OpEdNews - QuickLinks - Author's Page for Margaret Bassett

Margaret Bassett--OEN editor--is an 87-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbra. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboard into the lives of those who come after her.

OpEdNews Member for 147 week(s) and 2 day(s)

51 Articles, 3775 Quick Links, 2505 Comments, 65 Diaries, 0 Polls

3775 QuickLinks

Saturday, November 21, 2009
The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare
(1 comments) It's not that all soy is bad; in fact, eating it in small doses can be quite healthy, if it's fermented. But when it's not, that's where the problems begin. Soy is a legume, which contains high amounts of phytic acid. Phytic acid binds to minerals (like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc), interfering with the body's ability to absorb them (which is usually a bad thing). Soy is also known to contain "antinutrients,"

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Companies Selling More Debt to Buy Stock, do Deals
Companies are bombarding the bond market with debt sales this month, pushing issuance above $40 billion, as they take advantage of low rates to build acquisition war chests, prepare to buy back stock and build up cash to finance growth.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Could Gender Play Role in Wall Street Reform?
Not surprisingly, two women have emerged as the leading thinkers, sayers and doers of the post-financial crisis world: Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Elizabeth Warren, director of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the $700 billion bank-bailout package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Washington Establishment Suffers a Serious Defeat
Glenn Greenwald: Something quite amazing happened yesterday in Congress: the House Finance Committee -- in a truly bipartisan and even trans-ideological vote -- defied the banking industry, the Federal Reserve, the Democratic leadership, and mainstream Beltway opinion in order to pass an amendment, sponsored by GOP Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, mandating a genuine and probing audit of the Fed.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Lies They Told
Books / Sunday Book Review By JACOB HEILBRUNN Published: November 15, 2009 Reconstructing officials' false and ineffectual responses to 9/11.

Friday, November 20, 2009
Medical Science and Practice in Conflict
By KEVIN SACK Published: November 20, 2009 Backers of science-driven medicine cheered the new recommendations on cancer screening, while many patients still believe that more is always better.

Friday, November 20, 2009
Go Jodi Go! Times' Kantor Scores Seven Figures From Little, Brown For Obama Book
The deal was the result of a heated citywide auction, and was brokered by independent lit agent Elyse Cheney. It comes on the heels of the 34-year-old reporter's New York Times Magazine cover story on the Obamas' marriage, which argued that “the Obamas mix politics and romance in a way that no first couple quite have before.”

Thursday, November 19, 2009
Conyers Blasts Obama for Health Care Strategy
n a radio interview with Bill Press, AUDIO of 11 minutes -- Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) ripped into President Obama and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel saying they are caving in to "nutty right-wing" proposals just to get a health care bill passed.

Thursday, November 19, 2009
U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Reach a Record High
By DAVID STREITFELD Published: November 20, 2009 The Mortgage Bankers Association's quarterly survey finds that one in seven mortgage holders are either late on their payments or are already in foreclosure.

Thursday, November 19, 2009
Stocks Fall as Rising Dollar Lures Investors
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ Published: November 20, 2009 The Dow industrials slid as the dollar strengthened and commodity prices fell.

Thursday, November 19, 2009
Geithner Hopes for Quick End to Bailout Program
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 20, 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told a joint economic committee that the government would close the $700 billion program “as soon as we can.”

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Obama Bids China Farewell with Great Wall Tour, Modest Expectations
President Obama flew to South Korea Wednesday, ending his maiden visit to China and leaving behind a strong impression that the new partnership he seeks with the Asian giant remains to be built, issue by issue US officials made the same point. The president had not expected that "the waters would part and everything would change" during the visit, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Museum of Chinese in America Opens in New York
New York boasts a brand-new museum, the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), which is noticeably different from others. MOCA began 30 years ago as a grassroots organization founded by Charles Lai, a community activist who grew up in Chinatown, and historian John Kuo Wei Tchen

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Obama Orders Financial Fraud Task Force Beefed Up
Short Video: Citing a wide belief that "Wall Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the creation of a sweeping state-federal task force to uncover crimes contributing to the recent financial crisis or threatening to cause one in the future.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
A Scrapbook From the Tribal Areas
LADHA, Pakistan — These stunning photographs were seized in South Waziristan, the remote tribal area of Pakistan where Pakistani soldiers are fighting the Taliban. The vistas are beautiful. The terrain — rugged and hard to conquer — is rarely seen by outsiders. Some wear military vests or pouches and carry Icom radios, the only way for them to communicate in remote areas where there is no mobile phone reception.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wells Fargo Settles Lawsuit Over Auction-Rate Securities -
The decision settles a lawsuit brought against the firm by California's attorney general for violating the state's securities laws. Wells Fargo also agreed to pay the state's expenses related to the lawsuit. The brokerage arm of the bank marketed the securities, which resemble corporate debt and whose interest rates were regularly reset by auctions, as an alternative to cash for years, even after analysts warned the market

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Renouncing Islamism: To the Brink and Back Again
From Britain: Seventeen former radical Islamists have "come out" in the past 12 months and have begun to fight back. Would they be able to tell me the reasons that pulled them into jihadism, and out again? Could they be the key to understanding – and defusing – Western jihadism? I have spent three months exploring their world and befriending their leading figures.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Michael Scott Through the Years - a Suicide
(3 comments) The death of Chicago school board president Michael Scott has been ruled a suicide by the Cook County medical examiner's office. Scott was found with a gunshot wound to the head, according to the office. His body was found early this morning at the water's edge of the Chicago River behind the Chicago Apparel Center at 350 N. Orleans along the north branch of the river, police said.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
China Is Sending More Students to U.S.
(1 comments) By TAMAR LEWIN Published: November 16, 2009 American universities are enrolling a new wave of Chinese undergraduates, according to the annual Open Doors report.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tax Amnesty Program Ends with Calls for Stricter Legislation
While the increase in voluntary disclosures pleases congressional members like Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who noted in a press release that hidden accounts came in from more than 100 banks in 70 countries, he claims Congress needs to do more to check tax havens. In his Wednesday press release, Levin claimed there are “thousands of other taxpayers...still in the shadows, working to keep their offshore accounts hidden.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
AP IMPACT: Tobacco Execs Quickly Find Tax Loophole
The Obama administration says it is working on clearer definitions of pipe and roll-your-own tobacco. Until then, Art Resnick, a spokesman for the Tax and Trade Bureau, said there's no way to know how many companies are reinventing their brands as pipe tobacco, or whether the new offerings are just cigarette tobacco with pipes on the labels.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Govt May Get Billions Under Forbes' Divorce Decree - ABC News
The federal government might get to collect billions of dollars in court-ordered restitution under a new divorce decree between imprisoned former Cendant Corp. chairman Walter Forbes and his wife of 27 years. Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Howard Owens issued a ruling Thursday that orders Forbes' ex-wife, Caren, to transfer ownership of homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island to him.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Under Friendly Veneer, China Pushes Back on Obama
By HELENE COOPER and EDWARD WONG Published: November 18, 2009 President Obama made a big effort to present his visit as a step forward in America's relationship with China. But a picture emerged of a nation more willing to say no to the U.S.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Dream-Home Raffles Having Mixed Success
The concept marries two of America's favorite obsessions - gambling and real estate - with that good feeling you get from supporting a worthy cause Once a novelty, dream-home raffles are becoming a popular but risky way for nonprofit organizations to raise money.

Monday, November 16, 2009
Workers of the World, Incorporate - Economix Blog
(1 comments) On Oct. 27, the United Steelworkers announced an agreement wth Mondragon International to move toward establishment of manufacturing cooperatives in the United States and Canada. Maybe this agreement represents a symbolic gesture that will not generate any significant economic benefits. Maybe it represents a step in the evolution of a new institutional form for the modern manufacturing firm. It certainly represents a new dir

Monday, November 16, 2009
Little Benefit Seen, So Far, in Electronic Patient Records
By STEVE LOHR Published: November 16, 2009 A new study shows that electronic health records have so far not improved health care quality or cost. The reason may be that the technology is not being fully exploited.

Monday, November 16, 2009
House Health Bill Includes Medicaid Relief for States
Wedged in the House health-care bill is $23.5 billion that looks a lot more like new federal stimulus spending than anything to do with national health-care reform. The barely debated pot of money would allow Congress to continue pumping billions in new short-term aid to states to cover Medicaid costs that have increased with rising unemployment in the past year.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
World Leaders Agree to Delay a Deal on Climate Change
By HELENE COOPER Published: November 15, 2009 President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War
By CHRISTOPHER DREW Published: November 15, 2009 The budget implications of President Obama's decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan are adding pressure to limit the commitment, senior administration officials say.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
Rereading Vietnam May Help Prevent Same Mistakes
Reading books--now to AfPak. Stanley Karnow is the author of Vietnam: A History, generally regarded as the standard popular account of the Vietnam War. 1999 book called A Better War, written by Lewis Sorley, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Sorley argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the United States could have won in Vietnam—if only the U.S. Congress hadn't cut off military aid to South Vietnam.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
Dozens of Gitmo Detainees Finally Get Day in Court
In courtrooms barred to the public, dozens of terror suspects are pleading for their freedom from the Guantanamo Bay prison, sometimes even testifying on their own behalf by video from the U.S. naval base in Cuba. Complying with a Supreme Court ruling last year, 15 federal judges in the U.S. courthouse here are giving detainees their day in court after years behind bars half a world away from their homelands.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Alan Keyes to Stump for GOP House Hopeful in Kansas
Alan Keyes, a former diplomat and perennial candidate who has lost two elections and a lawsuit to Barack Obama, is coming to Wichita to campaign for congressional hopeful Jim Anderson.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Columbus Council Denies Permit to 'Patriots for Freedom'
he group loosely affiliated with area “tea parties” that protest government spending had planned to have bands playing and people speaking from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. To get set up for the event, it wanted Boxwood closed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. between Macon Road and Midtown Drive. So it applied to the Columbus Police Department for a permit. And the police said no.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Illinois Next Gitmo? House Republicans Say No
The Mississippi River town of Thomson, on the Illinois border with Iowa, has suffered more than most. In 2001, the state completed construction of the $145 million maximum-security institution to house the most dangerous inmates. A state budget crisis has left the prison practically unused for eight years, though. The prison has 1,600 cells yet is holding only 144 inmates.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Craig Steps Down as White House Lawyer
By JEFF ZELENY Published: November 13, 2009 The White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, has told associates that he intends to step down from his post on Friday.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Alavi Foundation: Complaint Comes at Delicate Time for US, Iran
The US government moved Thursday to seize four mosques and a skyscraper owned by the Alavi Foundation, an Islamic nonprofit organization in New York that federal prosecutors say is a front for the Iranian government. Thursday's filing is an amendment to that original lawsuit. It seeks to seize the remaining 60 percent of the skyscraper, which is controlled by Alavi, as well as properties in NY, MD, VA, TX and CA

Friday, November 13, 2009
Troubled Bay Area Banks Begin to Topple
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has seized two San Francisco banks in recent weeks and federal regulators have four other Bay Area banks under scrutiny, as the region loses what had been its relative immunity from an epidemic of failures. Anderson said his firm has a ranking system that considers 29 out of California's 297 banks in danger of failure over the next year. Statewide 14 banks have been closed so far this year.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Fed Bans Overdraft Fees Without Opt-in
Under the rules that go into effect next summer, customers won't be able to withdraw or spend money they don't have in their bank accounts unless they've opted in to overdraft protection.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Job Losses Both Deep and Enduring, Especially for the Young
By FLOYD NORRIS Published: November 14, 2009 Short-term unemployment is edging down, but the proportion of workers without jobs for an extended period is higher now than it has been since the Great Depression.

Friday, November 13, 2009
Asia's Week Ahead: Obama Tour, Data In Focus
VIDEO -- U.S. President Barack Obama will tour the region, making stops in Japan and China to start with. Japan will release gross domestic product data and the Bank of Japan will make a decision on interest rates. (Nov. 13)

Friday, November 13, 2009
Seeking Revival, City to Buy Land in Coney Island
By CHARLES V. BAGLI Published: November 12, 2009 The city will pay $95.6 million to a developer for land in the Coney Island amusement area.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
U.S. Envoy Urges Caution on Forces for Afghanistan
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and MARK LANDLER Published: November 12, 2009 The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl W. Eikenberry, expressed reservations about deploying additional troops, senior officials said.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Suspect's Apartment Yields Possible Clues, Questions
(1 comments) Prescription medications left in apartment include drug used to treat HIV. Apartment No. 9, on the second floor of Casa Del Norte Apartments, had chipping paint, and the carpet was worn. Hasan paid $300 a month in rent, according to Thompson. On the counter was a stack of papers, including documents from the American College of Psychiatry from 2005, as well as a letter indicating he had purchased Texas auto insurance.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Pick up Some Molly on your Way Home?
The first book-length biography of Texas journalist Molly Ivins premieres this afternoon at an Austin reception hosted by the publication that launched her into Texas politics, The Texas Observer. Meantime, read an excerpt from the work here.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Hasan Charged with 13 Counts of Premeditated Murder
Atty Galligan said he plans to return to San Antonio to meet with Hasan later today. Hasan has been at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio since last week. He was wounded during the shootings by two civilian police officers, officials have said. Twelve of the wounded remain in hospitals, one in intensive care, Army Col. John Rossi said. All are in stable condition, he said.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Rebuilding Its Economy, Iraq Shuns U.S. Businesses
(2 comments) By ROD NORDLAND Published: November 13, 2009 Baghdad's first trade fair since the invasion six years ago attracted 396 companies, but only a few from the United States.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Housing Agency's Cash Reserves Down Sharply
By DAVID STREITFELD Published: November 13, 2009 The government stopped short of saying the F.H.A. might need a direct bailout, but critics were less sure that help wasn't needed.

Thursday, November 12, 2009
Earth to Lou: It Could Have Been Different
Dobbs, a supremely self-confident man who often mentions his Harvard education in private conversation, just wouldn't listen. Time after time, as the “Lou Dobbs Tonight” show he has hosted on CNN since 2003 grew more rabidly critical of undocumented immigrants, he was warned of the kind of people he was putting on his show. He was told that many of the “facts” he was presenting just weren't so.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lawyer: Motivation is to Make Sure Hasan's Rights Protected
PROFILE: For days, retired Army Col. John Galligan tracked each wrenching update about last week's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, the place where he had spent the final months of a 30-year military career. As a former military lawyer, he ran through his mind the legal issues in a possible case against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused in the shootings, including whether Hasan could get a fair trial there.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
No Longer a Soldier, Shinseki Has a New Mission
By JAMES DAO and THOM SHANKER Published: November 11, 2009 The secretary of veterans affairs, retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, is trying to modernize a problem-plagued agency.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash
A garbage patch in the Pacific is one of five that may be caught in giant gyres scattered in the world's oceans.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Revisiting the Rehabilitation of Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Michael Crowley of the New Republic is the latest journalist to give absolution to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates for his long record of politicizing intelligence and undercutting conciliatory policy initiatives. In the current issue of the magazine, Crowley refers to Gates as "one of Washington's most revered figures" and credits him with the completion of a "years-long rehabilitation of his once-controversial image."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tammy Duckworth on her New Role at VA
Video of Duckworth in her new job at the VA.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ruth Marcus on Debunking Health Reform Myths
(1 comments) "You have to wonder: Are the Republican arguments against the bill so weak that they have to resort to these misrepresentations and distortions?" - So concludes the columnist after refuting misstatements made by Republicans on the Saturday night House debate.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Where Deep Pockets Might Matter Most in 2010
News of the demise of the self-funder has been grossly exaggerated. Then comes the names of some challengers who have what it takes.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Power for U.S. From Russia's Old Nuclear Weapons
By ANDREW E. KRAMER Published: November 10, 2009 Fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs, including Russian ones, generates about 10 percent of America's electricity.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Amnesty International's Global Write-a-thon
A site where participation is encouraged. "Write your hearts out," they sa y. This global action marking International Human Rights Day on December 10 brings people together just about anywhere – in classrooms, churches, workplaces, homes, and more – to make a difference in the lives of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, victims of torture and other individuals at risk.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Plunging Revenue Squeezes State Budgets Further
Wire service reports of state budget shortfalls are beginning to crop up. Illinois is under pressure to implement furloughs, increase income tax, and still hold a negative balance from borrowing.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Report Offers Snapshot of Union Labor Today
The report, published by the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, starts its analysis in 1983, when federal surveys first started collecting details about union members. By analyzing those records, author John Schmitt found that more than 45 percent of today's unionized workers are women, up from 35 percent in 1983.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lou Dobbs Leaving CNN
Long-time CNN news anchor Lou Dobbs announced Wednesday night that he would be leaving the cable network after more than 30 years. "Over the past six months, it's become very clear that strong winds are buffeting the country and affecting all of us," Dobbs said before the first break of his 7 p.m. broadcast.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Joe Reeder, Former Undersecretary of the Army & Executive Advisory Council, Mission: Readiness
Joe Reader discussed the report released by retired generals on the mental & physical condition of U.S. troops. Washington, DC : 28 min. VIDEO Editor's note: Watching this on TV this morning I was alarmed. In this video he discusses education for those coming of military age. He says that the modern force is "digitized." Does it seem like there is a bit too much propaganda toward early childhood education?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Does Biased News Have a 'Time Bomb' Effect?
Only 12 percent of Europeans claim to trust the media, compared to 15 percent of North Americans, 29 percent of Pacific Asians and 48 percent of Africans, the BBC has found. Bruter did not study American media, but his research raises questions about the effects of long-term exposure to polarized television news on outlets such as the FOX and MSNBC networks — which are currently first and second respectively in cable ratings

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Political eyes on Republican Scozzafava after conservatives urge her to quit
Dede Scozzafava (pronunciation in article)is followed as those who pursued her political decision make their moves. Quote: "There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln," she said, her face now flush. "If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Lebanon's Hariri, Hezbollah Form New Government
Lebanon's feuding leaders have struck a deal on the formation of a new government – five months after a Western-backed coalition secured a narrow electoral victory against the Hezbollah-led opposition. The formation of a national unity government, which includes two members of Hezbollah, could usher in a period of stability for Lebanon as it attempts to chart its way out of five years of political turmoil and bloodshed.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Fort Hood Suspect: Portrait of a Terrorist?
Major Hasan's antiwar statements and his deepening grudge with the Army over its refusal to discharge him led many analysts to suggest initially that last Thursday's attack was the act of a desperate and perhaps mentally ill individual. On Monday, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the Fort Hood commander, called the rampage, which killed 13 people and wounded 29, "an isolated incident."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Holy Joe's Café Extends Extravagant Welcome to Troops
t's no exaggeration to say Holy Joe's Café has helped U.S. military personnel overseas a ton in the past 3 1/2 years. In fact, it's a gross understatement Holy Joe's Café continues to reach out to all troops overseas – especially the significant number who have had little church background or spiritual development.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Obama's Best Speech Ever
Video and transcript. Something for children to memorize, they say. Fort Hood will be remembered.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Short Life of a Diagnosis
By Simon Baron-Cohen Published: November 10, 2009 Asperger syndrome and autism should be thoroughly tested before being lumped together in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Monday, November 9, 2009
Citizenship for Polish Hero of American Revolution
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 8, 2009 Gen. Casimir Pulaski finally became an American citizen, 230 years after he died fighting in the Revolutionary War.

Monday, November 9, 2009
International Prosecution of Senior Kenyan Politicians for Post-Election Violence Looks Inevitable
With the departure of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Saturday it is clear that those Kenyan politicians deemed to be most responsible for whipping up communal violence after the contentious December 2007 elections will face their day in court, not at home in Kenya, but at the ICC in The Hague.

Monday, November 9, 2009
Scores Die in El Salvador Floods
President Mauricio Funes has declared a national emergency, describing the damage as "incalculable". The capital San Salvador and central San Vicente province were hardest hit. Video & map included.

Monday, November 9, 2009
Collapse Feared for Palestinian Authority if Abbas Resigns
By ETHAN BRONNER Published: November 10, 2009 Those close to Mahmoud Abbas said that he intended to resign and that other Palestinian officials would follow him.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
New Orleans's Cao Fulfills American Dream by Reaching U.S. House
(1 comments) Anh "Joseph" Cao -- the hot new property in Congress, Mr. Upset, the first Vietnamese American elected to the U.S. House or Senate, the first Republican to win Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District since before Louis Armstrong was born -- is driving across this Gothic American bayou. He's relating how, as a Jesuit seminarian in the slums of Mexico nearly 20 years ago, he experienced a crisis of faith.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Glossy Chronicle to Turn Page on Printing
Magazine-quality reproduction is another exciting enhancement to The Chronicle, one of a series of improvements in 2009 that have reshaped the Bay Area's largest newspaper as it looks forward to the future. The Chronicle is printed on recycled paper. The glossy portions should be placed in recycling containers with the rest of The Chronicle after use.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
House Democrats Who Voted Against the Health Care Bill - Interactive Graphic
Note: percentage of non-elderly without insurance in these districts. Only one Republican voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats opposed it, including 24 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. An overwhelming majority of the Democratic lawmakers who opposed the bill — 31 of the 39 — represent districts that were won by Senator John McCain,

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Senate, House Health-Care Legislation: Side-by-Side Comparison
If measures pass both chambers, the House and Senate would work together to fashion a compromise for another round of votes. The final legislation would go to Obama to be signed into law. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress say they want the bill signed by the end of this year. That deadline may slip

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Obama Leaning Toward 34,000 More Troops for Afghanistan
The officials said that Obama also wants to complete his Nov. 11-19 Asia trip and a state visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, the arch foe of Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, before he announces his Afghanistan plan.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Coal Ash from U.S. Blamed for Dominican Town's Birth Defects
A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Delaware charges that toxic levels of waste dumped at the Arroyo Barril port has made people nearby sick. After years of repeated miscarriages, women whose blood levels show abnormal levels of arsenic are giving birth to babies with cranial deformities, with organs outside their bodies or missing limbs.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Bill Moyers Journal: War and its Aftermath
VIDEO AVAILABLE:This week, the JOURNAL presented a shortened version of a new documentary film, THE GOOD SOLDIER, which explores how the experience of combat irrevocably changed the lives of four veterans of America's various war efforts.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
David Sirota On The 2009 Election . NOW on PBS - video
This week, NOW's David Brancaccio talks to political author and columnist David Sirota about populist anger, the Obama administration's successes and failures, and how this week's election results foreshadow the state of politics in 2010.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Army Releases Names of All 13 Killed in Shootings
By LIZ ROBBINS Published: November 8, 2009 The bodies of the 13 victims were taken to Dover, Del., as federal investigators continued to figure out how and why this deadly act could have occurred on an Army base in the United States.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Grand Plans for Rail in Denver Hit a Wall of Fiscal Realities
By KIRK JOHNSON Published: November 6, 2009 The FasTracks rail network has a budget gap of $2.2 billion, and construction is not expected to be in full swing until 2011.

Friday, November 6, 2009
F.D.A. Fighting False Online Claims About Swine Flu Treatments
By LESLIE WAYNE Published: November 6, 2009 The Food and Drug Administration has identified 140 different dubious products sold online and has sent letters to 75 manufacturers.

Friday, November 6, 2009
What is Known about Nidal Malik Hasan and Fort Hood Shooting
The New York Times reports that Hasan felt he was harassed because he was a Muslim. CNN said he was being tracked by the federal government because of inflammatory views about suicide bombings expressed on the Internet.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Health-Reform Protest Becomes Bachmann Love-in — Democrats Insist they Love that, too
Among the speakers who weren't originally listed on the program: four House members — Roy Blunt of Missouri, Zach Wamp of Tennessee, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Nathan Deal of Georgia — who are seeking statewide office in 2010. Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, even led the procession of lawmakers down the West Front steps of the Capitol at noon, where about 10,000 protesters were waiting.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Employment Costs Rise at Slowest Pace Since 1982
The Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy grew at a 3.5% pace in the third quarter, snapping a record streak of four straight quarterly declines. But the economy isn't growing quickly enough to spur much hiring. The unemployment rate reached 9.8% in September, a 26-year high, and many economists expect it to peak above 10% early next year. The recession also has caused many companies to cut wages and benefits

Friday, November 6, 2009
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson Gets Engaged
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has gotten engaged to Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. In March, Johnson invited several public figures to Sacramento for a summit on local public education, including Rhee, who also was his date at an Obama inaugural ball in January.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Farmers Skirt Rules on Gene-Altered Crops, Report Says
As many as 25 percent of the American farmers growing genetically engineered corn are no longer complying with federal rules designed to maintain the resistance of the crops to damage from insects. (Of interest to all who follow the GM policies of Monsanto, etc.)

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Fort Hood Death toll now at 12; Suspects are U.S. soldiers
(9 comments) McClatchy early report. Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, the commander of III Corps, said that at least one gunman opened fire at the base's Soldiers Readiness Processing Center where soldiers were receiving medical and dental exams prior to deployment. The gunman's fire was returned -- Cone did not say by whom -- and the gunman was killed. Two other soldiers who may have participated in the shootings were arrested in nearby buildings...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
UN General Assembly to Take up Goldstone Report on Gaza War Crimes
Known as the Goldstone report, the investigation commissioned by the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council threatens to widen the gulf between the majority of Arab and developing countries that support the report and the mostly Western countries, including the United States, that have condemned it.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Senior U.S. Envoy Meets With Aung San Suu Kyi
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 5, 2009 The visit marked the highest-ranking talks between an American and Myanmar's detained opposition leader in 14 years.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
C.I.A. Rendition Trial Nears Verdict
By RACHEL DONADIO Published: November 5, 2009 A verdict is expected as soon as Wednesday in a landmark case in which American officials are charged with kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ex-British Ambassador: CIA Brought Prisoners To Uzbekistan To Be ‘Raped With Broken Bottles'
Video: “I'm talking of people being raped with broken bottles,” Murray said. “I'm talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I'm talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on.”

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Obama's Half Brother Goes Public with New Book
(1 comments) But this is not the familiar story of President Obama. It is the tale of his publicity-shy younger half brother, Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who has lived in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for seven years and has just produced a loosely autobiographical work of fiction titled "Nairobi to Shenzhen: A Novel of Love in the East."

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
When Bills Go to Conference Committee, What Happens?
Conference committees are groups of senators and congressmen who get together to resolve differences between their chambers on a major bill. And before you nod off from boredom, let Decoder make this point: Healthcare reform legislation will have to pass through a conference committee if it is to become law. And that is when some of the most important decisions about the bill's structure might be made.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Both Sides Exaggerate Effects of Public Option
With all the fighting over a public option in the debate over how to fix the nation's health care system, it's amazing how few journalists report a simple fact — that under both the House and Senate versions of proposed legislation, the so-called public health insurance option would only be "optional" for less than 10 percent of Americans.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Berkshire Bets on U.S. With Purchase of Railroad
The deal, which including Berkshire's previous investment and the assumption of $10 billion in Burlington Northern debt brings the total value to $44 billion, represents what Mr. Buffett said was a big bet on the United States. He told CNBC in an interview that railroad operators cannot do well unless American businesses were producing goods and customers were buying them.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
New Factory in Pittsburg is No Pipe Dream
Everything about the new United Spiral Pipe plant is gargantuan, starting with the $130 million capital investment required to build a factory that will create 120 manufacturing jobs.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Altamont Landfill's Gas Fuels Garbage Trucks
At the Altamont Landfill near Livermore, Waste Management Inc. has installed a $15.5 million system that collects gas given off by decomposing garbage and turns it into fuel. The company unveiled the system on Monday.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Vote Today on Granting Shipyard Developer Delay
Lennar has partnered with the city to build out nearly all of San Francisco's undeveloped land, including the shipyard and Candlestick Point. And the company has promoted the proposed new neighborhoods - with thousands of homes, commercial space and possibly a 49ers football stadium - as key to revitalizing the southeast section of town.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Mega-Green Tower to Rise Near Mid-Market Blight
Tale 1: A half block up from San Francisco City Hall, a 13-story glass tower, topped by an array of solar panels and wind turbines, will soon begin to arise from what, for months, has been a giant hole in the ground. Complete with water recycling, "daylight-harvesting" regulated internal lighting and other energy-efficiency measures, it's being called "the greenest urban office building in the U.S."

Monday, November 2, 2009
Tortured Memories and the Culture of War
This article is drawn from Henry A. Giroux's forthcoming book, "Hearts of Darkness: Torturing Children in the War on Terror" (Paradigm Publishers, 2010).

Monday, November 2, 2009
Ken Auletta & book- Googled: The End of the World as We Know It
Brian Lamb interviews the author, who did in depth interviewing to explain the business philosophy of Google. Site provides link to video.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Bill Moyers Journal - Essay: Washington's Wars
Video from October 30 2009. A summary of US military attitudes and then: "Bring back the draft!"

Sunday, November 1, 2009
King Memorial Gets Construction Permits
The signing ceremony was attended by the slain civil rights leader's oldest and only living sibling, Dr. Christine King Farris; Representatives Sheila Jackson-Lee and Barbara Lee; Lisa Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, and members of Mr. King's college fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, including Senator Roland Burris of Illinois.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Why Google Doesn't Like Its Phone Bill
By RANDALL STROSS Published: November 1, 2009 Some tiny phone companies can charge higher access fees, and Google Voice isn't happy with what can result.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Health-care Reform Likely to be Shaped in Statehouses
The debate over whether to let states opt out of any government-run health insurance plan overlooks a key facet of the health-care measures being assembled in Congress: When Washington is done, the shape of any new health-care system is likely to be finalized in Lansing and Boise and Baton Rouge.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
A Combat Role, and Anguish, Too
By DAMIEN CAVE Published: November 1, 2009 As women who suffer from post- traumatic stress disorder return to a society unfamiliar with their wartime roles, they often choose isolation over embarrassment.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
South Waziristan: Pakistani Army Finds Jihadi Passports
Among them are plans showing how to assemble an "impact grenade" and a "time delay" grenade. Other pieces of paper, handwritten in Arabic, apparently lay out instructions on how to rig another explosive device. Also among the documents are two European passports that purportedly belong to fugitive al-Qaeda members who are linked to the 9/11 attacks and the 2004 Madrid bombings.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Author Says Expect Another Financial Crisis
(2 comments) WSJ video: Josh Kosman, author of "The Buyout of America," tells MarketWatch and Wall Street Journal Columnist David Weidner we're due for another financial crisis and private equity will be at the center of it.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Judge Orders DOJ To Turn Over Abu Zubaydah's Diaries to Defense Attorneys | The Public Record
Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee captured after 9/11, is expected to finally gain access to diaries he wrote during the years while he was being brutally tortured at secret black-site prisons by CIA interrogators.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
U.S. Troops are Hostages of Iraq's Broken Democracy
Juan Cole: Iraq doesn't know how to hold an election, and we shouldn't stick around to teach them at gunpoint Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi parliament again on Thursday failed to pass an electoral law to govern the holding of the planned January 16 parliamentary elections. The Kurdish delegates refused to come into the parliament building.

Friday, October 30, 2009
McChrystal Doesn't Get It—Does Obama?
McChrystal, or more accurately, his staff, has authored a not-so-secret report that outlines the reasoning behind this massive increase in American military involvement in Afghanistan. Rightly noting that the American-led effort is currently failing, McChrystal argues that only a massive infusion of U.S. troops, and a corresponding “surge” of American civilians, can achieve the stability necessary to transform Afghanistan

Friday, October 30, 2009
Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh and Afghanistan - Videos
Glenn Greenwald: Ongoing travel will make writing difficult today, so I'll post several television segments I did this morning and last night. First is a debate over Afghanistan and U.S. foreign policy with former Bush official and standard neocon Dan Senor, on Dylan Ratigan's MSNBC program from this morning. Then Rachel Maddow and Eliot Spitzer.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Honduras Deal: Ousted President Zelaya can Return to Office
(1 comments) Late Thursday, after a group of US diplomats rushed to Honduras this week to restart negotiations that had broken down – yet again – interim President Roberto Micheletti announced that his negotiators will sign a deal as early as Friday that could include the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya to the presidency.

