," said one commenter on Baidu, a Chinese website. "Can it be an alien base," asked another. "It looks like solar energy facilities, with a walkway along the side," said a third.




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Former Holder Chief of Staff Nomination to Court Imperiled Over 'Fast and Furious'

U.S. Senate - POLITICS

Published November 15, 2011
FoxNews.com





Attorney General Eric Holder during a news conference to update the attempted bombing in Times Square, Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at the Justice Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The confirmation of a former aide to Attorney General Eric Holder to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces may be in peril over his response to questions posed by Arizona Sen. John McCain about his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious.

Kevin Ohlson, who worked as Holder's chief of staff from January 2009 to January 2011, faces a confirmation hearing on Thursday for the post. The panel with jurisdiction is the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which McCain is the ranking Republican and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is chairman.

In his response Monday to a questionnaire sent from McCain last week, both obtained by Fox News, Ohlson said he knew nothing about the operation while he was at the Justice Department.

"During my tenure as chief of staff and counselor to the attorney general, I took no actions in regard to, had no knowledge of, provided no advice about, and had no involvement in Operation Fast and Furious," he wrote. Ohlson wrote he did participate in a prep session with Holder on Fast and Furious earlier this month before Holder testified to Congress.

In the letter sent by McCain, he wrote that as Holder's chief of staff Ohlson was "in a position to be informed about the Operation, to make decisions regarding the operation, and to know what information about it was and was not provided to the attorney general."

But in his response, Ohlson wrote he had "been informed that routine courtesy copies of weekly reports were forwarded to me that referred to the operation by name, but that did not provide any operational details and did not refer to gun walking or anything similar."

But Ohlson said nothing on the cover sheets of the reports indicated they contained important or sensitive materials and he didn't review them.

The latest response highlights a recurring theme coming from the Department of Justice about Fast and Furious that has raised troubling concerns for Republicans, specifically, that officials there did not get into details or make the effort to look further into the botched gun-walking program.

Fast and Furious was run out of the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and aimed to allow straw purchasers illegally buy guns from U.S. shops in order to trace where they went. Hundreds of those guns disappeared into Mexico, and the operation blew up in late 2010 after the murder of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry. Two guns linked to the operation were found at the crime scene.

But in response to questions raised about the program, Holder said memos about Fast and Furious addressed to him were never brought to his attention. Holder's then No. 2, Gary Grindler, did receive a briefing on Fast and Furious, but didn't discuss it with others, he says, because the tactics were never mentioned.

Head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division Lanny Breuer said he knew of a different gun-walking case but didn't ask if others were occurring. Breuer's deputies also approved wiretaps in Fast and Furious, but only looked at cover sheets, according to Justice Department officials.

Lower-level attorneys from the department's Gang Unit briefly worked on Fast and Furious as well as other gun-walking cases, but their work never filtered up.

Ohlson left Holder's office in January 2011 to become chief of the Professional Misconduct Review Unit. He said that there was no linkage between his move and Terry's death.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said the whole case shows that changes are needed at the Justice Department.

Holder "wouldn't even admit that, in fact, Fast and Furious led directly to the death of Brian Terry. He seems to want to obfuscate that," Issa, R-Calif., told Fox News on Tuesday, not referring to Ohlson's replies to the questionnaire.

"That shows that we really need to get some kind of change at the Department of Justice in the AG's office, or we're not going to get the kind of change Americans can believe in."

Fox News' Trish Turner contributed to this report.


Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/15/former-holder-chief-staff-nomination-to-court-imperiled-over-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1doXCxppB
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Food Bank For New York City Launches New Interactive Virtual Food Drive Fundraising Tool

Peapod by Stop & Shop Joins Fight Against Hunger in NYC as Exclusive Title Sponsor




NEW YORK, NY, Nov 15, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Food Bank For New York City -- the city's major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs -- today announced the official launch of its highly anticipated new interactive virtual food drive fundraising tool that will allow donors to create a personalized Virtual Food Drive page and invite friends, family or coworkers to donate. Peapod by Stop & Shop, the leading and preferred provider of online grocery shopping, will join the fight against hunger in New York City as the Drive's Exclusive Title Sponsor. Together, through a series of cross promotions throughout the coming year, these two organizations expect to make a significant impact on the lives of millions of New Yorkers who struggle to afford food.

