This lion seriously loves her new video camera

While shooting pictures for our new book on lions (www.africanlions.co.za) at Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve (www.tswalu.com) we found some lions patrolling the fence line. We placed our GoPro action camera in their path hoping to catch a glimpse of them as they came past. Little did we know that one lioness would take a liking to the camera and cart it off into the bush!

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Obama statement on NY victory fails to mention Medicare

Apparently "winning" is now mean.

This is pathetically naive. The man simply has no fight in him. He also doesn't understand the first thing about politics.

We said a long time ago that this White House isn't interested in the fortunes of the House and Senate Democrats (or of any group or entity on the left), and the President made that clear tonight. His primary interest, on hearing that the issue of Medicare turned a conservative House district blue, wasn't taking political advantage of tonight's victory and using it to feed a narrative of GOP extremism that he, and all Democratic candidates, could use to coast to victory in 2012.

No, President Obama's primary interest was making sure he didn't say anything that would help Democrats, because by helping Democrats he's per se hurting Republicans.  And hurting Republicans is mean.  And he doesn't do mean.  Unless he's being mean to a Democrat, or a Democratic constituency.  Then it's okay.

All sarcasm aside, we've finally found a winning election issue, a weakness in the GOP armor, and the White House doesn't even mention it.  It was THE issue of the race, it was the reason the Republican lost.  If the GOP were in our shoes, that's all they'd be doing is spinning this race to their advantage.  It's what you do in politics, smart politics.  This is serious, what the White House just did.  And it's part of an ongoing pattern of missed opportunity, a pattern of telegraphing weakness when they're actually in the position of strength.  

UPDATE: What should Obama have done?  Here's what Nancy Pelosi had to say:

"Kathy Hochul's victory tonight is a tribute to Democrats' commitment to preserve and strengthen Medicare, create jobs, and grow our economy," Pelosi said. "And it sends a clear message that will echo nationwide: Republicans will be held accountable for their vote to end Medicare."

Duh.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2011

Statement by the President on the Election of Kathy Hochul to Congress

I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York's 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.

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AP calls NY-26 House race for Democrat

Wow.  Don't mess with Medicare.

The emergence of Medicare reform as an issue in the New York special election "changed the climate," presenting Democrats with an opportunity to capture the heavily Republican district, according to Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

It's one of NY's most conservative congressional districts:

Two months ago, the Democrat, Kathy Hochul, was considered an all-but-certain loser. But Ms. Hochul seized on her Republican rival’s embrace of the proposal from Representative Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, to overhaul Medicare, and she never let up.

Could Steny Hoyer have been more clueless. Read the rest of this post...

Mubarak and sons to be tried for death of protesters and corruption

This is surely not the way the former leader expected to finish out his years. CNN:

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons will face trial before a criminal court for the killings of protesters and the waste of public money, the Egyptian general prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's leader on February 11, after an 18-day uprising against his nearly three decades of iron-fisted rule.

Mubarak is in detention. His wife, Suzanne, who suffered a heart attack this month, was released on bail last week after relinquishing control of bank accounts worth $3.4 million. She also gave up a villa and signed an affidavit allowing further investigation of her personal fortune.

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Hoyer: Cuts to Medicare are on the table

Well, that's a tad idiotic to admit when the GOP is still saying "no tax cuts" and Democrats, for the first time in a long time, have Republicans on the run over Ryan's budget proposal to dismantle Medicare.

And again, why make this concession when the Republicans haven't conceded anything yet?  This would be our second concession.  The first is holding the talks at all and conceding that we need to cut $4 trillion, and start immediately.

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"Greece, Ireland and Portugal can’t and won’t repay their debts in full"

That's Paul Krugman in a recent column. The lead-in to that conclusion is worth reading, a nice cautionary tale about how the Europeans got there. But the bottom line is in the headline, and the consequences won't be pretty.

It isn't going to be just Greece (my emphasis):

But as I said, the confidence fairy hasn’t shown up. Europe’s troubled debtor nations are, as we should have expected, suffering further economic decline thanks to those austerity programs, and confidence is plunging instead of rising. It’s now clear that Greece, Ireland and Portugal can’t and won’t repay their debts in full, although Spain might manage to tough it out.

Realistically, then, Europe needs to prepare for some kind of debt reduction, involving a combination of aid from stronger economies and “haircuts” imposed on private creditors, who will have to accept less than full repayment. Realism, however, appears to be in short supply.

