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HavenWorks.com |
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 2008
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USA News. United States of America News. |
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Hartmann/MP3s/TV
 Greenwald/+/Radio/MP3s
Blogs-; ABlog/TV Blog  Weblog
20090330  Torture
-  Criminal
-  Dick
Cheney - War
Crimes - 
-  Military
-  Government
-  Intelligence
-  Terrorism
- Detainee
- Secret
- Censored
-  Videotapes
-  Legal
-  Politics
-  History
-  Book
"Bush's Torture Rationale Debunked." ... "Abu Zubaida was the alpha and omega of the [Republican President] Bush administration's argument for torture." ... "That's why Sunday's front-page Washington Post story by Peter Finn and Joby Warrick is such a blow to the last remaining torture apologists." ... "Finn and Warrick reported that "not a single significant plot was foiled" as a result of Zubaida's brutal treatment -- and that, quite to the contrary, his false confessions "triggered a series of alerts and sent hundreds of CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] investigators scurrying in pursuit of phantoms."" ... "Zubaida was the first detainee to be tortured at the direct instruction of the [Republican President Bush] White House. Then he was President George W. Bush's Exhibit A in defense of the "enhanced interrogation" procedures that constituted torture. And he continues to be held up as a justification for torture by its most ardent defenders." ... "But as author Ron Suskind reported almost three years ago -- and as The Post now confirms -- almost all the key assertions the Bush administration made about Zubaida were wrong." ... "Zubaida wasn't a major al Qaeda figure. He wasn't holding back critical information. His torture didn't produce valuable intelligence -- and it certainly didn't save lives." ... "All the calculations the Bush White House claims to have made in its decision to abandon long-held moral and legal strictures against abusive interrogation turn out to have been profoundly flawed, not just on a moral basis but on a coldly practical one as well." ... "Indeed, the Post article raises the even further disquieting possibility that intentional cruelty was part of the White House's motive." ... "There's no doubt that Zubaida's capture in spring 2002 was what sent the administration down the path to state-sanctioned torture. Last April, ABC News reported that starting right after his capture, top Bush aides including [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney micromanaged his interrogation from the White House basement. "The high-level discussions about these 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were so detailed," ABC's sources said, "some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic." Bush has acknowledged he was aware of those meetings at the time." ... "Techniques that created damage short of "the level of death, organ failure, or the permanent impairment of a significant body function" were later authorized in an August 2002 Justice Department memo, known as the Torture Memo." ... "Just two weeks ago, in a New York Review of Books article based on a confidential report from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mark Danner described the techniques used on Zubaida in harrowing detail." ... "I've [Dan Froomkin] written extensively about Zubaida before, and about how the facts of his case as unearthed by [author of the book "The One Percent Doctrine" Ron] Suskind thoroughly undermine the Bush administration's arguments. See, for instance, my Dec. 18, 2007 column, Exhibit A for Torture, in which I suggested that "Bush's Exhibit A in defense of torture may in fact be an exhibit for the prosecution." We learned in December 2007 that the CIA had destroyed videotapes of its secret interrogations -- 92 in all, it turns out, 90 of them of Zubaida. In February 2008, I wrote about how the White House's torture argument had now officially become that the ends justify the means." ... "Over the years, I've made something of a point of debunking the Bush White House's unsupported assertions that any really useful information was gleaned from torture." -By Dan Froomkin -WashingtonPost  Corporate
-  Media
- Politics
- Marketing
- Religion
- Government
- Law
- History
- Television
"Rev. Moon Exemplifies Right Wing GOP Subsidy of Big Media to Frame Message." ... "[Reverend] Rev. Moon has adopted a relatively low-profile in recent years (if you don't count his bizarre "coronation" by elected officials in a Capitol Hill House of Representatives meeting room a couple years back), but that hasn't prevented the weird religious leader (and close ally of the Bush family) from pouring an estimated 1 - 2.5 billion dollars into subsidizing the Washington Times since 1982." ... "In 2002, Rev. Moon pronounced "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world." But the reality is that the Washington Times -- like the New York Post and Weekly Standard for Rupert Murdoch -- are investments in obtaining financial regulatory and other favors from Republican administrations in return for helping frame and market the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] talking points of tax cuts, cultural wars, and Wall Street gambling." ... "The Washington Times has only about 100,000 subscribers, but its newsboxes are next to the Washington Post throughout D.C. [America's capital], allowing it to appear as an equal -- and to have its banner headlines seen by tens of thousands of D.C. "influencers" every day. Then, it also gives a byline and title for its writers to appear as D.C. pundits on television (just as Bill Kristol is identified as editor of the chronically money losing "Weekly Standard" during his ubiquitous "pundit" appearances on the tube) -- as well as all television reporters need to quote it to provide "balance."" ... "In short, Moon, in essence, shells out hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to use the Washington Times as a public relations vehicle for "framing" the GOP perspective." ... "Meanwhile, wealthy liberal Democrats don't buy up or create large media outlets; they just support efforts to criticize the corporate press and the likes of Rev. Moon." ... "You can win elections, but you can't make dramatic change unless you own part of the major media." ... "Rev. Moon understands that. Why can't wealthy Democrats?" -By Mark Karlin -BuzzFlash.com Government
- Money
-  Accounting
- Politics
-  Jobs
- Deficit
-  Iowa
"Republican Budget Plan: ‘Undo’ The Stimulus, Cut Taxes For The Rich." ... "Today, House Republicans released their budget plan, entitled “The Republican Road To Recovery.” They claim the plan “curbs spending, creates jobs and lowers taxes, and controls the debt; and it will soon have our economy growing again.”" ... "For an “alternative budget,” however, it is very short on numbers, including no mention of deficit implications. And the plan for creating jobs and sparking economic growth is actually undoing the stimulus and then cutting additional spending[.]" ... "Of course, stimulus dollars are already on their way out the door, so it’s difficult to envision how one would “undo” the bill. But even if it could be done, it would be an act of neo-Hooverism that would make [Iowa Republican Senator] Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA [Republican-Iowa]) insane three-year spending freeze look wise and prudent." ... "As Matthew Yglesias noted, “It’s strange that the Republicans railing about long-term deficits seem to love long-term deficits when the point of the deficits is to further enrich the rich.”" -By Pat Garofalo -ThinkProgress.org/Wonk Room  Barack
Obama - Government
- Business
- Legislation
- Politics
-  Home
Mortgages -  IN
-  MO
"Bayh: My Group Of Blue Dogs ‘Literally Has No Agenda’ Other Than Blocking Obama’s." ... "Yesterday, MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change, and several other progressive groups began running ads urging “moderate” Democratic members of Congress to “get on board with the president’s budget.” The ads are, in part, a response to [Indiana Democratic Senator] Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN [Democratic-Indiana]) and 14 of his Democratic colleagues who are creating what they call a “moderate coalition that will meet regularly to shape public policy.” Bayh responded to the new ads late yesterday, telling Politico that his group of “moderates” should not be targeted because they have “no agenda”:" "Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind. [Indiana]) is also unhappy with the friendly fire. Bayh…found himself targeted by an ad accusing him of “standing in the way of President Obama’s reforms.” “We literally have no agenda,” Bayh shot back. “How can they be threatened by a group that has taken no policy positions?”""Bayh’s claim that his group has no agenda is hard to believe. Indeed, as the Wall Street Journal explained yesterday, the group’s “stated goal is to…protect business interests.” Even before the group was officially formed, their efforts dampened a number of progressive policy proposals and they clearly have aspirations to expand their portfolio:" "– Shrinking Economic Recovery: The group’s first significant “success” was “paring down the more than $900 billion economic stimulus bill to $787 billion,” reducing the government’s ability to spur economic recovery quickly. [Roll Call, 3/12/2009]""If Bayh is to be believed and his new group of moderates “literally have no agenda,” then what exactly are they doing? As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained last night, it appears that Bayh and his colleagues have found at least one niche to fill by helping Republicans obstruct the President’s agenda and deny voters the policies they endorsed last November:" "Anyone voting against a Democratic agenda voted Republican. Those votes produced a very small Republican minority in Congress. A small minority that now has way more power than they otherwise would because of conservative Democrats deciding to give Republicans as much power as they can."" -By Ryan Powers -ThinkProgress.org Barack
Obama - Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- History
-  Texas
"Despair over financial policy." ... "The [Democratic President Obama's Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won." ... "In effect, Treasury will be creating — deliberately! — the functional equivalent of Texas S&Ls in the 1980s: financial operations with very little capital but lots of government-guaranteed liabilities. For the private investors, this is an open invitation to play heads I win, tails the taxpayers lose. So sure, these investors will be ready to pay high prices for toxic waste. After all, the stuff might be worth something; and if it isn’t, that’s someone else’s problem." ... "Or to put it another way, Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem, which it proposes to cure by creating massive moral hazard." -By Paul Krugman/Blog -NYTimes Government
- Economic
- Accounting
- Job
- History
- Politics
"The New Deal and right-wing revisionism." ... "The best regarded data excluding public-works employees traces a steady decline in joblessness through the first five years of the New Deal, from 25 percent when [Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt] FDR took office to 14.3 percent in 1937. Then, however, joblessness rose, hitting 19.1 percent in 1938 before dropping back to 14.6 percent in 1940 and 9.9 percent in 1941." ... "Include work-relief employees, and unemployment declined more steeply, falling to 9.2 percent in 1937. It then rose to 12.5 percent in 1938 before dropping back to 6 percent in 1941." ... "Why did Roosevelt's recovery falter?" ... "Unfortunately for conservatives, the evidence cuts against their conclusions. The rise in unemployment followed FDR's cutback in government spending in 1937. The resulting spike in unemployment prompted him to shift courses and expand spending again, whereupon unemployment again fell." ... "Gross Domestic Product tracks the same way, notes economist Dean Baker, who has matched the increase in federal spending during each Depression year with the following year's growth in GDP. A 23.7 percent increase in federal spending in 1933 was followed by a 10.8 percent increase in GDP in 1934, for example, while a 34.2 percent increase in 1934 was followed by an 8.9 percent GDP increase in 1935. But when FDR retrenched and spending fell by 10 percent in 1937, the next year's GDP shrank by 3.4 percent." ... "There's virtually no disagreement that World War II gave the country the strong final tug out of the Depression. Yet that reality also argues for the efficacy of Keynesian remedies; economically, the war constituted a huge government stimulus, financed by massive deficit spending." -By Scott Lehigh -BostonGlobe Secret
- Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prison
-  Psychological
- Terrorism
- Military
- Government
-
-  Medical
-  Human
- Rights
- Law
-  US
- Guantánamo
-  Cuba
"Former Gitmo Guard Tells All." ... "Army Private Brandon Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo [US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba] in the first years the facility was in operation. With the [Republican President] Bush Administration, and thus the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step forward and tell his story. “The stuff I did and the stuff I saw was just wrong,” he told the Associated Press. Neely describes the arrival of detainees in full sensory-deprivation garb, he details their sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees, and his conversations with prisoners David Hicks and Rhuhel Ahmed. It makes for fascinating reading." ... "Neely’s comprehensive account runs to roughly 15,000 words. It was compiled by law students at the University of California at Davis and can be accessed here." ... "... Neely and other guards had been trained to the U.S. military’s traditional application of the Geneva Convention rules. They were put under great pressure to get rough with the prisoners and to violate the standards they learned. This placed the prison guards under unjustifiable mental stress and anxiety, and, as any person familiar with the vast psychological literature in the area (think of the Stanford Prison Experiment, for instance) would have anticipated produced abuses. Neely discusses at some length the notion of IRF (initial reaction force), a technique devised to brutalize or physically beat a detainee under the pretense that he required being physically subdued. The IRF approach was devised to use a perceived legal loophole in the prohibition on torture. Neely’s testimony makes clear that IRF was understood by everyone, including the prison guards who applied it, as a subterfuge for beating and mistreating prisoners—and that it had nothing to do with the need to preserve discipline and order in the prison." ... "[Neely] describes body searches undertaken for no legitimate security purpose, simply to sexually invade and humiliate the prisoners. This was a standardized [Republican President] Bush Administration tactic–the importance of which became apparent to me when I participated in some Capitol Hill negotiations with White House representatives relating to legislation creating criminal law accountability for contractors. The Bush White House vehemently objected to provisions of the law dealing with rape by instrumentality. When House negotiators pressed to know why, they were met first with silence and then an embarrassed acknowledgement that a key part of the Bush program included invasion of the bodies of prisoners in a way that might be deemed rape by instrumentality under existing federal and state criminal statutes. While these techniques have long been known, the role of health care professionals in implementing them is shocking." ... "Neely’s account demonstrates once more how much the Bush team kept secret and how little we still know about their comprehensive program of official cruelty and torture." -By Scott Horton -Harpers.org "Testimony of Spc. Brandon Neely." via "The Guantánamo Testimonials Project." ... "Testimonies of Military Guards." via humanrights.ucdavis.edu   Mitch