Friday, October 30, 2009
No ‘Robust' Public Option in House Healthcare Reform Bill
Lawmakers now have at least 72 hours to peruse the 1,991-page bill. It requires all Americans to obtain health insurance and adds some 36 million to the ranks of the insured. It expands Medicaid for the poor, and it offers subsidies to help middle-income Americans pay for private insurance. [R]ural Democrats said that"robust" payments would be too low, and hospitals in their districts could not have survived on them.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Personalization Moving into Screening Spotlight
Sophisticated surfers are seeking out the highly specialized sites that create or aggregate the content that most appeals to them, like reviews or samples of a little known genre of music, and are looking for better social tools to help them narrow results, said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Experian Hitwise. "Digg absolutely has to change," he said. "We're at about 40 million users today, but it's 1 size

Friday, October 30, 2009
Taiwan: China Investment Deal to Exclude Banks
The long-awaited memorandum of understanding -- an agreement that will allow mainland investors to buy Taiwan stocks and is meant to build tighter ties between financial institutions -- "is expected to be signed this year," said Lee Chi-Hsien, director-general of Securities and Futures Bureau at Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
The 40-Something Dependent Child
First, parents were bankrolling their 20-something children, paying tuition bills for private colleges, globe-trotting adventures and rent after college. Then the 30-something offspring needed down payments, money for their own children's summer camp, cars and school tuition. What next? If their net worth hasn't been devastated by the recession, will these parents who reach their 70s and 80s be subsidizing their children

Thursday, October 29, 2009
F.D.I.C. Chief Criticizes Reform Plan
By STEPHEN LABATON Published: October 30, 2009 The regulator, Sheila C. Bair, found fault with a White House plan for a new process to unwind large companies.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
New Details About CIA Secret Prisons And the Systematic Torture Of Prisoners
VIDEO - 11 MINUTES President Obama has cut a swathe through the Bush-era National Security Program, forcing the CIA to close its secret overseas prisons and ban harsh interrogation methods. Russia Today's Anastasia Churkina spoke to Human Rights lawyer John Sifton, who reveals the truth behind CIA secret prisons – the controversy, the lies, the torture, and the blacked-out documents..

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Peshawar Car Bomb Blast Kills at Least 43
The massive explosion detonated in a crowded street in the Meena Bazaar of Peshawar, where a huge blaze broke out and officials feared the death toll would rise because of the difficulty of evacuating the wounded. Tensions have soared across Pakistan following a spike in violence blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists. The attacks have left more than 200 people dead this month.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
U.N. Staff Killed in Taliban Attack in Kabul
Taliban militants attacked a private guesthouse in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing at least six U.N. staff members and wounding nine more, according to a U.N. spokesman. The violence comes 10 days ahead of a presidential runoff election on November 7. Taliban militants have threatened to disrupt the polling.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
An Evening of Mobilization Against the War in Afghanistan
The Nation Institute: Iraq Veterans Against the War Mark Kulansky, author of Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea and Veteran war correspondent and Institute Fellow Chris Hedges, author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning invite you to an evening of mobilization against the war in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I'm a Doctor. So Sue me. No, Really
Flu season has come early and I'm writing far too many prescriptions for Tamiflu. Part of the reason I'm writing so many extra prescriptions stems from stories about healthy people getting sick with H1N1 and ending up critically ill or dead. One of those stories aired recently on "60 Minutes" I'm a pediatrician. Obstetricians and emergency room doctors are sued at far higher rates

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Obama Awards $3.4 Billion in 'Smart Grid' Grants
A major proposal of the Obama administration's national energy makeover has been to build a next-generation “smart” power grid that enables integration of more renewable energy and maximizes efficiency. Most stimulus funding has so far gone to fix roads and other infrastructure, but on Tuesday the smart grid began catching up. Challenges for the system include cyber security.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
How the Angelides Commission can Crack open the Wall Street Scandal—if it Dares.
Eliot Spitzer: If the Angelides commission issues subpoenas to investigate these five questions and promises to set these documents before the public, we will know it is for real and will serve a genuine public purpose. Populist anger is no better a policy guide than libertarian rhetoric.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
$400 per Gallon Gas to Drive Debate over Cost of War in Afghanistan
...a gallon of fuel costs the military about $400 by the time it arrives in the remote locations in Afghanistan where U.S. troops operate. ...a breakdown of why every 1,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan costs $1 billion Stanley McChrystal, reportedly has requested that about 40,000 additional troops be sent. ...the number of the all-terrain-mine resistant ambush-protected vehicles (M-ATVs)are considered gas guzzlers.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
DeFOX America - a Video
Fox "News" personalities are pushing an agenda that is dangerous to ordinary Americans. Using tactics such as placing individuals singled out for censure on a blackboard and linking them to murderous dictators like Josef Stalin, Fox News has deliberately created an atmosphere of hysteria that they have used to attack organizations and individuals fighting for the issues that matter most to working families.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Larry Langford Found Guilty on all 60 Counts
Larry Langford, Birmingham's mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial. Langford, who is 61 or 63, was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre. Both pleaded guilty in the case and testified they made cash payments to Langford while he was the president of the Jefferson County Commi

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
FBI Kills Leader of Radical Muslims; 10 Held in Raids
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, also known as Christopher Thomas, was gunned down after refusing to surrender and opening fire when the FBI raided one of the locations, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Ummah, a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States.Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
FBI Kills Leader of Radical Muslims; 6 Held in Raids
The leader of what federal authorities describe as a fundamentalist group was shot and killed today during a series of raids in Dearborn and Detroit that resulted in federal charges against a dozen men.Abdullah and 10 others were charged in a complaint with conspiracy to commit several federal felony crimes, including illegal possession and sale of firearms and theft from interstate shipments.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obama's Foreign Policy Report Card
Iraq: B Obama has decisively won the argument over Iraq policy. Despite the massive bombings in Baghdad on Sunday--the most deadly since 2007-- the U.S. troop withdrawal is ahead of schedule Iran: A There has also been movement on Iran. On Oct. 1 the administration fulfilled its campaign pledge by joining other members of the United Nations Security Council to jawbone with Iran Pakistan: B Pakistani state owns Taliban issue

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
"People in Afghanistan Want Change"
(2 comments) In an interview, Abdullah Abdullah, challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, discusses election fraud People in Kabul say your budget was tens of millions of dollars with much of it donated by Iran. "I can surely confirm that a foreign country was not involved. Contributions from the people were overwhelming, well higher than my expectations. They invested in a different political agenda. They want change."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sr. Official Resigns Over Afghanistan Strategy
(1 comments) Matthew Hoh, a political officer in the foreign service and a senior civilian officer in Zabul, Afghanistan, wrote a four-page letter to Ambassador Nancy Powell, director general of the foreign service at the State Department, to express his "doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy," as first reported by the Washington Post today.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Suit Accuses Pulte Homes of Inflating Prices
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleges that Pulte's "one-stop shopping" business model, in which it controlled sales, financing, settlement services and appraisals, allowed it to sell homes at inflated prices and give buyers mortgages they could not afford. Since Pulte Mortgage, Pulte's financing subsidiary, quickly sold its loans on Wall Street, it was not affected when buyers defaulted,

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
New York Fed's Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers
The New York Fed, one of the 12 regional Reserve Banks that are part of the Federal Reserve System, is unique in that it implements monetary policy through the buying and selling of Treasury securities in the secondary market. It also supervises financial institutions in the New York region. The Fed has loaned more than $2 trillion, yet it refuses to name the recipients of the loans, or cite the amount they borrowed

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obama Urged to Fully Comply with Anti-Torture Treaty
Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU Human Rights Programmr, told us, “The president's first nine months in office have signaled a policy shift on human rights and commitment to the rule of law. Certainly his speech to the U.N. and his Nobel Peace Prize have raised the bar of expectation as to his commitment to advancing human rights at home and abroad.” The campaign have four primary objectives.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Refugees Unsettle the West
The JBS story illustrates how hard Greeley is working to overcome miscommunication and culture clashes, despite huge challenges that neither the town nor its recent arrivals were prepared for. "We don't know quite how many refugees we have here," says Police Chief Jerry Garner. "Nobody's counting them. But we seem like a virtual U.N. these days."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Socialism and the West
Indeed, the whole "winning of the West" was a federal enterprise, with the government subsidizing railroads and silver mines and promoting settlement while maintaining an army to keep the Indians out of the way. America's socialized westward expansion was a success, while Mexico's northern expansion, which relied on private enterprise, never got much farther than Taos.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Still Riding the Edge
Book Review: Growing Up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail Flaming Gorge Dam was completed in 1964 to provide water storage, power generation, flood control and recreation. No one realized how it would transform ecosystems. The federal government then moved to acquire more land -- including the ranch itself.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
UN Investigator w=Warns US on Use of Drones
(2 comments) Philip Alston said that unless the Obama administration explains the legal basis for targeting particular individuals and the measures it is taking to comply with international humanitarian law which prohibits arbitrary executions, "it will increasingly be perceived as carrying out indiscriminate killings in violation of international law." "Otherwise, you have the really problematic bottom line -- which is that the CIA

Monday, October 26, 2009
The Pay Czar's Pay Cut Ruling: The Hype, the Hoax
Headlines brought cheer to White House PR types. The reality behind those headlines, unfortunately, makes for disappointing public policy. The new pay czar pay ruling does precious little to throttle the cascade of dollars pouring into America's executive suites. One reason: The pay czar has jurisdiction over executive pay at just seven firms

Monday, October 26, 2009
America's Real Quagmire | Mark Weisbrot
(2 comments) If you want to know why Obama has not fought for a public option for healthcare reform, why he has caved to Wall Street on financial reform, why he has been Awol on the most important labour law reform legislation in 75 years (despite his campaign promises), just look at the major media.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality
Try visualizing wealth in the United States as a three-slice pie, with one slice going to the top 1 percent, one to the next richest 9 percent, and one to everyone else. In 2007, America's top 1 percent held nearly $3.3 trillion more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent, according to Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances data released early in 2009.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Right-Wing Extremist Group on Active Military Duty?
(1 comments) As the SPLC noted in its July report, however, the military services' track record when it comes to disciplining or purging extremists in their ranks has been spotty. Here's a story from Stars and Stripes, the independent military paper, based on the SPLC report.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
President Obama Presented in Prague Ambitious Strategy to Address the Nuclear Threat
Ed:Please save, read often. The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
About The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)
CNS at the Monterey Institute of International Studies is the largest nongovernmental organization in the United States devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation issues. Today, CNS has a full-time staff of more than 40 specialists and over 50 graduate student research assistants located in offices in Monterey, Washington, DC, and Almaty, Kazakhstan

Sunday, October 25, 2009
UnitedHealthcare Unveils 2010 Medicare Plans
At a time when the Medicare environment is changing, UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans still deliver more savings, satisfaction, and benefits than traditional Medicare.” UnitedHealthcare's Medicare product portfolio serves one-in-five Medicare beneficiaries.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Historians Reassess Battle of Agincourt
By JAMES GLANZ Published: October 25, 2009 Some historians are doubting the Battle of Agincourt's status as perhaps the greatest military victory against overwhelming odds, while also drawing some modern comparisons.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Watch & Listen - Bill Moyers witj Judge Goldstone
Goldstone agreed to lead it, but only after expanding the fact-finding mission's mandate to include charges against Hamas as well as Israel. In September, he submitted their report, 574 pages, scorching in their detail. The report accused both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. While condemning Palestinian rocket attacks, the report's harshest language was for Israel

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Protesters Urge End to Afghan War
Soldiers and military families are among 5,000 protesters in London demonstrating against UK military operations in Afghanistan. The Stop the War Coalition says it is the first march against the Afghan war since the conflict began in 2001.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
From the First Email to the First YouTube Video: a Definitive Internet History
In late 1971 Ray Tomlinson, an engineer working on a time-sharing system called Tenex, combined two programs named Cpynet and SNDMSG in order to send the first ever network email. Computer viruses and worms, essentially just self-replicating programs, were predicted as early as 1949 by the mathematician John von Neumann

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Exposing Some Market Myths - Video
The dollar is doing okay so far. Compare downturns to 38-39 and 74-75. How analysts rate current opportunities.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Congress May Cushion Some Cuts in Private Medicare Plans
While the House and Senate committees agree on slashing funding to Medicare Advantage, they approach it in different ways. The Senate would create a competitive bidding system in which plans would be paid an average of the bids they submitted. The House would pay health plans the same per capita fee as in traditional Medicare

Saturday, October 24, 2009
After the Billionaires Plundered Alabama Town, Troops Were Called in ... Illegally
So far, it's clear that Birmingham and the entire Jefferson County are following the wretched script of a typical Third World scenario, where the Wall Street bankers corrupt the politicians and eventually bankrupt the place and then, while the corpse is still warm and the bankruptcy deals are cut, Wall Street makes sure it's first in line to profit off the chaos. Article worth reading.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
FCC Approves Draft Net-Neutrality Rules
The Federal Communications Commission unanimously agreed Thursday to draft new rules designed to ensure Internet access providers don't hinder or promote particular devices, applications or content on their network, over the fierce objections of the telecommunications industry. Net neutrality represents the first major policy issue for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the President Obama appointee who argues recent action

Saturday, October 24, 2009
More Players Emerge in Galleon Group Scandal
Roomy Khan, a former local employee of Rajaratnam's Galleon Group LLP, has emerged as a key government "cooperating witness" in the $20 million insider trading affair. Khan's Bay Area ties include running a hedge fund, Digital Age Capital Ltd., out of her $13 million Atherton mansion which she sold for $9.4 million in May.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Flunking Out at the Food Co-op
By ALANA JOBLIN AIN Published: October 25, 2009 At the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, when members run afoul of the work requirements, suspension and shame often result.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Bonus Bandits: Why Are Bank Execs Making a Killing in the Midst of Catastrophe?
(1 comments) America's biggest banks, amid the shakiest economic times since the 1930s, last week announced record profits — and deposited record billions into bonus pools for their top executives and traders. How did U.S. lawmakers and officialdom respond?

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pelosi Steps Up as Champion of the Public Option
A Congressional Budget Office report suggesting that a robust public option would actually cut the deficit seems to have lit a fire under Speaker Pelosi.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Autism Around the World
ASD is the fastest growing neurobiological condition in the world. With prevalence numbers rising exponentially over the last six decades, more and more families are living with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)than ever before. In the United States, one in every 150 American children will have ASD, and it is estimated that figure is one in every 90 boys.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Bill Moyers: How Can the U.S. Be an Empire and a Democracy at the Same Time?
(2 comments) [a] transcript from Bill Moyers' interview with journalist Mark Danner on his new book, Stripping Bare the Body, broadcast on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal. Moyers: You say that the decisions being discussed, and about to be made in Afghanistan right now have very little to do with the war in Afghanistan and more to do with the politics in America.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Take America Back From the Banks - Showdown in Chicago
Dean Baker: Reining in the financial industry's power and greed will be a long, hard-fought war. But it is one that must be fought. The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Warning: Full Program Online | Frontline
We didn't truly know the dangers of the market, because it was a dark market," says Brooksley Born, the head of an obscure federal regulatory agency -- the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC]--who not only warned of the potential for economic meltdown in the late 1990s, but also tried to convince the country's key economic powerbrokers to take actions that could have helped avert the crisis. "They were totally opposed

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Reporter Jack Nelson Dies at 80; Journalist Helped Raise L.A. Times to National Prominence
Jack Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, author and longtime Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, whose hard-nosed coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the Watergate scandal in the 1970s helped establish the paper's national reputation, has died. He was 80."Jack finally slipped away a couple of hours ago," his wife, journalist Barbara Matusow, said in an e-mail to friends.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Decision Followed Five Days of Difficult Talks With U.S.
.... the Afghan president was more comfortable dealing with Sen. Kerry than with U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry or the administration's special representative to the region, Richard Holbrooke. Mr. Holbrooke angered Mr. Karzai when he suggested shortly after the Aug. 20 election that a runoff might be needed. "He and I are friends," Sen. Kerry said of Mr. Karzai. "It was really trying to lay out real interests at stake..."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Medicare Drug Planners Now Lobbyists, With Billions at Stake
Six years ago, a group of lawmakers and aides crafted Medicare Part D, the prescription drug program for seniors that has produced billions of dollars of profits for pharmaceutical companies. Today, at least 25 of those key players are back, but this time they're lobbyists, trying to persuade their former colleagues to protect the lucrative system during the health care reform negotiations.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Ordained, Gay, and Black
This spring, Reverend Benjamin Reynolds arrived as transitional pastor at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park, IL. Three years ago, in Colorado, the congregation he grew up in dismissed him when he spoke up about his sexual orientation.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Water Across the Divide
Before dawn on May 30, 2003, something breached the Grand Ditch, which slices across steep mountainsides in the backcountry on the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. An avalanche, perhaps, or a slope failure, abruptly sent the ditch's flow pouring downhill at some 70 cubic feet per second -- enough to fill one Olympic-sized swimming pool every 21 minutes. It quickly picked up soil, gravel and boulders, and uprooted

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
California Attorney General Sues State Street Bank for Massive Fraud
CalPERS and CalSTRS are 2 largest pensions. Brown's office estimates that the pension funds were overcharged by more than $56.6 million over eight years. A link to copy of complaint is attached.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Hopes Fade for Comprehensive Climate Treaty
By JOHN BRODER Published: October 21, 2009 At a meeting on climate change in Copenhagen in December, officials now expect only incremental progress.

Monday, October 19, 2009
100 Days of Resistance for Zelaya
100 days since the coup d etat that ousted Manuel Zelaya, Fault Lines travels to Honduras to look at polarisation and power in the Americas, and finds resistance and repression in the streets. The program includes interviews with Bertha Oliva of the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared-Detained in Honduras and with School of the Americas graduate and military coup leader General Romero Vásquez. Good video.

Monday, October 19, 2009
At Book Fair, a Subplot About Chinese Rights
By STEVEN ERLANGER and JONATHAN ANSFIELD Published: October 19, 2009 At the Frankfurt Book Fair, what Beijing hoped would be a celebration of cultural achievements became a tug of war between control and free speech.

Monday, October 19, 2009
By Air and Ground, Pakistani Soldiers Penetrate Militant Heartland
By JANE PERLEZ Published: October 19, 2009 The Pakistani military moved deeper into South Waziristan, hitting Taliban targets with F-16 fighter jets as troops supported by helicopter gunships climbed higher into the terrain.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Autism Society of America: Safe and Sound Campaign
One topic one can learn by subscribing to ASA's newsletter. The Autism Society began the Safe and Sound initiative in 2005 to provide much-needed resources to the autism community on topics such as general safety, emergency preparedness and prevention, and risk management.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Inflation Calculator: Bureau of Labor Statistics
(2 comments) The CPI inflation calculator uses the average Consumer Price Index for a given calendar year. This data represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. This index value has been calculated every year since 1913. For the current year, the latest monthly index value is used.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Taxing High-Income Residents: Better than Budget Cuts, Better for Economic Growth
The rightwing anti-tax movement has been an increasing failure in recent years and no longer intimidates state leaders who are committed to achieving both economic growth and economic justice in their communities.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Graham Moves to Block Obama from Trying 9/11 Suspects in U.S.
Graham, who helped craft the 2006 law that established the military commissions, said Friday that he'd attached an amendment to an appropriations bill that would prohibit the Obama administration from spending money on the prosecution and trial of the accused terrorists before U.S. civilian federal judges.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Windows 7 Streamlines Computers
Windows 7, which hits the market Thursday, may change a lot of minds. It certainly made me think that now, finally, is the time to upgrade. Microsoft loaned me a laptop running Windows 7 last week. It felt slick and light when I turned it on for the first time.

Monday, October 19, 2009
DOE buys Geothermal Plant in Wyoming
Ormat Technologies, of Reno, Nev., built the plant at the Teapot Dome oil field to prove the technical feasibility of using hot water associated with oil production to generate electricity. The plant was designed to produce 250 kilowatts of electricity, according to the Energy Department. It has been operating for over a year, providing electricity to operate the oil wells.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
A Walkout Ends in Elkhart, and Strikers Find a Changed World
AP saga of union's fate: Millions across the country lost jobs, but Elkhart was slammed by the nation's largest jump in unemployment. By this spring, one in five workers were out of a paycheck. Many of the factories that made it the capital of recreational vehicle manufacturing shut down. Twice during his campaign and twice since, Barack Obama came to Elkhart County to spotlight the nation's economic despair.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity
By DAVID ROHDE Published: October 18, 2009 A Times reporter, David Rohde, and two Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by the Taliban in 2008 and held for seven months in Pakistan. This is the first installment in a five-part series offering his account.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Pakistan Aims Offensive at a Militant Stronghold
By JANE PERLEZ Published: October 18, 2009 Pakistan moved troops into the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan in a long-anticipated ground offensive against the Qaeda-backed militants in treacherous terrain.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
British High Court Rejects U.S./British Cover-up of Torture Evidence
(1 comments) Glenn Greenwald: Until yesterday, all of that caused the British High Court to continue to conceal those paragraphs based on the insistence from the British Foreign Minister that the Obama administration was re-iterating the same threats made by the Bush administration. Yesterday, in a 38-page decision(.pdf), the Court reversed itself, and ruled that these paragraphs detailing Mohamed's torture should be publicly disclosed.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Ted Turner Says His Wish Would Be to Run CNN Again
Small video. He is working on nuclear non-proliferation down.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
‘Blue Cross Is Telling A Lie'
Twelve people were arrested in an act of civil disobedience in front of Blue Cross headquarters in downtown Los Angeles earlier this week. One of the organizers, Sam Pullen, 31, refused to give information to police, vowing to stay in jail until Blue Cross stops denying care to those who need it most. Small Video.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Military Pay Charts, basic pay, BAH
A webpage which will take you to various charts regarding pay and added benefits. Good to bookmark.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
More Colorado Children Living in Poverty
The percentage of Colorado kids in poverty grew from 11.3 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2008, according to U.S. census data reported last month. Colorado is by no means home to the most poor kids. The national average last year was 18.3 percent of children living in poverty, the Colorado Children's Campaign said.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Colorado Solar-Panel Makers Labor to Lead the Pack when Demand Rises
Even as solar-panel prices dropped 40 percent in 2009 to about $2.25 a watt on average, Abound Solar Inc.'s Longmont plant is rolling out its first photovoltaic panels. All this is going on at a time the industry faces oversupply, falling prices, a credit freeze, a recession, subsidy cuts in key European markets and rising Chinese competition.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
The Rise of the Religious Left -- Why Christianity Isn't Just for Conservatives
The enormous political clout wielded by evangelical Christians in the United States is usually seen from the outside as a coup for rightwing zealots against any agenda that might be called "progressive". But we should think again. The recent revelation that Michael Moore's Catholicism emerges in his latest film as a centrepiece of his critique of capitalism is really no surprise.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Still a Long Way to go Before Health Bill Becomes Law
Now comes the hard part of crafting a new health care system -- hard not just because a lot of corporate, consumer and political interests want to be satisfied, but because the next steps will proceed in secret. Short video included.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Ex-Cons Serve Up Felony Franks
In the 2nd Ward of Chicago is a hot dog business, employing at least 75% ex-convicts. There is coming a big issue of whether this is the owner's assets at the expense of others' personal privacy. Video is good.

Friday, October 16, 2009
'Most Dangerous Philosopher in the West' Has Speech Cut Short By Bomb Threat in NYC
Venue was Cooper Union. Site leads to hour-long video of Amy Goodman's Democracy Now. Slavoj Zizek is the philosopher.

Friday, October 16, 2009
A perfect logo - Glenn Greenwald
(2 comments) Liz Cheney copycatting the ACLU's new logo. But freedom counts!

Friday, October 16, 2009
Friendship Between Chinese, Jewish People Reflected in Exhibition
(1 comments) The friendship between the Chinese and Jewish peoples, which boasts a history of more than 1,000 years, would be reflected in an exhibition of photos depicting relations between China and Israel, a leading Chinese historian told Xinhua Tuesday. Shanghai accommodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust in World War Two

Friday, October 16, 2009
Vatican to Host Galileo Exhibit
A new exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's work is set to open in the Vatican. The Catholic Church once labeled Galileo, now regarded as modern astronomy's founding father, a heretic.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Radovan Karadzic to Stand Trial This Month
Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic is to go on trial in The Hague later this month for his alleged role in directing war crimes during the Bosnian war. Dr Karadzic, who was captured in Belgrade last year after more than a decade on the run, faces 11 charges including two counts of genocide for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities throughout the conflict from 1992 to 1995.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Here's Where Stimulus Money is Putting People to Work
A first report card shows the federal Recovery Act money means hiring more electricians, carpenters, and others across the country. But it's not necessarily in states with the highest unemployment rates. The numbers, released Thursday on the http://www.recovery.gov website, allow US citizens to drill down by state, zip code, and congressional district to view where government contracts are being awarded.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Rewarding Failure: The Bail-Out Bonuses on Wall Street Continue
So the Community and Regional banks that didn't have anything to do with causing the recession are paying the price -- along with the rest of America. But the big Wall Street banks that actually caused this catastrophe are rolling in money and handing it out in huge chunks to the brilliant young speculators that drove the process.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Frist Addresses Tennessee's Birther Problem
(2 comments) Huffington Post asked the former Senator about a recent survey which showed 47 percent of Tennessee Republicans and 34 percent of the entire state thought Obama was constitutionally ineligible to hold office. Frist's comments are another small reflection of a growing recognition among senior voices in the GOP that the inflammatory rhetoric and conspiracy theories directed at the Obama White House are likely not constructive.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Voters' Views on the Recession, Jobs, and the Deficit
(2 comments) Graph Power Point or PDF A survey conducted by Hart Research Associates for EPI offers new perspective on how widespread the pain from the recession has been. In a survey of 802 registered voters in September 2009, 44% said they have experienced a layoff or a cut in hours or wages in their household. The vast majority of those surveyed believe the country is still in a recession.

Friday, October 16, 2009
News Reports from Inside the Financial Coup
The past few days have been very revealing when it comes to the financial coup that has occurred here in the US. When we say financial coup, we're not giving you hyperbole. We're telling you the technical term for what has occurred. When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission opened for business on September 17, it was a nonevent for the media. The press has moved on. Financial crisis was last year's story.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Special Report from Inside the Financial Coup
When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission opened for business on September 17, it was a nonevent for the media. Leading newspapers brushed aside chairman Phil Angelides, the former California state treasurer, and his declaration of purpose-"uncovering the facts and providing an unbiased historical accounting of what brought our financial system and our economy to its knees."

Friday, October 16, 2009
Galleon's Rajaratnam, Others Charged In Insider Case
Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam and five others have been arrested and charged in a $20 million insider-trading case, prosecutors said. At a press conference Friday, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced that Rajaratnam, the founder of the Galleon Group and portfolio manager for the Galleon Technology Funds, has been charged with four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of securities fraud.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Five Guilty of 'Mass' Terror Plot
The men, all from Sydney's south-west, were accused of stockpiling weapons and chemicals for use in the pursuit of "violent jihad'' in accordance with their extremist Muslim beliefs. The trial heard the men were motivated by Australia's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in particular, former Prime Minister John Howard's support for then US President George Bush.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Tom Brokaw - How Obama Can Share His Peace Prize
Take the whole symbolic country, Mr. Brokaw. Who picks up the tab? At any rate a good place to do some name dropping.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sharp Red, Blue Divide On U.S. Healthcare System
The differences based on party affiliation are so sharp that Democrats are 10 times more likely to rate the nation's healthcare system as poor than are Republicans, and eight times more likely to say healthcare is a right.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Chinese Export Boom in Evidence at Trade Show
(8 comments) By KEITH BRADSHER Published: October 16, 2009 Buyers swarming through the world's largest trade show in Guangzhou underscored how China's low wages and cheap currency are producing a resurgence of exports.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Does the Brain Like E-Books? - Room for Debate Blog
1) My research group on online reading (the University of California Transliteracies Project) has come to realize that we need a whole new guiding metaphor. 2) After many years of research on how the human brain learns to read, I came to an unsettlingly simple conclusion: We humans were never born to read.... 3) same mistake clever planners have made for half a century in forecasting the death of cars -- people like cars.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stanley McChrystal's Long War
By DEXTER FILKINS Published: October 18, 2009 Is it just too late — politically and militarily — for the general to win in Afghanistan?

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Do Dems Still Need 60 Senate Votes for Health Care?
Now that health care reform is moving to the floor of the Senate, Democratic leaders are parsing over the details of the bill, devising ways secure 60 votes for reform -- starting today, however, they do not necessarily have to.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Otto Hits Sour Note with Hensley
Self-described redneck Rep. Bill Otto enraged the Kansas Senate Democratic leader on Thursday with a music video mocking President Barack Obama and touting opossum as the "other dark meat."

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Obama Vs. Rupert Murdoch: Fox News' Blatant Transition into GOP TV
I understand Fox News still wants to enjoy the benefits of being seen as a news operation. It still wants the trappings and the professional protections that go with it. But it no longer functions as a news outlet, so why does the rest of the press naively treat it that way?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Dick Gephardt's Fall: How a Progressive Stalwart Turned into a Spectacular Political Sellout
On January 1, 2005--before Gephardt's term had even expired--the Congressman's son-in-law signed papers to form a consultancy firm based in Delaware called Gephardt and Associates (now the Gephardt Group). But for most of 2005 it lay dormant as Gephardt joined corporate boards and advised a few big-name companies. Banned from lobbying Congress for a year, he soon discovered there were places outside Washington needing influen

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler to Step Down
(4 comments) U.S. House of Representatives member Robert Wexler of Boca Raton, a self-described ''fire-breathing liberal,'' defender of Israel and friend of both President Barack Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist, is quitting Congress to head a think tank seeking peace in the Middle East.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Door Opens to Health Claims Tied to Agent Orange
(2 comments) By JAMES DAO Published: October 13, 2009 The government is making it easier for veterans to file claims for more diseases associated with Agent Orange.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Number Of World's Hungry Tops A Billion
There are more hungry people in the world than ever before. More than one billion people, almost a sixth of humanity, are now undernourished, according to the latest estimates from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
JPMorgan Chase Reports Strong Profit of $3.6 Billion
By ERIC DASH Published: October 15, 2009 JPMorgan appears to be taking advantage of the financial crisis, overtaking investment banking rivals.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Dow Closes Above 10,000 for First Time in Over a Year
By JACK HEALY Published: October 15, 2009 The Dow Jones industrial average, one of the most-watched markers of the financial world, closed above 10,000 points in a milestone of the stock market's recovery.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Mayor Who Added Jobs, and Lost Some, Too
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY Published: October 15, 2009 In the midst of a downturn, New York City has 131,000 more jobs than it had when Michael R. Bloomberg became mayor. But many of them pay less than jobs that have been lost.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Britain Plans to Send 500 More Soldiers to Afghanistan
By JOHN F. BURNS Published: October 15, 2009 A cautious and heavily conditioned plan announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown would increase the British contingent to 9,500.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Suit Accuses S.E.C. of Failing to Detect Madoff Scheme
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES Published: October 15, 2009 Two victims of Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme sued the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that the agency's failure to detect the fraud contributed to their losses.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds
Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Afghanistan - the proxy war
(1 comments) NO SERIOUS person thinks that Afghanistan--remote, impoverished, barely qualifying as a nation-state - seriously matters to the United States. Yet with the war in its ninth year, the passions raised by the debate over how to proceed there are serious indeed. Afghanistan elicits such passions because people understand that in rendering his decision on Afghanistan, President Obama will declare himself on several larger issues

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Citizens Gather to Support Public Health Care
About 30 Natrona County citizens gathered today in the shadow of the Dick Cheney Federal Building to show their support for a government-run public health care option.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tom Daschle, Richard Gephardt and Other Health Care Leaders to Diagnose Health Care Reform Battle in
With health care reform headed to the floor of the House and Senate, the Aspen Institute and TIME magazine will present a day of panel discussions designed to shed light on what the looming changes will mean. The symposium will be held at the Top of the Hill Banquet and Conference Center, at the Reserve Officers Association, One Constitution Avenue, N.E., (directly across from the Senate Dirksen Bldg. October 14 8:00 - 5:00

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways
By CHARLES DUHIGG Published: October 13, 2009 The pollutants that coal plants are scrubbing from their smokestacks are finding their way into water instead.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Twitter Moving to Larger SoMa Office Space
Twitter, which recently closed a round of financing worth a reported $100 million, is expanding its workforce and has agreed to a deal to move its headquarters into a larger South of Market space. The micro-blogging service has agreed to sublease a 31,000-square-foot office at 795 Folsom St., now used by another social-networking firm, Bebo Inc., which is owned by AOL.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Nobel Laureate Wields Great Business Influence
Oliver Williamson, UC Berkeley's newest Nobel laureate in economics, is described as a traditional scholar with a dry wit who is generous with his time and ideas. [T]he Nobel committee cited Williamson's "analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm." Williamson's most important book was "Markets and Hierarchies," which tried to answer the question: How do we organize, hierarchically or horizontally?