Approximately 1.5 million people annually rely on the Food Bank's comprehensive programs and services, and nearly half (47 percent) of all New York City households with children struggle to afford food, according to the Food Bank's research. Further, one in five New York City children and one in six seniors relies on emergency food from a soup kitchen and/or food pantry to make ends meet.

"We are very excited to launch our new Virtual Food Drive fundraising tool and we are thrilled to welcome Peapod by Stop & Shop to the Food Bank For New York City family as our new partner in this endeavor," said Margarette Purvis, President & CEO of the Food Bank For New York City. "There is a great synergy between our two organizations. We are both committed to providing food for New Yorkers and ending food poverty in New York City. Thanks to Peapod's generosity, we will be more able to meet our goals in the coming year."

"As we continue to expand our delivery service in New York City, we are committed to being a valued community partner," said Peg Merzbacher, Director of Marketing for Peapod by Stop & Shop. "As an online retailer who strives to make grocery shopping easier, we particularly appreciate the innovative concept of a Virtual Food Drive that uses technology to making giving easier. We hope the Virtual Food Drive will encourage many New Yorkers to help their neighbors struggling with food insecurity."

The Virtual Food Drive is an excellent way to put more meals on the table for New Yorkers in need, do it faster and do it with less expense than through traditional food collection drives. And thanks to the Food Bank's wholesale purchasing power and efficient distribution model, food donations are stretched even further -- doubling or even tripling the amount of food a dollar can provide. All donations go toward purchasing much-needed supplemental food and grocery products that traditional food drives do not bring in.

The Virtual Food Drive's website tool mirrors the familiar experience of grocery shopping online, where users can shop the aisles -- meat and fish, grains and beans, dairy and eggs, produce, and other supplies -- place items in a shopping cart to check out and make a secure donation on the Food Bank web servers. For example, a $5 donation can provide 25 meals to New Yorkers in need, and for every $36 donated, one child can get the food they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle for three months.

Evidence that the food community is rallying behind the Virtual Food Drive concept is the response by Carolina Rice and Ronzoni(R) who have signed on as sponsors of the Food Bank's Virtual Food Drive Grains & Beans Aisle. The Food Bank is seeking additional sponsorships for their Produce Aisle, the Meat & Fish Aisle, the Dairy & Eggs Aisle, and the Beyond Food Aisle.

Corporations, organizations and individuals are given access to full reporting of donations so they can track the success of their campaign and there is an opportunity to set up a competition between departments, divisions, locations, or individuals. Donations are delivered to the Food Bank instantaneously and donors receive an email tax deduction receipt automatically. It's that easy.

Further, donors immediately see how their participation impacts the fundraising goal. To register, users create their own personalized Virtual Food Drive campaign and set a fundraising goal using a user-friendly online registration tool with instructions. Whether it's for a birthday or wedding, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, an important race or no special reason at all, each registrant can invite their friends, family and coworkers to get involved and donate in lieu of traditional gifts. Proceeds from gifts made through the Virtual Food Drive go toward the programs and efforts of the Food Bank For New York City. Peapod is offering a special 'Thank You' donor code. Peapod will give donors a $10 discount off their next Peapod delivery of $100 or more.