McConnell - Economic
- Emergency
- Jobs
- Accounting
- Politics
- Opinion
- People
-  Social
Security - Government
-  Reference
- Book
-  Kentucky
"Revisionists' blind view of New Deal." ... "[N]early eight decades after [Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt] FDR launched the New Deal, amid possibly the greatest economic emergency since the 1930s, it’s important to understand that the most sophisticated arguments seeking to demolish the New Deal are based on a misreading of the bulk of the historical evidence. University of California, Davis historian Eric Rauchway, the author of “The Great Depression & The New Deal: A Very Short Introduction,” dismantled Shlaes’ argument in a 2007 review in Slate. He showed how [right wing writer Amity] Shlaes had tried to diminish the nation’s economic growth during the 1930s using the narrow gauge of the Dow Jones Industrial Average as opposed to the gross domestic product." ... "Shlaes cited unemployment figures that excluded Americans who had New Deal-generated jobs, and she virtually ignored what Rauchway calls “the authoritative reference work Historical Statistics of the United States.” That reference book shows that during FDR’s first term, the real GDP grew by some 9 percent annually; and after the 1937-38 recession, the economy grew at an annual clip of 11 percent. By the fall of 1934, another New Deal historian, William E. Leuchtenburg, explains, “the ranks of the unemployed had been reduced by over 2 million and national income stood almost a quarter higher than in 1933.”" ... "The Shlaes-[ Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch] McConnell anti-New Deal critics tend to minimize the enduring contribution of laws such as the Wagner Act, which established workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively, and the Social Security Act of 1935 that provided for unemployment as well as old-age insurance. They highlight, instead, the failure of the National Industrial Recovery Act to fuel economic growth, overlook the ways in which the New Deal alleviated people’s misery and rarely acknowledge that World War II lifted the economy and ultimately ended the Depression because the national government joined closely with the private sector to provide a massive stimulus in the form of federal wartime spending." ... "FDR’s New Deal had its share of failures, setbacks and problems. But to argue that it harmed the American people, “failed abysmally” (Shlaes’ words) to reduce unemployment, and retarded economic growth is to twist the historical evidence beyond all reasonable recognition. Such arguments are forms of revisionism that are misleading, polemical and riddled with distortions of the overwhelming facts at hand about the New Deal’s achievements as well as its real shortcomings. " -By Matthew Dallek -Politico.com Barack
Obama - Working
-  Families
- Economic
- Government
- Accounting
- History
- Lawmakers
- Politics
"BIGGEST. TAX CUT. EVER." ... "A few weeks ago, when the House approved the economic stimulus bill without any Republican votes, David Weigel noted that he literally couldn't remember "a time when the entire Republican conference in either house voted against tax cuts."" ... "That's true, but let's go a little further. The compromise plan announced last night includes $282 billion in tax cuts over two years. With that in mind, Steven Waldman argues, persuasively, that when the vast majority of congressional Republicans oppose the package, they'll be voting against the biggest tax cut "in history."" "According to the Wall Street Journal, [Republican President] Bush's first two years of tax cuts amounted to $174 billion. A second batch in 2004 and 2005 cost $231. And those were thought to be bigger than the tax cuts offered by Reagan, Kennedy or others.""True. Waldman also notes that this is also an example of a liberal Democrat delivering early on a tax cut he promised during the campaign, a pledge "few Republican thought he'd keep."" ... "[Democratic President] Obama's tax cuts, meanwhile, are short-term refunds paid directly to working and middle class families (some of which Republicans have denounced as "welfare")." ... "As such, GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] lawmakers are going to reject one of the largest, if not the largest, tax cut ever proposed by a president -- which just so happens to be targeted at the working and middle class families Obama vowed to look out for." -By Steve Benen -WashingtonMonthly.com Money
- Law
-Politics
- Federal
- Workers
-  Maine
"Source: Collins Strips Stim Bill Of Whistleblower Protections." ... "The House stimulus bill contained a provision designed to protect federal whistleblowers. Currently, those protections are shockingly weak. According to the Project On Government Oversight, whistleblowers who are fired or demoted can file a complaint with a government board -- but over the last eight years, that board has ruled in favor of whistleblowers only twice in 55 cases." ... "More to the point, the protections were designed to encourage federal workers to point out cases where taxpayer money is subject to waste, fraud, or abuse -- a legitimate concern when Congress spends $800 billion, and one that centrists and Republicans have been particularly exercised about." ... "Yesterday, 20 members of the House, from both parties, sent a letter to House negotiators urging them to ensure that the protections remained." ... "But, according to a person following the bill closely, Collins used today's conference committee to drastically water down the measure, citing national security concerns as the reason for her opposition. In the end, the protections were so weakened that House negotiators balked, and the result was that the entire amendment was removed." ... "According to the person following the bill, [Maine Republican Senator Susan] Collins was the "central roadblock" to passing the protections." ... "So when, in the coming months, conservatives start jumping up and down over the fact that money from the stimulus bill is being wasted, as they surely will, it's worth remember that a key measure designed to help expose that waste was removed from the bill -- and by a senator said to be a champion of fiscal discipline." -By Zachary Roth -TPMMuckracker .TalkingPointsMemo HavenWorks.com+A-Z BETA PAGES: BETA PAGES |
Corporate
- Television
- Media
- Politics
"If it’s Sunday, it’s still conservative." ... "In 2006, Media Matters conducted a study on Sunday political talk shows, finding that “Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows — in some cases, dramatically so.” From 2001 to 2005, conservative guests outnumbered progressives “by 58 percent to 42 percent.” Atrios notes that tomorrow’s shows will also be dominated by conservative guests:" "7 Appearances by Republican current elected officeholders"" -ThinkProgress.org Barack
Obama -  John
Boehner
-  Karl
Rove - 2008
Election - Media
-Politics
- Corporate
- Healthcare
-  Ohio
- US
-  Iraq
-  Global
-  Climate
"Sunday Roundup." ... "In the wake of [2008 Election Democratic President-Elect Barack] Obama's overwhelming victory, and Democratic gains in the House and Senate, conservatives are desperately trying to convince the world that these results are meaningless. "Democrats should not make the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism," insisted [Ohio Republican Representative] John Boehner. "Barack Obama understands this is a center-right country," claimed Karl Rove. "This country remains every bit as center-right as it has for a generation," parroted Brent Bozell. And David Brooks dreamed of an Obama administration that understands "this was an election where the middle asserted itself." Drunk on self-delusion, a staggering GOP whistles past the electoral graveyard, missing the whole point of this election: the center has shifted, and positions that used to be considered "left-wing" -- on healthcare, on global warming, on corporate responsibility, on Iraq -- are now solidly mainstream." -By Arianna Huffington -HuffingtonPost.com  John
McCain -Corporate
- Government
- Disaster
- Politics
- US_Debt
- Healthcare
- Social
Security - Rights
- Book
-2008
Election
"Naomi Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'." ... "The bailout of Wall Street’s largest players by the federal government is another example of the [Republican President] Bush administration pursuing a corporate agenda at the expense of average Americans, a prominent author argued on Friday." ... "In a Friday night interview on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Naomi Klein said President Bush’s $700 billion proposal to rescue the financial sector stems from a profiteering streak that has dominated the last eight years." ... ""The disaster is far from over," Klein said. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have moved the disaster to Main Street."" ... "Referring to the bailout, Klein said the "bomb has yet to detonate" and that the real crisis will strike when tax payers are overwhelmed when faced with the debt from the bailouts." ... "According to Klein, the bomb will detonate if Sen. John McCain becomes president and "rationalizes" that it is necessary to privatize government programs like social security and healthcare because neither the government nor Americans can afford them." ... ""The real disaster has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode on American tax payers," Klein said." ... "Klein’s book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," outlines how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strong-arm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept." -By David Edwards and Andrew McLemore -RawStory.com  WATCH:
Naomi Klein on Republican Bush's "Shock Doctrine"
Psychological
- Classified
 WATCH
- "How
the Pentagon Spread Its Message." -By
David
Barstow -NYTimes
|
20090330  John
McCain - Government
- Money
- Accounting
-  Arizona
"Despite McCain's Comments, Senate GOP Not Offering Detailed Budget." ... "On Thursday, House Republicans did wind up offering the frame of an alternative budget -- but then they were widely panned for not releasing a more detailed alternative to the Democratic proposals." ... "That’s what made an exchange Sunday with [Arizona Republican Senator] Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” intriguing." "DAVID GREGORY: “Do you think that Republicans should provide a detailed budget alternative?”""So -- are they?" ... "Actually, no." -By Rick Klein -ABCNEWS.com  Barack
Obama - Government
- Politics
-  Auto
-  Makers
- Workers
- Retirement
- Money
"Wagoner's pension secure as GM's workers could be hit." ... "As the [Democratic President] Obama administration tries to rein in sky-high executive compensation at firms that are getting billions in taxpayer funds, ousted General Motors Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is due to walk away with a pension and benefits that total $23 million." ... "Wagoner, whose company is on tap to get a nearly $30 billion bailout to help it restructure, is unaffected by the cap on compensation that's now levied on banks other financial firms and is expected to be extended to the automakers." ... "Wagoner's pension payments are being preserved even as those of rank-and-file GM [General Motors] workers are more at risk after President Barack Obama suggested that bankruptcy is a way to save the company." ... "According to GM's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he [Wagoner] earned $14.4 million in total compensation in 2007 and $5.4 million in 2008, even though most of his income was tied to the company's performance, which was dismal." -By Greg Gordon with contributions by Kevin G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com Corporate
- Secrets
- People's
- Health
- History
-  Computerized
- Data-Mining
-  Web
- Psychology
-  Drug
- Federal
- Consumer
-  Privacy
- Law
- Politics
"Insurers shun those taking certain meds: How health insurers secretly blacklist those with certain ailments." ... "Trying to buy health insurance on your own and have gallstones? You'll automatically be denied coverage. Rheumatoid arthritis? Automatic denial. Severe acne? Probably denied. Do you take metformin, a popular drug for diabetes? Denied. Use the anti-clotting drug Plavix or Seroquel, prescribed for anti-psychotic or sleep problems? Forget about it." ... "This confidential information on some insurers' practices is available on the Web -- if you know where to look." ... "What's more, you can discover that if you lie to an insurer about your medical history and drug use, you will be rejected because data-mining companies sell information to insurers about your health, including detailed usage of prescription drugs." ... "To make sure that applicants are not lying, insurers hire a data-gathering service -- Medical Information Bureau, Milliman's Intelliscript or Ingenix Medpoint." ... "Intelliscript and Medpoint do computerized searches of a person's drug use, gleaned from pharmacy benefits managers and other databases." ... "Last year, the Federal Trade Commission accused both companies of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not offering to provide consumers with information about them. The companies agreed to settlements in which they promised to let people see their personal information." (1, 2) -By John Dorschner -MiamiHerald  John
Roberts - Supreme
Court -  Nevada
"Reid: Chief Justice Roberts "didn't tell us the truth"." ... "[United States] U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts "didn't tell us the truth" before his 2005 confirmation, Senate Majority Leader [and Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid said Friday." -By David Lightman -McClatchyDC.com via -Yahoo Iowa
-  North
Dakota
"Senators Get Nasty: "You're Good" ... "Your Wife Said The Same Thing" (VIDEO)." ... "Budget Committee Chairman [and North Dakota Democratic Senator] Kent Conrad (D-N.D. [Democratic-North Dakota]) was on the receiving end of this one, after telling [Iowa Republican Senator] Sen. Charles Grassley (R [Republican]-Iowa), "Oh, you are good."... [Chuck Grassley responded:] "Well, your wife said the same thing," Grassley responded. " -By Ryan Grim -HuffingtonPost.com WATCH:
Iowa Republican Senator Grassley say "Well, your wife said the same thing,"
in response to North Dakota Democratic Senator Conrad saying "Oh, you are
good."
