14528 QuickLinks

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Amid Outcry on Memo, Bybee's Private Regret
Friends Say Judge Wasn't Proud of Outcome

Saturday, April 25, 2009
William Fisher: Dozens of CIA 'Ghost Prisoners' Missing
At least three dozen detainees who were held in the CIA's secret prisons overseas appear to be missing – and efforts by human rights organizations to track their whereabouts have been unsuccessful.

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Bill Maher: The GOP - Divorced from Reality
(1 comments) The Republican base is behaving like a guy who just got dumped by his wife.

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Vandalism Arrests Amid IMF and World Bank Meetings
Protesters March, Clash With Police; Larger Rally Planned for Sunday

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Hollywood's A-List Caught in the Housing Squeeze
Many agents say they are seeing a migration away from the trendy areas towards places like the Valley and Los Feliz

Friday, April 24, 2009
Justin Raimondo -- The Shamelessness of Jane Harman
(1 comments) She should have the decency to step down

Friday, April 24, 2009
Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated'
(1 comments) One giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars, study finds.

Friday, April 24, 2009
The "Torture Prevented A West Coast 9-11" Karl Rove, et. al Lie
Karl Rove and his liars' cabal timetable just doesn't add up. While KSM was arrested in March 2003, the plot was stopped in February 2002 -- more than a year earlier. Rove, et. al's, tale could not possibly be true. But like any pathological liar, Rove is pushing a lie containing threads of truth.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Ali Soufan: My Tortured Decision
A former F.B.I. agent who questioned Abu Zubaydah in 2002 says the terrorist operative provided important intelligence under traditional interrogation methods.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Torture Memos - Waterboarding Put To Song
(1 comments) Worth the look...

Friday, April 24, 2009
The Torture Timeline
(1 comments) This document is an effort to provide to the public an initial narrative of the history of the opinions of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), from 2002 to 2007, on the legality of the Central Intelligence Agency's detention and interrogation program.

Friday, April 24, 2009
UN torture envoy: US must prosecute Bush lawyers
The U.S. is obligated by a United Nations convention to prosecute Bush administration lawyers who allegedly drafted policies that approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics against terrorism suspects, the U.N.'s top anti-torture envoy said Friday.

Friday, April 24, 2009
Sen. Webb puts marijuana legalization 'on the table'
Speaking to CNN on Thursday morning in an effort to whip up political support for his prison reform proposals, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) insisted that marijuana legalization should be "on the table."

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Lester Brown: Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?
(2 comments) The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
MoveOn Torture Ad Highlights Cheney For Investigation
MoveOn.org is set to launch an aggressive new ad campaign calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the use of torture during the Bush administration and even raising the specter of targeting former Vice President Dick Cheney. Video at the jump...

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Blue Dog Coalition Members
Here they are. Those that enabled the Republicans to do everything from deregulate the financial industry, pass Bush's tax cuts, pump money into the blackholes of Iraq and Afghanistan, strip Americans of civil liberties, and otherwise generally run the country into the ground these last 13 years.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sean Penn: Smiles for Smirks
Once again the simple-minded media and its pundits are confused about the nature of Americanism and language...Say what you will, but it has only resulted in the self-celebration of our smirking spitters, while costing us international respect, American lives, and left wounds in the hands of our children's future.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Unemployment numbers jump more than expected to 6.1 million.
(1 comments) It marks the 12th week in a row that the number of people filing unemployment claims has set a record.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Document: Cheney, Rice signed off on interrogation techniques
A newly declassified narrative of the Bush administration's advice to the CIA on harsh interrogations shows that the small group of Justice Department lawyers who wrote memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques were operating not on their own but with direction from top administration officials, including then-Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Two Days After Defending Waterboarding, Lieberman Now Claims He's "˜Strongly Opposed' To It
LIEBERMAN: Well, I take a minority position on this. Most people think it's definitely torture. The truth is, it has mostly a psychological impact on people... Oh, Joe. You're such neocon chickenhawk.

Thursday, April 23, 2009
Michael Ratner: Call for a Commission Would Wrongly Take the Pressure off the Push for Prosecutions
Instead of human rights groups getting together and calling for a special prosecutor what do they do? Call for a commission. What this call does and it must be said strongly is take the pressure off what is the growing public push for prosecutions and deflects it into a commission. Outrage that could actually lead to prosecutions is now focused away and into a commission.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Cheney Spox Refuses To Explain His "Formal" Request For CIA Torture Intel
(2 comments) Cheney claimed he'd asked the CIA to release intel reports he'd read detailing info successfully collected via torture. But an intelligence source familiar with the situation told me that the CIA has received no such request from Cheney. A Cheney aide responded: "It was a formal request that the CIA declassify specific documents." Formal and invisible? Oh Dick, how you kid us?

Monday, April 20, 2009
Andrew Sullivan: Caught In The AIPAC
(1 comments) Where does one begin in Jeff Stein's scoop in CQ? Is it more of a scandal that the Bushies were wire-tapping Harman and then were in a position to blackmail her if she didn't provide public support for ... their warrantless wire-tapping? Or is it just another day at the office for AIPAC...

Monday, April 20, 2009
NSA Wiretap Recorded Rep. Jane Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC; Gonzales Covered It Up
(5 comments) Yep, Cong. Harman was wiretapped by Bush admin. Two officials privy to the events report that Gonzales said he "needed Jane" to help support the admin's warrantless wiretapping program, which was about to be exposed by the NYTimes. Harman had helped persuade the newspaper to hold the wiretap story before, on the eve of the 2004 elections. Sure enough, Jane delivered. How many 'quid pro quos' does it take to sink a democracy?

Monday, April 20, 2009
Josh Marshall: A 'radioactive' wiretap scandal unfolds
This one reads like a Tom Clancy spy novel. Harman allegedly agreed to use her influence with the DOJ to get them to drop the AIPAC spy case in exchange for help lobbying then-Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi to make Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee -- a position she ended up not getting.

Monday, April 20, 2009
A Hard Breaking Work of Staggering Non-Geniuses
Anatomy of a scandal shows that our democracy may be too far gone to resuscitate.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Gonzales Stopped FBI Probe Of Rep. Harman Because He 'Needed Jane' To Support Warrantless Wiretapping
sometime before the 2006 elections, the National Security Agency wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) offering a quid pro quo to unnamed Israeli agents. Harman would lobby Justice to reduce charges if AIPAC would lobby Pelosi to name Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC
There are many questions that the story raises and Harman's guilt shouldn't be assumed. But obviously, given all the very serious issues this story raises -- involving what seem to be credible allegations of very serious wrongdoing by a key member of Congress, the former Attorney General and one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the county.

Monday, April 20, 2009
GOP stumbling in health care fight
Republicans worry the party has waited so long to figure out where it stands that it will make it harder to block what Obama is trying to do. Poor GOP: There's no Republican plan yet. No Republicans leading the charge who have coalesced the party behind them. Their message is still vague and unformed. Their natural allies among insurers, drug makers and doctors remain at the negotiating table with the Democrats.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Encounters At The End Of The World with Stefan Pashov
Philosopher/heavy equipment operator in Antarctica.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? | National Priorities Project
With this publication, taxpayers can take stock of how the federal government spent each 2008 income tax dollar: 37.3 cents went towards military-related spending (military and military-related debt), while environment, energy and science-related spending split 2.8 cents. Income tax dollar spending is available for all states as well as over 200 cities and towns. Choose the state, city or county from a pull down list for pdf.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Live Cam Bald Eagle's Nest + Chicks
(1 comments) The Sidney, BC nest now has at least 2 chicks in it. Check it out on the Sidney New Nest camera page...

Monday, April 20, 2009
Jane Harman denies CQ report she was heard on NSA wiretap lobbying for AIPAC officials
(2 comments) Harman issued a furious rebuttal today. In a prepared statement, she said: These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact. I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.

Monday, April 20, 2009
Dimon: Iraq War, Greed Contributed To Economic Collapse
"I suspect when analysts and economists study the fundamental causes of this crisis, they will point to the enormous U.S. trade deficit as one of the main underlying culprits. Over an eight-year period, the US ran a trade deficit of $3 trillion. This means that Americans bought $3 trillion more than they sold overseas. Dollars were used to pay for the goods. Foreign countries took these dollars and purchased...

Monday, April 20, 2009
MoveOn Enters Torture Fray, Calls For Special Prosecutor
MoveOn makes the case that without consequences for breaking the law, rogue behavior is only encouraged. "So far there's been no accountability for the architects of Bush's torture program -- the top officials who justified keeping detainees awake for 11 days straight, waterboarding them repeatedly, and forcing prisoners into coffin-like boxes with insects...We need real consequences..."

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Waterboarded 183 Times in One Month
(3 comments) And Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Limbaugh's Proof That Torture Works: McCain Was "˜Broken By The North Vietnamese'
(1 comments) LIMBAUGH: The idea that torture doesn't work– that's been put out from John McCain on down– You know, for the longest time McCain said torture doesn't work then he admitted in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last summer that he was broken by North Vietnamese. So what are we to think here? McCain might stroke out over this one.

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Shoot First: How Columbine Tragedy Radically Transformed Police Tactics
The first officers on the scene had never trained for what they found at Columbine High School: No hostages. No demands. Just killing. In the hours that followed, the nation watched in horror as the standard police procedure for dealing with shooting rampages in the U.S. proved tragically, hear-tbreakingly flawed on April 20, 1999.

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Earth Day 2009: Obama Energy Chief Lays Out Climate Doomsday Scenario
Days before Earth Day 2009, Obama's Energy Sec Steven Chu gave a press briefing at the "Summit of the Americas" where he laid out the potentially disastrous consequences if the world community doesn't unite to combat climate change. Chu, who won the Nobel in Physics in '97, detailed several of the most dramatic impacts that global warming could have, such as several island nations being submerged. TRANSCRIPT

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Is There a 2003 Waterboarding Memo We're Missing?
The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects -- documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public. The classified memos were requested by then-CIA Dir George Tenet..

Sunday, April 19, 2009
NY Times Calls for Impeach of Torture Memo Author, Fed Judge Bybee; Investigate Others
The Obama team must investigate the lawyers who wrote the memos on prisoner interrogation, which were written not to set legal limits, but to provide legal immunity for illegal and immoral acts.

Sunday, April 19, 2009
UN Rapporteur On Torture: Obama's Pledge Not To Pursue Torture Prosecutions Of CIA Agents Is Not Legal
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Manfred Nowak, explained that Obama's grant of immunity is likely a violation of international law. As a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, the U.S. is obligated to investigate and prosecute U.S. citizens that are believed to have engaged in torture,

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Napolitano stands by DHS report conclusion that right-wing extremist groups are targeting vets.
(1 comments) NAPOLITANO: Here is the important point. The report is not saying that veterans are extremists. Far from it. What it is saying is returning veterans are targets of right-wing extremist groups that are trying to recruit those to commit violent acts within the country. We want to do all we can to prevent that.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Obama To Ask Agency Heads For Budget Cuts
"In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," he said. "In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Divisions Arose on Rough Tactics for Qaeda Figure
The decision to use brutal interrogation tactics against Abu Zubaydah was based on a highly inflated assessment of his importance, interviews and documents show.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Divisions Arose on Rough Torture Tactics for Qaeda Figure
The decision to use brutal interrogation tactics against Abu Zubaydah was based on a highly inflated assessment of his importance, interviews and documents show.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
James Moore: What's Left of Texas
(1 comments) A recalling of the secession misadventures of the Republic of Texas Militia under the leadership of Rich McLaren. McLaren's misadventure began with the same hysteria that Texas Governor Rick Perry has been stirring. Perry blatantly suggested during the Fox News National Tea-Bagging Festival that Texans are about ready to leave the union because they are sick of Washington.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Bank Stress-Test Mess
The U.S. Treasury and financial regulators are clashing with each other over how to disclose results from the stress tests of 19 U.S. banks, with some officials concerned at potential damage to weaker institutions.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Meghan McCain: "Old School" Republicans Are "Scared Shitless"
(1 comments) Meghan: There are those who think we can win the WH back by being 'more' conservative. Worse, there are those who think we can win by changing nothing at all about what our party has become. They just want to wait for the other side to be perceived as worse than us. I think we're seeing a war brewing in the GOP. But it is not between us and Dems. It is not between us and liberals. It is between the future and the past.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Progress Report: The Torture Memos
a longstanding American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Obama administration yesterday released four Bush-era legal memos dating back to 2002 and 2005 that provide legal justifications for the CIA to torture al-Qaeda detainees.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Bush Torture Memos: Commercial Diets Used As Justification
In an effort to rationalize the use of dietary manipulation on detainees, Bush administration officials turned to Slim Fast and Jenny Craig.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Health Reform Without a Public Plan: The German Model
Economics professor explains why the public health insurance plan that Barack Obama had firmly promised during the presidential campaign appears to have become a deal-breaker in President Obama’s quest to sign a genuinely bipartisan health reform bill later this year.

Friday, April 17, 2009
EPA's historic ruling targets greenhouse gases
The Environmental Protection Agency ruled Friday that greenhouse gas emissions "may endanger public health and welfare," the first salvo in what's likely to be a contentious political debate over how to regulate pollutants linked to global warming.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Pakistan: Whither Af-Pak?
The near simultaneous reappointment of a sacked Supreme Court judge and the signing of an agreement to allow Sharia courts in certain areas have created a bewildering judicial divide in Pakistan. In this battle of the courts, however, there is a real opportunity for President Obama to take a new approach to Pakistan and depart from the disastrous path cut by President George W. Bush and his predecessors.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Iraq : US Air Raids Killed Mostly Women and Children
Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead. Report urges review of military strategy when targeting urban areas.

Friday, April 17, 2009
MUST SEE Documentary: "The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove"
"The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove" highlights only a very small number of many cases across the country where tactics used by the DoJ are questionable, if not illegal. It is necessary to examine not only the methods...but the motives.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Froomkin: Human Beings Without Humanity
(1 comments) The profoundly disgusting memos made public yesterday -- in which government lawyers attempted to justify flatly unconscionable and illegal acts -- provide a depressing reminder of a time when the powerful and powerless alike were stripped of their humanity.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Ackerman: High Priests of OLC Turned CIA Torture Into Holy Acts
"These are medieval documents, these Office of Legal Counsel memos... OLC, like a medieval priest, finds the right incantation to transform a dark act into a holy one."

Friday, April 17, 2009
Did Colin Powell Authorize Torture?
(1 comments) Video Interview: Rachel Maddow Asks Colin Powell about his role in the Principals Meetings (yes, that's what they were called) where torture policy was discussed and approved.

Friday, April 17, 2009
Steve Schmidt, McCain Campaign Manager: Religion Could Kill The GOP
John McCain's campaign manager Steve Schmidt painted a dire portrait of the state of the Republican Party, arguing that the GOP has largely been co-opted by its religious elements. "If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party."

Friday, April 17, 2009
Mike Whitney: Why is Goldman Sachs So Scared of Mike Morgan?
Mike Morgan is a registered investment adviser and a scrappy shoot-from-the-hip guy who doesn't mince his words. Recently Morgan has come under fire from investment giant Goldman Sachs for his hard-hitting web site "Facts about Goldman Sachs".

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Not an Economist? Recommended Readings
With only a rudimentary understanding of economics, I needed to educate myself quickly when the economy started going south. The following is a list of reading material and information to help others like me gain a more in-depth understanding of what has already happened in our economy and what could happen if our government remains intent on bailing out Wall St. instead of Main st.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Noam Chomsky Answers Audience Questions About the CIA and Other Topics VIDEO
Noam Chomsky was part of a panel discussion in Madison, WI on 4-6-09. Chomsky addressed questions from the audience on many topics. VIDEO

Thursday, April 16, 2009
NSA Tried to Wiretap Member of Congress
The National Security Agency (NSA) has intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans on a scale beyond the broad limits Congress has established. New details emerged about earlier domestic-surveillance activities, including the agency’s attempt to wiretap a member of Congress, without FISA court approval.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
'Grassroots' Chicago tea party organized with the help of the right-wing Heartland Institute.
Chicago tea party organizer John O'Hara on how he got involved with the protests: I work at a free-market think tank, the Heartland Institute here in Chicago. In my spare time, on weekends and nights, leading up to the Feburary 27 tea parties, my good friend J. P. Freire...at the American Spectator invited me and asked me if I could help get some momentum behind a tea party.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Fox News's 'coverage' of tea parties: 23 segments, 73 on-air promos in eight days.
Fox News has aggressively promoted today's conservative, anti-Obama tea parties. A Media Matters analysis found that Fox dedicated 23 separate segments to the tea parties between April 6 and April 13; it aired at least 73 in-show and commercial promotions for the parties as well. Of all the Fox programs, Neil Cavuto's "Your World" dedicated the most time to the tea parties

Thursday, April 16, 2009
You have to see this: surprising audition by Susan Boyle on 'Britain's Got Talent' - A reality TV blog by The Baltimore
(2 comments) You know how it is: Frumpy lady walks out on stage and declares that she wants to be a star, then she sings, and it's, as Simon Cowell would say, dreadful. Delusions on parade, as usual. Well, not this time. This woman Susan Boyle comes out, and as soon as she sings the first note ... oh, just go watch! VIDEO

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Gov. Perry Talks Secession for Texas at Tea Party: "Texas Can Leave Union If It Wants To"
Good riddance! GW Bush can run for president again. Can't think of a more deserving state.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tea baggers joke about Obama being waterboarded, shining the shoes of the Saudi king.
Tea party organizers and participants have repeatedly insisted that their nationwide protests today are completely non-partisan and not meant to be anti-Obama. However, there didn't seem to be any anti-Republican or anti-Bush signs at the protests. Instead, not only were there signs/clothing protest Obama's policies, but some had violent or racist rhetoric. One participant even asked Joe the Plumber about waterboarding Obama.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Holder Admits Laws Violated: Now What Should Our Top Prosecutor Do When Laws Have Been Violated?
"In our current struggle against international terrorism, when others surrendered faithful obedience to the law to the circumstances of the time, it was the brave men and women of the JAG corps who stood up against the tides, many times risking their careers to do so," Holder said. "We will not sacrifice our values or trample on our Constitution under the false premise that it is the only way to protect our national security."

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Empty Florida homes may return to nature
Tampa waterfront went from $125 million to 2 million! Luxury development to be returned to nature.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Pentagon Closes Office Accused of Issuing Propaganda Under Bush
Critics said the office overstepped its mandate by trying to organize information operations that violated Pentagon guidelines for accuracy and transparency.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
How Many of Your Tax Dollars Will Go to Afghanistan?
- 37.3 cents of every tax dollar went toward military spending last year. NPP has a site set up where you can actually see the breakdown of where your tax dollars went in 2008, based on your city and county info.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Greenwald: Obama's huge test today: do we believe in 'secret law?'
Today is the most significant test yet determining the sincerity of Barack Obama's commitment to restore the Constitution, transparency and the rule of law... The question is whether he will release to the public the legal doctrines under which the U.S. Government conducted itself regarding interrogation techniques he claims are no longer being used.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
DOJ Whistleblower Defends Decision to Leak Bush Spy Program In Light of NSA Law Breaking
(1 comments) NYT is reporting the NSA has been intercepting private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress. Thomas Tamm, the whistleblower in the spy operation, called the paper from a subway pay phone and revealed the existence of the Bush's secret domestic surveillance program. Democracy Now! interview video.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Did Holder Know About the "Significant Misconduct" When DOJ Claimed Sovereign Immunity?
So when Eric Holder's DOJ made expansive claims arguing that no one could sue federal employees for being wrongly wiretapped under Bush's illegal program, did he know this revelation from Glenn Fine's investigation into the wiretapping program? When DOJ claimed sovreign immunity, were they thinking of the Americans targeted in what Glenn Fine's office considers "significant misconduct"?

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Andrew Sullivan: Obama's Moment Of Truth On Torture
The question before the president today is not whether to prosecute his predecessors for war crimes; it is simply whether to release the memos that the Bush admin drew up describing in gruesome detail the torture techniques they authorized - or to cover them up. There are zero natl security interests in keeping such info secret. The ICRC report detailed what was done to many high value detainees...war crimes.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Obama and Biden: Supertrains, the transportation of the future
If you thought the days of the administration doing whatever the vice president wanted were over on Jan. 20, think again. Obama and Biden announced plans today for a new network of high-speed trains -- connecting cities in 10 regions with improved service that would have the trains traveling faster than 100 miles per hour.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Matt Taibbi: Teabagging Michelle Malkin
Taibbi on Malkin: "Yhis move of hers to spearhead the teabag movement really adds an element to her writing that wasn't there before. Now when I read her stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth. It vastly improves her prose."

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Secret Interrogation Memos to Be Released - Bradbury, Yoo & Bybee Opinions To Go Public
The documents are expected to include Justice Dept memos from 2002 and 2005 authorizing the C.I.A. to employ a number of aggressive techniques- including sleep deprivation, exposure to extreme temperatures and “waterboarding,” the near-drowning technique. Among the anticipated documents are detailed 2005 memos by Stephen Bradbury, along with the John Yoo memos signed by Jay Bybee. Full-blown Congressional investigation next?

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Obama Admin: No Charges Against CIA Officials For Waterboarding
(2 comments) The Obama administration is telling CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they won't be prosecuted by the Justice Department.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Senate Panel To Investigate NSA Wiretapping Violations
The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that the panel would investigate reports that the National Security Agency improperly tapped into the domestic communications of American citizens and attempted to wiretap a US Congressman as he/she traveled overseas.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Torture Memo: As Long as You Don't Keep the Guy Awake for More Than 11 Days, It's Fine
(1 comments) Here's a taste of the Bush administration's legal rationale, exemplified in one excerpt from the 2002 OLC memo written by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, about the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al Qaeda member. Watch for more info as it becomes available.

Thursday, April 16, 2009
1,500 Farmers in India Commit Suicide: A Wake-Up Call for Humanity
(2 comments) Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Chris Wallace Asked To Distance Himself From Fox News Tea Party Promotion
Media watchdog organization Media Matters For America will be sending a letter Tuesday to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, imploring him to "to publicly address recent actions by Fox News personalities that unambiguously cross the line separating news and legitimate commentary from political activism and demagoguery."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
FreedomWorks Orchestrates 'Grassroots' Movements To Serve Dick Armey's Corporate Clients
Today, FreedomWork's Adam Brandon responded to the criticism that its efforts to organize these anti-Obama protests are 'astroturf,' saying that the organization's work in coordinating and planning the events would be akin to "MoveOn's model." However, MoveOn is not run by corporate lobbyists and is funded by actual grassroots activists. OOPS!!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Americans for Prosperity writes Facebook message offering financial rewards for publicizing tea parties.
Trying to paint tomorrow's tea party protests as an organic uprising right wing organizers are doling out generous financial incentives to publicize the tea parties. On Facebook today, Erik Telford of Americans For Prosperity told supporters, "I wanted to make you aware of an opportunity. Americans for Prosperity Fdn and Heritage Fdn have teamed up to...offer four contests and $5,000 in prizes."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
72 percent of Americans disagree with Cheney's claim that Obama has made the U.S. less safe.
(2 comments) A new CNN poll shows that the American public also view Cheney's claim with disregard. According to the poll, 72 percent "disagree with Cheney's view that some of Obama's actions have put the country at greater risk with 26 percent agreeing with the former vice president."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Politico lets Gingrich attack public health insurance plan without disclosing financial ties to insurance companies
Summary: Politico quoted Newt Gingrich's criticisms of including a public health insurance plan option in a health care reform proposal without noting his financial ties to several major health insurance companies.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Lehman Bros. Sits on Enough Uranium Cake To Make A Nuclear Bomb
(4 comments) Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is sitting on enough uranium cake to make a nuclear bomb as it waits for prices of the commodity to rebound, according to traders and nuclear experts.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Veterans Upset That Tea Baggers Plan To Hold Their Anti-Obama Protest At A Veterans Memorial In Kansas
Most people think of the Veterans Memorial as a sacred place. It's a place to reflect, to remember why we're here today and the people who have sacrificed for that." "This is something that really upset me. The Veterans Memorial, as far as I'm concerned, is hallowed ground. To have a partisan, political 'tea party' there really offends my sensibilities."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Inst. for Policy Studies report shows tax revenue lost by NOT taxing the rich
We cannot undo the damage wrought by the reckless tax giveaways to America's rich that have multiplied over recent years. These giveaways have turbocharged the concentration of wealth that sits behind our current economic meltdown. But with the tax changes we outline in these pages, we can take steps toward restoring the greater equality—and prosperity—that Americans enjoyed in the 20th century's middle decades.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Do the Rich Really Pay Over a Third of Their Income in Federal Income Taxes? No
In 2006, the 400 highest-income Americans paid an effective rate of 17.2%

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
David Shuster: GOP "Going Nuts" For Teabagging, But They "Need A Dick Armey"
A clip from last night's Countdown, in which David Shuster and Lawrence O'Donnell trotted out their own teabagging material for the MSNBC audience. They had the natural advantage of being familiar with the equipment used in a good teabagging -- steeped in it, if you will -- but the resulting conversation...well, let's just say that it proved somehow even more unsubtle that the Maddow/Cox version..

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The International 'YouTube' Orchestra Performs at Cargnie Hall
Taking the "music as the universal language" theme, musicians from around the world perform at Cargnie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Texas appeals court revokes attorney's license for failing to repay student loan, other debts
The three-court appeals panel in Austin found that because Santulli, a Houston solo practitioner, did not adhere to a previous order requiring him to pay his debts, he lacked the trustworthiness necessary to represent clients.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
SEC to review whether BofA broke the law over Merril Lynch $3.6 bn bonuses
(2 comments) If the SEC decided that BofA was derelict in not informing its shareholders of the bonuses before they voted for the takeover on December 5, the bank would be exposed to civil penalties. It would also add fuel to AG Cuomo’s investigation, which has expanded beyond the bonuses and into the question of whether BofA treated its shareholders fairly.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Right-Wing 'Terrorist' Next Door: DHS Issues Warning
Homeland Security Report Warns Of Rising Right-Wing Extremism: Warns that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists"...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Have BOOMERS become BUMMERS for Gen X, Y, & Z?
(5 comments) ... "The greatest fear of any "Boomer" is being "left in the dust." And until we're finally able to leave them in the dust, or when their thirst for power and popularity subsides as they finally just grow the f**k up, we will continue to endure their bullshit. They never will grow up, by the way. They'll keep paying for lap band surgery and Cialis so they can remain adolescent until the day they die.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Watch Yale Economists Discuss The Financial Crisis
n front of an audience of Yale alumni, university president Richard Levin hosted a fascinating discussion Tuesday on the financial crisis with John Geanakoplos (James Tobin Professor of Economics) and Robert Shiller (Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics). LINK to video.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
News Corp Moves to Further Homogenize Its Right-Wing 'Unbalanced' Messages Via New Property Incest Unit
"There's probably a lot of work being needlessly done two or more times by different News Corp properties. Papers like the NY Post have a lot to gain (and little to lose) by getting better access to WSJ content, and vice-versa." Murdoch has tapped John Moody, who had been Fox News' Executive VP of News Editorial, to oversee the new unit.

Monday, April 13, 2009
Amazon sparks Web fury by de-ranking books with gay content
"Yes, it is true. Amazon admits they are indeed stripping the sales ranking indicators for what they deem to be 'adult' material. Of course they are being hypocritical because there is a multitude of 'adult' literature out there that is still being ranked – Harold Robbins, Jackie Collins, come on! They are using categories THEY set up (gay and lesbian) to now target these books as somehow offensive."

Monday, April 13, 2009
Shockingly Supreme Clarence Thomas Pans 'Bill of Rights' to High School Students!!
(5 comments) "Today there is much focus on our rights," Justice Thomas said. "Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights. I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances," he said. "Shouldn't there at least be equal time for our Bill of Obligations and our Bill of Responsibilities?" Duh, Clarence: Of which Bills of 'Obligations and Responsibilities' do you speak?

Monday, April 13, 2009
Ney's New Role? Right-Wing Radio Talk Show Host
The new 'moral' minority. Yes, your typical Republican political felon song-and-dance...get caught, lie, confess, resign, go to Club Med jail, then get a media job in talk radio or as a FOX boob for big bucks; aproud GOP tradition dating back to the Watergate days of G. Gordon Liddy. Felons can't vote in some states, but these select few get to read neocon talking points on your public airwaves until the cows come home!

Monday, April 13, 2009
Franken Won Most Senate Votes, Minnesota Court Rules
(2 comments) Coleman has 10 days to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Once the petition is filed, it could further delay the seating of Minnesota's second senator for weeks.

Monday, April 13, 2009
The Bush Six to Be Indicted for Torture Authorization
(3 comments) The six defendants -in addition to Gonzales, Federal Appeals Court Judge and former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, University of California law professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, former Defense Department general counsel and current Chevron lawyer William J. Haynes II, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff David Addington, and former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith

Sunday, April 12, 2009
G.O.P.: R.I.P.
So there it stands: a naked, pigeon-chested old man, random strands of white hair on its boney shoulders; its swollen-knuckled hands clasped over its dead genitals, looking at once forlorn and menacing, shivering with self-loathing and xenophobia, raging pathetically at its timely and appropriate defeat at the hands of Reason. Ladies and gentlemen: The Republican Party...

Sunday, April 12, 2009
FOX Lies: The Bush Administration Didn't Really Blame Clinton For 9/11
(1 comments) In fact, in a September 2006 interview with the New York Post editorial board, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received considerable attention for placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of President Clinton as did Bush on August 30, 2005 including 3 of the previous 4 presidents except his father, GHW Bush.

Sunday, April 12, 2009
Krugman Calls Out GOP Hypocrisy On Job Creation And Defense Cuts
KRUGMAN: What's so wonderful is watching Republican congressmen saying, "But this will cost jobs!" The very same Republican congressmen who were denouncing the stimulus, saying government spending never creates jobs, but cutting defense spending costs jobs. It's wonderful.

Sunday, April 12, 2009
Fire Your Agent: You collectively own Citibank. You just pretend you don't.
Everyone who has a 401 K has participated in the transition from the 'ownership' society to the 'agency society.' Indeed, while many still believe that the American way of investing makes ours an ownership society, Mr. Bogle says we live in an agency society [and have for 50 years], one in which we rely on agents -- mutual fund managers, pension fund managers -- to make our investment choices for us.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Memo To Jeb Bush: Your Brother's Administration Blamed Clinton For 9/11 And The Economic Crisis
(4 comments) Yesterday, former Florida governor Jeb Bush implored Obama to stop criticizing his brother's legacy. "If I had one humble criticism of President Obama, it would be to stop this notion of somehow framing everything in the context of, 'Everything was bad before I got here,'" Jeb said.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Bush Promises to Use His Library's 'Policy Center' to Privatize Social Security
(3 comments) A new video of GW Bush promoting his presidential library has been released. In the five-minute video, there are a full 35 seconds of clips of 9/11 and Bush's subsequent reaction. However, there is just one mention of Iraq in the entire piece. Additioanlly, Bush promises to use his library "policy center" to be "front and center" pushing for another attempt to privatize Social Security.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
VIDEO: Fox News Signs On To Tea Party Agenda, Aggressively Promotes Anti-Obama Protests
(1 comments) Fox News has in dozens of instances provided attendance and organizing information for future protests, such as protest dates, locations and website URLs. Fox News websites have also posted information and publicity material for protests. Fox News hosts have repeatedly encouraged viewers to join them at several April 15 protests that they are attending and covering.

Saturday, April 11, 2009
Michelle Obama's organic garden concerns chemical firms
(9 comments) MACA, which represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection, is less than thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops at the White House. The group is worried that the decision may give consumers the wrong impression about conventionally grown food.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Red Cross 'Full' Torture Report: Medics Joined CIA Torture Sessions
Download the text of the ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody by The International Committee of the Red Cross, along with the cover letter that accompanied it when it was transmitted to the US government in February 2007. This version, reset by The New York Review, exactly reproduces the original including typographical errors and some omitted words.

Monday, April 6, 2009
Steve Bemis on Food Safety Legislation Before Congress
Steve Bemis worked in corporate law for 35 years and for the last several years with the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund advocating for greater access to local foods, especially raw milk.