Monday, October 12, 2009
Bill Moyers: Was the Financial Bailout Just a Slick, Friendly Takeover of the Federal Government?
(2 comments) Kaptur from Toledo, Ohio after meltdown. Moyers interviews Marcy Kaptur, a hero of Michael Moore's latest documentary and former IMF head Simon Johnson on Wall Street's purchase of our democracy.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Two Americans Share Nobel in Economics
By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: October 13, 2009 Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University and Oliver E. Williamson of the University of California, Berkeley, were honored for their work on economic governance.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Another view: Set flexible timetable - Opinion
Russ Feingold: We need a global strategy that denies al-Qaeda safe haven everywhere, not just in Afghanistan but also in Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. It doesn't make sense to devote billions more dollars and tens of thousands more troops to a strategy that is so heavily concentrated on Afghanistan when the terrorist threat we face is global.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Typhoon Deaths Now at 669
The collective death toll from storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” which devastated huge areas of Luzon in the past two weeks has reached 669, with 462 injured and 87 missing, authorities said Monday. Brawner said some 10,000 troops are now devoted to the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts in Northern Luzon

Monday, October 12, 2009
CTA's Plan: $3 Train Rides, 25-Cent Bus Fare Hike
Proposal: • Basic train fares to $3 from $2.25. • Basic bus fares to $2.50 from $2.25. • Express bus fares to $3 from as little as $2.25 now. • Full fare 30-day passes to $110 from $86.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Out of Work Rockwell Employees to get More Federal Help
• Basic train fares to $3 from $2.25. • Basic bus fares to $2.50 from $2.25. • Express bus fares to $3 from as little as $2.25 now. • Full fare 30-day passes to $110 from $86. The Department of Labor more than doubled funding of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program earlier this year as part of the stimulus package.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Map of Latest H1N1 Swine Flu Outbreak Cases and Statistics
Latest information and news regarding locations of swine flu cases and outbreaks including world death statistics by country. The World Health Organization said today (July 17 2009) it will stop tracking individual cases of H1N1 swine flu saying that it would no longer report the number of confirmed cases in all countries but would provide regular updates about newly affected countries in order to track and document pandemic

Monday, October 12, 2009
Elinor Ostrom, First Woman to Receive Nobel in Economics
Professor Ostrom received a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 1965. She came to IU in 1966 as Assistant Professor, became Associate Professor in 1969, Professor in 1974, and Chair of the department from 1980-84. She is Co-Director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis since 1973 and Professor, part-time, School of Public and Environmental Affairs since 1984.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap
The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools, examines the dimensions and economic impact of the education achievement gap. While much controversy exists on the causes of the gap and on what the nation should do to address it, the full range of the achievement gap's character and consequences has been poorly understood.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Senator Levin to Offer Tax Haven Legislation to Help Pay for Health Care Reform
(1 comments) The measure Senator Levin plans to offer is one he introduced earlier this year, along with four co-sponsors, as a stand-alone bill called the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act (S.506). It would enact important new rules to deter offshore transactions designed to evade U.S. income tax. Rep. Doggett introduced the same measure in the House the next day, with 59 co-sponsors (H.R. 1265).

Monday, October 12, 2009
Reasoning Behind Obama's Peace Prize
Last year, Barack Obama did something extraordinary for the cause of world peace. He built a campaign that wrested control of the U.S. government from a gang of duplicitous warmongers. And Obama did it despite a U.S. news media that remains dominated by the gang's fellow travelers, not only at Fox News and on right-wing talk radio, but at prestige news outlets like the Washington Post.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Aspirin May Have Had Role in 1918 Flu Epidemic
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR Published: October 13, 2009 A study suggests that overdoses of what was then the relatively new “wonder drug” could have been deadly.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Google Hopes to Ride a Social-Networking Wave
(1 comments) Google Inc. famously flubbed its early social-networking efforts, allowing upstarts like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to dominate the platforms that are redefining the way consumers use the Web. To date, its efforts haven't generated much buzz, but some analysts believe the company's much-anticipated Google Wave may represent its first real victory in the social space

Sunday, October 11, 2009
A Dogged Taliban Chief Rebounds, Vexing U.S.
By SCOTT SHANE Published: October 11, 2009 Mullah Muhammad Omar's prospects seemed bleak in 2001. Now, he leads an insurgency that has gained ground in much of Afghanistan against U.S. and NATO forces.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Pakistan Retakes Army Headquarters; Hostages Freed
By JANE PERLEZ Published: October 11, 2009 Commandos rescued 42 hostages who were held by militants inside Pakistan's military headquarters, but three hostages were killed.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Robert F. Williams Speaks--Rustbelt Radical
A hero of the black liberation struggle and the fight against imperialism around the world, his story is completely absent from the dominant narrative on the movement for civil rights. If he is remembered at all it is for his militancy rather than the politics that informed that militancy. The image of the Civil Rights Movement as being a single Gandhian movement is false.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Lessons Las Vegas can Learn from the Rust Belt
As Detroit is to automobiles and Pittsburgh was to steel, Las Vegas is to tourism — a one-industry town. How Las Vegas can make like Pittsburgh and grow beyond its roots. Although tourism will recover slowly, the second leg of the Las Vegas economy — construction — will not return soon.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Shrinking the Rust Belt
...productivity improvements mean that the United States can set new industrial production records with a fraction of the workforce of yesteryear. With much of its traditional labor force no longer as in demand in the modern economy, many Rust Belt cities lack an economic raison d'etre. Some may transform themselves for the modern economy, but many will be forced to accept the reality of a significantly diminished stature.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine per MayoClinic
Is the swine flu vaccine safe? Yes. Its nonvirus components are the same as those used in the seasonal flu vaccine, which has been tested extensively and monitored for serious reactions for several years. The only difference is that in the swine flu vaccine, novel H1N1 virus replaces the influenza A viruses used in the regular vaccine.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Scoop
By JACK SHAFER Published: October 11, 2009 A history of Ramparts magazine, which in the 1960s revived muckraking, put showmanship back into journalism and exposed C.I.A. excesses. A chance to think of a time when "revolution" had credence.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Rural Hospitals Fear Health CareOverhaul Won't Help Them
As lawmakers hammer out a comprehensive healthcare reform package, Congressional Blue Dog Democrats, many of whom represent rural communities in the South and Midwest, are pushing for "rural health equity" with higher reimbursement rates for physicians and hospitals in areas of the country that struggle to recruit and retain health care providers.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Watchdog: Obama's Mortgage Relief Efforts Aren't Good Enough
"Today, one-third of mortgages are underwater, and if housing prices continue to drop, some experts estimate that one half of all mortgages will exceed the value of the homes they secure," the report said. "Negative equity increases the likelihood that when these homeowners encounter other financial problems or life events cause them to move, they may walk away from their homes and their over-sized mortgages."

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Michael Moore: Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!
In a letter to Obama, Moore writes, "The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone."

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Why Was a Lightweight Montana Senator on the Finance Committee Tasked to Take on Health Care Reform?
Take Max Baucus. Please! He's the lightweight Montana Democrat to whom President Obama entrusted the heavy job of shepherding health care reform through the upper chamber. It was like asking Tweety Bird to lift a bowling ball.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Rachel Maddow Takes on the Man Doing Corporate Agribusiness's Dirty Work
In telling the truth about Berman's work, Rachel Maddow continues her work pulling back the layers of American politics to expose underhanded and manipulative lobbying tactics to the public. Here is hoping that she and the mainstream media continue to prod this story and give Congress ever more reasons to act to improve food safety. The health of millions of people is on the line.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Right-Wingers Respond to Obama's Nobel Prize: Proof that He's the Anti-Christ, and Other Wing-Nut Theories
“The Nobel committee is preaching at Americans, but they won't be deceived,” says Bolton. “He should decline it and then ask to be considered again in three or four years when he has a record.” Limbaugh:“Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. They are all leftist sell-outs. George Bush liberates 50 million Muslims in Iraq, Reagan liberates hundreds of millions of Europeans and saves parts of Latin America."

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Ayn Rand Philosophy Falls Short
(1 comments) Mean Street columnist Evan Newmark tells Deputy Markets Editor Dennis Berman subscribing to Ayn Rand's philosophy of rugged individualism may not be the best for business -- at least not at Goldman Sachs

Saturday, October 10, 2009
'Profound' Difference between President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize and those awarded Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt
(4 comments) Peter J. Kastor at Washington University, St. Louis: "Although Roosevelt and Wilson received the Peace Prize for their roles in ending wars (the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, respectively), they could use the prize as part of their larger argument that the United States — and especially American presidents — had a right to shape the world order.

Friday, October 9, 2009
At Least 30 Die in Blast in Pakistan
By ISMAIL KHAN and SALMAN MASOOD Published: October 10, 2009 An explosion rocked a crowded market in Peshawar, killing at least 30 people, and wounding more than 60.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
President Barack Obama on Friday won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Friday, October 9, 2009
The Economic Revolution Is Already Happening -- It's Just Not on Wall St.
There are 11,000 worker-owned companies in the United States, and more people involved in them than are members of unions in the private sector. There are also 120 million Americans who are members of co-operatives -- a huge number, about a third of the population. It is also the case that 90 percent of the American workforce is not involved in manufacturing, and over the next 15 years it'll be 5 percent. That's the trend.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Here's the Skinny on Why Wal-Mart Is So Evil (and Has Made Such a Killing)
Nelson Lichtenstein, as indicated by his book's title -- The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business (Metropolitan, July 2009) -- focuses on how Wal-Mart's revolution in retail has transformed business. By contrast, in To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise (Harvard, May 2009), Bethany Moreton concentrates on the cultural revolution -- or counter-revolution.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Obama: Nobel Prize for Peace
Obama is only the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. In awarding the prize today, the Nobel committee hailed the president's creation of "a new climate in international politics."

Friday, October 9, 2009
The Norway Post - Peace Prize: Surprise Choice
(1 comments) Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said: - Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations, Jagland said.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Wells Fargo Boosts Credit Card Rates
Cardholders are getting the word this week of a 3 percent increase going into effect Nov. 30. "This is something we've been contemplating for quite a period of time," Kevin Rhein, group head of card services, told Bloomberg News. "We had just reached the point that we don't think we can offer credit cards at the current pricing and keep credit flowing."

Friday, October 9, 2009
Banks Help Habitat for Humanity Buy Empty Homes
Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco said Thursday that three banks had stepped up to help fund its plans to acquire and renovate foreclosed homes for use as low-income housing. Habitat is focusing on neighborhoods in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto that have concentrations of blighted bank-owned properties.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Financial Crisis Puts Europe Back in the Slow Lane
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and MATTHEW SALTMARSH Published: October 10, 2009 As Asia and the United States emerge from the global economic crisis, Europe appears likely to be the world's laggard

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Bob Dole Outs Naysayer Mitch McConnell
(1 comments) Bob Dole: "This is one of the most important measures members of Congress will vote on in their lifetimes," Dole and two other former Senate leaders, Republican Howard Baker and Democrat Tom Daschle, are preparing to release a statement urging Congress to move on health care. KC columnist - it makes me wonder, what will Mitch McConnell and company cite as their legacy?

Thursday, October 8, 2009
US Braced for Surge of Protest over War in Afghanistan
The conflict used to be called America's "forgotten war". No longer. As casualties have spiked, so has hatred for the war: a solid 57% of Americans now oppose it. That has seen the anti-war movement in America prepare to turn its attentions from Iraq to Afghanistan, gearing up for an autumn campaign of marches and civil disobedience.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Eight Years Is Long Enough: What You Can Do to End the War in Afghanistan
Pressure to end the occupation is coming directly from members of the Afghan govt. as well -- writing for the Women's Media Center, CODEPINK Founder Jodie Evans has returned from Afghanistan with a petition signed by Afghan leaders, including two female members of Afghanistan's parliament and President Hamid Karzai's sister-in-law. Check out Evans' article and add your name to the petition here.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Everything Is Bright and Sunny Again, Unless You Have to Work for a Living
Dean Baker:The economy lost more than 260,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate reaching 9.8 percent. The 10.3 percent unemployment rate for adult men is the highest rate since the Great Depression. ...the tax credit effectively pays employers to hire more workers, with each worker putting in fewer hours. If the tax credit paid employers of 100 million workers to work 5 percent less hours, 5 million more have jobs

Thursday, October 8, 2009
The Suffocatingly Narrow Afghanistan "Debate" - Glenn Greenwald
Apparently, "all options" does not mean "all options." As usual for American wars, examining "all options" means everything other than "ending the war." There's not really any point in having a Congress if its members are simply going to tell the President: "whatever decision you make, we'll support it basically."

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wisconsin's Feingold At Risk ... But Only If Thompson Runs
As Wisconsin's 2010 Senate race now stands, Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold appears a prohibitive favorite in his bid for a fourth term. Tommy Thompson could change the odds, but that's not likely.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Robert Gates on C-SPAN (last 9 minutes) 10-5-09
Video concerning increased Afghanistan military invasion from Fort Drum. Turns out Secy Gates has been there many times, but this occasion was for the future American Military.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Goldstone Report: New Roadblock to Palestinian Reconciliation?
JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Authority's decision to delay further action on the Goldstone report – a UN investigation into the war in Gaza – is continuing to put Fatah leaders in a difficult political position vis-à-vis their domestic image, and may ultimately postpone progress on a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Senate Finance Health Bill Gets Good Fiscal Marks
McClatchy article finds good news for the committee and President Barack Obama , since the CBO reported not only that the measure meets their cost and deficit goals but also that 94 percent of eligible Americans could be expected to obtain coverage under it, up from the current 83 percent.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Changing Alliances Shape Climate-Change Debate
Big-name companies such as Apple Inc. have resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, dismayed by the group's efforts to block greenhouse gas regulations. Nike gave up its seat on the chamber's board. PG&E Corp. quit the group after a chamber executive suggested holding a "Scopes monkey trial" on the validity of global warming.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
'Forest Offsets' by U.S. Firms Backed by Report
The report, from the Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests, backs the use of "forest offsets" in the global effort to curb pollution that is heating up the atmosphere. It was released in advance of the upcoming Senate debate on climate legislation later this year and an international meeting on the issue set for December in Copenhagen.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Treasury Hails Milestone in Home Loan Modifications
By PETER S. GOODMAN Published: October 9, 2009 Half a million troubled homeowners have seen their loan payments lowered under an Obama administration program.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Herta Müller Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
By MOTOKO RICH and NICHOLAS KULISH Published: October 9, 2009 The Romanian-born German writer has written widely about dictatorship in her native country and life as an exile.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Central Banks in Europe Hold Rates Steady
By CARTER DOUGHERTY and JULIA WERDIGIER Published: October 9, 2009 Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank are looking to see whether current policies have been enough to halt the economic slide in Europe.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
National Children's Health Survey Report Finds Autism Prevalence Now 1 in 91
A national report released today in the journal Pediatrics reveals that 1 percent of U.S. children ages 3-17 have an autism spectrum disorder, an estimated prevalence of one in every 91 children. This is a dramatic increase from the one in 150 prevalence rates currently reported.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
In First Lady's Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery
By RACHEL L. SWARNS and JODI KANTOR Published: October 8, 2009 A newly discovered story has fleshed out Michelle Obama's family tree.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Department of Justice Pulls a Whitewash on Siegelman Whistleblower
OSC's report is dubious on its face. It fails to address perhaps Grimes' two most serious allegations–that U.S. Attorney Leura Canary remained involved with the case after her supposed recusal and that prosecutors pressured witnesses to remember events a certain way.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Senators Send Reid A Letter Urging Inclusion Of Public Option In Health Reform Bill
Thirty U.S. Senators signed a letter today urging the inclusion of a public option in any health reform legislation that will be considered on the Senate floor. The letter, which was circulated by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), was signed by Brown; John D. Rockefeller (D-WV); Russell D. Feingold (D-WI); ......

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Larry Summers and the White House Economic Team
In-depth profiles of the president's economic advisers, who meet with the President daily to discuss the economy: Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Jared Bernstein.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Joint Post/Obama Defense of the Patriot Act and FISA
The Washington Post's Anne Kornblut today produces an extreme piece of government-serving, stenographic "journalism," publishing a dubious administration press release masquerading as a lengthy news article on Obama's approach to Terrorism and civil liberties. The Post depicts Obama as heavily and heroically engaged in disrupting the alleged Najibullah Zazi domestic terrorist plot and, repeatedly highlighting that success

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monsanto 4Q Loss Widens, Adjusted Earns Beat View
Monsanto is moving ahead aggressively with its plan to release corn plants with multiple engineered genes, called SmartStax corn, during 2010, Grant said. A boost in sales of the more expensive SmartStax seeds helped Monsanto boost its corn seed profits by 10 percent during the fourth quarter. The company posted a $114 million charge for its restructuring plan that started in the summer and will cut 900 jobs, or 4 percent

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Secret Plan to Ditch the U.S. Dollar's Dominance Uncovered
Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure
By TIM ARANGO Published: October 6, 2009 The government will seek to slow the spread of false “word of mouth” promotions in exchange for product samples.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Surgical Strikes Shape Afghanistan Debate
(1 comments) By PETER BAKER Published: October 6, 2009 A recent string of successful operations against high-level Al Qaeda figures has fueled the argument inside the Obama administration about a substantial troop buildup.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
As Job Loss Rises, Obama Aides Act to Fix Safety Net
By JACKIE CALMES Published: October 6, 2009 Administration officials said that a new effort to combat unemployment would not add up to a second stimulus package, only an extension of the first.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Overdraft-Fee Revenue Up 35 Percent, Study Says
Culling figures gathered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the consumer advocacy group found that customers paid $23.7 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, up $6.2 billion from two years before. In the past 12 months, an estimated 51 million Americans spent more than they had in their checking accounts, triggering either an overdraft or a non-sufficient-funds fee

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Some Criticize SEIU for Its ACORN Connections
The SEIU's parent organization has paid ACORN for training, voter registration and other organizing work, and SEIU locals have paid ACORN affiliates for their services, according to union reports. ACORN founder Wade Rathke was a top member of the SEIU's board until last year and founded two SEIU locals -- in Chicago and New Orleans. SEIU President Andy Stern serves on an advisory panel that was supposed to help ACORN fix

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Jack the Ripper's Identity Finally Uncovered?
Mei Trow used modern police forensic techniques, including psychological and geographical profiling, to identify Robert Mann, a morgue attendant, as the killer.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
To Protect Galápagos, Ecuador Limits a Two-Legged Species
By SIMON ROMERO Published: October 5, 2009 Officials have expelled poor migrants in an effort to preserve the natural wonders that bolster one of Ecuador's most profitable sectors: tourism.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Greenwald Film on Afghanistan Destroys the Logic of the War, Leading the New York Times to Whine
Readers of the Times, therefore, should take with a huge grain of weaponized salt the paper's “review” of Robert Greenwald's new documentary, Rethink Afghanistan. With no sense of the painful irony of writing such jibberish in the Times, reviewer Andy Webster declares that the film could "use balance, something in short supply here:"

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Google Targeted in E-mail Scam
Google has confirmed to BBC News that its e-mail system - Gmail - has been targeted as part of an "industry-wide phishing scheme".

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Pakistan Taliban's New Leader Shows He's in Charge
The reemergence of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud after weeks of speculation that he might be dead was nothing if not emphatic. At a press conference in his South Waziristan base Sunday, the heir of Baitullah Mehsud appeared alongside four top Taliban commanders, including the rival whom the Pakistani government said had killed him.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thomas Frank Exposes Washington's "Wrecking Crew"
Frank says that the anti-government bent of the conservative movement is not a recent phenomenon and is not, as some conservatives claim, a reflection of Bush administration incompetence or closet liberalism. When regulators literally allowed the Wall Street implosion to unfold before their eyes, Frank says, "They were asleep at the switch because they were supposed to be."

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
"I Cant Stand Those People!"
Peter Drier and Todd Gitlin have written an important story in Columbia Journalism Review that will set any media critic's teeth on edge. It's so infuriating to find out what utter creeps the people who decide what you need to know are.I'm not saying that HCAN's methods are necessarily good ones. But the difference between how the newspeople view the two contrived political events is not just a matter of "if it bleeds it leads

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
More than a Thousand State Legislators Support Real Health Reform; State Legislators Coming to D.C. Next Week
(1 comments) Progressive States Network, a group representing state legislators across the country, announced today that 1057 state legislators from all fifty states have signed letters to Congress asking for real health reform, including a public health insurance option, strong affordability protections, and shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government for health care costs.Also better Medicaid payments prescribed.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Iowa Academic Blazes Trail in Study of Forgiveness
Toussaint's laboratory, on a campus whose lush, green Driftless Area foothills are more Ivy League than Iowa, seems an unlikely location for an international hub of a burgeoning area of research. It comprises a trio of tiny rooms with a handful of computers and monitoring equipment, along with two black leather lounge chairs for experimental subjects.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Northern California Bankers Want Boost for FDIC
Northern California's community bankers support a plan to bolster the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as the financial system continues to reel from the ripple effects of the collapsing credit bubble. "We have never had to spend a single penny of taxpayer money on FDIC insurance," said Leland Chan, general counsel of the California Bankers Association.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
John Boehner & the Public Option
(2 comments) Video of constituents in Boehner's district who disagreed with him that Americans do not want the public option.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Post Offices in Hawaii Cutting Retail Hours of Operation
Dozens of post offices on Oahu, Maui and Kauai are reducing retail hours of operation to cut costs, postal officials announced today.take effect at Honolulu Stations and other post offices on Oct. 26, postal officials said, adding that details for hours at Big Island post offices have yet to be determined.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Over 270 Killed in India Floods
More than 1,100 had been killed in monsoon-triggered flooding in different parts of the country as of last month, according to the disaster-management division of the federal home ministry.The military has been able to rescue 1,336 people so far this time.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Three Americans Share 2009 Nobel Prize for Medicine
The trio solved a big problem in biology: how chromosomes can be "copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation," the citation said. It said the laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes -- the telomeres -- and in an enzyme that forms them. Telomeres are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces

Monday, October 5, 2009
Greek Socialists Win in a Landslide
By RACHEL DONADIO and ANTHEE CARASSAVA Published: October 5, 2009 The Socialist party trounced a center-right government crippled by corruption scandals and the economic crisis.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Federal Register Makes Itself More Web-Friendly
Starting Monday, issues dating back to 2000 will be available at Data.gov in a form known in the Web world as XML, which allows users to transport data from a Web site and store it, reorganize it or customize it elsewhere. Officials suggested that the move puts readers, rather than the government, in charge of deciding how to access the Register's reams of information.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Waves of New Fund Cuts Imperil US Nursing Homes
A Medicare rate adjustment that cuts an estimated $16 billion in nursing home funding over the next 10 years was enacted at week's end by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - on top of state-level cuts or flat-funding that already had the industry reeling.

Monday, October 5, 2009
WellPoint Sued an ENTIRE STATE to Increase Profits
A good video - There needs to be a public option to compete with private health insurance providers, otherwise our well-being will forever be in the hands of greedy capitalists.

Monday, October 5, 2009
The 2009 Forbes 400: The What-Me-Worry Gang
In a recession, as Forbes documents in its just-published latest report on America's 400 richest, most super rich do see a dip in that financial abstraction known as “net worth.” But, otherwise, life goes on, as comfortably as ever. The rich emerge unscratched out of whatever wreckage a recession may bring.

Monday, October 5, 2009
5 Truths About Health Care in America
(1 comments) Graph: We're living longer, and TIME takes a look at what we're doing to make sure those extra years are healthy ones. Meanwhile, the US runs figures the wrong way.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Unemployment per Americans for Democratic Action
The numbers on Wall Street are improving and the housing market is stabilizing but rampant unemployment is preventing a true economic recovery. The unemployment rate reported by the Labor Department is hovering near 10% but ADA calculates real unemployment at over 16%.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Wells Fargo Cutting Customers' Lines of Credit
I recently received an e-mail from a reader in the East Bay city of Newark. "Wells Fargo bank is notifying customers this week that their equity lines of credit are being eliminated," she wrote. This is not the first time I've heard from readers saying banks have cut off their credit for no apparent good reason, and sometimes without warning.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
US Economic Power 'is Declining'
BBC: One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick. For example, China recently got a permanent chair on the IMF's 24-seat policy-making committee. The US, the world's biggest economy, has been in recession for almost two years, while emerging economies like China and Brazil have grown.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Democrats Ponder Health-Care Suicide
Robert Parry: If Democrats enact something like the health-care bill emerging from the Senate Finance Committee, they may call it a legislative victory and it may keep the campaign donations flowing from the insurance industry, but the Democrats would surely infuriate millions of American voters.[I]t seems like some Democrats, such as Sens. Max Baucus and Kent Conrad, have lost themselves so much in the inside-Washington reeds

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Obama Agrees to Keep Israel's Nukes Secret
President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said. Under the understanding, the U.S. has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which could require Israel to give up several hundred estimated

Sunday, October 4, 2009
India Bans 'Nehru and Mountbatten Love Scenes' from Film
Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of Britain's last Viceroy - Officials revealed they had given permission for the film Indian Summer, starring Hugh Grant and Cate Blanchett, to be filmed on location in India on the condition that scenes showing the couple in bed, kissing, and dancing, are deleted.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Mad As Hell Doctors Rally in D.C.
(1 comments) The Mad As Hell Doctors' odyssey into the politics of health care reform ended Wednesday with a modest rally in Washington, D.C., and a resolve to continue the quest for single-payer medical coverage. "However long it takes, we're going build a grassroots civil rights movement," Huntington said. "We energized ourselves for the rest of our lives with this trip."

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Eric Holder's Military Allies
Holder hasn't had a lot of support for his investigation. A few Democrats in Congress and, oddly, former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales applauded the move, but not the White House, where some aides privately made it clear that they wished the attorney general's conscience hadn't bothered him so much. But help for the beleaguered attorney general arrived from a group of retired generals and admirals

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Ardi Casts Doubt on Idea of a Human Killer Instinct
(1 comments) The assumption that we are born killers has been challenged from an entirely different angle by paleontologists asserting that the evidence for warfare does not go back much further than the agricultural revolution, about 15,000 years ago. No evidence for large-scale conflict, such as mass graves with embedded weapons, have been found from before this time. Even the walls of Jericho may have served mainly as protection...

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Barack Obama Leads Mahatma Gandhi Birthday Tributes
Gandhi's birthday, or Gandhi Jayanti, is celebrated every year as the International Day of Non-Violence. The Mahatma, who was born on 2 October 1869, would have turned 140 this year. Mr Obama said: "Gandhi's teachings and ideals, shared with Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1959 pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through our civil rights movement

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Rachel Maddow Goes After GOP Senators John Ensign And Tom Coburn
C Street "Family" being discussed in general in a ten-minute video regarding 2 Republican Senators.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
US Storms Troops into the Philippines
MANILA - The arrival of about 3,000 US Marines in the Philippines next week for training and humanitarian missions in the wake of recent floods has some Filipino officials wary that the soldiers could be diverted to war-torn Sulu island, where Islamic extremists recently killed two US soldiers.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
India and China Profess Brotherhood
From the older generation of Indians who can remember the calamity of the 1962 border war with China to a younger lot who wish that India could compete and surpass China in economic and military greatness, there are few takers of the publicity blitzes of the Chinese mission in India, which is known to befriend and shower lavish favors on selected media persons.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Chronically Displaced in NOLA
According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC), about a quarter of the city's pre-Katrina population—more than 175,000 people—has not returned.Those who came to the hearing hope the U.S. government will respond to U.N. pressure and recognize their right to return. They want Katrina survivors to be defined as internally displaced persons (IDPs)

Friday, October 2, 2009
Obama Stumps in Denmark for Chicago's Olympic Bid
By PETER BAKER Published: October 3, 2009 As President Obama pitched his hometown's bid to host the Summer Games, the first American president to do so, he put his own credibility on the line.

Friday, October 2, 2009
New Poll Shows Pat Toomey Continues to Present Arlen Specter with Big Challenge
The good news for Arlen Specter is that he continues to hold a healthy lead over Democratic Senate primary challenger U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak. The not-so-good news, however, indicates that Specter's party switch in April doesn't appear to give Specter any breathing room against Republican candidate Pat Toomey.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Diary from Kabul: Activists in Afghanistan Face Unimagineable Challenges
(2 comments) After talking with so many people from so many walks of life, one awful fact that is emerging is that the USAID is one of the major, indirect funders of the Taliban. Through their contractors, they hire members for security or bribe them to complete projects in Taliban-controlled areas.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Wall Street Plans to Tap into $26 Trillion Life Insurance Market, Cashing in When People Die
(2 comments) The bankers who brought us the disaster of 2008 have created a new financial instrument called "life settlements" -- call it morbid capitalism....setting up extensive networks of heavily advertised, life-settlement agencies across the country to entice sick and old folks into settlements. You can imagine the come-ons: "Free Cash!" "Cash-in BEFORE You Die!" "You CAN Cheat Death!"

Friday, October 2, 2009
Nevada GOP Chairwoman Launches Reid Senate Challenge
As the head of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Reid is a ripe target for those unhappy with government's direction. And a series of polls over the summer have shown him looking more vulnerable than any time in his career. That has attracted a large roster of would-be challengers

Friday, October 2, 2009
Obama Meets With McChrystal
(3 comments) By PETER BAKER Published: October 3, 2009 President Obama met here Friday with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, his Afghanistan commander, to discuss a possible change in strategy.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Revealed: Millions Spent by Lobbyists Fighting Obama Health Reforms
(1 comments) Baucus took $1.5m from the health sector for his political fund in the past year. Other members of the committee have received hundreds of thousands of dollars. They include Senator Pat Roberts, who last week tried to stall the bill by arguing that lobbyists needed three days to read it.The pharmaceutical companies are apparently pleased enough that they are now putting $120m into advertising supporting emerging legislation

Friday, October 2, 2009
American Revolution Center Headed for Downtown Philly
Newsletter of New York American Revolution Roundtable: Bruce Cole, and his board decided there was no hope of a solution to their differences with the officials of Valley Forge National Park. Cole announced they were moving to Philadelphia to build the Center on three acres at Third and Chestnut Street, within Independence National Historic Park.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Evening Standard to be Free Paper
About 600,000 copies of the paper - which currently costs 50p - will be given out in London from 12 October. Current circulation is about 250,000. The move follows Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev taking control of the Standard from Daily Mail-owner Associated Newspapers in January.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Advantage Google
(2 comments) By LEWIS HYDE Published: October 4, 2009 Nothing in the history of copyright permits the treatment of “orphan” works spelled out in the proposed settlement between Google and the Authors Guild.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
| US Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb Production
First is infrastructure for production of new plutonium pits - the central core of nuclear weapons - at the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico, to replace what the NNSA argues is an aging U.S. nuclear stockpile. Second, is expansion of enriched uranium processing at the Y-12 facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Rate of Enrollment in Medicaid Rose Rapidly, Report Says
By KEVIN SACK Published: October 1, 2009 Agency directors fear that lawmakers will need to find more money or cut benefits or payments to doctors and hospitals.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Cisco Buys Norwegian Firm for $3 Billion
By ASHLEE VANCE Published: October 2, 2009 Cisco announced a $3 billion acquisition of Tandberg, a Norwegian video communications company

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Plan Outlines Removal of Four Dams on Klamath River
By JESSE McKINLEY Published: October 1, 2009 A draft plan to remove four aging dams along the Klamath River in Oregon and California was released Wednesday, a step toward ending a protracted dispute.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
CIT Group on Brink Of Collapse -- Again
[I]f bondholders reject the plan, sources said, the company could be forced to file what would be the fifth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, behind those of Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, WorldCom and General Motors. In this case, much of the taxpayer investment in CIT would be lost.It remained unclear if the CIT debt exchange plan would receive enough support. Bondholders often have competing interests....

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Copenhagen countdown: The latest from the IOC meeting
Winfrey arrived with Mayor Richard M. Daley to join First Lady Michelle Obama in her meetings with IOC members. Those meetings began Wednesday and were to continue until the members left by boat for the opening ceremony of the IOC session Thursday night at the Copenhagen Opera House. With chilling winds off Copenhagen Harbor every bit as brisk as those that come off of Lake Michigan, Chicago's bid supporters stood dockside

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Congressman Grayson Has Just Begun to Fight
John Nichols: The congressman, who beat an entrenched Republican incumbent in 2008 and is confident he'll win again in 2010 (perhaps with some support from libertarian Republicans who appreciate his loose alliance with 2008 GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul on issues of holding Federal Reserve bankers to account) says he is hearing a lot more praise than criticism

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project | Center for Constitutional Rights
....series of three related cases, CCR has tackled provisions of two statutes which make it a crime to provide support, including humanitarian aid, literature distribution and political advocacy, to any foreign entity that the government has designated as a “terrorist” group. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case in early 2010.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
McChrystal Rejects Scaling Down Afghan Military Aims
By JOHN F. BURNS and ALAN COWELL Published: October 2, 2009 Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said he would not support a more modest plan that focused on Al Qaeda.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Bernanke, in Nod to Critics, Suggests Board of Regulators
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS Published: October 2, 2009 Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, said the Fed should regulate financial institutions but a council could monitor broader risks.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
S.F. Nurse Sees Shift in Locals' Travel Motives
In boom times, those lining up for vaccinations & other travel-related medical care on the first floor of the city's Department of Public Health are embarking on safaris in Kenya, partying in Rio de Janeiro or cruising through the Galapagos Islands. Travelers she sees have far different itineraries: Several come in every week saying they've been laid off and are using their last bit of savings/severance to volunteer overseas

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Summit Takes Hard Look at Future of Journalism
Rapidly advancing technology may be to blame for the news industry's present predicament, but the same digital tools promise a bright future if the sector can harness them to deliver customers the content they want in the manner they prefer. This sort of behavioral targeting is the financial backbone of Web aggregators like Google and Yahoo Inc. Properly leveraged, it holds similar promise for publishers' revenue....