Economic
- History
- Jobs
- Consumer
- Government
"GDP revision shows 6.3% decline in fourth quarter: Worst quarter in 26 years led by weak spending, investment, exports." ... "The U.S. economy experienced its most violent contraction in a generation during the fourth quarter, with real gross domestic product plunging at a 6.3% annualized seasonally adjusted rate, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in its third estimate of quarterly growth." ... " GDP hadn't fallen so much since the first quarter of 1982. It was the third largest decline in GDP in 50 years." ... "Economists believe the current quarter, which ends March 31, was nearly as bad. Current projections look for GDP to fall at a 5.1% annual pace. Since 1947, GDP has never fallen by more than 4% for two quarters in a row." ... "Some have a more extreme view: "The economy will contract by a staggering 7% to 8% in the first quarter, before the economy begins to stabilize,"wrote Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for IHS Global Insight." ... "The recession that began in December 2007 intensified in the fourth quarter following the government's rescue of several large financial institutions and the collapse of Lehman Bros. The ensuing credit squeeze has driven consumer and business confidence to generational lows, and cost 3 million Americans their jobs." ... "The slump in the economy in the fourth quarter was broad based, with declines in every major sector except the federal government. Corporate profits fell at the fastest pace since 1953." ... "Final sales to domestic purchasers -- domestic demand -- fell at a 5.8% annual rate, the biggest drop since the second quarter of 1980." -By Rex Nutting -MarketWatch Labor
- Market
"U.S. ongoing jobless claims rise to record 5.56 million: First-time claims hit 652,000 for last week, underscoring lack of jobs." ... "Showing the labor market's considerable strain, the number of people collecting state unemployment benefits reached yet another new record, jumping 122,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.56 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday." ... "The four-week average of these claims rose 123,750 to stand at 5.33 million -- in itself a record high since the U.S. began compiling these statistics -- also as of the week ended March 14." ... "And for the week ended March 21, first-time claims for benefits rose 8,000 to 652,000, a level that's fully 78% higher than the same period in the prior year." ... "The insured unemployment rate, representing the proportion of covered workers who are receiving benefits, rose to 4.2% from 4.1%, reaching the highest level since May 1983." -By Ruth Mantell -MarketWatch  Real
Estate - History
"Commercial Property Faces Crisis: Delinquency Rate at 1.8%, Near Peak of Last Recession; Parallels to S&L Debacle." ... "Commercial real-estate loans are going sour at an accelerating pace, threatening to cause tens of billions of dollars in losses to banks already hurt by the housing downturn." ... "The delinquency rate on about $700 billion in securitized loans backed by office buildings, hotels, stores and other investment property has more than doubled since September to 1.8% this month, according to data provided to The Wall Street Journal by Deutsche Bank AG. While that's low compared with the home-mortgage delinquency rate, it's just short of the highest rate during the last downturn early this decade." ... "Some experts say it now looks as if the current commercial real-estate slump will rival or even exceed the one in the early 1990s, when bad commercial-property debt played a big role in dragging the economy into a recession. Then, close to 1,000 U.S. banks and savings institutions failed. Lenders took about $48.5 billion in charges on commercial real-estate debt between 1990 and 1995, representing 7.9% of such debt outstanding." ... "Since late 2007, a total of 47 banks and savings institutions have failed, of which a dozen or so had unusually high commercial-mortgage exposure. Foresight Analytics in Oakland, Calif., estimates the U.S. banking sector could suffer as much as $250 billion in commercial real-estate losses in this downturn. The research firm projects that more than 700 banks could fail as a result of their exposure to commercial real estate." ... "The Real Estate Roundtable, a trade group, estimates that commercial real estate in the [United States] U.S. is worth $6.5 trillion and financed by about $3.1 trillion in debt." -By Lingling Wei with contributions by Maurice Tamman and Jon Hilsenrath -WSJ.com Barack
Obama - Homeless
- People
- Poverty
- Families
- Jobs
- Law
- Politics
- Los
Angeles -  California
-  Tennessee
-  Wash
-  Fla
"U.S. cities deal with a surge in shanty towns." ... "Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno [California] is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, [Democratic] President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was "not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours."" ... "While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles [California] and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville [Tennessee's capital], Olympia, Wash. [Washington's capital], and St. Petersburg, Fla. [Florida.]" ... "The problem in Fresno is different in that it is both chronic and largely outside the national limelight. Homelessness here has long been fed by the ups and downs in seasonal and subsistence jobs in agriculture, but now the recession has cast a wider net and drawn in hundreds of the newly homeless — from hitchhikers to truck drivers to electricians." ... ""These are able-bodied folks that did day labor, at minimum wage or better, who were previously able to house themselves based on their income," said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group based in Washington." (1, 2) -By Jesse Mckinley -IHT.com Politics
- Government
"GOP [Republican] Budget Proposal: Massive Tax Cut For Wealthy." ... "House Republican leaders called a press conference Thursday to unveil their "alternative budget." While it was thin on specifics, it does include one major policy proposal: a huge tax cut for the wealthy." -By Ryan Grim -HuffingtonPost.com  Government
- Money
- Politics
- Deficit
- Social
Security
"A GOP [Republican] budget with no hard numbers." ... ""House Republicans release a 19-page document [PDF] that contains no hard spending numbers or deficit projections. Per the AP, "One of the few hard bits of information is a promise to simplify the tax code and cut income tax rates to 10 percent for people making $100,000 or less down. They also promise to cut domestic spending below current levels but don't say whether they are exempting Social Security. It's impossible to determine the projected deficit based on their offering."" ... "Not surprisingly, the Democratic National Committee pounced on the GOP's [GOP's=Grand Old Party's=Republican's] budget -- or lack thereof. "After 27 days, the best House Republicans could come up with is a 19-page pamphlet that does not include a single real budget proposal or estimate," said DNC [Democratic National Committee] spokesman Hari Sevugan. "While there had been talk that House Republicans were overriding their Senate counterparts to offer a budget alternative, it's clear after this announcement that neither of them have anything to offer but criticism."" -By Mark Murray -AP -MSNBC   Pennsylvania
- Secret
- Corporate
- Government
- Crime
- Prison
- Children's
- Rights
- Politics
"Court overturns hundreds of cases in court scandal." ... "The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court said it would overturn the convictions of hundreds of juveniles sentenced in the midst of the Luzerne County kickback scheme." ... "Calling it a "first step," the court wielded a little- used proceeding to throw out and expunge the case records of first-time offenders convicted of minor crimes who appeared before Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. between 2003 and 2008." ... "In a report to the Court, a specially appointed judge, Arthur E. Grim, said his investigation uncovered "routine deprivation of children's constitutional rights to appear before an impartial tribunal and have an opportunity to be heard."" ... "Today's ruling, which authorizes Grim to overturn the cases, affects as many as 1,200 juveniles, he said. Their cases will be reviewed individually to determine if they meet the court's conditions." ... "Ciavarella and another former Luzerne County judge, Michael T. Conahan, have pleaded guilty earlier this year to taking $2.6 million in secret payments from the former owner of two juvenile detention centers." ... "The judges admitted that they helped the centers secure a county contract worth millions of dollars. Ciavarella routinely sentenced children to them." -By John Sullivan -Philly.com Barack
Obama - Federal
- Enforcement
- Financial
- Accounting
- Politics
- American
International Group - Consumer
- Crises
- History
- US
- International
"Geithner to Propose Vast Expansion Of U.S. Oversight of Financial System." ... "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plans to propose today a sweeping expansion of federal authority over the financial system, breaking from an era in which the government stood back from financial markets and allowed participants to decide how much risk to take in the pursuit of profit." ... "The [Democratic President] Obama administration's plan, described by several sources, would extend federal regulation for the first time to all trading in financial derivatives and to companies including large hedge funds and major insurers such as American International Group. The administration also will seek to impose uniform standards on all large financial firms, including banks, an unprecedented step that would place significant limits on the scope and risk of their activities." ... "Most of these initiatives would require legislation." ... "In coming months, the administration plans to detail its strategy in three other areas: protecting consumers, eliminating flaws in existing regulations and enhancing international coordination." ... "The nation's financial regulations are largely an accumulation of responses to financial crises. Federal bank regulation was a product of the Civil War. The Federal Reserve was created early in the 20th century to mitigate a long series of monetary crises. The Great Depression delivered deposit insurance and a federally sponsored mortgage market. In the midst of a modern economic upheaval, the Obama administration is pitching the most significant regulatory expansion since that time." ... "The administration's signature proposal is to vest a single federal agency with the power to police risk across the entire financial system." (1, 2, 3) -By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho with contributions by Zachary A. Goldfarb -WashingtonPost Barack
Obama - Government
- Financial
- Law
- Politics
- American
International Group - US
- Global
"Geithner to Outline Major Overhaul of Finance Rules." ... "The [Democratic President] Obama administration will detail on Thursday a wide-ranging plan to overhaul financial regulation by subjecting hedge funds and traders of exotic financial instruments, now among the biggest and most freewheeling players on Wall Street, to potentially strict new government supervision, officials said." ... "The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, will outline the broad revamping of the regulatory system, which goes further than expected, in a hearing on Thursday. He is expected to say that the new rules are necessary to prevent a repeat of the excesses that nearly wrecked the global financial system and plunged the economy into a recession." ... "The plan, which would require Congressional approval, would give the government vast new powers over “systemically important” banks and other financial institutions that are so big that their collapse would jeopardize the economy as a whole." ... "The government would have the power to peer into the inner workings of companies that currently escape most federal supervision — insurance companies like the American International Group, multibillion-dollar hedge funds like the Citadel Group and private equity firms like the Carlyle Group or Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts." ... "But the most striking new proposals, and the ones that may provoke the most heated opposition from the industry, would regulate so-called private pools of capital — hedge funds, private equity funds and venture capital funds — and the gigantic market in financial derivatives, including instruments like credit-default swaps, the insurancelike instruments that allow investors to hedge against bond defaults. " -By Edmund L. Andrews and Louise Story -NYTimes Barack
Obama -  Don
Young - Government
- Money
-  Education
- Missouri
-  Alaska
"GOP [Republicans] Fighting For Money From Stimulus They Opposed." ... "House Republicans, as a group, may take great pride in the goose egg [zero votes] they offered [Democratic] President Obama's stimulus package. But now the unanimous opposition is struggling to bring that money home." ... "Republicans will be working hard to make sure the money they opposed ends up benefiting their home districts, highlighting the political tightrope they walk in this economic crisis." ... "Back in his home district, [Missouri Republican Representative] Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO [Republican-Missouri]) [who voted against the stimulus plane] found some nice things to say about the plan." ... ""Within the stimulus package there is some Pell Grant money, which is a good thing. It helps students be able to pay for their education and that's kind of a long term stimulus effect there. I mean obviously that's not gonna provide a job in the next 120, 180 days, but the ability of someone to get an education is an economic development tool," Luetkemeyer said at a local college. He was there, in another inside-outside Washington twist, to celebrate an earmark for a college building." ... "[Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) [who voted against the stimulus plane] put out a press release saying that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."" -By Ryan Grim -HuffingtonPost.com Barack
Obama -  Michael
Steele -  Pete
Hoekstra - Don
Young -  Lindsey
Graham -  Ken
Calvert - Emergency
- Economics
- Politics
- Families
- Jobs
- Housing
-  Construction
- Education
- Government
- US_Debt
- Missouri
-  MN
-  SC
- FL
- CA
-  MI
-  NJ
- AK
