Category: News

162,000 New Jobs Added in March
The Labor Department said Wednesday the jobless rate dropped in 69 percent of metro areas last month from February. The report follows other recent encouraging news about jobs. Employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the government said earlier this month, the most significant gain in three years.

There’s a reason you ignore them
The more simplistic the GOP slogan, the faster you should avoid it.

It’s certainly true that in the last week and a half, the Obama Administration has found itself in a Bush-like situation of having a bad policy decision become a precursor to an actual disaster.

The GOP plays the “long-game” when it comes to disastrous policy positions (or doesn’t depending on your sarcastic perspective), something a Democrat should always keep in mind. From pretending there isn’t global warming to pissing off the nation’s fastest growing ethnic groups you have to add this characteristic to your political calculus.

So how fitting that Republicans at their last convention sent out noted expert on everything Rudy Giuliani to discuss 9-11 offshore drilling. How fitting they adopt noted expert on everything Sarah Palin’s slogans. How fitting that they continue to send out noted expert on everything Newt Gingrich to demand it while a certain off-shore oil platform breaks Joseph Hazelwood’s record for oil spills.

There are reasons, Mr. President, we shouldn’t listen to most Republican talking points.

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Late Late Night FDL: Something He Can Feel
Aretha Franklin — Something He Can Feel.

Aretha Franklin — Something He Can Feel.

What’s on your mind?

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Hava Nagila Edition
Noam Chomsky on “the evil scourge of terrorism,” Glenn Greenwald on White House reporters being afraid of the White House, plus: why you can’t be a cop in Papua, Indonesia if you’ve had your penis enlarged. On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies. The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top. David Hockney meets the iPad… David Hockney was in the Boy Scouts (motto: “Be Prepared”), so he points out that in tailoring terms he was ready for the advent of the iPad. Police barred from penis enlargement Forget about getting a job as a police officer in Indonesia’s Papua if you have had your penis enlarged. You won’t get it, according to local media reports citing the Papua police chief. The hidden damage of psychiatric drugs An award-winning science reporter looks at the history of mental illness in America—with disturbing results. The abuse scandals won’t kill the Catholic Church—but it will make it look a whole lot different These are obviously dark days for the Roman Catholic Church. For over a decade, the U.S. church has been assailed by abuse charges and devastated by the resulting litigation. … Will Goldman Sachs prove greed is God? The investment bank’s cult of self-interest is on trial against the whole idea of civilisation – the collective decision by all of us not to screw each other over even if we can. Hava Nagila! White House reporters afraid to criticize the White House I can’t recall reading any sentence quite as illustrative as this one from Politico stating (without any irony) that White House reporters insisted upon anonymity because they’re afraid of angering the White House with their public statements. An Agenda for Graduate Education The prime position of American graduate education is increasingly at risk, and both universities and the government need to renew their commitments to helping students earn advanced degrees, says a report being released today. Libel Case, Prompted by an Academic Book Review, Has Scholars Worried If you’re an author confronted with a negative book review, you have several options. You can write an angry letter to the editor.  … “The Evil Scourge Of Terrorism” The president could not have been more justified when he condemned “the evil scourge of terrorism.” I am quoting Ronald Reagan, who came into office in 1981 declaring that a focus of his foreign policy would be state-directed international terrorism, “the plague of the modern age” and “a return to barbarism in our time,” to sample some of the rhetoric of his administration. …

Noam Chomsky on “the evil scourge of terrorism,” Glenn Greenwald on White House reporters being afraid of the White House, plus: why you can’t be a cop in Papua, Indonesia if you’ve had your penis enlarged.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

David Hockney meets the iPad…
David Hockney was in the Boy Scouts (motto: “Be Prepared”), so he points out that in tailoring terms he was ready for the advent of the iPad.

Police barred from penis enlargement
Forget about getting a job as a police officer in Indonesia’s Papua if you have had your penis enlarged. You won’t get it, according to local media reports citing the Papua police chief.