On one side, Germany is taking a hard line against anything resembling aid to its troubled neighbors[.] ... On the other side, the E.C.B. is acting as if it is determined to provoke a financial crisis.

Not pretty, and not promising. He closes: "If Greek banks collapse, that might well force Greece out of the euro area — and it’s all too easy to see how it could start financial dominoes falling across much of Europe."

There's talk of causes in the column — why the E.C.B. is on this self-destructive course. But that's not my subject. Wrong-headedness; ideological addiction; salvish concern for German bankers — I'm not sure any of that matters as much as the consequences. Who cares why he's a drunk; look what he did.

I don't think this will end well, for the elites or the impoverished.

GP Read the rest of this post...

What you need to know about today's special election in NY

From Taegan Goddard:

Today's special election in New York's 26th congressional district between Kathy Hochul (D), Jane Corwin (R) and Tea Party candidate Jack Davis "has been framed as the country's first unofficial referendum on Republicans' plan to reshape Medicare. This referendum, however, could send ripple effects deep into 2012," Roll Call reports.

Two recent polls found Hochul leading Corwin, with third-party candidate Jack Davis drawing a small, but significant, portion of the electorate. A GOP loss "would be embarrassing for the GOP at best, while giving Democrats a tested and effective strategy to target swing districts in 2012 at worst."

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GOP gets ready to vote on Ryan's plan to eliminate Medicare

As DKos notes, what were they thinking?

Note yesterday's swing state polling story — Senate battleground polling shows imperative of protecting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid — in which (via PPP)

McCaskill's Missouri shows the largest divide in surveys done by the Democratically friendly Public Policy Polling, especially on Medicare. When asked, "In order to reduce the national debt, would you support or oppose cutting spending on Medicare, which is the government health insurance program for the elderly?" just 19 percent of respondents said they would, while an overwhelming 77 percent said they would oppose cuts.

Similarly, 20 percent back cuts in Brown's Ohio, while 76 percent oppose them. In Tester's Montana, it's 24 percent favoring cuts and 71 percent against. Just 26 percent of Minnesotans would want Klobuchar to vote to cut Medicare, while 69 percent say to vote against.

Why did the GOP ignore common sense and run some extra juice through the Medicare third rail and then gleefully and eagerly step on it? How could they have exercised such colossally bad judgment?

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Ed Schultz interviews Cornel West & Melissa Harris-Perry on the criticism of Obama from the black community

This will likely be my last coverage of this issue for a while (unless there's news, of course). I wanted to round out the discussion by giving Melissa Harris-Perry her say.

As you may recall, there's a dust-up in the black community regarding Prof. Cornel West's criticism of Obama published in Truthdig. (For more, see here.) Dr. West's criticism is both personal and political, and contains some psychological observations that may or may not have merit in your eyes.

West's colleague, Princeton professor Eddie Glaude spoke to Sam Seder about the issue, in what (for my money) is a really interesting interview. (Our coverage of that is here.)

West has been roundly criticized in the black community and elsewhere for his remarks. One critic is Melissa Harris-Perry, a Nation magazine contributor and frequent Rachel Maddow guest.

In The Nation, Melissa Harris-Perry wrote in part:

Professor Cornel West is President Obama’s silenced, disregarded, disrespected moral conscience, according to Chris Hedges’s recent Truthdig column, “The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West went Ballistic.” In a self-aggrandizing, victimology sermon deceptively wrapped in the discourse of prophetic witness, Professor West offers thin criticism of President Obama and stunning insight into the delicate ego of the self-appointed black leadership class that has been largely supplanted in recent years.

To put both views side by side (West's and Harris-Perry's), here's each appearing on The Ed Show. Ignore if you wish Schultz's defense of Obama (you would expect that in any case) and focus on the two interviewees, West and Harris-Perry. They appear sequentially, but each get a good chance to voice his or her views. A short, very instructive video (h/t Sam Seder):



Why should you care? For several reasons: (1) West is voicing from the black community the same criticisms of Obama you hear from many other communities — gay, Latino, immigrant, progressive. These voice aren't going away, and this criticism can't be dismissed easily. Political preference aside, the argument has a strong grounding in fact. Agree or disagree, these voices will be part of the 2012 dynamic on the Democratic side.