"Kit Bond Touts Effects Of Stimulus Bill He Voted Against." ... "[Missouri Republican Senator Kit Bond voted against the stimulus bill asserting:} “Unfortunately, this bill stimulates the debt, it stimulates the growth of government, but it doesn’t stimulate jobs,” Bond insisted." ... "However, today Bond is touring Missouri to tout the very stimulus plan he railed against. In a press release, Bond boasted about an amendment he included in the bill to provide more funding for affordable housing — and that will create jobs:" "Last week, Bond led a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing an amendment to help provide needy families affordable housing. Bond’s amendment provides $2 billion to fund low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) projects that have been stalled by the financial credit crisis. As part of the Democrats’ spending bill now signed into law, the Senate unanimously accepted Bond’s provision. […]""“This is the type of emergency stimulus spending we should be supporting — programs that will create jobs now and help families,” Bond said." ... "Bond’s “I was against it before I was for it” maneuver at least has local media fooled. Just 24 hours after noting his opposition to the stimulus bill, local news this morning reported that Bond would be touring the state “pushing his plan to create 3,000 jobs in the state and build more than 700 affordable housing units.” Watch the local CBS channel try to keep up with Bond’s flip-flops:" "Bond is not alone in trying to reap the political benefits both from voting against the bill and from bringing much needed funding to his district:" "– [Minnesota Republican Governor] Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), who complained that the “federal government is spending money they don’t have,” told Rachel Maddow he would nevertheless accept funds for Minnesota: “Our view is, if you buy the pizza, it’s OK if you have a slice.”""No wonder RNC [Republican National Committee] Chairman Michael Steele declared recently, “You have absolutely no reason — none — to trust our word or our actions at this point.”" "Update [Missouri Republican Representative] Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) boasted about the educational benefits of the recovery act, while [California Republican Representative] Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) said his office "will do what we can to direct as much money as we can." Neither voted for the bill." "Update [Michgan Republican Representative] Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) joins in, praising the stimulus' "generous" incentives for home buyers on his Twitter feed:" "petehoekstra If you know of someone thinking of buying first home, now may be the time.Stimulus incentive is very generous!Up to 8k!Check it out.""UpdateBlueJersey notes adds [New Jersey Republican Representative] Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) to the growing list. After insisting last Friday that the recovery bill "would have exploded our national debt without providing meaningful job growth," Lance toured construction sites in his district yesterday, touting funds that would come from the stimulus bill. "This is a classic example of a "shovel-ready' project," Lance said after the tour." -By Ali Frick -ThinkProgress.org Read More: US American News... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +
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20090331   Pakistani
- Police
- Military
- Political
- Religious
- History
-  Soviet
-  Afghanistan
-  India
"Insurgent Threat Shifts in Pakistan: Assault on Police Academy Indicates Risk Has Moved Beyond Tribal Areas." ... "The brazen occupation of a Pakistani police academy Monday by heavily armed gunmen near the eastern mega-city of Lahore [Pakistan] was the latest indication that Islamist terrorism, once confined to Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, now threatens political stability nationwide." ... "The precisely orchestrated assault by a squad of young men, which left at least 11 people dead and took security forces nearly eight hours to quell, was also a likely sign that Islamist militant groups in Punjab province, once tolerated and even supported by the Pakistani state to fight in India and Afghanistan, have turned openly against the government." ... "Pakistan has been an incubator for Islamist militant groups for the past several decades. Until recently, they were focused on external conflicts, especially the dispute over Indian Kashmir, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s and the presence of [United States] U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001." ... "In the past several years, extremist groups along the Afghan border have turned inward, spreading violence and religious fanaticism among the ethnic Pashtun populace in Pakistan's northwest. Pakistan has tried to contain the problem through a combination of military offensives and political negotiations, which are underway in several conflicted border districts." -By Pamela Constable with contributions by Aoun Sahi -WashingtonPost Secret
- Detainee's
- Torture
- Criminal
- Military
- Intelligence
- Government
-Terrorism
-  Waterboarding
- War
Crimes - Politics
- Human
- Rights
- Law
- US
- Money
- History
-  Osama
bin Laden
- Religion
- Afghanistan
- Globe
"Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots: Waterboarding, Rough Interrogation of Abu Zubaida Produced False Leads, Officials Say." ... "When CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the [Republican President Bush] White House to get those secrets out of him." ... "The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads." ... "In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said." ... "Moreover, within weeks of his capture, [United States] U.S. officials had gained evidence that made clear they had misjudged Abu Zubaida. President George W. Bush had publicly described him as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations," and other top officials called him a "trusted associate" of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a major figure in the planning of the [2001 September] Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. None of that was accurate, the new evidence showed." ... "Abu Zubaida was not even an official member of al-Qaeda, according to a portrait of the man that emerges from court documents and interviews with current and former intelligence, law enforcement and military sources. Rather, he was a "fixer" for radical Muslim ideologues, and he ended up working directly with al-Qaeda only after Sept. 11 -- and that was because the United States stood ready to invade Afghanistan." ... "The application of techniques such as waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning that U.S. officials had previously deemed a crime -- prompted a sudden torrent of names and facts. Abu Zubaida began unspooling the details of various al-Qaeda plots, including plans to unleash weapons of mass destruction." ... "Abu Zubaida's revelations triggered a series of alerts and sent hundreds of CIA and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] investigators scurrying in pursuit of phantoms. The interrogations led directly to the arrest of Jose Padilla, the man Abu Zubaida identified as heading an effort to explode a radiological "dirty bomb" in an American city. Padilla was held in a naval brig for 3 1/2 years on the allegation but was never charged in any such plot. Every other lead ultimately dissolved into smoke and shadow, according to high-ranking former U.S. officials with access to classified reports." ... ""We spent millions of dollars chasing false alarms," one former intelligence official said." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Peter Finn and Joby Warrick with contributions by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost   China
- Hackers
- International
- Computer
- Spying
- Network
- Investigation
-
- Cams
- Political
- Economic
- Media
- Military
-  Tech
- Canada
-  United
Kingdom - US
"UPDATE: Deep computer-spying network touched 103 countries: Analysts find spyware installed on servers belonging to foreign ministries, embassies, and private companies." ... "A 10-month cyberespionage investigation has found that 1,295 computers in 103 countries and belonging to international institutions have been spied on, with some circumstantial evidence suggesting China may be to blame." ... "The 53-page report, released on Sunday, provides some of the most compelling evidence and detail of the efforts of politically motivated hackers while raising questions about their ties with government-sanctioned cyberspying operations." ... "[See also: Roger Grimes' Security Adviser blog]" ... "It describes a network which researchers have called GhostNet, which primarily uses a malicious software program called gh0st RAT (Remote Access Tool) to steal sensitive documents, control Web cams and completely control infected computers." ... ""GhostNet represents a network of compromised computers resident in high-value political, economic and media locations spread across numerous countries worldwide," said the report, written by analysts with the Information Warfare Monitor, a research project of the SecDev Group, a think tank, and the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto [Canada]. "At the time of writing, these organizations are almost certainly oblivious to the compromised situation in which they find themselves."" ... ""Attributing all Chinese malware to deliberate or targeted intelligence gathering operations by the Chinese state is wrong and misleading," the report said." ... "However, China has made a concerted effort since the 1990s to use cyberspace for military advantage "The Chinese focus on cyber capabilities as part of its strategy of national asymmetric warfare involves deliberately developing capabilities that circumvent [United States] U.S. superiority in command-and-control warfare," it said." ... "A second report [PDF], written by University of Cambridge [United Kingdom] researchers and published in conjunction with the University of Toronto paper, was less circumspect, saying that the attacks against the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (OHHDL) were launched by "agents of the Chinese government." The Cambridge team titled their report, "The Snooping Dragon."" (1, 2) -By Jeremy Kirk with contributions by Robert McMillan -IDG.net via -InfoWorld  Global
- Climate
-  Earth
-  Energy
-  Emissions
- Politics
- Economic
- Crisis
- Floods
-  Plants
-  Animals
- History
- 
"World switches off to save planet in "Earth Hour"." ... "Lights went out at tourism landmarks and homes across the globe on Saturday for Earth Hour 2009, a global event designed to highlight the threat from climate change." ... "Organizers said the action showed millions of people wanted governments to work out a strong new [United Nations] U.N. deal to fight global warming by the end of 2009, even though the global economic crisis has raised worries about the costs." ... "The U.N. Climate Panel says greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet and will lead to more floods, droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels and animal and plant extinctions." ... "World emissions have risen by about 70 percent since the 1970s." -By Jon Boyle -Reuters  Alberto
R Gonzales -  John
C Yoo -  Douglas
J Feith
-  William
J Haynes II -  Jay
S Bybee
-  David
S Addington - Dick
Cheney - Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Secret
- Prisoners
- Politics
- History
- International
- Law
- US
- Guantánamo
Bay - Cuba
-  Chile
-  Spain
"Spanish Court Weighs Inquiry on Torture for 6 Bush-Era Officials." ... "A Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal investigation into allegations that six former high-level [Republican President] Bush administration officials violated international law by providing the legal framework to justify the torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, an official close to the case said." ... "The case, against former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and others, was sent to the prosecutor’s office for review by Baltasar Garzón, the crusading investigative judge who ordered the arrest of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The official said that it was “highly probable” that the case would go forward and that it could lead to arrest warrants." ... "The complaint under review also names John C. Yoo, the former Justice Department lawyer who wrote secret legal opinions saying the president had the authority to circumvent the Geneva Conventions, and Douglas J. Feith, the former under secretary of defense for policy." ... "Spain can claim jurisdiction in the case because five citizens or residents of Spain who were prisoners at Guantánamo Bay [Cuba] have said they were tortured there. The five had been indicted in Spain, but their cases were dismissed after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained under torture was not admissible." ... "The 98-page complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, is based on the Geneva Conventions and the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which is binding on 145 countries, including Spain and the United States. Countries that are party to the torture convention have the authority to investigate torture cases, especially when a citizen has been abused." ... "Gonzalo Boye, the Madrid lawyer who filed the complaint, said that the six Americans cited had had well-documented roles in approving illegal interrogation techniques, redefining torture and abandoning the definition set by the 1984 Torture Convention." ... "Secret memorandums by Mr. Yoo and other top administration lawyers helped clear the way for aggressive policies like waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, which the [Central Intelligence Agency] C.I.A. director, the attorney general and other American officials have said amount to torture." ... "The other Americans named in the complaint were William J. Haynes II, former general counsel for the Department of Defense; Jay S. Bybee, Mr. Yoo’s former boss at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel; and David S. Addington, who was the chief of staff and legal adviser to [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney." -By Marlise Simons with contributions by Scott Shane and Eric Schmitt -NYTimes  Brazil
- Poverty
- Homes
-  Tourist
-  Environment
- Construction
- Politics
"Brazil builds walls around Rio de Janeiro slums." ... "The government of Rio de Janeiro is building concrete walls to prevent sprawling slums from spreading farther into the picturesque hills of this world-famous tourist destination, an official said on Saturday." ... "Officials say the wall is to protect the remaining native forest but critics fear the move could be seen as discriminatory and become a blemish symbolizing Brazil's deep divisions between rich and poor." ... "By year-end the Rio de Janeiro state government wants to build almost 7 miles (11 km) of walls to contain 19 communities." -By Raymond Colitt with contributions by Bill Trott -Reuters  Barack
Obama - US
- Politics
- Afghanistan
- Police
- Pakistan
"Obama's Afghanistan plan calls for 4,000 more U.S. troops." ... "[Democratic] President Obama announced Friday a proposal to stem the worsening insurgency in Afghanistan by sending 4,000 more [United States] U.S. troops and additional civilian aid workers, while also increasing aid to neighboring Pakistan." ... "Obama said his objective is to suppress the spreading insurgency by placing more emphasis on building local governments, wooing the civilian population with aid and providing more help to the Afghan army instead of a deploying a large number of combat troops." ... "Check out Obama's address [PDF]" ... ""The situation is increasingly perilous," Obama said. "It has been more than seven years since the Taliban was removed from power, yet war rages on, and insurgents control parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan."" ... "Key elements of the plan include:" ... "• Sending the 4,000 new troops, who would train Afghan soldiers and police. The plan includes a goal of having 134,000 soldiers in the Afghan army, up from about 65,000 soldiers now. "That is how we will prepare Afghans to take responsibility for their security, and how we will ultimately be able to bring our troops home," Obama said." ... "Pakistan long sponsored the Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan and harbored al-Qaeda terrorists until overthrown by U.S. forces in 2001. Many Taliban members remain in the mountainous border region between the two countries." -By David Jackson with contributions by Tom Vanden Brook and John Fritze -USATODAY  Italy
