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Saturday, June 11, 2011
Weiner Taking Leave Of Absence To Seek Treatment - Jackson News Story - WAPT Jackson
NEW YORK (CNN) -- U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has resisted calls to resign over inappropriate communications with women online, is taking a leave of absence and left Saturday morning for professional treatment, a spokesman said.
"Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person," Weiner spokeswoman Risa Heller said. "In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well."Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents," Heller said.Weiner has been under fire after admitting to inappropriate communications with women online.The decision comes as three weighty Democratic voices -- including Nancy Pelosi -- called for Weiner's resignation.The House Minority Leader, and the chairmen of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in separate statements called for Weiner to step down.The New York congressman has resisted calls to resign."Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress," Pelosi said.DCCC chair Steve Israel also wished Weiner well in his personal life, but said that the scandal has "become an insurmountable distraction" to the House."The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, also calling it a distraction.The statements come as Delaware authorities are investigating contact between a local teen and Weiner."Detectives were made aware of alleged contact between Congressman Anthony Weiner and an area teen," New Castle County Police said in a statement. "Detectives have conducted an interview with the teen and she has made no disclosure of criminal activity nor inappropriate contact by the congressman."Weiner's spokeswoman said the interaction with the Delaware teen was not inappropriate."According to Congressman Weiner, his communications with this person were neither explicit nor indecent," Risa Heller said in a statement.Pressed for answers on the Delaware allegations as he ran errands in the New York City borough of Queens on Saturday, Weiner told reporters: "Nothing explicit, nothing indecent. Absolutely nothing inappropriate."Weiner, who is married, admitted this week that he engaged in sexually tinged communications with women and lied about it.The New York congressman publicly apologized Monday for exchanging "messages and photos of explicit nature with about six women in the last three years." He said he communicated with women through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and, occasionally, on the phone."I don't know the exact ages of the women ... at least to the best of my knowledge, they were all adults, and they were engaging in conversations consensually," Weiner said Monday. "All I know is what they published about themselves in social media."Weiner also said he never met any of the women in person.CNN's Dana Bash, Jason Carroll, Holly Yan, Tom Cohen and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.Copyright CNN 2011
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Friday, June 10, 2011
Perry for President Gains Credence as Gingrich Aides Desert
(Updates with Perry spokesman comment in ninth paragraph.)
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor Rick Perry's flirtation with seeking the Republican presidential nomination had people talking in Austin even before key figures in his past campaigns quit working today for Newt Gingrich.
Dave Carney, a Perry adviser, and Rob Johnson, who ran the governor's 2010 re-election campaign, both abandoned Gingrich's presidential bid. That drew more attention to the possibility that the longest-serving U.S. governor could make a run for the nation's top office.
Johnson's resignation as Gingrich's campaign manager and Carney's departure as a political adviser will prompt more talk of Perry's entering the 2012 race, said Jeff Crosby, an Austin political consultant. Johnson managed Perry's victories last year over Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary and former Houston Mayor Bill White in the general election.
"People in Austin close to Perry are saying that he's being drawn into this because the Republican field is so weak," said Crosby, who works for Democratic candidates. The upheaval in the Gingrich camp will spark "a ripple of chatter about Perry for people who think there's some meat on the bone."
Carney, a former White House political aide to President George H.W. Bush, denied that his decision to leave the Gingrich camp was related to a possible Perry bid. The governor's deliberations didn't affect his decision "in the least," Carney said by e-mail.
'Incompatible,' Carney Says
"The professional team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt's vision for the campaign were incompatible," Carney said.
Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, gained prominence when he led a 1994 Republican surge that won control of the chamber for the first time in 40 years. He officially declared his candidacy last month.
Perry, 61, said May 27 that he's "thinking about running," contrary to months of denials that he was interested in trying to unseat President Barack Obama. Since then, he has raised his national profile by scheduling speeches to Republicans in New Orleans and New York, and inviting governors to a day of prayer Aug. 6 in Houston.