(2) As I noted earlier, the critique of Obama from a black square is different than from any other position on the board. The black community has an understandable interest in rallying around the first black president, period. This subjects the Obama-critics to a kind of silencing counter-attack unavailable to those defending Obama against charges from Latinos, or gays.

It's a fascinating discussion in my view; well worth the price of admission. I hope this helps your understanding of it.

By the way, my apologies if you're one of those who gets subjected, as a lead-in for the above video, to BP ads saying "We're the deadly dinos who really love you, not like those others nasty beasts." Just picture them with their clothes off; because in fact, the kind of dishonest opinion-manipulation obvious in these ads does leave them naked and exposed, doesn't it. Enjoy it for their self-stripping.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Rapture update - real date is October 21

And this time, the calculation is surely correct. They think.

Harold Camping, architect of Saturday's dramatic events in which Judgment Day came and went without so much as an earthquake, has revealed what went wrong.

He took to his show on his network Family Radio to reveal the simple truth: the Apocalypse was imminent, he'd just got it out by five months.

So now the world is going to end – really and truly this time – on 21 October.

Maybe Camping just struggles with putting the math together since the first time he predicted the end of the world was in 1994. Better luck next time! Read the rest of this post...

Wisconsin recall elections to start in July

This will definitely be interesting to follow.

State election officials ordered July 12 recall elections on Monday for three Republican state senators, setting the stage for what could be an unprecedented summer of recall elections.

The Government Accountability Board, which runs state elections, voted unanimously to schedule the recall elections against Sens. Dan Kapanke of LaCrosse, Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon.

Next week it will consider recall petitions against six other senators. In all, citizens are seeking to recall nine senators - six Republicans and three Democrats - for their stances on the fight over Gov. Scott Walker's plan to greatly limit the ability of public employees to engage in labor negotiations.

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NOTE from GP: Our Contribute to the Wisconsin Recall link is below, and we haven't put it up in a while. Thank you for whatever you can do to help.

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Did Cisco help Beijing pursue dissidents?

Cisco may be the target here but it's not unusual to hear of US tech companies collaborating with the Beijing government to win business. Financial Times:

Senior executives at Cisco Systems worked closely with Chinese government security agents to tailor hardware and software they knew would be used to track, detain and torture followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, according to a U.S. federal lawsuit filed last week.

The suit accuses the networking company’s chief executive John Chambers and leaders of Cisco’s China business of close collaboration with Beijing, citing statements on company websites, at trade shows and in internal documents.

The 52-page complaint was brought by the Washington-based Human Rights Law Foundation, which has handled other legal issues for Falun Gong followers, on behalf of residents in the U.S. and survivors of some said to have been killed in China for their participation in Falun Gong activities.

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UK and France deploying attack helicopters in Libya

How long until troops hit the ground?

Britain and France are to deploy attack helicopters against Libya in an attempt to break the military stalemate, particularly in the important coastal city of Misrata, security sources have told the Guardian.

In a significant escalation of the conflict, the Apaches – based on HMS Ocean – will join French helicopters in risky operations which reflect deepening frustration among British and French defence chiefs about their continuing inability to protect civilians in Libya.

Apaches, which are being used in counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan, can manoeuvre and attack small targets in relatively built-up areas. Heavily armed Apaches and French Tiger helicopters are equipped with night vision equipment and electronic guidance systems. Forces loyal to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, have shed their uniforms, are using civilian vehicles and hiding armour near civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools.

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Iceland volcano continues to disrupt air travel in Europe

When the volcano first erupted, it did not sound like it would be a problem. A few days into it though, it's starting to look like another headache for travelers and the airline industry.

As a plume of ash once again drifts towards Scotland from the north Atlantic, experts insist that this time will be different, and new rules will permit more aircraft to brave the cloud.

But as aviation authorities admitted they did not yet know how badly flights would be affected, airlines including BA, Aer Lingus, KLM, easyJet and Flybe grounded services due to take off today.

Barack Obama and his entourage took no chances, preferring to skip a planned one-night stay in Dublin and fly in to London last night for the US president's state visit.

What is known is that the densest parts of the ash cloud from the Grimsvötn volcano are expected to exceed a new safety threshold set for airlines, and services at a dozen airports, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, are already under threat.

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The scariest tornado video you’ll never see

From Sunday's tornado in Missouri. A video shot in the dark as a tornado hit. All you'll really hear is the sound. Frightening. And mesmerizing.

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