-  Swiss
- Glaciers
- Land
- Atmosphere
- Global
- Climate
- Politics
- History
-  France
-  Austria
"Melting glaciers force Italy, Swiss to redraw border." ... "Melting glaciers in the Alps may prompt Italy and Switzerland to redraw their borders near the Matterhorn, according to parliamentary draft legislation being readied in Rome [Italy's capital]." ... "The Italian Military Geographic Institute says climate change is responsible for the Alpine glaciers melting." ... ""This draft law is born out the necessity to revise and verify the frontiers given the changes in climate and atmosphere," [Italy's Democratic Party member Franco] Narducci said. "The 1941 convention between Italy and Switzerland established as criteria [for border revisions] the ridge [crest] of the glaciers. Following the withdrawal of the glaciers in the Alps, a new criterion has been proposed so that the new border coincides with the rock."" ... "Narducci said the same negotiation will be proposed to France and Austria[.]" -CNN Afghan
- Pakistan
- US
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- History
"Afghan Strikes by Taliban Get Pakistan Help, U.S. Aides Say." ... "The Taliban’s widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, despite Pakistani government promises to sever ties to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, according to American government officials." ... "The support consists of money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to Taliban commanders who are gearing up to confront the international force in Afghanistan that will soon include some 17,000 American reinforcements." ... "Support for the Taliban, as well as other militant groups, is coordinated by operatives inside the shadowy S Wing of Pakistan’s spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, the officials said. There is even evidence that ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] operatives meet regularly with Taliban commanders to discuss whether to intensify or scale back violence before the Afghan elections." ... "American officials have complained for more than a year about the ISI’s support to groups like the Taliban. But the new details reveal that the spy agency is aiding a broader array of militant networks with more diverse types of support than was previously known — even months after Pakistani officials said that the days of the ISI’s playing a “double game” had ended." ... "Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders publicly deny any government ties to militant groups, and American officials say it is unlikely that top officials in Islamabad [Pakistan's capital] are directly coordinating the clandestine efforts. American officials have also said that midlevel ISI operatives occasionally cultivate relationships that are not approved by their bosses." ... "The ISI helped create and nurture the Taliban movement in the 1990s to bring stability to a nation that had been devastated by years of civil war between rival warlords, and one Pakistani official explained that Islamabad needed to use groups like the Taliban as “proxy forces to preserve our interests.”" ... "Little is publicly known about the ISI’s S Wing, which officials say directs intelligence operations outside of Pakistan. American officials said that the S Wing provided direct support to three major groups carrying out attacks in Afghanistan: the Taliban based in Quetta, Pakistan, commanded by Mullah Muhammad Omar; the militant network run by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar; and a different group run by the guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani." -By Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt -NYTimes  Hillary
Clinton - Poll
- Barack
Obama - US
- China
- Human
Rights
"Poll: Clinton has high job approval." ... "Seventy-one percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday said they approve of how [Democratic President Obama's Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton is handling her job as America's top diplomat. Fewer than one in four disapprove." ... ""Nine in 10 Democrats approve of Clinton -- that's no surprise," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. "But by a 50 percent to 43 percent margin, Republicans also think she is doing a good job at the State Department. That's an interesting result for a polarizing figure like Clinton."" ... "Clinton was met by large crowds and warmly received by world leaders on both trips, although "she met some criticism in Beijing [China's capital], where she was criticized for a lower-key approach that seemed to downplay the importance of human rights in the overall relationship with China," Labott said." ... ""Her aides said she wanted a new approach to dealing with China's human rights record, including less public criticism and more private discussions, which may prove more productive in changing Chinese behavior."" -By Paul Steinhauser -CNN Hillary
Clinton - US
-  Mexico
- Criminal
- Drug
- Law
"Clinton: U.S. drug habits fuel border violence: Secretary of state in Mexico to bolster anti-narcotics cooperation." ... "[United States] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Mexico in its violent struggle against drug cartels, and acknowledged the U.S. shares blame because of its demand for drugs and supply of weapons." ... "She said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with violence now spilling across the border and promised cooperation to improve security on both sides." ... ""The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us that support our continent. They will fail," she told Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa. "We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you."" -AP via -MSNBC Hillary
Clinton - Barack
Obama - US
- Mexico
- Illegal
- Drug
- Enforcement
- Military
- Health
- Brazil
-  Colombia
"Clinton: U.S. Drug Policies Failed, Fueled Mexico's Drug War." ... "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Mexico on Wednesday with a blunt mea culpa, saying that decades of U.S. anti-narcotics policies have been a failure and have contributed to the explosion of drug violence south of the border." ... ""Clearly what we've been doing has not worked," Clinton told reporters on her plane at the start of her two-day trip, saying that [United States] U.S. policies on curbing drug use, narcotics shipments and the flow of guns have been ineffective." ... ""Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she added. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police, of soldiers and civilians."" ... "More than 7,000 Mexicans have been killed in the bloodletting since January 2008, with the gangs battling authorities and one another for supremacy." ... "The [Democratic President] Obama administration announced Tuesday that it is sending hundreds more agents and extra high-tech gear to the border to intercept weapons and drug proceeds heading south." ... "Last month, former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico called on the United States in a report to consider legalizing marijuana use and focusing more on treatment for drug users. Obama has emphasized his support for expanded treatment facilities, although not for allowing marijuana use. " (1, 2) -By Mary Beth Sheridan -WashingtonPost  Israel
- Secret
- Housing
- Construction
- Palestine
- Land
"Netanyahu, Lieberman 'struck secret deal for West Bank construction'" ... "Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has struck a secret deal with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman for highly contentious construction on West Bank land [Palestine] known as E1, Army Radio reported Wednesday." ... "The plan is for the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim to build 3000 new housing units on the territory, which stretches between it and Jerusalem [Israel's capital], the source was quoted as saying." ... "Construction in the area is particularly sensitive because it would create contiguity between the settlement and the capital, which in turn would prevent Palestinian construction between East Jerusalem and Ramallah [administrative capital of Palestine]." ... "This would also make it difficult to reach agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on the question of permanent borders." -Haaretz.com Read More: World News... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +
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Barack
Obama -Media
- Politics
- Investigation
- History
-  Illinois
"Media Matters: Media pick up where they left off 8 years ago." ... "To anyone who lived through the media feeding frenzy of the 1990s, during which the nation's leading news organizations spent the better part of a decade destroying their own credibility by relentlessly hyping a series of non-scandals, the past few days, in which the media have tried to shoehorn [Democratic President Elect] Barack Obama into the [Illinois Democratic Governor] Rod Blagojevich scandal, have been sickeningly familiar." ... "Whenever reporters think -- or want you to think -- they've uncovered a presidential scandal, they waste little time in comparing it to previous controversies." ... "Perhaps the most striking aspect of the media's attempts to link Obama to the Blagojevich scandal has been the volume of news reports that are purely speculative -- and not only speculative, but vaguely speculative. That is, they don't even consist of conjecture about specific potential wrong doing. They simply consist of completely baseless speculation that Obama might in some way become caught up in the investigation at some point in the future, for some reason. It's little more than, "Maybe Obama will be involved." Well, sure. And maybe he'll play shortstop for the Washington Nationals [baseball team] next year." ... "If you want to make a "scandal" stick to someone despite the inconvenient truth that they aren't actually guilty of the purported wrongdoing in question, one thing you do -- if you're the media covering a Democratic president, or an overzealous conservative -- is continually expand the scandal's definition. So the "scandal" grows and evolves into an amorphous mass of innuendo as political opponents and journalists begin throwing everything against the wall, hoping something will stick." ... "If the news media regains a bit of the skepticism so many of them set aside for the past eight years, that would be an unequivocally good thing, and it should be applauded." ... "But this week brought signs that much of the media is set to resume the absurd and shameful behavior that defined the 1990s -- guilt by association, circular analysis whereby they ask baseless questions about non-scandals, then claim they have to report on the "scandal" because the White House is "besieged by questions," grotesque leaps of logic, downplaying exculpatory information, and too many other failings to list." ... "If that happens -- if the media continue to behave as they did in covering Whitewater -- they will damage the country. It's really that simple. We cannot afford to be distracted from serious problems by overheated conjecture and baseless insinuation masquerading as journalism." ... "That's how the media behaved the last time we had a Democratic president. They devoted wall-to-wall coverage to invented "scandals," ignored exculpatory evidence, saw evidence of guilt everywhere, took people out of context in order to accuse them of lying, and generally behaved like a pack of wild animals who couldn't tell right from wrong or truth from fiction -- or who simply didn't care. As a group, they behaved without ethical standards and without regard for the truth." ... "It's our responsibility -- all of us -- to make sure it doesn't happen again." -By Jamison Foser -MediaMatters.org |
|
Government
- Economic
- Politics
- Employment
"What the centrists have wrought." ... "[T]o appease the centrists, a plan that was already too small and too focused on ineffective tax cuts has been made significantly smaller, and even more focused on tax cuts." ... "According to the [Congressional Budget Office] CBO’s estimates, we’re facing an output shortfall of almost 14% of GDP [Gross Domestic Product] over the next two years, or around $2 trillion. Others, such as Goldman Sachs, are even more pessimistic. So the original $800 billion plan was too small, especially because a substantial share consisted of tax cuts that probably would have added little to demand. The plan should have been at least 50% larger." ... "Now the centrists have shaved off $86 billion in spending — much of it among the most effective and most needed parts of the plan." ... "My first cut says that the changes to the Senate bill will ensure that we have at least 600,000 fewer Americans employed over the next two years." -By Paul Krugman/Blog -NYTimes Corporate
- Government
- Crisis
- Politics
"Bailouts for Bunglers." ... "“We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we’d like to do our best to preserve that system,” says Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary [appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama] — as he prepares to put taxpayers on the hook for that system’s immense losses." ... "Meanwhile, a Washington Post report based on administration sources says that Mr. Geithner and Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s top economic adviser, “think governments make poor bank managers” — as opposed, presumably, to the private-sector geniuses who managed to lose more than a trillion dollars in the space of a few years." ... "And this prejudice in favor of private control, even when the government is putting up all the money, seems to be warping the administration’s response to the financial crisis." ... "In normal times, banks raise capital by selling stock to private investors, who receive a share in the bank’s ownership in return. You might think, then, that if banks currently can’t or won’t raise enough capital from private investors, the government should do what a private investor would: provide capital in return for partial ownership." ... "But bank stocks are worth so little these days — Citigroup and Bank of America have a combined market value of only $52 billion — that the ownership wouldn’t be partial: pumping in enough taxpayer money to make the banks sound would, in effect, turn them into publicly owned enterprises." ... "My response to this prospect is: so? If taxpayers are footing the bill for rescuing the banks, why shouldn’t they get ownership, at least until private buyers can be found? But the Obama administration appears to be tying itself in knots to avoid this outcome." ... "If news reports are right, the bank rescue plan will contain two main elements: government purchases of some troubled bank assets and guarantees against losses on other assets. The guarantees would represent a big gift to bank stockholders; the purchases might not, if the price was fair — but prices would, The Financial Times reports, probably be based on “valuation models” rather than market prices, suggesting that the government would be making a big gift here, too." ... "And in return for what is likely to be a huge subsidy to stockholders, taxpayers will get, well, nothing." -By Paul Krugman -NYTimes Economic