The hidden damage of psychiatric drugs
An award-winning science reporter looks at the history of mental illness in America—with disturbing results.

The abuse scandals won’t kill the Catholic Church—but it will make it look a whole lot different
These are obviously dark days for the Roman Catholic Church. For over a decade, the U.S. church has been assailed by abuse charges and devastated by the resulting litigation. …

Will Goldman Sachs prove greed is God?
The investment bank’s cult of self-interest is on trial against the whole idea of civilisation – the collective decision by all of us not to screw each other over even if we can.

Hava Nagila!

White House reporters afraid to criticize the White House
I can’t recall reading any sentence quite as illustrative as this one from Politico stating (without any irony) that White House reporters insisted upon anonymity because they’re afraid of angering the White House with their public statements.

An Agenda for Graduate Education
The prime position of American graduate education is increasingly at risk, and both universities and the government need to renew their commitments to helping students earn advanced degrees, says a report being released today.

Libel Case, Prompted by an Academic Book Review, Has Scholars Worried
If you’re an author confronted with a negative book review, you have several options. You can write an angry letter to the editor.? …

“The Evil Scourge Of Terrorism”
The president could not have been more justified when he condemned “the evil scourge of terrorism.” I am quoting Ronald Reagan, who came into office in 1981 declaring that a focus of his foreign policy would be state-directed international terrorism, “the plague of the modern age” and “a return to barbarism in our time,” to sample some of the rhetoric of his administration. …

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Palin Email Trial: Jury Deliberation Heads To Fourth Day
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Before deliberating a fourth day at the trial of a man charged with hacking Sarah Palin’s e-mail, a federal jury in Knoxville…

BP Oil Spill: Company Loses $25 Billion In Market Value
NEW YORK — BP shares tumbled more than 8 percent Thursday, and the company has lost roughly $25 billion in market value since an offshore…

Hawaii Civil Union Bill Passes Legislature
HONOLULU — Hawaii is a step closer to joining a small group of other states in allowing same-sex civil unions. In a move that still…

Sandy Goodman: Warning to Washington: Hands Off Our Oil Spill
I’ve always been a Democrat. But, faced with the threat of the world’s worst oil spill ever, I’m turning conservative, becoming a small government man….

Acaban de ser publicadas dos fotos espías que nos muestran al nuevo Audi RS3, un compacto de aspecto deportivo con un motor de gran potencia. Se espera que sea presentado de forma oficial el próximo mes de Octubre durante el Salón de París.

Sobre la motorización, hará uso de un motor 2.5 TFSI con el que puede desarrollar 340 CV de potencia. Puede acelerar de 0 a 100 km/h en menos de 5 segundos. También cabe destacar que contará con tracción integral Quattro.

Las fotografías espía que podeis ver en esta noticia, han sido tomadas en las cercanías del circuito de Nürburgring, asi que es posible que durante los próximas días obtengamos nuevas imágenes o datos de este compacto.

Related posts:

1. Audi R8 GT3, fotos espía
2. Audi RS5, fotos espía de alta calidad
3. Fotos espía del Audi A5 Sportback

The SMH has an article on the slowly emerging UCG industry in Australia (making progress towards commercialisation despite resistance from the coal seam gas industry) – Technology to help fuel the future.

The coming of age for UCG has been lengthy. The technology was first developed in the 19th century and encouraged in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union. The process works by injecting oxidants down a production well and over non-mined coal seams. The combustion results in gas that is transported up a second well, where it can then be used as a fuel, a chemical feedstock or for power generation.

Cougar Energy managing director Len Walker, one of the pioneers of UCG in Australia, says rising energy demand has put the technology in play.

”When I founded Linc Energy in 1996, or even when I founded Cougar more than two years ago, there was very limited interest in UCG,” Dr Walker says. ”There was also very little going on overseas at the time. Apart from Linc Energy, Carbon Energy and ourselves, which are the big three in the space, I have counted six or seven other listed companies that have recently popped up and which are all promoting UCG in different ways.