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Peaceable Assembly Campaign
Voices for Creative Nonviolence is initiating a nationwide Peaceable Assembly Campaign which seeks an end to the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and an end to U.S. support of the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. Beginning in September, 2009, and continuing for the next ten months, we will engage in both legal and extralegal (nonviolent civil disobedience/civil resistance) lobbying efforts

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Panel Votes To Restore Abstinence-Only Education Money
An alternate measure offered by Baucus also passed. Baucus' measure, which passed 14-9, would make money available for education on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, among other things, in addition to abstinence. Lawmakers will have to reconcile the two measures, both approved during debate on a sweeping health overhaul bill, as the legislation moves forward.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Baucus Earns his Healthcare Industry Funding
Baucus admits the public option would "hold insurance companies' feet to the fire," but he voted against it? Is there any clearer evidence that Baucus is in the pocket of the health insurance industry? Between 2003 and 2008, according to the Washington Post, Baucus took $3 million from the health and insurance sectors, 20 percent of his total contributions. And he collected half of that money in the last 2 years.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Obama Administration Issues New State Secrets Guidelines
Facilitation of Court Review – The policy ensures that before approving invocation of the state secrets privilege in court, the Department 0f Justice must be satisfied that there is strong evidentiary support for it. In order to facilitate meaningful judicial scrutiny of the privilege assertions, the Department will submit evidence to the court for review.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Toyota Issues Huge Recall over Accelerator Risk
Toyota and the government warned owners Tuesday to remove the mats from their vehicles until the Japanese automaker could find a way to fix the potential safety hazard. The recall will involve popular models such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The "Public Option" Is Not Dead
(1 comments) I agree with the critics that say there will not be 60 votes for a public option. What if the 60 members of the Democratic caucus committed to at least voting to end debate and then voted the way they wanted on final passage? I think the "public option" would have 51 votes, possibly more. Even 50 would be enough with Vice President Biden casting the tiebreaker.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Facebook Divorce
Couples are broadcasting their breakups online while friends -- and lawyers! -- watch in amazement and horror. This is how life's big moments unfold on Facebook: Epic emotions are reduced to emoticons. Lauren's husband then warned her that he planned to "un-friend" her. “So," she said, "I did it first.” Call it “War of the Roses” on Facebook.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
A Glossary of Terms in Foreign Affairs
Glenn Greenwald: Righteous anger over Iran raises some deep confusion about the meaning of technical terms.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Elevators Full of Unsold Wheat amid Fall Harvest
"This is going to be putting a lot of pressure on storage facilities and the transportation system. Overseas buyers are sitting on their hands seeing these prices continue to fall," said Mike Woolverton, a grain marketing economist at Kansas State University. Nebraska, which has 24 ethanol plants, expanded its storage facilities more than two years ago in anticipation of the ethanol industry gearing up.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Taiwan Among N.D.'s Biggest Wheat Buyers
(2 comments) Taiwan is a small country with a big appetite for North Dakota wheat. The island country off the coast of China is roughly a fifth the size of North Dakota, but has 23 million people and little arable land. To feed such a population, the island imports grain to the tune of tens of millions of bushels annually, which is where growers here come in.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
UCC Leader Joins Interfaith Statement of Principles to Bring an End to Conflict in Middle East
The National Council of Churches, along with Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and other individuals and groups - including the UCC's General Minister and President the Rev. John H. Thomas, has supported unilateral commitments being urged upon Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders to rekindle the peace process in the Middle East.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Public Option is Nothing to Fear
D Baker:In the current healthcare debate, the top priority of the so-called conservatives is to deny people choice. They want to make sure that Americans do not have the option to buy into a Medicare-type public healthcare plan. These alleged conservatives have come up with a variety of arguments against allowing people the Medicare-type option, but the only one that makes sense is that they work for the insurance industry.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Baucus' Excuse For Voting Against Public Option In Healthcare Reform Bill
Video of Senator Baucus' thoughts on why public option should be excluded at this time. "Rome was not built in a day."

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Former Enron Executive Sentenced to 16 Months In Prison For Wire Fraud
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Vanessa Gilmore ordered Hirko, 53, of Portland, Oregon, to pay about $7 million in restitution to victims through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Enron Fair Fund, in accordance with the terms of the plea agreement. Hirko pleaded guilty on Oct. 14, 2008, in U.S. District Court in Houston to one count of wire fraud charged in a superseding indictment.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Whistleblower's Letter to Holder Reveals Corruption in Siegelman Prosecution
All of this took place after Canary had announced her recusal from the Siegelman case. And they are two of many stark examples of prosecutorial misconduct outlined in a letter dated June 1, 2009, from whistleblower Tamarah Grimes to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Can Billboards Spruce up Market Street?
Addington, whose mid-Market properties include the Warfield Building, says synchronized digital billboards, each up to 500 square feet, will succeed where decades of planning have failed. He has put the issue on the Nov. 3 ballot as Proposition D, which would carve out an exception to city sign ordinances for two blocks of mid-Market from just beyond the Powell Street cable car turnaround to U.N. Plaza.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Immigration Crackdown With Firings, Not Raids
(1 comments) By JULIA PRESTON Published: September 30, 2009 The Obama administration wants to reduce illegal immigration by forcing employers to fire unauthorized workers. American Apparel fired 1,800 workers.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Fed Held Back as Evidence Mounted on Subprime Loan Abuses
They began to present research in 1999 showing that large banking companies including Wells Fargo and Citigroup had created subprime businesses wholly focused on making loans at high interest rates, largely in the black and Hispanic neighborhoods to the south and west of downtown Chicago. First of series of "what went wrong?"

Monday, September 28, 2009
Comedy Sites Top Gainers on Web
LA Times: Humor sites on the Web scored the biggest gains of all categories of subject matter tracked by comScore Media Metrix in August. The category was up 21 percent in visitors compared with the same time period in 2008, according to the ratings group. Overall, the laughter sites attracted nearly 33.7 million visitors during the month.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Secret Service Probing Facebook Poll That Asked Whether Obama Should Be Killed
(1 comments) AFacebook poll that asked users to vote on whether they believed President Obama should be killed was removed Monday from the popular social networking website and is now the subject of an investigation by the Secret Service

Sunday, September 27, 2009
William Safire, Nixon Speechwriter and Times Columnist, Is Dead at 79
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Published: September 28, 2009 Mr. Safire was a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Times.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Health-Care Bill Stands to Be Picked Apart in the Senate
It seems Baucus, the marathon runner who endured more than 35 hours of debate in an attempt to wear down his colleagues, was himself finally worn out. Baucus has promised to resume committee work Tuesday. But the fight is increasingly shifting away from him and onto the Senate floor, where 99 other independent-minded lawmakers are already scheming about how to put their stamp on what could be the most significant piece of dom

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Groggy but Not Subdued, Anarchists Hail Protest Success with Little Damage
The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project had been holding public meetings since early June, when it launched a Web site and issued a call to action. "We are asking you to come to Pittsburgh with every ounce of anger and rage that you feel when your local projects refuse to manifest into something larger, fiercer, or broader, or when that anger itself forces you into isolation or alienation," the Web site said.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Judge Considers bid to Block merger of Voting Machine Giants
A federal judge in Camden, N.J., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injuction that could halt Election Systems & Software's announced acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s Premier Election Solutions

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Is Obama the Only Black official in D.C.? On Sunday shows, it seems so
Although an African-American is serving as the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, four African-Americans are chairing important House committees and 17 other Congressional Black Caucus members are holding subcommittee chairs, they haven't made many appearances on the Sunday talk-show circuit.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
G20: Leaders Agree on Reforms, Poor Still "Out in the Cold"
The G8 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, Russia and the United States. The G20 adds Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the European Union.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
For Obama, Warm Regards
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and several thousand of their supporters wrapped President Obama in a warm embrace at a gala banquet Saturday night, as Obama reminded the crowd of the initiatives he has enacted in the early months of his presidency.

Friday, September 25, 2009
G20 as World's Top Economic Body? Doubts Abound
(1 comments) If the next two days do indeed substitute G20 for G8, the result would be a greater voice in the world economy for rapidly developing nations, such as Group of 20 members India and Brazil, economists say. It might also mean that the G8, the group of major industrialized countries that is accustomed to deciding important economic issues, is on its way to becoming the Ford Edsel of international organizations.

Friday, September 25, 2009
What Next in Afghanistan? The Five People Obama is Asking
When he announced his administration's new strategy for Afghanistan this spring, President Obama added an important asterisk. “Going forward, we will not blindly stay the course,” he said March 27. “We will review whether we are using the right tools and tactics to make progress towards accomplishing our goals.” Now, he is making good on that promise.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Wolf Blitzer Gets 'Schooled' in Journalism by Michael Moore
(2 comments) Michael Moore appeared on CNN Thursday evening with Wolf Blitzer to discuss his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. This is Moore's first interview with Blitzer since his film Sicko was released, and as Moore puts it, they had a ‘YouTube moment.' Watch the first video, especially.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Intel Wants You to Age Gracefully, at Home
Health Guide is at the leading edge of a new technology trend called "aging in place" that's designed to help seniors stay longer where they're most comfortable—at home—rather than having to move into nursing or assisted-living facilities. Aging-in-place equipment is placed in a person's home, monitors symptoms on the spot, and sends reports to doctors and family members in real time.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Thousands Hold Peaceful March at G-20 Summit
By IAN URBINA Published: September 26, 2009 Several thousand demonstrators espousing and denouncing a host of causes converged on downtown Pittsburgh Friday.

Friday, September 25, 2009
New Signs That Recovery May Come in Dribs and Drabs
By JACK HEALY Published: September 26, 2009 Orders for durable goods fell 2.4 percent in August, while gains in new home sales are weaker than expected.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Senator Tries to Allay Fears on Health Overhaul
(1 comments) By ROBERT PEAR Published: September 24, 2009 Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is trying to block a potential cut in Medicare Advantage benefits for older Americans.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Police find Dogfighting operation at Site of day-care Facility
Cook County sheriff's police arrested three people and recovered nine dogs from three homes [in Maywood] as part of a raid Tuesday, authorities said. Officers found one dog with its eye ripped out, another with a leg twisted backward and yet another with its lower extremities nearly ripped off its body, Sheriff Tom Dart said. Other dogs had various other injuries that required medical treatment.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Brazil's President Lula: The G-20's Role after Economic Crisis
CSMonitor opinion: Last year Brazil took the lead in defending the consolidation of the G-20 as a forum of leaders who could manage the crisis rationally. The time had come for a show of political will and for undertaking fundamental structural adjustments. This explains our dismay at the reluctance of developed countries to embrace proposals for reform of the Bretton Woods institution

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Volcker Calls for Restricting Banks' Risk, Trading Activity
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker on Wednesday said banks should operate in a much less risky fashion, including not making trading bets with their own capital, comments that could provoke intensified debates over the future of financial regulation. Mr. Volcker, who currently is chairman of the White House's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, suggested banks should be restricted to trading on their client's behalf

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Labor Leaders to Tell Obama that G-20 Must Focus on Jobs, Trumka Says
"This G-20 Summit must be nothing less than a jobs summit seeking solutions to our international job crisis through fundamental economic reforms," Trumka said this morning at a news conference at the Sheraton Station Square....

Thursday, September 24, 2009
G-20 Summit: Today, the World Comes Calling on Pittsburgh
The limos will roll past Flagstaff Hill tonight as the leaders of nations representing 85 percent of the world's wealth officially open the Pittsburgh Summit, the long-awaited gathering of the G-20. Tomorrow, the conversations shift to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, amid the tightest security Pittsburgh has ever experienced.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Foreclosure-mediation Laws Not Much Help
Laws in California and other states requiring mortgage companies to talk to troubled homeowners before foreclosing on them are toothless, according to a study released Wednesday. The National Consumer Law Center, which analyzed programs in 14 states, said they have failed to help homeowners stave off foreclosure because they lack sanctions or accountability for banks.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
State Questions Nummi's Worker-training Funds
A state panel that oversees a fund to subsidize employee training will hear arguments Friday over whether New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. should be reimbursed $2 million in recent training expenses even though it plans to close the Fremont plant in March, eliminating 4,700 jobs.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wells Fargo Addresses Overdraft Fees - Finally
On a date to be determined, Wells Fargo and its Wachovia subsidiary will eliminate fees on customer overdrafts of $5 or less and will limit such charges to a maximum of four per day. It will also allow customers to opt out of automatic overdraft coverage, meaning their debit card and ATM transactions won't go through if the account is overdrawn.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
$35 Billion Tanker Contract Opens
(2 comments) By CHRISTOPHER DREW Published: September 25, 2009 Another hotly disputed contest is expected between Boeing and a joint venture that includes Northrop Grumman and EADS.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Dust Storm Covers Sydney in Red
The massive dust storm that turned Sydney an eerie red Wednesday has swept up Australia's eastern coast to Brisbane, leaving Sydney residents to breath easier after the worst air pollution on record was recorded Wednesday.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Brown: Britain Prepared to Reduce Nuclear Submarine Fleet
Britain is prepared to reduce its number of submarines capable of launching nuclear deterrent missiles, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will announce today at the United Nations General Assembly. The move has been widely praised as an important concession to demands for global nuclear nonproliferation. Some analysts say, however, that the reduction is a cost-cutting measure that will have little impact on overall effic

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Fighting Against Ourselves in Afghanistan
Us or Them. Having just spent time in Afghanistan seeing how things stand, I wouldn't bet on Them. Frankly, I wouldn't bet on Us either. In eight years, American troops have worn out their welcome. Their very presence now incites opposition, but that's another story. It's Them -- the Afghans -- I want to talk about.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, N.M. Books
David Swanson will discuss and sign his new book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union." David Swanson with Ann Wright, Ray McGovern, Cindy Sheehan, and Elliott Adams Friday October 9th

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Why PresidentObama Can't Let Himself Be Blackmailed by His Generals
Obama's war zone commanders are trying to box in his options and have him send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Here's why he shouldn't give in to the pressure. The competence level of the American military is not something to be emulated; it is closer to the level of General Motors and Wall Street.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
While You are Minding Your Own Business, The U.S. is Constantly Making War Around the Globe
"War is peace" was one of the memorable slogans on the facade of the Ministry of Truth, Minitrue in "Newspeak," the language invented by George Orwell in 1948 for his dystopian novel 1984. Some 60 years later, a quarter-century after Orwell's imagined future bit the dust, the phrase is, in a number of ways, eerily applicable to the United States.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Obama's Speech to the United Nations General Assembly
(2 comments) Published: September 24, 2009 The following is a text of President Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, as released by the White House.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
For Pittsburgh, G-20 Meeting Is a Mixed Blessing
By IAN URBINA Published: September 24, 2009 The city hopes to revise its gritty Rust Belt image during the gathering, but protesters have their own message.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Oil Industry Is on a Roll With New Discoveries
By JAD MOUAWAD Published: September 24, 2009 New oil discoveries have totaled about 10 billion barrels this year, on a pace to reach the highest level since 2000.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Charging-station Network Built Along 101
(3 comments) Assuming you started in San Francisco with a fully charged battery, you'd get as far as San Luis Obispo, or maybe Pismo Beach. Then the battery would die. Like all electric cars, Tesla's $109,000 roadster is limited by its range - about 250 miles. Rabobank, based in the Netherlands, will cover the cost of the electricity, which isn't expected to be very high. Fully charging a Tesla costs about $4.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
John Stumpf Taking Reins as Wells Fargo Chairman
Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf will add the title of chairman in January when current board chief Dick Kovacevich retires early next year, the company said Tuesday. Stumpf also came up through Norwest, which he joined in 1982, taking increasingly senior posts at Wells after the 1998 merger.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
PG&E Parting Ways with U.S. Chamber a Hot Topic
Citing "irreconcilable differences," PG&E Corp. says it's leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on account of the latter's "extreme position on climate change." That is, the chamber's increasingly extreme - some might say bizarre - opposition to legislation.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Yale Alumni Magazine: Where They Are Now
Profile of the man who will head the United Church of Christ. In June, Geoffrey Black '72MAR became the first African American to be elected general minister and president of the 1.1 million-member United Church of Christ. Descended from the Congregational churches of Puritan New England, the UCC is one of the most socially and theologically liberal Christian denominations in the country.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
New Leader of City Teachers Is Ready for His Test
(1 comments) By JENNIFER MEDINA Published: September 22, 2009 Michael Mulgrew was named interim president of the United Federation of Teachers in July, just in time for contract negotiations in a period of intense debate over education.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Living on Glacial Time in the Cascades
Seventy-five percent of the glaciers in the Lower 48 are in the North Cascades, 312 in the national park alone, at least according to last count; researchers estimate that since the late 1800s, the park has lost 40 percent of its total ice pack. Climate numbers: Over the past 2 million years we've had several long ice ages, with intervening warm periods lasting 10,000 years or so.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
If you Want to Support Wildlife, Support Ranching
Here it is in a nutshell: Sometimes ranchers won't let people hunt or fish on their land. Hunters and anglers don't like that. Sometimes people behave like morons when they hunt or fish on private land. Ranchers don't like that. Sometimes there are too many cows or sheep out there, eating all the grass and pooping in the creek. Hunters and anglers don't like that. Sometimes there are too many elk/deer/antelope/other critters

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Books for Lonely Times
I grew up in a family of seven in a one-bathroom house, a ratio of humans to toilets that more than one of us kids used in college-application essays as proof of our ability to problem-solve. Books are my defense against loneliness and I always [while camping] carry more of them than I could possibly read. Here in no particular order are some voices that I have relied on for company during long nights under wide skies

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Is America Hooked on War?
Think of this as the line in the sand within the Democratic Party, and be assured that the debates within the halls of power over McChrystal's troop requests and Levin's proposal are likely to be fierce this fall. Thought about for a moment,[both] positions can be summed up with the same word: More. "War is peace" was one of Orwell's memorable slogans on the facade of the Ministry of Truth, in "Newspeak."

Monday, September 21, 2009
FBI Describes Bomb Plot Involving Terrorist Suspect Zazi
Today, 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi and his father, Mohammed, 53, are scheduled to make initial appearances in federal court. A New York imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, identified as a police informant, also faces charges of making false statements in that state.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Eye on 2010 - Pennsylvania: Ex-Rep. Hoeffel To Run For Governor
Hoeffel is the fifth Democrat who has announced plans to run to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell. The other candidates are Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, state Auditor General Jack Wagner; Scranton mayor Chris Doherty; and businessman Tom Knox. The Republican candidates are state Attorney General Tom Corbett and Rep. Jim Gerlach.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Obama Should Ditch the Intelligence Advisory Board
Nine months into his administration, President Obama has yet to fill any of the 16 seats on the White House Intelligence Advisory Board — as far as I can tell.Back in 2002, David Corn, then Washington editor of The Nation, managed to pull aside the cloak of secrecy at the panel This might be a good sign

Monday, September 21, 2009
The Making of Glenn Beck
His roots, from the alleged suicide of his mom to Top 40 radio to the birth of the morning zoo. At the time of Beck's death, she held custody of her 15-year-old son, Glenn, with whom she had moved to Puyallup. She had left her estranged husband William behind in Mt. Vernon, Wash., another small city 100 miles due north.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Too Much weekly
The global spotlight shifts to Pittsburgh this week for the financial crisis summit of the 20 nations that “matter” the most economically. But other doings this week matter, too. In California, for instance, university faculty will be staging a walkout to protest the defunding that's degrading what used to be the world's finest system of public higher ed.The protestors include the famed linguist George Lakoff

Monday, September 21, 2009
Renewable Power Decisions Create a Tangled Web
More big solar power plants in the Mojave Desert. Fewer solar panels on homes and businesses. More hydroelectric dams in British Columbia. The flurry of recent renewable power decisions in Sacramento could have far-reaching - even contradictory - results.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Strong Ethnic Media Market Gets New Weekly
According to a study earlier this year by New America Media, a San Francisco group that represents 2,000 ethnic news organizations around the country, readership in this sector increased by 16 percent over the last four years.

Monday, September 21, 2009
.sciencenewsforkids
In a nutshell: A Web site devoted to science news, activities, books, articles, resources and other useful materials for children ages 9 to 14. Note: The site is sponsored by the nonprofit Society for Science & the Public, publisher of Science News.

Monday, September 21, 2009
European Union head to visit Pitt
Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission of the European Union, will visit the University of Pittsburgh on Thursday, the opening day of the G-20 summit. He is to address an invitation-only luncheon

Monday, September 21, 2009
Carbon-Capture Plant Seeks Funds
Black Hills Corp., Babcock & Wilcox and Air Liquide Engineering have filed an application to the U.S. Department of Energy seeking clean coal technology funding available under the agency's restructured FutureGen project. The plant is anticipated to be in service by 2015, according to Babcock & Wilcox. The project is among dozens of proposals in Wyoming seeking financial support from DOE programs such as this one.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Emissions of CO2 Set for Best Drop in 40 Years
By JAD MOUAWAD Published: September 22, 2009 The global recession as well as government actions were cited as factors in the falloff in greenhouse gases. World leaders will meet at the United Nations on Tuesday for a one-day summit meeting to pursue a new agreement to fight global warming. The talks are expected to conclude with a climate treaty in Copenhagen in December.

Monday, September 21, 2009
List of 2009 MacArthur Foundation Grant Recipients
The following 24 fellows each will receive $500,000 over the next five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation....

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Obama on CNN: Media Should Reward ‘Decency And Civility In Our Political Discourse'
"As I've said in the past, are they people out there who don't like me because of race, I'm sure there are,” Obama said. “That's not the overriding issue here...

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Nadler: ‘Defund' ACORN Bill ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional'
(2 comments) Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, denounced a Republican amendment adopted by the House of Representatives Thursday to deny all federal funds to the advocacy group the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as blatantly unconstitutional and a threat to unpopular organizations everywhere. [D]uring the McCarthy era, Congress enacted legislation prohibiting the use of funds to pay the salaries of 3 fed work

Saturday, September 19, 2009
In Wake of Reported Scandal, ACORN Retrenches Here
On an unassuming strip of storefronts in Garfield (PA), a flier taped to the door yesterday spoke volumes. "The ACORN office remains open ONLY to existing members and clients by appointment only," it said. The flier on the door of the ACORN office in Garfield directed people in need of assistance to other local organizations, such as Just Harvest, the Rental Services Urban League and the Garfield Jubilee.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Did Bush Continue to Secretly Operate Total Information Awareness?
Suggesting that the government gathered information on many innocent people, the inspectors general stated that "the collection activities pursued under the PSP ... involved unprecedented collection activities. We believe the retention and use by IC [intelligence community] organizations of information collected under the PSP ... should be carefully monitored."

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Ex-CIA Directors Want Obama To Kill Justice Department's Torture Probe
(4 comments) Seven former directors of the CIA sent a letter to PresidentObama Friday asking him to take the unprecedented step of personally blocking a Justice Department “review” of cases where agency officers and contractors allegedly exceeded legal guidelines during the interrogations of “war on terror” detainees.Three of the former directors—George Tenet, Michael Hayden and Porter Goss—were personally involved in policy

Saturday, September 19, 2009
1,000 Join in March to Support Local Police
The march was organized in the past weeks as a way to show support for Stan North and Oda Poole, who were involved in the death of a Rockford man last month in a church day care. Police and day care workers say the fatal shooting was witnessed by children, and the public has criticized the officers' actions and conflicting accounts of what happened during the man's altercation with police.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Why Do 1/3 of New Jersey Conservatives Think Obama Might Be the Anti-Christ?
(2 comments) The following is a transcript from Rachel Maddow's Sept. 16 show of her interview with Christian Right expert Frank Schaeffer: Rachel Maddow: Public Policy Polling released results from its new poll of residents of the great state of New Jersey. The poll found that 18 percent of New Jersey conservatives say they are sure that President Obama is the anti-Christ. No questions asked.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Irving Kristol, Godfather of Conservatism, Dies
(9 comments) By BARRY GEWEN Published: September 19, 2009 Mr. Kristol was a political commentator who helped define modern conservatism and revitalize the Republican Party in the late 1960s and early '70s.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President by Tsylor Branch
(4 comments) The Clinton Tapes highlights major events of Clinton's two terms, including wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, the failure of health care reform, peace initiatives on three continents, the anti-deficit crusade, and titanic political struggles from Whitewater to American history's second presidential impeachment trial. Along the way, Clinton delivers colorful portraits of countless political figures and world leaders

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Baucus and the Threshold
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: September 18, 2009 "Senator Baucus's mark is better than many of us expected. If it serves as a basis for negotiation, and the result of those negotiations is a plan that's stronger, not weaker, reformers are going to have to make some hard choices about the degree of disappointment they're willing to live with."

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Baucus Bill Gets Some Love - First Read
Snowe -- along with Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill and Ben Nelson, and independent Joe Lieberman, who caucuses with the Dems -- are praising Baucus' bill. The four released a statement. So here's where we stand: If these four senators can get behind a bill, Democrats have the potential to get 60-plus votes in the Senate. Then again, the question is whether liberal Democrats in the House and Senate would get behind that

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Michelle Obama Plans Dramatic Pitch for Olympics, Jarrett Says
A top White House adviser said first lady Michelle Obama is planning to make a dramatic presentation when she offers the closing argument for the bid by her hometown of Chicago to win the 2016 Summer Olympics. “There won't be a dry eye in the room,” said Valerie Jarrett, who plans to travel with the first lady to Copenhagen for the Oct. 2 International Olympic Committee vote.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
8 Years of War: Speak Out Against the Occupation of Afghanistan
(2 comments) Eight years ago today, George Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) on Afghanistan. There had been only one dissenting vote, Congresswoman Barbara Lee from California (link to her speech). She was surprised to find she was the only vote, because many in the halls before had suggested they were against it, but she was the only one with the courage to go against the fear-mongering of the moment.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Laundry Liberation: Fighting for the Right to Hang Your Clothes Out to Dry
Fighting for a hybrid in every garage is cake compared to the battle to allow an outdoor clothesline in every yard. Still, advocacy groups like Project Laundry List are urging a return to the days before newfangled cleaning machines drained our electric bills and resources – a time when nobody flinched at the site of a big bra or jockey shorts flapping in the wind.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Berkeley Rebates to Jump-Start Energy Upgrades
Berkeley will give residents rebates to buy new refrigerators and make other energy upgrades, thanks to a $1 million federal stimulus grant. The rebates will be available to homeowners, renters and businesses beginning in July. The exact amount of the rebates has not been determined, but will probably be larger for moderate-income residents.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Rockwell Collins Closing San Jose Division
Rockwell Collins spokeswoman Pam Tvrdy said 600 local workers recently received state-required layoff notices as part of a plan to shut the San Jose plant early next year. During the Bush era, defense employment in the Bay Area surged, but under President Obama that seems to be reversing.

Friday, September 18, 2009
G-20 Activists Win One in Court
(2 comments) But there was one victory for demonstrators that came out of a federal lawsuit filed against the city by several activist groups planning to protest against the G-20 summit. CodePink Women for Peace and Three Rivers Climate Convergence will be allowed to use Point State Park from Sunday evening to Tuesday evening to host public awareness programs on refugee camps around the world and to publicize global climate issues.

Friday, September 18, 2009
PostPartisan - Learning From Irving Kristol
E J Dionne: I feel about Kristol much as I felt about Bill Buckley: I like people who approach politics with a twinkle in their eye (as against rage in their voices), and I simply wish that Kristol, like Buckley, had not been so effective.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Spectacle of Illiteracy and the Crisis of Democracy
C. Wright Mills argued 50 years ago that one important measure of the demise of vibrant democracy and the corresponding impoverishment of political life can be found in the increasing inability of a society to translate private troubles to broader public issues.There is also the culture of militarization, which permeates all aspects of our lives - from our classrooms and the screen culture of reality television to....

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Meet the Man who Changed Glenn Beck's Life
(2 comments) "The 5,000 Year Leap." A once-famous anti-communist "historian," Skousen was too extreme even for the conservative activists of the Goldwater era, but Glenn Beck has now rescued him from the remainder pile of history, and introduced him to a receptive new audience. "Leap," first published in 1981, is a heavily illustrated and factually challenged attempt to explain American history through an unspoken lens of Mormon theology

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Obama Rejects Afghanistan-Vietnam Comparison
By JOHN HARWOOD Published: September 15, 2009 President Obama expressed concern about “the dangers of overreach” and pledged a full debate before making further decisions on strategy.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Eye on the Senate: Massachusetts Field Narrows Fast
Much of the drama in the special election will play out in the Dec. 8 Democratic primary. That contest likely will determine the state's next senator, given Massachusetts' heavily Democratic leanings. Martha Coakley, the state Attorney General and the only statewide official in the race, is preparing to face off for the Democratic nomination against two Boston-area U.S. House members,

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Restrictions Put Dent In Congressional Travel
Lawmaker trips sponsored by outside groups have decreased by 56 percent since the ethics and lobbying overhaul law was enacted two years ago, according to a CQ MoneyLine study of congressional travel. Since then, more than 2,300 former sponsors of lawmaker trips, including many corporations, government contractors and other groups that lobby, have stopped paying for such travel.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
New Standard Links Auto Mileage and Gas Emissions
By JOHN M. BRODER Published: September 16, 2009 The Obama administration issued new rules requiring the industry's fleet of new vehicles to average 35.5 miles a gallon by 2016.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Obama on Wall Street: History Cannot Repeat
Today, the same federal regulatory system remains in place. Credit markets have stabilized, and while the economy remains weak, the sense. Banks "continue to be hugely powerful, that's the long and short of it," said Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Timothy Egan's Western odyssey
Egan is the author of five books about the West. In 2006, he won the National Book Award for nonfiction for The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. High Country News correspondent John Moir spoke with Egan about his writing and the West. This interview has been condensed and edited for readability.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Why Some men are the Way They Are
(4 comments) Three recent books of short stories feature complex but credible characters in relationships tingling with tension. Even as they play on well-worn themes -- unrequited love, marital discord, moral weakness -- the stories in these collections are full of provocative plots and unexpected finales.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Specter In Pittsburgh: Punishment and Reward at AFL-CIO Convention
PITTSBURGH - When the history of the bi-partisan undermining of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is written, Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter will be assigned a pivotal role. In several recent interviews, new AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka indicated that he favored holding politicians more accountabl...here we are at the Pittsburgh Convention Center, on day three of the AFL-CIO's quadrennial meeting,

Monday, September 14, 2009
Right Wingers Marching in DC Is Big News -- But the Same Old Faces Are Pulling the Strings
As disgruntled white taxpayers joined conspiracy theorists, gun enthusiasts, state-sovereignty activists and outright racists on Pennsylvania Avenue, the long-time leaders of the American right, whose pedigrees go back to the 1964 presidential campaign of Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., no doubt witnessed a day they thought might never come.

Monday, September 14, 2009
4 Deadly Delusions About Afghanistan Held by Obama's Top Advisors
The United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies currently have about 64,000 troops in Afghanistan, and that figure would rise to almost 100,000 when the present surge is completed. Some 68,000 of those will be American. There is also a possibility that Obama will add another 20,000, bringing the total to 120,000, larger than the Soviet Army that occupied Afghanistan. That's still only a fifth of

Monday, September 14, 2009
A Public Record Exclusive – An Excerpt From ‘The Audacity of Greed'
The United States of America has just lived through the greatest looting of money in its history, a vast robbery that began in the late 1970s and has stretched to the present day. The perpetrators of this grand robbery didn't just steal a few possessions, or a little bit of cash. Instead, they drained the economy of trillions of dollars, in the process skulking off with a vast fortune that defied imagination

Monday, September 14, 2009
Keep Corporate Money Out of Our Elections
The case before the court arises from the distribution before the 2008 primary season of the film "Hillary: The Movie." Citizens United, creator of the film....At stake are not just federal campaign finance limits, but also Pennsylvania's own election laws.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Interview with IMF Head: 'It Is Dangerous to Think the Financial Crisis Is Already Behind Us'
A few months prior to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the secretary of the Treasury at that time, Hank Paulson, organized a dinner for government officials and a handful of CEOs from big American investment banks. Hardly anyone knew about Lehman's problems then, but Bear Stearns had already collapsed. "I am hoping that the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh will provide some fresh impetus."

