Riot 'unacceptable face of multiculturalism'

Islamic Protest in the streets of Sydney from Hyde Park to George Streets. Pic. Simon Bullard Source: The Australian

VIOLENCE at a Sydney protest against an anti-Islamist film revealed the 'unacceptable face of multiculturalism', NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says.

While people have the right to protest in Australia, that freedom comes with a responsibility to do so lawfully, he said today.

The Premier said city authorities and police were not informed about yesterday's protest in the CBD in which six police and 17 others were injured, and six men were later charged.

"What we saw yesterday was the unacceptable face of multiculturalism," Mr O'Farrell told Sky News.

"I'm just horrified by what I saw."

The premier said he had discussed the protest with Islamic leaders, who considered it out of step.

But he said in any grouping there would be some extremists.

"What we shouldn't do is condemn the great bulk of Muslims by the actions of a few extremists, any more than you should do with Catholics, Buddhists, Hindus or others," he said.

Mr O'Farrell said the film that sparked a global protest, which resulted in the US ambassador to Libya being killed in a attack on the US consulate, was made by a "fool in the US".

"That foolish action doesn't match what we saw in Sydney yesterday," the premier said.

"It was a stupid film, it's a stupid reaction and worse than that it's an unacceptable reaction because of the violence involved."

Australia and Sydney had one of the world's most successful multicultural societies.

"Episodes like yesterday really do attack what is one of the great foundations of our success which is our multiculturalism," Mr O'Farrell said.

Andy Roddick will retire after US Open

It is hard to believe that it was 12 years ago that Andy Roddick was considered the next great US male tennis player. He was supposed to be the heir apparent for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. It looked like he was fulfilling that promise with a US Open win in 2003. But that will be the only Grand Slam title of his career, as Roddick announced at a press conference on Thursday that he will retire once he is done playing in this year’s US Open.

Matt Cronin of Tennis Reporters was the first to report the story.

Roddick will probably be thought of as someone who didn’t live up to the hype, but the truth may be that he just happened to be a really good tennis player that showed up at the wrong time. Roger Federer began to dominate the game, and Roddick just wasn’t on his level.

The 30-year-old will retire with career wins of over $20 million. He did reach the #1 ranking following the US Open win in 2003, and is currently 20th overall. He reached the 3 Wimbledon finals, losing to Federer each time.  The US is still waiting for the next great tennis player.

China Retailers Lose Steam, Deepening Wen’s Challenges

China’s retailers from clothing to computers are reporting weaker sales growth, undermining Premier Wen Jiabao’s goal of relying more on consumer spending for expansion as the economy cools.

Passenger-vehicle sales trailed analysts’ estimates in July. Sportswear seller Li Ning Co. shut 1,200 stores in the first half and department-store chain Parkson Retail Group Ltd. (3368)’s same-store sales rose at less than a quarter the pace of a year earlier. Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd. (493) said it would report a first-half loss on lower sales.

The reports show an extra drag on the second-largest economy after export growth almost stalled in July and factory output missed forecasts. The year’s fastest decline in industrial companies’ earnings and a stock market at a three- year low mean income gains may slow, giving consumers less money to spend and boosting odds Wen will add stimulus.

“The pressure on retail sales is growing bigger and bigger,” said Shen Jianguang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. “When exports are fragile and investment is weak, if companies started to reduce their production or workforce, how can it be possible for consumer spending to stay strong?”

Retail sales missed economists’ forecasts in three of the last four months and Mizuho said they will stay weak. Sales increased 13.1 percent in July from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Aug. 9, compared with the median 13.5 percent estimate of 32 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 percent as of 10:04 a.m. local time after companies’ reports of profit declines.

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan criticize President Obama’s health care law in visit to New Hampshire

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, coming here to the state with one of the oldest median ages, on Monday morning criticized President Obama for his health care law and said the Republican ticket would be more likely to put Medicare on sounder financial footing.

“Medicare should not be a piggybank for Obamacare!” Ryan said.

It was their first unscripted event since Ryan was named the vice president candidate nine days ago, with a town hall meeting where voters could ask questions. But little went awry, and most of the event was carefully choreographed by the Romney campaign.

