Archive for March, 2009
Rice: ‘No One Was Arguing That Saddam Hussein Somehow Had Something To Do With 9/11′
Rice: ‘No One Was Arguing That Saddam Hussein Somehow Had Something To Do With 9/11′
On PBS’s Charlie Rose yesterday — six years after the eve of the Iraq invasion — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice discussed the decision to invade Iraq. Rice said she has had no “second thoughts” about striking the country, and when pressed by Rose on whether Saddam Hussein had connections to 9/11, Rice blankly said that “no one” believed in such a link:
ROSE: But you didn’t believe it had anything to do with 9/11.
RICE: No. No one was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11.
ROSE: No one.
RICE: I was certainly not. The President was certainly not. … That’s right. We were not arguing that.
Rose also tried to press Rice on whether Cheney pushed the link, but she didn’t answer. Watch it:
Nation’s major newspapers ignore Iraq war’s sixth anniversary.
Nation’s major newspapers ignore Iraq war’s sixth anniversary.
Today marks six years since former President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq — a preventive war of choice based on “intelligence fixed around the policy.” Since that time, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, over 4,000 U.S. servicemen and women and hundreds more from coalition countries have died (tens of thousands more physically and mentally wounded), nearly 100,000 (or more) Iraqi civilians have parished and nearly 5 million have been displaced. Yet the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other major American newspapers are ignoring the anniversary today. Only USA Today printed a story noting the anniversary of the invasion. Today’s Progress Report has more on the good, the bad, and the ugly of developments surrounding the Iraq war over the last year.
via Think Progress » Nation’s major newspapers ignore Iraq war’s sixth anniversary..
Despite His AIG ‘Outrage,’ Cantor Refuses To Say How He Will Vote On Bill To Recoup AIG Bonuses
Despite His AIG ‘Outrage,’ Cantor Refuses To Say How He Will Vote On Bill To Recoup AIG Bonuses
Ever since the excessive bonuses for AIG were revealed, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been in a tizzy, declaring that “rewarding senior executives who created this mess is nothing short of an outrage.” Yesterday, his spokesman, Brad Dayspring, said that Cantor believed that the controversy created “serious questions about the job performance” of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
But on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Cantor was unable to take a position on how to recoup the bonuses. Pressed repeatedly by Lawrence O’Donnell on how he would vote on the House bill “to seize those bonuses back,” Cantor refused to give a straight answer, simply saying, “I want to get those bonus payments back in”:
TARP inspector general says Bush administration specifically considered and approved AIG bonuses.
TARP inspector general says Bush administration specifically considered and approved AIG bonuses.
Bloomberg News reports that Neil Barofsky, inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), told the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee today that the Bush administration “specifically contemplated” paying bonuses to AIG employees in its November agreement to provide federal bailout funds to the failing insurance giant:
The TARP contract between AIG and Treasury “specifically contemplated the payment of bonuses and retention payments to AIG employees, including AIG’s senior partners,” Barofsky said.
Historic Asbestos Trial Underway in Montana
Historic Asbestos Trial Underway in Montana
The long-anticipated W.R. Grace asbestos trial finally began in Missoula, Montana late last month. W.R. Grace and five of its top executives are accused of a federal conspiracy involving Clean Air Act violations and obstruction of justice. The company is charged with concealing the fact that their mining company unearthed toxic asbestos that has sickened and killed hundreds of residents in Libby, a town of about 3,000 people tucked away in the northwestern corner of Montana.
W.R. Grace and Co. operated a mining company that produced vermiculite from 1963 to 1990. Vermiculite is used in thousands of American products, including insulation materials, flooring and roofing tiles, dry wall, and brake pads. The vermiculite produced by W.R. Grace, however, was contaminated with tremolite asbestos, the most deadly of all types of asbestos.
Asbestos minerals are broken down during mining, forming a dust that is easily inhaled. Once inhaled, the needle-like fibers of tremolite asbestos penetrate the tissues lining the body’s vital organs, causing diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.
via The Stonecipher Report: Historic Asbestos Trial Underway in Montana.
Stewart to Cheney: Drink a cup of ‘Shut the f**k up’
Stewart to Cheney: Drink a cup of ‘Shut the f**k up’
VIDEO at link
Still overcome with incredulity over former Vice President Dick Cheney’s interview on Sunday with CNN, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart couldn’t resist Tuesday night taking a couple of shots at some of the eye-brow raising statements made.
In his interview with CNN’s John King, Cheney said of President Obama’s national security policies, “He’s making some choices that in my mind, will in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.”
via The Raw Story | Stewart to Cheney: Drink a cup of ‘Shut the f**k up’.
Blue Dogs? Purple Cats with Claws Would Be Better
Blue Dogs? Purple Cats with Claws Would Be Better – by Sally Kohn
Am I the only one frustrated that now that we finally have a President who looks out for the greater good of average Americans, his own party won’t join the fight to take the country back from special interests? Yesterday, Indiana centrist Democrat Evan Bayh announced that he and 14 other self-titled “Blue Dog” Democrats have been secretly scheming how to dig a hole around President Obama’s agenda.[1] For instance, neglecting to mention that all their hot air is further threatening the climate and making us all sick, the Blue Dogs want to bury healthcare reform and clean energy policies.
Hasn’t anyone told them that dogs are supposed to be loyal? Or that, as of November 2008, purple is the new blue?
via Blue Dogs? Purple Cats with Claws Would Be Better | CommonDreams.org.
Antarctic ice nears tipping point
Antarctic ice nears tipping point
A large part of the ice covering West Antarctica could be lost if greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase only slightly from today’s levels and ocean temperatures continue to rise.
Another related study said if the West Antarctic ice sheet collapsed and the East Antarctic ice sheet continued to melt at its marine margins, global sea level would rise seven metres from today’s level.
Antarctica stores about 90 percent of the world’s freshwater.
Both studies, published in the journal Nature, are a result of extensive drilling into the seafloor under the Ross Ice Shelf by a team of New Zealand, Italian, American and Germany scientists.
The floating ice shelf won’t elevate sea levels if melts because it is already displacing water. The real threat comes when the ice sheet behind, which is below sea level, is exposed to the ocean.
The 50-plus core samples, down to 1.2 kilometres, allowed the scientists to study how previous periods of rising carbon dioxide affected ocean temperatures, ice movements and sea levels.
via Antarctic ice nears tipping point – world | Stuff.co.nz.
Chris Dodd should not be the GOP’s punching bag on AIG and the financial boondoggle
Chris Dodd should not be the GOP’s punching bag on AIG and the financial boondoggle
You may not be thinking about how the AIG scandal may bear out on the 2010 election. But trust me, the Republicans already are.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) is either a) the wrong person at the wrong time, b) the poster child for the Republicans to bash, c) guilty of a few things, or d) perhaps a combination of a few of those and others.
The latest blow for Dodd was admitting that was involved in key legislative changes that allowed the controversial AIG bonuses to go through. He had previously denied this was true.
Glenn Greenwald provides substantial evidence that Dodd has become the scapegoat for the Obama Administration, specifically Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and that Dodd was talked out of changes by the Treasury Department.
But part of why Dodd has become the focus stems from the recent past, including the revelation of receiving favorable treatment from Countrywide Financial.
via Chris Dodd should not be the GOP’s punching bag on AIG and the financial boondoggle | BuzzFlash.org.
German Court Rules E-Voting Unconstitutional
German Court Rules E-Voting Unconstitutional
Germany’s highest court has ruled that the use of electronic voting in the last general election was unconstitutional. However, the Karlsruhe judges said the 2005 vote was still valid as there was no evidence of errors.
via German Court Rules E-Voting Unconstitutional | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 03.03.2009.
13 firms receiving federal bailouts have unpaid taxes, congressman says
13 firms receiving federal bailouts have unpaid taxes, congressman says
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Thirteen firms receiving federal bailouts owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a powerful House Democrat said Thursday.
Georgia Rep. John Lewis, chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, indicated that two companies receiving federal bailout money each owed more than $100 million.
Lewis did not name the companies.
“This is a disgrace,” he said. “We shouldn’t take it anymore either. We want to get to the bottom of what is going on here … Taxpayers deserve nothing less than the truth.”
Lewis, who was holding a hearing about the distribution of stimulus funds, noted that firms receiving bailout money had been required to sign contracts stating that they did not owe any taxes.
Of Blue Dog ‘Democratic’ Senators Who Stand Ready And Willing To Sabotage Progress
Of Blue Dog ‘Democratic’ Senators Who Stand Ready And Willing To Sabotage Progress
Please Observe The Shit
List On The Right, For In That
List Are The Names And
Links To The People
In Our Senate Who, For Reasons
I Cannot Fathom, Would
Willingly Obstruct
Progress, They Would Willingly
Side With The Right Wing,
The Same People Who
Have Brought Our Country To It’s
Knees, And For What, I
Don’t Know, But There They
Are In All Of Their Selfish
Glory For You To
Protest However
You Can, For They Cannot Be
Allowed To Do This,
They Cannot Deny
Us Universal Healthcare,
We Cannot Let Them
TAKE ACTION: Dog The (Blue) Dogs
Blue Dog Shit List:
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Mark Begich (Alaska)
Michael F. Bennet (Colo.)
Robert Byrd (W. Va.)
Thomas Carper (Del.)
Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.)
Kay R. Hagan (N.C.)
Herb Kohl (Wis.)
Blanche Lincoln (Ark.)
Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
Claire McCaskill (Mo.)
Kent Conrad (N.D.)
Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Mark L. Pryor (Ark.)
Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)
Mark Udall (Colo.)
Mark Warner (Va.)