Monday, September 14, 2009
Judge Rejects Settlement Over Merrill Bonuses
By LOUISE STORY Published: September 15, 2009 A judge said a $33 million settlement over Merrill Lynch bonuses “does not comport with the most elementary notions of justice and morality.” The ruling directed both the agency and the bank to prepare for a possible trial that would begin no later than Feb. 1.

Monday, September 14, 2009
G.D.P. Seen as Inadequate Measure of Economic Health
(4 comments) By DAVID JOLLY Published: September 15, 2009 Gross domestic product should be expanded to include measures of sustainability and human well-being, leading economists said in a report presented to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Monday, September 14, 2009
One Injury, 10 Countries: A Journey in Health Care
By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D. Published: September 15, 2009 An author's trip around the world with a sore shoulder teaches a lot about the health care system in the United States.

Monday, September 14, 2009
One Injury, 10 Countries: A Journey in Health Care
(1 comments) By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D. Published: September 15, 2009 An author's trip around the world with a sore shoulder teaches a lot about the health care system in the United States.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Todd S. Purdum on Henry Paulson
I began sitting down with Paulson on a regular basis just as the economic crisis started to unfold. In the summer of 2006 he had left Goldman Sachs to become George W. Bush's third Treasury secretary. In an administration that had concentrated economic policymaking in the political shop of the White House and had slighted its first two Treasury chiefs, Paul O'Neill and John Snow, to the point of near irrelevance,

Sunday, September 13, 2009
County Wants Millions to Fix Image after Ash Spill
(2 comments) ....estimated $1 billion being spent to clean up a massive coal ash spill that flooded its lakeside homes isn't enough. Roane County leaders want millions more dollars to repair their economy and image after 5.4 million cubic yards of toxin-laden muck breached a holding pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant on Dec. 22.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Charles DarwinFilm 'Too Controversial for Religious America'
(2 comments) A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Health Reform and Illegal Immigration: The Truth
In their tireless efforts to kill health care reform, right-wingers have fanned fears that it would attract illegal aliens. This sideshow is rather twisted because, actually, the reforms would do the opposite. They would help curb illegal immigration.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Review of Henry Giroux's: Youth in a Suspect Society
,,,,today's children are having to become more accustomed to a speed-driven society; a society that treasures punctuality over poignancy, and impatience over incandescence. Thus, kids are being encouraged to revel in "the suspension of judgment, the inability to think critically, [and] the avoidance of responsibility." (Never mind that these very kids are still ultimately barraged with blame for low test scores

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Marine's Photo Reminds Us of War That Will Not End
During an ambush on August 14th, Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan's Helmand province, where the Marines have been engaged in a major offensive, fighting to take territory back from the Taliban. Associated Press photojournalist Julie Jacobson took a picture of comrades trying to save his life. But it was too late. Over the objections of Bernard's family and Gates of DOD

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Might Obama look to Minnesota's model?
Despite its relatively low level of uninsured and a quality of care that is the envy of many states, Minnesota has struggled with escalating costs and has been forced to scale back its efforts. The state also features health care debates that are nearly as bitter as those taking place nationwide. In recent years, much of the state's budget fight has centered on a drive to trim the state's subsidized rolls

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Teabagger: ‘We Want to Get Back to the Way Our Country Was 100 Years Ago'
(5 comments) Video regarding 9/12 march in Washington by conservatives.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Americans Respond to Obama's Speech On Healthcare Reform
This short film offers varied responses to President Obama's speech earlier this week on the urgent need for healthcare reform

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Christopher Kelly, Key Figure in Blagojevich Corruption Probe, is Dead
The Cook County medical examiner's office today confirmed that Christopher Kelly of Burr Ridge was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. The office said Kelly died of salicylate intoxication. Kelly is a former confidant and top fundraiser for Blagojevich, who was accused of using his office to leverage campaign donations and benefits for himself and his family.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
No Fireworks -- This Time -- at Barney Frank Town Hall Meeting
Greeted by a standing ovation, Frank used the forum to reiterate his support for a public option in the new health care reform proposal. He also called for an end to the war in Iraq and a reevaluation of military action in Afghanistan.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Obama Appointee Previews the Imminent Preventive Detention Debate
By all accounts, the White House is going to unveil its proposal for indefinite detention within the next four to eight weeks, and it has begun dispatching proponents of that scheme to lay the rhetorical groundwork. Nonetheless: the guilt or innocence of detainees is completely irrelevant to the case against preventive detention. Those who oppose preventive detention don't do so due to a belief that detainees are innocent.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Thatcher Told Gorbachev Britain Did Not Want German Reunification
(4 comments) Two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Margaret Thatcher told President Gorbachev that neither Britain nor Western Europe wanted the reunification of Germany and made clear that she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Obama Facing Doubts Within His Own Party on Afghanistan
By ERIC SCHMITT and DAVID E. SANGER Published: September 11, 2009 A key Senate Democrat said that he is against sending more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan until the training and equipping of Afghan security forces can be expanded.

Friday, September 11, 2009
US Census Bureau 2010 Jobs Main Page
Our recruiting efforts for 2009 census taker jobs has ended. However, our peak recruitment effort begins in the fall of 2009, with the majority of hiring taking place in the spring of 2010. If you would like to prepare for the upcoming recruitment effort, you may download and print the Census Practice Test. The practice test is similar to the actual test, which measures basic skills, abilities, and knowledge required

Friday, September 11, 2009
Automatic Cuts Could Help Push Past a Health Hurdle
By JACKIE CALMES Published: September 11, 2009 Automatic triggers have not proved effective in the past, but advocates of them insist that this time would be different. Editor Note: See what Blue Dog No. 1 says about funding.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Energy Bill's Proponents Prepare Counterattack
Even as the health-care fight dominates the headlines, another Washington battle is heating up over climate and energy. In late June, the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill putting caps on the emissions that cause global warming, and the Senate is expected to take up the measure in late September or October. The lineup of powerful opponents has fueled speculation that the climate legislation is dying.

Friday, September 11, 2009
McChrystal: No Major al-Qaida Signs in Afghanistan
AP article (reprinted in NC paper) is bylined from The Hague. The general in charge in Afghanistan explains how that country is a toehold for international terrorism's efforts.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Pakistan Arrests Swat Taliban Leader
In the first major arrest of its kind in Pakistan's Swat Valley, Pakistani authorities say they have taken into custody one of the Taliban's leaders in Swat, along with four other commanders. Muslim Khan was the second in command of the Taliban in Swat, and became an official spokesman of both that group and the wider Tehrik-e-Taliban, an umbrella group of militants that includes fighters based in the country's tribal areas.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Eight Years after 9/11: The Bloody Legacy of Cheney's Failures
(6 comments) After 9/11, Dick Cheney took the reins in America. The 'war on terror' was his idea, and it led to real wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- and to the torture he approved and defends. While Cheney is writing a memoir to influence how people see his role, the rest of the world would just prefer to get on with cleaning up his mess -- with him out of the picture.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Coast Guard Exercise Rattles Capital
(2 comments) By DAVID STOUT Published: September 12, 2009 Confusion over the routine exercise in the Potomac River was enough to scramble F.B.I. agents and halt flights.

Friday, September 11, 2009
After a Diagnosis, Someone to Help Point the Way
(1 comments) By LESLEY ALDERMAN Published: September 12, 2009 Patient advocates can help research treatment options, sort out insurance claims and open doors to specialists.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Naming Center After Cheney Draws Protest
(4 comments) LARAMIE -- The Cheney International Center became part of the University of Wyoming campus Thursday over the objections of protesters who carried signs in opposition. At least 100 people who were opposed to naming the building for former Vice President Dick Cheney stood near the back of a stone plaza during the dedication ceremony.

Friday, September 11, 2009
2016 Bid Torch Passed to Michelle Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama will lead a delegation to Copenhagen next month for the vote on whether Chicago beats three rivals to win the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. But the White House announcement Friday trumpeting the first lady's high-profile mission did little to extinguish a question that burns as brightly as the Olympic torch: Will the popular first lady ultimately let her husband take the lead in hourlong presentation

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tech Companies Push to Digitize Patients' Record
By STEVE LOHR Published: September 10, 2009 Both large and small technology firms are devising ways to update health care records. About $19 billion in government financing will help.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Credit Card Firms More Willing to Negotiate With Customers
A Bank of America spokeswoman said the company expects to modify 1.2 million credit card accounts this year, up from 1 million last year. Chase has made it easier for those in the earlier stages of delinquency to get modifications and last year restructured credit lines for more than 600,000 customers, according to a company statement. The company said it expects that "elevated level of need" to continue this year.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Parts of Brain Involved in Social Cognition May Be in Place by Age 6
A new study in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development investigates these brain regions for the first time in human children. The study has implications for children with autism. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale University scanned the brains of 13 children ages 6 to 11 as they listened to children's stories.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wilkerson: ‘I've Come to the Conclusion That Cheney is Just Crazy'
(2 comments) “"I've come to the conclusion that [Cheney] truly is — whether he was that way when I knew him before, when he was Secretary of Defense, I don't know, that's not at issue with me any more — the man now is just crazy.” Col. Lawrence Wilkerson served in the U.S. military for 31 years and was Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell from August 2002 until January 2005, two months after Powell's resignation....

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Supreme Court: a Session of Firsts Wednesday
The hearing marks the first time the court's newest justice, Sonia Sotomayor, will appear on the bench in a pending case. She replaces retired Justice David Souter and is the 111th Supreme Court justice. It also marks the first time that Elena Kagan, the first woman to serve as US solicitor general, will argue a case at the Supreme Court.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Kidnapped New York Times Journalist Freed in NATO Raid
In a pre-dawn commando-style raid on Wednesday, NATO-led forces in Afghanistan freed a New York Times reporter kidnapped by the Taliban. Stephen Farrell, a British national, was abducted four days ago in Kunduz Province along with his Afghan translator, after the pair went to investigate the controversial American airstrike

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Franken's Map
Entertaining presentation!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks
By RON LIEBER and ANDREW MARTIN Published: September 9, 2009 Banks have long pitched debit cards as a convenient and prudent way to buy, but a growing number now allow consumers to exceed their balances — for a price.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Seized Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide
By ERIC SCHMITT Published: September 9, 2009 Stephen Farrell, held captive by militants for four days, was freed in a military commando raid early Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter was killed.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Thom Talks to Mad as Hell Doctor Dr. Paul Hochfeld & Adam Klugman
Thom Hartmann interviews one of the "mad as hell" doctors. The group was in Seattle 9/8/09. Don Smith writes about it on OEN and supplies the link for this QuickLink. Just another way to record the importance of the doctors' effort.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Buyers of Huge Manhattan Complex Face Default Risk
By CHARLES V. BAGLI Published: September 10, 2009 The partnership behind the biggest U.S. real estate deal to date is running out of time and money, analysts say, with $4.4 billion owed on Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Editor note: I have reason to suspect it's happening in other cities.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
BofA Lawyers Reject Cuomo's Criticism - DealBook Blog
Andrew M. Cuomo, New York's attorney general, has been investigating several aspects of Bank of America's deal to buy Merrill Lynch late last year, including when and how it decided to disclose unexpected losses at Merrill as well as billions of dollars in bonuses paid to Merrill employees.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Bechtel to Build Solar Plants for BrightSource
Bechtel Corp., a San Francisco engineering company long associated with nuclear power and fossil fuels, will build big solar plants in the Mojave Desert for BrightSource Energy, one of the renewable-power industry's rising stars

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Debt Swamping Lembi Group, Big S.F. Landlord
Last time The Chronicle checked, 51 properties controlled by various Lembi Group entities - Skyline Realty Inc. and CitiApartments Inc. are among the better known - were handed over in January to UBS AG, the Swiss bank to which Lembi owed up to $400 million. In June, 24 more properties went to CIM Group Inc. of Los Angeles, after Lembi defaulted on a $121 million loan. And the waves keep crashing in.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Detroit's 'Quiet Revolution'
Detroit's local foods movement has been a catalyst in the [r]evolution that is rebirthing Detroit as a City of Hope. The city's early devastation by deindustrialization provided us with the space and place to begin anew. It also challenged us to make a paradigm shift in our thinking about social justice.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Zelaya Speaks
In a significant development in hemispheric relations, the Obama admininstration yesterday condemned the June 28 Honduras coup d'état more strongly than ever, announced the cutoff of additional millions in economic aid and declared it would not accept the legitimacy of elections under the auspices of the coup government.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Obama's Policies have U.S. on Road to Recovery After Economic Free-Fall Triggered by Bush
(2 comments) Courtesy of ADA, an opinion piece on Obama's help with labor's recovery. Another had Elaine Chao's discussion of Bush impact.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
ADA Highlights Real Unemployment Rate
“The real unemployment rate released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 16.8%, 7 points higher than the officially reported rate. “President Obama's economic recovery plan is working but the real rate of unemployment underscores an urgent need to spur more hiring. “A jobless recovery is not a recovery.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
U.S. Company and China Plan Solar Project
(7 comments) By TODD WOODY Published: September 9, 2009 Chinese officials signed an agreement with First Solar, an American solar developer, for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Truthout Has Unionized
(2 comments) A member of Truthout's board of directors had signed a recognition statement, granting Truthout employees membership in The Newspaper Guild/Communication Workers of America. Earlier that evening, Truthout had held the country's first "virtual card check," verifying union cards with faxed PDFs of each employee's signature. We became the first online-only news site to successfully unionize.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
U.S. in Delicate Spot as Fraud Claims Mount in Afghan Vote
y MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPER Published: September 9, 2009 The Obama administration is trying to balance an effort to investigate vote fraud allegations with its interest in maintaining good relations with President Hamid Karzai.

Monday, September 7, 2009
British Court Convicts Three in Plot to Blow Up Airliners
By JOHN F. BURNS Published: September 8, 2009 In the largest counter-terrorist investigation in Britain's history, a court in London convicted three men of plotting to bomb at least seven transatlantic airliners in 2006.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Google Book Project Coolly Received in Europe
By JAMES KANTER Published: September 8, 2009 Critics said a proposed legal settlement that would let Google sell digital versions of books over the Internet would give the company too much power.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Growing Number of Guantanamo Detainees Cleared For Release Remain Imprisoned
Since the Supreme Court ruled last year that inmates at Guantanamo Bay have a right to go to federal court to challenge their detention, detainees have filed more than 150 such lawsuits. Thirty-five of these cases have now been completed. And of these, federal judges have ruled that 29 prisoners are being unlawfully detained.

Monday, September 7, 2009
With Friends Like These
On September 1st, The Washington Post carried an article by George Will titled "Time to Get Out of Afghanistan." Three days later, Will published a second article titled "Time to Leave Iraq."Yes, this actually happened.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Art as Resistance
The first Warrior Writers Project workshop was led by veteran Lovella Calica. To help other veterans deal with their experiences in Iraq, she encouraged them to write. Those who were willing to do so were asked to share their writings with the group. An anthology of these compositions was produced as the book "Warrior Writers: Move, Shoot and Communicate." Calica has since lead three writing workshops and has publi

Monday, September 7, 2009
President Obama Speaks At Riverbend
CINCINNATI -- President Barack Obama made a stop in the Tri-State this Labor Day. The National President of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney and National Sectreary Treasurer, Richard Trumka also joined the president on stage along with Senator Sherrod Brown. Healthcare and jobs were on the president's agenda.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Major Ruling Against Ashcroft Highlights Evils of Preventive Detention
Greenwald - 9/5/09: Yesterday -- in a very significant decision (.pdf) written by Bush-43-appointed federal judge Milan Smith and joined by a Reagan-appointed judge -- the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a lawsuit to proceed that was brought against John Ashcroft for the illegal and unconstitutional detention of American Muslims. The suit was brought by Abdullah al-Kidd, an American citizen of African-American descent

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Social Networking and the Feminization of Society
Andrew Lehman:I have a pretty broad view of ongoing American Left strategies and tactics to accomplish specific goals. Regarding my area of expertise, the Internet, the independent Progressive movement is at the very beginning of becoming aware of the power of horizontal, online social networks. We will not be able to think of ourselves without considering others. We are talking about a feminization of society.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Conyers Slams Cheney, Calls for Release Torture Docs Withheld By CIA
“The recent spectacle of Dick Cheney's public effort to head off investigation of these matters makes clear how much work needs to be done to move this issue past politics. Mr. Cheney's efforts are not surprising – such an investigation would obviously implicate his own actions and those of his underlings. But after years of deceit and demagoguery from Mr. Cheney, it is a surprise that anyone still takes him seriously...

Friday, September 4, 2009
Bush Taps Former State Department Official to Run Policy Institute at SMU
When SMU first landed the Bush library, critics warned that the proposed policy institute – unlike the library – would tie the campus too closely to the former president's political views. After learning of Glassman's appointment, some concern appeared to remain.That said, Glassman's credentials as a "conservative intellectual" are solid, Johnson said.

Friday, September 4, 2009
HeraldNet: Ecoterrorists Topple KRKO Radio Towers
Federal agents have taken over an investigation into the destruction of two radio towers belonging to Everett radio station KRKO. The towers were toppled early this morning and a group that practices ecoterrorism is laying claim to the act. "Wassup? Sno Cty?" the sign read. "ELF."

Friday, September 4, 2009
NATO Plans Inquiry After Afghan Strike Kills Scores
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ABDUL WAHEED WAFA Published: September 5, 2009 Friday's strike on two fuel tankers, which killed 80 or more people, came three months after Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal imposed stricter rules on airstrikes.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Panel Rules Against Ashcroft in Detention Case
(1 comments) By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: September 5, 2009 The former attorney general may face liability over the detention of an American citizen as a material witness after the Sept. 11 attacks, an appeals court panel ruled.

Friday, September 4, 2009
How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?
(4 comments) Magazine: By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: September 6, 2009 The Great Recession was the result not only of lax regulation in Washington and reckless risk-taking on Wall Street but also of faulty theorizing in academia.

Friday, September 4, 2009
The Invisible Fourth Pillar
[N]ot usually known for such eloquence. Chicagoans are, however, known to allow a dogged self-interest to guide their politics. That's why they're worried about the host-city bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, a project headed up by a not-for-profit organization called Chicago 2016 - and set to be announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on October 2.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Young Workers in Free Fall: 1/3 Under 35 Live with Parents
On Tuesday, the AFL-CIO released the results of a disturbing new Peter Hart survey, "Young Workers: A Lost Decade" that found that about a third of workers under 35 live at home with their parents, and they're far less likely to have health care or job security than they were ten years ago. Even then, in a 1999 survey, when they faced economic insecurity, they still had reasons to be hopeful

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Hell Hasn't Broken out in Iraq
Juan Cole: Of course, the increase of civilian deaths in August is not just a statistic, but has political uses, which is why I have to go to the trouble of pointing out otherwise self-evident things such as that one month does not make for a trend and that deaths aren't up that much on average since the U.S. stopped patrolling.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
BAE Lays Off 360 at Santa Clara Plant
BAE Systems, an international defense contractor, is laying off 360 of the 1,800 workers at its Santa Clara plant that designs military vehicles. The reductions at BAE follow several hundred recent job cuts at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Sunnyvale, as defense programs pushed by the Bush administration are cut by President Obama.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Chamber Summit Upbeat on Health Care Reform
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce held one of its periodic "city summits" Wednesday, this one called Healthcare Reform & Economic Inspiration at UCSF's Mission Bay Conference Center. The idea, according to chamber CEO Steve Falk, was to "put facts on the table" for the local business community. "To have a conversation based on facts rather than rhetoric."

Thursday, September 3, 2009
E.U. to Review Oracle's Takeover of Sun Microsystems
By DAVID JOLLY and STEPHEN CASTLE Published: September 4, 2009 Officials want to investigate the effect of the planned $7.4 billion deal on competition in the market for databases.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Fiorina, Eyeing Senate Run, Faces Questions over HP Sales in Iran
Over the past dozen years, Hewlett-Packard has sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of printers and other products to Iran through a Middle East distributor, sidestepping a U.S. ban on trade with the country. Now the person who headed HP for much of that time, Carly Fiorina, is ramping up to run for U.S. Senate. And questions are emerging about what Fiorina knew about HP's growing presence in Iran during her six-year

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
GOP Readies Wave of Objections to Stall Healthcare Bill in Senate
Sen. Judd Gregg has hundreds of procedural objections ready for a healthcare plan Democrats want to speed through the Senate. Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, told The Hill in a recent interview that Republicans will wage a vicious fight if Democrats try to circumvent Senate rules and use a budget maneuver to pass a trillion-dollar healthcare plan with a simple majority.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
BP Discovers ‘Giant' Oil Field in Gulf of Mexico
(2 comments) The Gulf of Mexico has become increasingly important to Western oil majors as oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia reserve their richest fields to be developed by their state-owned oil companies.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Low-Wage Workers Are Often Cheated, Study Says
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Published: September 2, 2009 A study found that most workers had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous week.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Psychologist Believes Stereotypes Lead to Premature Aging
[T]hree decades ago, Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer conducted a landmark experiment that suggested reverse aging needn't be relegated to the realm of science fiction. Her revealing study, the many follow-ups it spawned and the implications of their findings are the subject of her fascinating new book Counterclockwise: "Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility."

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Rebuking Cheney's Torture Propaganda in 7 Easy Steps
Cheney is all over the airwaves, trotting out his propaganda and defense of the Bush administration's serial violations of the Geneva conventions.One of the few people that had actually seen the documents to which Cheney was referring before they were released and had the courage to speak up was Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Pentagon Paid a Disgraced PR Firm to Profile My Reporting
Nir Rosen: Often our two separate missions are in conflict. This is normal and good. There should be a tension between the media and the government. We are not on the same team. But it is troubling that the Department of Defense has to hire a private public relations firm to do the job of the military's public affairs officers for them.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Turkey, Armenia Move to Establish Ties
The negotiations, which are being mediated by Switzerland, mark a thaw in relations between the neighbors after a century of animosity. Turkey and Armenia have never had diplomatic ties; in 1993, Turkey closed the border with Armenia in support of Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenia over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh then Analysts say Turkey's improved relations with Armenia will help consolidate its position as a

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
'Jobs that Americans Won't Do'
With fewer jobs for Americans these days, are there fewer jobs that Americans won't do? Most illegal workers in the US are Mexicans who mow lawns, clean motel sheets, butcher hogs, pick strawberries, and otherwise toil away at tasks that, as George W. Bush once said, "Americans won't do." And they often are paid less than the minimum wage.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
God in Government: What's Obama's Religion on Facebook?
Here's what I found...politicians' profiles and pages--just like regular users--span the range when it comes to Facebook. You have your highly active ones--guys who seem to post every other hour (yes, we're talking about you, Newt Ginrich). Then you've got some on the other end of the spectrum, who haven't updated their wall in nearly a year (exhibit A: Michelle Obama,

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Can Obama Give 'em Hell Before it's Too Late?
(2 comments) "We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering," FDR told an audience in Madison Square Garden in 1936. "They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as that by organized mob

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Billionaires for WealthCare Mocks Healthcare Protesters in California
(1 comments) With video. Carrying signs with irreverent messages praising the status quo of the American healthcare system, a farcical anti-healthcare reform group, Billionaires for Wealthcare, paraded outside a Democratic town hall meeting in Spring Valley, California Sunday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Lawless Future - Hard Times Extra Hard for State Parks
(2 comments) "Some of these parks are not actually closeable," she adds. "You can say they're closed, but there's no actual way to keep people out. And once the things they're meant to save are destroyed, there's no getting them back."

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The New Third World - Desperate for Medical Care in the West's Inner Cities and Rural Areas
Before dawn every day, they stood in long lines outside the Roman Empire-style Forum arena near downtown Los Angeles. That's how desperate they were to be treated for painfully rotting teeth, blurry eyesight, cancer and other medical problems. There were grandmothers and little kids, veterans and the disabled, the working poor and laid-off men and women.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Parks for the People -- Not Profit
Sen. Feinstein's rider is essentially an earmark worth well over $10 million dollars that is being given by the public to a single individual who owns a for-profit company in a national seashore. It usurps the public's right to have a say in this matter and it ignores the public's past input on how this national park should be managed.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
McCain, McConnell: Start Over on Health Care
The two Republicans joined GOP Sen. Richard Burr at the invitation-only town hall that drew about 250 people to a hospital auditorium. The three acknowledged that health reform is needed. But they advocated a go-slow, incremental approach and criticized Democratic proposals.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Obama Plans More Hands-On Health Advocacy
Mr. Obama met on Tuesday with advisers including Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, and David Axelrod, a senior strategist, to prepare for Congress's return to work next week after a month in which many lawmakers have been spooked by contentious townhall meetings and polls registering slipping support for the president and his health care plans.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Republican Senator Calls for Only Incremental Health Care Changes
Incremental is the watchword for health care changes, as far as Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is concerned. In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Alexander, a member of the Senate's Republican leadership, recommended that lawmakers drastically scale back their goals for changing the health care system and plan instead to take smaller bites out of the problem.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
What would you ask? Suggest questions for Sen. Tom Harkin
Des Moines Register editors and writers will interview Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The meeting will be shown live online at DesMoinesRegister.com.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Let's Get Health Care Reform Right - Enzi
(2 comments) I would like to take a few minutes to speak with you about the current health care reform debate in America. Across the country, people are concerned about the reform bills Democrats have proposed. I heard a lot of frustration and anger as I traveled across my home state this last few weeks. I know my colleagues in the Senate have also heard loud and clear the worries so many Americans have about the changes to their health c

Monday, August 31, 2009
A.C.L.U. Lawyers Mine Documents for Truth
By SCOTT SHANE Published: August 30, 2009 A legal team in the U.S. produced one of the most successful efforts in the history of public disclosure.

Monday, August 31, 2009
McChrystal Says US Needs New Afghanistan Strategy
(12 comments) The US strategy in Afghanistan is "not working," the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has written in a long-anticipated report, according to the BBC. If the BBC is correct, the report looks likely to lead to more debate and hand-wringing over the US-led mission in Afghanistan, as Western forces endure their deadliest year to date in the war against the Taliban insurgency.

Monday, August 31, 2009
U.S. Ramps up Withdrawal from Iraq
(3 comments) The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history — shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city. The massive operation already underway a year ahead of the Aug. 31, 2010, deadline to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq shows the U.S. military has pick

Monday, August 31, 2009
Four Years After Katrina, Thousands Are Homeless and Struggling In New Orleans
The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center counts 65,888 abandoned residential addresses in New Orleans, and this number doesn't include any of the many non-residential buildings, like the hospital Mickey stays in. Overall, about a third of the addresses in the city are vacant or abandoned, the highest rate in the nation. UNITY for the Homeless is the only organization surveying these spaces, and Miller and Rohn work

Monday, August 31, 2009
Washington Post Redux: Going from the Sublime to the Ridiculous - Print
Post reporters Peter Finn, Joby Warrick and Julie Tate, however, should be credited with the fact that they never once used the word “torture” in their article. Dick Cheney would have approved. On Sunday, however, the Washington Post turned from solemn reporting to outright humor. In a page-two article, Walter Pincus and Joby Warrick discussed sagging morale at the CIA due to the release of the 2004 IG report on detention

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Bill Moyers on the Health care debate, Democrats, and Afghanistan
I don't think the problem is the Republicans . . . .The problem is the Democratic Party. This is a party that has told its progressives -- who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform -- to sit down and shut up. That's what Rahm Emanuel, the Chief of Staff at the White House, in effect told progressives who stood up as a unit in Congress and said: "no public insurance option, no health care reform."

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Bus Tour, Campaign-Style Events to Promote Health-Care Reform
(1 comments) President Obama's supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year's triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks. The DNC kickoff rally in Phoenix attracted about 1,200 reform supporters, but a raucous meeting on the other side of town hosted by Obama'sJoyn McCain...

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Requiem for a Man: In Honor of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy
(2 comments) He was a man Who lived at water's edge And loved both tide and sand and the feel of nature's breath He knew a dream delayed becomes a dream decayed And so he fought on

Saturday, August 29, 2009
End-of-Life Counseling Allowed a Focus on Living
(2 comments) Brooke was determined to maintain the highest possible quality of her own life and that of her family for whatever time we had together. With that goal in mind, she sought advice and treatment from palliative-care specialists at Washington Home and Community Hospices. Their ingenuity and skill in adjusting her medications significantly alleviated her discomfort in her final months. By Devin Talbott and Strobe Talbott

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Health Care Industry Contributes Heavily to Blue Dogs
On average, Blue Dog Democrats net $62,650 more from the health sector than other Democrats, while hospitals and nursing homes also favor them, giving, respectively, $5,680 and $5,550 more, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit organization that tracks the influence of money in politics

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Death Threats Against Obama Increase By 400 Percent
(VIDEO) CNN ANCHOR: I'm going to be telling you about a story that we just learned about. This is amazing, this e-mail I received moments ago. It is an e-mail that came from a pastor who recently in a sermon said that he wants Sasha and Malia to be fatherless and that he wants Michelle Obama to be a widow. That's just the beginning of what you are about to hear. I will take you through it.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Exposed: The WPost's One-Sided Account of Torture and Abuse
The lead story in today's Washington Post, headlined “How a Detainee Became An Asset,” provides a one-sided and distorted account of the torture and abuse of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) and demonstrates the urgent need for a blue ribbon bipartisan commission to create a comprehensive and authoritative narrative of the eight years of misgovernment of the Bush administration.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Clash in Alabama Over Tennessee Coal Ash
By SHAILA DEWAN Published: August 30, 2009 The dumping of coal ash in a poor, mostly black county has generated a debate over revenue versus safety

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Report of Global Exchange Delegation to Honduras
Purpose and itinerary of delegation -- Members went to witness, accompany the daily protests to help prevent violations of human rights, and report back on the current situation in Honduras since the coup of June 28, 2009.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Oath Keepers Aim to Curb Federal Power
Buzz is growing across the country as “patriot groups,” sprout up, some say mirroring a 1990s movement culminating in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. Fueled by frustration born of the ailing economy, federal bailouts and, according to the Department of Homeland Security, inauguration of the first black president, radical groups are taking advantage of the current political climate to recruit.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Genetic Marker may Help Identify and Prevent Problem Behaviors in Adults with Developmental Disabilities
A common variation of the gene involved in regulating serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain may be linked to problem behaviors in adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, new research indicates.Fifteen to 20 percent of adults with developmental & intellectual disabilities have problem behaviors. For this study, the researchers focused specifically on aggression, self-injury or property destruction.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Toyota to Close Union Plant in California
By NICK BUNKLEY Published: August 28, 2009 The plant in Fremont, Calif., which employs 4,700, was a joint venture with General Motors that G.M. abandoned in its bankruptcy.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Gov., Aides Said To Be Clear of Fed Pay-to-Play Probe
"It's over. There's nothing. It was killed in Washington," the person told The Associated Press. A federal grand jury began an investigation in 2008 into a possible pay-to-play scheme in which lucrative work on state bond deals went to a Richardson donor. The federal probe derailed Richardson's appointment as commerce secretary in President Barack Obama's administration.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
AIG Stock Tripled in August
(1 comments) AIG's stock closed at $47.84 on Thursday. At the start of the month, shares were trading at a mere $13.14. What's going on here? AIG's stock has nearly quadrupled in August, but the company is no closer to paying back the $80 billion it owes taxpayers.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
U.S. Adults Struggle To Keep Up With Economic Changes
42% Say Their Quality of Life Has Declined Household income is the most consistent difference on all three questions. For example, 41% of those in households making $25,000 or less say they can't keep up. A plurality of all adults making $75,000 or more says they are keeping up.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Torture Archive - What Were They Hiding?
Today, the National Security Archive posted a side-by-side comparison of two very different versions of a 2004 report on the CIA's "Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities" by Agency Inspector General John Helgerson. Yesterday, the Obama administration released new portions of the report including considerably more information about the use of torture and other illegal practices by CIA interrogators

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Deal Between SMU, Ex-Condo Owners to End Land Fight Falls Apart
A deal that was supposed to end a long-running lawsuit against SMU – and smooth the path for George W. Bush's presidential library – has fallen apart The case dates to 2005, when Vodicka and Tafel filed the lawsuit, saying SMU illegally got control of the condominiums to expand the campus. SMU maintains it did nothing wrong when acquiring the condo complex, which it has since torn down.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
What Health Co-ops And Seinfeld Have In Common
But no worry, since it's a non-profit, the incoming president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, a nearly pure monopoly, would seek to qualify as the state's approved public co-op. Now there's ‘free enterprise' for you! In its current form, in practical policy terms Conrad's public co-op is a ‘Seinfeld ' episode – it's about nothing.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
What Every American Should be Made to Learn about the IG Torture Report
Greenwald: Initially, it should be emphasized that yet again, it is not the Congress or the establishment media which is uncovering these abuses and forcing disclosure of government misconduct. Rather, it is the ACLU (with which I consult) that, along with other human rights organizations, has had to fill the void left by those failed institutions, using their own funds to pursue litigation to compel disclosure.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Faith UCC in Grantville (Penn.) Breaks Ground on Food Pantry Expansion
Joining members of Faith UCC in the groundbreaking ceremony were members from several other Grantville churches who participate on the organizational committee or volunteer at the food pantry. State Representative Ron Marsico, who helped the pantry obtain a feasibility study grant last year, was also in attendance. Members of Faith and the operating committee helped Rev. Robertson and local officials break ground.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Report: North Korea Invites US for Nuclear Talks
The reported invitation comes after Pyongyang was said to have proposed a summit with South Korea over the weekend, though Seoul denied the report. The US and South Korean governments reiterated their insistence Monday that the isolated North – often called the "hermit kingdom" – must give up nuclear weapons. US special envoy Stephen Bosworth is said to have accepted the offer