”I have never seen anything like it in the 30 years that I have been involved in UCG. The genie is out of the bottle and it is unlikely to be put back in the bottle again.”

Walker says an important difference between UCG and coal seam gas is that the latter is produced for conversion into liquefied natural gas and the export market, while the former is aimed at domestic supply.

”It would take far too much effort to convert underground coal gasification for export,” Walker says. ”Everyone can see energy prices going up but if we can bring this to market, and clearly I am a firm believer in that eventuating, then we will be underpinning the price of gas in Australia.”

Last month Cougar announced ignition of its flagship Kingaroy project in south-east Queensland and the successful production of synthetic gas (or syngas).

The company will soon undertake a series of trials, underground and on the surface, that will be used for a pre-feasibility study and a subsequent bankable feasibility.

The composition and variability of the gas will determine the final design for Cougar’s planned 400-megawatt power station, producing enough energy to power 400,000 homes for at least 30 years. Walker is hopeful of securing $300 million in combined debt and equity funding by early next year. The proceeds will fund its 200-megawatt stage 1 project to be completed by 2013.

Travel about 125 kilometres south-west of Kingaroy and you will find Linc’s Chinchilla project, which has a slightly different take on UCG. It uses the process to convert coal to liquids, which it has been doing for about 10 years, and its goal is to produce 20,000 barrels a day – 10 per cent of Australia’s current fuel consumption.

Linc chief executive Peter Bond says the company is looking at branching into power generation. ”What UCG is eventually used for is really driven by geography. So in Vietnam, for instance, power is in short supply so you wouldn’t do anything else but power,” he says.

”We are hopeful of putting in a power station in South Australia, which is being pushed through at a rate of knots because South Australia is really short on power supply. That would be a 200 to 400-megawatt commitment, with construction to start by the end of next year.”

Neighbouring Linc’s tenements in the Surat Basin is Carbon Energy. Having completed its pilot burn more than a year ago, Carbon Energy is targeting a five-megawatt plant, which will be operational by midyear and be the first of its kind in the world.

Quick Fact: Hannity falsely claims former Obama nominee “sees similarities between pregnancy and slavery”

On his April 29 show, Sean Hannity twice falsely claimed that Dawn Johnsen, President Obama’s former nominee to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel before withdrawing her nomination, “sees similarities between pregnancy and slavery.” In fact, in the brief to which Hannity refers, Johnsen compared “forced pregnancy” to involuntary servitude.

Hannity: Johnsen “seems the similarities between pregnancy and slavery.”

During a discussion of Obama’s judicial nominees on the April 29 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Hannity article:

The Republicans are referring to a 1989 brief in Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, a case that tested whether states could prohibit abortions in public health institutions. Johnsen was then legal director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, one of 77 organizations to sign the brief.

Footnote 23, part of the brief that Johnsen said in a Senate hearing that she wrote, said the following: “While a woman might choose to bear children gladly and voluntarily, statutes that curtail her abortion choice are disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest. Indeed, the actual process of delivery demands work of the most intense and physical kind: labor of 12 or more grueling hours of contractions is not uncommon.”

So Johnsen compared “forced pregnancy” — not motherhood — to involuntary servitude.

After we asked the Republican Conference about the claim, staffer Ericka Andersen acknowledged it was wrong. “You are correct that the post was written inaccurately,” she told us in an e-mail. She corrected the post to say Johnsen “equated forced pregnancy with ‘involuntary servitude.’”

Kudos to the conference for acknowledging the error. But we still find the original claim False.

AZ Immigration Bill Writer’s Resume: GOP Activist, Ashcroft Aide, Arpaio Ally
The controversial Arizona immigration bill signed into law last week was written in part by a conservative immigration law expert and Republican activist who’s a former top aide to John Ashcroft, was recently hired by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and is running for statewide office.

