Eastwood has come out in favor of gay marriage, but he supports a presidential candidate who would ban it, and spoke to the convention of a party that is openly bigoted against the LGBT community. Eastwood last winter cut an ad that expressed appreciation for the auto bailout that Mitt Romney opposed and President Obama created. Eastwood is an environmentalist in a party that sees nature as nothing but a commodity to be exploited and exhausted. Eastwood in his speech decried the ongoing war in Afghanistan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Republicans oppose even the limited withdrawal President Obama signed. Eastwood mocked liberal Hollywood, but has a history of working well with noted liberal activists such as Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Hillary Swank. He has been known as a man of dignity, unpretentious, widely respected, well-liked.
Clint Eastwood is 82 years old, but there is no evidence that his mental faculties have been suffering. He still directs substantial films, and he still demonstrates wisdom in his choices of films to direct. If there is any lesson to be drawn from his public self-immolation it is that even a nuanced and complicated and normally respectable man cannot stand in the GOP spotlight without being soiled by it. This was a self-inflicted disaster, and Eastwood has no one to blame but himself. It was, nevertheless, sad.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Thursday that no one would be prosecuted for the deaths of a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002 and another in Iraq in 2003, eliminating the last possibility that any criminal charges will be brought as a result of the brutal interrogations carried out by the C.I.A. Mr. Holder had already ruled out any charges related to the use of waterboarding and other methods that most human rights experts consider to be torture. His announcement closes a contentious three-year investigation by the Justice Department and brings to an end years of dispute over whether line intelligence or military personnel or their superiors would be held accountable for the abuse of prisoners in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Holder had already ruled out any charges related to the use of waterboarding and other methods that most human rights experts consider to be torture. His announcement closes a contentious three-year investigation by the Justice Department and brings to an end years of dispute over whether line intelligence or military personnel or their superiors would be held accountable for the abuse of prisoners in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Josh Mandel, Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate and an outspoken critic of White House environmental policies, said Sunday that he doubts the presence of global warming. The state treasurer thinks scientific research on the matter “is inconclusive and riddled with fraud.”
The state treasurer thinks scientific research on the matter “is inconclusive and riddled with fraud.”
So, Canada has a single-payer insurance system — actually called Medicare. Four decades ago, Canada spent about the same share of GDP on health care as we did. Since then, however, Canadian spending has risen far more slowly than spending in the US, which relies much more on private insurance. Meanwhile, despite the scare stories opponents of reform like to tell, Canadian health care appears on average to be as good as or better than US care; polls indicate that Canadians are more satisfied with their health care than Americans.
You would love to have the Romneys as neighbors. She would be having you over all the time. He might seem a little stiff, and the dinner parties never had any booze, but you knew you could trust them and she would always seem happy to see you.
Mental health professionals in California would be barred from practicing therapy to attempt to change the sexual orientation of minors under a bill that passed the Senate Thursday afternoon and whose fate now rests with Gov. Jerry Brown
Britain's wealthiest people should face an emergency tax to avoid a breakdown in social cohesion as the country fights an "economic war" caused by a longer than expected recession, Nick Clegg has said.
Employees of a major coal industry donor to Republican causes have raised complaints about their participation in an event earlier this month organized for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the crucial swing state of Ohio. Several miners at Murray Energy’s Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio, contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, over the last two weeks to say that they were forced to attend an Aug. 14 rally for Romney at the mine. Murray closed the mine the day of the rally, saying it was necessary for security and safety, then docked miners the day's pay. Asked by WWVA radio’s Blomquist about the allegations on Monday’s show, Murray chief operating officer Robert Moore said: “Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event.”
Several miners at Murray Energy’s Century coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio, contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, over the last two weeks to say that they were forced to attend an Aug. 14 rally for Romney at the mine. Murray closed the mine the day of the rally, saying it was necessary for security and safety, then docked miners the day's pay. Asked by WWVA radio’s Blomquist about the allegations on Monday’s show, Murray chief operating officer Robert Moore said: “Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event.”
Official data released this morning showed that the Spanish economy shrank by 1.3% in the second quarter of 2012, on a year-on-year basis. That's worse than the first estimate, of a 1% drop in GDP. The contraction in the first three months of 2012 has also been revised down to -0.6% year-on-year, from -0.4%. On a quarterly basis, Spain shrank by 0.4% between April and June, and 0.3% between January and March. This comes a day after Spanish GDP data for 2011 and 2010 were revised down, showing that Europe's fourth-biggest economy is in rather worse shape than feared.
The contraction in the first three months of 2012 has also been revised down to -0.6% year-on-year, from -0.4%.
On a quarterly basis, Spain shrank by 0.4% between April and June, and 0.3% between January and March.
This comes a day after Spanish GDP data for 2011 and 2010 were revised down, showing that Europe's fourth-biggest economy is in rather worse shape than feared.
Arctic sea ice appears to have broken the 2007 record daily extent and is now the lowest in the satellite era. With two to three more weeks left in the melt season, sea ice continues to track below 2007 daily extents.