Monday, April 6, 2009
Bill Moyers & William K. Black: Wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street [Transcript]
(2 comments) For months now, revelations of the wholesale greed and blatant transgressions of Wall Street have reminded us that "The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One." In fact, the man you're about to meet wrote a book with just that title. It was based upon his experience as a tough regulator during one of the darkest chapters in our financial history: the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980s. [Transcript]

Monday, April 6, 2009
The Nation's Meltdown 101
As the world faces economic collapse and citizens struggle to figure out where to go from here, The Nation has assembled this special section as an online guide to the crisis.

Monday, April 6, 2009
George Soros: US Banks 'Basically Insolvent':
The U.S. economy is in for a "lasting slowdown" and could face a Japan-style period of relatively low growth coupled with high inflation, billionaire investor George Soros said on Monday. Soros, speaking to Reuters Financial Television, also warned that rescuing U.S. banks could turn them into "zombies" that draw the lifeblood of the economy, prolonging the economic slowdown.

Saturday, April 4, 2009
Israel: Women Photoshopped From Cabinet Picture To Cater To The Ultra-Orthodox
Newspapers aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jewish readers tampered with the inaugural photograph of the Cabinet, erasing ministers Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver. Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women.

Saturday, April 4, 2009
Pakistan: Power cut durations increased in Peshawar
PESHAWAR: PESCO has increased the duration of load-shedding from six hours to eight hours in Peshawar and adjoining areas. Power cut for prolonged hours increased problems of citizens as water shortage also surfaced due to non-availability of electricity in different areas.

Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Anonymous Liberal: Being a "Public Christian"
Why is it so many of the faithful feel that they can't be "public Christians" without going out of their way to advertise their disapproval of homosexuality? First, there are millions of Christians in who have no problem at all with gay marriage or homosexuality generally (indeed, there are many gay Christians). More importantly, since when is expressing disapproval of homosexuality a key part of being a "public Christian?"

Friday, April 3, 2009
Phil Gramm, Architect of the Landmark 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Owes America $2 Trillion
From Gramm's floor speech at bill's passing: "The question is, 'How will it look 50 years from now when it has gone from infancy to maturity?" Thankfully, we didn't have to wait 50 years to find out what history would say about Gramm's "dramatic change in public policy." It only took a decade for our financial industry to self-destruct after Gramm dismantled the Glass-Steagall put in place after the Great Depression...

Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Petraeus: Israel Might Attack Iran
(1 comments) Army General David Petraeus told Congress that "the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it."

Wednesday, April 1, 2009
UN: Killer strains of tuberculosis may 'spiral out of control'
(2 comments) The world is on the cusp of an explosion of drug-resistant tuberculosis cases that could deluge hospitals and leave physicians fighting a nearly untreatable malady with little help from modern drugs, global experts said Wednesday. "The situation is already alarming, and poised to grow much worse very quickly."

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Seymour Hersh: Secret US Forces Carried Out Assassinations in a Dozen Counties, Including in Latin America
(8 comments) "Under President Bush's authority, they've been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or to the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving," Hersh said. Seymour Hersh joins us to explain. WATCH/LISTEN.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
Seymour Hersh: 'Syria Calling' - A Chance to Move Beyond Israel/Gaza Debacle Toward Peace?
(1 comments) The Obama Administration's chance to engage in a Middle East peace.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
G20 protests: Over 35,000 chanting demonstraters march ahead of talks
Up to 35,000 protesters gathered in Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon after marching through central London to demonstrate ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
DNC Ridicules GOP For Number-Free Budget: VIDEO
The DNC just released a pretty brutal -- not to mention funny -- video mocking the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives for releasing a budget with no numbers in it. WATCH IT.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Exclusive: Three Israeli Airstrikes Against Sudan
Israel has conducted three military strikes against targets in Sudan since January in an effort to prevent what were believed to be Iranian weapons shipments from reaching Hamas in the Gaza Strip, ABC News has learned.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Coleman donor: US Senators don't make shit
In sworn testimony last week, a former executive of a company controlled by Nasser Kazeminy, a close friend of Senator Norm Coleman, said that Kazeminy -- an Iranian-born businessman whose friendship with Coleman goes back to his days as mayor of St. Paul -- ordered $100,000 in fees to be paid to an insurance agency where Coleman's wife, Laurie, was employed. Seems Norm Coleman has more problems than just Al Franken.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Neocons Have Started a New 'Think Tank' - Actually Adult Daycare for Disgraced Flock of Warmongers
Last night on Rachel Maddow's show, the Wonk Room's Matt Duss discussed the emergence of the Foreign Policy Institute, the seeming new shelter for disgraced neoconservative foreign policy "experts." Maddow asked Duss how is it that the architects of the Iraq failure are able to reconstitute themselves...only to re-emerge from the shadows to pillage and wage war another day.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
(4 comments) A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
New "Foreign Policy Initiative" Think-Tank's Kagan & Kristol Already At Odds On How To Wack Iran
(2 comments) Super-hawk, chickenhawk neoconservatives Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, and Dan Senor officially launched their new war incubator - "The Foreign Policy Initiative" - with the unveiling of its first policy event on Afghanistan. (The Wonk Room's Matt Duss tentatively titled the event - "Afghanistan: Dealing With The Huge Problems Created By Many Of The People On This Very Stage").

Saturday, March 28, 2009
GIVE Mandatory Service Act Tack-on Strips First Amendment of "Volunteers"
(8 comments) Rep. George Miller, a Democrat from California, tacked an amendment on H.R. 1388, entitled "Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act," or GIVE - Obama's plan to require mandatory service for all able young people. The amendment will "prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing..."

Saturday, March 28, 2009
UPS Announces It Will Stop Advertising On Bill O'Reilly's Show
Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O'Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
Reid: Justice Roberts Lied To Us
(1 comments) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took a moment Friday to lament Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert's tenure on the court so far, which in Reid's opinion has been far more conservative than expected. "He didn't tell us the truth," Reid's said, discussing Robert's confirmation back in 2005. How can one legally get rid of a Supreme Court justice?

Saturday, March 28, 2009
GOP Rep Shimkus Says We Need Uncapped Carbon Emissions Because Carbon is "Plant Food"
(1 comments) SHIMKUS (R-Illinois): It's plant food ... So if we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere? ... So all our good intentions could be for naught. In fact, we could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying.

Friday, March 27, 2009
Lauren Weinstein: Twitter This -- Or Not
while I've continued to give Facebook and MySpace a wide berth -- they're just not my style -- Twitter seems to be developing into a medium with potential value in the Internet ecosystem poised somewhere between e-mail messages and blog entries, especially since the very short nature of individual Twitter notes (much like cell phone SMS text messages) encourages brevity. I've been musing...

Friday, March 27, 2009
Cuomo Widens His AIG. Investigation: Did AIG Illegally Funnel Billions TARP $$ To Counterparts?
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said Thursday afternoon that he was widening his investigation of the American International Group to examine whether its trading counterparties improperly received billions of dollars in government money from the troubled insurer. Those counterparties include Goldman Sachs, which received $12.9 billion, as well as Soci�t� G�n�rale of [...]

Friday, March 27, 2009
Pakistan Mosque Packed With Worshippers Attacked By Suicide Bomber, At Least 48 Killed
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber demolished a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers attending Friday prayers close to the Afghan border, killing at least 48 people and injuring scores more, officials said.

Friday, March 27, 2009
Senate Budget Committee backs Obama's budget blueprint
Senate Budget Committee approval by a party-line vote sets the stage for floor debate next week, where moderate Democrats unhappy with deficits wield more influence. The Senate measure is a nonbinding road map for major legislation later this year on health care, energy and education.

Friday, March 27, 2009
A Letter From Inside AIG: "The Entire US System Is Committing Suicide"
(2 comments) "...the real failures in the US and UK banking systems stem from an extremist belief in the free market. How else to explain the simultaneous failures of virtually every large US and UK bank? And the blame for this lies squarely in the corrupt circles of US politico-business classes. Joe Cassano used to extort contributions from his employees for Chris Dodd, the very man now leading the charge against the employees of FP..."

Friday, March 27, 2009
Sure, give to charity. Just don't expect a kickback
President Obama wants to lower the tax deduction for charitable giving. Why stop there?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Parrot gets award for warning about choking tot
(1 comments) Willie repeatedly yelled 'Mama, baby' and flapped wings to alert babysitter

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
FBI, SEC, and British Serious Fraud Office Investigate AIG's Six-Year Saga Of Fraud
The FBI, SEC, and the British Serious Fraud Office are investigating the AIG Financial Products Group for hiding its losses on investments related to derivatives known as credit default swaps. The group was headed by Joseph Cassano, the Brooklyn-born son of a cop, until he stepped down in February. It sustained a loss of more than $11 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Obama Administration suspends mountaintop removal permits for further review...
This afternoon, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations - and putting hundreds more mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold until it can evaluate their impact on our nation's streams and wetlands. This is a major victory for the movement.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Cost of uninsured adds $1,100/year to premiums of insured families.
When the uninsured cannot pay for their care, health care providers shift costs to Americans with insurance in the form of higher premiums. This cost-shift amounts to $1,100 per average family premium in 2009 and $410 per average individual premium. By 2013, assuming the cost shift remains the same percentage of premium costs, the cost shift will be approximately $480 for an individual policy and $1,300 for a family.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hamsher on Maddow: "Pushing Back at Conservative Dems"
explore why our Democratic president and a large Democratic majority in Congress has to worry more about a few Democratic Senators and their new coalition, led by the aforementioned Senator, one Even Bayh of Indiana. Could it be that Bayh's top contributors are Goldman Sacks, AIG, Carlyle Group, and Blue Cross/Shield...

Monday, March 23, 2009
KRUGMAN: Financial Policy Despair
(1 comments) If Barack Obama’s bank rescue plan fails, it is unlikely that Congress will come up with more funds to do what should have been done in the first place.

Monday, March 23, 2009
Arianna Huffington: Take the Steering Wheel out of Geithner's Hands
Maintaining the public trust is always important for a leader, but especially so during hard times. Geithner successfully over-ruled Axelrod on the 'bailout bonuses' - a "victory" that could lead to the unraveling of the president's entire economic policy.

Monday, March 23, 2009
Terkel: I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O'Reilly's Producer
On March 1, ThinkProgress picked up on a story by News Hounds, which noted that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly - who has made controversial comments about rape victims in the past - was slated to speak at a March 19 fundraiser for the Alexa Foundation. The group is committed to supporting rape survivors. O'Reilly has implied that women who dress in a certain way...should perhaps expect to be raped.

Monday, March 23, 2009
Bachmann: "I Want People" Armed And Dangerous On This Issue' Of Cap And Trade'
This is just the latest evidence of Bachmann's disdain and disrespect for America's government. Last fall, she unwittingly caused a firestorm after saying she was "absolutely" concerned that then-candidate Barack Obama "may have anti-American views," and called for a McCarthy-like investigation into "anti-American" elements in Congress. "I think people would love to see an expos� like that..."

Monday, March 23, 2009
Dean on Wall Street compensation: Americans don't understand rewarding people who did 'a crappy job'
During his inaugural appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning as a paid commentator, Howard Dean told the CNBC regulars that he believed they were misreading the public's reaction to Wall Street excess. Dean said that rather than resenting the wealth of Wall Street as a matter of course, Americans simply believe that "you shouldn't get rewarded...for doing a crappy job."

Monday, March 23, 2009
Foreign Firms Eye Stimulus Dollars Lobbying DC & State Capitals
Some Have Expertise U.S. Companies Lack: Foreign firms and govts are increasing their lobbying efforts in DC and state capitals, hoping to sell “their expertise in clean energy, high-speed transit and other technologies that under gird key aspects of Obama’s stimulus efforts.” These firms, however, are “proceeding cautiously for fear of stoking nationalistic objections from US lawmakers and their constituents.”(ThinkProgress)

Monday, March 23, 2009
Bailed-out JPMorgan orders two new luxury jets and a deluxe aircraft hangar.
(1 comments) In last month's House hearing, seven out of eight bailed-out bank CEOs said their companies still "own or lease" private planes. ABC News provides more details today, reporting that JPMorgan Chase - which received $25 billion in TARP funds - "is going ahead with a $138 million plan to buy two new luxury corporate jets," complete with "the premiere corporate aircraft hangar on the eastern seaboard."

Monday, March 23, 2009
Benen: "He's Not Punch Drunk"
(2 comments) For most of the interview, Obama is dead serious. Occasionally, he'd chuckle at some absurdity -- hardly an unusual reaction for, you know, humans -- but for the most part, the president was hardly jocular. About half-way through, Kroft brings up aid to the auto industry, and public opposition to additional government investment. The two share a laugh at the one-sided polling numbers... WATCH

Monday, March 23, 2009
DeKalb Co. Georgia To Launch Military Marines Institute: Military 'Magnet' Public High School
(1 comments) County plans to open public high school in partnership with U.S. Marine Corps - “The whole thing is just a ploy” to help the Marines recruit, Burke said. “We expect to fight it tooth and nail.” Activists groups such as Georgia Veterans Alliance, a group that aligns itself with the work of the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, are leading the fight to stop turning our high schools into recruiting stations.

Sunday, March 22, 2009
U.N. panel says world should ditch dollar
(1 comments) A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies adding to pressure on the dollar. Central banks hold their reserves in a variety of currencies and gold, but the dollar has dominated as the most convincing store of value -- though its rate has wavered in recent years as Bush ran up twin budget and external deficits.

Saturday, March 21, 2009
Matt Taibbi: The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Feds looking to freeze Ruth Madoff's assets
Fearing she will flee the country, federal investigators plan to freeze $93 million of Ruth Madoff's assets. Mrs. Madoff has denied any wrongdoing associated with her husband's $50 billion Ponzi scheme. But she was implicated because she withdrew $15.5 million immediately before her husband was arrested in December and recently purchased $1 million of jewelry in defiance of a court order.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
In a first, bankruptcy judge rules Calif. city can void union contracts
(1 comments) In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts in its effort to reorganize, holding public workers do not enjoy the same protections Congress gave union workers at private companies.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Why Are AIG's Contracts Sacrosanct But Not Union Workers' Contracts?
SUMMERS: We are a country of law. There are contracts. The government cannot just abrogate contracts. Every legal step possible to limit those bonuses is being taken by Secretary Geithner and by the Federal Reserve system... Oh, and tell it to the "Back-Door Drafted" soldiers still being recalled, and recalled, and recalled...and then, some recalled again!

Monday, March 16, 2009
No Mention Of Iraq In Bush's Presidential Library Bio
The president's advisers are still chewing over what topics to emphasize. Iraq is unlikely to be one of them. Advisers say they have made a specific decision to leave that verdict to history and not try to defend it at a time when Iraq could still wind up as either a democracy or a disaster.

Monday, March 16, 2009
Bachmann Falsely Claims Her Earmarks Were 'Very Small' Compared To Average' Earmark Cost For Minnesota
WILSON: Well, I see a government watchdog group says since you became a member of the House you've taken in, oh, $3.7 million in earmarks. BACHMANN: Well, the average earmark I think for the state of Minnesota for the members of Congress is somewhere around 70,000– $70 million, so mine is very, very small on that level and that's in the first two years that was in.

Monday, March 16, 2009
Fox News Edits Clip To Suggest That Biden Recently Declared "˜Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong'
(2 comments) The clip of Biden seemingly making a recent remark about the strength of the economy is grossly inaccurate & was actually from last September when he was quoting John McCain. What Biden really said: "I believe that's why John McCain could say with a straight face as recently as this morning and this is a quote, "the fundamentals of the economy are strong." That's what John said...

Monday, March 16, 2009
LAUGH OF THE WEEK: Perino claims Bush was responsible for last week's stock market climb.
(4 comments) According to former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, the man most responsible for the stock market's climb last week was...President Bush. WATCH THE SHOW!

Monday, March 16, 2009
Blue Dogs wade in on health reform
Blue Dogs have made pay-as-you-go, or paygo, rules their rallying cry. The Blue Dog endorsement of President Obama's approach is a significant boost to the chances of health reform passing the House this year. Previous Blue Dog opposition to other bills that waived paygo rules posed problems for Democratic leaders in the House.

Monday, March 16, 2009
BUSH HANGOVER: Confidential' Red Cross torture report details 'suffocation' and head-smashing of detainees.
Journalist Mark Danner reports today that he has acquired a once "confidential" 2006 Red Cross investigation on U.S. terror detentions. The report details "suffocation by water," "prolonged stress standing," "beatings by use of a collar," and "confinement in a box." Danner notes that senior Bush officials were well aware of the techniques being used.

Monday, March 16, 2009
Obama's Full Statement on AIG
"...Anger at the bonuses among the public and in Washington began boiling over the weekend. Rather than tamp down that anger, Obama has decided to show his sympathy. "All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multi-million dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington..."

Monday, March 16, 2009
Cuomo Issues Subpoenas; Will See AIG in Court
(1 comments) As New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's 4 P.M. deadline has not been met, he will be issuing subpoenas. "Four o'clock has come and gone and we will be issuing subpoenas immediately," Cuomo said on a conference call. "I believe in transparency and disclosure ... this is taxpayer money ... We do want fairness -- we don't want absurd use of taxpayer money."

Sunday, March 15, 2009
Taliban behead three Pakistan tribesmen
KHAR, Pakistan: Taliban militants shot dead then cut the heads off three tribesmen in a restive Pakistan tribal area bordering war-torn Afghanistan, an official and witnesses said on Friday. Residents found the headless bodies dumped in the wilderness in Charmang, a known Taliban stronghold in the semi-autonomous district of Bajaur.

Sunday, March 15, 2009
SOLD OUT: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America
(11 comments) The report shows that, from 1998-2008, Wall Street investment firms, commercial banks, hedge funds, real estate companies and insurance conglomerates made $1.725 billion in political contributions and spent another $3.4 billion on lobbyists, a financial juggernaut aimed at undercutting federal regulation. Nearly 3,000 officially registered lobbyists worked for the industry in 2007 alone. The report documents the screwing...

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bad Times Spur 'Forced' Entrepreneurship, But There's a Catch
(1 comments) Economists say that when the economy takes a dive, it is common for people to turn to their inner entrepreneur to try to make their own work. But they say that it takes months for that mentality to sink in, and that this is about the time in the economic cycle when it really starts to happen - when the formerly employed realize that traditional job searches are not working, and that they are running out of time and money.

Saturday, March 14, 2009
James Fallows: China's Way Forward
(1 comments) In Beijing, in Shanghai, in Shenzhen, and elsewhere, I've recently visited companies that are trying to use the disruption of this moment to enter wholly new markets and do what so few Chinese firms have yet done: make high-tech, high-value products that bring high rewards...I found indications of companies that were growing rather than shrinking, and of corporate leaders who were pouring in money based on their belief that...

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Regulator: Before Banks Collapsed, They Pleaded With Feds To Let Them Fudge Their Books
FASB head Robt. Hertz to Financial Serv. Subcomm.: "[T]here may be institutions that are insolvent and they haven't been forced to write down their books to the point [of insolvency] yet, and those are maybe the same institutions that are asking us to modify the mark-to-market rules so that they won't have to admit that they're bankrupt. Is that correct?" Herz said that it was. More to come?

Saturday, March 14, 2009
Banks scramble to return bailout funds
(1 comments) Those that didn't first refuse TARP funds now feel tainted by having accepted them. They seek to give money back to Treasury to distance themselves from bad publicity and unwieldy rules. Says Paulson asked them to take money; said it would show bank's strength...

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Seymour Hersh: 'Executive assassination ring' reported directly to Cheney
(10 comments) Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an "executive assassination ring" throughout the Bush years which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Friday, March 6, 2009
SEIU laborers respond to O'Reilly attack: Come walk a day in our shoes.
Earlier this week, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly warned that "far-left extremists are unleashed, and are going for the gold. Their code words are 'social justice' and 'shared sacrifice.'" The chief target of O'Reilly's attack was "the radical left Service Employees International Union," a group he claimed is "damaging the economic core of America." Today, SEIU released a tongue-in-cheek video responding to O'Reilly...

Friday, March 6, 2009
Gingrich Planning To 'Look Seriously' At A Run For President In 2012
(4 comments) Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is really enjoying his role as the GOP's potential "Moses." He has taken on the role of adviser to the congressional GOP leadership, creator of bold new ideas, Republican whip, and general GOP superstar. He frequently uses his platform to launch attacks at President Obama, and is now suggesting that the next role he wants to take on is U.S. president...

Friday, March 6, 2009
Federal Judge Lambasts Obama Citizenship Case A Waste Of Time
(6 comments) A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit questioning President Barack Obama's citizenship, lambasting the case as a waste of the court's time and suggesting the plaintiff's attorney may have to compensate the president's lawyer. LOL

Friday, March 6, 2009
KRUGMAN: The Truman doctrine
According to the WSJ, Ted Truman has been tapped for an important (though temporary?) role with the Obama administration. Yay! Truman isn’t widely known, but he played a crucial role in getting the world through several past crises. I’ve always thought of him as the George Smiley of international economics. I remember one personal incident: in the [...]

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Jon Stewart Eviscerates CNBC, Santelli On Daily Show (VIDEO)
(1 comments) Stewart nails them. Lesson learned: do not cancel on The Daily Show. Or at least do not do whatever CNBC and/or Rick Santelli did, in the way they canceled on The Daily Show, because last night, Jon Stewart basically said, "I'll see your canceling on me and RAISE you a thorough evisceration of the faux-populist bilge you've been pumping and a complete blasting of your network's credibility."

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Michael Steele takes the GOP to the streets - Video Hip-Hop Satire
A dramatization of what would happen if Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele really did try to take the GOP to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings" -- is one of the funnier political things I've seen in a long time. It's a very sharp send-up of the ham-fisted way Steele is approaching this. They even got the color of his suit right.

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Mike Whitney: When Securitization Blew Up, So Did the Economy
(3 comments) It was securitization and the 25-to-1 leveraging of toxic assets at the hedge funds, investment banks and private equity firms that brought on the current financial crisis.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
FDIC's Bair Says Insurance Fund Could Be Insolvent This Year
(1 comments) Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said the deposit insurance fund could dry up amid a surge in bank failures, as she responded to an industry outcry against new fees approved by the agency. "Without these assessments, the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year."

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Merrill Lynch's top 10 earners made $209 million in 2008
Merrill Lynch & Co's 10 highest-paid employees got a total of $209 million in cash and stock in 2008, up slightly from $201 million they received a year earlier. Eleven top executives were paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year, the paper said, citing people familiar with the situation. Another 149 received $3 million or more, the paper said.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Obama's Orders Overhaul Bush/Cheney Disasterous 'Private Contracting' Award Policies
Obama on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the way the U.S. government awards contracts for private sector work, reversing a Bush administration policy that in some cases led to federal investigations of corrupt procurement practices and no-bid contracts costing the American taxpayers BILLIONS AND BILLIONS.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Obama Mortgage Plan To Help 9 Million Unveiled
The Obama administration kicked off a new program Wednesday that's designed to help up to 9 million borrowers stay in their homes through refinanced mortgages or loans that are modified to lower monthly payments.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Republicans Make a Case for Prosecuting Bush Officials before Senate Inquiry
A truth commission is something that countries like South Africa and Chile have had, not something we should do here, he said. "In those countries they had to have commissions because they couldn't have prosecutions. Peace was really in doubt in those countries ... they had to trade off prosecutions for peace. We're not in that situation. If people think we need to have prosecutions, we should have prosecutions."

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
IHC Exclusive: The Iraqi Resistance Responds to President Obama
In Respect to the remarks of President Barak Hussain Obama, The president of the United States of America. The Political Committee of a number of factions in the Iraqi Resistance, mainly the factions present in our front, respond with our point of view on the contents of his speech...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Private Sector Job Losses Reach 697,000 In February
ADP said private employers cut 697,000 jobs in February versus a revised 614,000 jobs lost in January. The January job cuts were originally reported at 522,000. It was the biggest job loss since the report's launch in 2001.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Rove & Miers Agree To Testify Not Under Oath But Under Penalty of Perjury
(13 comments) In an agreement reached today between the former Bush Admin and John Conyers (D-MI), Chair of the House Judiciary Comm, Karl Rove and former WH Counsel Harriet Miers will testify in transcribed depositions under penalty of perjury. The Committee has also reserved the right to have public testimony from Rove and Miers. It was agreed that invocations of official privileges would be significantly limited.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Pelosi: Rove Deal Is "Victory For The Constitution"
Pelosi: The agreement for Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to testify upholds a fundamental principle: no one is above the law and Congressional subpoenas must be complied with...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
AIG Spending Your $$$ Millions on Top PR Firms to Spin Bailout
AIG PR: American International Group is keeping the spin machine employed. The US insurance giant - which just received its fourth taxpayer bailout - has four public relations firms on its payroll.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
MEMO: Bush Adm. Weighed Scrapping the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution
After 9/11, Bush Dept of Justice secretly gave the green light for the US military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the US, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Feingold Urges Obama To Support Truth And Reconciliation Commission
Senator Russ Feingold urged the president on Tuesday to support the creation of a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate potential illegalities during the Bush years, as the President's press secretary punted once again on the topic.

Monday, March 2, 2009
DL Hughley: GOP convention 'looked like Nazi Germany'
"It literally look like Nazi Germany. It literally did. I make that point, not only are we not welcome -- not only are we not welcome, but they don't even care what we think," explained Hughley.

Monday, March 2, 2009
Limbaugh misquotes Constitution while arguing Obama policies are 'bastardization' of Constitution.
The nasty 'defacto' leader of the Republican Party doesn't know the US Constitution from the Declaration of Independence. LOL!!

Monday, March 2, 2009
Acting US Attorney reveals that CIA destroyed 92 interrogation tapes.
(2 comments) In a letter to federal district Judge Alvin Hellerstein dated March 2, government lawyers reveal that nearly 100 such tapes were destroyed: "The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said the letter by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety two videotapes were destroyed."

Monday, March 2, 2009
GOP Senator Kyl's Earmark Hypocrisy: Requested $118 Million For Earmarks In Budget, But Railed Against Them In Stimulus
According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) requested $118 million in earmarks in fiscal year 2008. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace pressed Kyl about his hypocrisy on earmarks, saying it is an example of how Republicans have "lost credibility on the issue of spending restraint." "Who are you to lecture the Democrats on spending?" asked Wallace. VIDEO

Monday, March 2, 2009
Republicans Concede Budget Is Hard to Block
Congress follows special rules for approving the annual budget that make it hard for the minority party to block it. Senate rules requiring 60 votes to end debate are suspended. That requirement had made three Republican senators' support for the stimulus bill crucial, even though Democrats enjoy large majorities in the House and Senate.

Monday, March 2, 2009
Dow below 7,000 as AIG posts greatest corporate loss in history
Stocks extended their sharp losses on Monday as insurer American International Group, which posted a record $61.7 billion quarterly loss, was bailed out with government money again - another $30 billion, fueling fears that the global financial crisis is worsening with no end in site.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Worst job losses in 60 years expected - 4.2 million jobs lost since Dec. '07
(1 comments) The recession tightened its grip on U.S. businesses and consumers in February, according to economists, who are predicting the largest one-month job loss in almost 60 years. 4.2 million jobs will have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, with no end in sight.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ex-cons run consultancies advising people how to survive jail
Enterprising ex-prisoners are making money from advising the growing army of white collar criminals how to survive in jail.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Nation's Vanden Huevel rips Rove: "It's laughable for you to talk about fiscal responsibility."
Today on ABC's This Week, Karl Rove slammed the cost of President Obama's new budget. The Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel quickly fired back at Rove's newly-discovered sense of fiscal responsibility, observing that Rove and President Bush "helped plunge this nation into trillion dollars of debt."

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Maine Town Passes Ordinance Asserting Local Self-Governance and Stripping Corporate Personhood
(1 comments) Today the citizens of Shapleigh, Maine voted at a special town meeting to pass a groundbreaking Rights-Based Ordinance. This revolutionary ordinance give its citizens the right to local self-governance and gives rights to ecosystems but denies the rights of person hood to corporations. This ordinance allows the citizens to protect their groundwater resources, putting it in a common trust to be used for its residents.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Washington state to allow 'dignity' deaths
Terminally ill patients with less than six months to live will soon be able to ask their doctors to prescribe them lethal medication in Washington state.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Some nonprofits can't touch their money due to state laws
It's a frustrating quandary for universities, orchestras and other nonprofit organizations in two dozen states. They have the money they need to save jobs, offer scholarships and put on a solid schedule of programs, but face state laws that keep them from using any of it as the funds have fallen to lower levels than the money that created them.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Marine One Blueprints and Avionics Leaked to Iran Through Peer-to-Peer Network
(1 comments) Thanks to a defense contractor's errant use of a peer-to-peer file-sharing network, President Obama's helicopter may not be as safe as it looks. A Pittsburgh-area company that monitors peer-to-peer networks says it has identified a potentially serious security breach involving Marine One and an IP address in Tehran, Iran. The company found a file detailing the helicopter's blueprints and avionics package...

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Franken-Coleman Update: Under the Bus
This has been a bombshell day to cap off a bombshell week. As noted earlier today, not only is Pamela Howell's testimony yet again in question, but the whole Coleman-camp double-counting scenario she was supposed to bolster is in danger of being tossed.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tony Blair: 'Gaza Destruction After Israeli Offensive Is Shocking'
During the war in December and January, around 1,300 Palestinians, of whom 412 were children, were killed during the Israeli military assault and 21,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged. Mr Blair, envoy of the international Quartet on the Middle East peace process, said there had been a "huge amount of damage" inflicted by the Israelis.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Mixed Message on Iran
Sec. of Defense Gates: Iran "not close" to nuclear weapons. Joint Chiefs head Mullen: Iran has enough material to make a nuclear bomb. Which one of these men is telling the truth?

Sunday, March 1, 2009
Genital Mutilation: African Women Risk Lives To Fight For Others
Ms Turay is among the estimated 94 per cent of girls who undergo FGM in Sierra Leone. The practice - which forms part of a ceremony of initiation rites overseen by women-only secret societies such as bondo and sande - can cause severe bleeding, infection, cysts and sometimes death, but is largely ignored.

Sunday, March 1, 2009
AIG To Get New $30 Billion Bailout
US taxpayers now have 80% share of the insurance company that guarantees the pensions of Congress.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Senate to investigate CIA's actions under Bush
The 'fact-finding' effort will seek details on secret prisons and interrogation methods -- but will not aim to determine if CIA officials broke laws, legislative sources say.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Prosecutor claims Iran-Contra whistleblower is a "danger" to society
Iran/Contra whistleblower Celerino "Cele" Castillo III was scheduled to report to prison on March 5, but the power of justice has intervened on his behalf. Castillo was convicted late last year on federal charges of dealing firearms without a license in a case marked by numerous irregularities and peculiar coincidences that raise the specter of a frame-up.

Friday, February 27, 2009
BofA CEO Lewis Flies In Private Jet, Refuses To Answer Questions
The New York attorney general's office has subpoenaed Bank of America Corp. seeking the names of Merrill Lynch executives who received $3.6 billion in year-end bonuses, after Chief Executive Ken Lewis failed to provide those details during a lengthy deposition Thursday evening.

Friday, February 27, 2009
'Conscience' rule on abortions may be overturned - Los Angeles Times
Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration today will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows healthcare workers to deny abortion counseling or other family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Economy shrinks at fastest pace in 26 years
The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Judge to 'Detroit Free Press' Reporter: Explain Yourself
A judge declined to hold a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter in contempt Thursday for refusing to reveal unnamed sources but ordered him to attend another deposition for more questions about a 2004 story about a federal terrorism prosecutor.

Friday, February 27, 2009
US toilet paper 'worse for planet' than gas guzzling cars
More than 98 per cent of the toilet paper sold in the US is from virgin forests, with the figure just under 60 per cent in Europe. US consumers consume significantly more of the paper than Europeans - reportedly three times as much. They are said to use 100 times paper per head of population than the Chinese.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Bangladesh: Bodies unearthed after Dhaka mutiny
The bodies of dozens of officers have been found stuffed into drains and buried in shallow graves at a border compound in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, following a mutiny by hundreds of guards.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunspot Cycle 24 and a Weakened Magnetic Field
If you were thinking that the only things we have to be concerned about include wars, famines, and economic crashes, think again. New scientific discoveries are indicating that this next solar flare cycle could potentially be powerful enough to distrupt our planet's entire electric grid.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Today's Recession is Already Far Worse than 1982
The Dow lost 6.0% in the first quarter of 1982 but lost 19.1% in the 4th qtr of 2008. Home values continued to rise rapidly in the 1st qtr of 1982 but plunged in the 4th qtr of 2008. As a result, the net worth of households continued its decades-long rise in the 1st qtr of 1982 but household net worth plunged in the 4th qtr of 2008 for the 5th consecutive qtr. (The Federal Reserve reports on March 12 will show the plunge.)