House Passes New Bill Banning RNC ‘Census’ Mailer Once And For All
Moments ago, the House passed a new bill that seeks to ban misleading Census mailers once and for all.

Seems like only yesterday that we were talking about the HP Compaq Airlife 100 Android netbook — oh, wait, it was, both here and on the special Emergency PalmCast Broadcast in the wake of HP buying Palm for $1.2 billion. Anyhoo, we got a good look at the Airlife 100 at Mobile World Congress but had seen neither hide nor hair of it since. But, as expected, it’s now available on Telefonica in Spain, bringing its 10-inch screen and 1 GHz Snapdragon processor for about $300, not counting data plan. [Carrypad via Slashgear]

McCain’s Enemy Belligerent Detention Act: Is SCOTUS keeping Richard Fine in jail for a reason?
Well, the U.S. Supreme Court just reviewed attorney Richard Fine’s habeas corpus case and gave it a pass. Poor sweet attorney Fine has been held in the slammer on a bogus contempt-of-court charge for over a year now. Further, he’s being held in the Los Angeles County Central Men’s Jail, one of the violent and […]

Billionaire Jumps Into Florida Senate Race
“Just in case Florida’s Senate race wasn’t interesting enough, Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene plans to file papers this morning to enter the contest as a Democrat,” the Palm Beach Post reports.

Adam Smith: “His colorful profile — Mike Tyson was best man at his 2008 wedding, ex-Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss lived in his guest house after prison, and he made many of his millions betting on the housing collapse that killed Florida’s economy — normally would make a candidate like Greene a long shot. But in a race where Democratic frontrunner Kendrick Meek is little known to most voters and Crist non-partisan candidacy means it will be a three-way race, Greene’s ability to saturate Florida TV with commercials could make him a major contender.”

In the future, the difference between social networks and corporate websites will be hard to distinguish.

HP’s social strategist Tony Frosty Welch gestured for me to check out Levi’s recent social moves, his instincts were right, this is unique. Two weeks ago, Facebook announced a crusade in social colonization to spread Facebook across the web, and we’re starting to see Levi’s take advantage of it.  While most brands are only at level 1 of social integration, Levi’s has jumped to level 6 and 7.

Breakdown: How Facebook Enables Levi’s Social Shopping

Awareness (Above Screenshot): Levi’s homepage indicates that it now has Facebook integration

Education (Above Screenshot): An intro video indicates how users can gesture they like a product, by “liking” it on the Levi’s site –even if they are not logged into Levis.com, you can watch the video also on YouTube.

Social Gestures (Above Screenshot): On each product page, Levi’s encourages users to “Like” the products, and uses standard social features from Facebook that prompt viewers to be the “First of your friends” to like it.

Social Commerce (Above Screenshot):  Using the aggregated Facebook data, Levi’s creates a personalized shopping cart based on what your friends have suggested you’ll like, hoping to increase upsell.

Customer Demands Signals From Social Networks An Opportunity for Retailers
Levi’s has launched a promising marketing opportunity at low cost. By simply installing existing social features into their content management systems, they can increase the mouth of the marketing funnel, and benefit from word of mouth marketing.