Under blue skies on a St. Anselm’s College quad, a giant banner – “America’s Comeback Team” – was draped over a brick building covered in ivy. Some 3,000 attendees waved little American flags that were handed out from the campaign. It was Romney’s 100th town hall meeting, a tally that includes both personal meetings and those conducted over the phone.

New Hampshire has become an increasing focus in the presidential election. President Obama was in the state on Saturday, using his third trip of the year to rail against Republican plans on taxes and changing Medicare.
“You would think they would avoid talking about Medicare, given the fact that both of them have proposed to voucherize the Medicare system,” Obama said during a campaign stop in Windham, N.H. “But I guess they figure the best defense is to try to go on offense.”

Ryan and Romney seemed to be eager for the debate, and hoping to cast it in their own terms.

“We keep hearing about Medicare lately from the president,” Ryan said. “We want this debate, we need this debate, and we are going to win this debate on Medicare.”

Ryan criticized President Obama for using $716 billion in savings from Medicare and applying it to his health care law. But Ryan did not mention that his own budget plan also used the same amount of savings, but applied them to different uses.

He noted that his mother has been on Medicare for 10 years, and that it helped him and his mother take care of his grandmother as she suffered from Alzheimer’s.

“It’s not just a program with numbers and words,” Ryan said. “It’s personal security that has been there for my family when we needed.”

Ryan was planning on Monday afternoon to visit the Romney campaign headquarters in Boston, meeting for the first time the staff for a campaign that he joined a week ago. After two days last week of campaigning together, Romney and Ryan had not planned to campaign together until the Republican National Convention next week.

But Romney campaign advisers, noting the chemistry that Romney and Ryan have and the excitement they draw from crowds, decided to schedule another event for them in New Hampshire. The campaign had initially planned to announce the vice presidential selection in New Hampshire, but had to move it back a day so that Ryan could attend a memorial service in his Wisconsin congressional district.

Town hall meetings can provide off-the-cuff moments with candidates, who are forced to respond to questions from any voter who can get before a microphone. But on Monday, Romney and Ryan were thrown few curveballs from the crowd.

The only time they seemed to be put on the spot was when topics turned to foreign policy.

“Our guys are coming home in body bags,” one man said. “If you guys take over in Washington, what are you going to do about this damn mess in Afghanistan?”

Romney criticized President Obama for not talking about the topic enough, saying he ought to “time and time again” address the American public about what’s happening with troops overseas. But Romney himself didn’t have a fundamental difference in policy.

“I will do everything in my power to transition from our military to their military as soon as possible,” Romney said. “Bring our men and women home and do so in a way consistent with our mission, which is to keep Afghanistan from being overrun by a new entity which would allow Afghanistan to be a launching point for terror again like it was on 9/11.”

New Hampshire offers a mere four electoral votes, but in some election forecasts that may be enough to decide the entire race. It is the only swing state in New England, a region where the other 29 electoral votes are all but assured to be given to the Democratic incumbent.

But New Hampshire has shown a willingness to buck the regional trends. Three of the past five elections have been decided by 1 percentage point or less. And, as Granite Staters like to mention, if Al Gore had won New Hampshire, the state of Florida – and its weeks-long recount – would not have mattered (Gore lost New Hampshire by 7,211, while Ralph Nader got 22,198 votes).

The state offers a national barometer. If Romney is unable to secure independents in New Hampshire – a state that fits closely with his brand of politics – he is unlikely to fare well in other crucial swing states.

Ryan is not a complete stranger to New Hampshire. He visited in February 2010, headlining a fundraiser and speaking at St. Anselm College. At the time he dismissed any speculation that he would seek the presidency.

“I’m not one of those people,” he said at the time, according to the Portsmouth Herald. “I’m not seeking a promotion.”

Voters here had some knowledge of Ryan before seeing him.

At least one woman brought a cheesehead, in apparent homage to the vice presidential nominee’s beloved Green Bay Packers. One questioner noted that her son was skipping work to attend the event, another said her son was skipping the first day of school (“We’re not going to clap for that,” Ryan said).

Gene Nelson, a 64-year-old retiree from Bedford, N.H., said at first he was “spooked” that Ryan would trigger a bitter divide and give Democrats ample ammunition. He said he’s been impressed with Ryan, and is optimistic that there will be a debate over how to rein in growing health care costs.

“What I’m hoping is there will be a genuine debate on the issue, and not each side trying to lambaste each other with some pie-in-the-face caricature,” Nelson said.