Friday, February 27, 2009
Rush from Reality: Limbaugh Employs Birch Society's "Principle of Reversal"
Rush channels John Birch Society founder Robert Welch. Ignore what is said by opposition unless it might bring embarrassment, then jump on it and ride it to death.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Beyond Recovery: America's Public Investment Deficit
We must not, once we pull the economy out of recession, return to business as usual – a high-consumption, low-wage economy based on asset bubbles and foreign borrowing. That strategy was never sustainable and is no longer available.

Friday, February 27, 2009
National Guard is pulling out of New Orleans
Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard is pulling the last of its troops out of New Orleans this weekend, leaving behind a city still desperate and dangerous. Residents long distrustful of the city's police force are worried they will have to fend for themselves.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was A Bold-Faced Lie - Digs Hole With Spin
(10 comments) A Jindal spokeswoman has admitted that the story he recounted to millions in the GOP rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union was a lie. Now it seems Jindal's office is digging its own grave trying to spin the un-spinnable.

Friday, February 27, 2009
Multi-billion Dollar Mining Boom: The economics of war and empire in Afghanistan.
Are our US soldiers in Afghanistan dying for gems and semi-precious stones, metals, and marble? It's the American way...

Friday, February 27, 2009
Commerce Sec, Nominee GOP Sen. Gregg Steered Earmarks To Project In Which He Had Invested
In a lengthy and detailed investigative report, the AP reveals today that the New Hamshire GOP senator funneled federal earmarks to a defunct Granite State air-force base, despite the fact that he and his brother had lucrative real estate investments there. Gregg Senate records show, while helping arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base.

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Pentagon will allow photos of war dead
In major shift, the Pentagon lifts George Bush's ban on photographing the coffins of America's returning war dead.

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Scott Paul: 'Late Show' Economics 101
Letterman nails the cause of our economic ills in his Top Ten list. We don't manufacture anything in the US anymore.

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Jindal's Katrina Story: A Tall Tale?
The evidence continues to grow that the story Bobby Jindal told Tuesday night -- about how he backed a tough-talking sheriff's efforts to rescue Katrina victims, government red-tape be damed -- was, how to put it ... made up. A true GOPer: If it's lips are moving...

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Senate adopts 'Fairness Doctrine' amendment
(1 comments) Today, the Senate voted 87-11 to adopt the DeMint Amendment, which would prohibit the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, a defunct policy that regulated conflicting views on the airwaves. Introduced by Sens. DeMint and Thune, the amendment was added to the D.C. Voting Rights bill.

Thursday, February 26, 2009
Scarborough baselessly claimed nations "are testing" Obama "in a way ... they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney"
(3 comments) MSNBC's Joe Scarborough asserted that nations "are testing" Obama "in a way ... that they wouldn't have tested Dick Cheney," citing as examples Iran "g[etting] the uranium they need," "North Korea going ahead with this long-range missile launch," and Pakistan "strik[ing] a deal with the Taliban." But during Cheney's two terms as VP, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan each took actions similar to the ones Scarborough discussed.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Developing Bombshell: AIG Preparing for Possible Bankruptcy Ahead of $60 Billion Loss
David Faber on CNBC reporting that AIG (AIG) has retained Weil Gotshal ahead of a possible bankruptcy filing this weekend. The reason is that the company will allegedly post a $60 billion loss, which will result in the usual cycle of credit downgrades, collateral postings, more capital needed to survive, and yet another mega systemic if not shock then question mark.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Visa and MasterCard Issue New Breach Warning
(3 comments) Visa and MasterCard have issued alerts warning of a security breach at yet another payment processor.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
FLASHBACK: Jindal Supported Federal Unemployment Funding After Katrina Devastated His District
(2 comments) Hypocrisy Thy Name Be Jindal...

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Schumer on governors rejecting recovery funds: The package is not 'multiple choice.'
Schumer: Section 1607(a) of the economic recovery legislation provides that the Gov. of each state must certify a request for stimulus funds before any money can flow. No language in this provision permits the gov to selectively adopt some components of the bill while rejecting others. To allow such picking and choosing would, in effect, empower the govs with a line-item veto authority that President Obama lacks...

Monday, February 23, 2009
Diebold offices' listed in yellow pages are mostly Wal-Marts
(2 comments) More Diebold fraud...Research into the addresses of Diebold offices listed in the White Pages across US were visited, reveals the addresses turned out to belong to either a Wal-Mart, a Sam's Club, or no building at all. In the end, 16 of the 18 Diebold offices in Utah listed in the White Pages were false listings. One is in Salt Lake, and the other is in Bountiful. Same thing in NY. What's Diebold hiding now?

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Probe finds Army charity hoards millions
Between 2003 and 2007 - as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures - Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wild horses up for adoption in Utah
More than 450 wild horses are up for adoption in Herriman, Utah, as part of an attempt to limit the size of the herd, a federal official says says.

Friday, February 20, 2009
Aaron Task: Americans' Standard of Living Permanently Changed
(3 comments) There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment. But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better...

Friday, February 20, 2009
Lee Stranahan: GOP Twitter Pioneer Culberson: An Interview In 140 Characters Or Less
The RNC announced recently that they will be using Twitter in an effort to reach new and younger voters but some Republicans have been on the service for a while - like Texas Congressman John Culberson. Here's an interview I did with Culberson in July, 2008.

Friday, February 20, 2009
Phil "The UBS Shill" Gramm Rehabilitation Tour Is Underway
(1 comments) Today, Phil "mental recession" Gramm has an op-ed in the WSJ disputing the notion that the deregulation he promoted while in the Senate had anything to do with the financial crisis. Gramm - the poster child for a movement defending deregulation - relied on a series of tired conservative tropes in an attempt to exonerate himself from well deserved culpability.

Friday, February 20, 2009
Who Is Selling Citi? Citi Employees
Dow Jones is reporting that the talk of nationalizing Citi has panicked Citi's employees in Asia, triggering massive selling by employees who hold stock they received as part of their compensation.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Crisis of Capitalism or Death Wish?
Born of the meeting of economists Gilles Dostaler and Bernard Maris, "Capitalism and Death Wish" (published in French by Albin Michel) synthesizes Freud and Keynes's conclusions concerning the modern economy based on accumulation, destruction ... and the pleasure they provide! A brilliant work on the profoundly human drives behind the crisis.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Front Page of the Top 10 Newspapers in World + at a Glance
Very cool website. See the front page of newspapers from around the world. After selecting newspaper from map, look at top of page for view pdf. Click on pdf to read front page in large text. You can also print out full page by clicking on button to left of pdf button. For a quick read, above map is Top 10 front pages for today. Click on it and view front pages of 10 papers they have chosen.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
UBS to pay $780 mln for helping US clients avoid taxes
Swiss bank admits helping US clients avoid taxes; agrees to reveal identities. Expect some big names in entertainment, finance, and media.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Freddie Mac sells record $10 bln 3-year notes
Freddie Mac sold its largest ever debt issue - $10 billion in three-year notes, reflecting investor confidence in US government support.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Rove falsely claimed Barney Frank "was one of the more prominent opponents of [housing] reform in 2004 and 2005"
On The O'Reilly Factor, Karl Rove falsely claimed that Rep. Barney Frank "was one of the more prominent opponents of [housing] reform in 2004 and 2005." In fact, Frank supported efforts to enhance regulatory oversight on mortgage brokers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005, and he has long championed policies that emphasize low-income home rentals as opposed to homeownership.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Rep. Nadler Says We Have No Choice, We Must Prosecute Bush & Cheney
(13 comments) Nadler calls for a Special Prosecutor. Nadler pointed out that AG Eric Holder declared waterboarding is torture, and that Dick Cheney said on TV that he authorized waterboarding. The Convention Against Torture, which was signed by Ronald Reagan, obligates the US to investigate and prosecute torturers. Nadler's argument is identical to that made by Jonathan Turley, Glenn Greenwald, and many others.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Mohamed Farag Bashmilah: Disappeared in the Name of National Security
(1 comments) Bashmilah was illegally detained by the US govt and held in CIA-run "black sites" with no contact with the outside world and without explanation from 2003 to 2006. The U.S. government has never explained why he was detained and has blocked all attempts to find out more about his detention. A first hand account...

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Louisiana GOP Rep. Cao Faces Recall Petition Over 'NO' Stimulus Vote
(1 comments) Papers have been filed with the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State which started the process requiring sufficient signatures to force a recall election for the office held by Representative Cao. Cao represents a majority African American community many who were outraged by Cao's vote.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
UK home secretary excludes US clergy who runs anti-gay website
A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith. Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that promotes tolerance for gay people. US can keep its hatred home...

Thursday, February 19, 2009
UBS deal in tax case unearths Canadian connections
Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay the United States $780-million in fines for a covert tax-evasion scheme that mirrors a similar, unlicensed campaign the bank conducted in Canada. In a 16-page agreement that was unsealed by U.S. prosecutors yesterday, the bank admitted to providing counter-surveillance training to a team of Switzerland-based bankers to encourage wealthy US citizens to evade taxes...

Thursday, February 19, 2009
UBS to surrender 52,000 US client names for possible income tax evasion
A day after the bank paid a $780 million settlement, the Justice Department asked for the names of another 52,000 bank clients. In yesterday's deal, 250 names and account info was given to the DoJ which expects to issue indictments for offshore tax evasion. The 250 clients include what one person briefed on the matter said were “boldfaced names” in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and other major cities...

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Under Obama Proposal, Bankruptcy Judges Will Be Able to Modify Home Mortgages
Home equity loans are, after all, a major part of homeowner debt. The Obama proposal would allow homeowners to wipe out that debt in bankruptcy court, allowing homeowners to keep their houses. And of course the credit card industry (those usurious scoundrels!) is screaming.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Alex Dalmady, The Man Who Exposed Fugitive Financier Allen Stanford
The amateur investor, a 48-year-old Venezuelan financial analyst who lives in southern Florida, went online and within hours discovered major discrepancies in the business model of fugitive financier Allen Stanford's $50 billion Stanford International Bank. Stanford was charged with "massive fraud" by the SEC on Monday and since then stories about his tax problems, suspected money laundering for drug cartels and lobbying...

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Skull & Bones sued for Geronimo's remains
(1 comments) The heirs of an Apache chieftain whose remains are rumored to be held inside Yale's oldest secret society filed a lawsuit today demanding the return of their ancestor's skull. Twenty descendants of the legendary Apache chieftain Geronimo are suing government officials, the University and the society Skull & Bones in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to seek the return of his remains as well as punitive damages.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
UBS Aides Tax Cheats: Where's Phil Gramm? What Did He Know? When?
Just how much did Phil Gramm know about the years of ongoing UBS tax cheat scheme? Because I can't seem to find anyone who has bothered to ask him outright, even though Gramm was one of the main architects of any number of UBS' big deals (which have since tanked) the last few years. Isn't it time someone asked Gramm publicly what he knew and when?

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Now GOP Rep. Issa cares about taking extra measures to preserve White House e-mails.
After referring to efforts to uncover the Bush White House emails disappearances as "a fishing expedition," Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, "called on President Obama to put in place a system that ensures all White House emails be preserved even if official business was done through private e- mail accounts." Hypocrisy Thy Name Be Issa

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Bank of Japan looks to spend ¥1 trillion on bonds
Facing the worst Japanese recession since the 1990s, the Bank of Japan said Thursday that it would buy ¥1 trillion in corporate bonds, extend its purchases of commercial paper and maintain its near-zero interest rate to ease a crippling credit crunch.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
U.S. tries a trillion-dollar key for locked lending to hedge funds, private equity firms
The Obama admin by subsidizing the profits of hedge funds and private equity firms. Largely hidden from view is a vast financial system that serves as the banker to the banks. And, like many lenders, this system is in deep trouble, too. The Fed plan to spend as much as $1 trillion to provide low-cost loans and guarantees to these firms.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Simon Jenkins: Bonus culture is skim, bribery, theft. Pay for performance is called salary
For the taxes of the poor to be topping up the pay of the rich is inexcusable. The cynicism of the farrago beggars belief.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
$60 Million US Expansion of Afghanistan Prison Doubles Size
The US military is about to complete a $60m expansion to its prison at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan where it holds more than 600 so-called enemy combatants. The near doubling of the prison size comes as human rights group Amnesty International on Thursday urged Barack Obama, the US president, to give better legal protection to the detainees there.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Reid: Senate to take up climate change this year
The Senate's top Democrat -- Majority Leader Harry Reid -- says he wants to take up a bill to tackle global warming by the end of the summer.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Bush FDA's Deadly Gamble with the Safety of Medical Devices
Since 2006, the FDA has ignored its own internal regulation and stopped requiring manufacturers of medical devices – such as pacemakers, heart valves and other life-sustaining inventions – to meet specific safety requirements before they are deemed safe enough to be implanted in humans. FDA officials decided to play roulette with your life without public notice. I bet they checked out Dick Cheney's pacemaker though...

Monday, February 16, 2009
Former Gitmo Guard Tells All: America Be Ashamed, Be Very Ashamed
(5 comments) It's all here: full sensory-deprivation, sexual abuse and torture by medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees...

Monday, February 16, 2009
Report Will Blast Bush Lawyers On Torture Opinions
Those Bush lawyers who approved torture may not be in the clear just yet. Newsweek reveals that a report into the integrity of opinions given by Bush DOJ attorneys, approving water-boarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, is sharply critical of several top officials, including John Yoo, the author of the infamous "torture memo".

Monday, February 16, 2009
Kansas Suspends Income Tax Refunds, May Miss Payroll
(1 comments) Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, the state's budget director said Monday. The state doesn't have enough money in its main bank account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest transferring $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and the GOP refused Monday.

Monday, February 16, 2009
Greatest Fraud in US History: Senior US Miitary Officers Misuse $125 Billion in Iraq Reconstruction Funds
(2 comments) In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn in a US-directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The exact sum missing may never be clear, but a report by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) suggests it may exceed $50bn...

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Brits show Yanks how a police state is done
(2 comments) In years to come, those of us mourning the erosion of liberty in America will probably turn to each other from time to time and sigh, "It could be worse; we could be British." Actually, we can do that right now.

Friday, February 13, 2009
Amazon Pulls Rape Game - RAPEPLAY - Following News Report, Political Pressure
Public outcry over a controversial Japanese rape game - Rapeplay - listing on Amazon.com has been dropped. Rapelay depicts raping women and forcing them to have abortions. The so-called "rape simulator" game was sold on the web site and included a graphic description of the gameplay. The game is still available on other websites.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Congress Folds on CEO Pay Caps in Stimulus
(3 comments) Markets sink as US lawmakers fold again to Wall Street avarice.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down
(1 comments) The flight before the fall coming to a country near you? With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills).

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Supporters Donate $1 Million +To Planned Parenthood On Sarah Palin's Behalf
(1 comments) Planned Parenthood wasn't behind the effort, but the e-mails asking for donations generated more than $1 million for the organization nationwide. You can still donate and designate Palin as your 'honoree.'

Thursday, February 12, 2009
GOP Sen. Judd Gregg Withdraws Commerce Secretary Nomination
(8 comments) Is this another nail in Obama's stimulus? Gregg abstained from a vote on the bill while he was a nominee. He's now free to vote with the Republicans. With Al Franken unseated and Sen. Ted Kennedy unable to return to DC for the vote, will Reid have the numbers he needs?

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Next headache for Madoff investors: tax troubles
A second wave of bad news is coming for victims of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's purported $50 billion Ponzi scheme: personal tax troubles. The victims have seen promised profits vanish and may see only pennies on each dollar of principal they invested. Now add to that the specter of severe limits on their ability to recover taxes paid for years on those phantom earnings...

Thursday, February 12, 2009
A former SEC official sees a 'pressure cooker' era for company lawyers
New U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairwoman Mary Schapiro's public promises to give the agency's enforcement staff more power and inject a sense of urgency into its investigations has securities attorneys bracing for a tougher enforcement climate.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Typo or no typo, Fox News has long history of presenting GOP talking points as "news"
Media Matters recently documented that Fox News anchor Jon Scott presented a Republican press release on the economic stimulus plan as Fox News' own work. But this is far from the first time Fox News has adopted Republican talking points into its "straight news" reporting or presented Republican research as "news." Let's tiptoe through some of FOX's unprofessional - almost incestuous - shilling for the GOP.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Openly gay, African-American comedian Wanda Sykes to headline White House Correspondents dinner
Yeas & Nays reports that comedian Wanda Sykes "will headline the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner this spring." Sykes, who is well known for her roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm and The New Adventures Of Old Christine, came out of the closet last year in protest of California's anti-gay marriage measure, Proposition 8...

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Anyone Wondering Whether Gregg Just Didn't Want Scrutiny of His Office's Favors for Abramoff?
Just hours after Gregg was nominated, it became clear that Gregg's Legislative Dir from 2002 to 2004, Kevin Koonce, had been trading sports and music tickets and booze for legislative favors to Abramoff. Abramoff and his cronies were asking for $3.5M earmarks and the defeat of a defense appropriations bill that would have hurt Abramoff's Native American gaming clients.

Thursday, February 12, 2009
After Opposing Stimulus, Lindsey Graham Will Take The Money
(1 comments) BLITZER: South Carolina will get money out of this bill. GRAHAM: Yes. BLITZER: Should South Carolina take the money? GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state... H Y P O C R I T E

Thursday, February 12, 2009
The Bush Legacy: An Assault on Public Protections
This report shows that attacks on a variety of common-sense regulations over the past eight years have taken a great toll on the United States. Though not intended to serve as a comprehensive record of every anti-regulatory effort by the Bush administration, this report uses clear examples to document a wide range of activity, much of which occurred behind the scenes, away from the eyes of all but the most observant...

Thursday, February 12, 2009
POLL: On Darwin's 200th birthday, only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution.
(7 comments) Charles Darwin, who invented the theory of evolution, was born on Feb. 12, 1809. Marking the 200th anniversary of his Darwin's birth, Gallup has a new poll out showing that "only 39 percent of Americans say they 'believe in the theory of evolution,' while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36 percent don't have an opinion either way."

Thursday, February 12, 2009
71% favor probe of Bush Justice Dept
PERCENT FAVORING SOME KIND OF INVESTIGATION -- Firing US Attorneys: 71% Domestic spying: 63% Torture: 62%

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Amazon Sells Rape Simulation Game - RAPEPLAY
(6 comments) 'Rape simulator', Rapeplay, is set in Japan and carries a sickening game description on the Amazon website. Players begin the game by stalking a mother on a subway station before violently raping her. They then move on to attack her two daughters described as virgin schoolgirls.Players are also allowed to enter 'freeform mode' where they can rape any woman and get other male game characters to join the attacks.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
McCain Uses Bashing Stimulus to Raise Re-election Money
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday he is definitely running for reelection in 2010 and has begun using criticism of the $838 billion federal economic stimulus plan as a platform to raise money.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Recession Reality: John McCain and Jon Kyl's Arizona.
Arizona Sens. Jon Kyl (R) and John McCain (R) have vehemently opposed President Obama's recovery package, both voting against the legislation today. Roughly 74,000 jobs could be created or preserved by the recovery package. Furthermore, the state legislature's budget director says that the recovery plan's "health and education money...could help close the state's budget shortfalls."

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bailed-Out Firms Distributing Cash Rewards Caught on Tape: "Please Do Not Call It A Bonus"
(1 comments) The soon-to-be-merged financial giants -- Morgan Stanley and Citigroup's Smith Barney -- announced the payments during an internal conference call last week, but warned advisers against describing them in terms that would cause PR headaches.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Senate Stimulus: Steal from the Poor to Give to the Affluent
A comparison of the House and Senate stimulus packages shows, in striking fashion, how much the "Grassley Isakson Coburn Collins Bad Nelson" bill skews spending away from the poor--the most stimulative kind of spending, since these people need this money badly and would spend it right away--to the upper middle class...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Daily Women's Health Policy Report: 2/11/09
Final Negotiations Begin on Stimulus That Includes Billions for Medicaid, Health IT | House Passes Bill Extending FMLA Protections to Flight Crews CONTRACEPTION & FAMILY PLANNING | NYTimes Examines 'Unusual' FDA Order Requiring Corrections To Yaz Ad Campaign REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES | Octuplet Fertility Doctor Has Low Success Rate, Considered Controversial in Field...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Corporate fraud run amok: FBI investigating over 500 cases
The FBI is conducting more than 500 investigations of corporate fraud amid the financial meltdown, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, and there is an even bigger mountain of mortgage fraud cases in which hundreds of millions of dollars may have been swindled from the system.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Henrietta Hughes Given Home After Telling Obama She Was Homeless
(1 comments) Henrietta Hughes was offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of State Rep Nick Thompson (R-FL), who heard the homeless woman's pleas for help to President Obama before a local and national crowd.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
JP Morgan CEO: OK, We Didn't Use Bailout Money For Lending
Rep. Gary Ackerman gets JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to admit that the $25 billion his firm got from the bailout did not trigger any new lending. VIDEO

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
GOP's Stimulus Talking Points Contradict Congressional Research Service
Are House Republicans reading the reports from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service? Because if the language they used today at a series of Capitol Hill press conferences on the stimulus is any indication, they are not doing their homework. The Congressional Research Service exists to provide unbiased answers and info to curious lawmakers...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
BoF CEO Lewis: Yes We Raised Interest Rate On Credit Cards -- After Taking Bailout Money
Here's another good exchange, this one between Rep. Maxine Waters and Bank of America's Ken Lewis . In one moment, Waters -- a longtime foe of rapacious lending practices, asks the CEOs whether, after receiving taxpayer money, they increased the interest rate on the credit card holders. Lewis admits his firm did.... VIDEO

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Quickly Search All Of Your Favorite Sites With 'Sputtr'
Google is essentially the answer to every website's search difficulties, it's not perfect for individual sites. Sputtr brings together a majority of the top websites across the web, and links quick access to each of their respective search engines. After entering any particular search term, you simply select whichever search engine you would like to use and it redirects you to that site's engine automatically.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ledbetter Act: Devil Found in the Details...and the Fine Print
Despite the new Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, corps can still get away with employment discrimination and other harmful action through binding mandatory arbitration agreements in which Americans sign away their right to resolve disputes in a court of law. Nestling arbitration clauses in the fine print of credit card agreements, patient consent forms and employment contracts is a deceitful tactic used against an estimated 30 million.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Judges at Intl Criminal Court Issue Warrent for Sudan's President
Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, brushing aside diplomatic requests to allow more time for peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country, according to court lawyers and diplomats.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Hypocrite GOP Rep. Cantor Issues Video Laced With Profanity Targeting Unions
(1 comments) AFSCME President Gerald McEntee isn't amused. "Eric Cantor may think the greatest economic crisis in seventy years is a joke, but we don't," he said in a statement. "He should talk to the people in Virginia who are losing their jobs, health care and homes." Cantor himself is an anti-obscenity crusader who has said "the use of obscenity" in television "should not and cannot be tolerated."

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Holy hot lesbian, Batwoman!
DC Comics has re-imagined Batwoman, who will make her comic comeback this summer as the star of the Detective Comics series, has long crimson hair, a matching cape, a black latex suit and blood-red lips. Oh, and she's also a lesbian. That's right: Not only is Batman's replacement a chick -- she also likes chicks.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Bishop Robinson Testifies In Support Of Same Sex Marriage
Most sane presentation in support of same sex marriage by an eloquent and informed gay minister.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Former GOP Sen Pete Domenici's records subpoenaed in U.S. attorneys probe.
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the records of former NM senator Pete Domenici (R) as part of an investigation into whether "former AG Alberto Gonzales, other Bush admin officials or Republicans in Congress should face criminal charges" for the 2006 firings of nine US attorneys. Prosecutors, led by acting Connecticut US Attorney Nora R. Dannehy, are also preparing to interview Scott Jennings, a former aide to Karl Rove.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pelosi, Reid reach $789B stimulus deal
$789 billion compromise? That figure is less than the original House and Senate bills that were passed. As economists and experts declare that these original amounts were too little, why is Congress going in the wrong direction?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bush Gitmo Detainee's 'Genitals Were Sliced With A Scalpel' -- Waterboarding 'Far Down The List Of Things They Did'
(9 comments) Documents edited out of the court papers contained details of how Mr Mohamed's genitals were sliced with a scalpel and other torture methods so extreme that waterboarding, the controversial technique of simulated drowning, "is very far down the list of things they did," the official said. Another source familiar with the case said: "British intelligence officers knew about the torture and didn't do anything about it."

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
When he's not grabbing his ankles, GOP drug addict Rush Limbaugh dispenses health advice
Taking their cue from Rush Limbaugh, right-wing pundits have launched a massive misinformation campaign mis-characterizing the economic recovery package as a socialist government takeover of health care. Rush prefers the 'capitalist' black-market parking lot for his pharms.

Monday, February 9, 2009
Leahy: Investigate Bush Now
(1 comments) Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy went on record and insisted on Monday, in firm and passionate terms, that a comprehensive investigation be launched into the conduct of the Bush administration, saying anything less would prevent the country from moving forward. "Many Americans feel we need to get to the bottom of what went wrong," said Leahy. "I agree..."

Monday, February 9, 2009
Obama DOJ backs Bush admin in extraordinary rendition lawsuit.
Obama admin signaled it would uphold the Bush's state secrets position in a lawsuit regarding use of extraordinary rendition. Five men who say they were victims - including current Gitmo detainee and torture victim Binyam Mohamed - sued, but the case was thrown out last year after Bush declared it to be a matter of state secrets. Bush threatened to withhold intel sharing if UK disclosed evidence of torturing Binyam.

Monday, February 9, 2009
Recession Reality: Kentucky -- Ditch Mitch!!
Our first "Recession Reality" looks at the situation in Kentucky. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is fighting against the economic recovery package, should take note of the "recession reality" in his region: fewer ambulances on the streets...teachers getting their paychecks cut...local retailers fighting for survival...people dangerously skimping on health care. KY unemployment ties for 14th worst in nation. Ditch Mitch!!

Monday, February 9, 2009
Traitor in Obama's Ranks: Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story On Pullout Plans
(21 comments) War-mongering traitor Petraeus "et tu" Generalismo? Time to "force de-multiply" treasonous commanders from the Pentagon? The real story of the leak by Petraeus is that the most powerful figure in the U.S. military has tried to shape the media coverage of Obama and combat troop withdrawal from Iraq to advance his policy agenda - and, very likely, his personal political interests as well. Kick his butt to the curb, Obama.

Monday, February 9, 2009
Defense Contractors Drop $340K On Parties For DoD Gates' $91 BILLION Failures That Enriched Them
(1 comments) Defense contractors spent $340,000 last year throwing events to honor Defense Sec Bob Gates: Among them were six companies that accounted for more than a quarter of the Pentagon's procurement budget during the 2008 fiscal year. These groups, which spent $125,000 hosting events honoring Gates, received a total of more than $91 billion in defense contracts, according to the Federal Procurement Data System.

Monday, February 9, 2009
Scumdog GOP: Coleman Says 'God Wants Me to Serve'
God Says It's News To Him/Her!

Monday, February 9, 2009
Porn star to challenge Vitter for U.S. Senate - Regrets only the cut in pay.
Porn star, Stormy Daniels to take on Vitter (not in the horizontal...or vertical...or upside down), "I don't see how I can possibly embarrass him more than he already embarrassed himself... Honestly, I'm not sure I'm willing to take the pay cut that comes with being a senator."

Monday, February 9, 2009
Addict Limbaugh Opposes Health IT Provisions, Fears His Medical Records Might Become Public
LIMBAUGH: "Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system." Well, maybe for you Rush, we can move the data collection to a parking lot for your domestic employees' convenience? God forbid, they have 'score' drugs for you and register the massive colonic they have to administer to your dead bowels. It's beyond belief, I agree.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Marine Corps Times: DoD walks fine line between news, propaganda
As it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls "the human terrain" of world public opinion. In the process, it is raising concerns of spreading propaganda at home in violation of federal law. The money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63% to at least $4.7 billion this year - could be spent on wounded vets...

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Book Review: Digital Overload Is Frying Our Brains
(2 comments) Paying attention isn't a simple act of self-discipline, but a cognitive ability with deep neurobiological roots - and this complex faculty, says Maggie Jackson, is being woefully undermined by how we're living.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
KBR wins major 'electrical' contract despite criminal probe into soldiers' electrocution deaths
Defense contractor KBR Inc. has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The announcement of the new KBR contract came just months after the Pentagon rejected the company's explanation of serious mistakes in Iraq and its proposed improvements.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Obama's NSC Will Get Sweeping New Powers
Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues. The result will be a "dramatically different" NSC from that of the Bush admin or any of its predecessors since the forum was established after World War II to advise the president on diplomatic and military matters...

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Cheney's Halliburton spinoff - KBR - prepares to admit $95 million bribery in Nigerian dealings
KBR admits in court documents to making $95 million in corrupt payments to various international consultants in order to bribe government and political party officials in Nigeria. And - SCREAM - the Pentagon just gave them another $35 million contract. Why is this happening Obama administration...WHY?

Sunday, February 8, 2009
'Fiasco' author: Iraq war may be only 'halfway' over
"None of the basic problems that the surge was meant to solve, have been solved. All the basic issues facing Iraq are still there," Ricks told Gregory. "Basically the surge succeeded militarily, failed politically." The Gamble ends with this haunting line from the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker: "The events for which the Iraq war will be remembered have not yet happened."

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Frank Rich: Slumdogs Unite!
The public’s revulsion isn’t mindless class hatred. As Obama said: “We don’t disparage wealth. We don’t begrudge anybody for achieving success.” But we do know that the system has been fixed for too long. The gaping income inequality of the past decade — the top 1% of America’s earners received more than 20% of the total national income — has not been seen since the run-up to the Great Depression.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ann Coulter Under Investigation For Voter Fraud -- AGAIN!
This time it's not Florida; it's New York! Exactly what type of insanity makes one a "serial" fraudulent criminal voter? Ann Coulter is under 'thorough' investigation by the Connecticut Elections Enforcement Commission for allegedly voting in the state in both 2002 and 2004 under her parents' residence despite having officially lived in New York City at the time.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Steele Confuses Stephanopoulos: Claims Government Jobs "Aren't Jobs," Private Sector Jobs Never Go Away
The Republicans gone and found themselves another wingnut. Seriously, where do they get these bozos? Steele said, government jobs are "just work." (Is work not a job?) The newly-minted RNC Chairman added that when it comes to the private sector, job loss is never permanent. Tell that to the 3.6 million people in the private sector who lost their jobs last year! Coming back when...after they've lost their homes?

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Top US lawyer warns of deaths at Guantanamo Bay
Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley, an American military lawyer, is in London to request the release of her 'client' from Guantanamo. Bradley will also request the disclosure of 42 secret documents that allegedly chronicle not only how Binyam Mohamed was tortured, but may also corroborate claims that Britain was complicit in his treatment. Mohamed, 31, is dying in his cell from treatment received during torture by US govt.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
6 Services For Blog Readers & Moderators To Get More Out Of Comments
(1 comments) A review of different comment tracking systems that will give you the ability to track your daily comments with responses, stats and more adding interesting capability to the typical blog conversation.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Bush Jacketless In Oval Office: Photo Uncovered After Bush Chief Of Staff Slams Obama's Informal Appearance (SLIDESHOW)
(2 comments) Republican racism or is serial hypocrisy a side-effect of conservative politics?

Sunday, February 8, 2009
GOP Sen. Ensign: It's ˜Fearmongering' To Suggest That Any Teachers Would Lose Their Jobs
Forty-three of the 50 states are facing budget shortfalls, adding up to a $47.4 billion gap as of January. And with most states required to balance their budgets, they are slashing spending in, among other areas, education, as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reported. Oops.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
GOP Sen. Kyl: It's ˜dangerous' and ˜careless' to describe a potential depression as a 'catastrophe.'
Guess it isn't a catastrophe for a man with a guaranteed government paycheck and the best health care benefits your 'broke, broke, broke' taxpayers' dollar s can afford? P.S. Citibank gave the good senator $36,000 in 2008...and you helped by giving Citibank $45 billion with the senator's blessings and vote in 2008.