• Your friends are shopping with you –even if they aren’t present. This has two major impacts: 1) Consumers real friends are part of the shopping experience –even if they are not physically present. 2) The level of engagement will eventually cascade to mobile devices in store, so eventually as consumers walk into a retailer that has Levi’s they could scan the product and see which one of their friends likes or recommends it.
• A more engaged user, without forcing them through registration. Registration forms are the bane of marketers: Most consumers disdain them, enter garbage data, and fall off as the forms get longer.  However, As long as users are logged into Facebook they can do this even if they are not logged into Levi’s.com. This means that consumers can ‘like’ a product and engage with the Levi’s product and spread it to their friends on the corporate site and on Facebook. As a result, expect the mouth of the marketing funnel to be wider
• Consumers take part in marketing and recommendations, increasing upsell opportunity. Levi’s has had social shopping features on their site for some time, you can see the ratings, rankings and comments on each product page, yet in most cases, consumers don’t know who those reviewers are.  Edelman’s Trust research indicates that customers trust each other or ‘people like them’ so this has the opportunity to increase. In theory there could be a great chance of up and cross sell as consumers rely on their actual friends to influence buying decisions. Expect celebrities with large followings to be more influential as what they ‘like’ will cascade over thousands.
• Social commerce vendors will integrate with Social CRM –yet should be cautious of user privacy. Social vendors like Bazaarvoice, Kickapps*, and Pluck and other customer rating tools that occur post login, need to quickly pay attention to this as it’s both a threat an opportunity. They should develop integration tools and integrate their social data with CRM systems (called Social CRM) to create new and unique forms of data that can anticipate customer needs. Facebook users aren’t fully aware of the long term impacts this has, expect some embarrassing and news worthy stories to appear where a consumer ‘likes’ a product resulting in an unexpected result.

The biggest opportunities are actually unseen. Expect savvy brands to use demand signals from consumers to indicate which products should be ramped up on production, distribution, and marketing, to learn more read my colleague’s blog on Supply Chain Management, by Altimeter’s Lora Cecere.

*An Altimeter client, see disclosure page. We hope you’ll trust our analysis more if we disclose our relationships.

Why Law Enforcement Officials Should Hate Arizona’s Racist New Law
Arizona’s draconian anti-immigration law will create a chilling effect in the very communities police officers rely on to fight crime.

Arizona's draconian anti-immigration law will create a chilling effect in the very communities police officers rely on to fight crime.

Food Among the Ruins: Should Detroit Be Converted Into a Farming Mecca?
Our country’s most ramshackle city has an opportunity to re-invent itself — and perhaps the future of American food production.

Our country's most ramshackle city has an opportunity to re-invent itself — and perhaps the future of American food production.

Thousands Rally in New York for Showdown with Wall St.
Over 10,000 protesters gathered in New York’s financial district to demand financial reform.

Over 10,000 protesters gathered in New York's financial district to demand financial reform.

Exploring the Mind-Bending World of Salvia Divinorum
"Within around thirty seconds of smoking the dark herbal extract the effects rapidly began, and I felt my entire sense of identity suddenly shift."

"Within around thirty seconds of smoking the dark herbal extract the effects rapidly began, and I felt my entire sense of identity suddenly shift."

Greenwire: Though the Cape Wind offshore wind farm secured approval yesterday from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, residents of Cape Cod do not expect a conclusion anytime soon to a battle that has already dragged on for nearly a decade.

“I don’t think it’s over yet,” said Rob MacNamee, 42, an attorney from Barnstable, Mass. “It’s been going on for how long? All the stickers for and against have washed off the cars, and the signs have blown down.”

The 130 wind turbines would be visible from much of the region, but residents do not expect to see the 440-foot structures to be built anytime soon. Several groups have threatened lawsuits to block the project.

Critics of the project say the turbines would change the character of Nantucket Sound, ruining scenic views and obstructing the routes currently taken by boats. Backers say the project would make Massachusetts a leader in renewable energy and provide enough energy to meet most of Cape Cod’s electricity needs.

Steven Spagnohe, a 46-year-old musician from Hyannis, Mass., described opponents of the project as “old money,” saying they “don’t want to lose tradition.” Ian Parent, the owner of a cafe in Hyannis, said he supports renewable energy but does not think Nantucket Sound is the right place for the technology.

“I’m 100 percent for alternative energy, but just not in Nantucket Sound,” Parent said. “There’s no guarantee that the electricity will be cheaper. And once you put those windmills out there, you can never take them away” (Katie Zezima, New York Times, April 29). – GN

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VIDEO Jerusalem: A Great Model For Arizona
I don’t know what we would do without Al Jazeera. Like the Israeli media, it goes where the American media fears to tred. Check this out. The occupied areas of Israel (including Arab East Jerusalem) have a segregated road system….