Visit foodbanknyc.org today to set up a Food Bank Virtual Food Drive. Companies interested in sponsoring one of the Virtual Food Drive's aisles, please contact Debbie Kellogg at dkellogg@foodbanknyc.org

About the Food Bank For New York City Food Bank For New York City recognizes 28 years as the city's major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs. As the city's hub for integrated food poverty assistance, the Food Bank tackles the hunger issue on three fronts -- food distribution, income support and nutrition education -- all strategically guided by its research. Through its network of community-based member programs citywide, the Food Bank helps provide 400,000 free meals a day for New Yorkers in need. The Food Bank's hands-on nutrition education program in the public schools reaches thousands of children, teens and adults. Income support services including food stamps, free tax assistance for the working poor and the Earned Income Tax Credit put millions of dollars back in the pockets of low-income New Yorkers, helping them to achieve greater dignity and independence. 94% of donations go directly toward food distribution, acquisition and programs in all five boroughs of New York City. Learn how you can help at foodbanknyc.org.

About Peapod Founded in 1989 as a smart shopping option for busy people, Peapod today stands as the country's leading Internet grocer, serving 24 U.S. markets in communities in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. An Ahold USA company, Peapod has made over 20 million deliveries since its late 1980s inception. For more information on Peapod, call 1.800.5.PEAPOD (573-2763); email service@peapod.com or visit www.peapod.com .


Contact:

Lana Gersten
212-784-5714
LGersten@GroupGordon.com

Carol Schneider
212-566-7855, ext. 2231
cschneider@foodbanknyc.org


Caitlin McNamara
617-585-5760
cmcnamara@360publicrelations.com


SOURCE: Food Bank For New York City


mailto:LGersten@GroupGordon.com
mailto:cschneider@foodbanknyc.org
mailto:cmcnamara@360publicrelations.com




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Protesters Gather Outside Waldorf Astoria to Ridicule Henry Kissinger Gala

Posted by Terry Chao
on Nov 14th, 2011





Vocal advocates against purported “war criminal” Henry Kissinger showed their disgust and furor over the New York Historical Society’s black-tie “History Maker’s Gala” held to honor the man. Organizations such as World Can’t Wait, Code Pink, War Criminals Watch, Campaign for Peace and many others showed up to brandish signs touting his misdeeds as a “wanted man” and decry the NYHS for their choice to hold the gala, where a seat at Kissinger’s table could be purchased for $50,0000. Tickets started at $1,000 and a table at $100,000, with proceeds benefiting the NYHS.

Protesters were shocked the NYHS had “sunk to a new low” by honoring Kissinger. Professor Emeritus of History Jesse Lemisch created flyers and was saddened to see a once-respected institution honor a man he considers “a disgrace to humans.”

Many considered the recent OWS protests in their fight to be heard and felt empowered by the movements, as button-maker Joanne Landy observed. “It’s nice to see that young people are finally getting involved in creating their own history. It’s high time we spoke out against the higher powers as a united nation,” she said.

...

Source

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Protesters Vow to Retake Emptied Park



Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Protesters marched downtown to Zuccotti Park.By JAMES BARRON and COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: November 15, 2011


Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday defended his decision to clear the park in Lower Manhattan that was the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement, saying “health and safety conditions became intolerable” in the park where the protesters had camped out for nearly two months.

Mr. Bloomberg said the city had planned to reopen the park on Tuesday morning after the protesters’ tents and tarps had been removed and the stone steps had been cleaned. He said the police had already let about 50 protesters back in when officials received word of a temporary restraining order sought by lawyers for the protesters. He said the police closed the park again until lawyers for the city could appear at a court hearing later in the morning.





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Monday, November 14, 2011

NBC News Hires Chelsea Clinton: Is There a Case for Nepotism?

Tuned In

NBC News Hires Chelsea Clinton: Is There a Case for Nepotism?


Craig Ruttle / AP
CRAIG RUTTLE / AP
Chelsea Clinton speaks during a session at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 22, 2011 in New York.

Across America, families are wracked with doubts about whether the next generation will ever be able to enjoy the opportunities afforded to their parents. But as it turns out, there’s still hope for you, Young America! You can have the opportunities your parents did, and even some they may never have dreamed of. As long as your parents are really, really famous.

