Tens of thousands of British Airways passengers whose travel plans this weekend have been thwarted are only the first victims of industrial unrest threatening to disrupt air, rail and road travel this Easter.

Dramatic escalation of dispute as three-day strike begins tomorrow morning

British Airways tonight threatened to suspend co-operation with Britain's largest trade union after last-ditch talks failed to prevent a three-day strike by cabin crew starting today.

In a dramatic escalation of the bitter industrial dispute with Unite, BA warned that it will scrap an agreement that gives shop stewards the use of company offices and time off to represent members – unless a new framework is drawn up.

One industrial relations expert said that ending the arrangement, which stipulates how much work BA employees can do for Unite and what facilities they use, would reduce co-operation to the "bare minimum".

The failure of the peace talks is a bitter blow to Gordon Brown, who was desperate to banish the spectre of large-scale industrial action 46 days before the likely election date.

Tonight an extensive strike-breaking plan moved into gear at BA as the airline prepared to move 65% of its passengers over the next three days with a workforce of 1,000 volunteer cabin crew and 22 chartered jets, including three Ryanair planes complete with no-frills flight attendants.

Millions of Britons face transport disruption in the run-up to Easter, after signallers at Network Rail voted to strike in a move that could see them join a walkout with thousands of maintenance workers over the bank holiday.

BA cabin crew have also called a further, four-day strike from 27 March if there is still no agreement by the end of next week. The first BA cabin crew strike since 1997 begins tomorrow morning after talks between Willie Walsh, BA chief executive, and Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, collapsed in acrimony this afternoon. The dispute centres on BA's decision to unilaterally cut staffing levels on every flight by at least one crew member.

Citing Walsh's request for a "radical, far-reaching review" of BA's relationship with Unite, Woodley warned that BA was bent on breaking trade unionism's grip on the airline. "BA does not want to negotiate and ultimately wants to go to war with this union," he said. And in a letter to Woodley outlining a formal peace offer, Walsh stepped up the pressure by saying he would scrap the facilities agreement that regulates BA's relationship with Unite if the union does not renegotiate its relationship with the carrier by 18 June.

Marc Meryon, industrial relations partner at Bircham Dyson Bell, said: "It is effectively holding a gun to the union's head and saying, unless you reach a deal on reworking this relationship we are going to walk away from it."

Meryon said BA would struggle to derecognise Unite, which represents 12,000 BA cabin crew, because of its size.

Walsh said: "It is deeply regrettable that a proposal I have tabled to Unite, which I believe is fair and sensible and addresses all the concerns of cabin crew, has not been accepted.The offer remains available, but it will be withdrawn once industrial action commences. Tens of thousands of BA people now stand ready to serve our customers. BA will be flying tomorrow and will continue to fly through these periods of industrial action."

A No 10 spokesman said: "The prime minister believes that this strike is in no one's interest and will cause unacceptable inconvenience to passengers. He urges the strike be called off immediately. He also urges BA's management and workforce to get together without delay to resolve what is a dispute about jobs and wages."

The talks breakdown was pounced on by the Conservative party, which has sought to make political capital out of the funding links between Labour and Unite, one of the party's biggest donors.

"Labour's union paymasters at Unite are determined to inflict travel misery on thousands of families," said Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary.

Preparations were under way tonight to have picket lines at seven points around Heathrow. Under an agreement with BAA, the airport's owner, striking cabin crew will not be allowed to protest directly outside airport terminals.

A BA spokeswoman said the 30,000 daily passengers unable to travel due to the strike – around 45,000 will be able to travel – were almost certain to have made alternative plans. "We don't expect vast numbers of disgruntled people because we put our revised schedule out on Monday. We have also been contacting them proactively through email."

• British Airways
• Trade unions
• Airline industry
• Air transport

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Big increases in minimum wage and reduction of voting age to 16 being considered for party's 'next phase of national renewal'

Labour will pledge an end to the era of extortionate credit in its election manifesto, and is considering big increases in the minimum wage, the introduction of free school meals for all and a reduction in the voting age to 16, Ed Miliband, the cabinet minister responsible for its drafting, reveals today.

In a Guardian interview trailing Labour's manifesto for an unprecedented fourth term, Miliband reveals that the prospectus will be about showing that Labour can lead the country to "the next phase of national renewal" and that the party "will reform both the market and the state".