Do That, These ‘Blue Dogs’
As The Call Themselves, They Have
No Real Concerns, They
Are In The Pockets
Of Big Business, That’s All, They
Are The Happy Face
That The Insurance
Industry Will Try To Put
On To Deny You
What You Need, To Turn
Down Our Collective Claim, That
Health Care Is Our Right
via Deadly Haiku: Of Blue Dog ‘Democratic’ Senators Who Stand Ready And Willing To Sabotage Progress.
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Will Obama ride this wave or wipe out?
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Will Obama ride this wave or wipe out?
The people are innervated, but the president seems to be ironically sedate.
WASHINGTON – Conservatives have argued for decades that the sins most dangerous to our society were rooted in lust when in fact the most damaging transgressions involved greed.
We are at the beginning of a great popular rebellion against those who showed no self-restraint in lining their own pockets. Their entitlement mentality arose from an inflated sense of their own value, of how much smarter they were than everyone else.
The sound you are hearing in response to the AIG payoffs — excuse me, bonuses — is the rancorous noise of their arrogance crashing to earth.
via E.J. Dionne Jr.: Will Obama ride this wave or wipe out?.
Holding the Regulators Accountable
Holding the Regulators Accountable
Looming on the horizon is a complete rewrite of the financial regulatory system, the kind of fundamental change that comes along only once every few generations.. How that shapes up will depend in part on how quickly the economy emerges from the acute phase of this crisis — and to a large extent will be shaped by the “lessons” we supposedly learn from this train wreck. Oftentimes, we learn the wrong lessons, at least initially, and (no surprise here) the conventional wisdom about what those lessons are is heavily influenced by those with a stake in the outcome. So I talked this week with Jerry Caprio, professor of economics at Williams College and co-author most recently of Rethinking Bank Regulation: Till Angels Govern, about how the debate over regulatory reform should be framed:
via Talking Points Memo | Breaking News and Analysis.
Wall Street spent bilions lobbying
Wall Street spent bilions lobbying
The financial sector spent $5.1 billion in political influence-peddling over the past decade as lobbyists won deregulation that led to the nation’s financial collapse, according to a new study.
The report released yesterday, “Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America,” found that for the past decade, Wall Street investment firms, commercial banks, hedge funds, real estate companies and insurance firms made $1.7 billion in political contributions and spent another $3.4 billion on lobbyists to undercut federal regulation.
via Wall Street spent bilions lobbying – BostonHerald.com.
Single Payer Action
Resource:
Sitting in front of your computer won’t do it.
Watching C-Span won’t do it.
E-mailing your member of Congress won’t do it.
We’re going to have to get off the couch.
And directly confront the three branches of our government.
Obama’s White House.
USA Today , LA Times continue to omit Bush Treasury’s role in AIG bonus controversy
Media Matters – USA Today, LA Times continue to omit Bush Treasury’s role in AIG bonus controversy
Summary: USA Today and the Los Angeles Times reported Republican criticism of the Obama administration over AIG’s employee bonus packages but did not point out that it was the Bush Treasury Department that worked with the Federal Reserve in carrying out last year’s bailouts and bought AIG stock notwithstanding the existence of these bonus contracts.
In March 18 articles, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times reported Republican criticism of the Obama administration over American International Group’s (AIG) employee bonus packages but did not point out that it was the Bush Treasury Department that worked with the Federal Reserve in carrying out last year’s bailouts and bought AIG stock notwithstanding the existence of these bonus contracts. On March 17, USA Today and the Times similarly ignored the Bush administration’s involvement in the AIG controversy, as Media Matters for America documented.
via Media Matters – USA Today , LA Times continue to omit Bush Treasury’s role in AIG bonus controversy.
Financial services lobbyists working in ‘hyperdrive’ to soften tax on bailed-out bonuses.
Financial services lobbyists working in ‘hyperdrive’ to soften tax on bailed-out bonuses.
Yesterday, Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) announced a plan to impose a hefty tax on any excessive bonuses being paid to executives of companies that received federal bailout money. But lobbyists for the financial services industry have “moved into hyperdrive” to fight the efforts to recoup the excessive bonuses:
The banks’ main goal is to narrow the breadth of the legislation as much as possible, and they are targeting key players on the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
Too much red meat could lead to blindness, claim scientists
Too much red meat could lead to blindness, claim scientists
Eating too much red meat can raise the risk of blindness by half, according to a new study.
Researchers have shown that those who consume 10 portions or more a week are nearly 50 per cent more likely to experience deterioration of the retina in old age.
But tucking into chicken at least three times a week can have a protective effect, reducing the risk of blindness by more than half.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, are the latest to suggest a strong link between diet and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Britain’s leading cause of vision loss.
The macular is the central and most sensitive section of the retina. It allows us to see fine detail for reading and writing, as well as our ability to see colour.
The disease affects an estimated 500,000 people in the UK. It usually develops after the age of 50 and is caused by the growth of new blood vessels under the centre of the retina.
via Too much red meat could lead to blindness, claim scientists – Telegraph.
Robotic fish are latest weapon in fight against water pollution
Robotic fish are latest weapon in fight against water pollution
Robotic fish, developed by UK scientists, are to be released into the sea for the first time to detect pollution.
The carp-shaped robots will be let loose in the port of Gijon in northern Spain as part of a three-year research project.
If successful, the team hopes that the fish will used in rivers, lakes and seas across the world, including Britain, to detect pollution.
The life-like creatures, which will mimic the undulating movement of real fish, will be equipped with tiny chemical sensors to find the source of potentially hazardous pollutants in the water, such as leaks from vessels in the port or underwater pipelines.
The fish will then transmit their data through Wi-Fi technology when they dock to charge their batteries with last around eight hours.
It has been funded by the European Commission and co-ordinated by BMT Group Ltd, an independent engineering and risk management consultancy.
via Robotic fish are latest weapon in fight against water pollution – Telegraph.
Mexico tariffs hit a diverse list of US goods
Mexico tariffs hit a diverse list of US goods
* 90 U.S. imports to get higher tariffs
* New tariffs range from 10 percent to 45 percent
* Obama plans Mexico visit amid dispute
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico said Wednesday it was imposing higher tariffs totaling $2.4 billion on a wide list of U.S. imports, ranging from strawberries to Christmas trees, after Washington banned Mexican trucks from U.S. roads.
The official government gazette said the new tariffs, which will be between 10 percent and 45 percent, become effective Thursday.
Mexico said the U.S. ban on its trucks violates the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and in retaliation published a list of dozens of products subject to tariffs.
via TPM: News Pages | Talking Points Memo | Mexico tariffs hit a diverse list of US goods.
Meghan McCain should kiss the whole Republican party goodbye
Just kiss the Republican party goodbye
Is Meghan McCain really the future of the Republican party? Or is her feud with conservative pundits just a pose?
“Kiss my fat ass!”
That was feisty Republican progeny Meghan McCain’s short reply to rightwing radio host Laura Ingraham, who made fun of McCain’s weight after McCain had the audacity to suggest that maybe Ann Coulter is a little over the top.
McCain has a more substantive response on the Daily Beast, not that an admonishment to kiss her ass wasn’t sufficient, given the quality of debate established by the intensely loathsome Ingraham, who also called McCain a valley girl and asserted she hadn’t earned the right to express her views.
The feud is getting a lot of attention for all the expectedly grim reasons, starting with “Catfight!” and ending at the increasingly familiar, desperate and yawn-inducing flailings of a party adrift and leaderless, keen to crown the conservative ingénue the future of their unpopular party, after a series of other coronations have failed to produce the Big Awesome: All hail Sarah Palin! No, Joe the Plumber! Wait, we meant Rush Limbaugh! Oops, make that Bobby Jindal! Hang on, let’s try Meghan McCain!
US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes
US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes
The Army has let slip one of the worst-kept secrets in the world — that Israel has the bomb.
Officially, the United States has a policy of “ambiguity” regarding Israel’s nuclear capability. Essentially, it has played a game by which it neither acknowledges nor denies that Israel is a nuclear power.
But a Defense Department study completed last year offers what may be the first time in a unclassified report that Israel is a nuclear power. On page 37 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command report, the Army includes Israel within “a growing arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east.”
The single reference is far more than the U.S. usually would state publicly about Israel, even though the world knew Israel to be a nuclear power years before former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu went public with facts on its weapons program in 1986.
via US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes.
Global crisis ‘to strike by 2030′
Global crisis ‘to strike by 2030′
Growing world population will cause a “perfect storm” of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned.
By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said.
Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London.
Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he added.
‘Complacent’
“It’s a perfect storm,” Prof Beddington told the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.
via BBC NEWS | UK | Global crisis ‘to strike by 2030′.
Swift and Responsible Recovery
Infographic: Swift and Responsible Recovery
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law a month ago, and now it’s time to ensure the money is spent quickly yet wisely. Conservatives, however, show little appetite for supporting the series of measures that will help get our economy moving again. Rush Limbaugh has famously said that he “hopes Obama fails.” Eric Cantor appeared on Meet The Press on Sunday and again criticized the “waste and pork barrel spending” in the recovery plan.
The simple fact is that the law has now been passed and everyone should be doing as much as possible to ensure that the money is well spent . The chart below shows Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation projections of the pace of recovery spending, and how the money will be spent broken down into five categories—help for those most in need; aid for states and localities; green investments; other investments for transport, utilities, health, education, broadband, etc; and tax cut stimulus.
via Infographic: Swift and Responsible Recovery.
Leading Climate Scientist: ‘Democratic Process Isn’t Working’
Leading Climate Scientist: ‘Democratic Process Isn’t Working’
by David Adam
Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, a leading climate scientist has said.
James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. “The democratic process doesn’t quite seem to be working,” he said.
Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: “The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.
“The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we’re running out of time.”
via Leading Climate Scientist: ‘Democratic Process Isn’t Working’ | CommonDreams.org.