This, anyway, is the experience of Chelsea Clinton, the 31-year-old former First Daughter, who will be joining celebrity offspring Jenna Bush, Meghan McCain and Luke Russert as an employee of NBC News. Reports the New York Times, Clinton will work on “Making a Difference,” NBC’s series of pieces on volunteerism. At least, until the former hedge-fund employee and IAC board member tires of her job and seeks another. Maybe she would like yours!

The announcement has already stirred a fair amount of snide reaction from other, non-American-royalty members of the media. The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans dubbed NBC the “Nepotism Broadcasting Network.” Glenn Greenwald of Salon sarcastically hailed “America’s meritocratic, watchdog news media.” Erik Wemple of the Washington Post noted that Clinton accepted a job as a journalist, yet is refusing to be interviewed about it, a stance he calls “hypocritical and intolerable.”

As someone who grew up in a rented house, not the White House, with parents whose connections to politics and media consisted of my Dad yelling at the NBC Nightly News, I’m annoyed that Clinton should get a job for having famous parents. All of which is compounded by NBC’s mealymouthed refusal to say that that’s essentially what this was. NBC News President Steve Capus told the Times, “It’s not about Chelsea Clinton saying, ‘Here I am; I want to be a TV star.’” Rather, “Mr. Capus said an intermediary contacted him in July with word that ‘she was kicking around what she wanted to do next.’”

See, it wasn’t about Clinton telling NBC to make her a TV star. It was about her intermediary telling NBC to make her a TV star. If you haven’t had this kind of luck, maybe your intermediaries just need to step up their game!

So, OK. However capable she is, Chelsea Clinton’s newest career turn is not, by any reasonable definition of the word, fair. She is starting a job she simply would not have were she not famous. But is that in itself a reason she should not be hired?

I have no idea whether Clinton will be any good at her job as TV correspondent. Quite possibly she won’t. But all other things being equal, fame—earned or inherited, deserved or not—quite simply is often an asset for an interviewer. People will sometimes talk to a famous person on camera because they recognize them and there’s an element of comfort. Famous people will sometimes more readily open up to other famous people, either because they have a connection, or because they believe the celebrity (or child or celebrity) knows what it’s like.

George Stephanopoulos, for instance, came to ABC from being a Clinton operative and White House communications director; a job related to journalism, perhaps, but not exactly working his way up covering the police beat. But his contacts earned in politics were undoubtedly an asset. Journalists and interviewers who start out anonymous but become famous can find that fame is a force multiplier; Oprah Winfrey worked her way up, for instance, but once famous, she could get celebrities to open up on her couch because she was Oprah, a peer, someone who gets it. Luke Russert, meanwhile, should be under no illusions that he would have his job were his last name Kowalski; but favoritism or no, he did end up having one of the most politically notorious interviews of this year, with Anthony Weiner and his “certitude.”

Don’t get me wrong: I find the idea of someone landing a plum career opportunity mainly because of who her parents are absolutely galling. I would hope most people do, at least on some level; we may not agree on much in America, but I would hope a country that was born out of rejecting a monarchy still has a healthy sense of disgust at people getting jobs because of who their parents are (common as it may be). But I have to at least accept that Clinton could end up surprising me and being good at this job, and for reasons that are not entirely fair.

And if she washes out? I just hope her backup career ambition is not newsmagazine TV critic.



Source: http://entertainment.time.com/2011/11/14/nbc-news-hires-chelsea-clinton-is-there-a-case-for-nepotism/#ixzz1djRwjwa4


Fed Surveys: Economy in Worse Shape Than Feared, Recession Odds Spike to 50%

Monday, 14 Nov 2011 02:24 PM

By Forrest Jones



The economy is in worse shape now than feared and the outlook for the next two years looks bleak, with the probability of a recession spiking in early 2012, Federal Reserve studies show.


Economists surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia lowered their U.S. economic growth outlook for the next two years while hiking up their forecasts for unemployment rates, the bank reports.