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Is Obama Making a Convincing Case for the Afghan War?
Healthcare reform and the economy have justifiably required much of Mr. Obama's focus. But with the top US commander in Afghanistan poised to ask for more American troops, experts say Obama will have to make the case for Afghanistan more forcefully in coming weeks.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan Targets Obama's Vacation
(3 comments) With the president on vacation and mostly out of public sight, the White House press corps traveling with him to Martha's Vineyard is hungry for news. Sheehan will likely get more coverage than if she called a press conference in Washington and had to compete with many other events for attention

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wikipedia to Launch Page Controls
The site will require that revisions to pages about living people and some organisations be approved by an editor. The call for flagged revisions came from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The two-month trial, which has proved controversial with some contributors, will start in the next "couple of weeks"

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Arkansas: Both Parties Eye Challenge to Blanche Lincoln in 20 10
Lincoln, who is seeking a third term, is steeling herself against a challenge; she reported more than $3 million on hand as of June 30. The state is perhaps the least Republican of the Southern states but has trended Republican in recent years.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Straight Talk on the Federal Budget Deficit
(1 comments) Some little-known facts about the federal budget deficit: It grew slower than was expected just a few months ago, stimulus spending accounts for only a small sliver of its total, and the leading health care reform proposal would provide coverage for most uninsured Americans without adding a penny to its total. The U.S. economy has lost 6.7 million jobs in the past 19 months as private spending has collapsed.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Washington, DC Vigils to Close the SOA
This September and October SOA Watch will Vigil every Wednesday, in front of Congress and spend the day urging members of Congress to co-sponsor HR 2567, the bill to stop and investigate the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Desperate Food Industry Tries to Tar Michael Pollan and Organic Produce
The turning point was when First Lady Michelle Obama planted an organic garden on the White House lawn only to receive a letter from The American CropLife Association telling her that they hoped she recognized the value of conventional agriculture in American life. The letter can be read here.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Historian's New Book Takes Hard Look at Wal-Mart
Lichtenstein adds his voice to a scathing chorus condemning Wal-Mart's record on health care coverage, which he describes as both woefully inadequate and shamefully manipulated to ensure the least benefits to the greatest number of workers. He says Wal-Mart has kept medical insurance costs low by limiting eligibility to its health plan, loading members with additional expenses such as high deductibles and co-pays, and providi

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Taking Stock After America's Worst Nuclear Accident
the contaminated site has yet to be cleaned up, although this month two federal agencies promised to plow ahead without the site's current owner, Boeing. And in March, the Department of Energy provided $38.3 million in funds to complete the radiologic survey of "Area IV" as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Unlike the then-remote hilltop it once was, now more than a half million people live within 10 miles

Monday, August 24, 2009
Glen Greenwald: The Beltway Consensus: the Left is to Blame for Health Care Battle
The prevailing Beltway wisdom has now ossified that the problem with the health care debate is that those hardened Leftist ideologues cling childishly and petulantly to their little "public option" fetish and their refusal to give it up is jeopardizing enactment of a reform bill. Just see The Washington Post Editorial Page, Post columnist Steve Pearlstein and Joe Klein -- and especially from such as NewsWeek Jonathon Alter

Monday, August 24, 2009
Daschle Has Ear of White House and Industry
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Published: August 23, 2009 Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, keeps close ties to Washington and health care industry clients.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Vetting the Health Care Rhetoric
As politicians and interest groups try to shape the outcome of the health care overhaul, they've offered interpretations that are so wildly different that truth sometimes seems to be taking a vacation. The majority of the claims deal with the House bill that awaits floor action in September. The Senate is not as far along in the process with its legislative proposal.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Obama May Abandon Effort to Reach Health Deal With Republicans
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama is likely in September to end Democratic efforts to work with Republicans on health-care legislation and press for a party-line vote if the stalemate on the issue in the U.S. Senate persists, a person close to the White House said.In a separate interview, former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle said Obama is losing patience with negotiations between 3 Democrats and 3 Republic

Monday, August 24, 2009
C.I.A. Abuse Cases Detailed in Report on Detainees
By DAVID JOHNSTON Published: August 25, 2009 Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. named a federal prosecutor to examine abuse of prisoners held by the C.I.A., as officials released a 2004 report detailing abuses inside C.I.A.-run prisons overseas.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Report Cites Abuse at State Juvenile Prison Centers
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE Published: August 25, 2009 An investigation that found routine use of physical force has raised the possibility of a federal takeover of New York's youth detention system.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Afghan Cabinet Minister Claims Karzai Victory
By CARLOTTA GALL Published: August 25, 2009 President Hamid Karzai won reelection with 68 percent of votes, Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Oil Prices Continue to Rise; Shares Fall Back
By JACK HEALY Published: August 25, 2009 The price of crude oil hit its highest point of the year while Wall Street gave back earlier gains as the trading day closed.

Monday, August 24, 2009
CIA Director Panetta: CIA Report On Torture ‘Old Story,' 9/11 Excuses Abuses
Panetta issued a statement in advance of the release later Monday of a critical 2004 inspector general's report on the agency's torture program. Panetta says the horrific details of torture and abuse contained in the report “is in many ways an old story” and that the interrogation methods used against detainees were approved in Justice Department legal memoranda.

Monday, August 24, 2009
Task Force Recommends Creation Of New Group to Conduct Interrogations - Print
Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that the Special Task Force on Interrogations and Transfer Policies, which was created pursuant to Executive Order 13491 on Jan. 22, 2009, has proposed that the Obama Administration establish a specialized interrogation group to bring together officials from law enforcement, the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense to conduct interrogations for nat'l safet y

Monday, August 24, 2009
Grassley Says Obama Responsible For ‘Pull The Plug On Grandma' Phrase
video:Bob Schieffer, host of the Face The Nation, spoke with Sen. Chuck Grassley Sunday about some controversial comments the Iowa Republican made last week about President Obama's healthcare proposal, specifically, that the legislation included a provision that would “pull the plug on grandma.”

Monday, August 24, 2009
Google Foresees Profit from YouTube
Frustrated by a rash of skeptical reports about YouTube's business model, Google Inc. set aside its usual reluctance to discuss the popular video site's financials last month and offered up a juicy hint to Wall Street. "In the not-too-long-distant future, we actually see a very profitable and good business," Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said on a conference call. "We are really pleased with the trajectory."

Monday, August 24, 2009
Carcieri Orders 12 'Shutdown Days', Municipal Aid Cuts
Rhode Island state government will shut down for a total of 12 days between now and next June to help close a massive budget hole, Governor Carcieri announced moments ago.The closures will also chip away at a newly disclosed $65 million deficit for the year that ended on June 30.

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Millions Face Shrinking Social Security Payments
(2 comments) Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Clock Ticks Down on a Deadly Chemical Stockpile
(2 comments) Behind armed guards in bulletproof booths deep in the Kentucky woods, workers have begun pouring the foundations for a $3-billion complex designed to destroy America's last stockpile of deadly chemical weapons. The aging arsenal at the Blue Grass Army Depot contains 523 tons of liquid VX and sarin -- lethal nerve agents produced during the Cold War -- and mustard, a blister agent that caused horrific casualties in WWI

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Special Election Draws in Top Party Leaders
n an off year for major elections in Iowa, the hubbub centers on a single Iowa House district, a race some Republicans view as a testing ground to determine whether the party in Iowa has begun to reverse its nearly decade-long downward spiral. Special election Sept 1.

Sunday, August 23, 2009
McCain Agrees With Sarah Palin's ‘Death Panel' Myth
(1 comments) VIDEO: Sen. John McCain tells George Stephanopoulos that he sides with his former running mate Sarah Palin on there being a “death panel” in President Obama's health care proposal.

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Former Top Interrogators Back Wide-Ranging Criminal Probe Into Torture
Jack Cloonan, former FBI security and counterterrorism expert From 1996 to 2002, Cloonan was the senior case agent assigned to the "Bin Laden Squad" in the New York Office of the FBI.Three of the country's former top counterterrorism interrogators and intelligence experts, are speaking out publicly in support of a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the Bush administration's use of torture against“war on terror”detain

Sunday, August 23, 2009
High Winds Drive on Greek Wildfires
Firefighters spent a third day battling a spate of blazes on the suburbs around the Greek capital Sunday amid gale-force winds that whipped on the fires.After a Cabinet meeting Sunday, Deputy Home Minister Christos Markogiannakis said the situation "remains very difficult" and urged the public to stay calm.

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Mexico's Economy Taking Hits from All Directions
(1 comments) The Mexican economy went off a cliff in the second three months of 2009, with the gross domestic product dropping 10.3 percent from the same period last year, according to government figures. In addition to a global recession that has affected travel everywhere, tourists had already been wary of going to Mexico because of violence that has seen more than 11,000 people killed since December 2006

Sunday, August 23, 2009
U.N. official: Zimbabwe's Woes 'Pose Signficant Challenge'
Although Zimbabwe is not facing armed conflict, humanitarian threats such as food shortages and outbreak of diseases such as cholera pose a significant challenge," said Agostinho Zacarias, U.N. Development Programme representative in the country. "The recent [cholera] epidemic resulted in 98,592 cumulative cases, including 4,288 deaths between August 2008 and July 2009."

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Tourism Blues Amplified in N.O.
Although there are signs that the national economy is beginning to make its way out of recession and onto the path of recovery, one of New Orleans' largest industries will likely continue to sputter throughout the rest of the year and into 2010. The local hospitality industry is feeling the pinch this summer as companies that used to pay handsomely to send their executives for meetings in the Big Easy continue to cut travel

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Why I lLove Britain's Socialized Healthcare System
Because I am American, and those endless days and nights were spent in a maternity hospital in London, the week that followed has been very much on my mind as I listen to the recent attacks on the British National Health Service. It is a system that I found to be very different from the one currently being described as "evil" and "Orwellian" by politicians and commentators eager to use it as example of the dark side of public

Saturday, August 22, 2009
Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
A long-suppressed report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general to be released next week reveals that CIA interrogators staged mock executions as part of the agency's post-9/11 program to detain and question terror suspects, NEWSWEEK has learned.

Friday, August 21, 2009
From Junkyard to Community Garden
Near a San Francisco freeway choked with commuters, Jason Mark shows off rows of strawberries, cucumbers, and loquat trees.”It's time to water,” he said, checking on green beans growing like vines on stakes. Mr. Mark helps manage Alemany Farm, a volunteer-run garden that's an example of what the San Francisco mayor wants implemented all over the city: community gardens on vacant and underutilized city-owned lots.

Friday, August 21, 2009
GOP Push Bumps Rating on Missouri's Skelton
his rating change hardly means that Skelton is in dire trouble at this juncture. The low-key 77-year-old incumbent received 66 percent of the vote in his 2008 contest and 68 percent in 2006, typical showings for his long career. The only time in his 16 re-election campaigns that he received less than 60 percent of the vote was in a 1982 race against Republican Rep. Wendell Bailey, a face-off induced by redisricting

Friday, August 21, 2009
Freedom from Fear
(3 comments) weapons-brandishing displays are "intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population." Yes, the gun has been transformed from a sport and self-defense device into a tool of mass bullying. Like the noose in the Jim Crow South, its symbolic message is clear: If you dare engage in the democratic process, you risk bodily harm.The First Amendment ethos guarantees people -- whatever their politics--a fundamental right to partic

Friday, August 21, 2009
Former CIA Agent: "What the Agency Was Doing With Blackwater Scares the Hell Out of Me"
(2 comments) "What the agency was doing with Blackwater scares the hell out of me," said Jack Rice, a former CIA field operator who worked for the directorate of operations, which runs covert paramilitary activities for the CIA. "When the agency actually cedes all oversight and power to a private organization, an organization like Blackwater, most importantly they lose control and don't understand what's going on,

Friday, August 21, 2009
And Why Are We in Afghanistan?
The Afghanistan issue has crept to the sidelines of the national debate, but thousands of families are still directly affected. People still die; 6 more Americans fell today, and August 2009 could be the deadliest month in Afghanistan of the entire war. The President calls it a "war of necessity" and "fundamental to the defense of our people" but cannot credibly articulate what that actually means. Juan Cole makes 3 points

Friday, August 21, 2009
The Days of the Internet Free Lunch Are Numbered
Media billionaire Rupert Murdoch wants to start charging online readers of his newspapers a fee. His decision has launched a fierce debate over the future of the culture of free content on the Internet. It has also posed a difficult question for publishers: How much are we worth to readers? Rupert Murdoch has no use for computers. The 78-year-old Australian-American media billionaire doesn't like e-mail, he avoids the Interne

Friday, August 21, 2009
Hawaii's 50th Birthday Lost in Wave of Economic Gloom
Celebrations over Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood will be clouded today by the worst economic crisis in living memory. Its tourism industry, the lifeblood of the islands, has been hit by an unprecedented series of disasters, sending visitor numbers and revenues spiralling down.

Friday, August 21, 2009
Torture and Academic Freedom - Room for Debate Blog
When law classes began on Monday at the University of California, Berkeley, protesters gathered at the law school to call for the firing of John C. Yoo, a tenured professor and the author of Justice Department memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of terrorism suspects. The dean of the law school, Christopher Edley, has rejected calls for dismissal,

Friday, August 21, 2009
It May Be Time to Find a New Credit Card
By RON LIEBER Published: August 22, 2009 Rates and fees are rising as new rules take effect. But with good credit, you can always switch card issuers.

Friday, August 21, 2009
White House Deal with Drug Firms Draws Flak
(2 comments) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said wryly that she thought if PhRMA agreed to $80 billion in savings, it was likely that real savings could probably be twice that amount. She suggested that the House might not honor the White House-PhRMA-Senate deal. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that when he read news accounts suggesting that the White House had told PhRMA it would not pursue Canadian drug importation, he

Friday, August 21, 2009
As Farmers Flounder, Dean Foods Prospers
Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose home state of Vermont has lost 32 dairy farms so far this year, has gone on the offensive. "Dean Foods controls about 90 percent of the milk supply in Michigan, 80 percent in Massachusetts, over 80 percent in Tennessee and 70 percent in northern New Jersey. That's not a free market." Sanders says

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Baghdad Erupts Once Again
(2 comments) Juan Cole: The Iraqi government blamed al-Qaida for the bombings, which is to say, radical Sunni Arab fundamentalists. But these attacks look more military to me, targeting as they did government ministries, and I'd be surprised if former Iraqi Baathist military officers were not involved. Short video

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Why Senate Democrats are Giving up So Easily
About a month ago, Sen. Jeff Bingaman voted for a sweeping healthcare reform bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. At the time, the New Mexico Democrat said he was glad the "landmark legislation" was moving along, and particularly pleased that it included a "strong public option" that would let people without insurance buy into a government-run plan. ...after that, Bingaman joined the gang of 5

Thursday, August 20, 2009
At War: John Burns Is Answering Your Questions on Afghanistan
(1 comments) What this veteran correspondent describes as interactive journalism: By John F. Burns Published: August 19, 2009 John Burns, the Times's chief foreign correspondent, answers reader questions on the Afghanistan elections.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Kennedy, Looking Ahead, Urges a Quick Filling of Senate Seat
Video to discuss reasons for changing succession rule, previously changed by Romney in case Kerry had been elected. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders to change the succession law to guarantee that Massachusetts will not lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
U.S. Indicts Swiss Banker and Lawyer on Tax Charges
(1 comments) By LYNNLEY BROWNING Published: August 21, 2009 The move opens a new front in Washington's crackdown on Switzerland's tradition of bank secrecy. Two indicted.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Conrad Co-op Proposal Gets Lukewarm Response
He told more than 50 people at the Milnor Community Center that he came up with the plan after it became obvious to him that the public option wouldn't make the cut. Conrad told Seeberg that experts believe it would be possible to build a cooperative of 12 million members, which would make it the third-largest health insurance plan in the country.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
On Talk Radio, Obama Stands by Health Care Plan
President Barack Obama guaranteed Thursday that his health care overhaul will win approval and said any bill he signs will have to reduce rapidly rising costs, protect consumers from insurance abuses and provide affordable choices to the uninsured , while not adding to the federal deficit.

Thursday, August 20, 2009
Biden at Mt. Sinai: U.S. will Give $1.2B to Computerize Medical Records
(1 comments) Trauma nurse Chere Hamilton often finds herself checking for scars on patients to gather clues to their medical histories. That's because U.S. patient medical records are not readily accessible.Cash-strapped Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago's West Side where Hamilton and colleagues care for thousands of uninsured patients acted as the backdrop for Vice President Joe Biden's announcement that $1.2 billion will be allocated

Thursday, August 20, 2009
GOP Senators Call For New 75-80 Vote Superfilibuster Standard On Health Reform
(1 comments) Speaking on Fox News last night, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) claimed that health care reform should not happen because it doesn't enjoy “bipartisan” support, adding that a bill cannot be bipartisan unless it garners “somewhere between 75 and 80 votes.” Watch it:

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
What is Obama Defending in Afghanistan?
President Barack Obama gave a major speech on the Afghanistan War to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Arizona, on Monday. Ironically, the American Taliban was milling around outside the hall with guns as Obama spoke. Others have pointed out that Bush's handlers would never have allowed any such thing. Hell, they unconstitutionally designated 'protest zones.' Anyway, about Afghanistan - Juan Cole

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A Health Insurance Lawyer Takes on Industry Scare Tactics
Though we have stayed in the same city, my own family has gone through three insurance changes in the last 18 months, and each time we have had to switch doctors. My uncle, who is on Medicare, is not jumping through hoops like I am to get healthcare "" so think twice about which bureaucracy is standing between doctors and their patients. The real controversy lies with the so-called public option that would compete with private

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Three Reasons Why a Strong Public Option is Likely to be Part of Health Insurance Reform
When you put all of these factors together, it is very likely that later this year President Obama will sign a health insurance reform bill into law that will indeed include a strong public option - not simply because the President clearly supports it, but also because of the practical policy and political considerations that make it critically necessary to success.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The FDIC is Broke
When Colonial Bank failed on Friday, the 77th bank to fail this year, very few people noted that it was the largest bank failure of 2009. Even fewer people noted that the cost of cleaning it up required more capital resources than the FDIC had. The total losses of Friday's five bank failures, according to the FDIC, would be $3.67 Billion. The problem is that the FDIC had less than $650 million in its Deposit Insurance Fund

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Rethink Afghanistan (Part 6): Security
bravenewfilms video. One of several on the Afghan question.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Major Attacks in Baghdad Reveal Iraq's Vulnerability
By SAM DAGHER Published: August 20, 2009 Insurgents struck at the heart of Iraq's government on Wednesday, killing at least 95 people in the worst attacks since U.S. forces handed over security responsibilities in June.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Don Hewitt, Creator of "60 Minutes,' Dies at 86
(1 comments) By JACQUES STEINBERG Published: August 20, 2009 Mr. Hewitt changed the course of broadcast news by creating the TV magazine show.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
DLA Piper, Armey Part Ways, but Are All Smiles
East Palo Alto's DLA Piper is the world's largest law firm. It makes news mostly when it announces firmwide layoffs. But it clearly wasn't prepared for the fallout engendered by its association with hard-right former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, whose organization, FreedomWorks, has been at the forefront of those rambunctious "protests" at health reform town halls. Armey's job as one of DLA Piper's Washington hired guns ended

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Political Calculus of Health Care Reform
Galston is right that creating jobs and rebuilding the economy are vitally important both to the success of the nation and the Obama administration. But health care reform has become Obama's flagship issue, and a misstep could cost him.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Bloggers Back Obama's Agenda, Not His Strategy
Video with Arlen Specter at NetRoots Nation, with interview by The Nation. Discussion on whether Republicans will go along with a few of them voting for Health Insurance bill in the reconciliation phase. He names Senate names and mentions his understanding of Republican overall negative strategy.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sun-Times Columnist Robert Novak Dead at 78
(5 comments) Obituary of Robert Novak,published by the newspaper which was his working home.

Monday, August 17, 2009
Public Health-Care Option Optional: White House
President answering a young man who wants to debate him. Video.

Monday, August 17, 2009
Troy Davis : Finality over Fairness
On Monday August 17th the Supreme Court issued an order mandating a new evidentiary hearing for death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. In a 6-2 ruling, the nation's highest court decided that Davis should have another chance to prove his innocence before the state of Georgia puts him to death.

Sunday, August 16, 2009
G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier as War Evolves
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ Published: August 16, 2009 Before 2001, America's military women had rarely seen ground combat, but the Afghanistan and Iraq wars have changed that.

Sunday, August 16, 2009
Emanuel Wields Power Freely, and Faces the Risks
(1 comments) By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY Published: August 16, 2009 Rahm Emanuel is emerging as possibly the most influential White House chief of staff in a generation.

Sunday, August 16, 2009
A Public Option Isn't a Curse, or a Cure
By RICHARD THALER Published: August 16, 2009 An insurance option run by the government would neither invigorate nor destroy the health care system.

Sunday, August 16, 2009
Remarks by President Obama at Grand Junction Health Care Town Hall
Here in Grand Junction, you know that lowering costs is possible if you put in place smarter incentives; if you think about how to treat people, not just illnesses; if you look at problems facing not just one hospital or physician, but the many system-wide problems that are shared. That's what the medical community in this city did; now you are getting better results while wasting less money.

Sunday, August 16, 2009
Dick Armey Leaves Firm Amid Health Care Flap
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress

Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Brutal Truth About America's Healthcare
On the first day of the clinic, Remote Area Medical founder Stan Brock, left, announces the ground rules for participants.The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed "" for eight days only "" into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around

Saturday, August 15, 2009
Internet Service Provider's NSL Challenge (ACLU)
In September 2004, Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the NSL statute was unconstitutional under the First and Fourth Amendments. The government appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before the appeals court could issue a decision, however, Congress amended the statute

Saturday, August 15, 2009
Mose Jefferson Was Out to Help a Friend, his Attorney Says
Jefferson, the older brother of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, also faces charges of bribery -- for the payments made to Brooks-Simms -- and money laundering. Mose Jefferson, brother of convicted former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, faces federal charges of bribery and money laundering. Testimony in his trial resumes Monday.

Friday, August 14, 2009
July Data Recall Risk of Recession's Double-Dip
We don't wish to be alarmist, and one set of data points does not a trend make. But the latest first-time unemployment numbers (up), July retail sales (down) and foreclosure filings (the highest since RealtyTrac started publishing figures four years ago) can't help but bring to mind thoughts of "double-dip."

Friday, August 14, 2009
Top Broadband Firms Wary of Using Stimulus Funds
With the deadline today to apply for $4.7 billion in broadband grants, AT&T, Verizon and Comcast won't be going for the stimulus money, sources said. Their reasons are varied. All three say they are flush with

Thursday, August 13, 2009
"Death Panel Doc" is all About Life
The author of the paper is Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D, oncologist and bioethicist. At the time he wrote the paper, he was the director of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. Today, he works in the Obama administration. As many readers have heard, Emanuel, the brother of Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, has become a political piñata.

Thursday, August 13, 2009
Eating Meat Isn't Bad for the Planet, It's Our System of Raising the Animals That's Wrong
If I butcher a steer for my food, and that steer has been raised on grass on my farm, I am not responsible for any increased CO2. The pasture-raised animal eating grass in my field is not producing CO2, merely recycling it (short term carbon cycle) as grazing animals (and human beings) have since they evolved.

Thursday, August 13, 2009
Unlikely Duo Seeks Middle Ground on Health Care
Thorough background on Baucus/Grassley activity--and other Senators. Conrad is not the only senior Democrat who believes his party will need Republican support to gain the 60-vote supermajority necessary to overcome a GOP filibuster and move a major health care bill to the president this year. "I still need some Republicans," said Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Use of Drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Deadly, but Legal?
Even the legal basis for the targeted killing policy in Pakistan is shrouded in secrecy. Is the CIA operating under the laws of war or some other law? Under the laws of war, only organized armed forces can kill during hostilities; civilian agencies like the CIA cannot.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
SPLC Report: Return of the Militias
(2 comments) The 1990s saw the rise and fall of the virulently antigovernment "Patriot" movement, made up of paramilitary militias, tax defiers and so-called "sovereign citizens." Sparked by a combination of anger at the federal government and the deaths of political dissenters at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, the movement took off in the middle of the decade and continued to grow even after 168 people were left dead by the 1995 bom

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Billionaire Buys Half-off S.F. Office Building
Latest dispatch from San Francisco's commercial real estate front: The 16-story office building at 250 Montgomery St. is now in the hands of multibillionaire Oklahoma tycoon George Kaiser . His Argonaut Private Equity...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
AlterNet: The Tragedy of Our 'Disappeared' Veterans
(2 comments) And this is not a new phenomenon. The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, published in 1990, found that more than a decade after the Vietnam conflict ended, 15 percent of male veterans still suffered from PTSD, and half of them had been arrested or in jail at least once. Most Vietnam War veterans deployed for exactly one year. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced longer and repeated deployments

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
2 U.S. Architects of Harsh Tactics in 9/11's Wake
Part one: By SCOTT SHANE Published: August 12, 2009 In 2002, two psychologists found a business opportunity selling interrogation and training services to the C.I.A.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Did Rove Follow Siegelman Case? Oh, Yes
But the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released documents and testimony yesterday showing that Rove did keep up with Alabama politics""including the legal difficulties of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
More Than 500 Days of Recession
Graphs of GDP declines, at various recessions. Despite the overall contraction, the fingerprints of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act could be seen in some aspect of today's report

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help
hey often lose coverage at age 19 or upon high school or college graduation: nearly two of five (38%) high school graduates who do not enroll in college and one-third of college graduates are uninsured for a time during the first year after graduation.

Monday, August 10, 2009
Is Google Playing by the Book?
For several years Google, the Internet search and advertising giant, has been scanning millions of books for digital use. The aim of this huge effort is to make available online as much of the world's written record as possible. But shortly after Google began, it was sued by authors and publishers for alleged copyright infringement

Monday, August 10, 2009
Head of MI-6 Defends Against Torture Allegations
(2 comments) By JOHN F. BURNS Published: August 11, 2009 Sir John Scarlett's interview with BBC was the first given by a serving head of Britain's overseas intelligence agency.

Monday, August 10, 2009
Taliban Seize Building for Attack on Afghan Government Offices
By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and CARLOTTA GALL Published: August 11, 2009 Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the police headquarters and the governor's office of a provincial town just south of Kabul.

Monday, August 10, 2009
Coal's Future Wagered on Carbon Capture
The stimulus bill devoted $2.4 billion to pilot projects. On Monday the Obama administration awarded $20 million of that to a program that uses supersonic shockwaves to compress carbon for storage, on top of $408 million in stimulus money awarded to two other carbon pilot projects. It has pledged $1 billion more to a model plant called FutureGen. If the Waxman-Markey climate bill becomes law, a new Carbon Storage Research Cor

Monday, August 10, 2009
Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns
(1 comments) current ban on cookies, according to a senior OMB officials, applies only to federal agencies and not third parties. That means that a visitor to http://www.whitehouse.gov, for example, isn't tracked by the government, but information about a user who clicks on a YouTube video on the site could be tracked by Google, according to a source at the company with knowledge of the partnership with the Obama administration

Sunday, August 9, 2009
Hunger Hits Detroit's Middle Class
...In this recession-racked town, the lack of food is a serious problem. It's a theme that comes up again and again in conversations in Detroit. There isn't a single major chain supermarket in the city. As the area's economy worsens --unemployment was over 16% in July -- food stamp applications and pantry visits have surged

Sunday, August 9, 2009
Three Banks Fail as 2009 U.S. Total Rises to 72
Regulators seized three banks Friday in Florida and Oregon, increasing the number of 2009 U.S. bank failures to 72...The number of U.S. bank failures this year is the most since 1992, when 179 institutions went under.

Sunday, August 9, 2009
Twitter Collapse Could be Linked to History of Russia-Georgia Conflict
(2 comments) As Facebook, Twitter and other popular Internet services investigated the cause of this week's massive computer attacks, attention turned to a blogger whose writings blasting Russian officials may have been the target...he calls himself George and describes his location as "Georgia, Tbilisi" -- he has written "Russia is aggressor."

Sunday, August 9, 2009
Attorney General Poised to Launch CIA Abuse Probe
(2 comments) U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appears poised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogation abuses, a step that would bring unprecedented scrutiny to cases that ended in the alleged torture and death of detainees, U.S. government officials said.Opening a criminal probe is something Holder "has come reluctantly to consider," a Justice Department official said. "But as attorney general, he has the obligati

Sunday, August 9, 2009
Anne Wexler, Political Adviser and Lobbyist, Dies at 79
(1 comments) Wexler was described as the first woman to own a lobbying firm. She was regarded as an informal adviser to the Clinton administration during its two terms in office.

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Senate Committee's Bipartisan Health-Care Reform Talks Move Toward Center
Democrats also suspect that GOP lawmakers are wary about supporting reform at the risk of attracting conservative primary opponents. One potential target: Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the lead Republican health-care negotiator, who will run for reelection next year. Despite his close relationship with Baucus, Grassley told Iowa reporters on Wednesday that the talks may still fall apart. "Who knows, we may not have a produ

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Watch the Tortured Logic Video -- Torture Memos
Please note that by playing this clip, YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see YouTube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU's privacy statement, click here. To see a listing of those involved in the making of this video, click here

Thursday, August 6, 2009
White House Has Difficulty Measuring Afghan Progress
By DAVID E. SANGER, ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER Published: August 7, 2009 The Obama administration has asked for more time to define benchmarks and other indicators of progress, but Democrats on Capitol Hill are growing impatient.

Thursday, August 6, 2009
Ex-Chief of A.I.G. Settles S.E.C. Case for $15 Million
By JACK HEALY Published: August 7, 2009 Maurice R. Greenberg was accused of overseeing deals that fraudulently overstated A.I.G.’s financial position.

Thursday, August 6, 2009
We Could be Facing Another Jobless Recovery
In the postwar era, there have been 10 recessions excluding the present one. After the first eight ended, unemployment usually peaked within a few months - about three on average. But after the last two recessions, the unemployment rate kept climbing for more than a year, giving rise to the term jobless recovery. The rate didn't peak until 15 months after the recession ending in 1991, and 19 months following the one ending in

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Legislators for Sale
Olbermann video. He says Senator Thune is bought.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Federal Judges Order California to Release 43,000 Inmates
California must shrink the population of its teeming prisons by nearly 43,000 inmates over the next two years to meet constitutional standards, a panel of three federal judges ruled Tuesday, ordering the state to come up with a reduction plan by mid-September. The order cited Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's own words when he proclaimed a state of emergency in the corrections system in 2006 and warned of substantial risk

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
2nd Day of South Korean Factory Raid
(1 comments) By CHOE SANG-HUN Published: August 6, 2009 Police commandos stormed a car factory in what the authorities hoped would be a final push to evict workers who had seized the plant.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Kohl's Hiring as it Opens Six Bay Area Stores
Kohl's discount department stores will hire more than 750 people to add six Bay Area stores in locations that had belonged to Mervyns before that chain went bankrupt last year

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
End the Fed? A Not-so-Crazy Idea.
But Mr. Paul, a noted libertarian who ran for president last year, also wants to keep the Fed out of Congress's clutches �" by scrapping it altogether. That's the goal of his follow-up Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act (H.R. 833). Although that measure has yet to gain a single cosponsor, it has plenty of grass-roots support, and Paul hopes that members of Congress will jump on the bandwagon once their eyes are opened

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Higher Costs Spur Rise in U.S. Consumer Spending
(1 comments) By JACK HEALY Published: August 5, 2009 Consumers spent more in June because prices of food and energy were rising, not because they were ready to spend freely again.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
It's Time to Get Out of Iraq While the Getting is Good
Reese, who spent his most recent tour as an adviser to the Iraqi Army's Baghdad command, says that it's time for us "to declare victory and go home." He recommends that we accelerate the pullout so that all U.S. combat troops and virtually all the rest of the Americans now serving in Iraq are gone by August of 2010, some 15 months earlier than planned.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Meat of the Matter
Interesting book review of "Righteous Porkchop" where the author expected an "immersion in poop." In one day, certain hog farms generate more pig manure than New York City produces human waste, the lawyer learned. The fumes are so great that confined hogs sometimes die of asphyxiation

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
States in Distress
Editorial:Published: August 4, 2009 The Great Recession is taking a drastic toll on states’ budgets, and with their problems far from over, savvy political leadership from the Obama administration is needed.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Health Care Debate a Campaign Cash Cow
During the first half of 2009, health industry groups contributed almost $1.8 million to 18 lawmakers overseeing the House side of the action on an overhaul bill. Political action committees are allowed to give a maximum of $10,000 in an election cycle and another $10,000 to a lawmaker’s leadership PAC, which is used to distribute money to colleagues.