Saturday, February 7, 2009
How To Remove Old Versions Of Java From Your Windows PC
Having older versions of JRE on your machine could be a back door in for some illicit hacker. For some reason, Java does not remove older versions when upgrading. Right now Sun has a version out called JRE 6 update 12. On some of my machines we have 3 older versions of Java and other 5 or 6. This is just crazy!

Saturday, February 7, 2009
In Declining Approval Ratings, Lessons for Obama
Although the latest reports indicate that a compromise on a roughly $800 billion stimulus package is likely to pass the Senate this weekend, the debate has not been without consequence to Barack Obama's approval ratings. Whereas Obama had been averaging approval ratings of about 70 percent in the immediate aftermath of his inauguration, his approval ratings have since declined by approximately 6 points...

Saturday, February 7, 2009
Edging towards a depression.
The current recession that the United States economy finds itself in is, by far, dramatically worse than the recessions of 1990-91 and 2001. How much worse? The economy has lost 3.6 million jobs in the last 13 months. The Gavel compares these numbers to the two most recent recessions...

Saturday, February 7, 2009
DOD Spends More on Domestic PsyOps Than On Foreign PsyOps
(4 comments) A great AP investigation on how much money DOD is spending on PR and outreach unveils lots of nausea-inducing details: that PR funds have grown 63% in the last five years, that DOD has almost as many people working in PR as the State Dept employs altogether. But the 'rub' is that DOD is spending more for Domestic PsyOps (otherwise known as Public Affairs) than it spends on Foreign PsyOps.

Friday, February 6, 2009
Time to begin adapting' to climate change?
The World Bank is hiring experts in 'adaptation' to a warming world. Coastal planners are starting to take it into account. Last week's release of a report on the science of global warming – with its projections of warming based on emissions already in the air, as well as on potential future emissions trends – has helped underscore the need. "Climate change is here and now," notes Ian Noble, a senior climate-change specialist.

Friday, February 6, 2009
Don't divorce them!
New Video from Courage Campaign

Friday, February 6, 2009
Economy -- 'Are These Folks Serious?'
Despite the loss of 600,000 jobs last month alone, debate over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been reduced to petty bickering over extremely small portions of the overall recovery plan. Marching to Rush Limbaugh's drumbeat, conservatives spent all week on cable news caricaturing tiny portions of the bill -- including provisions that they had previously supported -- in order to score political points...

Friday, February 6, 2009
REPORT: GOP Lawmakers Outnumber Dem Lawmakers By Almost 2 To 1 In Cable News Stimulus Debate Again
(3 comments) In a new analysis, ThinkProgress has found that Republican lawmakers outnumbered Democratic lawmakers 75 to 41 on cable news interviews by members of Congress (from 6am on Monday 2/2 through 11pm on Thursday 2/5)... Boycott shows that are biased.

Friday, February 6, 2009
Bush Leaves US with Worse Job Losses Since 1939
"This is the largest 13-month job loss since the payroll employment series began in 1939."

Friday, February 6, 2009
Kerry: Republicans insisting on housing relief are 'a year late'; they have 'created' the crisis.
KERRY: We put in a 15 billion provision in the Finance Committee. ... It came to the floor of the Senate. And guess what? And the very people who are here on the floor now stripped it. The President and the administration opposed it. And for nine months, they sat there while 10,000 homes a day were being foreclosed, and they allowed us to slide into where we are today. "They are about 10 months, a year, late on that effort."

Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rupert Murdock's News Corp. Suffers Staggering $6.4 Billion Loss
(4 comments) News Corp., the global media giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said Thursday it lost $6.4 billion in its most recent quarter because of a massive write-down in the value of its assets. The New York-based company, which owns The Wall Street Journal and the Fox broadcast network, also forecast a 30 percent drop in operating profits for the fiscal year to June from a year ago, when it earned $5.13 billion.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Joe The Plumber Unveils "Cut Bills, Kick Ass" Economic Recovery Plan To Republican Staffers
The conservative rank-and-file are clamoring for this guy to run for elected office? Your nation needs you now more than ever, Joe! To which Joe responds, "I don't know if the American public deserve me," he said. FDL says, "They most certainly do not, sir. They most certainly do not."

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Whistleblower Markopolos: Madoff's Mob Ties Made Me Fear For My Life
For a while now, there have been suggestions that Bernard Madoff had ties to organized crime. And Harry Markopolos just told Congress that those alleged connections made him fear for his life as a whistleblower working to expose Madoff's scheme.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Bailout: Plenty of Limits to Obama's New Exec Pay Limits
The bottom line: The restrictions are stricter than the Bush administration's, but provide plenty of wiggle room for execs to do well. There is no real limit on executive compensation, just restrictions on the type of compensation. To give you a clear idea of how these limits stack up against the limits imposed by the Bush administration, we've broken down the differences in two charts...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Cheney resurfaces, warns of new terrorist attacks
(6 comments) Dick Cheney isn't vice president anymore, but he's apparently not ready to leave the political spotlight just yet. In fact, he's leaping back into it, defending his actions during the Bush administration and slamming the new administration for the breaks it has made with the past, laying a foundation of blame in the event terrorists strike the U.S. again.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lieberman Faces Serious Democrat Challenger in 2012
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is reportedly considering a Senate run against his state's "Independent Democrat."

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Video: The reality about 'clean' coal.
The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to convince the public that clean coal is more than a myth (it isn't). Its gimmicks have included "blogger brigades," cartoon "coal carolers," and countless ads. The Wonk Room's Brad Johnson has put together a short video spoofing these ads to show the truth about dirty coal. Watch it...

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Norman Solomon: Is Peace No Longer an Option?
The United States began its war in Afghanistan 88 months ago. "The war on terror" has no sunset clause. As a perpetual emotion machine, it offers to avenge what can never heal and to fix grief that is irreparable.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
TARP recipients spent $114 million last year lobbying Congress and funding political campaigns.
(2 comments) Looks like Obama needs to go back to the drawing board and add a codicil to his executive compensation restrictions... No taxpayers' dollars to be spent lobbying anyone, anyplace, or anything.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, new US energy secretary Chu warns
(1 comments) California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said. "I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," he said. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California."

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Science vs. Religion: Seeing and Believing
(1 comments) The never-ending attempt to reconcile science and religion, and why it is doomed to fail.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Iraq Veteran Tammy Duckworth tapped for Assistant VA Secretary.
As assistant secretary, Duckworth will direct VA's public affairs, internal communications and intergovernmental relations. She also will oversee programs for homeless Veterans, consumer affairs and special rehabilitative events.

Monday, February 2, 2009
Bailed Out Bank of America Sponsors Super Bowl Fun Fest to Tune of $10 Million
(1 comments) Despite a near collapse that required $45 billion in federal taxpayer bailout funds, Bank of America sponsored a five-day carnival-like affair just outside the Super Bowl stadium this past week as President Obama decried wasteful spending on Wall St. The event – known as the NFL Experience – was 850,000 square feet of sports games and interactive entertainment attractions for football fans...

Monday, February 2, 2009
Obama has begun discreet talks with Iran, Syria
US President Barack Obama has already used experts within the last few months to hold high-level but discreet talks with both Iran and Syria, organizers of the meetings told AFP. Nuclear non-proliferation experts had several "very, very high-level" contacts in the last few months with Iranian leaders. Former Sec. of Defense, Wm. Perry was in attendance on behalf of Obama.

Monday, February 2, 2009
U.S. Military Civil Disturbance Planning [Origins of Operation Garden Plot: The Kerner Commission]
(3 comments) In 1967, Pres Johnson issued Exec Order 11365, establishing the Natl Advisory Comm on Civil Disorders - commonly known as the Kerner Commission which itself became but one manifestation of a massive military/police counterinsurgency effort directed against US citizens and launched the wait for "war at home."

Monday, February 2, 2009
Shock Doctrine Revisited: Reconstructing Gaza - Let the "No Bid" Bidding Begin
The rebuilding of Gaza has become the latest siege weapon. The Israeli occupation, the US that had backed its offensive, and the EU which did nothing to stop it are conspiring to turn the reconstruction process into a means to produce a suitable "peace partner" while the Arab summit in Kuwait hopes to use it to bring about Palestinian reconciliation. Smells like Baghdad/Green Zone, and it'll cost US taxpayers too...

Monday, February 2, 2009
President Obama -- It's time to stop illegal spying on all Americans
(1 comments) Dear President Obama; I know you have a full plate right now but there's something I need to talk to you about. Does anyone on your staff remember former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst, Russell Tice, who offered to provide you with illegally suppressed information regarding spying on all Americans, including journalists? In case you missed it, Mr. Tice appeared on MSNBC's Olbermann and sang like a canary...

Monday, February 2, 2009
Senate Confirms Eric Holder As New US Attorney General
The Senate vote was 75 to 21. Eric H. Holder Jr. was confirmed today as attorney general, becoming the first African American to head the Justice Dept. Holder is a former prosecutor and his confirmation will trigger reviews of a variety of Bush administration policies, including harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects, the military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay and warrantless surveillance.

Monday, February 2, 2009
Ben Nelson (D - Neb) May Oppose Stimulus; Slams Pell Grants
(1 comments) This is not the first time Nelson has been on the wrong side of education policy. In 2007, during the passage of the Higher Education Access Act, Nelson tried to weaken the bill and provide billions in subsidies to corporate lenders like Nelnet - a company that donated $49,100 to his senate re-election campaign. Worse than a Blue Dog -- a "Scumdog" Democrat!

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Thomas Frank: Toll Roads Are Paved With Bad Intentions
Back in the days when the market was a kind of secular god, we were told private businesses did everything better than the state. But something happened on the road to privatopia.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
A long-overdue chance for working people to catch up
If Congress intends to rescue all Americans – and not just the banks, hedge funds and insurance companies that got us into this economic crisis – it needs to move quickly to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Larry Beinhart: Torture, War Crimes & Must Watch Media for 2009
Credit where credit is due. The TV show 24 is probably the most significant piece of political drama in the last decade. On one hand, it is very likely that Barack Obama got elected because America had already had a serious black presidential candidate (one season) and two black presidents (one season each). And he was always the most decent guy in the room. Often, the only decent guy in the room. Just like Obama.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Obama: The next step on global warming
(3 comments) The logical next step would be for Obama to quickly address the Supreme Court's 2007 decision ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the effects of greenhouse gases and to regulate them if necessary. Remember, Bush dodged that one, too. Another Bushes' mess left for a Democratic presidency to clean up after.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
What Happened in Congress This Week
Congress addressed: Ledbetter and Equal Pay for Women; Stimulus Recovery Bill; CHIP: Children's Health Insurance Program; Supoenas & Investigations; and the ever faithful partisanship.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Barney Frank: "The largest spending bill in history is going to turn out to be the war in Iraq."
(1 comments) Today on ABC's This Week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) criticized the economic recovery package currently before the chamber as "the largest spending bill in history." Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) shot back that in reality, the largest spending bill in history "is going to turn out to be the war in Iraq." So-called fiscal conservatives should not be allowed selective memory. All expenditures are being made to clean up GOPs mess.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Back to the Future: GOP RNC Chair Steele Calls For Return To 'Contract With America'
New RNC Chair Michael Steele argued that, to be successful, the GOP needs to return to the "Contract With America." Steele argues that, "the American people and the [GOP] party" bound together to support the principles of the Contract. LIE: In fact, polls showed the vast majority Americans had never heard of it. Of the few that did know, half said it made them less likely to vote Republican.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
US Unemployment Forecast 5th Straight Month of Losses Push Jobless to 7.5 %
(5 comments) Here is a preview of the January employment report (due Friday) from Rex Nutting at MarketWatch: Fifth straight month of heavy layoffs should push jobless rate to 7.5%. With a half million jobs lost last month, the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 7.5% in January from 7.2% in December. It would be the highest unemployment rate since 1992. Economists expect the jobless rate to hit nearly 9% by early next year.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Coleman recount lawyer was at center of 2004 Swift Boat Vets scandal
(2 comments) Ben Ginsberg one of the senior lawyers in the Bush v. Gore recount case in 2000, but in 2004 he was at the center of a Republican scandal when he was found to be advising both the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
How the U.S. Government Is Footing the Stimulus Bill
(1 comments) So let me see if I have this straight. The Fed prints money based on the sales of United States Treasury bills, which the U.S. Treasury sells to investors so it can write checks to the Fed so the Fed can print money. If the Fed is the buyer of T-bills, then isn't that like kiting a check to yourself from your own account at a different bank? Is this how the debt/money supply thingy works?

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Israel bombs Gaza targets
Israel has bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip, witnesses say, hours after the Israeli government vowed a "disproportionate response" to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Newsflash: Ronald Reagan Raised Taxes (You Idiots)
(1 comments) It's conservative lore that Reagan the icon cut taxes, while George H.W. Bush the renegade raised them. As Stockman recalls, "No one was authorized to talk about tax increases on Ronald Reagan's watch, no matter what kind of tax, no matter how justified it was." Yet raising taxes is exactly what Reagan did. He did not always instigate those hikes or agree to them willingly--but he signed off on them.

Saturday, January 31, 2009
GOP governors press Republicans in Congress to pass stimulus bill
Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama's economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care. Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama's spending priorities.

Saturday, January 31, 2009
Female Bank of England Employees Must Wear Makeup and Heels Says Memo
Well, this is appalling: Earlier this week, the Bank of England held "Dress for Success" day. On that day, they sent out a memo to female employees detailing just how they should dress for success, important now more than ever in These Economic Times, the worst financial crisis Britain's dealt with since the Depression.

Friday, January 30, 2009
Iceland to be fast-tracked into the EU
Plan for cash-strapped state to become member by 2011

Friday, January 30, 2009
KRUGMAN: Health Care Now
(1 comments) The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe - in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care. Even with the stimulus plan, unemployment will reach 8 percent, and it will stay above 6 percent until 2012.

Friday, January 30, 2009
Specter asks Obama to renominate 3 Bush judges
In a Jan. 27 letter, Specter argues that Obama should renominate three of Bush's nominees: Peter Keisler to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Glen Conrad to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and Paul Diamond to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

Friday, January 30, 2009
Obama creates task force on middle class and put Biden in the lead
VP Joe Biden will head a White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, President Obama announced Fri.The goals of the panel include protecting middle-class incomes, creating opportunities for education and training, restoring the balance between work and family life, improving conditions in the workplace, protecting retirement, and strengthening the working rights of federal contract workers.

Friday, January 30, 2009
African-American Michael Steele Takes Over Fractured GOP: The End Of 'Palinism?'
The choice of Steele represents a considerable failure for the social conservatives who dominated during the era of Tom DeLay and George W. Bush. These far right wingers - including Phyllis Schlafly, Tony Perkins, Richard Viguerie, and Ed Meese - all backed Kenneth Blackwell, who had one of the poorest showings in the election.

Friday, January 30, 2009
5 Facts About The New RNC Chairman Steele
1. Steele compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust. 2. Steele bused in homeless African Americans from Philadelphia to distribute literature in inner-city Baltimore that featured a "Sample Democratic Ballot" with votes for Steele and former Gov. Bob Ehrlich, along with photos of prominent black Democrats...

Friday, January 30, 2009
Two Democratic Senators Signal Stimulus Trouble for Obama
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) undecided on whether to support President Obama's recovery plan. Confusion stems for concern for the housing sector which was to be helped by Bush's TARP. President Obama's stimulus plan was to focus on energy, science and technology, health care, education, infrastructure, and targeted tax cuts for struggling families, not Wall St. fat cats...again.

Friday, January 30, 2009
TURN AROUND: Obama plans to reintroduce family planning funding stripped from economic recovery package.
After bending to GOP pressure, Obama had removed the family planning provision from his stimulus plan, however, at the Ledbetter Equal Pay Act signing, Obama assured attendees "that the family planning aid would be done soon - perhaps as soon as next week, when the House is set to take up a spending bill that would keep the government funded until October."

Friday, January 30, 2009
Porn among the Bush National Science Foundation's "research":
(1 comments) Under the Bush administration, National Science Foundation (NSF) employees wasted scads of time and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars perusing online porn on the clock... Fake science meets the fake orgasm?

Friday, January 30, 2009
Tice Revelations Ignored: Spying on Journalists? Why the Silence?
(5 comments) Why hasn't the press--aside from MSNBC--covered Russell Tice's revelations on the government's massive spy apparatus that according to Tice illegally survey's every US citizens' purchasing records, emails, phone calls, bank transactions, etc. and maintains the information in massive databases for nefarious uses?

Friday, January 30, 2009
400 richest Americans' incomes doubled under Bush.
(1 comments) according to recently released IRS data, "the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million." Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts...

Friday, January 30, 2009
Democrat Rep:.Kaptur: Foreclosed owners should squat in their own homes
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) is a high-profile advocate of an increasingly popular mode of fighting foreclosures best known for it's key phrase: "Produce the note." By telling a bank to "produce the note," a homeowner can delay foreclosure by forcing the lender to prove the suing institution is actually the same which owns the debt.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Army orders recall of body armor - FINALLY
(1 comments) Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered the recall of more than 16,000 sets of body armor following an audit that concluded the bullet-blocking plates in the vests failed testing and may not provide adequate protection. DoD IG said Army under Bush Admin flubbed testing resulting in soldiers' deaths. Contractors got wealthy; GIs got dead...

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Cardinals invite Tillman family to Super Bowl
(1 comments) Cardinals team president Michael Bidwill said Tuesday he reflects on Tillman at a time like this, knowing the heart-and-soul player he was and how much the Cardinals meant to the 1998 seventh-rounder from Arizona State. Tillman was 27 when he was killed in Afghanistan in a U.S. friendly fire incident. His tragic death was exacerbated by a military cover-up under the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld's morally-challenged administration.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Billy Powell dies at 56; Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player
Billy Powell, the former roadie who became a rock star for his keyboard work with the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died early Wednesday morning apparently of heart problems at his home in Orange Park, Fla., police said. He was 56. Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
The List: The Next Iceland: Britain, Latvia, Greece, Ukraine and Nicaragua.
Five countries are on the verge of following Iceland to economic ruin and political meltdown.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Who Are The 11 Democrats Who Voted Against Obama's Economic Plan And Why Did They Do It?
(2 comments) While Republicans stood united against Obama, 11 Democrats broke ranks. Although there were some concerns about the stimulus plan expressed by progressives - such as Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who felt like the spending provisions did not go far enough - they still voted for the bill because the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. The 11 Democrats who voted no were almost exclusively from conservative districts. They are:

Thursday, January 29, 2009
OUT in Iraq: Blackwater Worldwide Banned
(1 comments) Iraq will not allow Blackwater Worldwide to continue providing security protection for U.S. diplomats in the country, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Thursday, a move that would deprive U.S. officials of their primary protection force.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
4.78 million Americans receiving unemployment benefits
The government says the number of people receiving unemployment benefits has reached an all-time high as layoffs spread throughout the economy. The Labor Department says the number of laid-off workers continuing to claim unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 17 was a seasonally adjusted 4.78 million, the highest since records began in 1967.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
President Barack Obama Signs Equal Pay Bill
Obama today signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act that makes it easier for workers to sue after discovering what they believe to be pay discrimination. Obama said that it sends the message "that there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal – but bad for business – to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability."

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Bush's Saddam-Qaeda Conspiracy Theorist Resurfaces Writing Iraq Reports For The Pentagon
(4 comments) Laurie Mylroie, the quintessential conspiracy theorist of the Iraq War era, wrote reports about Iraq for the Pentagon as recently as Fall 2007, years after she was discredited. Those who follow the neoconservative movement closely are stunned that Mylroie has surfaced again -- and especially that she is doing government-sponsored work on Iraq. "It's kind of astonishing that the ONA would come even within a mile of her."

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Under the Radar: Sept '08 Treasury Made $140 Billion Change to Tax Policy Not In Bailout
In late-Sept 2008, the Treasury Dept issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention. But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Bush admin officials had just given US banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion. The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of...just about everyone.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Davos Attendees Talk System Failures; Crisis Was 'Immaculate Conception' Without Human Fault?
Why the world's economic leaders blame the catastrophe on the system instead of themselves. "It's intriguing nobody is to blame. In other industries, there are consequences if you make toxic products that hurt people. Policy makers need to make it clear that there are serious consequences for that type of behavior."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Gloomy Republicans Turn To Hidden Weapon - Redistricting
The 2010 census could add multiple House seats to red-leaning states - as many as four districts to Texas and two each to Arizona and Florida. And it could subtract seats from blue-trending states like Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Most of the states slated to gain seats in reapportionment next cycle feature Republican-controlled state legislatures and governor's mansions...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Obama budget promise wins Blue Dog support
In a 224-199 vote, the House approved a resolution allowing the stimulus bill to come to the floor for debate. Twenty-seven Democrats – 24 of them members of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition – bucked their leadership and voted against the measure after the Obama administration promised to return to "pay-as-you-go" budget rules after the stimulus is approved.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Missing Memos
(1 comments) Here is a list of the relevant memos - both public and secret - that served as the 'legal underpinnings' for the Bush administration and its controversial policies on detentions, interrogations and warrantless wiretapping. The decision to release them now lies with President Obama.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Bush's Faith-Based Gravy Train Becomes Obama's Cross to Bear
Under Bush administration, did the federal government become a major funder of the recruitment programs of the Christian Right? With Obama's announcement that he will continue Bush's Faith-Based Initiative with changes, but is he actually prepared to take on a program that is now institutionalized and staffed by holdovers trained in the Bush understanding of Compassionate Conservatism?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Senate Judiciary Committee recommends Holder for AG.
In a 17-2 vote today, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended President Obama's attorney general nominee Eric Holder to the full Senate for consideration. Six Republicans approved Holder, with Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Cornyn (R-TX) as the only "nay" votes.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Birth control funding stripped from stimulus
Obama concedes contraception measure to the Republicans selling women down the river AGAIN. Women call Congress and tell them you are putting 'salt peter' in every meal you prepare until justice is done, and until then they are to take their Viagra-laden libidos elsewhere.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ACLU may finally get secret Bush memos justifying torture and surveillance
Dozens of secret documents justifying the Bush admin's spying and interrogation programs could see the light of day because of a new presidential directive. The ACLU asked the Obama admin on Wed to release Justice Dept memos that provided the legal underpinning for harsh interrogations, eavesdropping and secret prisons. The request comes after Obama rescinded a 2001 Justice Dept memo that gave agencies broad legal cover to rej

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Senate rejects attempt to restore Global Gag Rule
The measure, which was defeated 60-37, came in the form of an amendment offered by Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) as the Senate debated a proposed expansion to the program. See how they voted...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
UN agency warns that 51 millions jobs could be lost globally this year
The International Labor Organization, or ILO, said that under its most optimistic scenario, this year would finish with 18 million more unemployed people than at the end of 2007, with a global unemployment rate of 6.1. More realistically, it said 30 million more people could lose their jobs if financial turmoil persists through 2009, pushing up the world's unemployment to 6.5 percent.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
U.S. House passes $819 billion stimulus package
(3 comments) Without a single Republican vote, President Barack Obama won House approval on Thursday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan as congressional Democrats sought to hold down their own difference over the enormous package of tax cuts and spending. As a piece of legislation, the two-year package is among the biggest in history, reflecting a broad view in Congress that urgent fiscal help is needed for an economy in crisis...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wen, Putin Slam U.S. Economic System ,Caution At 'Dangerous' Dollar
The premiers of Russia and China slammed the US economic system in speeches Wednesday, holding it responsible for the global economic crisis. Both focused on the role of the US dollar, with China's Premier Wen Jiabao calling for better regulation of major reserve currencies and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calling over-reliance on the dollar "dangerous" reflecting growing anger at the US mortgage markets at fault...

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
House Republicans Block Immediate Action on Digital TV Delay
House Republicans temporarily delayed final action Wednesday on legislation that would postpone, until mid-June, the nation's scheduled switch to digital-only television transmission. Democrats fell short of the tally they needed to pass the bill under suspension of the rules, an expedited procedure that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. The chamber voted 258-168, with six members not participating.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Freshman Rep. Grayson: 'Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict.'
"Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we'd all need pain killers."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Salazar Could Reopen Interior Probes Over Bush Admin's Sex, Drugs, and Oil Scandal
Ken Salazar, the new Interior Secretary, said at a White House briefing this afternoon that he would undertake a top-to-bottom review of ethical misconduct at his agency, reports the Associated Press. Salazar cited several of the department's lowest moments during the Bush years, and said that probes closed by the Bush administration could be reopened.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Bush's CIA Station Chief in Algeria Accused of Drugging and Raping Muslim Women
The CIA's station chief in Algeria is under investigation by the US Justice Dept for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug. The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt... Winning hearts and minds?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
New Directive Seeks to Bolster Air, Sea Intelligence
Outgoing Bush DNI Mitch McConnell left a directive to launch ambitious new interagency structures that are supposed to provide an improved intelligence response to maritime and air threats to national security are described in a newly-disclosed Intelligence Community Directive. The directive establishes what it calls Communities of Interest (COI) "to maximize intelligence collection and all-source analytic coordination."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
REPORT: GOP Lawmakers Outnumber Democratic Lawmakers 2 To 1 In Stimulus Debate On Cable News
ThinkProgress has found that the five cable news networks - CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC - have hosted more Republican lawmakers to discuss the plan than Democrats by a 2 to 1 ratio this week:

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
How America Rewards Those Who Served: WWII Veteran Freezes To Death In Own Home
(19 comments) UPDATE: TV5 and WNEM.com has learned about new circumstances surrounding Marvin Schur's death.A limiter on Schur's electric meter is being blamed for the man's death. Now Bay City said it will notify customers before their power is shut off. Mr. Schur was a 93-year old WWII veteran who deserved better from his country.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Nation: Purple Heart, Purple Haze
A Pentagon rule that bars combat soldiers with severe psychological damage from eligibility for the Purple Heart shows how callous and out-of-touch military culture remains.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Fact-Check Challenge:: TV Media Cited Disputed CBO 'Report' At Least 81 Times In 6 Days
The CBO 'report' being touted by conservatives and the media wasn't an actual report at all; it was a small portion of the stimulus plan put into a computer program. The full CBO report is now available. It finds that roughly two-thirds of the plan's recovery investments will come in the first 18 months after it is enacted.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Foreign Policy Workers Ask State to Back Benefits for Gay Partners
Nearly 2,200 government employees involved in foreign policy issues signed a letter delivered to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday calling on the government to give equal benefits to same-sex partners. Clinton indicated willingness to "explore the issue."

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Full CBO Report Sees 65% of Obama Stimulus Recovery Plan Spent by End of Fiscal 2010
Approximately two-thirds of the spending and tax cuts contained in an economic stimulus package crafted by House Democrats would flow into the economy by the end of fiscal 2010, producing a "noticeable impact on economic growth and employment," congressional budget analysts said yesterday, shooting a hole into the GOP's 'cherry-picked' and misleading talking points.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Is the Obama administration caving to the right wing on family planning provision in stimulus bill?
The right wing has been aggressively launching inaccurate attacks against the House stimulus bill, claiming that progressives want to waste "hundreds of millions on contraceptives." In reality, the provision would save the country money by increasing access to family planning services for low-income women. However, the AP is now reporting that Obama officials are considering dropping the provision...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 2: Geithner Cracks Down on Bailout Lobbying
A release from the Treasury Department said that under the new rules, the government would restrict "contacts with lobbyists in connection with applications for, or disbursements of, EESA funds," shorthand for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act blocking the use of tax dollars borrowed from the public to advance private interests.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Halliburton Fined Record $569 Million for Bribing Foreign Officials 'While Cheney Was CEO'
Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oilfield-services provider, has agreed to pay $559 million to settle federal charges that employees bribed officials in Nigeria. Former Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 to 2000, and some of the allegations date to that period.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill With Your Tax Dollars
Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

Monday, January 26, 2009
Health industry lobbyist reveals $$ multi-million plan to derail Obama reform
(2 comments) BBC One's Panorama, the world's longest running TV documentary show, tackles the dismal state of health care in the US, the lengths to which its estimated 45 million uninsured citizens will go to in pursuit of care... Inherent Conflict: 533 members of 111th Congress, out of 535, have received campaign contributions from within the health sector. View full BBC documentary...

Monday, January 26, 2009
Three Underlying Systemic Defects in our Political Economy that Must be Dealt with
Our political economy has imploded due to its systemic defects. So far Obama seeks only to restart this existing political economy. Obama seeks to feed a dead horse. Paul Krugman in his January 22, 2009 NYT Op-Ed, cautiously and diplomatically expressed his concern that Obama was being too "centrist." Here are some important underlying reasons why Krugman and all of us should be concerned.

Sunday, January 25, 2009
Does Israel fear its friends more than its enemies?
And does the appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME) as middle east envoy signal America's diplomatic transition to honest broker, as opposed to loyal defender?

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Offshore drilling plan to go ahead: in Obama Interior Dept
Proposal pushed in final Bush days moves forward. The Interior Dept issued a notice Wednesday requesting public comments on the plan. The comment period will be open for 60 days. After that, the Obama administration would have to decide whether to proceed with an official proposal, make changes or scrap it.

Friday, January 23, 2009
One to Watch: "Waltz With Bashir"
EBERT: "Waltz With Bashir" is a devastating animated film that tries to reconstruct how and why thousands of innocent civilians were massacred because those with the power to stop them took no action. Why they did not act is hard to say. Did they not see? Not realize? Not draw fateful conclusions? In any event, at the film's end, the animation gives way to newsreel footage of the dead, whose death is inescapable.

Friday, January 23, 2009
Open Government Groups Support Cautious Approach Of Senators Levin And McCain On William J. Lynn Nomination
Today the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) joined a coalition of good government groups in sending a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Ranking Member John McCain to commend their decision to further evaluate the nomination of William J. Lynn III, a former Raytheon Company lobbyist, to the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Friday, January 23, 2009
Controversial CBO Report On Stimulus Turns Out Not To Exist
The nonpartisan CBO ran a small portion of an earlier version of the stimulus plan through a computer program that uses a standard formula to determine a score -- how quickly money will be spent. The score only dealt with the part of the stimulus headed for the Appropriations Committee and left out the parts bound for the Ways and Means or Energy and Commerce Committee.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Intelligence Agencies' Databases Set to Be Linked
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has launched a sweeping technology program to knit together the thousands of databases across all 16 spy agencies. After years of bureaucratic snafus, intelligence analysts will be able to search through secret intelligence files the same way they can search public data on the Internet.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Army Investigation of Contactor KBR's Electrocution of Soldiers' "Negligent Homicide"
(1 comments) An Army criminal investigator said the manner of death for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, has been changed from accidental to negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that "qualified electricians and plumbers" worked on the barracks where Maseth died, according to the document.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Republicans Begin Building Up A New K Street Project
Senate Republicans have tasked Conference Vice Chairman John Thune (S.D.) with beefing up the party's outreach to K Street, business groups and grass-roots organizations, hoping to maintain critical alliances built up over eight years of White House control. Primarily, Thune said he hopes to create new alliances and fortify old relationships in order to sell the party's priorities to the masses...

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Former Spook Russ Tice Confirms Our Worst Fears About Bush's Illegal Wiretap Program
(5 comments) Olbermann will interview Tice again on his program tonight, airing on MSNBC at 8 pm EST. Russ Tice's description of the government's spying confirms everything we have surmised about the program. The program: * Established the means to collect all American communications * Analyzed meta-data to select a smaller subset of communications to tap further * Conducted human analysis of those messages

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Exclusive: Iraq commander says Iraqi election outcome key to U.S. withdrawal
One day after President Barack Obama pledged that America would begin to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people," Gen. Ray Odierno, the commanding U.S. general in Iraq, said that if the country held peaceful elections this year, the relative calm that had settled on Iraq would be "irreversible." Iraq is to hold provincial elections Jan. 31 and national elections at the end of this year.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Blair's Prepared Statement before the Senate Select Comm on Intelligence
Excerpt:The second part of building trust is to carry out the mission of the Intelligence Community in a manner consistent with our Nation's values, consistent with our Constitution and consistent with the rule of law. The intelligence agencies of the US must respect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people, and they must adhere to the rule of law."