The survey of 45 economic forecasts expect real gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at an annual rate of 2.6 percent this quarter, unchanged from a previous estimate.

It's all downhill from there for at least for another year.

The forecasters predict real GDP will grow 2.4 percent in 2012, down from a previous forecast of 2.6 percent, while growth for 2013 will come in at 2.7 percent, down from 2.9 percent once estimated.

jobseekergetty200v3.jpg
(Getty Images photo)
Forget about unemployment rates ever returning to pre-recession levels typical of the early 2000s, as conditions today are about as good as it gets for years to come.

The unemployment rate expected to average 8.8 percent next year, up from an earlier forecast of 8.6 percent, the survey finds.

Unemployment rates for 2013 are forecast to come in at 8.4 percent, up from 8.1 percent.

"The outlook for growth and unemployment in the U.S. economy looks a little weaker now than it did three months ago," the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said in a statement.

Roll of the dice

A separate Federal Reserve study shows the European debt crisis is pushing the U.S. economy even closer to the brink of recession.

Economic contraction could come by early 2012, or just a few months away, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

U.S. economic indicators are weak, and a default by any eurozone countries could send the chance of a recession striking early next year spiking, researchers at the regional Fed bank write, hitting a 50-50 chance during the first six months of the year.

"A European sovereign debt default may well sink the United States back into recession," Fed researchers write in a report.

"However, if we navigate the storm through the second half of 2012, it appears that danger will recede rapidly in 2013."

Stall speed

Experts point out that if the U.S. economy doesn't grow with any more speed, it runs the risk of hitting stall speed.

Like an airplane, an economy moving too slowly will fail to generate enough lift and will stall out and crash.

The U.S. economy is facing five potholes on its path to more sustained growth: Housing, unemployment, public finances, infrastructure and weak credit markets, one expert contends.

"Until we get movement on those five things, we're at stall speed," says Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pimco, the world's largest bond fund.

Stall speed is particularly scary when talking about the economy as large as that of the U.S.

"We can talk about the probability of recession when unemployment is already too high, when the financial deficit is 9 percent of (gross domestic product), when interest rates are already at zero percent and when a quarter of the homeowners are already underwater on their mortgages. That is a terrifying concept. That is why everything must be done to avoid a slowdown in growth," El-Erian tells CNBC.

Other analysts agree that the country shouldn't breathe a sigh of relief when hearing growth forecasts in positive territory.

Weak economic indicators show it doesn't take much to push the economy right back into the depths of recession for a long time.

"While the likelihood of a recession [in the U.S.] has eased of late, the economy is still operating at only a modest pace and remains vulnerable to shocks," says Julia Coronado, chief North American economists at BNP Paribas, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Source:
http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Fed-Economy-Recession/2011/11/14/id/417981

Vatican Murder Mystery: Was It a Gay Love Triangle?

Nov 14, 2011 6:31 AM EST


AUTHOR
Barbie Latza Nadeau
Barbie Latza NadeauClick here to find out more!

A salacious crime in the pope’s backyard has gone unsolved for almost 14 years. Barbie Latza Nadeau on the double homicide—and the rumored gay love triangle that could be behind it.

On May 4, 1998, five shots rang out inside a private apartment tucked within the fortified walls of Vatican City in Rome. Dead were Alois Estermann, the newly appointed commander of the elite Swiss Guard army that protects the pope; Estermann’s Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero, a former model; and Cedric Tornay, who was a corporal in the Swiss Guard. No one heard the shots, according to neighbors who were interviewed after the murders, but the three bodies were enough proof to solve the crime, at least according to the Vatican. The Holy See’s official line was that corporal Tornay had killed Estermann and his wife before putting his 7mm pistol into his mouth and blowing his brains out. The motive was simple, they said. Tornay had been passed up by Estermann for a promotion and could not contain his rage.