Cramer, Stewart Feud Continues: Cramer Calls It “Naive And Misleading…To Attack The Media”
OPS: Well the boiler room operations at the Reich-wing foundations and think tanks have been working overtime to figure out how to cover for Cramer. So it begins…. 
Cramer, Stewart Feud Continues: Cramer Calls It “Naive And Misleading…To Attack The Media”
This morning, CNBC’s Jim Cramer made his first appearance on the Today show since his face-off with Jon Stewart last week. But Cramer ran into some more tough questioning from host Meredith Vieira.
“You had a rough week,” she told Cramer. “[Stewart] was very tough on you, tough on CNBC, basically said you had been cheerleaders for the financial bubble and you also allowed CEOs to come on the shows and essentially lie to the American public without really challenging them. I don’t want to rehash the whole thing, but didn’t he have a point?”
Cramer said no and called it “a naive and misleading thing to attack the media.”
via Cramer, Stewart Feud Continues: Cramer Calls It “Naive And Misleading…To Attack The Media”.
How CIA helped Dalai Lama to end up in exile
How CIA helped Dalai Lama to end up in exile
It is widely believed that the Dalai Lama fled Tibet once Chinese troops gained control over the region. Actually, these two events have nine years between them.
Tibet’s self-proclaimed independence in 1913, after the fall of Qing Empire of China, was never recognised legally by any country. So, once China sorted out the Civil War, it saw it only as natural to claim the territories succeeded from the state of Qing.
Once the Chinese People’s Liberation Army forces defeated Tibet’s army on October 7, 1950, Beijing started a campaign of re-integrating Tibet into the People’s Republic of China.
The US became interested in the region as a new ground to counter Communist China. It promised to encourage and support Tibetan resistance to Communist control and provide financial help to Tibetan insurgents, says Peter Harclerode in his book, “Fighting Dirty: The Inside Story of Covert Operations From Ho Chi Minh to Osama Bin Laden”.
For the US State department, the Dalai Lama was of more use in active opposition to Beijing. That is why the CIA actively encouraged the Tibetan leader to go into exile to any nearby state, such as India, Ceylon or Thailand, to become the symbol of Tibet resistance to Communist China.
In 1951 the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, preferred to stay in Lhasa and formally accepted “The 17 Point Plan” peace treaty uniting Tibet and the People’s Republic of China.
via How CIA helped Dalai Lama to end up in exile.
Hopeful Change In El Salvador?
Hopeful Change In El Salvador? -by Stephen Lendman
Like other Latin American nations, El Salvador has had a long and troubled history, ruled from one decade to the next by successive military dictatorships, then since 1989 by the right wing National Republican Alliance or ARENA Party.
Long-suffering Salvadorans recall the 1980s struggles when the Farabudo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) failed to end what the civil-military Junta leader, Jose Napoleon Duarte, told New York Times reporter Raymond Bonner in 1980:
“Fifty years of lies, fifty years of injustice, fifty years of frustration. (El Salvador’s) history (is pockmarked by) people starving to death, living in misery. For fifty years, the same people had all the power, all the money, all the jobs, all the education, all the opportunities.” Finally they rebelled but failed.
Throughout the decade, billions in US aid poured in, including weapons, munitions, training, and US advisors, troops, and CIA operatives on the ground supporting the government against resistance fighters in a struggle they had little chance of winning.
Roberto D’ Aubuisson founded ARENA in 1981 and was notorious for organizing and leading many of the right-wing death squads that still operate in El Salvador as “hired guns” or criminally embedded elements in the National Civilian Police (PNC), fully supported by Washington and the country’s business elites.
via Hopeful Change In El Salvador?.
54 House Members Outline New “Fair Trade” Agenda
54 House Members Outline New “Fair Trade” Agenda
Correcting our past trade and globalization policy mistakes and moving forward on a new path can help our nation face our considerable economic challenges.
Last month, members of the House Trade Working Group sent a letter to President Barack Obama outlining a new American trade agenda and the steps that need to be taken to reform the current model of trade.
The letter, signed by 54 House members representing 24 states, both major parties and numerous different caucuses, describes numerous trade issues that the group believes it can work effectively with the White House on.
“We heartily agree with your conclusion that trade policies are not sustainable if they favor the few rather than the many,” the letter stated. “Rebalancing our trade and globalization policies so that they create and retain good jobs in the United States, foster sustainable and equitable development worldwide, and provide government with the policy space necessary to solve pressing economic, climate, and other challenges is critical to prosperity and security at home and around the world.”
via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
plug the hole of offshoring jobs.
Now and for the Long Run
The government, like households, should hunker down, stop spending where it can, and plug the hole of offshoring jobs in the ship of state.
Editor’s Note: The following article was contributed by Senator Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, author of Making Government Work.
The United States has always paid for its wars. For 200 years we paid for the Revolution, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, even LBJ’s Great Society, and had yet to reach a national debt of $1 trillion – until 1982. In the past eight years our government has borrowed, spent, and added $5 trillion to the national debt.
The Congressional Budget Office reported that in the first four years of the Bush term deficits were caused by: 48 percent tax cuts, 37 percent wars, and 15 percent increased spending. We kept the government on steroids during the Bush years and household debt of $7 trillion joined the binge. By the time Obama took office, the Federal Reserve had injected another $2 trillion worth of steroids. With $14 trillion in stimulation, we were losing jobs like gangbusters. Stimulation was not working. Last year we stimulated exactly $1 trillion, $35 billion, and lost jobs. According to the Secretary of the Treasury, we have a deficit or “stimulated the economy” $960 billion this fiscal year (3/16/09) and are still losing jobs. On Sunday, Ben Bernanke on Sixty Minutes said he saw light at the end of the tunnel at the end of the year. So any more stimulation is politically out of the question. The government, like households, should hunker down, stop spending where it can, and plug the hole of offshoring jobs in the ship of state.
via Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Singapore court fines WSJ editor for contempt
Singapore court fines WSJ editor for contempt
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A Singapore court ordered a Wall Street Journal editor on Thursday to pay a fine of S$10,000 ($6,600) for contempt of court, following a fine last year against the newspaper for the same three articles at issue.
The court also ordered Melanie Kirkpatrick, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, to pay legal costs of S$10,000, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said in a statement.
The statement said the three articles, published separately from June to July 2008 in the Wall Street Journal Asia, “impugn the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Singapore Judiciary.”
“Public interest requires that the individuals who were responsible for the publication of the offending materials be also held accountable for their actions,” the statement said.
The sentence was related to a ruling last year, when the court found Dow Jones & Co, the publisher of the newspaper, guilty of contempt for the same articles.
via Singapore court fines WSJ editor for contempt.
Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength
Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength
Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time — paving the way for energy weapons to go to war.
In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser — past the “100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for ‘weapons grade’ power levels for high-energy lasers,” Northrop’s vice president of directed energy systems, Dan Wildt, said in a statement.
That much power won’t get you a Star Wars-style blaster. But it should be more than enough to zap the mortars and rockets that insurgents have used to pound American bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
via Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength | Danger Room from Wired.com.
Citigroup Said to Commit $10 Million for New Executive Suite
OPS: Your Tax dollars at work
Citigroup Said to Commit $10 Million for New Executive Suite
March 19 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc. plans to spend about $10 million on new offices for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and his lieutenants, after the U.S. government injected $45 billion of cash into the bank.
Affidavits filed with New York’s Department of Buildings show Citigroup expects to pay at least $3.2 million for basic construction such as wall removal, plumbing and fire safety. By the time architect’s fees and expenses such as furniture are added, the tally for the offices at the bank’s Park Avenue headquarters will be at least three times as high, according to a person familiar with the project who declined to be identified because he’s not authorized to comment. Citigroup said the project will help it save money over time.
via Citigroup Said to Commit $10 Million for New Executive Suite – Bloomberg.com.
Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama
Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama
Though the strained Samson Police Department was no doubt glad to have U.S. Army military police on hand to direct traffic during last week’s tragic shooting spree, it appears that the troops were deployed without the proper authorization and in possible violation of federal law.
An inquiry by the U.S. Army has been opened to find out how and why 22 active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala. were placed on the streets of the town of Samson during the shooting spree, which took the lives of 11 people on March 10, reported CNSNews.com on Wednesday.
Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va., told CNSNews.com on Monday that the military police soldiers, along with the provost marshal were sent to Samson.
via The Raw Story | Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama.
Fed knew of AIG bonuses, failed to tell Obama
OPS: SO, how’s that “gang of rivals” working out for ya? NOW, can we get some Progressives in there?
Fed knew of AIG bonuses, failed to tell Obama
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Federal Reserve officials knew about the controversial AIG bonuses but did not tell Treasury or White House officials for months, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
The American International Group informed the Fed three months ago that it would pay 165 million dollars by March 15 to employees in their Financial Products unit, the Post reported, citing government and company officials.
The bonuses were doled out to the AIG division at the heart of the company’s near collapse and whose intricate dealings with banks worldwide helped trigger the global financial crisis.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the Post that he had not been aware of the size of the bonuses and the timing of the payments.
via The Raw Story | Fed knew of AIG bonuses, failed to tell Obama.
Obama Treasury Department pushed to cut language restricting bonuses, senator says
Obama Treasury Department pushed to cut language restricting bonuses, senator says
The Obama Administration’s Treasury Department pushed to strip language that would have restricted the bonuses paid to staffers of bailed-out companies from the stimulus bill, a Democratic senator revealed late Wednesday.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) disclosed that he was responsible for inserting a clause into the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out firms to continue forward with eye-popping bonuses to executives that may have shared responsibility for some of the companies’ woes in the first place.
In a step further, though, he told CNN that the language was sought by the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department, which feared that the government would face lawsuits by including the provision.
via The Raw Story | Obama Treasury Department pushed to cut language restricting bonuses, senator says.