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Senator Whitehouse: We Only Have 7 Weeks to Indict Bush
Are Republicans, like Specter, delaying Eric Holder's nomination to shorten the time between the day Holder takes over and the day the statute of limitations on violations of FISA Bush committed on March 11, 2004 start to expire--that is, March 11, 2009, just seven weeks away? Whitehouse wants to know what's up.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Cable Bill High? Phone Costs Up? Now, Let's Talk
(2 comments) Under intense pressure from Wall Street to keep subscribers as the economy sags and competition intensifies, many carriers are bent on retaining customers even if it means offering big price breaks.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Congresswoman Maxine Waters Gets the Runaround on Bank Help Lines
(1 comments) In a revealing example of what she says the average homeowner faces, a California Congresswoman spent more than two hours on the phone trying, without success, to find someone at the Bank of America who could help a struggling constituent modify his mortgage payments. Waters was put on hold, disconnected, transferred to extensions that did not work and ultimately, switched to a recording...

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hoyer: Obama unlikely to investigate torture
The second-highest-ranking Democrat in the House signaled to Salon Thursday that he thinks President Obama is unlikely to order an investigation of torture during the Bush administration.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Experts: Obama Order Could Let Us See US Attorneys Docs
(1 comments) The experts' verdicts on the potential impact of President Obama's executive order on presidential records are starting to come in. And they're bolstering our initial take that Obama's move could significantly boost efforts to release crucial records that the Bush administration has fought to keep secret.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide
A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack. The world's leading computer security experts do not yet know who programmed the infection, or what the next stage will be.

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sen. Rockefeller: NSA may have spied on me
(2 comments) Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday that he was "quite prepared to believe" the allegations. He added: "I think they went after anyone they could get -- including me."

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Ivy-League Universities And Other Scoundrels Reach Late Deals With Bushies
Yale recently agreed to pay $7.6 million to settle claims that its researchers overbilled on federally funded research grant. The article mentions similar settlements have been reached at other institutions, including Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, University of Connecticut, Harvard, University of Chicago, Duke, Stanford, and UAB to name a few.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Senate Judiciary Hearing on Attorney General-nominee Holder's Confirmation Rescheduled
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has rescheduled the meeting for 2:30 p.m. The meeting was postponed due to a conflict with a prayer service at the National Cathedral.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tortured Gitmo Prisoner Opposes Halt of Military Commission Trial
Lawyer for the 17-year old prisoner: "My position is if they want to stop the case against Jawad, they're going to have to withdraw the charges and dismiss them. We are not agreeing to any continuance of 120 days, not while he's languishing in segregation and going crazy," David Frakt, an Air Force reserve major and Jawad's military defense lawyer, stated.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Supreme Court Justices Reject Re-visiting 1998 Pornography Law
The high court’s refusal to take another look at the law was not surprising, given that the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled last July that the law violated the First Amendment because filtering technologies and other tools offered less restrictive ways to shield children. The administration of former President George W. Bush, through Attorney General Michael Mukasey, had asked the justices to review the law.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Obama Calls Mideast Leaders
Speaking of returning the US to an active role in Arab-Israeli peace processing, This morning, the President placed phone calls to four Middle Eastern leaders: President Mubarak of Egypt, PM Olmert of Israel, King Abdullah of Jordan, and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. He used this opportunity on his first day in office to communicate his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
7 Obama nominees approved
By voice vote, the Senate approved Steven Chu as Energy secretary, Arne Duncan as Education secretary, Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security secretary, Peter Orzag as head of the Office of Management and Budget and Tom Vilsack as secretary of Agriculture. Hillary Clinton's nomination was held up by Sen. Cronyn (R-TX).

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
U.N. special rapporteur on torture calls on U.S. to prosecute Bush and Rumsfeld.
In remarks that aired on German television last night, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, urged the U.S. to pursue former President George W. Bush and defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on charges that they authorized torture and other harsh interrogation techniques...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Timeline of the Economic Crisis: Henry Paulson vs. Tim Geithner
The Wonk Room has assembled a timeline pitting Geithner's cautionary statements against Paulson's public insistence that everything was fine.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
White House seeks review of last-minute Bush administration regulations
WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memorandum to agency and department leaders requesting the review of pending regulations that were advanced late in the Bush admin. Rules that "raise substantial questions of law or policy" are to be brought to the attention of Obama's new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director, Peter Orszag.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Geithner Urges Quick Changes to Bailout Fund
Timothy Geithner, the president's nominee to be the Treasury secretary, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing, urging Congress to act quickly to deal with the economic crisis. He called for "fundamental reform" of the government's $700 billion bailout package. But he was not expected to have a detailed plan ready.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Obama imposes ethics rules: "Public service is a privilege"
"Public service is a privilege," he said in explaining the thinking behind the new ethics rules. "It's not about advantaging yourself. It's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization. Public service is simply and absolutely about advancing the interests of Americans."

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Experts say Obama should retake the "oath of office" after Roberts flub
Several constitutional lawyers said President Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that was flubbed by Chief Justice John Roberts. The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section 1, which begins by saying the president "shall" take the oath "before he enter on the execution of his office."

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Army Scrutinizing Future Combat Systems Program, General Says
The Army is in the middle of a "top to bottom" review of its weapons investments, a senior officer said Wednesday, and the focus is on a program that President Obama criticized during the campaign. The review, which is due by the end of February, will map out a course for spending on all Army weapons...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Future of News, Part One -- The Problem
Massive layoffs of journalists at most newspapers, continuing and increasing circulation declines, sharp losses of advertising revenue, bankruptcies and closures create a foreboding spiral in the news industry. The future of professionally produced news hangs in the balance with no remedy in sight.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The BIG List of Bush Scandals
(3 comments) Bush's Presidency began in the shadow of a contested and likely stolen election and promised to be unsuccessful in a largely forgettable and unremarkable way. 911 changed all that and transformed a plodding, and essentially AWOL one termer into an accidental hero. Enormous power flowed to his office but Bush had no idea how to use it. He liked to campaign, not govern.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama Confirms Sen. Ted Kennedy Collapse During Inaugural Luncheon
Taking the podium, an obviously stricken President Obama confirmed that Sen. Edward 'Ted' Kennedy (D-MA) collapsed at the Inaugural Luncheon. Obama reflected on Kennedy's presence at the passage of the Voting Rights Act and suggested that while the event was celebratory, concern for the senator necessarily cast an element of solemness to events.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Colin Powell Tees Off A Parting Shot At Bush & Cheney
(2 comments) Colin Powell: "I think it has really, really been an remarkable event in terms of getting everybody to stand back and say, look at what we have seen here in America," Powell said. "The America we remember is back again." Admirable but the former Sec. of State still has some serious explaining to do before the troops he sold out. When Powell learned the truth and continued to send troops to their deaths, he betrayed them.

Monday, January 19, 2009
NASA Scientist Hansen: Obama has 'four years to save the world'
(3 comments) In a recent letter Dr. Hansen sent to President elect, he urges a complete and total moratorium and phase out of coal fired power generating plants, our nation's primary source of electricity. Blaming coal as the primary source of CO2, he believes this measure is critical and also advocates severely taxing the industry for its emissions.

Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK Jr. Forgotten Speech: The Case of the Kidnapped "Drum Major"
One of the finest sermons ever given by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., done at the Ebenezer Baptist Church just two months before his death, was one entitled "The Drum Major Instinct" Yet you don't hear about it much in the standard mass-media recitations of his life and career. Why? Probably because of passages like this...

Monday, January 19, 2009
The Secret Briefing Obama Needs on Day One
A select few Americans will ever see the president's daily brief -- a digest of the intelligence community's most closely guarded secrets. Each morning Obama receives the PDB. To date, the briefing focuses on intelligence only. The author argues that the State Dept, NSC, and intelligence jointly prepare a "big picture" PDB instead of "juicy factoids" and satellite updates.

Monday, January 19, 2009
Noam Chomsky On Gaza
Audio and Text: Fatah by now is more or less functioning as Israel's police force in the West Bank. But the West Bank is only part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Monday, January 19, 2009
U.S. Settles Lawsuit With Family of Iraq War Vet Who Committed Suicide
(3 comments) The federal government has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the family of an Iraq war veteran who hung himself in his parents' basement in June 2005 after being turned away by doctors at a Veterans Administration hospital in Massachusetts where he sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Monday, January 19, 2009
"This Land Is Your Land" Like Woody Wrote It
Pete Seeger, who actually hoboed with Woody during the Depression and Dust Bowl, and "The Boss" had the crowd sing the song as it was actually written, as not only a celebration of this great land, but as a demand for workers' and people's rights. That is, they restored the verses that have been censored from the song over the years to make it less political: "There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me..."

Monday, January 19, 2009
Sources: Obama may use executive order reverse abortion policy
(4 comments) Source said Obama may use the occasion to reverse the "Mexico City policy" reinstated in 2001 by Bush that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family planning groups that promote abortion or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion services. It bans any organization receiving family planning funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development from offering abortions or abortion counseling.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Frank Rich: White Like Me
Barack Obama’s day is one that I never thought would come, and one that I still can’t quite believe is here.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Mountain Tops Across America Forever Altered by Bush Push for Coal
Throughout his term, Bush worked to preserve coal's position as the biggest source of electricity and to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas. These priorities have translated into a lasting environmental legacy that includes buried streams in the coalfields of Appalachia, polluted waterways in the Rocky Mountain West and coal-fired power plants that haven't had to clean up.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
The media myth about the cost of Obama's inauguration
The misinformation first arrived in the form of an under-reported newspaper article in America, and then one in London. Between them, and thanks to furious transatlantic online linking...

Sunday, January 18, 2009
The AP concocts the cost of Obama's inauguration
It's hard to find journalism more shoddy than this...

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Palm oil frenzy threatens to wipe out orangutans
Nearly 40 years ago, Louis Leakey sent Birute Mary Galdikas to Indonesia to study the elusive, solitary orangutans where palm oil harvesting is rapidly destroying habitats and the eco-system. "I am not an alarmist," says Galdikas, speaking calmly but deliberately, her brow slightly furrowed. "But I would say, if nothing is done, orangutan populations outside of national parks have less than 10 years left."

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Poll: Two-thirds see Bush term as failure
About 68 percent of those questioned said Bush's eight years in the White House came up short, CNN reported. The poll indicated 44 percent believed this was because of his personal shortcomings while 22 percent blamed Bush's failures on outside circumstances.

Saturday, January 17, 2009
Paul Krugman: What Obama Must Do - A Letter to the New President
(3 comments) Dear Mr. President: Like FDR three-quarters of a century ago, you're taking charge at a moment when all the old certainties have vanished, all the conventional wisdom been proved wrong. We're not living in a world you or anyone else expected to see. Many presidents have to deal with crises, but very few have been forced to deal from Day One with a crisis on the scale America now faces. So, what should you do?

Saturday, January 17, 2009
Steven Salaita: The Civilizing Power of Slaughter
(1 comments) Israel's continued assault on the Gaza Strip, having killed over 1,100 Palestinians, has produced an interesting range of response in the United States, some of it surprising, much of it predictable. Amid the national dialogue, a distinct form of ethical reasoning has emerged and suggests that the pre-modern creature (these days Arabs and Muslims) can be civilized, but only through the use of potent force.

Saturday, January 17, 2009
Bailed-Out Firms Use Offshore Tax Havens
(2 comments) Eighty-three of the nation's 100 largest corporations, including Citigroup, Bank of America and News Corp., had subsidiaries in offshore tax havens in 2007, and some of the companies received federal bailout funding, the GAO revealed in a report requested by Sens. Carl Levin and Byron Dorgan.

Saturday, January 17, 2009
Man Charged With Threatening Obama On The Internet
(2 comments) Steven Joseph Christopher, 42, was taken into custody by the Secret Service, and charged with threatening to assassinate Obama. "Threats against the president-elect will be taken very seriously," Dunn Lampton, US attorney, said in a release. "Use of Internet chat rooms to express those threats is as much a crime as uttering the words. Threats of this nature will be pursued swiftly and vigorously."

Friday, January 16, 2009
Salazar Pledges to Make Companies Obey the 'Law' and the 'Science'
Before the Senate Committee on Energy and National Resources, Ken Salazar to "clean up the mess" at the Dept of the Interior if he is confirmed as the next chief of the agency that has been plagued during the latter half of the Bush admin by a series of ethics scandals. He also vowed to review the decisions of the Bush admin to ensure compliance with the 'law' and the 'science.'

Friday, January 16, 2009
This Miracle Brought to You by America's Unions
They're calling it a miracle--the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They're detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they're not telling you is that just about every single one of these heroes is a union member.

Friday, January 16, 2009
From the Department of Bad Legal Reporting
Contrary to reports in the MSM, the opinion of the federal appeals court with regard to warrentless wiretapping makes no reference whatsover to the issue of whether the president has the "inherent authority" to disregard statutory restrictions on his surveillance powers. Rather, the entire opinion is a response to a Fourth Amendment challenge to the Protect America Act.

Friday, January 16, 2009
Madoff's fund may not have made a single trade
Bernie Madoff's investment fund may never have executed a single trade, industry officials say, suggesting detailed statements mailed to investors each month may have been an elaborate mirage in a $50 billion fraud.

Friday, January 16, 2009
House Appropriations Stimulus Bill Omits Protections For Federal Whistleblowers
The Project On Government Oversight has just learned of a troubling discrepancy in the economic stimulus bill introduced earlier today. While the House Appropriations Committee's press summary promised protections for both federal and state whistleblowers, the full text of the bill released later only mentions state and local whistleblowers.

Friday, January 16, 2009
Oil spills on Alaska's North Slope
The North Slope had one of its largest crude oil spills this week. The spill is the biggest on the Slope since BP's record 201,000-gallon oil spill at Prudhoe Bay in 2006, which resulted in congressional hearings and criminal prosecution of BP.

Friday, January 16, 2009
Bailout's constitutionality questioned by conservative group
(1 comments) The FreedomWorks Foundation led by former GOP Texas Congressman and Majority House Leader, Dick Armey, argues that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 passed in October violates constitutional principles that restrict the amount of power the legislative branch can delegate to the executive branch...

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Foreclosures up a record 81% in 2008
Filings continued to soar through the end of the year - and there's no relief in sight for 2009.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Jobless claims surge more than expected
Number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits breaks half-million mark for first time in 2009.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
David Miliband: 'War on terror' was wrong
The phrase gives a false idea of a unified global enemy, and encourages a primarily military reply

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Struggling states cut healthcare for poor before Obama can bolster coverage
The unprecedented reductions come as millions are losing their jobs and insurance. They are so steep that the federal rescue package may not be able to revive them.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Poll: Public backs Obama's stimulus plan.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds strong public support for President-elect Obama's stimulus plans and broad disapproval for conservative desires to give tax breaks to big businesses.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Jonathan Clarke: The end of the neo-cons?
With the Bush administration about to recede into history, will the neo-conservative philosophy that underpinned its major foreign policy decisions likewise vanish from the scene? The answer seems likely to be yes. But the epitaph of neo-conservatism has been written before - prematurely, as it turned out.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Holder: "I Will Review That Determination" Not To Prosecute Schlozman
Holder just told the Senate Judiciary committee that he wants to reconsider the Bush Justice Department's curious decision not to bring criminal charges against Schlozman, a former top department official who was found by a DOJ investigation to have politicized hiring decisions, then lied about it to Congress in an effort to cover it up.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
ACLU: 'Secret courts' conceal fraud by military contractors
A law originally intended to encourage whistleblowers may have been used by the Bush Justice Dept to cover up allegations of fraud by contractors such as Halliburton spin-off KBR. The ACLU alleges that secrecy provisions added to the False Claims Act (FCA) in 1986 have been used to keep complaints under seal indefinitely and gag whistleblowers who might otherwise speak out.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Stimulus Bill Offers Historic Transparency and Accountability
The very first provisions listed in the bill concern "unprecedented" and "historic" measures to assure transparency and oversight so that the taxpayer can easily see where the funds are going and why.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Senators Endorse Hillary Clinton for US Secretary of State
There has been more U.S. Senate action on President-elect Obama's national security team. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination of Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Conyer's Report: Reining In The "Imperial Presidency"
(1 comments) In a 487-page report recapping Bush's "imperial presidency," House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) recommends that "the incoming Administration finally begin an independent criminal review of activities of the outgoing Administration." PDF file

Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Bush Claims He Feels Uncomfortable Saying, 'I Know What God Was Thinking'
(7 comments) Jesus-in-Chief Bush: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George go and end the tyranny in Iraq," and I did.'" [6/03]

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
GOPs Blunt back as a 'liaison' between committee heads and RNC
Blunt's new position, created GOP House Leader, John Boehner (OH) for Blunt (MO) is described as a "sort of super-coordinator for all ranking members on House committees."

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Boehner Decries Party Ratios on Two Committees
(2 comments) Forgets that GOP is no longer the majority as Democrats now comprise 59% of House seats? The GOP often kept their ratios on committees above their membership percentage in the chamber during its majority reign from 1994-2006.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
TVA Disaster Spreads Far and Wide
(1 comments) Erin Brockovich and Robin Greenwald: While this story continues to unfold -- as more samples are taken that delineate the true toxicity of this mess, as TVA makes plans to contain and abate the disaster -- there is a story that has not been told. It is a story that must be told. And that story is the lives of innocent bystanders that have been turned upside down by this avoidable disaster...

Sunday, January 11, 2009
Write away, student journalists get legal help
There's hope for high school papers, especially with the new state law that prohibits administrators from retaliating against advisors who try to protect student press freedom. And a nonprofit has spelled out plans to help students distinguish fact from the furious fulminations that, more and more often, pose as news.

Sunday, January 11, 2009
NYT's Sanger Sure Gets It Wrong - US Did Sell Israel Bombs for Iran Attack
(2 comments) Actually, the U.S. actually did sell 1,000 GBU-39 - "specialized bunker-busting bombs. According to Haaretz, "the $77 million shipment, which includes launchers and appurtenances, will allow the IAF to hit many more bunkers than currently possible... Although each bomb weighs 113 kilograms, its penetration capabilities equal those of a one ton bomb." It is reported that Israel is using the GBU-39s in Gaza.

Sunday, January 11, 2009
Joe the Plumber: ' think media should be abolished' from reporting on war.
(1 comments) Was our democracy damned the day our public school systems eliminated 'civics' as a dedicated academic discipline and required component of core curriculum, K-12? America's conservative journalists are loudly anti-democracy on foreign soil.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
Juan Cole: EU has ceded dealing with the Israelis to US
I'm sorry, but it just doesn't matter if tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Paris. Oh,it might put a little pressure on Sarkozy to remonstrate a little harder with the Israeli government, but in the larger scheme of things it isn't very significant. Europe has ceded dealing with the Israelis to the United States. The people of the United States have ceded dealing with the Israelis to the US Congress.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
In the US, Gaza is a different war
The author seeks understanding at the frustration often felt in the Arab world over US media coverage; one only needs to imagine the same front page had the situation been reversed.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Russia and EU agree gas deal awaits Ukraine signature
The agreement signed on Saturday will allow EU, Ukrainian and Russian observers to monitor gas supplies flowing through Ukraine. The agreement is awaiting Ukraine signature.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
Barack Obama 'kidnaps' 24 hero Jack Bauer, complains conservative torture lovers
(3 comments) When the series returns for its seventh season on Sunday night, Bauer will mouth the views of Mr Obama, who has vowed to end "enhanced interrogation", also known as torture, and close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. US conservatives claim that the 24 character Jack Bauer has been 'kidnapped' by the new liberal agenda of President-Elect Barack Obama.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
'Every 30 minutes, our house is shaken by explosions'
Cut off even from Palestinian journalists, little news has emerged from the southernmost town of Rafah, which last week was the scene of devastating air strikes by Israeli jets. Freelance writer and producer Fida Qishta recorded the events on the ground in this remarkable diary.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
Israel Tells Gazans: Prepare For Escalation Of Military Offensive
Fourth stage expansion, according to anonymous Israeli defense officials, to fully reoccupy Gaza and topple Hamas awaiting approval by government leaders.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
Israel drops pamphlets warning Gaza of coming military escalation
Announces launch of new operation - Correspondents say phase three could see Israeli forces moving deeper into cities and refugee camps - involving new risks for Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Saturday, January 10, 2009
College grads avoid brunt of layoffs
The toxic effects of the 'Reagan- Bush-Bush-Economic' free-market model spreads from affordable 'home ownership' to accessible 'higher education.'

Friday, January 9, 2009
State police inact police state: there's more to this spying business than the agency has divulged
(5 comments) Our view: State police owe victims, public a fuller accounting of their misguided actions; there's more to this spying business than the agency has divulged

Friday, January 9, 2009
Network Neutrality in 30 Seconds - Part 1
Video: Drowning the competition.

Friday, January 9, 2009
Network Neutrality in 30 Seconds - Part 2
Video: ISPs, Google, and Hacksaws

Friday, January 9, 2009
Unemployment Rate Jumps To 7.2 Percent :
Employers slashed 524,000 jobs last month. For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs.

Friday, January 9, 2009
Supreme Court to hear Voting Rights Act case
The federal voting rights act requires nine states and some local governments in areas with a history of discrimination to get federal "pre-clearance" from the attorney general or a Washington court panel before making changes in voting procedure. Congress extended the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years in 2006, finding that discrimination still exists. Stay tuned...

Friday, January 9, 2009
Vice President Cheney Seen Dragging Egg Sac Through West Wing
Audio Humor

Friday, January 9, 2009
Panel Steps Up Criticism of Treasury Over TARP
(1 comments) In the most scathing criticism yet of Treasury's implementation of the $700 billion financial-rescue package, a draft report being issued by the five-member congressional oversight panel said there appear to be "significant gaps" in Treasury's ability to track hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money.

Friday, January 9, 2009
U.N. and Red Cross Add to Outcry on Gaza War
The International Committee of the Red Cross reported finding what it called shocking scenes on Wednesday, including four emaciated children next to the bodies of their dead mothers. In a rare and sharply critical statement, it said it believed that “the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded.”

Friday, January 9, 2009
Torture Prosecution Tops 70,000 Questions for Obama on Change.Gov
After votes from about 100,000 people, the top ranked question asks Obama whether he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture and illegal surveillance by the U.S. government.

Friday, January 9, 2009
Guess What? Lots Of Oil, Natural Gas In Gaza!
(1 comments) To find the real reasons behind conflicts and wars in this world, you need to follow some or all of four things: Money, blood, power or natural resources (usually oil or natural gas but it can be cobalt like in the Congo). Oil is behind the conflicts in Darfur, Somalia and other similar places.

Friday, January 9, 2009
States of emergency declared across Europe over gas
Govts across Europe declared states of emergency and ordered factories to close as Russia cut all gas supplies through Ukraine in their worsening dispute over unpaid bills. Despite temps at minus 27C and the threat of heating cuts to millions of households, Moscow said that it had no choice but to cease supplies because Ukraine through which 80% of Russian gas bound for EU flows, had closed its pipelines. Kiev denies closures.

Friday, January 9, 2009
KBR seeks to blame Army for death of its own drivers
(3 comments) When will the DoJ drive a stake in the heart of these two 'Enron-esque' no-bid contracting "blood-suckers." Halliburton and KBR? Rape, theft, murder, negligence, fraud, war crimes, arms dealers are criminal incidents in which these 'contractors' are linked.

Friday, January 9, 2009
Letterman's Top 10 moments of the Bush years
Did you forget about the bird doo...

Friday, January 9, 2009
Broadcom billionaire loses fight to keep e-mail on drug use secret
(1 comments) Billionaire Broadcom founder Henry Nicholas lost his fight to keep the following email message from being admitted as evidence in his trial for "21 counts of conspiring to commit accounting and securities fraud by misreporting $2.2 billion in employee stock options." Read email here:

Friday, January 9, 2009
Elizabeth Warren: US Should Establish a Financial "Product Safety Commission"
(1 comments) In addition to savaging the lack of TARP bailout oversight and Paulson's obfuscation of accountability to taxpayers, she proposed establishing a product safety commission for financial products, just as we have for toasters, car seats, and other consumer products. On following the money..."This isn't rocket science."

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Savannah GA Police Prepare To 'Sweep' Homeless Tent Cities
(2 comments) People who deal with the homeless in on a personal basis say there are not enough resources to deal with the homeless issue in Savannah and sweeping them out of their homes may be a bad idea.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
1-800-GOOG-411: Find and connect with local businesses for free from your cell phone.
(1 comments) Or any phone! No more wasting money on information assistance calls! It evens connects you without you having to manually dial the number. Handy even if you are using a GPS.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Progress Report: The Case For Urgent Action
OBAMA: "I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible," said Obama. "If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity, which translates into more than $12,000 in lost income for a family of four."

Thursday, January 8, 2009
China warns of risks from "abnormal" cross-border capital flow
China faces a threat of "abnormal" cross-border capital flow because of global financial tumult, the country's foreign exchange regulator said Tuesday. Such capital movement, resulting from the world economic slowdown and financial crisis, will bring with it potential risks, said Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Paul Krugman: Stimulus arithmetic (wonkish but important)
(1 comments) The bottom line [on the Obama stimulus plan] is this: we're probably looking at a plan that will shave less than 2 percentage points off the average unemployment rate for the next two years, and possibly quite a lot less. This raises real concerns about whether the incoming administration is lowballing its plans in an attempt to get bipartisan consensus.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Brad Setser: Follow the Money - If you only read one thing on China this fall..."
(1 comments) Setser wades through the latest World Bank China Quarterly, and comes up with "7 points of interest" in China's economic slowdown and the risks that lie ahead.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Israel/Gaza: Military Tactics by Both Sides are Endangering Civilians in Gaza, Says Amnesty International
(3 comments) Amnesty International said today that both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters were endangering the lives of Palestinian civilians – including by using them as human shields and by battling in densely populated residential areas.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
UN proposal for Gaza truce floated
The US, the UK and France are working on a binding UN Security Council resolution that is expected to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The UK-drafted resolution comes on the 13th day of Israel's offensive in the territory and ahead of an emergency session of the General Assembly...

Thursday, January 8, 2009
UN halts Gaza aid after convoy hit
The move came after Israeli tanks shelled a UN convoy earlier in the day, killing a Palestinian UN worker and injuring two others, as lorries were travelling to the Erez crossing to pick up humanitarian supplies meant for allocation during a three-hour suspension of fire. At least three UN-run schools have also been hit by Israeli fire, killing scores of civilians, during the 13 days of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Russia arms to Iran: A mistimed gambit?
(2 comments) It is planned, according to the Russian MoD, to deliver the S-300 [surface-to-air missile defense] systems to Iran from Russian Defense Ministry warehouses. The systems for Iran had been removed from active duty and placed in storage. "It is expected that S-300 systems will be supplied to Iran from Defense Ministry storage bases.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
First flight of algae-fuelled 737 jet
(1 comments) A US airline has completed the first test flight of a plane partly powered by biofuel derived from algae. The 90-minute flight by a Continental Boeing 737-800 went better than expected, a spokesperson said. One of its engines was powered by a 50-50 blend of biofuel and normal aircraft fuel.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Gallery gets iconic Obama image
The iconic red, white and blue portrait of US President-elect Barack Obama will become part of the permanent collection at the US National Portrait Gallery.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Pelosi Parts With Obama Over Bush Tax Cuts
(1 comments) As opposed to allowing Bush tax cuts to expire as Obama recommended during the campaign, Pelosi noted that the Congressional Budget Office has determined that the tax cuts are the biggest contributor to the ballooning deficit. "Put me down as clearly as you possibly can as one who wants to have those tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans repealed."

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Harry Markopolos - Man who blew whistle on Madoff is wary of limelight
Harry Markopolos is the man who spent nearly a decade trying to blow the whistle on what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history has achieved a kind of hero status within the investment world. A reluctant hero of finance and Hollywood, he is poised to reap both fame and fortune from a disaster that has cost the investors of of Bernard L. Madoff as much as $50 billion.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Perle Washes His Hands Of Iraq: I Was Not An 'Architect Of That War,' Neocons Had No Influence
(1 comments) The rattlesnakes have started to eat each other and their young. Perle: "...the many mistakes made in Iraq, one thing is certain: they had nothing to do with ideology. They did not draw inspiration from or reflect neoconservative ideas and they were not the product of philosophical or ideological influences outside the government."

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Lesbian couple invited on Obama's inaugural whistle stop tour.
Lisa Hazirjian and her partner Michelle have been invited to join" President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden on their Whistle Stop train ride to the nation's capital leading up to the inauguration. "Hazirjian, who is from Ohio, serves as an at-large board member of Equality Ohio, as a member of the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats and as a volunteer for Cleveland Families Count...

Thursday, January 8, 2009
McConnell Urges Coleman To Fight On, Despite Urging Gore To 'Be A Statesman' And Concede In 2000
Hypocrisy Central: It's interesting that McConnell is willing to let an election - which has already had a recount - hang in the air for two months. After all, less than a month after the 2000 election, McConnell was already demanding that Al Gore concede to George W. Bush. McConnell's comments to the Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov. 27, 2000.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Illinois Panel Calls for Impeachment of Governor
An investigative committee of the Illinois House of Representatives recommended the impeachment of the state’s embattled governor, Rod R. Blagojevich.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Obama and Biden Confirmed Without Objection
The House and Senate confirmed President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's 365-173 Electoral College win with no objections, confirming what some Republican staffers-their offices occasionally buffeted by complaints from Obama conspiracy theorists-said yesterday. It was the first protest-free ceremony of its kind since 1997...

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Dan Froomkin - Obama and the Bubble
In an interview yesterday with CNBC's John Harwood, Obama described how he is struggling to keep existing lines of communication open, bake dissent into his presidency, and not lose touch with the experience of regular Americans.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Conyers: Obama Should Not Nominate Sanjay Gupta
Rep. John Conyers has written a letter to Democratic colleagues urging them to join him in publicly opposing the nomination of Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General. Conyers says Gupta "lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance," and requests that fellow Dems join him.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Bill Moyers Journal to Air Footage of March of the Dead, Arrests in Senate Offices
(1 comments) On Tuesday, many marched, protested, and went to jail asking Congress to end wars. Many members of the media were there, but few saw their reporting aired or put into print. One exception, as always, is Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. This uniquely decent and democratic program will be airing an "essay" on Friday night covering the growing protests.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Gaza Catastrophe: Resource Conflict?
Natural Gas, Palestinian Elections, and Israel's Subversion of the 'Peace Process'

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Coal ash spill reveals risks, lapses in waste government regulation
The coal ash spill in Tennessee last month is putting a spotlight on whether the ash from 450 other power plants around the country could be contaminating the nation's drinking water supplies. The EPA in 2000 decided that coal ash wasn't hazardous waste and left regulation up to the states. Now, however, environmental activists say the Tennessee spill shows the need for federal standards for how coal waste is handled...

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Seumas Milne: Israel and the west will pay a price for Gaza's bloodbath
Whether the current ceasefire talks succeed or fail, Hamas has already been strengthened by the US-backed assault

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Extinct animals could be brought back to life thanks to advances in DNA technology
(4 comments) The idea of resurrecting extinct animals moved a step closer to reality last year when scientists announced that they had decoded almost all of the genome of the woolly mammoth, from 60,000-year-old remains found frozen in Siberia. Now New Scientist magazine has named the 10 other beasts most likely to rise again, including the Irish elk deer whose antlers measured 12 feet across, the dodo and Neanderthal man.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Former Amb. Indyk vs. Author Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault on Gaza and the US Role in the Conflict
Democracy Now! hosts a debate between Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Clinton administration, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Watch, listen, or read transcript.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Trudy Lieberman: Paging Dr. Gupta
How CNN's doc misdiagnosed McCain's health plan. Gupta's attempt to explain John McCain's health plan offered a confusing and ultimately misleading picture of how the candidate's proposals might work.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
U.S. Air Force releases flow chart of 'counter-blog' reponse plan.
(3 comments) As part of its halting efforts to reach out to bloggers in constructive ways, the U.S. Air Force has assembled a "counter-blog" action plan aimed at responding to bloggers who have "negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force." The plan includes a detailed flow-chart that "lays out a range of possible responses to a blog post": Must see.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
Kucinich: Israeli Violation of Congressional Arms Restrictions
(5 comments) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) argues that Israel cannot claim self-defense when fighting a weak enemy with no air force, navy or army. If Israel is not engaged in self-defense then it is engaged in an offensive. And Kucinich points out that the US gave Israel all those weapons only on condition that they not be used for aggression.