- Legislation
- Politics
- Government
- Infrastructure
-Energy
- People's
- Health
- Jobs
- Education
-  Food
- Obama
"Republicans Vote Against the American People." ... "The House of Representatives passedan $819-million economic stimulus package this evening. The vote was 244-188. Only Democrats voted for it. 177 Republicans voted against it." ... "The package includes both spending measures and tax cuts. The American people would get some tax relief, money to save or to spend, perhaps to pay the bills and put food on the table, and money would go to infrastructure projects, for energy and education and health care, to support those who need it, those who have lost their jobs at a time when the economy is bleeding jobs, and down to states and municipalities, to levels of government on the front lines of service provision." ... "You know what? It’s not just about stimulating the economy, it’s about helping people. It’s responsive, responsible government action at a time when government action is desperately needed." ... "And, in the House, every single Republican voted against it." ... "Read that again: EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTED AGAINST IT." ... "So much for bipartisan outreach. So much for [Democratic President] Obama’s efforts to be inclusive and to seek compromise with the other side. All the Republicans could offer was the same old tired formula of tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts, and, when it came right down to it, when it came time to pick a side, the Republicans sided, in unison, against the American people and the American economy." -By Michael Stickings -TheModerateVoice.com Corporate- Government
- Accounting
- Politics
- History
- Military
- Reconstruction
-Gas
-  Alberto
Gonzales - Torture
-Law
- Intelligence
- Pat
Tillman - US
- Afghanistan
- Guantánamo
- Iraq
"Eight Years of Madoffs." ... "Three days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of [2008 December] Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off. This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers. That was our collective contribution to the $117 billion spent (as of mid-2008) on Iraq reconstruction — a sinkhole of corruption, cronyism, incompetence and outright theft that epitomized [Republican President] Bush management at home and abroad." ... "The source for this news was a near-final draft of an as-yet-unpublished 513-page federal history of this nation-building fiasco. The document was assembled by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction — led by a Bush appointee, no less. It pinpoints, among other transgressions, a governmental Ponzi scheme concocted to bamboozle Americans into believing they were accruing steady dividends on their investment in a “new” Iraq." ... "The report quotes no less an authority than Colin Powell on how the scam worked. Back in 2003, Powell said, the Defense Department just “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’ ” Those of us who questioned these astonishing numbers were dismissed as fools, much like those who begged in vain to get the Securities and Exchange Commission to challenge Madoff’s math." ... "What’s most remarkable about the Times article, however, is how little stir it caused. When, in 1971, The Times got its hands on the Pentagon Papers, the internal federal history of the Vietnam disaster, the revelations caused a national uproar. But after eight years of battering by Bush, the nation has been rendered half-catatonic. The Iraq Pentagon Papers sank with barely a trace." ... "After all, next to big-ticket administration horrors like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and the politicized hiring and firing at Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department, the wreckage of Iraq reconstruction is what Ralph Kramden of “The Honeymooners” would dismiss as “a mere bag of shells.” The $50 billion also pales next to other sums that remain unaccounted for in the Bush era, from the $345 billion in lost tax revenue due to unpoliced offshore corporate tax havens to the far-from-transparent disposition of some $350 billion in Wall Street bailout money. In the old Pat Moynihan phrase, the Bush years have “defined deviancy down” in terms of how low a standard of ethical behavior we now tolerate as the norm from public officials." ... "Not even a good old-fashioned sex scandal could get our outrage going again. Indeed, a juicy one erupted last year in the Interior Department, where the inspector general found that officials “had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives." ... "Back in the day, an oil-fueled scandal in that one department alone could mesmerize a nation and earn [Republican President] Warren Harding a permanent ranking among our all-time worst presidents. But while the scandals at Bush’s Interior resemble Teapot Dome — and also encompass millions of dollars in lost federal oil and gas royalties — they barely registered beyond the Beltway. Even late-night comics yawned when The Washington Post administered a coup de grâce last week, reporting that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne spent $235,000 from taxpayers to redo his office bathroom (monogrammed towels included)." ... "It took 110 pages for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research organization, to compile the CliffsNotes inventory of the Bush wreckage last month. It found “125 systematic failures across the breadth of the federal government.” That accounting is conservative. There are still too many unanswered questions. " ... "Just a short list is staggering. Who put that bogus “uranium from Africa” into the crucial prewar State of the Union address after the C.I.A. [Central Intelligence Agency] removed it from previous Bush speeches? How high up were the authorities who ordered and condoned torture and then let the “rotten apples” at the bottom of the military heap take the fall? Who orchestrated the Pentagon’s elaborate P.R. [Public Relations] efforts to cover up Pat Tillman’s death by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan? " -By Frank Rich -NYTimes  Bob
Corker -  Richard
Shelby - Jim
DeMint - Mitch
McConnell - Foreign
- Money
- Politicians
- Auto
- Makers
- Michigan
- US
- Workers
- Emergency
- Law
- Tennessee
- Alabama
- Kentucky
- South
Carolina -  Georgia
-  Japanese
- German
-  South
Korean
"Meet the GOP's [Republican's] wrecking crew: Why did a small group of Southern Republicans turn the auto bailout into a demolition derby? Introducing the senators who hate unions and love foreign cars." ... "On July 15, [Tennessee Republican Senator] Bob Corker was a happy man." ... ""I cannot think of a more exciting day, even more so than Election Night, for me," the Republican senator from Tennessee said in a conference call that day. The reason for his elation was the announcement that [German automaker] Volkswagen, lured by up to $500 million worth of incentives from the state government, had agreed to build a $1 billion plant near Chattanooga, Tenn. [Tennessee.] That is, not just in his home state, but in the suburbs of the city he once served as mayor." ... "Add VW [Volkwagen] to [Japan automaker] Nissan, which already has two plants and its North American headquarters in Tennessee, and you begin to see why Corker was so aggressive this month about trying to block -- or at least dramatically rewrite -- a proposal to float billions of dollars in emergency loans to domestic automakers. Most of the focus during this debate has been on lawmakers who represent Michigan, the home of the Big Three -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. But Corker represents the other side of the coin: Tennessee and other Southern states have recently come to depend on foreign automakers and their non-union factories. If you're from those parts, what's good for American car companies may no longer be what's good for the country -- because your economy now depends on their foreign competitors instead." ... "Expect to hear more not just from the very vocal Bob Corker, but from the rest of a core group of Southern senators whose bread is buttered by the Japanese, Germans and Koreans. Here's a guide to the major players."
"As mayor of Chattanooga, he [Corker] reportedly conceived the idea for the site that will soon become home to the [German automaker] Volkswagen plant, and was instrumental in its development. He organized efforts to lure [Japanese automaker] Toyota to the area, and when that failed, he had VW execs [executives] and other top state politicians over to his house for dinner." ... "Georgia's two Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isaakson, both voted against the plan as well. Their state has a big [South Korean automaker] Kia factory coming in soon." (1, 2) -By Alex Koppelman and Mike Madden with contributions by Vincent Rossmeier and Gabriel Winant -Salon  David
Vitter - Mitch
McConnell -Bob
Corker - Foreign
- Money
- Politicians
- Auto
- Manufacturing
- Work
-  Louisiana
- Kentucky
- Tennessee
- Pennsylvania
- US
- Japan
- Germany
"My Foreign Investor, Right Or Wrong." ... "A bunch of Southern-state Republicans (including, amazingly, ... [Louisiana Republican Senator] David Vitter), from right-to-work states, want to push GM [General Motors] and Chrysler into bankruptcy to bolster the foreign auto presence in their home states. Kentucky has a Ford factory but they also have a [Japanese] Toyota plant in Georgetown [Kentucky], so [Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch] McConnell's on board." ... "Last week, Jane Hamsher explained the conflict of interest for [Tennessee Republican Senator] Bob Corker in Tennessee:" "He hasn't mentioned the subsidies his own state of Tennessee has given toThe GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] does a lot of chest-thumping about "Country First" and patriotism. It's fun to watch them destroy American manufacturing so they can keep Japanese and German corporate executives happy. OK, maybe not so fun." -By D-Day via Hullabaloo Health
Care - Politics
- Economics- Seniors
-Labor
Unions - Lawyers
- Government
"Health-Care Reform Could Kill the GOP." ... "Can policy be both wise and aggressively partisan? Ask any Republican worth his salt and the answer will be an unequivocal yes. Ask a Democrat of the respectable Beltway variety and he will twist himself into a pretzel denying it." ... "For decades Republicans have made policy with a higher purpose in mind: to solidify the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party= Republican] base or to damage the institutions and movements aligned with the other side. One of their fondest slogans is "Defund the Left," and under that banner they have attacked labor unions and trial lawyers and tried to sever the links between the lobbying industry and the Democratic Party. Consider as well their long-cherished dreams of privatizing Social Security, which would make Wall Street, instead of Washington, the protector of our beloved seniors. Or their larger effort to demonstrate, by means of egregious misrule, that government is incapable of delivering the most basic services." ... "That these were all disastrous policies made no difference: The goal was to use state power to achieve lasting victory for the ideas of the right." ... "On the other side of the political fence, strategic moves of this kind are fairly rare. Instead, for most of my lifetime, prominent Democratic leaders have been chucking liberalism itself for the sake of immediate tactical gain." ... "Former [Democratic] President Bill Clinton, who is widely regarded as a political mastermind, may have sounded like a traditional liberal at the beginning of his term in office. But what ultimately defined his presidency was his amazing pliability on matters of principle. His most memorable innovation was "triangulating" between his own party and the right, his most famous speech declared and end to "the era of big government," his most consequential policy move was to cement the consensus on deregulation and free trade, and many of his boldest stands were taken against his own party." ... "The results were not pretty, either for the Democrats or for the nation." ... "Still, conservatives have always dreaded the day that Democrats discover (or rediscover) that there is a happy political synergy between delivering liberal economic reforms and building the liberal movement. The classic statement of this fear is a famous memo that [Republican] Bill Kristol wrote in 1993, when he had just started out as a political strategist and the Clinton administration was preparing to propose some version of national health care." ... ""The plan should not be amended; it should be erased," Mr. Kristol advised the GOP. And not merely because Mr. Clinton's scheme was (in Mr. Kristol's view) bad policy, but because "it will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests."" -By Thomas Frank -HuffingtonPost.com Economics
- History
- Politics
"Amity Shlaes strikes again." ... "When you hear claims that the New Deal made the depression worse, they often come directly or indirectly from the work of Amity Shlaes, whose misleading statistics have been widely disseminated on the right." ... "Now, Ms. Shlaes has found a new target: John Maynard Keynes. There’s a lot to critique in this piece, but this one takes the cake:" [Shlaes:] "But the most telling fact about the new rush to spend is that its advocates have insisted on invoking the New Deal. They tend to gloss over the period when the phrase, “We are all Keynesians now,” was actually first uttered: the mid-1960s. (Uttered by Friedman, in fact, though he meant only that we all work in the terms of the Keynesian lexicon.)""Grr. Keynesianism says that deficit spending can help create jobs when the economy is depressed. The Great Society wasn’t deficit spending, it wasn’t intended to create jobs, and the economy of the 1960s wasn’t depressed. It was social engineering; we can talk about how well or badly it worked, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with Keynesian economics. " -By Paul Krugman/Blog -NYTimes |
American News:
Torture
- Criminal
- Dick
Cheney - War
Crimes -
- Military
- Government
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Detainee
- Secret
- Censored
- Videotapes
- Legal
- Politics
- History
- Book
Norm
Coleman - 
John
Cornyn - 
Tim
Pawlenty - Political
- 2008
Election - Federal
- Legal
- History
- Minnesota
- Texas
"Texas [Republican Senator] Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.""The threat of an empty Senate seat for years — which would hold the Democratic advantage in the Senate at 58-41 — does not appear to be a welcome concept to the people of Minnesota. The Star Tribune reported last week that “the prospect of a protracted battle irks some regardless of their political leanings.”" ... "Additionally, Minnesota [Republican Governor] Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R [Republican]) believes that only having one senator is hurting Minnesota. In February, Pawlenty told C-Span that “it has put Minnesota at a disadvantage when there’s only 100 senators total and you are missing one.”""Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration."