The manifesto will also set out proposals for a new model of banking built round a People's Bank, drawing on the post office network, and a possible cap on credit interest rates.

Miliband said one aim would be to show that Labour's rights and responsibilities agenda "needs to go all the way to the top". The manifesto would "not promise the earth", but he said: "One of the profound issues in this election is: in a world of tough decisions, in whose interests do you make those decisions? We are going to be very clear about where money comes from in this manifesto."

The energy and climate change secretary likens the introduction of a People's Bank, in the wake of the banking crisis, to the creation of the Sure Start network of children's centres – an institutional reform that meets new demands in society and brings together poor and middle-class people. Built round the 12,000-strong network of post offices, the bank would provide capital for the hundreds of credit unions in the UK, he disclosed.

He argued: "Institutions are the things that define governments. The 1945 government was defined by its relationship with the NHS. The 1997 government was defined around rebuilding the fabric of communities through institutions like Sure Start. I think the idea of the People's Bank ... is one of those ideas."

Ministers are completing talks with the Post Office on the range of banking services to be provided, and the scale of its initial capitalisation.

Miliband said: "Frankly banks have let down low-income consumers. The People's Bank can be a very serious financial institution and a competitor to the conventional private sector. One of the exciting ideas is for the People's Bank to provide the network of credit unions access to funds, but it can also become a banking alternative for a significantly wider group than just the low-income consumers. It is part of a bigger reform we need in the relationship between individuals and financial institutions."

Some consumer groups have warned that a cap on interest rates might see the suppliers of credit refuse to provide it to poor people altogether. But access to an alternative supplier of credit would reduce that risk, making a cap easier to introduce.

Miliband said: "We are looking more widely at a cap on interest rates. There is a real issue about the way in which low- income groups are being ripped off."

A review into credit card companies this month proposed smaller-scale reforms, but government sources said the option of a cap was likely to be in the manifesto. Despite historically low Bank of England base rates, the average interest charged on a credit card has reached 18.8% – the highest level since 1998. Some consumers are now paying more than 40% on the cash they have borrowed.

Miliband has been working on the manifesto for three years, and says it will offer the country a radical response to the banking and political crises.

"What people do not want after these two events is a return to business as usual. They want a sense we have learned lessons from the past. They want the next stage of national renewal," he said. "The task of the manifesto is to show that when it comes to the national renewal we are the people to deliver it, not the Conservatives."

Miliband said he favoured the introduction of votes at 16 to be included as part of a package of constitutional reforms, including changes to the voting system. "Perhaps the opportunity was not there before, but expenses has so brought into focus a sense that politics needs to change and open up. There is a new appetite for political renewal."

He also indicated the possibility of a strengthening of the minimum wage, currently £5.80 an hour, saying that reforms would go beyond tighter enforcement to examining a radical increase in its level.

He also said that, subject to an affordability test, there was "a strong case for universal free school meals. It makes a big difference in terms of nutrition. It makes a big difference in terms of concentration in classrooms."

The manifesto would also contain proposals for a more open state in which the floodgates of government data are opened to the public, so changing the relationship between citizen and state.

In a speech on Monday, Gordon Brown may suggest making one welfare benefit available exclusively online as a way of encouraging Britain's 10 million digitally excluded towards the internet.

Miliband also trailed a more interventionist European industrial policy, including both infrastructure and green investment banks.

"The old view that the conventional private sector on its own would ensure our infrastructure was built, the right sort of companies were supported and people will get the banking services they need has not worked."

He promised the manifesto would offer fresh guarantees for citizens to seek redress if the health service, police or schools let them down. The government has already announced that it will offer a private sector alternative in the case of NHS failure, a parental ballot in the case of a failing school, and a right to a neighbourhood beat meeting in the case of police.

Miliband said: "We need to be stronger in terms of the redress we offer and you will see that in the manifesto, because people have to have a sense that they are meaningful and will give them power."

• Labour
• Manifestos 2010
• Ed Miliband
• General election 2010

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Little Fanfare for 7th Anniversary of War in Iraq as Final Results from the Parliamentary Election Loom

A five-year freeze on immigration will be the centrepiece of the UK Independence Party’s election campaign, as the party’s former leader compared the fight against the EU to the struggle against Hitler in the 1930s.