Today's resignations "don't change anything," Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, said by telephone, referring to the resignations of Johnson and Carney. "The governor has said he is thinking about running, but his current focus is on the special legislative session."
No Campaign Steps
Perry hasn't taken any specific actions to begin a campaign, Miner said. The governor started thinking about the Houston prayer event in December, he said.
"Rick Perry is going to get in this race," Mark McKinnon, a political consultant who once worked for former President George W. Bush, said June 5 on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour" show.
"Whether he runs or not, every day that passes there seems to be a greater opportunity for him," said Allen Blakemore, a Houston political consultant for Republican candidates who hasn't worked for Perry. "Nobody in the presidential race right now is catching fire."
--With assistance from Catherine Dodge and Lisa Lerer in Washington and John McCormick in Chicago. Editors: Ted Bunker, Stephen Merelman.
via sfgate.com
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Oil Gains as OPEC Fails to Agree Quotas; U.S. Supplies Decline
June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rose for a third day in New York after OPEC failed to reach an agreement on production targets for the first time in at least 20 years and U.S. crude inventories fell more than analysts forecast.
Futures gained as much as 0.7 percent after climbing 1.7 percent yesterday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will maintain its current output for now, said Mohammad Aliabadi, the acting Iranian oil minister and OPEC president. A Gulf delegate said June 7 that the group would increase production targets. A U.S. government report showed crude supplies dropped the most since December.
"You may start to see higher oil prices as the question mark over future supply grows larger," said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne, who predicted oil will average $113 a barrel in the third quarter. "There is now some question arising as to how willing OPEC is to step in and fill the breach."
Crude for July delivery rose as much as 73 cents to $101.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $101.46 at 11:12 a.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday climbed $1.65 to $100.74, the highest settlement since May 31. Prices are up 36 percent the past year.
Brent crude oil for July delivery was at $118.16 a barrel, up 31 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract yesterday climbed $1.07, or 0.9 percent, to $117.85. It was the highest settlement since May 4.
Proposed Increase
The European benchmark contract traded at a premium of $16.73 a barrel to U.S. futures today. The difference between front-month contracts in London and New York reached a record $19.54 on Feb. 21. It averaged 76 cents last year.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were ready to supply more oil to the market, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. The four nations proposed a 1.5 million barrel-a-day increase from the current 28.8 million, he said.
Libya, Angola, Ecuador, Algeria, Iran and Venezuela were opposed to higher limits, according to Naimi. Iraq is exempt from the targets. The 11 members subject to quotas produced 26.22 million barrels a day last month, 1.375 million more than pledged, according to Bloomberg News estimates.
IEA 'Disappointed'
OPEC's failure to agree shows that some members have limited spare capacity, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Lawrence Eagles wrote in a note yesterday. It will be a "stretch" for Saudi Arabia alone to add the 1.9 million barrels a day needed to meet the 30.87 million barrels in third- quarter demand OPEC forecasts for its oil, the analysts said.
The International Energy Agency is disappointed that OPEC failed to agree on an increase in output, it said in an e-mailed statement. "Ongoing supply disruptions, as well as the fragile state of the global economy, call for a prompt increase in supply," the Paris-based group said.
Brent has advanced 24 percent this year as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to Libya. The fighting in Libya has removed about 1.5 million barrels a day of output from market.
U.S. crude stockpiles decreased 4.85 million barrels to 369 million last week, the biggest decline this year, according to the Energy Department. A 1.38 million-barrel drop was forecast, according to the median of responses in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 analysts.
Gasoline supplies climbed 2.21 million barrels to 214.5 million, according to the Energy Department. They were forecast to rise 1.1 million barrels, the Bloomberg News survey shows.
Global oil demand will climb to 89.18 million barrels a day during the third quarter, the highest level of 2011, the U.S. Energy Department said June 7.
Prices declined for options betting on lower oil. The most- active contract yesterday was the July $95 put, which fell 30 cents to 38 cents. The most-active call option, a bet that prices will rise, was the July $105 call, which climbed 10 cents to 41 cents.
--Editors: Paul Gordon, Jane, Ching Shen Lee
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