Israel – East Jerusalem – United States – Middle East – Warfare and Conflict

Neocons: Playing The Dual Loyalty Card ++ Nadler, Weiner Speak Out For The Occupation
The neocons AIPAC, its think-tank (the Washington Institute of Near East Policy), and the rest of the usual Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd is now harping on the question of dual loyalty. Are American Jews being accused of being more loyal to Israel…


United States – American Israel Public Affairs Committee – Middle East – Dennis Ross – Israel

Gingrich?s ?Drill Here, Drill Now? campaign continues as oil rig disaster grows.
The Earth Day oil rig disaster that began with an explosion that claimed 11 lives is becoming an ecological catastrophe. The Coast Guard has set some of the West-Virginia-sized oil slick ablaze, even as it grows by thousands of barrels a day. Although this deadly catastrophe calls into question the pro-drilling campaigns by the oil […]

The Earth Day oil rig disaster that began with an explosion that claimed 11 lives is becoming an ecological catastrophe. The Coast Guard has set some of the West-Virginia-sized oil slick ablaze, even as it grows by thousands of barrels a day. Although this deadly catastrophe calls into question the pro-drilling campaigns by the oil industry and its conservative allies, the propaganda continues. In 2008, Newt Gingrich began American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF), the casino-funded 527 that used the slogan “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” to promote the false idea that new offshore drilling could lower gas prices. On its website, Gingrich’s ASWF is continuing its petition while reporting on the inevitable consequences of dependence on dirty oil:

Similarly, other oil-industry front groups — American Petroleum Institute, Energy Tomorrow, Institute for Energy Research, Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Foundation, and the Institute for 21st Century Energy — are still promoting increased drilling and attacking green economy legislation that would reduce our dependence on oil. (HT Wonkette)

Obama: ‘There may not be an appetite’ to tackle immigration this year
President Obama said late Wednesday that “there may not be an appetite” to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws this year, even though he believes there is a pressing need to do so.

Goldman Sachs adds to its ranks of lobbyists
Until a few years ago, Goldman Sachs operated a sleepy lobby shop in the nation’s capital.

Hunter says she didn’t wreck John Edwards’ home
John Edwards’ mistress said on Thursday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that she doesn’t believe she destroyed the former presidential candidate’s marriage.

Independence Day for Charlie Crist
Independence Day for Charlie Crist 1. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) will announce his future political plans today, a decision widely reported — by the Fix among many others — to be a stepping-away from the Republican party to run for the Senate this fall as an independent. Crist, perhaps see…

LONDON: The third and final face-to-face US-style debate between the contenders for the U.K. Prime Minister job is now history. There was no “knock-out punch,” no major gaffe, no “game-changer.”

But our sister newspaper The Sun probably summed it up best on their front page :

“Breakfast Election Special : Scrambled Clegg and Toast…Cameron’s full of Beans”

Translation for Americans :

Third –party challenger Nick Clegg is doing well but stumbling on his own rhetoric.

Hapless incumbent PM Gordon Brown and third standing in the polls is “toast.”

And Conservative candidate David Cameron is out in front.

The theme of the last debate was the economy. And while that did spark some back and forth, the one thing most people were waiting for was whether Brown would mention again his sorrow about calling a voter a “bigot” behind her back but on microphone.

We didn’t get a real apology, just a throwaway line at the outset about how he doesn’t always get things right.

So now with election day next Thursday, May 6 we are in the homestretch. The only real drama among most analysts is whether front runner Cameron’s party will garner enough Parliamentary seats to govern on its own and not via a coalition or despite an unworkable “hung parliament.”

Then again who knows? A week in politics in the UK is the same as in the States : A lifetime. Keep your fish and chips ready.