When France's right-of-centre government was humiliated in regional elections in 2004, an ambitious young minister called for heads to roll. Now he's prime minister and facing a similar humiliation

The UK Independence Party will not stand against hardline Eurosceptic rivals in other parties at the general election, its leader has said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition has edged ahead in Iraq's parliamentary elections, according to partial results from election officials.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition has edged ahead in Iraq's parliamentary elections, according to partial results from election officials.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition has edged ahead in Iraq's parliamentary elections, according to partial results from election officials.

The SABC will need funding of about R15 million to cover next year's local government elections.

En partenariat avec le site Election-politique.com, Marianne2 vous livre les dernières enquêtes d’opinion régionales réalisées entre les deux tours. Avant l'interdiction de publication de ces sondages. La politique n’est pas qu’affaire d’arithmétique. Ni même de statistiques. Marianne2 s’est d’ailleurs toujours montrée [très méfiante à l’égard de la pratiqu...

Téléchargez l'application iPhone de Marianne2.fr : http://itunes.apple.com

The UK Government continues to push forward the Digital Economy Bill (DEB) that aims to protect copyright holders from online pirates. On 15th March the House of Lords approved the bill and handed it over to the House of Commons.

To the absolute dismay of most outside the music and movie industries, some of the most controversial elements of the Bill are unlikely to receive any major scrutiny and will be dealt with quickly under the so-called “wash-up”, a short period between the announcement of an election and parliament being closed down.

“It’s a deeply unsatisfactory and very worrying development,” a senior executive from an ISP told The Guardian. “The fear is that no one will know what is being cooked-up before it becomes law. It’s legislation on the hoof.”

But this situation suits the BPI just fine. This week a leaked memo from the BPI fell into the hands of Cory Doctorow which showed that the “LibDem amendment” – a proposal under the DEB which would allow for websites to be blocked if, essentially, the BPI didn’t like their activities – was in fact written by the BPI. Very cosy.

But the controversies don’t end there. Doctorow also received an internal document prepared by the BPI’s Director of Public Affairs and prospective Labour parliamentary candidate, Richard Mollet. In the document he admitted that the only reason the DEB had a chance of passing is because MP’s are resigned to voting on it without debate.

“Translation: if MPs got to debate the Bill, they would tear it to unrecognizable pieces as they realized what terrible rubbish it really is,” wrote Doctorow. The scandals go on and on, but we have to stop somewhere.

Nevertheless, UK Music head Feargal Sharkey says that he is confident that the DEB will be passed before the general election, although others are not so sure.

“It will still be nip and tuck to get the Digital Economy Bill onto the statute book before the election so the battle is not won yet,” wrote Shadow Culture Minister, Jeremy Hunt, on his blog this week.

According to Jim Killock at the Open Rights Group, UK citizens aren’t leaving anything to chance with 10,000 of them having written to their MPs in the last three days to demand a debate on the Digital Economy Bill.

“It is outrageous for corporate lobbyists including the BPI, FAST and UK Music to demand that MPs curtail democracy and ram this Bill through Parliament without debate,” says Killock, adding: “The British people did not elect UK Music and the BPI to write our laws.”

Killock says that what is making the 10,000 so angry is the pushing through of the DEB without debate, an act he describes as “undemocratic and dangerous”.

If you’d like to add your dissenting voice, please email your MP, write to your local newspaper, and attend the planned demonstrations.

Article from: TorrentFreak, check out our new blog at FreakBits.

Politicians who employ out-of-work actors to dress up as toffs, chickens or Charlie Whelans just make electors cringe

Dressing up as Charlie Whelan has always been a little peccadillo of mine. Throughout my 20s I would pad myself out with sofa cushions, squeeze myself into an old, unflattering suit and head off to a public thoroughfare where I'd bark a stream of vile obscenities into a mobile phone the size of a VHS cassette.

That I did this strictly for personal, sado-masochistic pleasure should be apparent to all. So imagine my surprise this week when I saw the Tories were up to precisely the same thing! "Comrades!" I exclaimed when I saw the photographs of no-doubt unemployed actors in Whelan masks, carrying sacks of swag reading "To Labour, £11m from Unite". I assumed they too were out on the street in the hope of catching one on the nose from a disgruntled grandmother. But no. It turned out it was a stunt. A humorous political stunt. "Oh dear," I said to myself. "Oh dearie me."