Thursday, January 8, 2009
I Survived the Bush Presidency
An oral history of the shell-shocked survivors of the Bush administration - Lincoln Chafee, Michael Brown, David Kuo, Zig Engelmann - from former FEMA head to author of "My Pet Goat."

Thursday, January 8, 2009
20 Forgotten Bush Scandals
n an interview with Fox News on Sunday, George H.W. Bush congratulated his son on running a "clean operation." Bush apparently wasn't paying very close attention. Everyone remembers weapons of mass destruction, the US attorney firings. But historians will note that those are only the beginning of the Bush administration scandals... Here's the list:

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tasering W: The Torture of Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright by Lourisanna Police
(2 comments) TMZ has released the incredible video of Josh Brolin's arrest outside of a Shreveport bar last summer, along with his "W" costar Jeffrey Wright. In the video, viewers see Brolin and Wright standing hugging as they are sprayed with pepper spray and then separated by cops. Brolin is made to kneel and is handcuffed while Wright gets laid out on the street and repeatedly tasered...Link to video.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Report: Burris will be seated as new Senator from Illinois
Senate Democrats now plan to seat Roland Burris.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
White House Asked Howard To Stay In Blair House To Give 'Some Plausible Reason' For Refusing Obama
(5 comments) Bloomberg reported on December 11 and 12 that there were no foreign dignitaries booked into Blair House during the time period Obama requested. "I have the feeling they asked him [Howard] to come and stay so that there might be some plausible reason for not letting the Obamas stay there." It was also pointed out that Blair House has "119 rooms with 35 bathrooms. Howard wouldn't even have to share a sink with the Obamas."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Watch Sanjay Gupta's Error-Laden 'Hit Job' on Sicko Challenged by Moore
(1 comments) Gupta gets Blitzed by Michael Moore over a unprofessional, inaccurate, biased report on the movie, Sicko. Gupta's segments on CNN are largely sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. Moore exposes Gupta's 'fudged facts.' Gupta and CNN was forced to admit its errors. Will these healthcare industries continue to have access to Gupta and influence his objectivity as the Surgery General heads healthcare reform?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Army mistakenly sent letters to family members of fallen soldiers addressing them as "˜John Doe.'
The Army was forced to apologize today after sending approximately 7,000 letters to family members of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan which mistakenly addressed them as "John Doe." The letters were sent late last month to inform survivors about private organizations "that offer gifts, programs and other assistance to families that have lost" soldiers.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Porn Industry Goes Limp, Seeks $5 Billion Federal Injection
Turns out that even this vice industry - which has weathered many other economic downturns - is not recession proof after all and has gone limp under Bush. Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and Hustler magazing publisher Larry Flynt have asked Congress for a $5 billion bailout, arguing that their industry is also one of the "nation's most important businesses."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Army War College toned down its Iraq war criticism under pressure from Rumsfeld.
Today, former Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks writes that Steven Metz, chairman of a department at the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, said that the school eventually had to censor itself because of pressure from the Pentagon. Metz] explicitly blamed the strained relationship between the Army and its civilian overseers under then-Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
ThinkCheney: It's Just An 'Urban Legend' That I 'Exceeded My Authority' As Vice President
The list is long. Is Cheney bucking for an 'insanity' defense? He was the first VP to declare he was not a member of the executive or legislative branch...he is the government fairy!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields
The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
How Bush Broke the Government
To gain a true sense of Bush's legacy, we survey the systematic and politically motivated ways he undermined the federal government.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Feinstein And Rockefeller To Obama: We Liked Bush's Appointees More
When it came to approving of Bush nominees who defended torture, illegal wirteapping, and the Iraq war, Sens. Feinstein and Rockefeller never complained. Consider their voting records on key Bush appointees in light of their reactions to the nomination of Leon Panetta as CIA Chief.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
SEC IG, Probing Madoff, Looks To Be On The Warpath
SEC Inspector General David Kotz, who is conducting an investigation into the agency's failure to detect Bernard Madoff's alleged "$50 billion ponzi scheme" despite conducting several probes of Madoff's business over the last decade, testified before Congress today. And from the sound of his opening statement, his inquiry could be worth paying attention to...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Paul Krugman : The trouble with Sanjay Gupta
So apparently Obama plans to appoint CNN's Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General. I don't have a problem with Gupta's qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don't have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore "fudged his facts", when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Digby: I Gotcher Progressive For Ya, Right Here
If you want to know what a real progressive candidate looks like, this is the guy. He's running for Congress to fill Rahm Emmanuel's seat (which formerly belonged to Rod Balgojevich!) Here's his statement:

Monday, January 5, 2009
David Corn: Obama Picks Anti-Torture Advocate for CIA Chief
Corn says hold on before dismissing Leon Panetta as CIA Chief. "Panetta is an even-tempered and highly regarded Washington player--kind of a Mr. Fixit in a nice suit. He is also a zero-tolerance critic of the use of torture, and he considers waterboarding--a tactic used by the CIA--to be torture."

Monday, January 5, 2009
Ann Coulter's "Today" Show Appearance To Promote Her New 'Hate' Book Canceled
NBC had come under fire for booking Coulter, who had been scheduled to promote her new book, Guilty, on the "Today" show Thursday morning. In the book, Coulter repeatedly refers to President-Elect Obama as B. Hussein Obama, and mocks Michelle Obama's style while praising Cindy McCain's.

Monday, January 5, 2009
Google Book Search Opens Trove Of Rare Books
Google Book Search now has one million out-of-copyright books scanned into its servers for easy access and use.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Russia wants warships stationed around the world
(1 comments) Russia's military leaders approved a plan by the navy on Sunday to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Bill Richardson withdraws from Commerce Secretary nomination.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
FOX's Wallace uses right-wing buzzwords to fearmonger on EFCA, says it "˜eliminates the right to a secret ballot.'
Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) about the Employee Free Choice Act. Instead of calling the bill by its name, Wallace used a string of right-wing buzzwords to describe it, calling it a favorite of "Big Labor" and falsely insisting its aim was to "eliminate the right to a secret ballot."

Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Invasion of Gaza: "Operation Cast Lead",
The aerial bombings and the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces must be analysed in a historical context. Operation "Cast Lead" is a carefully planned undertaking, which is part of a broader military-intelligence agenda first formulated by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001

Sunday, January 4, 2009
US Blocks UN Action on Gaza Conflict
(2 comments) Bush shows true colors. The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Reports suggest Israeli forces using cluster bombs in Gaza.
"The use of cluster bombs - which have a large footprint when initially dropped and then remain a threat for decades - in a location like the Gaza Strip which is so packed with people is horrifying." (FDL notes that video footage seems to confirm the use of cluster bombs.)

Sunday, January 4, 2009
George H. W. Bush: I'd like to see Jeb elected president.
(3 comments) Unhappy that any in America remain standing, the Bushes want another shot to take the rest of us out... This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked former President George H.W. Bush about the possibility of his son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, running for Senate. The former president expressed his hope that Jeb would run and then told Wallace that he'd ultimately like to see Jeb elected president.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Cheney Calls Iraq "Significant Success, Masterfully Done"
Dick says blame any war failures on the lazy Iraqis who were unwilling to stand up and take responsibility for their own affairs.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Cheney: Financial Crisis 'Developed' Only 'Over The Last Six Months'
In addition, after listing off policies that h claimed were accomplishments, such as No Child Left Behind, Cheney acknowledged that the Bush administration was leaving the incoming Obama administration "with their hands full." But Cheney was unwilling to admit any real culpability for the challenges Obama will face, saying only that they are a "new set of problems."

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Israeli forces split Gaza in two
Israeli ground troops and heavy armour have moved deeper into the Gaza Strip, in effect cutting the territory in two.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Worse Outcomes Than A Strengthened Hamas
A number of writers have noted the possibility of Hamas being politically strengthened by Israel's bombing of Gaza, just as Hezbollah were strengthened by Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon. This would obviously be a bad outcome, but it's important to understand that it would not be the worst. A much worse outcome would be that the bombings weaken Hamas while strengthening Salafist elements in Gaza

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Gideon Levy: And there lie the bodies
(2 comments) As Israel has been preoccupied with Gaza throughout the entire week, nobody has asked whose blood is being spilled and why. Everything is permitted, legitimate and just. The moral voice of restraint, if it ever existed, has been left behind.

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Times Square Rally Protests Fighting in Gaza
(1 comments) News of the conflict's escalation to Israeli ground attack came midway through the demonstration and cast a pall over the crowd as it was announced over loudspeakers and crept across the news tickers nearby.

Saturday, January 3, 2009
2008: Bush's Last Year By The Numbers
The numbers speak for themselves. Bush/Cheney efforts to impart an "alternate reality" of the last year via its media shills are shattered by the raw stats. Change In Number Of Delinquent Mortgages: increased 75 percent. Number Of Banks Federal Government Now Owns Stock In: 206 Number Of Jobs Lost: 1.9 million. Number Of Uninsured Americans: 47.5 million. Change In Use Of Food Stamps: increased 17 percent...

Saturday, January 3, 2009
The Wall Street Ponzi Scheme called Fractional Reserve Banking
Borrowing from Peter to Pay Paul - Cartoon in the New Yorker: A gun-toting man with large dark glasses, large hat pulled down, stands in front of a bank teller, who is reading a demand note. It says, "Give me all the money in my account."

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Crafting Policy Agenda, Obama Team Brings in Faith Groups
The president-elect and his staff have held about 15 meetings so far with religious groups

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Chris Hedges: Why I Am a Socialist
The corporate forces that are looting the Treasury and have plunged us into a depression will not be contained by the two main political parties. The Democratic and Republican parties have become little more than squalid clubs of privilege and wealth, whores to money and corporate interests, hostage to a massive arms industry, and so adept at deception and self-delusion they no longer know truth from lies.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Retired Special Forces LTC Recalls His 1964 Torture Training at Fort Bragg, NC.
As the U.S. Military establishment continues to expand the numbers of Special Operations personnel that would be available for TOP SECRET covert operations should we demand certain controls and limits on their use or abuse? Yes - we must. Should we preclude illegal operations being secretly foisted on our Special Operations' warriors, demanding they obey without question and maintain total secrecy regarding illegal operations

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Vets demand more protection for homeless in Miami after slayings
Veterans in Miami say the slaying of two homeless vets means the city must do more to protect men and women who fought for their country. Army veteran Ernest Holman, 67, was found beaten to death Nov. 17 behind a bus bench, while Marine veteran Todd Hill, 41, was bludgeoned as he slept on a Miami waterfront bench Dec, 26

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
RNC draft rips Bush's bailouts as 'socialist'
(1 comments) In what would amount to a slap in the face to a sitting Republican president and the party's Senate and House leaders, national GOP officials, including the vice chairman of the Republican National Committee, are sponsoring a resolution opposing the resort to "socialist" means to save capitalism. Having bailed out Wall Street, and now that it's time to bailout the middle class, 'socialism' is suddenly evil?"

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
GOP Hypocrisy: After Backing Massive Wall Street Bailout, McConnell Plans To Block Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan
McConell also opposed Congress's rescue package for auto workers, arguing that he couldn't "ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure" and using it as a political opportunity to bash unions.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse
(1 comments) Deepening economic strife in the US could lead to civil unrest and violence that would require military intervention, warns a new report from the US Army War College. "Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security."

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Globalization and Poverty
Interview with Dr. Vandana Shiva By Gary Null Progressive Radio Network. Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of India's top nuclear physicists and an internationally renowned environmental and social activist. She has been credited as a principal founder of India's ecological and eco-feminism movement.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Zbigniew Brzezinski Calls Joe Scarborough 'Stunningly Superficial'
Joe Scarborough attempts to ask for Brzezinski's daughter Mika's hand in marriage or something by insisting that "you cannot blame what's going on in Israel on the Bush administration." This prompted Zbig to reply, "You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it's almost embarrassing to listen to you."

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Soylent Greenwashing? Doc Recycles Sucked Fat
(1 comments) A former Beverly Hills doctor stands accused of using the fat he liposuctioned out of patients to fuel his car,

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict bears similarities to a long-standing civil conflict, even as it has sparked inter-Palestinian hostilities in its most recent phase.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Critics urge Congress to rescind Jan. 1 pay raise
(2 comments) With the economy in a recession and millions of Americans losing their jobs, however, members are under fire to rescind the pay hike, which will increase their base salaries to $174,000, roughly a 2.8 percent raise.

Monday, December 29, 2008
Bush Refuses To Interrupt His Final Vacation As Middle East Crisis Escalates
(1 comments) Even an emerging crisis in the Middle East, one he pledged to resolve just 13 months ago, has not drawn President George W. Bush from his final vacation before leaving office. Despite his personal pledge at Annapolis last year to broker a deal between Israel and the Palestinians before 2009, this weekend Bush sent his spokesmen to comment in his stead.

Monday, December 29, 2008
ISRAEL & GAZA: After the 'Military Targets' Run Out
(1 comments) a really perceptive post asking what happens in Gaza as the Israeli bombing progresses past its third day. Consider: Attacking distinctly civilian targets and the infrastructure of civil life is a potential war crime. It is also counterproductive. The number of civilian casualties will rise, and the international community will be mobilized to chip away at the immunity Israel now seems to possess in targeting Hamas.

Monday, December 29, 2008
Veterans of ’90s Bailout Hope for Profit in New One
Top players in the savings and loan bailout of the 1990s are seeking to capitalize on the latest economic meltdown in what may result as the largest transference of wealth in the history of wealth.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Israel Masses Troops, Tanks For Possible Ground Invasion
Israel's Cabinet authorized the military to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers for a possible ground invasion and moved tanks, infantry and armored units to the Gaza border. Since it began Saturday, Israel's offensive against Gaza rocket squads has been carried out exclusively from the air.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Snowmen in popular culture
While no one knows for sure when exactly the snowman began smoking a pipe and drinking hard liquor, it may have started as early as 1890, based on a label from a bottle of whiskey from that year. An 1898 postcard shows a snowman carrying two bottles of champagne off to an office party. On holiday greeting cards from the 1900s through and on (up to the 1930s), the snowman often has a drink in one hand and a pipe in the other.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
bitRipper Brings Windows Users One-Click DVD Ripping | MakeUseOf.com
Times they are a' changing because this little free application called bitRipper includes a de-crypter and a converter in one package. That means throw the DVD into your DVD drive and click START RIPPING!

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Zimbabwe child malnutrition rises
Acute child malnutrition in parts of Zimbabwe has increased by almost two-thirds compared with last year, aid agency Save the Children says.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Guerilla Gardening: Eating The Suburbs
"Guerilla gardening" involves cultivating any spare patch of urban land that isn't being used for another purpose, which could provide a substantial addition to the food growing potential of suburbia.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
A Resilient Suburbia? Part 3: Weighing the Potential for Self-Sufficiency
Suburbia has a significant potential to provide its own food, water, and energy. This series of articles (links to Part 1 & 2 in article) examines the challenges facing suburbia in a post-peak world.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Will Bush's illegal wiretapping be made legal? VIDEO
(1 comments) Michael Ratner: Senate vote on FISA bill could threaten basic rights. Senate vote Dec 29 & 30 making the "Protect America Act" permanent giving the president the right to warrentless wiretap any US citizen without FISA review. Telecom immunity: Should Congress or Courts decide?

Thursday, December 25, 2008
Blog 'miracle' saves Christmas for hard-luck family
The kindness of strangers and power of the Internet saves one family's Christmas

Thursday, December 25, 2008
Hunger across Gaza as Bread Runs Out
Deadly crisis of a bread shortage after Israel banned flour coming into Gaza and closed the border.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Great Crash, 2008
The economic meltdown has put the American model of free-market capitalism under a cloud. The financial system is seen as having collapsed; and the regulatory framework, as having spectacularly failed to curb widespread abuses and corruption. Now, searching for stability, the U.S. government and some European governments have nationalized their financial sectors to a degree that contradicts the tenets of modern capitalism.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Making of a Mess
Who Broke Global Finance, and Who Should Pay for It?

Thursday, December 18, 2008
'I was still holding my grandson's hand - the rest was gone'
(1 comments) Dispatches from the ravaged country, Afghans explain how mounting civilian casualties are aiding Taliban recruiting

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Madoff's Scheme Collapses Major Sustainable-Food Foundation
The only balls I'd like to see dropped at the NY Times Square New Year's Eve celebration are Bernie Madoff's. Bernie's attachment to them -- optional.

Monday, December 15, 2008
Schumer Helped Block Regulation Of Ratings Agencies
Over the weekend, in a profile of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Times revealed that the veteran New York Democratic lawmaker -- who, with seats on both the finance and banking committees, has built a reputation as a key ally of the financial sector, a major industry in his home state -- played a major role in stymieing efforts to fix that problem.

Monday, December 15, 2008
Browse Iraq Reconstruction History For Yourself
NY Times and ProPublica compiled highlights in a handy interactive chart. So many "f" words so little space: fleeced, flawed, fibs, fabrications, failure, forfeiture, fiction, and just plain...well, you know.

Monday, December 15, 2008
Harry Reid: Apparently leading without a clue or club
(1 comments) Harry Reid has been exceptionally ineffective as the Democrats' majority leader.

Friday, December 12, 2008
After Rescue, Bonuses Still Flow At AIG Ranging from $92,500 to $ 4million
The taxpayers gave AIG $152B to keep them from collapse. Now, AIG has told 168 employees they'll receive between $92,500 and $4 million per individual as a part of its new 'retention' program. How can anyone in senior management in this failed company be deserving of $4 million? Let them leave. Lots of unemployment, and everyone is replaceable.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Should we pay lame-duck no-shows?
[It] is an outrage is when members simply stop showing-up for work after losing an election or announcing their retirement, yet happily continue to accept their $169,300 annual salary, nonetheless. That is simply an insult to the taxpayers, especially as Congress had to convene in lameduck session to deal with legislation to save the domestic auto industry. Yet, 14 of the 26 non-voting members are lameducks...

Friday, December 12, 2008
The 20 senators who bailed out Wall Street but refused to rescue auto workers.
Last night, the Senate failed to approve the auto rescue package, voting 52-35 in favor of the bill – just eight short of the 60 votes that were needed. Over on the Wonk Room, Dan Weiss takes a look at the 20 senators who voted for the Wall Street bailout but voted against the auto rescue last night (as well as the 10 others who skipped the vote last night, but voted for the financial bailout). The list...

Friday, December 12, 2008
Cheney Warns GOP: Remembered as the Party of Hoover
On Wednesday, Dick Cheney met with Senate Republicans and emphasized the importance of keeping the American automotive industry afloat. "If we don't do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever," the vice president said.

Friday, December 12, 2008
NOW's Feminist Action Agenda for 2009 And Beyond
PRESS RELEASE: Working with a new president and a more women-friendly Congress - With women's rights supporters headed to the White House and in congressional leadership, we have an opportunity to reverse some of the backward movement of the past eight years, and begin to again move forward in addressing equality and opportunity for women and girls. The following Agenda is by no means exhaustive, but it is a start.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Jackson Jr.'s Supporters Were Raising Money for Blagojevich
(1 comments) Chicago Tribune reports that businessmen connected to the governor and Jackson discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job.

Friday, December 12, 2008
DOJ blocking Obama transition team from reviewing documents on wiretapping and torture.
(1 comments) According to the Blog of Legal Times, the Justice Department is blocking President-elect Obama's agency review team's request "to review classified legal opinions related to secret CIA and National Security Agency programs." Included in these documents are the "legal rationale of the NSA's warrantless spying program and the CIA's detention and interrogation policies, among other intelligence initiatives."

Friday, December 12, 2008
Green Jobs 101
Focused public investment in green infrastructure and efficiency can drive immediate spending into some of the hardest hit sectors of the economy, such as construction and manufacturing, and ensure that this infusion flows directly into job creation and domestic goods and services. Investing in a green economy will allow us to lay the groundwork for future prosperity and innovation

Friday, December 12, 2008
EBERT: The best films of 2008... and there were a lot of them
(1 comments) In these hard times, you deserve two "best films" lists for the price of one. It is therefore with joy that I list the 20 best films of 2008, in alphabetical order. I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce the year's 10 best films, but after years of such lists, I've had it...

Friday, December 12, 2008
Court Gives Franken Two Big Boosts
Two rulings today by the Minnesota Canvassing Board pushed Al Franken's Senate campaign closer to electoral victory in the roller-coaster Minnesota recount, according to Politico. First, the Board voted unanimously to count the 133 ballots that went missing last week. These ballots came from a Franken-friendly precinct in Minneapolis, and Franken stood to lose a net 46 votes if they were not included.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Newspaper headlines baselessly suggest Obama involvement in Blagojevich scandal
In recent coverage of the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), several media outlets have offered headlines that baselessly suggest President-elect Barack Obama has been implicated in the scandal while ignoring Fitzgerald assertion the criminal complaint against Blagojevich "makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever..." and his warning to not randomly cast aspersions on people.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Struggling Companies and Industries Still Found Funds to Sponsor Political Conventions
Weeks before they turned to the federal govt for rescue, companies such as AIG, Ford, Citigroup and Freddie Mac were among the biggest sponsors of the summertime political conventions that nominated Barack Obama and John McCain for president... In total, private interests gave $118 million to cover cover the two conventions, $61 million to the host committee putting on the DNC and $57 million to RNC.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Daily Show, Hall And Oates Pay Tribute To Alan Colmes [UPDATE: Hannity Responds]
The highlight of last night's Daily Show was the moving send-off that Stewart gave career Fox News doormat Alan Colmes, who will be leaving the Hannity & Colmes show in January. Lamenting that he couldn't fund the words to sum up what Alan Colmes meant to him, host Jon Stewart was ably aided by rock legends Daryl Hall and John Oates, who paid tribute to Colmes through a re-written version of their classic song, "She's Gone."

Friday, December 12, 2008
Gag Factor: Ashcroft: Detaining Terror Suspects At Guantanamo Bay "˜Has Been A Humanitarian Act'
Some spin is just sickening. I think this stinker qualifies.

Friday, December 12, 2008
Coming to a neighborhood near you -- Homelessness rising as economy slides: report
Surveyed cities cite 12 percent rise in homelessness. San Francisco, among the nation's priciest housing markets, reported the largest spike in homelessness in the survey with a 50 percent increase. Gastonia, North Carolina, where foreclosures have been rising, saw a 46 percent rise.

Thursday, December 11, 2008
The First New Foreign Crisis
Obama's transition team fears the possibility that the first foreign policy crisis the administration will face will be the complete economic collapse of a large, unstable nation. To be sure, Pakistan is nearly broke, and U.S. policy makers seem to be aware of that; but a worldwide demand crisis could lead to social unrest in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore, the Ukraine, Japan, Turkey or Egypt...

Thursday, December 11, 2008
Portugal offers to take Guantanamo detainees
European Union countries should offer to take in any detainees released from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Portugal's foreign minister said in a letter published Thursday. Portugal is willing to grant asylum to Guantanamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries, Foreign Minister Luis Amado said in the letter sent to his EU counterparts.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Worthington: Obama and Holder Must Return to a September 10th Mind-Set
Much of this return to the law -- as it existed on September 10, 2001 -- will involve breaking the chain of command that led from the Office of the Vice President to the Pentagon, but if Obama does repeal the Military Commissions Act, then those most closely involved with Cheney and Addington's pet project will also be out of a job...

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Fitzgerald On Blagojevich's 'Political Corruption Crime Spree': It Would 'Make Lincoln Roll Over In His Grave
The "most cynical behavior" by Blagojevich pertained to his attempt to sell the open Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, Fitzgerald said: The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave. The governor's own words describing the Senate seat: "It's a [bleeping] valuable thing. You just don't give it away for nothing."

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Lutz Off Message: "The American Public Wants Sport Utilites And Large Pickup Trucks"
(1 comments) GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz: "Let me just get one thing straight here: There's a lot of talk about well, General Motors doesn't make the right kind of cars or General Motors built trucks too long. At $1.50 per gallon, the American public wants sport utilities and large pickup trucks." Duh...peak oil, energy security, global warming, climate change, dying oceans? No prob? How is it a guy like 'cLutz' get paid millions?

Sunday, December 7, 2008
A Killer Without Borders
Americans don’t think much about TB, just as we didn’t think much of AIDS in the 1980s. But drug-resistant TB is spreading — half a million cases a year already — and in a world connected by jet planes and constant flows of migrants and tourists, the risk is that our myopia will catch up with us. One-third of the world’s population is infected with TB, and some 1.5 million people die annually of it.

Friday, December 5, 2008
Rep. Nadler (D-NY) Plans Constitutional Amendment To Curtail Pardon Power
Nadler, who two weeks ago introduced a resolution demanding President Bush not issue 'pre-emptive' pardons of officials in his administration, said his amendment would bar presidents from pardoning members of their own administration for official acts. The president would retain the power to pardon the secretary of state for, say, beating his wife[??], Nadler said, but not for actions taken in an official capacity.

Friday, December 5, 2008
Girls flee circumcision in Kenya
At least 300 girls in south-western Kenya have fled from home and sought refuge in churches in a bid to escape forced female genital mutilation (FGM). An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM. FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. World Health Org. has more.

Friday, December 5, 2008
RECESSION-PROOF? Lipstick, chocolate and booze boom
CRISIS, what crisis? Paint on a smile, pour a toast to tough times and find comfort in a chocolate or two. Alcohol, cosmetics and confectionery are three industries well-placed to ride out the economic downturn...

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Report: Abortion does not lead to long-term depression.
A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has shown that there is no scientific support to claims that "an abortion causes psychological distress, or a 'post-abortion syndrome.'" The team reviewed 21 studies involving more than 150,000 women and found that there is "no significant differences in long-term mental health between women who choose to abort a pregnancy and others":

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Online journalists now most jailed worldwide.
A new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists finds that "more Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium," reflecting the rising influence of online reporting. Forty-five percent of all jailed media workers - approximately 56 people - are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors. "Print reporters, editors, and photographers make up the next largest...

Thursday, December 4, 2008
"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... from FOD Team, Jack Black, Craig Robinson,
(1 comments) Soon to be a cult classic!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
U.S. let Saddam gas Kurds for farm deal
(1 comments) Declassified CIA docs show that the US opposed sanctions on Iraq in the 80s when it was gassing Kurds because of fear of Iran and because, yes, they wanted to sell more food to Iraq. Ya just can't make this stuff up. Ooops...gassing his own people was one of the main reasons he was convicted and hung until his little head was ripped off! Did the US govt intentionally withhold this information during Saddam's trial?

Monday, December 1, 2008
Palin Recycles Old Stump Speech In Augusta, Georgia, But Replaces "McCain" With "Chambliss"
Despite Palin's insistence on the importance of the Chambliss race, she apparently couldn't bring herself to write a new stump speech. Instead, she recycled many of her favorite lines from this fall, substituting Chambliss' name for Sen. John McCain's.

Monday, December 1, 2008
Palin Rallies Wingnut Base For Chambliss, Says Rebuilding The GOP Starts With Him
Sarah Palin was in Augusta this morning campaigning for Big Daddy, and unveiled some really groundbreaking, out-of-the-box ideas about how to resurrect the Republican party. "It takes rebuilding, and I say, let that begin here in Georgia tomorrow," Palin said. She said Chambliss is needed to provide a check on the Democratic majority. She stressed Chambliss's support for gun rights, opposition to abortion and tax hikes."

Monday, December 1, 2008
Governors, Pelosi Meet on Funding in Stimulus
Feeling the pinch of the nation's economic downturn, governors went to Capitol Hill on Monday to make a pitch for more than $156 billion in additional Medicaid funding and infrastructure spending as part of an economic stimulus package.

Monday, December 1, 2008
Bush Administration Weakened Lending Rules Before Crash
The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents.

Monday, December 1, 2008
Jeb Bush: GOP Should Set Up "Shadow Government"
(3 comments) Excuse me, Jeb, but I believe you have committed an act of treason against the Constitution of the United States of America. Your Nazi-abetting grandfather, your CIA spook, oil-whoring father, your torturer-in-chief MBA-flunky brother? The rightwing nut doesn't fall far from the tree...

Monday, December 1, 2008
Five Former Slaves Who Are Changing the World
The modern-day human trafficking trade needs new heroes to speak up for themselves to put an end to the abuse and exploitation. Here are five inspiring former slaves who've stepped up to the challenge.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Palin's Hometown Newspaper Blasts Her "Georgia Pal" Saxby Chambliss Support
Palin is putting her conservative Republican fame to work in Georgia, stumping for Republican US Sen Saxby Chambliss, who is in a tough runoff for re-election. I wonder if she knows the true measure of the man she is eagerly helping...she might ask herself why she is using her conservative star power to support such a reprehensible Republican chicken hawk.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
PENTAGON'S PUNDITS: One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex
Many retired officers hold a perch in the world of military contracting, but Gen McCaffrey is among a select few who also command platforms in the news media and as govt advisers on military matters. These overlapping roles offer them an array of opportunities to advance policy goals as well as business objectives. But with their business ties left undisclosed, secret conflicts of interest abound fed at the taxpayers' tit.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Create Beautiful Web Pages In A Snap With SnapPages
(1 comments) Whether you want to advertise your business or share news and photos with your family and friends, having a website just makes sense. Many people realize this, but they don't know how to go about creating one. SnapPages solves this problem by giving anyone the ability to create a great looking site in very little time.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Kevin Berends: Transition or Coup D'etat?
while the outgoing Bush administration lays mine fields to sabotage President-elect Obama's initiatives that could threaten the status quo, it is also terminating outstanding federal employees whom the current administration can assume, correctly, would be supportive of the new president's policies. The GOP has no intention of ceasing its assault on the Constitution by any immoral, secret, or illegal means possible.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists
(1 comments) A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim. The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe.

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Swap Defaults: The Next Installment of the Financial Crisis
(1 comments) What will happen if the derivative markets collapse? This is the question we don't seem to be asking in public. Maybe the answer is too scary. Take a deep breath and read this article and links...

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Kristol Calls On Bush To Pardon Torturers And Wiretappers, Reward Them With Medal Of Freedom
(1 comments) In his new Weekly Standard column, right-wing pundit Bill Kristol lays out a to-do list for President Bush before he leaves office...the idea is this: "The CIA agents who waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the NSA officials who listened in on phone calls from Pakistan, should not have to worry about legal bills or public defamation. In fact, Bush might want to give some of these public servants the Medal of Freedom..."

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Bush Admin Issues New Medicaid Rule That Forces Struggling Americans To Pay More For Health Care
(2 comments) Under Bush new Medicaid rules states will now "charge premiums and higher co-payments for doctors' services, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to low-income people under Medicaid." In other words, the Bush administration's approach is to force the poorest Americans to pay more for health care during the economic crisis of his own creation.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
5 Ways To Create Your Business Card 2.0
Business cards are out of date. Thankfully, there are a growing number of ways to use the internet to create, share and use your business card. Using these services, you can send your card to others, get contact information in your email (where all your contacts are anyway), and have the business card work with your existing address books, which are increasingly online.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
DOUG PAGE: The Wall Street Bailout Will Not Jump-start "Our" Capitalism
There simply is no credit crisis. There is a demand crisis...consisting of our inability to buy what we need. We need more credit like we need a hole in the head. We are already maxed out on credit. The real problem is that people do not earn enough from their labor to buy what capitalism produces. There is an "overproduction" of things to sell at a profit, but there simply is not an overproduction of things we really need...

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Medicare’s Too Costly Private Plans
Congress must remove unjustified subsidies to inefficient private health insurance plans that have added to the cost and complexity of the Medicare program. Medicare currently pays the private plans — now called the Medicare Advantage program — 13 percent more on average than the same services would cost in the traditional fee-for-service program. Translation: GOP free-market health care is a crock.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Jacob Weisberg: Loyalty is the most overrated virtue in politics.
Loyalty is a wonderful human quality and a necessary political one. No president would think of moving into the White House without known and trusted advisers such as David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett. At the same time, the recurrent presidential obsession with forms of disloyalty, including leaks, disobedience, and private agendas, is a marker for executive failure...GW Bush, Nixon, LBJ are case-in-points.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Bush's 11th-Hour Rush to Allow Toxic Workplace Rule That Obama Fought and Will Fight
Bush's Labor Dept is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by Obama, hat would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job while making your health insurance unaffordable or non-existent, and certainly not the responsibility of the employer poisoning you.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
U.S. 'Not Getting What We Pay For' -- Health-Care System Inefficient, Wasteful, and Dangerous
EXPERTS: As much as half of the $2.3 trillion spent today does nothing to improve health. Not only is American health care inefficient and wasteful, says Kaiser Permanente chief executive George Halvorson, much of it is dangerous.