" -By Matt Corley -ThinkProgress.org
Corporate
- Media
- Politics
- Marketing
- Religion
- Government
- Law
- History
- Television
Government
- Money
- Accounting
- Politics
- Jobs
- Deficit
- Iowa
Barack
Obama - Government
- Business
- Legislation
- Politics
- Home
Mortgages - IN
- MO
"Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind. [Indiana]) is also unhappy with the friendly fire. Bayh…found himself targeted by an ad accusing him of “standing in the way of President Obama’s reforms.” “We literally have no agenda,” Bayh shot back. “How can they be threatened by a group that has taken no policy positions?”""Bayh’s claim that his group has no agenda is hard to believe. Indeed, as the Wall Street Journal explained yesterday, the group’s “stated goal is to…protect business interests.” Even before the group was officially formed, their efforts dampened a number of progressive policy proposals and they clearly have aspirations to expand their portfolio:"
"– Shrinking Economic Recovery: The group’s first significant “success” was “paring down the more than $900 billion economic stimulus bill to $787 billion,” reducing the government’s ability to spur economic recovery quickly. [Roll Call, 3/12/2009]""If Bayh is to be believed and his new group of moderates “literally have no agenda,” then what exactly are they doing? As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explained last night, it appears that Bayh and his colleagues have found at least one niche to fill by helping Republicans obstruct the President’s agenda and deny voters the policies they endorsed last November:""– Preserving The [former Republican President] Bush Tax Cuts: Regarding [Democratic President] Obama’s plan to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, Bayh said, “I do think that before we raise revenue, we first should look to see if there are ways we can cut back on spending.” [Politico, 3/3/2009]"
"– Delaying Cap-and-Trade: Bayh coaltion member, [Missouri Democratic Senator] Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO [Democratic-Missouri]), explained that the group might “push for a more lenient phase-in period for a cap-and-trade system and revenue-raising offsets to pay for expensive mandates.” [CQ Politics, 3/9/2009]"
"– Weakening Bankruptcy Protection: Centrist Democrats “forced changes to a House bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify [home] mortgages, ensuring that the legislation better reflected the concerns of the financial-services industry.” [WSJ, 3/25/09]"
"Anyone voting against a Democratic agenda voted Republican. Those votes produced a very small Republican minority in Congress. A small minority that now has way more power than they otherwise would because of conservative Democrats deciding to give Republicans as much power as they can."" -By Ryan Powers -ThinkProgress.org
Barack
Obama - Corporate
- Government
-Politics
- History
- Texas
Parents
- 
Genetics
- Psychological
- Health
- Alzheimer's
- Seniors
- Employer
- Workplace
- Discrimination
- Federal
- Laws
US
- Global
- Science
- Environment
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Government
- Economic
- Accounting
- Job
-History
- Politics
Barack
Obama - Michael
Steele - Election
- Technology
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- Michigan
Journalism
- Economics
- Jobs
- History
Health
Care - Science
- Politics
- Economic
- Legislation
- History
- Pill
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Barack
Obama - Corporate
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- Labor
- Makers
- US
- Global
- Legislation
- Secret
- Terrorism
- Detainee
Israel
- Palestine
- Land
- US
- Politics
"Some 1,700 dunams of land in the northern part of Efrat were declared state land last week, paving the way for the West Bank settlement to start the process of seeking government approval to build there."... "Opposition to settlements has long been official United States policy, but the overwhelming tendency has been for [United States] U.S. administrations to turn a blind eye to settlement expansion. The expansion itself is an impediment to peace, and American unwillingness to stand behind our own policy commitments is devastating to our credibility in the region. " -By Matthew Yglesias -ThinkProgress.org"The Civil Administration issued the declaration after rejecting eight appeals by Palestinians against the move. A ninth appeal was accepted, and the land covered by this appeal was consequently removed from Efrat’s jurisdiction."
Israel
- Palestinians
- Land
- US
Secret
- Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prison
- Psychological
- Terrorism
- Military
- Government
-
- Medical
- Human
- Rights
- Law
-US
- Guantánamo
- Cuba
John
McCain - US_Debt
- Economic
- Legislation
- Obama
- Arizona
Jay
Bybee - John
Yoo - 
Steven
Bradbury
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Investigators
-
- Politics
Corporate
- Government
- Coal-Mining
- Dirt
- Law
- Politics
- Television
- Advertising
- Election
- 
West
Virginia
Military
-Torture
- Prison
- Psychological
- Terrorism
- War
Crimes - Medical
- Human
Rights - Law
- US
- Guantánamo
Bay - Cuba
Corporate
- Government
- Lawmakers
- Sacramento
- California
- Multinational
Financial
- Crisis
- Analysis
- Government
- Politics
Science
- Journalism
- Business
Barack
Obama - Social
Security - Political
- Economists
- Housing
- History
Mitch
McConnell - Economic
- Emergency
- Jobs
- Accounting
- Politics
- Opinion
- People
- Social
Security - Government
- Reference
-Book
- Kentucky
Judd
Gregg - Barack
Obama - Economy
- 
New
Hampshire
Unemployment
- Politics
- Federal
- Law
Home
- Prices
- Unemployment
Criminal
- Drug
- War
- Government
- Law
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- Health
- US
- Brazil
- Mexico
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- World
Barack
Obama - Working
- Families
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- Politics
"According to the Wall Street Journal, [Republican President] Bush's first two years of tax cuts amounted to $174 billion. A second batch in 2004 and 2005 cost $231. And those were thought to be bigger than the tax cuts offered by Reagan, Kennedy or others.""True. Waldman also notes that this is also an example of a liberal Democrat delivering early on a tax cut he promised during the campaign, a pledge "few Republican thought he'd keep."" ... "[Democratic President] Obama's tax cuts, meanwhile, are short-term refunds paid directly to working and middle class families (some of which Republicans have denounced as "welfare")." ... "As such, GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] lawmakers are going to reject one of the largest, if not the largest, tax cut ever proposed by a president -- which just so happens to be targeted at the working and middle class families Obama vowed to look out for." -By Steve Benen -WashingtonMonthly.com"Now, perhaps some new analysis will show that the tax cuts end up not quite being the largest in history by this measure or that. But it's clear they're massive."
"I'm ducking the debate on whether this is economically a good or bad -- but surely it ought to be a big story."
Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
- 
Sports
- 
Entertainment
-Marketing
- Trip
- History
- Consumers
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- Obama
-Nevada
- 
New
York
Government
- Politics
- New
York
Corporate
- Government
- Politics
"John J. Mack, chairman and chief executive officer, Morgan Stanley"" -By Alice Gomstyn and Russell Goldman with contributions by Matt Jaffe and Reynolds Holding -ABCNEWS.com
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $800,000 plus $40.2 million in stock awards."
"Morgan Stanley TARP Funding: $10 billion" ...
"Morgan Stanley was once a part of the powerhouse quintet that included the country's four other top brokerage firms: Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Of the five, Morgan and Goldman were the only firms to avoid bankruptcy or a buyout, but barely -- both became bank-holding companies in the fall in order to qualify for TARP funds." ...
"John Stumpf, president and chief executive officer, Wells Fargo & Co."
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $749,615 plus a $4.2 million bonus and $11.6 million in stock awards."
"Wells Fargo TARP Funding: $25 billion" ...
"Vikram Pandit, chief executive officer, Citigroup"
"Compensation: Pandit became Citigroup's chief in late 2007. He received $44.4 million in stock awards in January, 2008."
"Citigroup TARP Funding: $45 billion" ...
"Ken Lewis, chairman and chief executive officer, Bank of America"
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $1.5 million plus a nearly $4.3 million bonus and $21.2 million in stock awards."
"Bank of America TARP Funding: $45 billion, including $10 billion allocated to Merrill Lynch." ...
"James Dimon, chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co."
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $1 million plus $14.5 million bonus and $13 million in stock awards."
"JPMorgan TARP Funding: $25 billion" ...
"Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer and chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co."
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $600,000 plus $27 million bonus and $26 million in stock awards."
"Goldman Sachs TARP Funding: $10 billion" ...
"Robert P. Kelly, chairman and chief executive officer, Bank of New York Mellon"
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $975,000 plus $7.5 million bonus and $10.4 million in stock awards."
"Bank of New York Mellon TARP Funding: $3 billion" ...
"Ronald E. Logue, chairman and chief executive officer, State Street Corp."
"2007 Compensation: Salary of $1 million plus nearly $3.8 million bonus and $22.7 million in stock awards."
"State Street Corp. TARP Funding: $2 billion" ...
Food
- 
Safety
- Manufacturers
- Federal
- Inpectors
- Corporate
- Law
- Ga
Phoenix- Arizona
- Law
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Drugs
- California
- Texas
- US
- Mexico
Eric
Cantor - Web
- Video
- Politics
- Government
- Jobs
- Economic
- Crisis
- Peoples
- Health
Care - Homes
- 
Virginia
""Does Eric Cantor believe that peddling profanity-laced filth around the Internet is consistent with the values of the people of Virginia or the country? This is childish, inappropriate and disgusting behavior from someone who is supposed to be a leader in Congress and a role model to others. Eric Cantor's response to one of the most serious crises facing America in our lifetimes is to spread this filth, denigrate government employees and treat the current economic crisis like a joke. This video has been floating around on YouTube for years - but Eric Cantor's use of it in this context shows how completely and utterly out of touch he is with the current economic crisis and the lives of his constituents. Eric Cantor should be ashamed and he should apologize."""And AFL-CIO President John Sweeney added: "During these tough economic times the last thing hard working Americans need is to be ridiculed by a member of the Republican leadership. Rep. Cantor should apologize for insulting America's workers with this profane video."" ... "ThinkProgress points out that Cantor himself is an anti-obscenity crusader who has said "the use of obscenity" in television "should not and cannot be tolerated."" -By Rachel Weiner -HuffingtonPost.com
Eric
Cantor - Language
-Politics
- Video
- History
- Union
- Ad
- Virginia
Barack
Obama - Eric
Cantor - Obscenity
- Video
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Workers
- Investment
- Advertising
- VA
Video.
Not Safe For Work.] "Cantor claimed the video was a “joke,” though
AFSCME didn’t
think it was very funny." ... "Yet it’s not just unions who could be
offended by the video; Cantor himself has railed against obscenity, voting
for the Broadcast Deceny Enforcement Act that allowed fines
of up to $500,000 on broadcasters for airing any “obscene, indecent,
or profane” material. Speaking on the House floor in support of the bill,
Cantor condemned “offensive television” that will “damage our society”
and “cannot
be tolerated“ [PDF]:"
"CANTOR: The use of obscenity…should not and cannot be tolerated. As a parent, I share the concerns of many regarding the level of offensive television and radio programs that are transmitted into our homes. The recent violations that have occurred disgusted not only me, but damage our society.""He added that “we will not be satisfied until those responsible” for disseminating obscenity “have been reprimanded.” The heads of Americans United for Change, the AFL-CIO, and AFSCME have already reprimanded Cantor." -ThinkProgress.org
Barack
Obama - Money
- Politics
- Government
- Law
- History
- Peoples
- Jobs
"Nearly two million jobs have now been lost, and on Friday we are likely to learn that we lost more jobs last year than at any time since World War II. Just in the past year, another 2.8 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs.""The House-Senate compromise, however, cuts funds for extended health care coverage for the unemployed; cuts $30 billion in aid to state governments to prevent reductions in social services to the poor and out-of-work; and also cuts a special "Making Work Pay" tax holiday from $500 to $400 for an individual, and from $1,000 to $800 for a couple, for low-to-middle-income workers still hanging on to their jobs[.]" ... "Amid all the cutting, however, one group emerged unscathed: the upper-middle class, the not-quite-super-rich, but certainly not on the ropes. Most of these folks, in terms of income and employment, are what could be called the un-needy, a group clearly distinct from those Obama identified as the core target of the legislation. The "compromise" legislation includes $70 billion, or just under 10 percent of the whole package, to be used expressly to take care of these affluent people." ... "In fact, these lucky men and women make so much money that they fall into the ever-expanding grasp of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The AMT was originally designed in 1969 to prevent the nation's millionaires and billionaires from using tax loopholes to pay zero income tax. That year, 155 very wealthy taxpayers paid no federal tax whatsoever. This year, if the law remains as it is currently crafted, the AMT would, through bracket creep, apply to as many as 25 million taxpayers, including those making in the $85,000 to $250,000 range, depending on how many deductions they claim (the more deductions, the more likely the AMT comes into play)." -By Thomas B. Edsall -HuffingtonPost.com
Corporate
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Election - US
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Financial
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- Texas
Watch
- 
ListenAMY
GOODMAN: "Professor Galbraith, are you for nationalizing banks?"
JAMES
GALBRAITH: "You know, I think the term is a political misleading term.