Perhaps it's too early to know whether the Tories' Whelan prank has paid off – maybe a pollster will ask a question before the end of the week. I would like to bet it hasn't though. I'd like to bet, in fact, that it's just another in the long and entirely cringeworthy line of humorous stunts that serve as a reminder that politicians aren't funny. Like, for example, the chicken that spent the entire 1997 election campaign looking for Tony Blair (which was odd, seeing as he was on telly a lot). Or the "toffs" employed to remind the voters of Crewe and Nantwich that the Tory candidate wasn't, surprisingly, of working-class origin. Or the legions of Sherlock Holmes deployed to hunt down Oliver Letwin in 2001. All of them a waste of money and time, none of them even a scintilla as funny as somebody in the Strategic Dress Up Unit (Sduu) must at some point have thought they were.

To be fair, I can't be sure that all these ideas actually come from inside a party per se. Maybe the Unite millions or the tax-free Ashcroft offerings go instead to consultancies that specialise in obvious pranks. Either way they're lame. Sure, they get press coverage, but all that means is they then get presented to thousands of people who are either left trying to work out what the gag is, or just sitting there going: "Don't they have something better to do with their time?"

It's a funny thing that as politicians spend more time and effort trying to show they're normal people, the more normal people seem to be thinking that politicians are beamed down from the planet Odd with a specific mission to suck all the joy from their lives. These stunts are just one tiny part of that, but they could really do with coming to a halt. Like, right now. Save the money and spend it instead on, I don't know, policy research. Or if that doesn't work, save up and sponsor the next Eddie Izzard tour: that way they might be associated with genuine laughter.

• Labour
• Conservatives

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Guardian photographer charts the 2010 election campaign as it happens

Martin Argles

It appears that today might be the end of a very long road to health care reform. There's been a lot of debate on the subject really leading back before the election. The mainstream sounds like an echo chamber, so I'm hoping you guys have better insight. Will this bill do what the administration claims to do, or is it as bad for the future of America as Fox says?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It appears that today might be the end of a very long road to health care reform. There's been a lot of debate on the subject really leading back before the election. The mainstream sounds like an echo chamber, so I'm hoping you guys have better insight. Will this bill do what the administration claims to do, or is it as bad for the future of America as Fox says?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Dressing for TV is tricky – get it wrong and the public will pounce. And the BBC presenter is hardly likely to wear her work clothes off screen

Nothing too racy, nothing too dull, nothing too scruffy, nothing too posh. Don't attract comment from the public and don't dare clash with the sofa. Frankly, it is a weekday wardrobe dilemma that nobody would wish for, and certainly not if their working day started at 4am. And yet, despite having one of the trickiest jobs in the world to dress for, BBC Breakfast presenter Sian Williams has been refused a tax rebate on her work clothes by HM Revenue and Customs.

Judge Christopher Staker saw fit to deny her £1,800 rebate on the £4,500 she spends on her appearance because he thinks it is impossible to divide the business and private benefit of the expenditure. I'm sorry your honour, but you are talking out of your full-bottomed wig here. When else, apart from when she is at work, do you think Williams is likely to wear her capsule wardrobe of fitted jackets, tailored sheath dresses and strict belts? It is hardly weekend casual wear for a mum of four is it?

The truth is that Williams's appearance, particularly her screen wardrobe, really matters. To us, way more than to her. Every morning she is subject to the scrutiny of millions of bleary-eyed toast-munching viewers. She is breakfast TV's answer to Anna Wintour with her sharp collars, her posture-enhancing belts and neat-but- approachable bob. This is no accident. Her controlled sass is as much a part of the visual package as the red sofa and the BBC Breakfast logo. Flip over to GMTV and you have Emma Crosby with a Sex and the City-style blow-dry and Kate Garraway in a Roland Mouret-alike cocktail dress, clicking perfectly with ITV's fluffier content. Broadcaster style (for women, anyway) is important – put a foot wrong, ignore a dry-cleaning need and the public will surely pounce.

Williams claims that if she wore the same thing too often she would be sacked. Though they don't say it explicitly in her contract, her bosses undoubtedly agree. My colleagues in the styling sorority tell me that they are often required by TV companies to "find a new look for so-and-so presenter, she's getting it completely wrong". It's not a job that these professional dressers relish. High street tailoring can look shoddy and creased in HD, distinctive designer looks profligate, stripes strobe on screen, white is a complete no-no . . . It's a styling nightmare, leaving only a handful of broadcast-friendly labels. Honestly I'm amazed Williams isn't forced to spend more on her wardrobe.