Mexico’s Drug War Bloodbath: Guns from the U.S. Are Destabilizing the Country
Mexico’s Drug War Bloodbath: Guns from the U.S. Are Destabilizing the Country
Mexican drug cartels have easy access to thousands of American gun dealers just on the other side of the border.
A minute is all the time that it takes for an employee in one of almost 7,000 gun shops dotting the U.S./Mexico border to accept a wad of cash from an eager customer, fill out a triplicate sales slip, and slide a nice, new Taurus .45 caliber pistol across the counter. Or two, or three, or twenty, as the case may be. Add those handguns to the countless tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of pistols, sniper and assault rifles, semi-automatic machine guns, shield-piercing bullets, grenades, plastic explosives, as well as anti-tank weapons outfitted with self-propelling rockets passing illegally through the hands of drug cartel foot soldiers and assassins. Throw in the array of weapons favored by DEA and CIA agents, Mexican federal police and military units, and other ‘drug warriors,’ of one sort or another. These are all people who are ready, willing, and able to use violence to get what they want. If it looks like you’ve got a battle on your hands, you do — the Mexican drug war has hit boiling point.
20 steps to a greener home
20 steps to a greener home
Monday I wrote “The first five steps to a greener home are not what the NYT’s Green Home column says.”
I was critical both of the author Julie Scelfo and Eric Corey Freed, the author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies. But having corresponded with Freed, it seems that his recommendations were taken somewhat out of context. He in fact provided a rough list of 20 things to do.
Illustration of a drain-water heat recovery system. Water flows from a faucet down the drain, which is wrapped with a copper coil called a heat exchanger. Cold water flows through the coil and is heated by the warm water going down the drain. The heated water in the coil then flows to the plumbing fixtures and the water heater, where it then flows through the faucet and is used as drain water to heat new clean water flowing through the system.So I asked him for his list, which he cleaned up a bit (reprinted below). I am not going to number this list because the list is not in any particular order and in any case every home is different.
The list pretty much covers the vast majority of my recommendations. I do think that for those who want a truly green home, you’ll want to get 100% renewable power from a local certified provider if you can, but that should be done in concert with the efficiency measures below. I also recommend getting your home tested for dangerous pollutants.
via Climate Progress » Blog Archive » 20 steps to a greener home.
The Age of Stupid: New Film Gives Us a Painfully Realistic Look at Life in 2055
The Age of Stupid: New Film Gives Us a Painfully Realistic Look at Life in 2055
The central premise: We would be the first life form to knowingly wipe itself out. What does that say about us?
London is underwater, New Orleans won’t be rebuilt a third time, the arctic is ice free, and agriculture is failing, which leads to global food riots and ultimately the collapse of civilization…. This is the premise of the new crowd-funded British independent film The Age of Stupid.
Set in 2055, the film portrays a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by the worst impacts of climate change, and looks back at the critical period between 2005 and 2015 to examine why we didn’t save ourselves when we still had the chance.
In an opening sequence, the narrator (played by Oscar nominee Pete Postlethwaite) takes us through a montage of news reports describing visible impacts of climate change: A 101 degree day in London, 700 dead after record flooding in India, record breaking drought in Melbourne, desertification in China progressing at the rate of 3 miles per year, dozens of Antarctic ice shelves collapsing faster than anyone predicted, 18 million affected by flooding in parts of Africa, and a glacier in France having shrunk 150 meters since 1945.
The Most Pervasive Combat Injury Among U.S. Soldiers is Invisible — and the Pentagon Has Tried to Keep it That Way
The Most Pervasive Combat Injury Among U.S. Soldiers is Invisible — and the Pentagon Has Tried to Keep it That Way
The DoD finally admits that 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered serious brain injuries they previously dismissed as concussions.
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and to observe it, the Pentagon did something special: it told the truth.
In a news conference on March 4th, Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton estimated that as many as 360,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered service-related brain injuries. Until now the Pentagon estimated that some 10,000 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq war had suffered brain traumas.
It’s about time they got it right. Almost a year ago, in April 2008, an independent report by the RAND Corporation estimated that some 320,000 troops — 20 percent of the deployed troops — had suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). Included in the RAND figure were blast-induced neurotraumas (BINT) from new weaponry like improvised explosive devices, during which the head remains closed and, more often than not, the victim remains conscious. These closed-brain blast injuries are the most common injury — brain or otherwise — of the current wars, but until now, for the DoD, they didn’t count.
“Just a Concussion”
Great Tech Innovation: Find Food Health and Safety Info From Your Phone
Great Tech Innovation: Find Food Health and Safety Info From Your Phone
Use your phone to access Goodguide.com and check product information on a free, socially conscious, ethical-shopping Web site.
The price of a dysfunctional food system is a potentially dangerous dinner. To put it bluntly, in our profit-driven food system, the very nutrients needed to stay alive could kill you. If it’s not Chinese melamine in your milk, it’s American E.coli in your spinach. If it’s not the salmonella in your peanut butter from Georgia, it’s that same bug in your Mexican green chilies. Consumers — health conscious or not — have a right to be paranoid.
What’s to be done?
via Great Tech Innovation: Find Food Health and Safety Info From Your Phone | Environment | AlterNet.
Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses
OPS: These are not Bonuses – They are BRIBES. An attempt to quiet whistler blowers
Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses – By Robert Scheer
There must be a criminal investigation of the AIG debacle, and it looks as if New York’s top lawman is on the case. The collusion to save this toxic company in order to salvage the rogue financiers who conspired to enrich themselves by impoverishing millions is being revealed as the greatest financial scandal in U.S. history. Instead of taking bonuses, the culprits should be taking perp walks.
I’m not just referring to the swindlers in the Financial Products Subsidiary of AIG who devised and sold those insurance policies on derivatives that brought the world economy to its knees. They do seem deserving of a special place in hell, and presumably the same divine power that according to Scripture labeled usury a high moral crime and threw the money-changers out of the temple will consider that outcome.
However, the enablers are the AIG leaders who, as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed Tuesday, signed those bonus contracts a year ago to reward the very people “principally responsible for the firm’s meltdown.” That’s a cool $44 million divided among the top 10 shysters, even though the depth of their chicanery was well known to top management.
via Truthdig – Reports – Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses.
Soldier suicides skyrocket
Soldier suicides skyrocket
But a tepid Senate hearing on Wednesday, with no testimony from lower-ranking combat troops from Iraq or Afghanistan, does little to explain why.
March 19, 2009 | WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee hearings Wednesday on the rising suicide rate among U.S. ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan revealed some frightening new data, but did little to investigate the underlying causes of what is emerging as one of the darkest, most disturbing legacies of the wars.
Last year the Army had its highest suicide rate on record — 140 soldiers. But new data from the Army on Wednesday showed the number jumping even higher. Forty-eight soldiers have already killed themselves so far this year. If that rate keeps up, nearly 225 Army soldiers will be dead by their own hand by the end of 2009.
via Soldier suicides skyrocket | Salon News.
Does America Face the Risk of a Fascist Backlash?
Does America Face the Risk of a Fascist Backlash? – By Robert Freeman
The Right’s ability to capitalize on people’s sense of grievance must not be underestimated.
In early 1919, Germany put in place a new government to begin rebuilding the country after its crushing defeat in World War I. But the right-wing forces that had led the country into the War and lost the War conspired even before it was over to destroy the new government, the “Weimar Republic.” They succeeded.
The U.S. faces a similar “Weimar Moment.” The devastating collapse of the economy after eight years of Republican rule has left the leadership, policies, and ideology of the right utterly discredited. But, as was the case with Germany in 1919, Republicans do not intend to allow the new government to succeed. They will do everything they can to undermine it. If they are successful, the U.S. may yet go the way of Weimar Germany.
Fed to Pump $1.2 Trillion Into Markets
Fed to Pump $1.2 Trillion Into Markets
Greatly Expanded Purchases Are Designed to Lower Interest Rates, Stimulate Borrowing
The Federal Reserve yesterday escalated its massive campaign to stabilize the economy, saying it would flood the financial system with an additional $1.2 trillion.
The decision by the Fed to buy government bonds and mortgage-related securities is designed to lower borrowing costs for home mortgages and other types of loans, thereby stimulating economic activity. The central bank, effectively, will print more money to pay for the purchases.
Combined with the billions already deployed by the Fed, the new money dwarfs even the biggest government bailouts of financial companies.
via Fed to Pump $1.2 Trillion Into Markets – washingtonpost.com.
Victory For Seals: Russia Bans Baby Seal Hunt
Victory For Seals: Russia Bans Baby Seal Hunt
(Moscow, Russia – 19 March 2009) – After 15 years of campaigning against the Russian seal hunt, IFAW (The International Fund for Animal Welfare) applauds yesterday’s announcement by Yuriy Trutnev, Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, of a complete ban on hunting of all harp seals less than one year of age.
“The bloody seal slaughter, the killing of the defenceless animals, which can’t be even called a ‘hunt,’ is now prohibited in Russia as it is in most developed countries. It is a serious step towards the conservation of biodiversity in Russia,” said Minister Trutnev.
via Scoop: Victory For Seals: Russia Bans Baby Seal Hunt.
Why Avigdor Lieberman is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to the Middle East
Why Avigdor Lieberman is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to the Middle East
World Focus: I can identify Lieberman’s language with the language of Messrs Mladic and Karadzic and Milosevic
by Robert Fisk 
Only days after they were groaning with fury at the Israeli lobby’s success in hounding the outspoken Charles Freeman away from his proposed intelligence job for President Obama, the Arabs now have to contend with an Israeli Foreign Minister whose – let us speak frankly – racist comments about Palestinian loyalty tests have brought into the new Netanyahu cabinet one of the most unpleasant politicians in the Middle East.