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Attacks Imperil Delicate U.S. Role Between Rivals India and Pakistan
American officials may have trouble preventing an Indian military response against Pakistan. Dr. George W. Strangelove to the rescue?

Saturday, November 29, 2008
Swiss vote on prescription heroin
(1 comments) Polls suggest the Swiss - pleased that their streets are now free of addicts and used syringes - are likely to approve heroin prescription.

Friday, November 28, 2008
The GOP's Southern problem
South Carolina's Republican Chair Katon Dawson is an absolute poster child for the Republican Party's long-term demographic ills. The "whites only" country club clod is tossing his hat in the ring for RNC national chair. Do Da Do Da

Friday, November 28, 2008
Five more members of Congress being probed in bribery affair
Cunningham expert says Katherine Harris likely among those eyed Though none of the additional congressmembers are named, but a source believes they are "no doubt" Republican Reps. Virgil Goode and Katherine Harris. Harris became famous during the Florida recount in 2000, was elected to Congress in 2002, and was defeated in a run for the Senate in 2006.

Friday, November 28, 2008
Citigroup Should Be Held Accountable, Obama Aide Podesta Says
The U.S. government should demand accountability and changes at Citigroup Inc., as well as from automakers, in exchange for any financial assistance, a top transition official for President-elect Barack Obama said. "It seems to me that the government ought to demand accountability," including on executive compensation, John Podesta said...

Friday, November 28, 2008
ROBERT DREYFUSS: Mumbai Terror Could Cascade Across Region
The bloody terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, have the potential to cascade across the region. If Pakistan's army and intelligence service, which have long supported anti-India terrorist groups, are deemed responsible for the attacks, the results could be catastrophic.

Friday, November 28, 2008
Why Rachel Maddow is 'thankful' Bush administration is ending
(2 comments) Rachel is a jewel. She has assembled that long list of Bush administration officials indicted, convicted, in jail... Watch and recall with fond memories such goodies as Interior Dept. personnel snorting meth with oil industry execs off a toaster oven before or after sex???

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation: India And Pakistan Conflict
Estimates on actual warhead numbers vary wildly with reports that India has anywhere between 50-150 warheads and Pakistan 10-100. There is a bit more clarity, however, regarding the missile systems that would deliver them.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Deccan Mujahideen claims it behind Mumbai attacks
An organisation calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed it was behind attacks in India's financial capital Mumbai...India has suffered a wave of bomb attacks in recent years. Most have been blamed on Islamist militants, although police have also arrested suspected Hindu extremists thought to be behind some of the attacks.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Militant complains of army abuses in Kashmir
"Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims. Are you aware how many of them have been killed in Kashmir this week?"

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Torture and the rule of law: Did Bush just call Democrats' bluff?
(4 comments) Rachel Maddow had Jonathan Turley on yesterday to discuss the WSJ story reporting that the Bush admin had no intention of issuing pardons for the people involved in its torture operations because they don't think it's necessary. And what Turley observed should be alarming to anyone concerned about whether or not Dems are going to have the spine to return the US to the rule of law and hold the torturers and enablers accountable

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
MUMBAI EXPLODES: 80 dead, gunmen take hostages; Westerners targeted
Attackers hit luxury hotels, restaurants, and tourists spots targeting Westerners - Americans, British, and Australians trapped; some taken hostage. CNN currently reporting that Mumbai's anti-terror chief is dead. Deccan Mujahedeen - a militant Islamic group - has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Attackers using automatic weapons, grenades, and have parts of Mumbai under control.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
U.S. Commander: Al Qaeda's focus is Pakistan, not Iraq.
Yet, US still funneling $13 billion a month down that Bush/Cheney wet dream.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Obama Family's Thanksgiving Food Drive Visit
Something you'd never see a Bush or Cheney do.

Sunday, November 23, 2008
Obama's multipolar moment
Charles Krauthammer proclaimed the advent of the "unipolar moment." The leitmotif of this new era was supposed to be incontestable American strength. Now, however, the multipolar moment has arrived ahead of schedule. Signs of its advent are everywhere. This is the world that Obama must equip the nation to navigate. It is imperative that he initiate a fundamental break from the post-Cold War U.S. strategic playbook.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
US May Lose Its 'AAA' Rating
"The U.S. might really have to look at a default on the bankruptcy reorganization of the present financial system" and the bankruptcy of the government is not out of the realm of possibility, Hennecke said.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Bonuses for Wall Street Should Go to Zero, U.S. Taxpayers Say
(1 comments) U.S. taxpayers, who feel they own a stake in Wall Street after funding a $700 billion bailout for the industry, don't want executives' bonuses reduced. They want them eliminated.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Ask the 111th Congress for Peace Now
United For Peace and Justice is calling on groups and individuals around the country to meet with the people who will represent you in the new Congress. We urge local visits to incumbents who have been re-elected, as well as newly-elected Representatives and Senators. It is important for these visits to happen now, before the new Congress is seated in January.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Another Bush screw-up may put his last-minute regulations in peril
Finally, a Bush screw up that works to the benefit of US citizens and our democratic republic.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama Team Names former GA Sen Sam Nunn as DoD Transition Adviser; Christopher at State Dept
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team confirmed today that former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) has signed on as an adviser to assist with the new administration's move into the Defense Department. The transition team tapped former Secretary of State Warren Christopher under President Bill Clinton to advise the administration's transition at the State Dept.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Lawsuit claims discrimination in Katrina recovery
A coalition of civil rights attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit claiming racial discrimination by a $10.3 billion Hurricane Katrina recovery program that was designed to help victims rebuild their storm-damaged homes.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
5 Top Statistical Site Traffic Trackers
f you want to create a successful blog or website, it is important to understand where traffic is coming from and what people do when they get there. There are a number of free tracking tools available to help you keep track of how many visitors are on your site right now, what site they came from, what keywords got them there, how long they stay, and other statistical data such as country, state, browser type, etc...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Juan Cole: Standing up for Max Cleland on Veteran's Day
This letter from Iraq Veteran Paul Hackett came to me in the mail on Veterans Day, and I thought it worth reprinting...pass it on.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
RNC Launches Self-Help Site for GOPers Party Disphoria
The RNC stepped back into the competition for allegiances today, launching a new website that invites GOP supporters to share the reasons they considered themselves to be Republicans. RNC chair Mike Duncan is said to want a 2nd term so this might be interpreted as the beginning of Mr. Duncan's volunteer listening tour.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Republicans Seek Permanent Minority Status
Has the Southernization of American politics ended?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Paulson: Buying Troubled Assets Not Effective Use of TARP
How things have changed ... Here are Paulson's prepared remarks on the progress of the TARP.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Veterans Deserve Better: Breaking Faith With Those Who Serve
(1 comments) This Veterans Day consider what it is to return from service with a woefully underfunded VA. With a government which has yet to fully plan for aftercare for the returning wounded. And with the prospect of yet another deployment despite PTSD and other issues because of stop-loss orders. America's soldiers deserve better. So do their families.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Brave New Films: "Strip Lieberman of his gavel" film
Last summer, Brave New Films delivered a petition with 43,000 signatures to congressional leadership with the message, "Lieberman must go." Today, the project released a new film emphasizing that Lieberman is no progressive. Watch it:

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama’s Transition Team Restricts Lobbyists’ Role
Yesterday, Obama transition chief John Podesta unveiled “the strictest, the most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.” “I’ve heard the other complaint, which is we’re leaving all this expertise on the side, because we’re leaving all the people who know everything out in the cold. And so be it,” Podesta said.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Union Voters And Card Check : Employee Free Choice Act Battle on Horizon
Many conservatives hold a visceral disgust for unions, in part because they counterbalance the party's big business constituents. But from a strategical standpoint, fierce opposition to card check could be a disaster for the GOP's long-term electoral prospects. Why? White union voters heavily favor Democrats.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Obama gathering info on Iraq policy
President-elect Barack Obama's transition team says it's gathering information about U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Obama will meet with advisers and U.S. military leadership "to map out a responsible drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq along the pace and scope he outlined during the campaign."

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Klan targeted in Kentucky civil trial
Anti-Ku Klux Klan attorneys say they hope to cripple one the hate group's largest U.S. branches through a civil lawsuit in Kentucky. The $6 million suit is against the Imperial Klans of America and its leader.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Paulson: A change in plans or the trouble with TARP
Sec. of Treasury Paulson confirmed Wednesday what was already becoming apparent -- that the government will not use any of its $700 billion financial-industry bailout fund to buy toxic assets from banks and other institutions. Those purchases were the basis of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that Congress approved last month.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Can't They Even Slam the Barn Door Right?
have repeatedly hammered on the theme that quantitative modelers need to spend more time thinking about the assumptions behind their models (see my recent posts What actually happens in the long run and There are no models for all seasons). Analysts need to understand under which conditions the assumptions hold and under which conditions the model will fall off a cliff.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Barack Obama's $12-million transition
Obama's transition planning will run about $12 million and employ 450 people. bout $5.2 million has been appropriated by Congress -- which also has set aside a similar amount for the outgoing Bush's planning -- and Obama will raise money privately to supplement his. "We will take no money from federal lobbyists, PACs or corporations only individuals will be able to contribute, with a limit of $5,000 per person.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
On FRONTLINE NoW!! Rove mentor Lee Atwater profiled in PBS documentary
PBS' Frontline chronicles tonight the rise to fame of the late political attack dog Lee Atwater - a close friend of Karl Rove and George W. Bush and a Machavellian figure who trafficked in the ugliest of modern political tactics.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Stop Government Interference With Science : NPR
(8 comments) Stop the government subversion of scientific research that has been going on for the last eight years. The current administration has withheld or falsified the results of scientific studies in the service of ideology multiple times, in multiple disciplines. Let me give you a few examples from medicine:

Monday, November 10, 2008
Condoms Trump Abstinence in Obama Global AIDS Policy | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org
President-elect Barack Obama will reverse U.S. family-planning and AIDS-prevention strategies that have long linked global funding to anti-abortion and abstinence education...

Monday, November 10, 2008
Poll: Obama's election boosts African-Americans' views of America.
A new Rasmussen poll shows that the election of Barack Obama has had an immediate impact on many African-Americans' views of America. The poll, taken two days after Obama was elected, found that "the percentage of black voters who view American society as fair and decent jumped 18 points to 42%." The percentage saying that America is still unfair and discriminatory fell from 64 percent in early October to 46 percent today.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Space-Based Domestic Spying: Kicking Civil Liberties to the Curb
Testifying before the House Homeland Security committee in September, Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project, called for a moratorium on the domestic use of military spy satellites until key questions were answered. Steinhardt said, "Congress needs to act before this potentially powerful surveillance tool is turned inward upon the American people.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Christian right regroups after Obama victory
One pressing question in the wake of Barack Obama's historic victory is whether the Christian right can grow its own ranks or take positions with broader appeal. Some Republicans believe a tight embrace of social conservative values turns off independents and moderates, but many Christian right leaders resist compromise and contend that, if anything, the GOP has strayed too far from its principles.

Monday, November 10, 2008
The rising cost of the bailout
(2 comments) Although the price tag on the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program is $700 billion, the full amount that the government has invested in its rescue effort for struggling financial institutions appears to be closer to $2.5 trillion. Where is the fairness and transparency promised by Paulson and Bernake?

Monday, November 10, 2008
Alaska Update: Thousands of Ballots 'Found', One-Third Remain Uncounted in the State's Still-Fishy '08 Election
(1 comments) Thousands of ballots, nearly a third of them, remain uncounted nearly a week after the election. Their numbers could explain the strange results so far in races --- such as those of the felonious Sen. Ted Stevens (R) and the under-investigation Rep. Don Young (R) --- for which pollsters had predicted decisive losses for the Republicans.

Monday, November 10, 2008
AIG execs go on yet another resort junket
This morning, we learned that AIG received yet another $150 billion handout. And this afternoon, we learn that last week -- last week, people! -- AIG sent its top executives to a "secret gathering" at a posh luxury resort in Phoenix.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Media conservatives claim America is "center-right," but political scientists challenge reliance on voter self-identific
(1 comments) Several conservative commentators claim America is ideologically a "center-right" country, citing as evidence general election exit polls showing that 22 percent of respondents identify themselves as "liberal," 44 percent as "moderate" and 34 percent as "conservative." But political scientists dispute the reliability of voters' identification with political ideologies, and other polling has found that a strong majority...

Monday, November 10, 2008
The Less Than Great State of Georgia Can't Say How Many Eligible Voters It's Currently Disenfranchising
Officials in Georgia are throwing out ballots cast by new voters who couldn't prove their citizenship, on the orders of the Republican secretary of state, Karen Handel. And now Handel's office says it can't say how many of those disqualified ballots were actually cast by eligible voters. In other words, the office can't say how many eligible voters cast ballots that are now being thrown out.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Yet More Cool Websites and Tools
Check out some of the latest makeuseof discoveries. All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option). No trials or buy-to-use craplets. For even more app reviews subscribe to makeuseof directory. Want to submit your application to MakeUseOf directory ?

Monday, November 10, 2008
Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs
(2 comments) A report by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission has concluded that prescription drugs have outstripped illegal drugs as a cause of death. An analysis of 168,900 autopsies conducted in FL in 2007 found that three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines put together.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama Team Weighs What to Take On in First Months
With the economy in disarray and the nation’s treasury draining, President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers are trying to figure out which of his expansive campaign promises to push in the opening months of his tenure and which to put on a slower track.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama can easily reverse Bush stem cell policy
To reverse the President Bush's stem cell policy, which he has pledged to do, Barack Obama does not need an act of Congress or to have his aides prepare an executive order for his signature. He only needs to give a simple order to the director of the National Institutes of Health, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
A venture-capital take on the financial meltdown
Now that they have been busted, what will happen to the clever souls that earned their fortunes by inventing and marketing increasingly complex securities to increasingly clueless customers? In this look at the venture capital fallout from the credit crunch, WTN guest columnist Paul Jones says they may just put their creative minds to work on value-added, rather than value-obscuring, endeavors.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
David Brooks on conservative moment: 'World of pain,' 'no leaders,' 'no coherent belief system.'
"You got half the party waiting for Sarah Palin to come rescue them. The other half waiting for Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor, to come rescue them. But no set of beliefs, really a decayed conservative infrastructure. It's just a world of pain."

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Debunking The Center-Right Myth
This morning, MSNBC discussed and cited ThinkProgress' work on debunking the "center-right myth."

Sunday, November 9, 2008
LAT fact-checks Limbaugh, hits him for peddling 'shameless' lies.
The Los Angeles Times' media journalist James Rainey take a look at how right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are dealing with Barack Obama's victory. Not well at all, ss was expected.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
71 Days and Counting: Bush Cuts Outpatient Medicaid Services
The new regulation arrives at a time when states are considering limiting Medicaid eligibility and Americans are losing their employer health benefits. In fact, the administration issued its rule to take public "health options away" on the very same day that the Department of Labor announced that the U.S. unemployment rate is at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
KRUGMAN: Stupid fiscal tricks
Krugman lays out the correct strategy for dealing with President Lame Duck.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
FBI Tracked David Halberstam For More Than Two Decades
The FBI tracked the late Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam for more than two decades, newly released documents show. The FBI monitored Halberstam's reporting, and at times his personal life, from at least the mid-1960s until at least the late '80s...

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Oh look, the Mormons have made some new friends...
(1 comments) Thousands in Salt Lake City protest LDS stance on same-sex marriage - Salt Lake Tribune

Saturday, November 8, 2008
Bob Geiger Best Political Cartoons of the Week
Geiger: It's a big day for the Saturday Cartoons... Our historic week and the election of President-elect Obama -- love that new title -- has made our cartoonist friends so prolific this week that I'm running more 'toons than I ever have.

Saturday, November 8, 2008
How the mobile phone in your pocket is helping to pay for the civil war in Congo
One hundred feet beneath the green slope of a steep hill in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a man lying flat on his front in a narrow tunnel chips at a rock face with a hammer and chisel.

Saturday, November 8, 2008
White House: We Never 'Cheerlead' On The Economy... Admitting It Is In A 'Recession' Is 'Irrelevant'
TONY FRATTO on Bush Recession Denial: "I don't think anyone who has stood at this podium could be accused of cheerleading the economy or looking through rose colored glasses. We try to be very, very transparent."

Saturday, November 8, 2008
National Unified Smart Electric Grid | Repower America
(3 comments) A national unified smart grid will form the backbone and the entire skeleton of our modern electricity system, allowing us to efficiently carry large amounts of electricity over long distances in a network that is resistant to failure. It will allow us to connect solar power in Arizona with manufacturing centers in Ohio or allow us to use evening wind power on the East Coast to support late afternoon peak demand in Nevada.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Lieberman Was Offered Veteran's Affairs, Not A Subcommittee
According to Dana Bash of CNN, Lieberman was not offered a subcommittee by Reid as was earlier reported, but rather Chairmanship of Veteran's Affairs. Now, it's beyond the pale that Lieberman should have a gavel at all. But particularly in light of his record on veteran's issues.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Reid may put Lieb's fate to caucus
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is mulling scenarios that would allow renegade Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman to keep his homeland security committee chairmanship -- but Reid might put Lieberman's fate to secret vote of the Democratic caucus when the lame-duck Senate convenes in two weeks, sources tell Politico.

Friday, November 7, 2008
US jobless rate at 14-year high - 6.5%
The US jobless rate rose to 6.5% in October, official figures have shown, the highest rate since March 1994.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Barack Obama's Flickr page shows family as their lives changed forever
Intimate photographs from a Chicago hotel room show the anxious moment before Obama becomes president-elect

Friday, November 7, 2008
Stephen Bates: In the US elections, the religious right remained largely true to their conservative roots
Early analysis shows that, despite Democrat inroads, religious Americans remained largely true to conservative form

Friday, November 7, 2008
After the imperial presidency
(2 comments) Secretly and at times unconstitutionally, the Bush administration expanded executive power. Will the new president and a new Congress redefine who is in charge?

Friday, November 7, 2008
Where To Research Material For Your Homework
(1 comments) or homework or any other project that requires theoretical research, the internet offers a wealth of information. Instead of having to head to the library, everything is comfortably accessible straight from your desk. However, the flood of data can be quite overwhelming if you're not using the right tools. Also, you may run into sources that are not credible. Here's help...

Friday, November 7, 2008
Cross burned on lawn of Obama supporters in Hardwick, New Jersey
A family of Barack Obama supporters awakened this morning to find a burned 6-foot cross on the front lawn of their home in northern Warren County, police said. The charred cross was partly wrapped with a homemade congratulatory banner that declared "President Obama Victory '08" and had been stolen from the lawn the night before, police said.

Friday, November 7, 2008
The How Much Counterinsurgency Training?
Counterinsurgency - called "COIN" for short - is a method of warfare defined as "the politico-military techniques developed to neutralize armed rebellion against constituted authority." Over the past few years, a loose but dedicated and expanding band, largely made up of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, has worked to establish counterinsurgency as a core focus for the U.S. military and its civilian partner agencies.

Friday, November 7, 2008
EFF: A Privacy Agenda For The New Administration
This is the first post in a three part series directed at restoring some of the civil liberties we've lost over the past eight years. Today's post is about our privacy rights. We'll follow this up early next week with our thoughts on intellectual property rights and government transparency.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Stimulus Watch: Increasing Medicaid Reimbursement Percentages
Since August, the economy has lost 651,000 jobs - more than three times as many were lost from May to July. So far, 1.2 million jobs have been lost this year. FACTS: A 1 percent increase in unemployment results in 1 million more people enrolling in Medicaid and SCHIP and another 1.1 million more people becoming uninsured.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
As Bush Lines Up Late Regulations, Congress Has Choice About Intervening
The Bush administration is poised to finish a series of controversial, last-minute regulations before leaving office, and Congress will have to decide whether to exercise its rarely used authority to rescind the new rules.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Days After Leak About Obama's Aunt, Immigration Chief Julie Myers Announces Resignation
Myers's resignation comes days after a "federal law enforcment official" told the AP that Barack Obama's aunt was living in the US illegally. ICE officials are "prohibited from commenting on any individual's status or the status of any case." Some questioned whether Myers may have been the source of the unauthorized leak. Rep. John Conyer's is investigating.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Blunt steps down
House GOP whip Roy Blunt is stepping down, he announced to his colleagues in a letter today. After sending out the letter, he met with reporters. "I just called Joe Barton [R-Texas] and told him I was looking forward to coming back to the Energy Committee," Blunt told reporters today. "Ten years of asking people to do things they don't want to do is a long time."

Thursday, November 6, 2008
CT Dems' Lieberman resolution: "extraordinary disloyalty" means he must resign from party - Rick Green | CT Confidential
(2 comments) Connecticut Democrats fed up with Sen. Joe Lieberman are eagerly DC waiting to hear what happens in DC, but their own censure resolution now pending before the state central committee is pretty clear about what should be done. Lieberman's "extraordinary disloyalty" means he should resign from the party. Lieberman's "support of right-wing candidates cannot be reconciled with the ideals and values of the Democratic Party."

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Lieberman keeps committee for now
Democrats held back punishing Sen. Joe Lieberman Thursday for his vigorous support of John McCain for president, allowing him to keep his chairmanship for the time being. However Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Lieberman's actions raised "serious concerns" among Senate Democrats after the two met to discuss Lieberman's future overseeing the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Bush's Memoir: Publishers Say No Thanks
In less than three months, President-elect Barack Obama will take office and the Bush administration will belong to history. With the president reportedly interested in writing about his White House years, publishers have a suggestion: Take your time.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Reid meeting with Lieberman now
All those reporters and TV crews outside Harry Reid's office? They're waiting for the Senate majority leader to meet with Joe Lieberman about what the future holds for the Democrat-turned-independent who backed John McCain's presidential bid. Reid wouldn't comment before the meeting, but the agenda almost certainly includes discussion of Lieberman's chairmanship of the homeland security committee.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
North Carolina Called For Obama
President-elect Obama won North Carolina on Thursday, a symbolic triumph that underscored his political strength as he turned nine states that President Bush won in 2004 to Democratic blue.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Big Business May Be Against The Free Choice Act, But The Public Solidly Supports It
(3 comments) Big businesses are preparing "for a less friendly Washington" and are concerned about "rapid passage" of the Employee Free Choice Act. Nearly two-thirds (60%) of voters believe in even in these tough economic times, it is important to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, and nearly one-third (31%) of voters strongly believe it should be a priority for Congress.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Sarah Palin returns to Alaska amid criticism from John McCain aides | World news | guardian.co.uk
(1 comments) Former vice presidential candidate faces new allegations over her behaviour on the campaign trail

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Pakistan sets death penalty for cyber terrorism
Pakistan has taken the unprecedented step of making cyber terrorism a crime punishable by death, according to a decree issued on Thursday by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Stem cells made from brain tissues by Japanese researchers
Brain tissue has been made from embryonic stem cells for the first time, providing hope for future treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
RNC Distressed by Emanuel Pick
(1 comments) The Republican whining has commenced!

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Groups press Obama on campaign finance reform
Seven liberal good-government groups are putting pressure on President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to create a new public financing system in the wake of an election that cost an estimated $5.3 billion.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Protesters 'willing to risk jail' to urge Bush, Cheney indictment
(2 comments) Anti-war protesters plan to gather outside the Department of Justice next week to urge Attorney General Michael Mukasey to indict President Bush and Vice President Cheney on war crimes charges. The protesters, being organized by The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance say they are willing to risk going to jail to urge Bush and Cheney's indictment.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
How the election was won -- and lost
John McCain never recovered from his uneven response to the economic collapse. Barack Obama pounced, and he never looked back.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Obama Announces Economic Transition Board as Dow Plunges
One of Obama's first moves as president-elect was to assemble an economic transition team, which is scheduled to meet with Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden tomorrow in Chicago. The team will include numerous heavyweights from government, business and academia. Here they are:

Thursday, November 6, 2008
BlueCross just cut off my prescription coverage for the year
(3 comments) I can't believe we live in this kind of a country. I am self-employed. I bought, what I believe I was told, was the best self-employed health coverage I could get, from the local CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. And the bastards just tried to charge me $250 for two prescriptions I had filled last month, and paid at the time something around $20 to $40.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Ballot Counting Continues in Fulton County Georgia
Fulton County elections officials continued to count thousands of absentee ballots at a warehouse in Atlanta. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel plans to report Fulton County officials to the state election board for sending workers home with thousands of ballots still uncounted. The fate of Saxby Chambliss' Senate seat hangs in the balance.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Steep food price increases on way: experts
(1 comments) U.S. food prices will rise by at least 7 percent in 2009 because of higher feed costs for chickens, hogs and cattle, said a group of food-industry economists on Thursday.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Eco-Friendly AirPods Get Airport Test - Auto Operates Using Compressed Air
A former aeronautics and Formula 1 engineer with the seemingly crazy idea of building cars that run on compressed air has convinced a European airline to use his "AirPods" to ferry passengers around airports in France and Amsterdam.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Will Obama Administration Signal Return to Rule of Law?
President-elect Barack Obama will have a lot on his plate during his first 100 days in office. Foremost among the pressing issues he faces: rebuilding America's reputation in the international arena...

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Japanese Nikkei index falls more than 7%
Japan's Nikkei index has fallen more than 7% in early trading, following a day of sharp drops in financial markets around the world.

Monday, November 3, 2008
Mercenary Firm Offers to 'Detain Troublemakers' on Election Day
(2 comments) CIA-linked private military contractor Evergreen Defense & Security Services offered to post sentries at Oregon election offices on Tuesday, "detaining troublemakers" and making sure voters "do not get out of control." In an e-mail to local election supervisors, Evergreen president Tom Wiggins said he "recognized the potential conflict" that could occur on November 4th. "Never has there been a more heated battle in the race.."

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Syrian Ambassador: Lieberman Assured Me McCain Would Talk With Syria
This is a startling revelation, considering McCain and Lieberman have attacked politicians who have sought to engage Syria diplomatically. Recently, the two have repeatedly attacked Obama's stated willingness to engage US adversaries as naive.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Harry Reid: If Stevens is reelected, he will be expelled from the Senate
Wow. "While I respect the opinion of Sen Daniel Inouye, the reality is that a convicted felon is not going to be able to serve in the US Senate. And as precedent shows us, Sen Stevens will face an ethics committee investigation and expulsion, regardless of his appeals process," Reid said.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Religious left rallies for Democrats
Ohio's progressive religious leaders, who largely sat out the 2004 presidential election, have mobilized now to counter the political clout of their conservative and evangelical brethren. "We had been silent too long," said the Rev. Tim Ahrens, senior pastor at First Church in Columbus, who helped found We Believe Ohio, a multidenominational organization that promotes social justice and other progressive causes.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Year of Reckoning: 2008 is when Karl Rove's "genius"is measured
Successful political strategists don't create reality like Karl Rove claimed. They surf it. Rove guided George W. Bush to the presidency on a wave created by his elders, by three decades of right wing agitating and power-grabbing. Rove should be judged by the reality of 2008. Any way you look at it, Rove's been a miserable failure.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Juan Cole: The Coming McCain Military Draft
(1 comments) My friends, there is only one way for McCain to make good on his hawkish foreign policy and his virtual pledge of more wars. McCain will need to institute a draft for young Americans. If you are in your late teens and early twenties, or if you are a parent of a person that age, and you have strong views on a renewed draft, it should come into your decision about whether whether to vote on Tuesday and for whom.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Georgia: Two million already voted - another 3 million could possibly vote on Tuesday
(1 comments) If high turnout projections hold, another 3 million people may show up at Georgia polling places Tuesday, more than ever before on a single Election Day in the state's history. Some precincts could be swamped. Election officials may find they've placed too few voting machines in busy polling places. Newly registered voters may not be listed on computerized rolls...

Sunday, November 2, 2008
GA Secretary of State Calls Dem Calls for Extended Hours on Early Voting "Grandstanding"
We told you yesterday about the Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel's refusal to extend early voting hours after record turnout across the state. Handel claimed her hands were tied because of DOJ rules which require Georgia to received DOJ approval before any changes are made to election rules -- a dubious claim given that the DOJ is fully equipped to handle expedited claims in the final hours before Election Day.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
McCain Camp Can't Give Example Of Registration Fraud Leading To Voter Fraud
(2 comments) A member of John McCain's "Honest and Open Election Comm" has admitted that he can't give a single example of voter registration fraud leading to actual voter fraud. Ronald Michaelson, a veteran elections administrator, acknowledged: "Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can't cite one, chapter and verse."

Sunday, November 2, 2008
THE GREATEST WAR CRIME EVER: Making It Harder for Soldiers to Vote
(1 comments) The Bush Admin (in league with the Pentagon?) has been doing all it can to block the military vote, since "our troops" mostly don't support McBush, whose record on the troops' and veterans' benefits, etc., has been dismal. So we've seen the VA try to keep their hospitalized troops and vets from registering to vote; and here we see that, this time, there's no effort to enable those at war to cast their ballots.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
JP Morgan Launches Massive Effort to Save Mortgages
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. launched an ambitious plan Friday to modify the terms of $70 billion in mortgages for borrowers who are behind on their payments or soon could be. The move by the New York bank will cover as many as 400,000 borrowers. They'll be moved into loans carrying lower interest rates, smaller principal amounts or other more-affordable terms.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
Maliki to show neighbours US-Iraq military pact
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday he will submit the text of the controversial security pact with the United States to all of his country's neighbours. He would do so after Baghdad receives a US reply to five proposed amendments made by Iraq. Maliki "will dispatch delegations to Iraq's neighbours, including Turkey, to show them the security agreement...

Saturday, November 1, 2008
Syria may decide to cut off ties with Iraq
Syria may decide to cut off diplomatic ties with Iraq and suspend the work of the joint security committee as to draw down the number of Syrian troops deployed on common borders. The decision came following the US raid on Abu Kamal region near Iraqi borders, media sources reported.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
Compensation at Bailout Banks, part two
Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
DOJ Ordered to Turn Over Warrantless Surveillance Documents
(1 comments) In an opinion issued Friday in a lawsuit filed by the Natl Security Archive, the ACLU and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the US District Court for DC ordered the Dept of Justice to submit to the court for review several of the DOJ's legal opinions authorizing the Bush admin to conduct domestic surveillance without prior approval from a secret court.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
British Secretary Orders Inquiry into MI5 and CIA Torture Claims
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has asked the attorney general to investigate possible "criminal wrongdoing" by the MI5 and the CIA over its treatment of a British resident held in Guant�namo Bay. The dramatic development over allegations of collusion in torture and inhuman treatment follows a high court judgment which found that an MI5 officer participated in the unlawful interrogation...

Saturday, November 1, 2008
Top Free Media Converters for Windows
As technology progresses, numerous different types of media, and thus new file formats, emerge. This can pose a problem, though. With audio formats ranging from AIFF to WAV, trying to listen to music or even watch videos on your computer can become difficult and possibly tedious. Here are some of the top free media converters for Windows to allow you be able to use all your media.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Saxby Chambliss Racism Showing : "The Other Folks Are Voting"
(1 comments) With urgency in the Republican's voice as he tours North Georgia, trying to boost turnout in his predominately white base: "The other folks are voting," he bluntly tells supporters. Just in case anyone was confused about who those "other folks" are, Chambliss gave this quote New York Times: "There has always been a rush to the polls by African-Americans early," he said...