What is really annoying though isn't just the HMRC ruling. It's the way some commentators have described the row as being a tax on Williams's "shopping", that a "nice hairdo" isn't an expense she can reasonably get a rebate on. You can be sure this wouldn't happen if her co-presenter, Bill Turnbull, were claiming a rebate on his entirely unremarkable tailored suits. But then he probably doesn't have to. Two identical business suits, a couple of shirts and a rota of jazzy ties is all he needs in his TV wardrobe. You can bet that BBC bosses don't imply in his contract that he really shouldn't wear the same dark suit more than a couple of times a month. Just as they would surely be hollering for the stylists if Williams took to wearing a black skirt suit and just changing her belts occasionally. So really Mr Revenue and Customs, admit it, this is a tax on women isn't it? No wonder Williams has stubbornly been quibbling over the matter for five years. Sian – hold firm.

Who gets a clothing allowance?

When Angela Ahrendts was made the new chief executive of Burberry in 2006, much was made of her generous clothing allowance: around £14,000 a year, to be spent on the fashion house's clothes at a hefty discount, of course. (Her predecessor, Rose Marie Bravo, had received a similar sum.) But this is nothing compared with the rumoured £130,000 that Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, is said to receive every year.

Some television presenters – those expected to look good while not wearing the same outfit too often – are also given generous allowances, though details are hard to come by, not least because such allowances often form part of salary negotiations. The BBC is not saying whether Sian Williams gets one, but when Natasha Kaplinksy was lured to Channel Five from the BBC, the newsreader was said to have been given an allowance worth many thousands of pounds.

Rachel Riley, who took over from Carol Vorderman on Countdown last year, was reportedly given a £10,000 allowance and a stylist to advise her on what to buy. "When I first started, I bought clothes I thought a presenter should wear – jumpers and trousers," she said, before her stylist encouraged her into her current ever-shrinking dresses. Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue, the female judges on the X Factor, are also reported to have been given clothing allowances.

During the US presidential election campaign, the Republican running mate Sarah Palin was vilified for her $150,000 (£98,500) allowance for clothes, hair and makeup. Here, Sarah Brown does not have an allowance; instead she hires clothes from her favourite designers for public functions, which are paid for with her own money.

Even those who are not in the public eye sometimes get an allowance as a perk of the job. Many fashion companies, including Mulberry, Boden and Jigsaw, give their staff a clothing allowance, and it is not uncommon for recruitment consultants and top PAs, especially those who meet clients, to be given an annual amount to spend on business clothes. Which seems fair enough, because who would want to spend their own money on dull suits?

Emine Saner

• Fashion
• Women
• TV news
• Television
• Television industry
• BBC
• Tax

Imogen Foxguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

...En prenant connaissance de la liste NPA aux élections régionales notre regard s'arrête sur deux noms qui figurent en bonne position. Nous les connaissons. De plus bienveillants, de plus droits et de mieux disposés n'apparaissent pas sur les listes. La bonne place de ces douteux personnages paraîtrait bien relever de la banale imposture des bravaches, si un parti électoraliste tout entier n'était pas en soi une imposture dimensionnée à la mesure de la plaisanterie...

The Archbishop of Canterbury's office today described the election of an openly lesbian bishop in the United States as "regrettable" and warned that it could further threaten the unity of the Anglican Communion.

Un après midi de glande, devant la télé, avec les Zinzins de l'espace, les Ratz, Woody Woodpecker... et puis les régionales et la grande gagnante, l'abstention. Alors, comment faire un reportage sur l'abstention quand on est à Montreuil, avachit dans le canapé. Qui vais je bien pouvoir interviewer ? Les Roms d'en face ? Les Maliens d'à côté ? Les squatteurs de l'autre côté ? Laisse tomber. Je saisi mon magnifique portable « Samsing » et fais défiler aussitôt mon répertoire pour voir qui je vais bien pouvoir attraper pour cet article : Abdallah, Abdoulaye...Camil, Djouma... Djiby... Jessica Alba... Megan Fox... Faudrait d'ailleurs que je pense à prendre des news des deux dernières.

Fledgling political party to have presence at close to 20 polling booths for the South Australian state election; founder urges gamers to get out and vote.