Donna Sweet, a 55-year-old Republican from Penacook, N.H., said she was giddy over the pick.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful. It’s an awesome pick,” Sweet said, while wearing a “Mommas for Mitt” T-shirt. “Him picking Paul Ryan, it’s like a gold star on top of the gold star he already had. He couldn’t have picked a better running mate.”

“I like Romney, and I think he’ll be a good president just on his own,” said Mark Surmeier, a 56-year-old Republican who was traveling from Mascoutah, Ill. “But with Ryan, the two work together like salt and pepper. Some things are just meant to be a pair.”

Ryan is planning to be back in New Hampshire on Saturday for a fundraiser – and possibly a public event -- and Romney campaign advisers say they plan to use him a lot in the Granite State, particularly in southern areas where voters share his Catholic faith.

“We are small government, we are frugal economic government,” said Tom Rath, a New Hampshire-based adviser. “Ryan also radiates an energy, a commitment to these things. He’s the kind of politician who’s not been afraid to put his name on things, even if people criticize him. That’s respected here.”

Will the Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up

By now, most Americans have certainly heard that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has selected U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate

in this year's presidential race. Ryan is considered one of the GOP's gurus on fiscal and budgetary issues, and enjoys immense popularity among fiscal

conservatives.

In Ryan, Romney has selected a tea party darling, the chief architect of the Republican Party's plan for tax and spending cuts and an advocate of reshaping

the country's Medicare program. The austere budget proposal that bears Ryan's name would cut $770 billion from Medicaid and other health programs for the

poor over 10 years as compared with President Obama's recent budget. He also takes an additional $205 billion from Medicare and an additional $1.6 trillion

from food stamps, welfare, federal employee pensions and support for farmers. In addition, his plans include changing Medicare into a program that would rely

largely on vouchers.

To add insult to injury, Ryan's budget would offset these $5.3 trillion in spending cuts by offering a $4.2 trillion dollar tax cut to the wealthiest in this

country, according to Citizens for Tax Justice.

Whew. Looks like it will be a long winter for the 99 percent if the Wisconsin congressman gets his way. Indeed, if this plan were to be put in place, those

who criticize Obama for not doing enough for the poor and middle class would have to start a new poverty tour.

But by choosing Ryan, Romney has also muddled his ticket's message. Indeed, shortly after Saturday's announcement, Romney appeared to distance himself from

his running mate's controversial budget plan, which many Americans have expressed doubts over. In talking points sent out by the campaign, the candidate

suggested that he didn't necessarily agree with everything in Ryan's controversial budget.

"Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget," the campaign said, according to CNN Political Tracker. "As president he

will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance."

But this lukewarm statement differs wildly from the enthusiastic endorsement Romney has offered of Ryan's plan in the past.

"I think it'd be marvelous if the Senate were to pick up Paul Ryan's budget and to adopt it and pass it along to the president," the New Yorker quoted him as

saying in March.

In addition, in public statements, Romney has said: "I spent a good deal of time with Congressman Ryan. When his plan came out, I applauded it as an

important step," he said. "We're going to have to make changes like the ones Paul Ryan proposed."

So, why would Romney choose a running mate, then immediately attempt to distance himself from him in this critical area?

How could the presumptive GOP presidential nominee at one moment express consistent support for the budget plan and then all of a sudden claim that it is

merely "going in the right direction"?

Is he so nervous about the results from three polls released in the past several days that show Obama widening his lead to as much as nine points?

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the plan has been received with skepticism by the American public. When the Ryan plan was first unveiled last year,

several polls found that a majority of voters -- especially seniors -- weren't supportive of Ryan's ideas.

For instance, in June 2011, a Pew Research Center poll found that 40 percent of Americans opposed turning Medicare into a voucher system. That poll also

found that a majority of older Americans, 51 percent, opposed the idea. At the same time, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 58 percent of

American adults opposed Ryan's Medicare proposal, while just 35 percent said they supported it.

It's obvious that the majority of the American public knows what it believed regarding Ryan's plan when it was unveiled. But the question is, what does Mitt

Romney really stand for?