The Iraqis produced the hateful Saddam, the Iranians created the crackpot Ahmadinejad – for reasons of sanity, I leave out the weird ruler of Libya – and now the Israelis have exalted a man, Avigdor Lieberman, who out-Sharons even Ariel Sharon.
A few Palestinians expressed their cruel delight that at last the West will see the “true face” of Israel. I’ve heard that one before – when Sharon became prime minister – and the usual nonsense will be trotted out that only a “hard-line extremist” can make the compromises necessary for a deal with the Palestinians.
via Why Avigdor Lieberman is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to the Middle East | CommonDreams.org.
Dodd facing fresh political firestorm
OPS: Dodd and Franks have been on the banking committees for a long time. They want us to believe that THEY didn’t know this was all coming. Even though they weren’t in direct control until lately – They had to know, and said nothing
Dodd facing fresh political firestorm
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) looks like he may be facing a fresh political firestorm.
Dodd just admitted on CNN that he inserted a loophole in the stimulus legislation that allowed million-dollar bonuses to insurance giant AIG to go forward – after previously denying any involvement in writing the controversial provision. .
“We wrote the language in the bill, the deal with bonuses, golden parachutes, excessive executive compensation that was adopted unanimously by the United States Senate in the stimulus bill,” Dodd told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer this afternoon.
“But for that language, there would have been no language to deal with this at all.”
via Dodd facing fresh political firestorm – Yahoo! News.
Terrorism By Another Name: AIG Is Blackmailing America
Terrorism By Another Name: AIG Is Blackmailing America
AIG’s CEO, Edward Libby, admitted today that credit default swaps brought down the company:
Mistakes were made at AIG, and on a scale that few could have imagined possible. The most egregious of those began in 1987, when the company strayed from its core insurance competencies to launch a credit-default-swaps portfolio, which eventually became subject to massive collateral calls that created a liquidity crisis for AIG.
But instead of letting AIG go quietly into the dark night, Liddy is trying to blackmail America and the world by using a threat. As Salon notes:
[He was] specifically referring to the the buildup of a $2.7 trillion portfolio of credit default swaps and other derivative products. About $1 trillion worth of that portfolio has been “wound down,” said Liddy, but AIG is still on the hook for an unthinkable $1.6 trillion worth of liabilities.
“There is still risk that that could blow up,” said Liddy, and it was clear from his expression that the prospect was not a rhetorical exercise.
via George Washington’s Blog: Terrorism By Another Name: AIG Is Blackmailing America.
AIG’s Minority Racket
AIG’s Minority Racket
AIG ignited the national firestorm of rage with its shell out of $160 to $600 million in tainted bonuses to its tainted executives. But what has gotten almost no attention is a big reason that AIG had to stiff the government and everyone else. That’s the role that the company played in the subprime loan racket — a racket that hurt and still hurts tens of thousands of would be black and Latino homeowners.
The lender’s bait and switch tactics, the deliberately garbled contracts, deceptive and faulty lending, questionable accounting practices, and charged hidden fees, all with the connivance of sleepy-eyed see-no-evil oversight of federal regulators, are well known and documented. Their snake oil loan peddling wreaked havoc with thousands of mostly poor, strapped homeowners. A disproportionate number of them were Latinos and African-Americans.
Enter AIG. It saw a, treasure trove of fast buck riches in the subprime business. AIG dumped $33 billion into bonds and securities that were tied directly to subprime loans. This was nearly four times more than the next insurer, the German-based Allianz SE, had invested in the subprime loans. In fact, AIG was the only US based life insurer that had more than 3 percent of its general account assets in debts tied to subprime loans.
In early 2007 things started to unravel. AIG reported a first quarter loss of more than $2 billion in its subprime mortgage bonds. This set off the first warning bell that AIG could implode. Bond traders openly worried that AIG’s subprime securities losses could drag the market down. They had good reason to worry.
via AIG’s Minority Racket – The Daily Voice – Black America’s Daily News Source.
FOLLOW THE MONEY / MADOFF, MOSSAD, AIG AND 9/11
FOLLOW THE MONEY / MADOFF, MOSSAD, AIG AND 9/11
Allen Roland – Salon
The Madoff investigation is very similar to the 9-11 investigation in that evidence of a larger conspiracy is being avoided and ignored. It is possible that the billions that Madoff stole, and is still unaccounted for, was being used to finance Israel’s vast global spy and sabotage network Mossad with connections to both AIG and quite possibly 9/11 itself: Allen L Roland
Talk about red flags! I always felt there was something fishy about the Madoff scandal as if the government was going to great lengths to portray this as a simple one man Ponzi scheme while avoiding the very real possibility of a major conspiracy.
Russian intelligence has weighed in on the Madoff scandal and reported today that ~ ” Madoff was the chief financier for a vast Israeli spy and sabotage network ( Mossad ) set up by former Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Jacob Perry (Yaakov Peri) who ‘transformed’ himself into one of America’s most powerful businessman and led what FSB sources call the ñìåðòîíîñíàÿ øàòèÿ 7 ( English translation roughly means “Murderous/Fatal Gang of 7 ) which references the leaders of this American-Israeli cabal who besides Madoff and Perry include:
Henry Taub, Hungarian born American-Israeli who created the giant United States payroll company ADP which continues to funnel to Israeli intelligence services financial records for nearly every US citizen.
Maurice Greenberg, American-Israeli who was the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG), the World’s 18th largest public company and its largest insurance and financial services corporation which has (so far) funneled over $180 billion in US taxpayer money directly to Israel.
via Allen L Roland’s Radio Weblog.
Sen. Christopher Dodd Admits Role In AIG Bonus Controversy
Dodd Admits Role In AIG Bonus Controversy
By CHRISTOPHER KEATING | The Hartford Courant
U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, already reeling in public opinion polls, suffered another political blow Wednesday with the admission that he had been involved in key legislative changes that helped pave the way for AIG to pay controversial bonuses to its employees.
In a retreat from earlier statements, Dodd said Wednesday that U.S. Treasury Department officials had approached him last month, urging him to modify an amendment to the federal stimulus bill that capped bonuses for executives at companies receiving aid.
On Tuesday, Dodd said that he was not a member of the conference committee that crafted the final compromise bill and said that the exception had not been in the bill as he drafted it.
But late Wednesday, Dodd admitted in an interview with CNN that he had been involved in the change.
via Sen. Christopher Dodd Admits Role In AIG Bonus Controversy — Courant.com.
The belief that the wealthy are worthy is waning
OPS: Some of you had the notion that the Rich were special, indispensable, and ‘deserving’? ….REEally?
With financial crisis and scandal as backdrop, Americans are questioning whether plutocrats are either indispensable or deserving. It’s About Time.
The belief that the wealthy are worthy is waning
With financial crisis and scandal as backdrop, Americans are questioning whether plutocrats are either indispensable or deserving.
The notion that the poor always will be with us has been ingrained in our culture ever since the sermons of Moses were set down by the anonymous author of Deuteronomy.
The financial crisis of the present day raises a rather different issue, however: What should we do about the rich?
via The belief that the wealthy are worthy is waning – Los Angeles Times.
Who Is AIG’s $6.5 Million Man?
Who Is AIG’s $6.5 Million Man?
Yesterday, thanks to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, America learned that 418 executives at AIG received a total of $33.6 million in bonuses.
The retention payments ranged from $1,000 up to several million dollars — including a massive payload of nearly $6.5 million to one lucky individual.
So who is AIG’s $6.5 million man? (It’s not CEO Edward Liddy: he didn’t receive a bonus.) The Huffington Post wants to learn more about which executives received these bonuses and to get their responses to the outpouring of anger at the news.
via Who Is AIG’s $6.5 Million Man?.
Flashback: It Was Bush, GOP That Opposed Executive Compensation Caps
Flashback: It Was Bush, GOP That Opposed Executive Compensation Caps
It is a rather curious spectacle to see congressional Republicans express outrage at the exorbitant bonuses being handed out by bailed-out companies and blame the Obama administration for failing to curb the practice with AIG. Because when the first installment of the Troubled Asset Relief Program was passed it was the Bush administration and GOPers in Congress who were insisting that caps on executive compensation not be part of the legislation.
As the New York Times reported at the time that TARP was being crafted, “Congress and the administration remained at odds over the demands of some lawmakers, including limits on the pay of top executives whose firms seek help.”
via Flashback: It Was Bush, GOP That Opposed Executive Compensation Caps.
High Schoolers Unknowingly Taking Steroids
High Schoolers Unknowingly Taking Steroids
Early Show: Athletes Think They’re Using Legal Supplements;
Buzzwords On Bottles Could Be clues
(CBS) Roughly 580,000
high school students used steroids in 2007, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.
Many of them were athletes.
In Part Two on Wednesday of her report on an Early Show investigation, CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella says many of the high school athletes know the steroids they use to try to bulk up and enhance their performance are illegal.
But — many don’t.
They’re ingesting what they think are perfectly legal supplements. Instead, says one expert interviewed by Cobiella, the pills are really steroids masquerading as supplements.
via High Schoolers Unknowingly Taking Steroids – CBS News.
A Disturbing D.C. Whodunit [Updated]
A Disturbing D.C. Whodunit [Updated]
Dodd: It was the Treasury Department
Appearing on CNN today, Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that officials at the Treasury Department had insisted that he modify a clause he had inserted into the stimulus bill that prohibited bonuses from being issued by bailed-out companies. This mirrors the legislative slaying of the similarly intended amendment co-sponsored by Sen. Wyden I write about below. The culprit behind the killing of the Wyden provision remains unsolved — but Dodd fingering Treasury adds weight to Wyden’s sense that members of Obama’s economic team were behind the elimination of his amendment. And, in both cases, major decisions involving taxpayer money were carried out in a way that flies not in the face of fairness, but in the face of the administration’s promises of transparency and accountability.
via Arianna Huffington: A Disturbing D.C. Whodunit [Updated].