But the truth behind the Vatican’s Swiss Guard murders is far more complex, says Tornay’s mother, Muguette Baudat. Earlier this month she pleaded to Pope Benedict XVI to reopen the case and clear her son’s name. In a brief interview with The Daily Beast, she says her son was the victim of a cover-up, not the perpetrator of a murder-suicide. “My son is not the man behind such a murder,” she said. “He was not crazy and vengeful. He was actually a victim in this crime.”

Baudat has written a letter to the current pope in the hope he will reopen the case. She believes that because Benedict was a key administrator in the Vatican hierarchy during her son’s murder investigation, he may be willing to reinvestigate the case for the sake of transparency. “He might want clear his conscience,” she says. “It would be the right thing to do.”

When it happened, the Swiss Guard murder shook Rome to its core. Because Vatican City is a sovereign nation, it has its own police and investigative units. The pope is the head of state, and no one in the papal administration has to answer to anyone outside the Vatican walls—even though the tiny nation is tucked inside the city of Rome. Secrecy shrouded the case from the moment the news broke. In the hours after a Vatican insider leaked the news of a murder, local Italian journalists speculated that then–pope John Paul II himself had been the victim of a gunman’s wrath. It took nearly 24 hours for the Vatican to clarify that it had been the head of the pope’s protective arm who had been killed in a murder-suicide and not the pope himself.

vatican-murder-alois-estermann-love-triangle-barbie.jpg

Pope John Paul II greets Swiss Guard Alois Estermann and his Venezuelan wife, Gladys Meza Romero, during a private audience at the Vatican in this May 6, 1997, file photo. Estermann, nominated commander of the Swiss Guards by the Pontiff on May 4, 1998, was found shot only 12 hours later with his wife and another noncommissioned member of the elite corps, Cedric Tornay, in his apartment inside the Vatican., AP Photo

In the years that followed, reporters followed several leads in a yet- unsolved quest for the truth about what may have really happened that night. Several books have been penned about the case, but none so far have truly solved the crime. It was no secret within the Swiss Guard that Estermann was a bisexual who had a weakness for young recruits and had allegedly just ended a sexual relationship with Tornay, who was 23 at the time. One theory is that when Estermann turned his affections to another young recruit, Tornay allegedly lost his temper and killed Estermann and his wife in a jealous rage. In a book written on the case called Verbum Dei et Verbum Gay ("God's Word, Gay Word"), author Massimo Lacchei writes that in the days before the murders, he had observed Estermann and Tornay at what he describes as a gay brunch and had later interviewed Tornay, who he said was clearly attached to his superior. He says, ''They were so intimate and friendly for a subordinate and a captain.”

Another theory is that Estermann was at the core of a power struggle within the Swiss Guard itself. On one side was the über-conservative Opus Dei movement, and on the other a Masonic sect with growing strength within the elite guard. Estermann, who was appointed as the guards’ new commander just hours before he was murdered, was caught in the middle, according to a book calledBlood Lies in the Vatican, written by anonymous authors who claim to be priests and insiders who live inside the Vatican walls. They maintain that Tornay was attacked and dragged to the Vatican cellar, where he was “suicided” by commandos and then later placed in Estermann’s apartment after the real assailants did their dirty work. They conclude, “The element that undermines the official truth is the fact that no one heard the five loud shots fired by the powerful pistol found under Cedric Tornay’s body.”

One theory is that Tornay lost his temper and killed Estermann and his wife in a jealous rage.

Tornay’s mother believes the second theory more than the first, but knows the truth could lie somewhere in the middle. She says her son was the pawn of more powerful entities and got caught in the crossfire in a situation he likely knew nothing about. She denies her son’s homosexual affair with his boss, but concedes that he may have been too trusting and therefore easily taken advantage of. Either way, she is determined to find the truth about her son.

Pope Benedict XVI has not yet responded officially to Tornay's mother’s letter. Her lawyer Luc Brossollet says she will not let it go. “The case is full of suppressed evidence, contradictions, and lies,” he said recently. “It’s time to find the shameful truth.”


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