Right-wing bloggers and columnists have recently accused President Obama of instigating an "intifada" against Israel through his administration's criticism of Israel's announced plan to expand housing in a section of East Jerusalem or by purportedly "incentiviz[ing] Palestinian Arabs to violent uprising."

Columnist, bloggers invoke "Obama Intifada"

Shapiro: "This is the Obama Intifada." Ben Shapiro wrote in his March 17 syndicated column that "When President Obama is unhappy about his inability to convince Americans to nationalize health care, he incentivizes Palestinian Arabs to violent uprising" and that the Obama administration's response to Israel's announcement "was far too well-rehearsed for it to have been triggered by something equivalent to a Housing and Urban Development dispute in the United States." Shapiro added:

This is the Obama Intifada. It is he who has suggested that the Palestinian Arabs have legitimate grievances, that Israel is the victimizer, and that the United States will stand aside and allow violent atrocities by Arabs to go forward without comment. He wants this Intifada, and he's got it.

The Obama Intifada will serve a dual purpose: it will knock health care off the front pages, and it will provide a "crisis" for Obama to solve. If a few Jews get killed, Obama doesn't truly care. What's a few eggs if you're frying up a socialized health care omelet? What's a few Jews if you can win another Nobel Peace Prize?

Nothing, to President Obama. All that matters is his personal victory, even if America and her allies lose.

Geller issues "Call to End Obama's Intifada." In a March 16 Atlas Shrugs post headlined "Action Alert: Call to End Obama's Intifada," Pamela Geller urged her readers to "Join Christians United for Israel in their surge against the President's intifada against Israel," and quoted their statement that "the Obama Administration has reacted to this announcement by creating the worst crisis in relations with Israel in decades. First Vice President Biden condemned the announcement in unusually harsh terms. Then, over the weekend, Secretary of State Clinton and advisor David Axelrod escalated the rhetoric still further. Today, Middle East envoy George Mitchell indefinitely postponed his trip to the region. Where will it end?"

Jawa Report headline: "The Obama Intifada." A March 16 Jawa Report blog post, headlined "The Obama Intifada," included numerous links to stories and blog posts about the controversy, adding, "This too shall pass, by which I mean the current US administration." The post was a reposting of a March 15 post on the Internet Haganah blog carrying a similar "Obama Intifada" headline.

"Obama Intifada" meme first embraced by right-wingers in 2008

2008 report made right-wing rounds. Jihad Watch and NewsBusters were among the conservative blogs that highlighted a November 3, 2008, article in an Arabic newspaper by Abdelbari Atwan, the first journalist to have met with Osama bin Laden. According to Robert Spencer's translation of the French-language blog post he cited at Jihad Watch, Atwan's article carried the headline "The Historic Intifada of Obama" and claimed that with Obama's election, "the Americans thus give the kickoff of their historic Intifada against racism." In highlighting the Atwan's article, NewsBusters' Warner Todd Huston wrote: "A president Obama is no friend to Israel or the west, at least as far as Abdelbari Atwan and many of his comrades are concerned. The most pressing question that Americans have is: should we support a man for President of the United States that our enemies imagine to be on their side?"

On Glenn Beck's radio program, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced a March 20 Capitol Hill rally to protest the health care reform bill, which Beck urged his listeners to attend. In past months, Beck and other Fox News personalities have promoted other rallies for conservative causes and regularly engaged in right-wing advocacy, functioning as the communications arm of the Republican Party.

Beck promotes latest rally to protest health care reform

Beck hosted Rep. King, who announced March 20 rally on Capitol Hill. During the March 18 promoted on Fox Nation, as well as both website worked with others organizing the September 12, 2009, "March on Washington," and he repeatedly encouraged viewers to attend the protest. Fox News also heavily promoted the Tea Party Express tour -- the final stop of which was the 9-12 protest -- on Fox News, Fox Business, the Fox Nation, and FoxNews.com.

Fox News promoted health care disruptions. Fox News promoted disruptions of Democratic town hall events by protesters opposed to health care reform -- protests that have been touted by Republican leaders and supported by conservative groups. Following the August 2, 2009 disruption of a town hall event hosted by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Fox News personalities repeatedly lauded such protesters and urged viewers to take similar action.