Monday, August 3, 2009
Startup's Stickers Identify the Source of Food
"With food safety as big as it is, we can give each watermelon its own code so a consumer can check on the Internet to see where it is grown," said Ryan Van Groningen of Van Groningen & Sons Farms, which sells watermelons under the Yosemite Fresh brand.

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out
(1 comments) By ERIK ECKHOLM Published: August 2, 2009 Tens of thousands of workers have used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come. Methinks: now might be a good time to bone up on New Deal Writers Project. Think Gordon Parks and Margaret Walker.

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Proposed Counseling for Seniors in Health Plan Spurs New Battle
A campaign on conservative talk radio, fueled by President Obama's calls to control exorbitant medical bills, has sparked fear among senior citizens that the health-care bill moving through Congress will lead to end-of-life "rationing" and "euthanasia."The controversy stems from a proposal to pay physicians who counsel elderly or terminally ill patients about what medical interventions they would prefer near the end of life

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Distortions Rife in Health Care Debate
Confusing claims and outright distortions have animated the national debate over changes in the health care system. Opponents of proposals by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats falsely claim that government agents will force elderly people to discuss end-of-life wishes. Obama has played down the possibility that a health care overhaul would cause large numbers of people to change doctors and insurers.

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Rehabilitation: One Possible Solution for Some Gitmo Detainees
On a recent trip to Kuwait, I was pleased to learn that Kuwait, like Saudi Arabia, had built a rehabilitation center in anticipation of the return of its four remaining citizens. The center comes at just the right time. One Kuwaiti, Khaled Al Mutairi, was ordered released this week and the remaining three, including Fayiz, have their habeas hearings scheduled in the next two months.

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Panetta’s Pathetic Attempt to Get Lawmakers to Ignore CIA Crimes » Print
Today’s Washington Post carries an op-ed by CIA Director Leon Panetta that accuses the congress of seeking “retribution” from CIA officials who were simply implementing “presidential decisions.”Panetta’s views are similar to those of former director Richard Helms who, in defending the CIA’s role in overthrowing the elected government in Chile, said that “we are all honorable men.”

Saturday, August 1, 2009
In Rural America, Skepticism of Health Care Reform
WALSENBURG, Colo. (AP) -- Don't tell Dorothy J. Tenorio that Washington is nearing a deal to improve her health care. A former grocery clerk, Tenorio's been scraping by on disability benefits for more than a decade. The 60-year-old, and many of her neighbors, are skeptical health care overhauls pending in Congress will change much in Colorado's rural San Juan Valley. Many folks in Huerfano County, population 7,900, depend on

Saturday, August 1, 2009
Camillus House Advocate Pedro José Greer to Receive White House Honor
Greer finds himself in distinguished company. Other honorees this year include Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, British physicist Stephen Hawking, former Irish President Mary Robinson, tennis player and gender equality activist Billie Jean King, and Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, who is considered the father of micro-lending. Gay rights activist Harvey Milk will also be receive a posthumous meda

Saturday, August 1, 2009
Slice of Central US Safe from Recession Shrinking
When booming, energy extraction kept unemployment low. In Oklahoma, for example, unemployment began creeping upward not long after as energy prices began sliding in September. It stood at 6.3 percent in June, up from 3.8 percent in June 2008. Wyoming's unemployment rate was 5.9 percent in June _ far below the national average of 9.5 percent, but the highest in the state since June 1999.

Saturday, August 1, 2009
Alabama Area Reeling in Face of Fiscal Crisis
Birmingham area: By SHAILA DEWAN Published: August 1, 2009 On Saturday, two-thirds of Jefferson County employees will be laid off in an effort to stave off financial ruin.

Saturday, August 1, 2009
Stimulus Funding Provides $17 Million Loan to Community Hospital
Praise piece on hometown boy Sen. Nelson led the group through the initial bill line by line, dollar by dollar, to reduce spending and cut out $108 billion of inefficient or less-stimulative spending. The bipartisan group helped the improved bill win congressional approval. President Obama signed it into law February 17, 2009. Nelson is posting information about the release of stimulus finds on his Web site as it becomes avai

Saturday, August 1, 2009
Tragedy Struck after Judge Put Off Security System
(2 comments) A federal judge whose mother and husband were shot and killed by a disgruntled litigant said Saturday that she looked into buying a home security system but that it seemed too expensive and "we just didn't do it." Bart Ross, an electrician whose medical malpractice suit had been dismissed by Lefkow, killed himself two weeks later and left a note confessing to the crime. DNA evidence and spent shells confirmed Ross was killer

Friday, July 31, 2009
E-Mails Show Larger White House Role in Prosecutor Firings
Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe.

Friday, July 31, 2009
Ambassadorships for Sale
A cynic studying the latest batch of nominees might conclude that the price of an ambassadorship has soared from roughly $200,000 under the Rovian regime to $500,000 under Rahm Emanuel. n his first six months, Obama has forwarded 58 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. Retired career diplomat Dennis Jett reports in the Daily Beast that 32 of these nominees""55% of the total""are political appointees.

Friday, July 31, 2009
In Afghanistan, Taliban Kills More Civilians Than US
The UN report is a bad news, good news document for the US and its Afghan allies. The 21-page report (PDF), issued July 31, found that insurgents killed almost twice as many civilians in the first six months of the year as the coalition did (595 deaths against 309). The UN said it was a "significant shift" from the first half of 2007, when insurgent groups killed 298 civilians and US and allied forces killed 265.

Friday, July 31, 2009
Could the Great Recession Lead to a Great Revolution?
(3 comments) ...we live at an important historical juncture "" one where alternatives to the world's neoliberal capitalism could emerge. Thus, it is a particularly apt time to examine revolutionary movements that have periodically challenged dominant state and imperial power structures over the past 500 years.

Friday, July 31, 2009
Why the Anti-Choice Movement Is on the Verge of Civil War
Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) is, in many ways, a typical pro-life American. He opposes abortion and, because of that, supports every effort to prevent the need for it. Just like most pro-life Americans, Ryan supports contraception -- primarily because it is the most effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy, and thereby abortion. And yet because of this, Ryan no longer qualifies as "pro-life."

Friday, July 31, 2009
Why a Growing Economy May Still Feel Like a Recession
By FLOYD NORRIS Published: August 1, 2009 One area where that can be seen is shipments of durable goods produced by American companies. The rate of such shipments fell by more than 20 percent during this recession, and would have declined further were it not for increased production of weapons.In no previous downturn since 1958, when the figures began being recorded, had the decline been as much as 14 percent.

Friday, July 31, 2009
House Panel Approves Landmark Health-Care Bill
(1 comments) By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN Published: August 1, 2009 A pivotal House committee backed the legislation by a 31-to-28 vote. No Republicans voted for the bill.

Thursday, July 30, 2009
Obama Attacks Insurers
From the Raleigh newspaper: "I personally support what he has got on the table," said Bill Atkinson, president and CEO of WakeMed, Wake County's largest hospital, who cut short a vacation to attend the meeting. "He's up against some tough obstructionists. "Most people are worried about change. He is up against some well-entrenched special interests, including my own industry.

Thursday, July 30, 2009
New Book Addresses the Need for Quality Autism Instruction
Due to the continuous increase in students with autism in school systems throughout the world, the need for quality autism classrooms is at its highest. How to Set Up a Classroom for Students with Autism addresses this need. Parents, administrators and teachers often want to provide the best education for their students, but do not know where to start.

Thursday, July 30, 2009
Health Care Reform: 450,000 Doctors Can't Be Wrong
Short video from "healhealthcare.now" with doctors' appeal for better chances to spend time with their patients.

Thursday, July 30, 2009
In Tennessee Corner, Stimulus Meets New Deal
By MICHAEL COOPER Published: July 28, 2009 Personal observation: Perry County has provided National Guard recruits and cheap labor for outsourced corrections workers. It was rewarding to hear a person whose sister is a guard member say how glad she was to read the article.Governor Bredesen is term-limited from running in 2010.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
'Blue Dogs' Remain Dissatisfied With Health Bill
(2 comments) Hoyer is among the leaders negotiating with seven Blue Dogs on Energy and Commerce who have blocked the markup while demanding changes to the bill (HR 3200). Until the measure is either approved in committee or pulled without a markup, the House cannot go forward with a floor vote. Chairman Henry A. Waxman , D-Calif., appears determined to stick to regular order, as do other top Democrats.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Arrested in Silence: Police use Taser, Pepper Spray on Deaf Man
(2 comments) After forcibly removing Antonio Love from the bathroom of the Azalea Road Dollar General store, officers attempted to book the 37-year-old, on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer, but the magistrate on duty at the jail refused to accept any of those charges. Love's family members said they had no idea where he was during the time that police had him in custody.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Massive Saharan Solar Project Leaves U.S. in Shade
(3 comments) The idea is old, but the caliber of support is new. Last week's announcement revealed just who was involved: Not just Siemens and Munich Re (the German answer to AIG) but also the Spanish power company Abengoa, a Swiss power-grid company called ABB, an Algerian conglomerate called Cevital, a number of big solar companies and investment banks, not to mention the European Union.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
SMU Settles Dispute over Land Near Future Site of Bush Library
(3 comments) The surprise settlements remove one of the potential obstacles to construction of the $300 million library. In recent years, Southern Methodist University tamped down resistance from a small contingent of faculty members and from some Methodist churchgoers who said SMU should not house a policy institute at the library complex.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Forget Who Pays Medical Bills, It's Who Sets the Cost
By DAVID LEONHARDT Published: July 26, 2009 Doctors and the fee-for-service system are at the center of the health care debate. NOTE: This article talks about how AMA opposed the Cleveland and Mayo Clinics.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Seven North Carolinians Charged in Terror Plot
(2 comments) Seven North Carolina men were arrested and charged on Monday with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists overseas. Federal authorities also charged the men with plotting to murder, kidnap, and maim individuals overseas as part of a plan to wage what prosecutors said was "violent jihad." The lead defendant, Daniel Patrick Boyd, is an alleged "veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan," offi

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
U.S. Budget Is Scrutinized by a Big Creditor
(3 comments) Throughout the two-day conference, which ends Tuesday, the subtext has been that Mr. Obama must persuade more than just Blue Dog Democrats, moderate Republicans and skeptical economists that he has a plausible long-term plan to bring down a record-breaking federal deficit. He also has to convince the occupants of the Great Hall of the People, whom he needed to show up at this week's $200 billion Treasury auction, and the many

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Swiss Bank Inquiry Widens as UBS Client Pleads Guilty
By LYNNLEY BROWNING Published: July 29, 2009 Mr. Chernick, of Stanfordville, N.Y., was charged with a single count of filing a false and fraudulent tax return for 2007 in connection with his UBS account, according to court papers filed in Federal District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
S.F. Tower's Owners will Forfeit it to Lender
The owners of a premier San Francisco office tower plan to forfeit the property to their lenders, the city's second distressed transaction involving a major commercial building in recent weeks and another sign of the growing pressures in the sector. "San Francisco will have a whole new slate of players within three years," said David Klein, senior vice president with San Francisco brokerage NAI BT Commercial.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Health Care For The Blue Dogs
(1 comments) Jacob S. Hacker: Blue Dogs have the future of health-care reform in their hands. If they hold firm to their principles of fiscal responsibility and effective relief for workers and employers in their districts, what's good for Blue Dogs will also be good for America.

Monday, July 27, 2009
Secret Evidence of Global Warming in Alaska That Bush Did Not Want You to See
The graphic photographs, released last week by the American military, show huge swathes of summer ice cover have disappeared from the Chukchi Sea. The photos were kept strictly secret by the Washington administration under George W Bush and were declassified by the White House last week.

Monday, July 27, 2009
Amid New Scrutiny, John Yoo Rebuts Critics of Detainee Memos
Last month, a federal judge in California refused to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Yoo of violating a detainee's constitutional rights. This month, the Justice Department's inspector general described Yoo's legal analysis of the Bush surveillance program as "insufficient" & sometimes inaccurate. Also expected in coming weeks is a department ethics report that sources have said could renounce Yoo's approval of harsh CIA interr

Monday, July 27, 2009
Obama Opens Policy Talks With China
By MARK LANDLER Published: July 28, 2009 The president welcomed Chinese leaders to Washington to begin high-level consultations on a variety of issues.

Monday, July 27, 2009
Verizon Plans to Trim 8,000 Jobs
By SAUL HANSELl Published: July 28, 2009 The company reported a 21 percent decline in net income for the second quarter. Much of the cuts deal with the hardline division.

Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Ultimate Obama Insider
A must read for those interested in the president's team. By ROBERT DRAPER Published: July 26, 2009 Valerie Jarrett is one of the president's most influential advisers. So what does she do, exactly?

Sunday, July 26, 2009
Casualties of War, Part I: The Hell of War Comes Home
(4 comments) Colorado Springs,CO- This month, Fort Carson released a 126-page report by a task force of behavioral-health and Army professionals who looked for common threads in the soldiers' crimes. They concluded that the intensity of battle, the long-standing stigma against seeking help, and shortcomings in substance-abuse and mental-health treatment may have converged with "negative outcomes,

Friday, July 24, 2009
In Victory for Black Firefighters, FDNY Hiring Practices Ruled Racially Discriminatory
July 22, 2009, New York, NY Today, United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit charging the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with racially discriminatory hiring practices. The case, which proved the FDNY examination was in violation of civil rights laws, was filed on behalf of the Vulcan Society, the fraternal organization of Black firefighters in the FDNY

Friday, July 24, 2009
House Chairman Signals 'Breakthrough' on Health Care Talks
(1 comments) By By David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear Published: July 24, 2009 House leaders announce a potentially crucial agreement on reducing geographical disparities in the rates that Medicare pays health-care providers around the country.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
:Bergen Mayor Arrested in Federal Corruption Sweep
Federal authorities have made mass arrests this morning in Hudson and Bergen counties on public corruption and money laundering charges. It is believed to be one of the largest roundups by federal authorities in state history. New Jersey and New York rabbis are among those in custody but any connection to the public officials is unclear. The rabbis are believed to live both in Brooklyn and Deal.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Corporal Punishment Legal in Tennessee, Used in Memphis and Shelby County
The state of Tennessee allows schools districts and in some cases individual schools to set their own standards for corporal punishment. For decades, Memphis City Schools (MCS) were criticized for allowing spanking to continue in its schools. The MCS school board reviewed the policy several times over many years before deciding in 2004 to stop corporal punishment. However, paddling is still a practice in the Shelby County

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Who Caused the Economic Crisis?
John R. Talbott is a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs and the author of "The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street," "Contagion," "Obamanomics," and "The Coming Crash in the Housing Market." His books predicted the housing market crash, the financial crisis and the election of Barack Obama when Obama was still a little-known underdog. Talbott is currently engaged in trying to build what he calls "a grass-roots movement

Thursday, July 23, 2009
"I Would Shut Down the Hedge Fund Industry"
It is a real question how a country can stop corruption once corruption reaches its legislature, since the legislature is the place where we would expect reform legislation to be enacted. I believe this is one of the reasons why the poorest countries of the world have remained poor for centuries. As we have seen here in the U.S., once you lose control of your legislature, accomplishing real reform is a much bigger problem.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Lessons From Hard Times Past
We don't know how severe the current "great recession" will be. One thing we know from hard times past, however, is that they are almost always declared over when they have barely begun. Prosperity is always just around the corner. True to form, as early as April, headlines like "Top U.S. officials offered reassurances that the worst of the economic downturn is likely over,"

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Foreclosures Dip but Default Notices Rise
A key indicator of mortgage trouble hit an all-time high for the Bay Area in the second quarter, according to a real estate report released Wednesday. Notices of default, sent to people who are delinquent on their home loans, totaled nearly 20,000 for the nine-county region in April, May and June, said MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate data company.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
State Budget Plan to Demand Faster Tax Payments
Under the budget plan being voted on today, the state would accelerate its collection of income taxes in three ways. It would increase the amount withheld from employee paychecks by 10 percent, speed up estimated tax payments, and begin withholding state income tax from certain payments - such as interest, dividends and gambling winnings - when those payments are subject to federal-tax withholding.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Air Force Considers Ways to Expand Use of Drones
By CHRISTOPHER DREW Published: July 24, 2009 The Air Force envisions drones that could do the work of bombers and cargo planes and miniature ones that could spy inside a room.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Obama Sells Health Care Reform at Town Hall Meeting in Shaker Heights and Cleveland Clinic -
20-Minute video. Obama talked about the need to create quality, affordable health coverage as part of his administration's larger agenda to rebuild the economy, end dependence on foreign oil and improve the educational system. And he hammered away on the theme of controlling costs. "I have pledged that I will not sign health insurance reform that adds even one dime to our deficit over the next decade," he said.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
If a Healthcare Bill Passes, this Group Might Be Why
We're slogging through all the legislative process," says Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine, a member of the informal group. Other finance panel members in the bipartisan group include the committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D) of Montana; the ranking Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa; Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah; Sen. Michael Enzi (R) of Wyoming; and Sen. Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota, chair of the Senate Budget Com

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
White House Delays Report on Closing Guantanamo
A key task force set up to help close the terror detention camp at Guant�namo Bay, Cuba, has been granted an additional six months to study policy options to complete the shutdown. Administration officials concede that the issues surrounding the transfer or prosecution of the 229 remaining detainees are difficult and defy easy resolution. But they told reporters in a recent background briefing that extra time was needed

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Health Reform Could Lead HCA to Go Public Again
HCA is company of Bill Frist & family. "The timing is very interesting that you could certainly have a confluence of events in the fall where we'll know one way or the other about health reform. The company will have been private for three years at which point their private equity investors may want or may need a return on their investments," Skolnick theorized.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Report: Big Cuts Needed at Huge Baghdad Embassy that Bush Built
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq, the government's largest overseas diplomatic mission, is significantly overstaffed and needs to be downsized to reflect the reduced American role in the country, according to a new State Department report. The 103-page inspector general's report gives high marks to embassy personnel for what it calls an exemplary relationship

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
More Taxes for All in North Carolina
The proposal calls for increases in sales taxes and sin taxes, as well as a two-year surcharge on corporate and individual income taxes for all taxpayers, to raise $990 million. It would put the total budget for this fiscal year at about $18.9 billion.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Bernanke Warns Against Too Much Optimism over Economy
(1 comments) "We expect the recovery to start off relatively slow and it is, in part, because of the consumer who is facing a damaged balance sheet, still has high debt on the balance sheet, wealth has been reduced in housing and equity price declines," the Fed chairman said. "So we don't expect the consumer to come roaring back by any means, particularly with the labor market in the position that it is in."

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
State's Giant Pension Funds Post Big Losses
The California Public Employees' Retirement System has reported that its giant investment fund lost $56.2 billion in the 12 months that ended June 30, ending the fiscal year with $180.9 billion in assets. The fund reported a preliminary investment return of minus 23.4 percent for the year.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
State Pension System Still Needs Reform
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait another day to address such modest-sounding proposals as raising the retirement age from 55 to 60 for new public employees, and from 50 to 55 for cops and firefighters. Public safety pensions would be based on employees' top three years of pay, rather than the biggest single year, and the requirement for lifetime health benefits would be upped to 25 years of service.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Morgan Stanley Posts Another Loss
The bank said its prime brokerage unit, which provides services for hedge funds and was hit hard, was showing improvements. But the bank continued to be troubled by its push into real estate just before the financial crisis, reporting a charge of about $730 million. There were also integration costs because of its Smith Barney acquisition.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Health Bill: Big Lobbying Fight Means Big Money
2nd qtr spending on Health bill gives idea of importance to various groups. The filings illustrate how many groups - including senior advocacy groups and industry and labor organizations - are spending more to influence Congress as it barrels toward a decision on overhauling health care.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Pelosi's Door Revolves for Top Lobbyist
The revolving door is wide open in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office just two years after she promised to crack down on the practice of congressional aides moving into lobbying shops and then back into government. Pelosi announced Monday that she is hiring one of Washington's top lobbyists, Richard Meltzer, to be her policy director.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Move Over Tomatoes, Here Come Heirloom Cows and Heritage Chickens
Endangered heritage breeds have one saving grace: They're generally tasty. Because of this, an odd collection of interest groups - U.N. bureaucrats, conservation scientists, small farmers and foodies - have coalesced around the eat-'em-to-save-'em strategy.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Transparency in the Federal Reserve [event]
This forum examined the Federal Reserve's role in addressing the financial crisis, its exploding balance sheet, and its penchant for secrecy-which is now coming under increasing fire. Our special guest was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a longtime advocate for greater transparency in the central banking body. Sen. Sanders opened the event at 9:30 a.m. with a look at efforts in the Senate to open the Fed's books. [video]

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
How a Small Town Resembles Facebook
The unusual aspect of this small-town rumor-mongering was its location. We weren't in a traditional gossiping spot such as the post office, coffee shop or microbrewery. We were on Facebook, the social-networking Web site, which now claims to be the world's fourth-busiest online destination. The fad was relatively slow to reach my rural Western town, but now that it's here, I'm struck by how its success comes from mimicking

Monday, July 20, 2009
When the Women of Afghanistan Speak, Does Howard Dean Listen?
Dean claimed that we must expand the war in Afghanistan for the sake of the country's women. Not according to them. We just interviewed an afghan parliamentarian, Dr. Wardak and she said the opposite. She said that yes, she agrees with you on the way women are treated, but this is worsening the treatment--that the increased number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, the huge number of troops that are coming in right now,

Monday, July 20, 2009
Rachel Maddow Takes Down MSNBC's Resident Racist, Pat Buchanan
In the past few months, conservative griping about the oppression of white men has come back with a vengeance. Lacking any real material with which to attack judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Republican lawmakers and media conservatives have mightily struggled to paint Sotomayor as an unqualified affirmative-action candidate

Monday, July 20, 2009
Jakarta Bombings: Why Indonesia's Islamist Radicals Attack
ndonesian authorities said Sunday that there is an increasing evidence that the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an Islamist group responsible for more than 300 murders in attacks dating back to 2000, was responsible for Friday's deadly attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta.

Monday, July 20, 2009
Clinton's India Trip Could Net New Defense Pact
n a move that could buoy United States defense firms and increase India's military might, the US and India are expected to sign a defense pact on Monday. The agreement would set terms for US officials to monitor India's weapons usage and allow the US to sell sophisticated military technology to India, including fighter jets.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Fresno County, Left in the Dust
But what Riofrio and others will tell you is that, despite the surge of interest in this region, the crisis did not materialize suddenly. Rather, the people of Mendota and their neighbors -- in Kerman, Firebaugh, San Joaquin and a handful of smaller burgs -- are the victims of a long and painful slide. This is California's Detroit.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
University of Michigan Economists See Jobs Declines Continuing in State for Rest of Year Before Turning Around in 2010
Michigan is expected to lose 311,000 jobs between the end of last year and the end of 2009, according to the forecast. Economist George Fulton: "These are declines we've not seen in 30 years. That struck me." Since a peak in mid-2000, the state has lost 15.6 percent of its workforce, the greatest decline since the mid-1950's, the earliest state data available.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Burr Oak Scandal 'Was in No Way Obvious,' Exec Says
(2 comments) Trudi McCollum Foushee, a management consultant for Perpetua who was in charge of day-to-day operations at Burr Oak, pointed out it was a company groundskeeper who discovered the first piece of evidence in the case -- a partial skull -- in an unused section of the cemetery in late May. Foushee said she immediately notified police.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Maggie Jackson's Book Distracted A Video
Maggie Jackson, author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, speaks about the origins of short attention spans and the tools being developing to stretch them.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Orszag Says Opponents Are Trying to Delay Health-Care Overhaul
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said opponents of overhauling the U.S. health-care system are trying to run out the clock and that the White House still wants Congress to produce legislation by August. "We need to get this done," Orszag said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We want to get it done by August."

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Does Your School Spank?
Ohio just became the 30th State to Ban Physical or Corporal Punishment of children in schools, making it illegal for school employees to hit children with wooden paddles to punish them. Congress Education Committee is currently holding hearings on Abusive and Deadly practices in schools, see Congressman George Miller's website. Over 50 national children's health and education organizations are opposed to Physical Punishment

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Southern Parents Spank Their Kids
According to one poll, 62 percent of Southern parents spank their kids,compared to 41 percent of non-Southern parents. While taboo in most of America and illegal in some European countries, spanking still seems to be no big deal in the South.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Soldier Held in Afghanistan is 23-year-old Idahoan
A soldier from Idaho who disappeared from his base in Afghanistan has been captured, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday, a day after he was seen in a Taliban video posted online. The Defense Department released the name of Pfc. Bowe (pronounced BOW) R. Bergdahl, 23, who was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment. The private was last seen walking away from his base near the border with Pakistan

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Celebrating Cronkite While Ignoring What He Did
"For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate . . . . To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past" -- Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News, February 27, 1968. ...and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. It's not our role" -- David Gregory, MSNBC, May 28, 2008.

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Grain, Livestock Farmers Resist Regulation by FDA
(1 comments) A bill to overhaul the safety of the nation's food supply is confusingly written and must not go forward until the Food and Drug Administration power over grain and livestock is removed, food industry representatives and members of Congress said Thursday. Industry representatives from the American Meat Institute, the National Farmers Union, and other groups, as well as some lawmakers, don't think the FDA has enough experience

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Zelaya's Removal Has Led to Honduras's Diplomatic Strangulation
The Organization of American States (OAS), headquartered in Washington D.C., has become the epicenter of regional efforts at diplomatically isolating the Republic of Honduras after a constitutional crisis lead to the forced deportation of the country's president by military forces, acting under orders of the Supreme Court. (Discusses other nations and organizations outside the Western Hemisphere.)

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Congressman Jim McDermott - Health Legislation
The historic health care reform legislation that was voted out of the House Ways and Means Committee early this morning includes Rep. Jim McDermott's Early Support for Families Act that he introduced along with Rep. Danny Davis earlier this year. The bill is now Section 1904 of H.R. 3200, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. The provision would provide $1.8 billion over ten years for grants to States, tribes

Friday, July 17, 2009
Citigroup and BofA Report Profits, Aided by Asset Sales
By GERRY SHIH Published: July 18, 2009 Bank of America and Citigroup's profits were driven by billions of dollars in one-time gains. Without those one-offs, the banks would have lost billions.

Friday, July 17, 2009
Fearless in the Face of Chechnya's Worst
By C. J. CHIVERS Published: July 18, 2009 Natalya Estemirova was one of the premier human rights investigators in the entire Caucasus, unflinching as she documented crimes against uncountable others.

Friday, July 17, 2009
A Safer Home for the Golden Years, Without a Golden Budget
By LESLEY ALDERMAN Published: July 18, 2009 If older people choose to remain in houses where they are comfortable, there are many ways to shore up their homes' safety

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Your Health Care System
A chart showing the healthcare system as it is now. New Republic and Kaiser Family Foundation researched it. Link should give you the history of what happened in the Clinton Administration, when it was similar. Gist: Simplification would be good now. Less overhead would result.

Thursday, July 16, 2009
The AMA Just Endorsed the House Health Reform Bill
Here's the letter to Rangel, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee [pdf]. There are no caveats to their support. "This year, the AMA wants the debate in Washington to conclude with real, long overdue results that will improve the health of America's patients" and "express our appreciation and support for H.R. 3200, the "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Does a Senior Obama Official Have Unseemly Ties to Notorious Human-Rights Abuser Chevron?
Scahill: "Tallying contributions by employees in the industry and their families ... Exxon, Chevron and BP have all contributed more money to Obama than to McCain." After his election, Obama followed in Bush's footsteps, appointing another former Chevron director, Gen. James Jones as his national security adviser. In 2008, Chevron paid Jones $290,000 for serving on its board for seven months -- from May until December.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tax Cuts Won't Create Jobs
(4 comments) High unemployment we now have is not the consequence of any failure of the stimulus plan (the spending is just starting and will be increasing this year and next), but rather the result of the economic deterioration that started in the Spring of 2007 and has been far more damaging than economists expected. We are in such a deep hole that even a large stimulus plan will not prevent us from reaching unacceptable levels

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Why Silk Soy Milk's Parent Company Is Throwing American Farmers and Consumers Under the Bus
When megacorporation Dean Foods acquired Silk soy milk the prospects looked good for American organic soy farmers. Silk had always been committed to supporting domestic organic farmers, and with the new might of Dean Foods behind it, Silk would likely grow. Silk did grow, but it also dropped its commitment to domestic soy.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
La Familia Cartel Accused of Torturing and Killing 12 Mexican Federal Agents
Mexican authorities said Tuesday that a super-violent drug cartel called La Familia was responsible for torturing and killing 12 federal agents whose bodies were found dumped alongside a mountain road in the western state of Michoacan late Monday. The agents, who included one woman, had been investigating organized crime in Michoacan, where gunmen launched a series of highly coordinated commando attacks against police

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
U.S. Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers
A controversial facility at Ft. Benning, Ga. -- formerly known as the U.S. Army's School of the Americas -- is still training Honduran officers despite claims by the Obama administration that it cut military ties to Honduras after its president was overthrown June 28, NCR has learned.The general who overthrew Zelaya, Romeo Orlando V�squez Vel�squez, is a 2-time graduate of SOA, which critics have nicknamed the School of Coup

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Paulson Sent "Strong Message' to BofA Chief
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has already heard from Mr. Lewis and Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve's chairman, will question Mr. Paulson about the deal at Thursday's hearing.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wells Tries to Keep Stake in Student Loans
Student loans are the next economic sector to be taken by USAGov. Inc. Today, Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, introduces the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which would put the $100 billion-a-year guaranteed student loan program entirely in the hands of the feds. Banks such as San Francisco's Wells Fargo & Co. could be shut out from their long-standing involvement in the program.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Unrest in Xinjiang: Where's the Muslim Outrage?
The Uighurs' "spiritual mother," Rebiya Kadeer (profiled here by the Monitor's Beijing Bureau Chief Peter Ford), has some ideas."So far the Islamic world is silent about the Uighurs' suffering because the Chinese authorities have been very successful in [their] propaganda to the Muslim world ... that the Uighurs are extremely pro-west Muslims - that they are modern Muslims, not genuine Muslims," she said at a press conference

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Birds Can Only Fly So Far
Supporting legislation such as the Waxman-Markey climate bill as it goes to the Senate, also known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, is essential because it sets aside revenue for the National Park Service and other federal agencies to acquire land for wildlife migration corridors while also restoring habitat and controlling invasive species.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Old Trees, New Ideas, and Humility
Book Review: 28 authors - Old Growth in a New World: A Pacific Northwest Icon Reexamined Thomas A. Spies and Sally L. Duncan, eds. 344 pages, softcover, $32.00.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
DST Stock Offer Values Facebook at $6.5 Billion
Facebook investor Digital Sky Technologies on Tuesday offered to buy up to $100 million worth of employees' common stock in a deal that values the top U.S. social network at $6.5 billion.The Russian company, which has invested in a number of successful eastern European and Russian Internet companies, purchased $200 million worth of preferred stock in May, giving it a 1.96 percent stake in Facebook.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Stimulus: Six Months Later per Jon Kyl
The Senator is getting backlash from Obama cabinet members. Kyl wrote this on July 6. "the president's economic team assured the nation that the unemployment rate wouldn't rise beyond eight percent if Congress passed the "stimulus" measure. The president even proclaimed in an April 29 news conference that the stimulus bill has "already saved or created over 150,000 jobs."

Monday, July 13, 2009
Holding One of DC's Most Secretive Institutions Accountable | Video
A rare bipartisan movement to audit the Federal Reserve. Fed secretly doled out more than a trillion dollars during the financial crisis, a rare bipartisan movement in Congress demands that the Fed be held accountable.