I learned a few months ago that in 1982, at the time of the Latin American
debt crisis, the [Republican President] Reagan administration’s FDIC had
a contingency plan to nationalize the major banks in the case that a major
Latin American country—let’s say Mexico or Argentina or Brazil—had defaulted
outright on its debt. This was not something that administration would
have wanted to do. In the end, they didn’t have to do it. But they had
a plan to do it, if it was necessary because the banks were rendered insolvent
by the running to ruin of a major class of assets." ... "Well, we have
a major class of assets—that is to say, all of these subprime mortgage-backed
securities—which have run to ruin. They should never have been issued in
the first place. They are very, very highly likely to default. They were
issued on terms which makes them basically unmarketable, because there
is not adequate loan documentation. And when there is loan documentation,
that documentation evidently indicates that the loans are likely to go
bad, so that nobody outside will buy them. That’s a problem that exists
in the banking system, and the regulators simply have to deal with it."
... "And I don’t think—you know, it’s not—we’re not in 1945 in Attlee’s
Britain, where we are taking the commanding heights of their economy or
anything like that. We are doing what regulators always have to do, in
conservative and liberal administrations, when faced with major intractable
insolvencies in the financial system. If you don’t deal with that, the
problem of fraud and loss just gets worse. And the losses that are incurred
after insolvency are losses that fall on the taxpayer, because they come
against deposits that are insured. So, one way or another, until we deal
with this, the taxpayers’ liability just gets bigger and bigger."
AMY
GOODMAN: "Professor Galbraith, I hate to ask you this last question
with just about thirty seconds to go, but it’s about the title of your
book and what it means, The Predator State."
JAMES
GALBRAITH: "Well, the Predator State refers to the takeover of state
power by private interests masquerading behind conservative principle and
basically acting for private clients and private profit. That was the [Republican
President] Bush administration in a nutshell. The title goes back to Veblen
and a bit to my father’s New Industrial State, and it’s an attempt
to capture in two words a phenomenon that I think really has transformed
our economy, much for the worse in the last several decades."
-DemocracyNow.org
Medical
- Drug
- Science
- Safety
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics
""The drug and medical-device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend $1.1 billion on research comparing medical treatments, portraying it as the first step to government rationing."""Read that to mean Big Pharma doesn't want you to find out the latest name brand pill they're advertising on the TV, is ten, or a hundred times more expensive than the pill it replaced when the patent ran out. It's an old industry trick. Change the formulation just enough to get a new patent so you can justify the cost under R&D. Profits before effectiveness always. A neutral study could end that game." ... "It's a good expenditure. As one industry puts it, "Comparative research has the potential to tell us which drugs and treatments are safe, and which ones work. This is not information that the private sector will generate on its own, or that the industry wants to share."" -By Libby Spencer -TheImpolitic
Michael
Steele - Political
- Money
- Federal
- Law
-
Maryland
- 2006
Election
Drug
- Investigation
- Federal
- Law
- History
- Texas
- Calif
- New
York
Pete
Sessions - Michael
Steele - Terrorism
- Radio
- Government
- Economic
- Legislation
- Job
- Tex
- Ga
- Maryland
- 2006
Election
"Republicans
See Long-Term Victory in Defeat on Stimulus Plan."
... "GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] Sees Positives In Negative Stand:
Leaders Seize On Spending Issue." ... "After giving the package zero [Republican]
votes in the House, and 0 with their [Republican] counterparts in the Senate
likely to provide in a crucial procedural vote today only the handful of
votes needed to avoid a filibuster, Republicans are relishing the opportunity
to make a big statement. [Texas Republican Representative] Rep. Pete Sessions
(R-Tex. [Representative-Texas]) suggested last week that the party is learning
from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban, and the GOP these days does
have the bravado of an insurgent band that has pulled together after a
big defeat to carry off a quick, if not particularly damaging, raid on
the powers that be." ... "And it means rallying to Rush Limbaugh, who has
put himself forward as a de facto party leader, penning an op-ed article
in the Wall Street Journal and accepting the on-air apologies of [Georgia
Republican Representative] Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga. [Republican-Georgia]),
who criticized the radio host and paid for it in a deluge of angry calls."
... "[Republican National Committee chairman Michael S. Steele congratulated
congressional Republicans in some of his first remarks as Republican chairman,]
"The goose egg that you laid on the president's desk was just beautiful,"
he told them. "You and I know that in the history of mankind and womankind,
government -- federal, state or local -- has never created one job. It's
destroyed a lot of them."" ... "Steele is also facing a distraction --
a federal inquiry into allegations that his 2006 [election Maryland] Senate
campaign paid a defunct company run by his sister for services that were
never performed. The campaign's finance chairman made the allegations to
federal prosecutors last year as he sought leniency during plea negotiations
on unrelated fraud charges." -By Alec MacGillis and
Perry Bacon Jr. -WashingtonPost
Media
- Politics
- Radio
- Market
-Florida
- San
Diego - Sacramento
- California
- Ohio
- Minnesota
- 
Wisconsin
- Portland
- 
Oregon
Dick
Cheney - Criminal
- KBR/Halliburton
- Corporation
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-Politics
-
-Military
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Nigeria
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Iran
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Libya
- 
North
Korea - US
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- Switzerland
-
- International
Michael
Steele - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
- 2006
Election - Maryland
Criminal
- Food
- Safety
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Agricultural
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Michael
Steele - Radio
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- Government
- Marketing
"Please take a look at the RNC [Republican National Committee] website - http://www.rnc.org/ On the right hand side is a link that goes to a list of all of the right wing radio shows, along with a plea to promote the RNC. The [Republican President] Bush administration was constantly denying that talk radio was just another arm of their party. The RNC seems to have given up this pretense. It was blatant government propaganda for eight years. Sickening!""Is there any doubt that Rush Limbaugh rules the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican]? [Republican Chairman] Michael Steele has to beg for help from wingnut talk radio. How embarrassing. " -By John Amato -CrooksAndLiars.com
Government
- Economic
- Politics
- Employment
John
A Boehner
- Peter
Hoekstra - Secret
- Trip
- Lawmaker
- Electronic
- 
Communications
- Military
- Ohio
- Mich
- US
- Iraq
China
- Drought
- Disaster
- History
- People
- Food
- Animals
- Agriculture
- Land
Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- AIG
- Investigation
Sarah
Palin - Politics
- Investigation
- Alaska
Jobs
- Employer
- People
- History
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Florida
John
McCain - Government
- Economic
- History
- Politics
- AZ
"KRUGMAN: Look at what just happened, we had a proposal I think it was McCain’s proposal for an economic recovery package, his version of it which was all tax cuts, a complete, let’s do exactly what Bush did, have another round of Bush-style policies. After eight years which that didn’t work and we got 36 out of 41 Republican senators voting for that which is completely crazy. So how much bipartisan outreach can you have when 36 out of 41 republican senators take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh?"[Watch it]
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Dick
Cheney
Language
-Database
Psychological
- Classified
WATCH
- "How
the Pentagon Spread Its Message." -By
David
Barstow -NYTimes
|
US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Terrorism
-Media
- Politics-McCain
- 2008
Election
Corporate
- Government
-Telecom
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Surveillance
- Intelligence
- Data- US
- Foreign
[Bush:] "You can't expect the phone companies to participate if they feel that they are going to be sued... How can you listen to the enemy if the phone compnaies aren't going to particiapte with you?""How are you going to listen? Well, presumably by way of lawful court orders or emergency certifications, as authorised under the old FISA statute, and now also on the independent authority of the attorney-general and director of national intelligence even without a court order, assuming some version of those expanded powers eventually passes. When surveillance is conducted pursuant to the law, there is no question of whether telecom firms will "cooperate" or "participate", like children at day camp. They will comply, and they will do it because they are required to." ... "The worry about "participation" makes sense only if you anticipate asking these companies to turn over information outside the law, without a court order or any statutory authority. But that is precisely why we have laws establishing penalties for unauthorised data disclosure: To deter them from helping the government to circumvent the law. If you think they should help the government circumvent the law, then it seems you ought to stop poncing about withad hoc amnesties and simply do away with the data disclosure statues, at least as they apply to information sharing with intelligence agencies." -Economist.com
Terrorism
- Politics
-Rhetoric
- Psychology
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Law
-Foreign- Intelligence
-Surveillance
- Noteworthy
- Civil
Liberties
Noteworthy
- Political
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Scott
McClellan -Book- Noteworthy
-US
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-Corporate
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- History
- 
Gore
- Obama
-McCain
- 
Russert
- Cheney
"If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the [Republican President Bush] White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq.""Just consider how remarkable that is. [Republican President] George Bush's own Press Secretary criticizes the American media for being "too deferential" to the Government. He lays the blame for Bush's ability to propagandize the nation on the media's uncritical dissemination of the Republican administration's falsehoods. And most notably of all, McClellan actually uses cynical scare quotes when invoking the phrase which, in conventional political discourse, is deemed the most unassailable truth of all: The Liberal Media." ... "How much longer can this preposterous myth be sustained when even the White House Spokesman not only mocks the phrase but derides the media for being "too deferential" to the right-wing Government "in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during [his] years in Washington"? If one were to set about with the goal of debunking the "Liberal Media" myth -- as Eric Alterman specifically did four years ago and other media critics have more generally done before that -- one couldn't dream up evidence more conclusive than McClellan's admissions." ... "Blindingly conclusive evidence which would -- for any rational person -- forever negate the "Liberal Media" myth has been piling up for years. The extraordinary (though woefully incomplete) 2004 mea culpa from The New York Times acknowledged that not just Judy Miller, but the paper as a whole, re-printed pro-war government claims that were "allowed to stand unchallenged." The Washington Post's own media critic, Howard Kurtz, documented that anti-war views were systematically buried at that paper. The NYTrecently exposed that network and cable news shows for years continuously allowed Pentagon-controlled operatives to masquerade as "independent analysts" spouting the pro-government line with virtually no challenge. And the media's pathological fixation on the Clinton sex scandals -- which led to his impeachment -- stood in stark contrast to the widespread indifference among the citizenry." ... "Beyond all that, are there any reporters left who deny that the campaign-covering media in 2000 was gushingly enamored of [Republican] George Bush and oozing with contempt for [Democratic] Al Gore? Identically, their intense affection for [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain is something they openly proclaim; as they shamelessly acknowledge, they're his "base." And while some journalists undoubtedly harbor admiration for [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama, the non-stop coverage of one anti-Obama narrative after the next -- Jeremiah Wright, lapel pins, patriotism "questions," "Bittergate," "problems" with Jewish and white voters -- simply has no parallel in any coverage of McCain." ... "Beyond that objective evidence, just look at the claims which "Liberal Media" complainers make to support their grievance. As examples of "liberal" journalists, they'll cite people like Chris Matthews -- who voted for [Republican] George Bush, and did more than anyone to prop up his image as our Great War Leader and demonize Bush critics. One of the leading examples of a biased "liberal" journalist is therefore someone who actually went on television in late 2005 and said this:""The collapse of the administration's rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. . . . In this case, the "liberal media" didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served."
"I like [Bush]. Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left -- I mean -- like him personally.""Or they'll point to "liberal" Tim Russert -- Tim Russert -- about whom [Republican Vice President] Cheney press aide Cathy Martin said: "I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format, as it allows us to control the message." That's the same "liberal" Tim Russert who confessed that he operates by the defining law of the Government propagandist: "When I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy -- our conversations are confidential. If I want to use anything from that conversation, then I will ask permission."" ... "Or look at the recent "controversy" reported by the Associated Press over whether NBC News' reputation as an objective news outlet is being tainted by virtue of the "liberal" commentators MSNBC features. Nobody questioned whether CNN's objectivity was imperiled by featuring the likes of [right-wing commentators] Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs, nor, for that matter, did anyone raise these questions about NBC when, for years, MSNBC shows were hosted by the likes of Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough and Michael Savage." ... "But a single unapologetic Bush critic appears on the TV -- Keith Olbermann -- and this rarest of occurrence suddenly leads to controversy over whether the "respectability" of television news can survive while allowing a single "liberal" voice to be heard." -By Glenn Greenwald -Salon
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