Fox News promoted April 15 tea parties. In the lead-up to the April 15, 2009 tea parties, which the channel repeatedly described as "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties," Fox News frequently aired segments publicizing and encouraging viewers to get involved with the protests. A Media Matters for America study found that from April 6 to 13, 2009, Fox News featured at least 20 segments on the "tea party" protests. A subsequent Media Matters study found that from April 6 to 15, Fox News aired at least 107 commercial promotions for its coverage of the April 15 tea parties. Four Fox News personalities, including Beck, broadcast their April 15 broadcasts live from different protests.

Fox News conservative advocacy not limited to protest promotion

Dick Morris regularly uses Fox News platform to promote conservative activism. During his many guest appearances of Fox News programs, Dick Morris has raised funds for conservative candidates and causes and promoted various instances of activism. Instances include Morris promoting his website, DickMorris.com, in order to Marco Rubio, Scott Brown, and Mark Kirk -- who have been bolstered by Fox News in its role as the Republican Party's communications arm.

Leading up to elections, Fox personalities promoted conservative and GOP candidates and helped fundraise for them. Fox News hosts and analysts offered support for McDonnell, Christie, and Hoffman and their fundraising efforts leading up to the elections. For example, on his November 2, 2009, Fox News show, Hannity told Hoffman, "I hope I'm on the air this time tomorrow night and I'll be able to declare you the winner." On November 3, 2009, on Twitter, Fox News contributor Karl Rove encouraged his followers to donate to the Republican Governors Association in order to help Christie's campaign. On two Fox News shows in October 2009, Huckabee directed viewers to "go to balancecutsave.com," urging them to sign a petition telling Congress to "balance the budget," "cut their spending," and "save American families"; however, balancecutsave.com redirected visitors to Huckabee's political action committee, which financially supports Republican candidates. Subsequently, Huck PAC apparently emailed petition signers -- who were required to provide an email address in order to sign the "balancecutsave" petition -- a "newsletter" urging political action on behalf of Republican-backed candidates Bob McDonnell, David Harmer, and Doug Hoffman.

They decide: Fox calls for firing of Obama administration officials. Fox News personalities have suggested that at least 19 Obama administration officials and nominees should resign, be fired, or have their nominations blocked. They have also called for both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to step down.

LE FRONT NATIONAL PEUT REMERCIER SARKOZY/HORTEFEUX/BESSON ET L'UMP SANS PAPIERS en lutte, coordination nationale 25, rue François Miron, 75004, Paris - fax : 01.44.61.09.35 – e-mail : coordnatsanspap mdK wanadoo.fr ELECTIONS REGIONALES : LE FRONT NATIONAL PEUT REMERCIER SARKOZY/HORTEFEUX/BESSON ET L'UMP Même si nous ne votons pas parce que sans papiers et que même l'immigration régulière ne vote toujours pas, nous ne sommes pas indifférents parce que concernés par la politique menée à (...) - Infos globales / Répression/contrôle social, Europe, Expulsions/Extraditions

Say what you want about the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan. You like it. You don't. Its proposals will work. They won't.

But one thing is clear: this FCC loves video. IP video, video conferencing, mobile video, video devices—the NBP can't talk about video enough, and the hope is obvious. While Internet TV watching only represents a very small percentage of total broadband consumption at this point (2 percent of all time viewing), it has the potential for huge expansion over the next decade, driving broadband growth.

So passionate is the FCC for video that the Plan recommends that the White House launch video.gov—a platform to house the federal government's public digital video content of today and yesteryear. 

"All agencies should be encouraged to release as much video content as possible onto Video.gov," the FCC recommends. "Additionally, Congress should consider making a one-time appropriation to fund the creation of this federated collection of national digital archives."

The site isn't up yet, even in beta form. But it's part of the FCC's grand master plan to drive both broadband adoption and civic engagement. And pursuant to that, the NBP also asks Congress to modify the Copyright Act to make it easier for broadcasters to hand over their archival materials to a digital national archive.

"Today, public media and much of broadcast media sit on a wealth of America’s civic DNA in the form of millions of hours of historical news coverage of wars, elections and daily life," the agency notes. "This archival content could provide tremendous educational opportunities for generations of students and could revolutionize how we access our own history."

Happily, one broadcast venue isn't waiting for Congress to act on this issue. C-Span unveiled its new video library on Wednesday—160,000 hours of politics covered by the service since 1987. I got so excited about the site that I forgot that I was writing this story! (And now, back to the videos...)

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