Preparing for Civil Unrest in America
Preparing for Civil Unrest in America – by Michel Chossudovsky
Legislation to Establish Internment Camps on US Military Bases
The Economic and Social Crisis
The financial meltdown has unleashed a latent and emergent social crisis across the United States.
What is at stake is the fraudulent confiscation of lifelong savings and pension funds, the appropriation of tax revenues to finance the trillion dollar “bank bailouts”, which ultimately serve to line the pockets of the richest people in America.
This economic crisis is in large part the result of financial manipulation and outright fraud to the detriment of entire populations, to a renewed wave of corporate bankruptcies, mass unemployment and poverty.
The criminalization of the global financial system, characterized by a “Shadow Banking” network has resulted in the centralization of bank power and an unprecedented concentration of private wealth.
Obama’s “economic stimulus” package and budget proposals contribute to a further process of concentration and centralization of bank power, the cumulative effects of which will eventually resul in large scale corporate, bankruptcies, a new wave of foreclosures not to mention fiscal collapse and the downfall of State social programs. (For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, America’s Fiscal Collapse, Global Research, March 2, 2009).
The cumulative decline of real economic activity backlashes on employment and wages, which in turn leads to a collapse in purchaisng power. The proposed “solution” under the Obama administration contributes to exacerbating rather than alleviating social inequalities and the process of wealth concentration.
via Preparing for Civil Unrest in America.
The Fed’s bond bombshell
OPS: Ready for hyper-inflation?
The Fed’s bond bombshell
Does the Fed know something about banks that we don’t?
video
Baghdad’s water still undrinkable 6 years after invasion
Baghdad’s water still undrinkable 6 years after invasion
BAGHDAD — The stench of human waste is enough to tell Falah abu Hasan that his drinking water is bad. His infant daughter Fatma’s continuous illnesses and his own constant nausea confirm it.
“We are the poor. No one cares if we get sick and die,” he said. “But someone should do something about the water. It is dirty. It brings disease.”
Everybody complains about the water in Baghdad , and few are willing to risk drinking it from the tap. Six years after the U.S. invaded Iraq , 36 percent of Baghdad’s drinking water is unsafe, according to the Iraqi Environment Ministry — in a good month. In a bad month, it’s 90 percent. Cholera broke out last summer, and officials fear another outbreak this year.
“Even if the water is good today, no one would trust it,” grocer Hussein Jawad said. He said that about 40 percent of his business was selling bottled drinking water, crates of which he’s stacked 7 feet high on the sidewalk. “We’ve learned to be afraid.”
via Baghdad’s water still undrinkable 6 years after invasion.
Guest Post by Lawrence Wilkerson: Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay
Guest Post by Lawrence Wilkerson: Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay
Lawrence B. Wilkerson was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell and is chairman of the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative.
There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that the media have largely missed and, thus, of which the American people are almost completely unaware. For that matter, few within the government who were not directly involved are aware either.
The first of these is the utter incompetence of the battlefield vetting in Afghanistan during the early stages of the U.S. operations there. Simply stated, no meaningful attempt at discrimination was made in-country by competent officials, civilian or military, as to who we were transporting to Cuba for detention and interrogation.
This was a factor of having too few troops in the combat zone, of the troops and civilians who were there having too few people trained and skilled in such vetting, and of the incredible pressure coming down from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others to “just get the bastards to the interrogators”.
It did not help that poor U.S. policies such as bounty-hunting, a weak understanding of cultural tendencies, and an utter disregard for the fundamentals of jurisprudence prevailed as well (no blame in the latter realm should accrue to combat soldiers as this it not their bailiwick anyway).
The second dimension that is largely unreported is that several in the U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had little intelligence value, and should be immediately released
via Guest Post by Lawrence Wilkerson: Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay – The Washington Note.
Obama drops disputed vet medical plan
OPS: a real bone-head move to begin with. At least he figured it out. quick
Obama drops disputed vet medical plan
Heeds public, military outcry
The Obama administration dropped a proposal to require some disabled veterans to pay for medical treatments through their private insurance companies, heeding a chorus of outrage from veterans groups and Capitol Hill lawmakers who said the idea was immoral, unconscionable and un-American.
The White House decided to scrap the plan after meeting with a contingent of veterans and military advocacy groups on Wednesday for the second time this week.
via Washington Times – Obama drops disputed vet medical plan.
Bill Introduced to End Mandatory Minimums in All Drug Cases
Bill Introduced to End Mandatory Minimums in All Drug Cases
Via FAMM, Rep. Maxine Waters has introduced a bill to end mandatory minimum sentencing in all drug cases. The bill has 15 co-sponsors.
H.R. 1466, the Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009, seeks to repeal mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and to give courts the ability to determine sentences based on all the facts, not just drug weight. It would also refocus federal resources on major drug traffickers instead of low-level offenders. There is currently no companion bill in the Senate.
The full text of the bill is here. We need a Senator to step up to the plate. Ideas? [More...]
In addition to ending mandatory minimums, the statute is great on sending small drug cases to state court, where they belong. It provides:
via Bill Introduced to End Mandatory Minimums in All Drug Cases – TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime.
Obama Administration: Constitution Does Not Protect Cell-Site Records
Obama Administration: Constitution Does Not Protect Cell-Site Records
Celltower The Obama administration says the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures does not apply to cell-site information mobile phone carriers retain on their customers.
The position is being staked out in a little-noticed surveillance case pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The case has wide-ranging implications for Americans, as most citizens have or will carry a mobile phone in their lifespan.
via Obama Administration: Constitution Does Not Protect Cell-Site Records | Threat Level from Wired.com.
‘Flying Car’ Makes Maiden Flight – Auto
‘Flying Car’ Makes Maiden Flight
It’s not really a flying car. But it’s still pretty cool.
The Transition “roadable aircraft” has made a successful maiden flight, according to Terrafugia, the company that is developing it.
Media were not present at the airstrip in Plattsburgh, NY when the test took place, but the company has released photos and videos chronicling the event.
With front-wheel drive and fold up wings, the aircraft is capable of being driven on public roads at highway speeds and will fit in a standard garage. What it can’t do, legally, is take off and land from anywhere other than an approved general aviation airport.
via FOXNews.com – ‘Flying Car’ Makes Maiden Flight – Auto.
Attorney general signals shift in marijuana policy
Attorney general signals shift in marijuana policy
Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.
That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state’s law.
“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law,” Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.
California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it still is against federal law.
via TPM: News Pages | Talking Points Memo | Attorney general signals shift in marijuana policy.
Judge fines Kentucky counties $400,000 for posting Ten Commandments
Kentucky counties fined $400,000 for posting Ten Commandments
Two southern Kentucky counties where officials posted copies of the Ten Commandments in courthouses have been ordered by a federal judge to pay more than $400,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union and citizens who successfully challenged the displays.
US district judge Jennifer B Coffman ordered Pulaski and McCreary counties to pay $393,798 in attorneys’ fees and $8,133 in expenses to the ACLU of Kentucky and citizens.
Coffman’s decision is the latest ruling in a court fight that began a decade ago. The counties don’t have to pay immediately because aspects of the case are still being appealed. But if the counties ultimately lose, taxpayers could be on the hook for the bill if insurance doesn’t cover it.
McCreary county judge-executive Blaine Phillips said he doesn’t think the county’s insurance policy would cover its share of the payment.
via Judge fines Kentucky counties $400,000 for posting Ten Commandments | World news | guardian.co.uk.
CBS News employs push-poll tactics to claim Americans oppose Employee Free Choice Act
CBS News employs push-poll tactics to claim Americans oppose Employee Free Choice Act
Feingold: End ‘Taxpayer-Funded Bonuses’ for Members of Congress
Feingold Urges House to End Automatic ‘Taxpayer-Funded Bonuses’ for Members of Congress
Call Comes Day After Senate Passage of Bill Based on Feingold Effort to End Automatic Pay Raise System for Members of Congress
WASHINGTON – March 18 – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is calling on the House of Representatives to join the Senate and end automatic “taxpayer-funded bonuses” for members of Congress. In remarks made today on the Senate floor, Feingold urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to take up the bill passed yesterday by the Senate to repeal the law that provides automatic pay increases to members of Congress. Yesterday, the Senate unanimously agreed to pass legislation based on Feingold’s effort to end the 20-year-old stealth pay-raise system, which raised the pay of members of Congress without any public debate or vote.
“These bonuses are paid every year, often without any public discussion or a recorded vote by those with the authority to approve or stop them,” Feingold said. “The people giving themselves these bonuses have made sure that they get them regardless of their performance… the power to raise its own pay. While some corporate executives apparently have this power as well, it is something that most of our constituents cannot do. Because this is such a singular power, Congress ought to exercise it openly, and subject to regular procedures including debate, amendment, and a vote on the record.”
Senator Feingold’s remarks, prepared for delivery are below and can be found at: http://feingold.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=309964.
James G. Cummings II: When Dirty Bomb Making, Obama Hate, and Spousal Murder Converge
James G. Cummings II: When Dirty Bomb Making, Obama Hate, and Spousal Murder Converge
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman
What is it about home-grown terrorists that makes Americans look away? Are we so enamored of the Wild West icon, the lonely, gritty, gun-toter who thinks meting out justice is his sole prerogative, that we don’t want to hear about the danger that guy poses to us all?
Second, how do we react when a young wife and mother offs and kills her scary spouse? Do we applaud her daring, or do we lock her up for first-degree murder? The “Frankie and Johnny” tale and killer Roxie in the musical “Chicago” make for entertaining songs and dramas, but in 21st century America, is the blast of gunfire still the only way to get, or get back at, your man?