Friday, October 31, 2008
Former Reagan adviser endorses Obama
Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN's Fareed Zakaria this week he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama on Tuesday. Duberstein said he was influenced by another prominent Reagan official - Colin Powell - in his decision.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Anti-Arab McCain Supporter Sparks Showdown at Obama Rally
McCain supporter Charles David Ficken descended upon an Obama rally in Raleigh, North Carolina with a 10-foot tall picture of Barack Obama in East African attire, shouting the United States doesn't need a "Muslim-leaning" person for president. While exercising his free speech at the rally, so too did several dozen fiery Obama supporters. VIDEO

Friday, October 31, 2008
CNN plans 'View from the Right' election special, but no 'View from the Left.'
(3 comments) CNN holds spirit of the "Fairness Doctrine" in contempt. Today, CNN announced that it will be hosting a one-hour special this weekend called "Election Countdown: View from the Right," featuring prominent right-wing pundits. However, it doesn't appear that there will be a corresponding special featuring progressive voices. Email them and let them know you think it sucks.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Texas Businessman Files Lawsuit Claiming He Was Forced To Funnel $75,000 To Norm Coleman's (R-MN) Wife
A lawsuit alleges that one of Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-MN) best friends and supporters, Nasser Kazeminy, used a Texas-based oil-rig services company to funnel $75,000 to Coleman through his wife Laurie's insurance firm.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Bush 41's Sec of Staff Eagleburger Blisters Palin: "Of Course" She's Not Ready
Lawrence Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush and whose endorsement is often trumpeted by McCain, said on Thursday that the Alaska governor is not only unprepared to take over the job on a moment's notice but, even after some time in office, would only amount to an "adequate" commander in chief.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Sarah Palin thinks press criticism violates First Amendment rights
(1 comments) Somehow, in Sarah Palin's brain, it's a threat to the First Amendment when newspapers criticize her negative attacks on Barack Obama. This is actually so dumb that it hurts!!!

Friday, October 31, 2008
GOP Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) says Palin not up to presidency, Biden more qualified
The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Sarah Palin is not experienced enough to be president and says Joe Biden is "much more qualified."

Friday, October 31, 2008
Bush Races To Further Deregulate Consumer Protection and Environmental Rules
The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms. Once such rules take effect, they typically can be undone only through a laborious new regulatory proceeding, including lengthy periods of public comment, drafting and mandated reanalysis.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Documents reveal how Ohio routed 2004 voting data through company that hosted external Bush Administration email account
Newly obtained computer schematics show how electronic voting data was routed during the 2004 election from Ohio's Sec of State's office through a partisan Tenn. web hosting company. A network security expert with high-level US government clearances, who was a McCain delegate, says the docs raise troubling questions about the security of electronic voting and the integrity of the 2004 presidential election results.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Liddy: Obama is relying, in part, on "the welfare class" to win Pennsylvania
G. Gordon Liddy said of Sen. Barack Obama's electoral prospects in Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania has been described as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with Alabama in the middle. Obama is counting on the urban elites and the welfare class to win the state for him. But he's putting on a show for the rest of Pennsylvania."

Friday, October 31, 2008
Gallup Daily: Obama Widens Lead
The political landscape could be improving for Barack Obama in the waning days of the campaign. Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Oct. 28-30 shows him with an eight percentage point lead over John McCain among traditional likely voters -- 51% to 43% -- his largest margin to date using this historical Gallup Poll voter model.

Friday, October 31, 2008
From One Crisis to Another
(1 comments) After the borrowing crisis, the footprint crisis. We're in the process of drowning ourselves in an ocean of debts and here the WWF comes and sends us a curious sort of lifesaver in the guise of ecological footprint. To put it roughly, that honorable assembly of nature protectors reminds us that with respect to natural resources also, we are living on credit. We are exhausting our planet at top speed...

Friday, October 31, 2008
For Atlanta voters, 10 hour lines await
Poll lines of daunting length -- though none which top Atlanta's 10 hour wait -- have been reported in Florida, North Carolina and Nevada. More are expected on election day. Extremely long lines are of concern to vote integrity watchdogs due to repeat occurrences of mis-allocated voting machines in largely Democrat-leaning areas. A lack of machines in heavily-populated, African-American majority districts...

Friday, October 31, 2008
PA Counties Said Unprepared to Serve Voters, Meet Court Order for Emergency Paper Ballots
Election Official: '80% of Counties Do Not Have Emergency Ballots'...

Friday, October 31, 2008
Cheney's Deputy Chief Of Staff Must Testify, Court Says
The U.S. District Court in D.C. ruled today that Vice President Dick Cheney will have to let his deputy chief of staff, Claire O'Donnell, give testimony in a lawsuit over his records. Cheney, with his well-known passion for secrecy, had argued that a vice president need only preserve records central to his job as the official who presides over the U.S. Senate or records relating to specific tasks assigned by the president.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Georgia Republican Sec. of State Handel to notify 4,770 their votes are 'challenged'
Thousands of voters whose citizenship has been questioned should receive letters from the state this week telling them they may have to vote with a "challenged" paper ballot on Election Day. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Karen Handel's office sent letters to 4,770 registered voters believed to be noncitizens, Handel said in an interview Wednesday.

Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Economic Crisis: Will Money Trump Ideology?
The steep reversal of financial fortune for one of the most generous donors to hawkish causes could likely impact the ability of those causes to carry out their work. The fortune of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a key backer of groups like Freedom's Watch and the Likud agenda in Israel, has taken a hit from the global economic meltdown. Will megadonors salvaging their business empires leaving the right "$$ tight?"

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Scandal Watch: AIG
Ever since the Federal Reserve rescued AIG from bankruptcy with two big loans totaling $123 billion, the company has been fielding complaints about its spending on executive payouts, fancy retreats and lobbying. To make matters worse, the company has already burned through three-quarters of the government's loan and may need even more.

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Bush Spent Over $6 Billion On Blackwater, Security Contracts in Iraq
No one knows for sure, but auditors think the United States has paid well over $6 billion to private security companies who have been guarding diplomats, troops, Iraqi officials and reconstruction workers in Iraq. The money amounts to about 12 percent of the $50 billion Americans are paying for reconstruction in the country ...

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Women pay much more than men for individual insurance policies
(1 comments) Striking new evidence has emerged of a widespread gap in the cost of health insurance, as women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies providing identical coverage, according to new data from insurance companies and online brokers. In some cases, hundreds of dollars more.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Judge tosses Gitmo detainee confession citing "T O R T U R E"
(1 comments) Hear that Bush, Cheney, Yoo, Gonzales, Addington, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Powell? The amazing transformation...Chickensh*t Chickenhawks hatched to become International War Criminals.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
After Calling Social Security An 'Absolute Disgrace,'Socialist' McCain Says Safety Nets Are 'What America Is All About'
McCAIN: Now, of course we have an obligation to take care of citizens in our society who can't care for themselves. That's why we have those programs, those Safety Net Programs. But you know, the Safety Net Program, a lot of Americans pay in to Social Security, they pay in to a number of those programs. So the point is, yes, a society and government takes care of citizens who need our help. That's what America is all about.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
ACLU Sues GOP NM Rep. Fox-Young for Violation of Voting Rights Act - a Felony
The ACLU of New Mexico today sued key members of GOP for violating the privacy rights of NM voters and illegally interfering with their right to vote. Filed in state district court, the class action suit alleges that NM Rep. Justine Fox-Young and unnamed members of the GOP illegally used private social security numbers to do background checks of legal voters and illegally disseminated info to press - a FELONY.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Two more civil rights groups file voter harassment suit against New Mexico GOP
Two civil rights groups filed separate lawsuits Monday to stop members of the Republican Party from obtaining and making public private voter information and intimidating voters ahead of Election Day. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Albuquerque, while the American Civil Liberties Union filed a separate suit in state district court.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Palin, Pentacostals, Witches, and Jesus - Voodoo in the 21st Century
Video clips of Sarah Palin attending Alaska church services have raised questions about her views on Christianity and government.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
6 Ways To Search 'By Date' On Google
Here are a few ways to search for information using specific dates.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
NET TIPS: What Movie Should I Watch Next?
(1 comments) If you frequently find yourself cluelessly searching for some good movie to watch, this article is for you. It will give you a quick overview of two little-known movie recommendation sites, that are easy to use, easy to get started and indeed help you find the movies you're likely to enjoy.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Justice Dept Honors Veteran Who Failed To Object To U.S. Attorney Firings
AG Mukasey gives an award for "Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity" to David Margolis. Why is that noteworthy? His frequent appearance in the IGs report into the US Attorneys' politically-based firings.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Another tough break for those trying to suppress voting in Ohio
A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their addresses. U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus also ruled that provisional ballots can't be invalidated because of poll worker errors.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
MILITARY JUDGE: Defense Lawyers Get Access To Secret Guantanamo Camp
Another Judicial Blow for Bush Torture/Rendition/Enemy Combatant Doctrine...A military judge has ruled that defense lawyers can inspect the mysterious Camp 7 at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, puncturing the secrecy surrounding a facility where some of the major al-Qaeda suspects are being held.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Reid, Now Cuomo Investigate Bonuses/Recovery of Payments at Bailed-out Banking Companies
In a letter to the nine financial institutions receiving government aid, the AG, Andrew M. Cuomo, asked for "a detailed accounting regarding your expected payments to top management in the upcoming bonus season." The letter also raised the prospect of a lawsuit relying on a NY law that permits the recovery of payments worth more than the services provided by executives.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
McCain's mystery donors
Today's Chicago Tribune features a story about a virtually unknown network of large donors to mostly Republican causes, including the McCain presidential bid. The main donor, Shi Sheng Hao, lists an address in suburban Chicago and is the largest political donor in Illinois this election cycle who is not a self-funding candidate for office.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wall Street's Trojan Horse
And we're am not talking prophylactics. "Disaster capitalist" extraordinaire Milton Friedman's Chicago School installed graduates throughout the global financial world poised to pounce. The Chicago school is associated with neoclassical price theory and libertarianism, and with the view that regulation and other government intervention is always inefficient compared to a free market. Foxes in charge of the chicken coops.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Does McCain want to raise the minimum wage? "Of course not."
Today in an interview with CNBC, multi-millionaire Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that he wasn't interested in raising the minimum wage. He'll let you clean one of his multiple mansions for $2 and you should GD glad you get that much!! How dare a taxpayer except more than the crumbs of 'trickle-down' Bushonomics?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Dems Warn Banks: Lend Bailout Money or Else
Congress about to put its foot down and end the banks' free hand? Barney Frank told the Journal that it's "legitimate to put some conditions" on the capital injections. According to the paper: Frank and Schumer suggested lawmakers could be reluctant to let the Treasury Dept have access to the second $350 billion in funds authorized as part of the $700 billion rescue plan if their concerns aren't addressed.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Financial Industry Needs to Spend $70 Billion to Keep the "Good People"Who Crashed the World Economy
Some sort of law is going to have to be figured out to reign in salaries in financial firms or hard core progressive taxation with no breaks or loopholes has to come back for people making more than about 200,000 a year. It's not acceptable to accept hundreds of billions in hand outs then pay yourself tens of billions of bonuses. Ordinary folks aren't going to see why they should be paying someone's multi-hundred thousand $$.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Indiana Sec of State on Blacks and Dems: "Who's the Master and Who's the Slave?"
(1 comments) During a speech Thursday at a Republican event, Todd Rokita said 90 percent of blacks vote for Democrats. "How can that be?" Rokita said. "Ninety to ten. Who's the master and who's the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?"

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Waxman Has a Few Questions for Bank CEO's
(2 comments) Rep.Waxman is again focusing on the hard-to-fathom salaries of financial execs, writing to the CEO's of the nine banks that were partly nationalized as part of the Treasury Dept.'s $700- billion rescue plan. Waxman points out that Treasury spent a combined $121 billion to buttress these banks, while the banks have spent $108 billion in the first nine months of 2008 on employee compensation and bonuses.

Monday, October 27, 2008
US Threatens to Halt Services if Iraq Rejects Troop Deal
As the United States struggles to get Iraqi officials to change their position on the all-but-dead Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) top US commander General Ray Odierno has issued a three-page letter to high ranking Iraqi officials. The letter includes a list of major services which the United States would halt if the Iraqi government does not approve the SOFA by the end of the year.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Amazon lists Obama Halloween mask as a 'terrorist costume.'
Over the weekend, the LA Times caught Amazon.com listing a Halloween mask of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as a "terrorist costume." Though the listing has since been deleted from the "terrorist" page, Top of The Ticket caught the image:

Monday, October 27, 2008
Broken Securities Industry Still Has $20 Billion to Pay Bonuses
The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a $700 billion taxpayer bailout, public outcry over excessive pay and the demise of three of the biggest securities firms won't deter Wall Street from offering year-end rewards to employees on top of their salaries, compensation experts say.

Monday, October 27, 2008
50,000 voters in GEORGIA "purged" due to computer 'mismatch'
(8 comments) More than 50,000 registered Georgia voters who have been "flagged" because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned and the burden is on them to prove eligibility to vote. Experts say lists of people with mismatches are often systematically cut, or "purged," from voter rolls.

Monday, October 27, 2008
'Centerpiece' of effort to rebuild Iraq marred in overcosts, delay
A project to build a wastewater treatment plant in Falluja has tripled in cost to $100 million and fallen about three years behind schedule. The project serves as another example of the failed and often oversold Bush/Cheney no-bid 'contractor welfare' program to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure with the American taxpayers' checkbook.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Juan Cole: More on the US raid on a house in Syria:
Also the LAT wonders if the attack will derail US-Syrian steps toward rapprochement. Syrian officials are complaining that the raid, which left 8 Syrians dead, was 'irrational' and contravened international law. Other Syrian denunciations are given in Arabic by al-Sharq al-Awsat. Bush: So many more laws to break - so little time...

Monday, October 27, 2008
Iraq -- Status Uncertain
It looks increasingly likely that President Bush will leave office without having achieved one of his most significant goals: the signing of a status of forces agreement (SOFA) between the United States and Iraq. Iraq's Cabinet has delayed a decision on the draft security agreement - some speculate they are awaiting Nov. 4th outcome.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Pentagon Panel: Biden Was Right, Prep for 'Crisis'
The McCain campaign pounced the other day, when Joe Biden said that his running mate would be tested by an international crisis at the start of his White House tenure. But the chairman of a key Pentagon advisory panel is sounding a similar warning, telling the next administration to "prepare for a likely first-270-days crisis."

Monday, October 27, 2008
Confusing North Carolina Ballot Leaves off Votes for President
"I was sure I voted for president, but then a friend told me that a straight-party vote in North Carolina includes every office except president. That made me really mad," Linda Chavis told OffTheBus.

Monday, October 27, 2008
INTIMIDATION: Voting-Rights Group Calls For Federal Probe Of New Mexico Voter Intimidation
(1 comments) A major voting-rights group has sent a letter to New Mexico U.S. Attorney Gregory Fouratt, calling on him to investigate claims of voter intimidation and suppression. The letter, from the group Project Vote, comes in the wake of reports about a private investigator hired by a GOP lawyer visiting Hispanic voters home asking about their right to vote.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Penn. GOP Sues Over ACORN
The latest in the GOP's actions against ACORN come in Pennsylvania, where Republicans have filed suit amid allegations that the group engaged in widespread voter registration fraud.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Breaking: Ted Stevens found guilty on all seven counts.
Today, a federal jury found Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure regarding "$250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor." According to the AP, Stevens "faces up to five years in prison on each count, but under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely receive much less prison time, if any."

Monday, October 27, 2008
Palin The Wealth Spreader: Gov. Imposed Oil Windfall Profits Tax To Allow Alaskans To 'Share In The Wealth'
Palin's recent criticisms of Obama's "spread the wealth" remarks are ironic, as she recently characterized Alaska's tax code in a very similar way. Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans "share in the wealth" generated by oil companies:

Monday, October 27, 2008
VIDEO: Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) does nothing while GOP staffers physically assault Democratic trackers.
(1 comments) One staffer from challenger Feder's campaign was hit with a cane and then punched. The second staffer (as you will see on the video) was pinned to a wall and forcibly held there. All of this took place in the presence of Congressman Wolf, who stood by and did nothing to intervene. Rethuglicans!

Monday, October 27, 2008
Ayatollahs Sleeping On The SOFA
Last week, two prominent Shia ayatollahs issued religious decrees (fatwas) regarding the proposed status of forces agreement between the U.S. and Iraq. On October 21, Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah criticized the security pact, saying "the Baghdad government has no right to 'legitimize' the presence of foreign troops" and unconditional removal of all US troops.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Bernard-Henri Levy: A Suspended Apocalypse
Does anyone in the financial world actually know how to prevent the coming disaster? Is it too late? It is as though we have been watching a deadly dance around a fire, where those same people who, through their irresponsibility, devastating egoism and, it must be said, intelligence, turned mad and led the financial world toward implosion, thinking that they could pull themselves out of the furnace by pushing the others in 1st

Monday, October 27, 2008
The Economy is a Moral Issue
The economic crisis, in short, is more than an economic crisis. It is a cultural crisis, even a spiritual crisis.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Numbers Game: How to Read the Polls Now
Barack Obama's poll numbers have been looking good for so long that it is easy for his supporters to assume a triumphalism stance as America's longest-ever presidential campaign enters its final week. But be careful about that. The Democratic nominee for president, while he is currently ahead of Republican John McCain, stands perilously close to a dangerous threshold.

Monday, October 27, 2008
GOP group launches Rev. Wright ad
It's Here!! You knew it was coming, didn't you?

Monday, October 27, 2008
Neo-Nazi 'Skinhead' Obama Assassination Plot Disrupted By ATF
ederal agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said Monday.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Secrecy as Paulson distributes public monies to bailout contractors
In a previous utterance, it was revealed that Treasury would be using private contractors to carry out the rescue of selected Wall St banks. Secy Paulson assured the public it would be an "open and transparent program with appropriate oversight." Since then, it has emerged that the dispersal of public funds to the contracting parties has been anything but transparent.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Rev. James Dobson Reminds Us What's Really Important - Not Economy, Not War...It's GAY MARRIAGE!
Dobson: "We've picked bad presidents before, and we've survived as a nation. But we will not survive if we lose the institution of marriage." Got that? Gutting the Constitution, breaking the military, crashing the economy, and making the world hate us, no biggie. But letting gays get married, that's the end of the world.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Phony Virginia Flier Mailed To Minorities Tells Dems To Vote November 5
A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout, Democrats should vote on November 5th. The election is November 4th.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Syria's Al-Moallem Calls On US to Investigate Raid
(1 comments) Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem called on the U.S. to investigate and explain a military raid on its territory that left as many as eight people dead. "We consider this criminal and terrorist aggression," he told reporters in London. "We put the responsibility on the American government and they need to investigate and return back to us with the result the investigation of why they did it."

Monday, October 27, 2008
McCain's Health Plan is "Worse for Women"
The study, titled "Worse for Women," focused on two key aspects of McCain's proposals. By eliminating tax incentives for employment-based health care coverage and taxing health benefits, McCain's plan undermines the employment-based system of health benefits, forcing women and their families to pay thousands more for health insurance. According to the study, 59 million women and their families...

Monday, October 27, 2008
Nearly 1 Billion People Hungry Worldwide
Propelled by this year's global food crisis, nearly one billion people worldwide are now hungry, an independent United Nations expert said today, urging the issue to be viewed through the lens of human rights.Prices have dropped around the world, but "the crisis is still with us," cautioned Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, noting that the number of hungry has grown significantly as a result.

Monday, October 27, 2008
FBI Arrests 600 People, Rescues 47 Children In Massive US Child Prostitution Ring
More than 600 adults have been arrested and 47 children rescued in a three-day roundup targeting people who force children into prostitution. The FBI said the roundup by federal, state and local law enforcement occurred in 29 cities, adding that the raids dismantled 12 large-scale prostitution operations.

Monday, October 27, 2008
SPY FEARS: Twitter Terrorists, Cell Phone Jihadists
(1 comments) Could Twitter become terrorists' newest killer app? A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Small US banks fear bail-outs will be used to take them over
According to the institutions receiving bailout money, that is exactly the way in which they plan to use your $700 billion tax dollars -- not for lending but for acquisitions.

Monday, October 27, 2008
BUSH DOCTRINE vs. SYRIA: : A risky and provocative raid
In international relations, silence can be as eloquent as any official statement. And the silence from the United States after Sunday's attack on a house in eastern Syria, just across the border with Iraq, told its own story. Washington had ample opportunity to deny its involvement or to profess ignorance and announce an investigation, but it chose to do neither.

Monday, October 27, 2008
HISTORIC: Court finds Niger guilty of allowing girl's slavery
A West African regional court found the government of Niger guilty on Monday of failing to protect a young woman who was sold into slavery at the age of 12.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Pakistan: A forced marriage to the IMF?
Pakistan is now contemplating an unpopular bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is likely to cut growth, worsen the employment situation and perhaps even affect the size of the government, including that of its powerful military. How has all this come about?

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Banks "We have better things to do with that money you gave us than lend it out"
As long as banks are being allowed to buy up failed competitors for cents on the dollar, they're going to keep their powder dry and not lend. Add to that that they don't much want to lend going into a horrible recession, and that many of them don't look too liquid even after the bailout, and not only aren't they going to lend, they're going to keep contracting credit.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Alaska's Largest Newspaper Endorses Obama
"It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove..."

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Reality Bites! Two-Faced Lieberman Now Making Nice With Democrats
(1 comments) "When I go out, I say, 'I have a lot of respect for Sen. Obama. He's bright. He's eloquent.'" Hunch -- Lieberman sees the direction of the political winds, and hopes to convince Democrats that while he's been a McCain sycophant, he's always been "respectful" towards Obama. Lieberman, in other words, has to hope Democrats haven't been paying any attention at all. The party is supposed to forget when he said...

Sunday, October 26, 2008
E Coli Conservative Senator Gordon Smith Irrigates Crops with Sewage
A Sierra Club press release contains some very gross information about conservative Sen. Gordon Smith's (R-OR)company, Smith Frozen Foods. Apparently, Smith Frozen Foods started storing partially treated sewage from the town of Weston into his company's wastewater pond in the 1980s, when Smith was directly controlling the company. E. coli, viruses, pesticides - you name it. Frozen peas grown in poo. Eat sh*t and die.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Iraqi Vice President al-Hashimi's Sunni Party Cuts Off High-Level Contact with US
The Sunni fundamentalist group is angry about a raid in Fallujah in which US troops killed a member of the IIP. The Iraqi Islamic Party also opposes the draft security agreement that was negotiated between PM Nuri al-Maliki's office and the Iraqi government.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Global Markets in Turmoil: Financial Warfare against Labor and Industry
Europe's policy of emphasizing exports to the US market rather than U.S. consumer spending and living standards will have to fall – and it seems, to fall sharply – in order to finance the "trickle down" economy at the top. Current Treasury policy is to bail out the creditors, not the debtors. The banks are being saved, but not U.S. industry, and certainly not the U.S. wage earner/consumer.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ex-Bush Official: We Should Talk to Iran
"I'll bet that a poll of senior diplomats who have served presidents from Carter to Bush would reveal an overwhelming majority who agree with the following position: of course we should talk to difficult adversaries-when it is in our interest and at a time of our choosing. The more challenging and pertinent question, especially for the McCain-Palin ticket, is the reverse: Is it really smart to declare we will never talk?"

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Financial Implosion and the New American Century
What It Means for Societies and People in the Multipolar World Order

Sunday, October 26, 2008
McCain says he's not losing
(2 comments) On NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, McCain refused to even answer Tom Brokaw's questions about polls showing most voters think Barack Obama would be better on most issues (like health care, the economy and the housing crisis) than McCain would be -- on the grounds that the polls are wrong. "I don't agree with their conclusion..."

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) subpoenaed in Imperial Sugar case
Savannah attorney Mark Tate says Chambliss might be part of an Imperial "effort to shift responsibility" away from the company. The subpoena orders Chambliss to testify under oath Thursday at Tate's office. It also tells him to produce papers and e-mails provided to him by Imperial, related companies and Imperial's law firm.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
David Frum: Throw McCain/Palin Under the Straight in the Ditch Express
Former Bush operative and conservative David Frum takes to WaPo's op ed pages to urge the Republican Party to give up on the doomed/pathetic McCain/Palin campaign and send every extra dollar into the fight to save the Senate from Democratic domination.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
McCain Totally Losing It: Palin Is Qualified To Be President Because She's Married To An Oil Facilities Worker
Total meltdown for McSame on "Meet the Press" this morning. Watch how defensive he gets when Brokaw's cites poll after poll that indicates people don't think Palin is qualified to be Vice President. "Because?! Not qualified...because?!" he snaps.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Apparently Americans are OK with "spreading the wealth" and Obama - New poll gives Obama 13 pt lead
Barack Obama now has a 13 point lead over John McCain, about the same as the 14 point lead he held ten days ago. In this poll, 52% of likely voters support Obama, while 39% support McCain. Just 5% are undecided.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl , in interview, voices doubt about McCain's chances
During a visit to the Arizona Daily Star last week for an editorial board meeting, Kyl resurrected an old quote from Arizona Democrat Mo Udall, who ran for president in 1976 and famously quipped that Arizona is the only state in the union where a mother can't tell her son that he can grow up to be president. Arizona has not produced its first president yet...

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) got $2.7m to pave friend's road
Just 0.7 miles long, Crow Creek Road isn't a road to nowhere. It runs straight to the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun bistro owned by a Bob Persons, a close friend of Stevens. It cost taxpayers $2.7 million to widen and pave that road, and pushing the project ahead of the state's higher priorities.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
FAILURE REWARDED WITH YOUR TAX $$$: No curbs on Wall Street pay despite meltdown
Despite the Wall Street meltdown, the nation's biggest banks are preparing to pay their workers as much as last year or more, including bonuses tied to personal and company performance. Some banks are setting aside large amounts. At Citigroup, which has cut 23,000 jobs this year amid the crisis, pay expenses for the first nine months of this year came to $25.9 billion, 4 percent more than last year.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
McCain's plan to win PA includes nasty GOP smear with warning about another Holocaust
The Pennsylvania Republicans sent out a viciously nasty e-mail to Jewish voters. Knowing the McCain campaign modus operandi, the disavowal rings hollow. Really hollow... A copy of the e-mail, provided by Democratic officials, says it was "Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA - Victory 2008."

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Top Republicans Fear GOP Civil War
Aides to George W.Bush, former Reagan White House staff and friends of John McCain have all told The Sunday Telegraph that they not only expect to lose on November 4, but also believe that Mr Obama is poised to win a crushing mandate rendering him "powerful enough to remake the American political landscape with even more ease than Ronald Reagan did in 1980." McCain staff "every man for himself" culture within campaign.

Sunday, October 26, 2008
Report: US choppers attack Syrian town near Iraq border
US commandoes have reportedly attacked a Syrian border town near Iraq, killing at least nine people and wounding 14 others. According to the local residents, four US helicopters were involved in the attack on the town of Al-Sukkariya, eight kilometers from the Iraqi border...

Saturday, October 25, 2008
ACLU Demands Information on U.S. Military Domestic Operations
(1 comments) On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding information from the government on U.S. Northern Command's (NORTHCOM) deployment of the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Combat Brigade Team (BCT) on U.S. soil for "civil unrest" and "crowd control" duties.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Christian right steps up attacks on Obama
'Smells like desperation'

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Norm Coleman mails "rape" comic book to Minnesota's children
Recipient of "rape" material expresses his disgust and questions the appropriateness of mailings to households with small children.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
US hedge fund admits 35% plunge in value since downturn
One of the world's biggest hedge fund managers, Citadel, told clients last night that two of its main funds have lost 35% of their value this year after rumours swept the market about its financial position.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Seven Things That Could Go Wrong on Election Day
We can go to the moon, split atoms to power submarines, squeeze profits from a 99 cent hamburger and watch football highlights on cell phones. But the most successful democracy in human history has yet to figure out how to conduct a proper election. As it stands, the American voting system is a worrisome mess, a labyrinth of local, state and federal laws spotted with bewildered volunteers, harried public officials...

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Iraq's prime minister won't sign U.S. troop deal
(2 comments) Fearing political division in the parliament and in his country, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki won't sign the just-completed agreement on the status of U.S. forces in Iraq, a leading lawmaker said Friday. The new accord's demise would be a major setback for the Bush administration, which has been seeking to establish a legal basis for the extended presence of the 151,000 U.S. troops in this country, and for Iraq..

Saturday, October 25, 2008
They Did It On Purpose: The Housing Bubble & Its Crash were Engineered by the US Government, the Fed & Wall Street
(5 comments) Richard C. Cook, a former U.S. federal government analyst, traces the economic escapades of Bush and Greenspan commencing at the Supreme Court's appointment of #43 as president.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Rep. Sherman Feels Heat for Reporting on Threat of Martial Law
Pressed by leaders of his party, Rep. Sherman attempts to backpedal from his statement regarding "marital law." Here's his new statement which begins by quoting his floor comments:

Saturday, October 25, 2008
INVESTIGATION: Palin's pipeline deal - flawed, bidding rigged, and may never be built
Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment - a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 - emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
McCain campaign 'steered' reporters to hoax attack story.
Yesterday on NBC News, Brian Williams revealed that the McCain campaign quietly "steered" the media toward the story, now proven to be a hoax, about a young volunteer, Ashley Todd, being attacked by an Obama supporter...

Saturday, October 25, 2008
McCain's brother drops out of campaign, apologizes for 911 call.
oe McCain, the brother of John McCain, "said Friday he'll withdraw from campaign activities after calling 911 to complain about traffic." McCain called 911 in Alexandria, VA, and "used an expletive to the operator and hung up." Listen to the call:

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Army deploys combat unit in US for possible civil unrest operating out of Ft. Stewart, GA
Will Bush deploy regular Army unit for Nov. 4 election? The unit-known as the "Raiders"-is among the Army's most "blooded." It has spent nearly three out of the last five years deployed in Iraq, leading the assault on Baghdad in 2003 and carrying out house-to-house combat in the suppression of resistance in the city of Ramadi. It was the first brigade combat team to be sent to Iraq 3 times. Vote and get shot?

Saturday, October 25, 2008
McCain calls for 'less government regulation' of small businesses.
When several giant banks collapsed, McCain scrambled "to recast himself as a champion of regulation" in order to erase his past support of legislation "to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades." But McCain has a tough time sticking with his new pro-regulation message. released a statement emphasizing the need for "less government regulation."

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Story Not Over On Indiana Early Voting
The Indiana Law Blog has just posted an order from the Court of Appeals, calling for an expedited briefing schedule and setting oral arguments from October 30th. Based on that, Hasen now believes it's a "possibility" that the court could step in before election day.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Republican fears of historic Obama landslide unleash civil war for the future of the party
Senior Republicans believe that John McCain is doomed to a landslide defeat which will hand Barack Obama more political power than any president in a generation.

Friday, October 24, 2008
Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks: Relationship Politics: Body Language Of The McCain Marriage
A Cautionary Tale For Conscious Couples, A Learning Opportunity For Us All

Friday, October 24, 2008
Fox News VP: If McCain Worker 'Mutilation' Story Is a Hoax His Campaign Is 'Over'
(2 comments) "If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting." He titled his posting: "Moment of Truth." Indeed.

Friday, October 24, 2008
Ashley Todd, McCain Campaign Volunteer Faked "Mutilation" - Confessed "Hoax" to Police
(3 comments) Police tell KDKA that a campaign volunteer has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker. Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car. [...]

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Electoral Projections Done Right: AM Polls Show Surprisingly Large Leads for Obama
The Big Ten polls have Obama ahead by double digits in ten Midwestern states: he leads by 10 in Indiana, 11 in Pennsylvania, 12 in Ohio, 13 in Wisconsin and Iowa, 19 in Minnesota, 22 in Michigan, and 29 in Illinois. Quinnipiac has Obama ahead by 14 points in Ohio, 13 points in Pennsylvania, and 5 points in Florida.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Allan J. Lichtman: What Voter Fraud?
The administration of George W. Bush has made the discovery and prosecution of voter fraud a top priority. But its labors uncovered a molehill not a mountain of fraud. From 2002 to 2007 the federal government has charged only 120 persons nationwide with voter fraud. These were all isolated cases against single individuals or small groups involved with local contests.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ron Howard for Obama: Yep, and Opie, Andy Griffith, Winkler, too:
(1 comments) Walk down memory lane as Ron Howard and friends revisit some memorable icons of television Americana to urge a vote for Obama.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Woman quits job at call center over anti-Obama script
(2 comments) "I was working at the call center," Cole said. "We got a campaign ad talking about how Obama had been part of terrorist attacks on the Capitol, the Pentagon and a judge's home and had ties with Bill Ayers. "Last Thursday, I told them I did not want to read it," Cole said. "They said, 'Either you read it or you go home.' "I told them I wasn't going to read it. They made me go home without pay for the rest of the day."

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Credit Rating Agencies Getting Hammered by House Oversight Com