Monday, July 13, 2009
There Should Be No Clash Between Public Option and Single Payer
(7 comments) On the surface, there's a deep divide within the progressive movement over how to fix America's ailing health care system. A sometimes nasty, running food-fight has raged between advocates of a public insurance option and those who favor a "single-payer" system

Monday, July 13, 2009
Errol Flynn 'worked as a Nazi spy and met Adolf Hitler'
The Australian-born star, who was known for his anti-Semitic views, worked undercover for the Germans during the Spanish Civil War, according to a controversial biography. Charles Higham alleges that Flynn was employed to gather information on German socialists who fought against General Franco, helping contribute to the death of hundreds of volunteers and their families

Monday, July 13, 2009
Q&A with Uighur Spiritual Leader Rebiya Kadeer
(5 comments) Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled Uighur businesswoman accused by China of "masterminding" last week's deadly riots in Xinjiang Province, says she has had no contact with "any violent groups in Xinjiang." She hopes President Obama will urge Chinese leaders not to execute protesters, and called Sunday for a US consulate in Xinjiang.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Okla. AG, Poultry Industry Trade Barbs in Fed Case
Instead of explaining why the Illinois River watershed is polluted with bacteria, 12 Arkansas poultry companies are instead resorting to critiquing Oklahoma's expert witnesses, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson claims in a new court filing. Companies named:Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Cargill Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C.,George's Inc., George's Farms Inc...

Monday, July 13, 2009
EU and Turkey Settle Nabucco Dispute
Europe's key project in the contest for central Asian and Middle Eastern gas is to receive a big boost tomorrow when Turkey & EU governments sign a pipeline pact. Government leaders from a dozen countries are to meet in Ankara to sign an intergovernmental transit agreement on the 9bn (£7.75bn) Nabucco pipeline, the ambitious but ill-fated gas supply project aimed at weakening the Kremlin's stranglehold on Europe's gas suppl

Monday, July 13, 2009
Take Action to Stop Hate Crimes
As early as Wednesday, July 15, the Senate will vote on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that would provide significant improvements to our current hate crimes prevention laws. The House of Representatives passed their version of the bill in April.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Democrats Link Pope's Economic Plea With Obama Agenda
(3 comments) DeLauro and Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts yesterday opened a campaign by Catholic Democrats called "Pope Greets Hope" to draw a link between church doctrine and Obama's policy agenda. Obama and the pontiff met today in the Vatican's Sala del Tronetto, which is adorned with paintings by Raphael. They then had a private discussion in the Papal Library, where they sat facing each other across a wooden desk.

Monday, July 13, 2009
Levi's to Stay Put in S.F.
(2 comments) Levi Strauss & Co. intends to announce today that it will stay in San Francisco, extending a 156-year-old legacy that began when a Bavarian immigrant of the same name opened a dry goods business here to supply miners during the Gold Rush. Long-term lease promises to keep the company's roughly 1,200 workers at 1155 Battery St. through at least 2021.

Sunday, July 12, 2009
IKEA is as bad as Wal-Mart
(2 comments) That cycle of consumption seems harmless enough .... But in her lively and terrifying book "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture," Ellen Ruppel Shell pulls back the shimmery, seductive curtain of low-priced goods to reveal their insidious hidden costs. Those all-you-can-eat Red Lobster shrimps may very well have come from massive shrimp-farming spreads in Thailand, where they've been plumped up with antibiotics and.....

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Independent's Day, Eric Holder's Role
AG Eric Holder profile: attorneys general are partisan appointees expected to rise above partisanship. All struggle to find a happy medium between loyalty and independence. Few succeed. At one extreme looms Alberto Gonzales, who allowed the Justice Department to be run like Tammany Hall. At the other is Janet Reno, whose righteousness and folksy eccentricities marginalized her within the Clinton administration.

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Problem Nurses Stay on the Job as Patients Suffer
California's oversight board often takes years to mete out discipline for egregious misconduct, leaving the public unaware of the risk. The board took more than three years, on average, to investigate and discipline errant nurses, according to its own statistics. In at least six other large states, the process typically takes a year or less.

Saturday, July 11, 2009
Jian Ghomeshi interviews Leonard Cohen
In the third act, he says, and many of us liked it all. LC: Yeah, I know. In hindsight it seems to be the height of folly. You had to resolve your economic crisis by becoming a folk singer. And I had not much of a voice. I didn't play that great guitar either. I don't know how these things happen in life - luck has so much to do with success and failure.

Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Man Nobody Wanted to Hear: Global Banking Economist Warned of Coming Crisis
(4 comments) William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007's subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his great rival Alan Greenspan instead, with devastating consequences for the global economy. A Canadian, he worked for various central banks for 39 years, most recently serving as chief economist for the central bank for all central bankers, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

Saturday, July 11, 2009
Teaching Kids Without SpankingVideo
(1 comments) Should you spank your kids? Many experts agree that spanking is not effective, so author Barbara Unell gives advice on how to keep kids in line without shouting or spanking.

Saturday, July 11, 2009
Oxford Union Speech - Micheal Jackson (March 6, 2001)
During the speech, which ran approximately 40 minutes, Michael addressed the emotional neglect of today's children as well as the emotional neglect of his own childhood. He spoke about his troubled relationship with his father and briefly of his own children, Prince and Paris. Michael's speech also covered such topics as violence in US high schools, illiteracy in the US and UK, and even the very tragic story of James Bulger

Friday, July 10, 2009
U.S. Said to Have Averted Inquiry Into '01 Afghan Killings
By JAMES RISEN Published: July 11, 2009 The mass killing of Taliban prisoners was carried out by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Gruesome is the word which comes to mind.

Friday, July 10, 2009
A Primer on the New General Motors
(2 comments) By MICHELINE MAYNARD Published: July 11, 2009 Questions and answers about the automaker as it starts a new era in its 101-year history. G.M. will have 34 assembly, engine, transmission and stamping plants in the United States by the end of 2010, compared with 47 in 2008. It expects to have 64,000 American employees by the end of this year, compared with 91,000 at the end of last year. Worldwide, G.M. has 235,000 employees.

Friday, July 10, 2009
110 Lawmakers and Mr. Geithner: A Session on Derivatives
(2 comments) By EDMUND L. ANDREWS Published: July 11, 2009 All eyes were on the Treasury secretary, who on Friday, testified about the Obama administration's proposal to regulate the free-wheeling market for financial derivatives.

Friday, July 10, 2009
Fiorina Failed to Register Business, Foundation
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, one of the world's leading businesswomen and a possible 2010 opponent to Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, tells the public she's the CEO of her own business and the chairwoman of her own charitable foundation.But a Chronicle check of public records shows that Fiorina, a former economic adviser to 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain, has never registered her Foundation in CA

Thursday, July 9, 2009
Democrats Say C.I.A. Deceived Congress for Years
(6 comments) By SCOTT SHANE Published: July 9, 2009 House members said the C.I.A. director told them that the agency concealed "significant actions" since 2001.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
US, Russia Deal Would Cut Nukes to Post-Cold-War Lows
The two presidents issued a "joint understanding" that commits the two countries to reducing strategic warheads to a range of 1,500 to 1,675 down from the current ceiling of 2,200 and to a maximum of 1,600 launch vehicles. The goal is to reach an agreement in time to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires on Dec. 5.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Pope Urges New World Economic Order - New Encyclical
(1 comments) More than two years in the making, "Caritas in Veritate," or "Charity in Truth," is Benedict's third encyclical since he became pope in 2005. Filled with terms like "globalization," "market economy," "outsourcing," "labor unions" and "alternative energy," it is not surprising that the Italian media reported that the Vatican was having difficulty translating the 144-page document into Latin

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wells Fargo Expands Securities Group
The San Francisco bank said on Monday it has combined its existing securities division with the larger practice of Wachovia Corp., the Charlotte, N.C., bank it acquired in December."Clearly one of the great benefits of the Wachovia merger was the strong investment banking and capital markets platform that we gained," John Stumpf, chief executive officer of Wells Fargo, said in a statement. "We plan to build on those strengths

Monday, July 6, 2009
Former Lawmakers and Congressional Staffers Hired to Lobby on Health Care
The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.

Monday, July 6, 2009
Real Rate of Unemployment at 16.5%
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the officially measured unemployment showing that 14.7 million people are unemployed at a rate of 9.5%, yet the "Real Rate" is 16.5 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment continued its decline loosing 467,000 jobs in June. The data show that of the 14.7 million unemployed, the rate for white was 8.7%, women 7.6%, youth 24.0%, African-American 14.7%, African-American youth 37.9%

Monday, July 6, 2009
High-rises on Hold: What to Do with Empty Lots?
he high-rise boom has gone quiet, and a new challenge faces San Francisco: deciding what to do with land cleared for towers that may not rise for another decade - if at all. At least a dozen large development sites in the city's South of Market district now sit empty or covered by asphalt because of the recession. If history is any guide, developers will either leave them fenced off or use them as parking lots.

Sunday, July 5, 2009
From Beyond the Grave, Saddam Reveals all (Nearly)
Under questioning by the FBI during 20 formal interviews and at least five "casual conversations" over a four-month period from February to May 2004 after his capture by US troops in December 2003, Saddam said he had made a mistake in destroying Baghdad's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) without independent verification from UN inspectors.

Sunday, July 5, 2009
OAS Without Dissent Suspends Honduras over Zelaya Ouster
The Organization of American States voted late Saturday to suspend Honduras from the group over the military ouster of President Manuel Zelaya, who minutes later vowed to return to his country Sunday despite warnings it would be too dangerous. The group voted 33 to 0 just before midnight to bar Honduras immediately, saying the ouster of Zelaya had created an "unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order.

Saturday, July 4, 2009
Book Review: 'The Waxman Report' by Henry Waxman
(2 comments) Henry Waxman is to Congress what Ted Williams was to baseball,a natural. As you read this nicely proportioned, fast- paced book, you realize that Waxman was born to be a member of the House, ideally the chairman of an important committee. He's just five-feet-five, he's woefully short of hair, he's neither charming nor funny, but none of that has mattered. Waxman has been one of the most effective members of Congress for 35 yrs

Saturday, July 4, 2009
Who Can Possibly Govern California?
(1 comments) San Francisco mayor wants to be governor. By MARK LEIBOVICH Published: July 5, 2009 Budget shortfalls, perennial legislative gridlock and endless voter initiatives - who would want the job?

Saturday, July 4, 2009
President Obama's Five-Day Promise - Video Library
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama promised to post bills online for five days after they passed Congress and to give the public a chance to comment on them. He hasn't. Why has the pledge been so hard to keep?

Saturday, July 4, 2009
Fears for the World's Poor Countries as the Rich Grab Land to Grow Food
(1 comments) As world population approaches 7 billion, the amount of productive land decreases. Presently the amount of productive land is estimated at roughly 8.5 billion hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres). It is estimated that one hectare of productive land is lost every 7.67 seconds.Today it emerged that world leaders are to discuss what is being described as "land grabbing" or "neo-colonialism" at the G8 meeting next week.

Friday, July 3, 2009
Spending $102 Billion a Year on 800 Worldwide Military Bases Is Bankrupting the Country
The U.S. Empire of Bases -- at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise -- just got a good deal more expensive. As a start, on May 27th, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur.

Friday, July 3, 2009
Group Open to Government-Funded Insurance
The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation's doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage.

Friday, July 3, 2009
A Pentagon Trailblazer, Rethinking U.S. Defense
The Saturday Profile By ELISABETH BUMILLER Published: July 4, 2009 Mich�le A. Flournoy, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, is considered the "brains" of the Pentagon building.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Fed Botched Banking Regulation Once Already
Advice from Eliot Spitzer to the Banking Committee. Is the N.Y. Fed willing to release minutes and attendance records of the past five years, even if redacted to avoid company-specific information? How can the public be assured that this powerful institution is focusing on the right issues? How does the Fed plan to limit the interconnectedness of the major institutions to prevent the risk of dominoes falling sequentially?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Court Upholds Ban on Monsanto's GE Alfalfa
(2 comments) A federal appeals court upheld a 2-year-old ban on Monsanto Co.'s genetically modified alfalfa in a case a biotech food opponent calls a "turning point" in the regulation of such crops. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday leaves Creve Coeur-based Monsanto with two options. It can appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court or hope for regulatory approval after the Agriculture Department studies

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Treasury Details New Consumer Agency, and Banks Cry Foul
The proposed legislation would give the new agency powers to set and enforce standards for things such as mortgage and credit card disclosure statements. For ordinary Americans, the most important feature is that the agency would have the sole mission of consumer protection. One lesson of the financial crisis is that several agencies shared that responsibility, but made it a lower priority than their other missions

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
No Compromise on the Public Plan!: Why Weakening the Public Option Would Weaken the Party Responsible
(1 comments) Happily, the public needs little convincing. The poll numbers are astounding. This should be the biggest political home-run of a generation.72% support a government-administered public plan, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll. ...a group funded by the likes of JPMorganChase, Wal-Mart, General Dynamics, Morgan Stanley, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, and United Health found 83% in support of the public plan

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Franken Declared Winner in Minnesota
From a McClatchey blog. They point to Minneapolis paper but it will not allow QuickLinks.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Voices from Vermont and America - Senator Sanders
Healthcare reform, energy, and new rules for financial community among other items in this blog.

Monday, June 29, 2009
Churches Transform Their Buildings into Bedrooms for Homeless
(5 comments) But thirteen Blount County churches are turning their buildings into bedrooms for local residents who have lost their homes. On Saturday, Sycamore Tree United Methodist Church served breakfast to a family who's been sleeping in their church for week. On Sunday, that family's beds rolled into St. Andrews Episcopal Church.

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Lewis and Clark in Murder Mystery
Meriwether Lewis, one half of the Lewis and Clark explorer duo who first reached the Pacific by land, may have been murdered, say descendants who want his body exhumed. Now, as the 200th anniversary of his death approaches

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Laura Bush - Do Not Forget Burma
For two weeks, the world has been transfixed by images of Iranians taking to the streets to demand the most basic human freedoms and rights. Watching these courageous men and women, I am reminded of a similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma, when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks peacefully marched through their nation's streets

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Health-Care Activists Are Targeting Democrats Who Are Usually Allies
(1 comments) The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition. Activists say they are simply pressing for quick delivery of "true health reform," but the intraparty rift runs the risk of alienating centrist Democrats who will be needed to pass a bill.

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Congress Members Grabbed or Dumped Stocks as Market Crashed
(1 comments) As financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several members of Congress who oversee the banking industry were grabbing up or dumping bank stocks.

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Obama's First Coup D'etat
Note: As of 11:15am, Caracas time, President Zelaya is speaking live on Telesur from San Jose, Costa Rica. He has verified the soldiers entered his residence in the early morning hours, firing guns and threatening to kill him and his family if he resisted the coup. He was forced to go with the soldiers who took him to the air base and flew him to Costa Rica. He has requested the U.S. Government make a public statement

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Honduran Military Ousts President Ahead of Vote
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers seized the national palace and flew President Manuel Zelaya into exile Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup.

Saturday, June 27, 2009
Congress Suspends Health Care Debate as Crowds Rally for Plan
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said at a roundtable Thursday that he thought that Congress was still on track to pass an overhaul this year. He indicated that the administration wants to drill two trends into Americans' minds: that 14,000 people lose health care coverage each day, and that health care cost inflation is roughly 10 percent a year

Saturday, June 27, 2009
Most Recent College Grads Working Low-Skill Jobs
New monthly survey data from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that during the first four months of 2009, less than half of the nation's 4 million college graduates age 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree. That's down from 54 percent for same period last year.

Saturday, June 27, 2009
States Move Quickly to Put Highway Stimulus Funds to Work
Every state and five U.S. territories have declared ahead of a June 29 deadline how they'll spend at least half the highway funds set aside for them in the $787 billion economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year.

Saturday, June 27, 2009
Debate Joined Over New Consumer Financial Protection Agency
With Video. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would change that. The concept of the panel came from Harvard University professor Elizabeth Warren, who now heads the Congressional Oversight Panel, which is charged with watching how Wall Street bailout money is being spent.The proposal would put the regulatory powers that are spread across several agencies in one place, under one supervisory panel, which would write

Friday, June 26, 2009
GM picks Orion Twp. to build small cars
General Motors Corp. has picked its Orion Township assembly plant over factories in Tennessee and Wisconsin to be restarted for building the new small, fuel-efficient vehicles, a person familiar with the decision-making said Thursday. The move caps weeks of hard lobbying by all three states to save their factory jobs. GM has said it would use an idled U.S. plant to build up to 160,000 small vehicles.

Friday, June 26, 2009
I Got The "Make Them Do It" Blues
In a validation of the progressive primary challenge strategy, Arlen Specter today reversed his position on a public health care option. Specter's flip-flop simply must be the result of the increasing pressure he is feeling from Sestak. As such, progressive activists should be happy that our strategy of pressuring Democrats through primaries is validated

Friday, June 26, 2009
Working Families Win - Home
Working Families Win, a project of Americans for Democratic Action and the ADA Education Fund, is empowering working families around the country. We are working in across the country to engage citizens in making a difference. To get involved, contact our organizer in your state.

Friday, June 26, 2009
Monica Conyers pleads guilty to conspiracy
Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery and is free on personal bond. She has long been under suspicion in the Synagro Technologies bribery probe, not least because she had been a vocal opponent of the contract before suddenly switching her sentiments. She became the deciding voice in the city council's 5-4 vote to approve the sludge-hauling deal in Nov

Friday, June 26, 2009
A Health Insurance Insider Blows the Whistle on the Industry's Abusive Practices
With that powerful indictment, Mr. Potter began his testimony on "Consumer Choices and Transparency in the Health Insurance Industry" before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on June 24, 2009. Quote: an insurance company's bottom line is always its most important consideration:

Friday, June 26, 2009
Holding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers
By DAN BARRY Published: June 26, 2009 The John Birch Society, right-wing relic of the '60s, remains ever-vigilant to protect the United States and the world from an amorphous, amoral group of bad people. *** Just another remembrance of VietNam peace movement!

Friday, June 26, 2009
Healthcare industry spending $1.4 million - a day - on lobbyists
(1 comments) The healthcare industry is spending upwards of $1.4 million each day on average to lobby members of Congress on health care legislation, a report issued by Common Cause this week reveals. Industry spending has nearly doubled since 2000. Healthcare interests contributed $94 million to Congress members during the 2008 election cycle alone - up from $40 million in 2000.

Friday, June 26, 2009
Dozens of Journalists among Jailed in Iran
More than two dozen Iranian journalists are among the hundreds of people being imprisoned by the hardline government in Tehran as part of the violent post-election crackdown, according to Amnesty International.Foreign news journalists have been banned from the streets, and some foreign reporters have been expelled from the country. Two journalists reporting for foreign news outlets have also been arrested, according to Amn

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Iran Arrests 70 Professors Who Met with Mousavi
The Associated Press citing a web site close to Mir Hussein Mousavi, the centrist presidential candidate who observers both inside and outside Iran say had the country's June 12 election stolen from him reported that the professors were arrested shortly after attending a meeting with Mr. Mousavi.

Thursday, June 25, 2009
New Program Could Reduce Student Loan Payments
The new program sets monthly payments based on adjusted gross income and family size. Unpaid principal and interest is generally added to your loan amount. Any debt remaining is wiped out after 25 years - or after 10 years if you work in the public or nonprofit sector. If you are unemployed, low-income or have a very large debt, you could qualify.

Thursday, June 25, 2009
How Unions Gave My Redneck Family a Chance at the American Dream
In looking back on growing up, I always remember 1957 and 1958 as "the two good years." The new reality is here, and has been since 1973, the last year American workers made a wage gain in real dollars. Hell, it's been here so long, we accept it as part of America's cultural furniture. Only about 12 percent of American workers are unionized,

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears
By JAMES GLANZ Published: June 24, 2009 AltaRock Energy will drill near San Francisco using a method that has caused earthquakes elsewhere. Basel Switzerland had experience!

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Neo-Nazi Hal Turner Arrested Again | Hatewatch
Turner's arrest comes three weeks after he was taken into custody in New Jersey on charges that he [1] incited violence against two Connecticut legislators. He had been freed on $25,000 bond and wasn't scheduled to return to court until July. But the FBI - an agency for which he once may have worked as a [2] paid informant - arrested Turner on Wednesday after going to his home in North Bergen, N.J., to execute a search warr

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Harkin Attends Progressive States Network Press Conference
A video (8 min) provided by the Progressive States Network, where a delegation of state legislators came to present petitions for a public plan in Washington, DC. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) held a press conference with Iowa State Senator Jack Hatch and a delegation of his peers telling them that such efforts were helpful.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
75% Don't Believe CEOs and CFOs Give True Picture
Half of Americans favor a focus on high-tech and service-sector jobs moving forward, while just 28% believe America should stick with more traditional jobs in manufacturing and other long-standing industries. More than one in three Americans (36%) believe the U.S. will experience a year-long recession, but that markets are stabilizing. Others view American's economic downturn as much more serious.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Ending Mountaintop Removal Mining is AlterNet's Top Take Action Campaign of The Week
In all, ten items. Political prisoners, health care, and better food production also rank.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Another Window Opens on Nixon Presidency
Materials released by the Nixon Presidential Library on Tuesday show aides trying to head off a constitutional crisis and save a presidency after Nixon fired the Watergate special prosecutor and forced out the two top Justice Department officials in October 1973. Also known as the Saturday Night Massacre.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Ideas Online, Yes, but Some Not So Presidential
By SAUL HANSELL Published: June 23, 2009 When the White House asked people to post ideas on open government on a new Web site, it heard about U.F.O.'s, marijuana and the president's birth certificate.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Why Healthcare Reform is Still Alive, Despite Initial Cost Estimates
But the reality, budget experts say, is that healthcare reform is not dead it's just getting started. In fact, the White House has not even put out its own health reform proposal yet. The cost estimates that senators have been reacting to are not official. They're preliminary estimates based on legislation as drafted. And one estimate the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring of legislation from the Senate Committee..

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Lingering Unemployment Likely to Challenge Obama and the Nation
The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending. Continuing high unemployment rates would undercut the fundamental argument behind much of that spending: the promise that it will create new jobs - Now 14 states over 10% unemployed

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Reckoning Looks at the International Criminal Court's First Years
The End of Impunity? An upcoming PBS documentary shows how the International Criminal Court is changing the world's approach to crimes against humanity.These courageous baby steps are chronicled in Pamela Yates' documentary The Reckoning, which will be broadcast July 14 on PBS as part of the P.O.V. series.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Startup' Prefab Homes Aim for Zero Energy Bills
Energy-saving features include extra-thick windows, dense insulation, efficient appliances and a monitoring system that manages temperature and ventilation and tracks electricity use. Warmth in the house is used to heat incoming air, and recovered hot wastewater helps warm shower and sink water. Solar panels generate new energy.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Oakland Green Job Corps Grads Get to Work
The graduates, who include low-income residents, ex-convicts and people who tested below an eighth-grade education level, are now headed for jobs as solar installers, energy auditors, carpenters and other entry-level posts in the booming green economy. Most of the jobs start at about $15 a hour, but graduates can expect to earn more as the industry matures.

Monday, June 22, 2009
A Rare Attack on Bagram Air Field
The rocket attack that killed two American soldiers in Afghanistan Sunday struck the most heavily fortified base in the country, an enormous expanse of scrub and prefabricated buildings that is the closest thing to home that Americans know while posted in the Hindu Kush. News reports suggest that perhaps as many as three rockets struck Bagram Air Field north of Kabul in the early hours of the morning, killing two and injur

Monday, June 22, 2009
Rumsfeld Unapologetic About Iraq
In my own early contacts with him as I began work on a biography, Rumsfeld wanted to be sure I saw the many letters of praise and kind words he had received following the announcement of his resignation. He had sorted the letters according to source - members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, U.S. military personnel, former associates, friends - and filed them in large, three-ring binders.

Monday, June 22, 2009
Evidence Indicates Manioc was a Major Maya Crop
Manioc tubers, also known as cassava, can grow to as much as 3 feet long and as thick as a man's arm. They produce the highest food energy yield of any cultivated crop, about eight to 10 times as much as corn. They can also be grown in infertile soils and require little or no irrigation. The flour can be used in soups and stews to increase carbohydrate content and also to make tortillas and tamales

Monday, June 22, 2009
Elements of 1960 Intelligence Estimate Still Relevant Today
"We do not believe that Israel will embark on the development of nuclear weapons with the aim of actually starting a nuclear war," reads the declassified 48-year-old CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate. The estimate, publicly released June 5 by George Washington University's National Security Archives, continues, "Possession of a nuclear weapon capability, or even the prospect of achieving it, would clearly give Israel

Monday, June 22, 2009
One billion Suffer from World Hunger
Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they consume fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the FAO said. Asia and the Pacific, the world's most populous region, has the largest number of hungry people, at 642 million.Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of hunger, with 265 million undernourished representing 32 per cent of the region's population.

Monday, June 22, 2009
Atlanta Is Making Way for New Public Housing
By ROBBIE BROWN Published: June 21, 2009 Officials plan to demolish the city's remaining housing projects, hoping to reduce poverty by decentralizing it.

Monday, June 22, 2009
Kim McMillan for Tennessee Governor
Political Information: Governor Bresesen (D) is completing his last term,mandatory law. This woman seems to have good talking points. The Republicans are champing at the bit to regain the state house. Best I know, no one has announced yet. Election will be 2010.

Monday, June 22, 2009
Americans for Democratic Action - SCOTUS Voting Rights
In Justice Roberts's opinion, the historic accomplishments of the Voting Rights Act are deemed "undeniable", as the narrow ruling ensures that the Voting Rights Act, vital to a country still plagued by discrimination, will continue to protect the democratic rights of each and every one of us. As the Court noted much of the evidence amassed by Congress proved that there is still rampant disenfranchisement in the jurisdictions

Sunday, June 21, 2009
Super Barack to Everyone's Rescue
JibJab and making supermen/women heroes. Just fun. Enjoy.

Saturday, June 20, 2009
Worse Than Subprime? Other Mortgages Imploding Slowly
The mortgages in question are $230 billion of option adjustable-rate mortgages, creative lending products that flourished at the height of the housing boom. In an option ARM, a borrower can opt to pay less than his or her monthly balance due, and the difference is tacked onto the outstanding loan balance.

Friday, June 19, 2009
How India and Pakistan can Resolve Kashmir Now
On Tuesday, the leaders of India and Pakistan met on the sidelines of a regional summit in Russia. It was their first face-to-face meeting since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) last November, when Pakistani-based militants murdered nearly 160 civilians. India's recently re-elected Manmohan Singh, arrived at the summit buoyed by his Congress Party's sweeping victory in India's May elections. Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardar

Friday, June 19, 2009
Why Patch-and-Fill Won't Do
For starters, candidate Barack Obama never ran on a platform to provide universal coverage. Of course he always said-then and now-that his goal was to cover everyone. But he has never put forward a concrete proposal for doing so, and hasn't endorsed a firm mandate that everyone purchase insurance. Remember those primary-season debates in which rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards criticized him for this?

Friday, June 19, 2009
The AMA's Unhealthy Obsession
(2 comments) Campaigning to build the widest possible consensus for reform of the nation's health care system, Barack Obama told the delegates of the American Medical Association that he wants their support, too. Persuasive and always polite, the president did not mention the embarrassing truth about his hosts-namely, that the AMA has undermined universal care with mindless zeal for more than 70 years.

Friday, June 19, 2009
The Bipartisanship of Fools
On health care, the two parties are far apart on the fundamentals. Most Democrats believe that fixing the system will require increased government intervention to guarantee universal coverage and to contain costs. Most Republicans oppose an expansion of government's role and believe an even more market-oriented system would pave the way to health care nirvana. Trying to achieve full bipartisanship by squaring those t

Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuning a Culture to a "Calling'
So the president began this week speaking to the workers in the system: doctors. At the meeting of the American Medical Association, Barack Obama tackled the model "that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession-a calling-to a business." He reminded doctors: "You didn't enter this profession to become bean counters and paper pushers. You entered this profession to be healers. And that's what our health care system

Friday, June 19, 2009
Watch President Obama stand up for Walmart Workers
There are two videos. One is from the workers and they come in loud and clear. The other is a video of Barrack Obama in campaign mode. I couldn't get the the sound to work. Maybe others can.

Friday, June 19, 2009
AlterNet: How Faith-Based Labor Movements Plan to Stop Corporate America's Billion-Dollar Theft
"I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten, plain, common workingmen," recalled Frances Perkins. And so she did. From 1933 to 1945, Perkins helped create the core features of the New Deal state: minimum wage and maximum hours laws, legal guarantees for workers' rights to organize and join unions, prohibition of child labor, Social Security, unemployment compensation, and fair labor standards.

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Navy Pursues N. Korea Ship; Tensions Rise
(1 comments) The cargo ship Kang Nam may not look like much, but it is suddenly attracting a lot of attention from the U.S. military. It is the first North Korean ship to set sail since the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on the U.S. and other navies to intercept North Korean vessels believed to be carrying arms.

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Iran: Who's Diddling Democracy?
(1 comments) Watching the protesters in Tehran, many Americans feel a strong sense of empathy, exhilaration and hope. I strongly share those feelings, especially since I know firsthand the danger the protesters face from government thugs on motorcycles, provocateurs and the secret police. But none of this should blind us to the likelihood that our own government is dangerously meddling in Iran's internal affairs and playing with lives

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Bush-Era Lawyer Could Stand Trial for Penning 'Torture Memos'
The debate over what should happen to Bush administration lawyers who drafted the so-called "torture memos" has taken a new turn. A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Friday a former Justice Department legal adviser can be held personally responsible for the indefinite military detention and alleged torture of an American citizen who was suspected of involvement with Al Qaeda.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Home Loan Scamming Is Still Going Strong -- and Now You're Paying for It
Nowhere is this more obvious than in Victorville, Calif., an exurb of Los Angeles situated in the high desert where housing bubbled up higher than just about anywhere at the peak of the subprime-lending craze and is still in free fall today. Right now, the FHA is in essence giving out no-money-down loans to anyone who doesn't already own a house, regardless of credit history.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Intriguing Plan in Michael Moore's Home Town: Bulldoze the Ghost 'Burbs
Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 percent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area. The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Public Debt: The Biggest Bill in History
(1 comments) Across the rich world governments are borrowing vast amounts as the recession reduces tax revenue and spending mounts-on bail-outs, unemployment benefits and stimulus plans. New figures from economists at the IMF suggest that the public debt of the ten leading rich countries will rise from 78% of GDP in 2007 to 114% by 2014. These governments will then owe around $50,000 for every one of their citizens.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Blue Cross Praised Employees Who Dropped Sick Policyholders, Lawmaker Says
WellPoint's Blue Cross of California subsidiary and two other insurers saved more than $300 million in medical claims by canceling more than 20,000 sick policyholders over a five-year period, the House committee said. "When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums," Stupak said. "But when times are bad, and you are afflicted with cancer or some other life-threat

Monday, June 15, 2009
As U.S. Overhauls the Banking System, 2 Top Regulators Feud
By STEPHEN LABATON and EDMUND L. ANDREWS Published: June 14, 2009 The personal feud between two bank regulators is shaping the president's attempt to revamp financial regulation.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Following the Money in the Health Care Debate
The nation spends roughly $2.5 trillion every year on health care, nearly a fifth of the American economy. What all of the interest groups reliably support is any new program that would expand coverage to the uninsured. Such a program would translate into tens of millions of new, paying customers for hospitals, doctors, insurers and drug makers.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Obama's Health Plan: Battle Lines Become Clearer
The president feels that having a public option side by side, same playing field, same rules, will give Americans choice and will help lower costs for everybody," said Secretary Sebelius, who was governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009. But also on CNN, Sen. Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said that in his opinion the Senate would not pass Obama's government health program option.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Hatred, Chaos and Savage Beatings in Tehran
Moussavi's backers are calling President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory a sham. They're demanding the vote be annulled. The government's response has been a ruthless and violent crackdown.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Neo-Nazis Are in the Army Now
Interview of a skinhead: "I hate Arabs more than anybody, for the simple fact I've served over there and seen how they live." "They're just a backward people. Them and the Jews are just disgusting people as far as I'm concerned. Their customs, everything to do with the Middle East, is just repugnant to me." Because of his tattoos and his racist comments, most of his buddies and his commanding officers were aware of his Nazism

Sunday, June 14, 2009
Informed Comment: Stealing the Iranian Election
(2 comments) Juan Cole:6 of 6.The Electoral Commission is supposed to wait three days before certifying the results of the election, at which point they are to inform Khamenei of the results, and he signs off on the process. The three-day delay is intended to allow charges of irregularities to be adjudicated. In this case, Khamenei immediately approved the alleged results.

Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Soldier Blood on Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham's Hands
A fairly reliable rule of thumb in our political debates is that those who most frequently invoke The Troops to justify their policy views are the ones who care least about the troops, who see them as nothing but props to exploit for political manipulation. For the last week, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham have been running around accusing anyone who opposes their photo suppression amendment of indifference to the lives

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Protests Roil Iran's Capital as Opposition Disputes Vote
(1 comments) By ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI Published: June 14, 2009 Tehran's streets erupted in the most intense protests