These are not hypothetical questions, and the two questions bear directly upon each other because of a frighteningly dysfunctional family named Cummings. James G. Cummings II, millionaire heir to a likewise-murdered California developer, was gunned down in his home in Belfast, Maine, by his wife, Amber B. Cummings on December 9, 2008. By all accounts he appears to have been a right-wing hater, a bully, and an abuser. But that’s not all. The FBI found radioactive materials, including depleted uranium, and bomb-making instructions, and Cummings’ application for membership in the National Socialist Movement (American neo-nazis) in his home. His wife reported that he had been very upset about Barack Obama’s being elected president and was in touch with white supremacist groups.
Justice Ginsburg Should be Removed from the U.S. Supreme Court Following “Chemo Brain” Effects of Chemotherapy (opinion)
Justice Ginsburg Should be Removed from the U.S. Supreme Court Following “Chemo Brain” Effects of Chemotherapy (opinion)
(NaturalNews) Following surgery for pancreatic cancer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is scheduled to undergo a round of so-called “precautionary chemotherapy” just to be sure her cancer is gone. No one has apparently told her that neither surgery nor chemotherapy are cures for cancer, and such cancers will inevitably return unless the original conditions causing the cancer are reversed.
The far more worrisome issue here, however, is that chemotherapy destroys human brain cells, causing the deterioration of cognitive function in what is commonly called “chemo brain.” This effect is far worse than the effects of smoking marijuana, for example, or even from taking dangerous recreational drugs like crack or heroin.
Who Are The Anonymous ‘Three Or Four’ Senators In Bayh’s Blue Dog-Style Coalition?
Who Are The Anonymous ‘Three Or Four’ Senators In Bayh’s Blue Dog-Style Coalition?
This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) discussed the creation of a new group of “moderate” Democratic senators whose goal is to “restrain the influence of party liberals.” MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explained the implications of Bayh’s new group, saying “this is the group that will control the outcome politically on what can pass on the Senate floor.”
Bayh explained that his office would be issuing a press release detailing the group and its 15 inaugural members. This press release is now available and explains that the group is “will meet every other Tuesday before the Democratic Caucus lunch to discuss legislative strategies and ideas”:
via Think Progress » Who Are The Anonymous ‘Three Or Four’ Senators In Bayh’s Blue Dog-Style Coalition?.
Colin Powell’s former chief of staff: Cheney is ‘evil,’ his fearmongering is ‘assisting’ al Qaeda.
Colin Powell’s former chief of staff: Cheney is ‘evil,’ his fearmongering is ‘assisting’ al Qaeda.
Weeks after President Obama was inaugurated, Dick Cheney gave an interview to Politico slamming Obama’s detainee policies and warning that he was making America less safe (charges he repeated again last Sunday). Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff who left the Bush administration in protest, wrote an essay on the Washington Note last evening slamming Cheney’s fearmongering. Wilkerson calls Cheney “evil” and says his detainee policies were only “assisting” terrorists:
Rove Hypocritically Accuses Gibbs Of Sounding ‘Like Some Wise-Cracking Junior High Smart Mouth’
Rove Hypocritically Accuses Gibbs Of Sounding ‘Like Some Wise-Cracking Junior High Smart Mouth’
On Sunday, former Vice President Cheney said that President Obama has already made America more unsafe. When Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked for his reaction to Cheney’s criticisms, Gibbs dryly said that CNN invited the former VP because “Rush Limbaugh was busy,” labeling him “the next most popular member of the Republican cabal.”
Apparently, Gibbs’s remarks were beyond the pale for Karl Rove. Yesterday, on the O’Reilly Factor, Rove denigrated Gibbs, comparing him to “some wise-cracking junior high smart mouth.” “These are real issues,” Rove urged, complaining about Gibbs’s “tone”:
In the Wake of AIG: Obama’s First Priority
In the Wake of AIG: Obama’s First Priority – Robert Reich
AIG is rapidly becoming a nightmarish metaphor for the Obama Administration’s problems administering the bailout of Wall Street. One central problem is the lack of transparency. According to some news reports, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner knew weeks ago that AIG was planning to issue the bonuses to executives in its notorious credit default swap unit, and felt it was contractually bound to do so. But even if Geithner discovered all this just last week, he faces an awkward question about why he didn’t know sooner. These bonuses in fact were only the latest if a series, and were not even distributed until last Friday. But it was not until Saturday, after the story leaked to the press,that Geithner went public to express his “outrage” about them.
Meanwhile, the Treasury has been readying yet another big multi-billion-dollar payout to AIG on top of the $170 billion already provided the company, because AIG has been hemorrhaging red ink. The company’s balance sheets have been deteriorating far more quickly than the Treasury had anticipated. But there’s been no clear exit strategy for stopping the flow of taxpayer money.
What’s particularly embarrassing for the current Administration is that it had promised to undertake the Wall Street bailout far more transparently and effectively than the way the Bush administration went about it. The Obama Administration had assured the public that, among other things, taxpayer money would no longer be used to backstop Wall Street bonuses. (It’s worth noting, in this regard, that the related plan put forward by the Obama Treasury to limit executive pay in Wall Street firms that received bailouts turned out to be riddled with holes.)
via Robert Reich’s Blog: In the Wake of AIG: Obama’s First Priority.
Illinois declares Pluto is still a planet
Illinois declares Pluto is still a planet
Three years ago, the astronomy community voted to downsize the
solar system by revoking Pluto’s planetary status. Now the land of Lincoln is fighting back
via Illinois declares Pluto is still a planet | Science | guardian.co.uk.
FBI — D.B. Cooper – New Developments in the Unsolved Case
IN SEARCH OF D.B. COOPER
New Developments in the Unsolved Case
New Developments in the Unsolved Case
Did the famous hijacker take his name from a popular comic book hero? © Dan Cooper – Albert Weinberg – Le Lombard (Dargaud-Lombard s.a.) – 2009.
Electron microscopes, dollar bills on a fishing pole, and a French Canadian comic book hero are providing tantalizing new insights into one of our greatest unsolved mysteries—the D.B. Cooper case.
We’ve told the story here before—how in 1971 a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a plane from Portland to Seattle, demanded parachutes and $200,000 in cash, then jumped into the night with the money, never to be seen again.
via FBI — D.B. Cooper – Press Room – Headline Archives 03-17-09.
Eliot Spitzer – Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime
OPS: This is why they took Spitzer out. Note the date of this article. Less than 30 days later news of the prostitute scandal came out.
Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers
Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers’ ability to repay, making loans with deceptive “teaser” rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.
Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.
Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York’s, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.
via Eliot Spitzer – Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime – washingtonpost.com.
Beware the Madoff Diversion!
Beware the Madoff Diversion!
Sure, there are crooks out there. But the overwhelming majority of actions by corporate directors and managers that have created today’s messes have been legal.
Not only legal, but also widely regarded as necessary and essential to sustain the American Way of Life. To put food on our tables. To heat our homes. To provide jobs. To defend liberty and freedom …
Simply put: Giant business and financial corporations govern. The few who run them make the governing decisions that dictate people’s work, living conditions, health and the nature of our communities.
via t r u t h o u t | Beware the Madoff Diversion!.
Spitzer Slams AIG, WSJ, Geithner (Openly) And Cuomo (Subtly)
OPS: It’s looking more and more like Spitzer was taken out because he was exposing this.
Spitzer Slams AIG, WSJ, Geithner (Openly) And Cuomo (Subtly)
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer this morning granted to WNYC”s Brian Lehrer what I believe was his first extended MSM interview since the prostitution scandal that forced him from office a year ago this week.
Spitzer did give an interview to Mark Green not too long ago, and has spoken to a few print reporters when he runs into them at events, but this is – I think – the first time he voluntarily has been questioned at length, although the topic was a safe one: The economic crisis.
spitzer 008
During the 20 minutes he spoke to Spitzer, Lehrer only briefly – and a bit obliquely – brought up the subject of the Ashley Dupre fiasco, asking the ex-governor how it feels to be on the sidelines at a time when a company he once targeted, AIG, is once again in the crosshairs.
“I am obviously dispapointed in what led to that,” Spitzer said. “I’ve apologized and in my view have acted in the past year the way I should have, which is to say I will remain quiet and others will step in and hopefully pursue these issues, whether it’s the MTA refinancing or AIG investigations and continue to move forward.”
via The Daily Politics – NY Daily News.
Feingold urges House to reject automatic pay raises, too
Feingold urges House to reject automatic pay raises, too
WASHINGTON — Sen. Russ Feingold today likened automatic pay raises for members of Congress to the bonuses American International Group is giving its executives, creating a public uproar.
During Senate floor remarks, the Wisconsin Democrat urged the House of Representatives to back the Senate in ending “taxpayer-funded bonuses” for members of Congress.
“These bonuses are paid every year, often without any public discussion or a recorded vote by those with the authority to approve or stop them,” Feingold said. “The people giving themselves these bonuses have made sure that they get them regardless of their performance.”
Feingold applauded the Senate’s passage on Tuesday of legislation to scrap the automatic pay raise system, something he has opposed for almost 20 years. He told colleagues he has refused to accept annual pay increases during each six-year term, returning the money to the U.S. Treasury.
Army to Stop Extending Tours Beyond Service Obligations – washingtonpost.com
Army to Stop Extending Tours Beyond Service Obligations
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced today that the Army will virtually eliminate the unpopular practice of “stop loss” — or mandating that soldiers stay in the Army beyond their service obligation — by March 2011 and will offer extra pay to soldiers whose service is extended under the policy.