I suspect that Romney is treading very carefully -- hoping to woo conservatives on the one hand by selecting Ryan but distancing himself from support of

Ryan's budget plans so as not to alienate mainstream Americans who appear to be skeptical of the budget document. It's very likely that putting some space

between himself and the plan was an act of political necessity, even if it wasn't entirely an accurate representation of the candidate's feelings, opinions,

plans or position.

This flip-flopping should give pause to both Democrats and Republicans who are attempting to sift through the political games and decipher what Romney's real

positions are, since they seem to be ever evolving and ever changing.

Sooner or later, the real Mitt Romney must present himself to the American people. Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?

After ‘chains’ remark, Biden’s staff tries to edit press pool reports

Vice President Joe Biden’s “penchant for off-message moments regularly sends aides in the West Wing and at Chicago reelection headquarters into orbit,”

Jonathan Martin writes in Politico, so his staff tries “to save Biden from himself.” On a recent trip to Virginia, “aides tried to edit media pool reports

for any potential landmines that could be seized on by Republicans and even hovered at close range to eavesdrop on journalists’ conversations with attendees

at Biden rallies.”

Their efforts to manage pool reports is a new tactic in message control:

    Because the entire press corps cannot easily jam in, say, a diner or private home, it is standard practice to have a single designated reporter take

notes and share the material with colleagues from other news organizations. These reports are designed entirely for the media, but are distributed by White

House staffers. In the case of Obama, as with his predecessors, the reports are simply forwarded without comment by email to a news media distribution list.

    But on two occasions during Biden’s Virginia trip, his staff sought to have certain elements in the reports highlighted while reporters drafted them and

discussed the contents with the reporters after the summaries had been sent but before they had before sent to the broader media.

In mid-July, The New York Times’ Jeremy W. Peters reported on both presidential campaigns’ increasing demands to approve quotes before they are published.

Some news outlets don’t play along with such demands, but others do.

After a rally, Martin reports, a press aide “was eavesdropping as a reporter attempted to interview attendees who had spoken with the vice president on the

rope line.”

Related: Politico’s Harris: ‘Quote doctoring does bother me’ | Dan Rather: Quote approval is ‘a jaw-dropping turn in journalism’ | What’s the deal with

quote approval? | National Journal, McClatchy ban quote approval

Rep. Paul Ryan and his Medicare plan are all the buzz on the campaign trail, but Mitt Romney’s VP choice has not given him the anticipated bump in the polls

 Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan to ride shotgun was supposed to be a game-changer — but the polls have barely budged.

The first tracking poll taken after the Wisconsin Congressman was added to the GOP ticket over the weekend reveals that Ryan has yet to provide a real bump

for Romney.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was polling at 46% in the days before he tapped the conservative darling to be his VP, according to Gallup.

And in the four days after Romney unveiled his selection of Ryan, his support increased no further than 47%, the polling firm found.

Gallup suggested that a bounce may still be on the horizon, since Ryan’s numbers were slightly better on Tuesday than they were last Saturday, when the

choice was made official.

However, another Gallup poll suggested that voters were skeptical of Ryan. Only 39% of voters thought Ryan was an “excellent” or “pretty good” choice,

while 42% thought he was “only fair” or “poor.”

Romney — who should receive a more sizeable surge after the Republican National Convention at month’s end — bested President Obama 47% to 45% in the

Gallup poll released Wednesday. Most recent national polls have shown Obama in the lead by a handful of percentage points.

The President wrapped up his three-day bus tour of the crucial swing state of Iowa on Wednesday by unleashing a vicious attack on the Republican plan to

transform Medicare — the central reason why critics say Ryan’s addition to the ticket was a mistake.

“I think they know their plan is not very popular,” said Obama at a rally in Dubuque. “You can tell that because they are being dishonest about my plan.

Especially when it comes to Medicare.”

The most controversial aspect of Ryan’s proposed budget, which Romney has largely endorsed, is to transform Medicare into a voucher program — which critics

believe would leave senior citizens without adequate health care.

Obama also ripped Romney’s tax proposals, calling it “trickle-down snake oil” — some of the harshest language the President has directed at his opponent

during the campaign.

Romney will return to the Hamptons on Friday for a pair of big-money fund-raisers. Last month, the GOP candidate was the guest of honor at a $50,000-per-

person event at the oceanfront estate of conservative titan David Koch, part of a fund-raising sweep of Long Island’s glitzy South Fork.