About 13,000 soldiers are serving in the Army under the stop-loss policy, nearly double the number of two years ago. Gates said the goal is to reduce that number by 50 percent by June 2010 and to bring it down to scores or less by March 2011.
via Army to Stop Extending Tours Beyond Service Obligations – washingtonpost.com.
UPDATE 2-Fed to buy Treasuries; pump $1 trln into US economy
UPDATE 2-Fed to buy Treasuries; pump $1 trln into US economy
* Fed to buy $300 bln longer-term Treasuries
* Fed to expand mortgage agency debt buying to $1.45 trln
* Stocks, bonds surge, mortgage rates, dollar tumble (Recasts; adds details)
By Mark Felsenthal and Alister Bull
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it would pump an additional $1 trillion into the U.S. economy to try to pull it out of a deep recession, partly by buying longer-term government debt for the first time in more than 40 years.
In a statement at the end of a regular two-day policy meeting, the central bank’s panel said it would buy up to $300 billion in longer-term Treasuries.
via UPDATE 2-Fed to buy Treasuries; pump $1 trln into US economy | Markets | Bonds News | Reuters.
China blocks Coca-Cola bid for Huiyuan
OPS: The Chinese are smart enough to PROTECT their economy and industry. Why aren’t we?
China blocks Coca-Cola bid for Huiyuan
China on Wednesday rejected a $2.4bn Coca-Cola deal that would have been the country’s biggest foreign takeover, stoking fears of protectionism and warnings the decision could scupper Beijing’s push to invest in overseas mining companies.
China’s ministry of commerce ruled against Coke’s proposed acquisition of Huiyuan Juice, the country’s leading juice maker, on competition grounds, saying the move would hurt smaller domestic companies and limit consumer choice.
via FT.com / Companies / Food & Beverage – China blocks Coca-Cola bid for Huiyuan.
Madoff’s auditor charged with fraud
Madoff’s auditor charged with fraud
Bernard Madoff’s accountant for nearly two decades was on Wednesday charged with securities fraud as US prosecutors widened their investigation into one of the biggest investment frauds in history.
David Friehling, 49, was accused of securities fraud for failing to audit the financial statements and disclosures of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, aiding and abetting investment adviser fraud, and filing false regulatory reports. He faces up to 105 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
via FT.com / US & Canada – Madoff’s auditor charged with fraud.
Fed purchase plan rocks markets
OPS: Gentlemen, Start your presses………
Fed purchase plan rocks markets
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stunned investors by announcing plans to buy $300bn of US government debt, rocking the bond market and the dollar.
In a further display of aggression, the Fed also said it was more than doubling its purchases of securities issued by housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $1,450bn in a bid to bring down mortgage rates and support the housing market.
via FT.com / US / Economy & Fed – Fed purchase plan rocks markets.
NRC Expects Requests for 7 New Nuclear Reactors
NRC Expects Requests for 7 New Nuclear Reactors
WASHINGTON – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received 17 applications to build 26 new U.S. nuclear reactors and could get five more applications for seven reactors by the end of next year, the agency’s chairman told Congress on Wednesday.
“We are actively reviewing those applications as we speak,” NRC Chairman Dale Klein told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at a hearing on the state of the U.S. nuclear industry.
The industry sees building more nuclear power plants as key to meeting America’s growing electricity demand and also helping the United States reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
Unlike nuclear reactors, power plants fueled by coal are among the biggest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Obama administration wants to implement a plan to cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions, but at the same time it opposes opening the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in Nevada.
via NRC Expects Requests for 7 New Nuclear Reactors | CommonDreams.org.
How To Destroy the Government in Three Easy Steps
How To Destroy the Government in Three Easy Steps -by Joe Brewer
In eight short years, conservatives have effectively bankrupted many state governments and left the fed in shambles. And now citizens have to “make tough decisions” and share the suffering equally across the land (unless of course, you’re part of that lucky 1% who co-opted the functions of government to serve their own ends… they’ll be cozy with their offshore bank accounts, golden parachutes, and permanent tax holidays).
Are you a teacher who educates our future citizens? Too bad. You’ve got to tighten your belt and let that job go. Manual laborer? Sorry but that job can earn more money for our shareholders if its done in Micronesia. Need a college degree? Prepare for indentured servitude because you’ll be working to pay us off for most of your adult life. Health care? Ha! That’s just a ponzi scheme dreamed up by a bunch of socialists.
Ever wonder how conservatives did all this?
Well here’s your very own how-to manual for getting Big Government out of the way so you and your buddies can horde all the wealth to yourselves and build your empire.
via How To Destroy the Government in Three Easy Steps | CommonDreams.org.
FLASHBACK: In October, Obama Said That AIG Executives ‘Should Be Fired’ For Their Excesses
FLASHBACK: In October, Obama Said That AIG Executives ‘Should Be Fired’ For Their Excesses
Earlier this week, after the AIG bonuses were revealed, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) called for the replacement of company executives. “Since the federal government … now essentially owns that company, maybe it’s time to fire some people.” Frank told ThinkProgress that, “when you are trying to undo something, it is often not the case that the people who did it are the ones to put in place.” So far, however, the administration has not embraced Frank’s call.
Last fall, as Wall Street crumbled and just one week after the federal government bailed out AIG, the firm’s executives spent $440,000 on manicures, facials, pedicures, and massages at a luxury resort in California. At the time, Obama was a vocal proponent of firing AIG executives. During an October 7, 2008 presidential debate with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), candidate Obama declared, “those executives should be fired”:
Lou Dobbs attacks St. Patrick’s Day: ‘How about an American day?’
Lou Dobbs attacks St. Patrick’s Day: ‘How about an American day?’
Yesterday on his radio show, anti-immigrant crusader Lou Dobbs attacked St. Patrick’s day as a needless “ethnic holiday.” “How about an American day,” he proposed. He also wondered whether other groups, like Jews or Asians, had “ethnic holidays,” but he couldn’t think of any:
Is there a Jewish ethnic holiday? Is there one? No. Okay. … How about an Asian ethnic holiday? Is there one? You know, St. Jing-Tao-Wow?
Watch it:
via Think Progress » Lou Dobbs attacks St. Patrick’s Day: ‘How about an American day?’.
Liddy: Bernanke and the Federal Reserve approved of bonuses in advance.
Liddy: Bernanke and the Federal Reserve approved of bonuses in advance.
Testifying before Congress today, AIG CEO Gordon Edward Liddy said that the Federal Reserve was aware the bonuses would be paid out and “acquiesced in that decision.” In fact, Liddy claimed that Federal Reserve members were present at AIG’s “compensation committee meetings” with the ability to say “yea or nay”:
REP. KANJORSKI (D-PA): Am I to understand that you’re saying that Chairman Bernanke or his designated person at the Federal Reserve was informed that you were going to make these payments and acquiesced in that decision?
LIDDY: Yes, everything we do, we do in partnership with the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is at our board meetings and our compensation committee meetings and our various meetings on strategy and they have the ability to weigh in — either yea or nay — on anything that we decide.
Watch it:
via Think Progress » Liddy: Bernanke and the Federal Reserve approved of bonuses in advance..
Republican Lawmakers Who Opposed Salary Caps Last Month Are Now Attacking AIG Bonuses, Part II
Republican Lawmakers Who Opposed Salary Caps Last Month Are Now Attacking AIG Bonuses, Part II
As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, Republicans who opposed Wall Street salary caps, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Banking Commitee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL), are now flipping their positions to condemn the bonuses paid by AIG. Last night, McConnell made the rounds on cable television to misleadingly suggest that he has always favored salary caps.
But McConnell and Shelby are not the only Republican lawmakers pushing this deception. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) also are hypocritically altering their views:
Our Pope the Dope and Other Irrationalities Brought to You By Organized Religion | BuzzFlash.org
Our Pope the Dope and Other Irrationalities Brought to You By Organized Religion
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White
It’s not just common sense that organized religion can distort, but sometimes even our common decency. Such is the case in two news stories this week that drove home the damage that can be done in the name of religion.
Yesterday it was reported that Pope Benedict XVI said that condoms not only don’t help in the fight against AIDS, but also they make the problem worse. Now, the Pope reiterating in Africa the Catholic Church’s stance against birth control is unfortunate and irritating, but unsurprising. But to state that condoms are the problem? Well that’s practically criminal.
The Pope’s statement is just as ridiculous as the former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa promoting the idea that AIDS can be treated with garlic, beetroot and lemon juice. Or Gambia’s president, who claims he has “proof” that bananas mixed with mysterious herbs cure AIDS. To be fair, the Pope seems to be relatively cozy with Holocaust deniers, so why not side with those in denial over the causes of and cures for AIDS?
More than that, the Pope is both giving afflicted Catholics false hopes and frustrating the best efforts of the tireless religious workers that strive under his name to help those suffering from AIDS.
The New York Times editorial about this story notes:
via Our Pope the Dope and Other Irrationalities Brought to You By Organized Religion | BuzzFlash.org.
Joe Lieberman to Turn Climate Policy into Corporate Boondoggle
Joe Lieberman to Turn Climate Policy into Corporate Boondoggle
This is the story of how a plan to save the climate and jump start the economy will become a massive corporate welfare program if Congressional Democrats oppose their president and align with the likes of Joe Lieberman and the big business lobby.
We know that to avoid catastrophic climate change we must drastically lower the amount of carbon we are pouring into the atmosphere. President Obama’s plan is to put a strict limit on carbon emissions and make large polluters pay for the right to dump their waste into our sky. He wants polluters to buy a “credit” for each ton of carbon they emit.
It’s a smart plan that uses a price signal to turn the economy toward clean energy, driving investment, innovation and job creation. It would also raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue for the federal government, revenue that should be returned to the American people.
via John Passacantando: Joe Lieberman to Turn Climate Policy into Corporate Boondoggle.
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
