Singer Crespo: 'I don't recall' masturbating on plane
by The Miami Herald
Merengue star Elvis Crespo is being investigated after a woman said she saw him masturbating on an airplane en route from Houston to Miami.According to a Miami-Dade County police report, the Grammy winner was doing it in view of other passengers on a flight last week. |
Most electronic voting systems can be hacked, CIA expert says
by John Byrne
CIA expert told panel he wouldn't divulge CIA's interest in voting systems in a unclassified settingA top CIA cybersecurity expert told the US Election Assistance Commission last month that most electronic voting systems are insecure, according to transcripts obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. |
'Dear AIG, I quit!' exec goes out swinging in NYT op-ed
by Ron Brynaert
Talk about publicly telling your boss to take this job and shove it."An American International Group Inc. executive who received a bonus worth more than $742,000 after taxes has resigned publicly — in an Op-Ed column in The New York Times," the AP reports. |
Fred Thompson: I want Obama's policies to fail
by David Edwards and Rachel Oswald
While Republicans dithered for some time on whether to agree or disagree with Rush Limbaugh's statement that he hopes President Obama fails in his efforts to right the economy, it now appears that some GOP leaders have come to a decision --- and they're with Rush. |
A prophet to honor
by Jack Lessenberry
Last week I was lucky enough to moderate a discussion with Stan Ovshinsky, who has probably done more to point us toward the future than anyone else now living in this state.The event was Harry Cook's typically brilliant Thursday night lecture series, which he holds monthly at the Birmingham Unitarian Church on Woodward. To my dismay, the hall was less than filled. |
From Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force to Summers' Secret Wall Street Briefings
by David Sirota
Still angry at Dick Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force? Then I'm guessing you're not going to be happy with Larry' Summers' Secret Wall Street Briefings: National Economic Adviser Larry Summers is conducting a private briefing at the White House Tuesday afternoon for about 100 financial industry executives attending a $5,000-a-head conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal...The White House said the event is considered "closed press" and one in a series of briefings administration officials have been giving to financial market participants in recent days... |
Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Welcome to Pipelineistan
by Tom Engelhardt
— from TomDispatchAt one point last week, the price of a barrel of crude oil -- which had risen as high as $147 last July and, with the global economic meltdown, hit a low of $32 in 2009 -- rebounded above $51. Prices at the local gas pump are expected to rise as well in the coming weeks. However, given a worldwide falloff in oil use, these price jumps may not hold for long. Still, cheap or not, oil and natural gas (as well as coal) are what drives global civilization, and that's clearly not going to change any time soon. |
Jeff Zucker and the CNBC straw man
by Eric Boehlert
Arriving days late to the scene of the crash, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker last week belatedly tried to resuscitate the corporation's hobbled and humiliated all-business channel, claiming that the tongue-lashing CNBC's Jim Cramer famously received at the hands of Jon Stewart had been "incredibly unfair" and "absurd." |
Obama's Toxic Advisers
by Robert Scheer
— from TruthdigBernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who is independent in spirit as well as party label, has placed a hold on President Obama's nomination of Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Sounds like a minor issue to get worked up about, but the senator is right. Like most Americans, I am eager for Barack Obama to succeed, but I see this appointment as further evidence that the president has entrusted his economic policy to the wrong people. |
Treasury and the Fed Don't Need New Powers, They Need to Use the Power They Have
by Dave Lindorff
Wait a minute! Did I hear correctly? Did Treasury Secretary and former New York Federal Reserve Bank screw-up Tim Geithner really tell a House Financial Services Committee today that he needed "new powers" to allow the federal government to take control of non-bank financial corporations whose actions threaten the financial system or the economy and "break them up"? |
The most corrupt countries
by Jack Gage
Corruption is on the march. In 2008, the number of countries sinking deeper into the clutches of influence peddling, bribery and scandalous business dealings outpaced improvements by a 2 to 1 margin. Countries falling by more than 10 spots outnumbered risers 8.5 to 1. |
Obama vows to 'bend but not break'
by Captol Hill Blue
With Congress pushing back against his proposals for energy, taxes and other matters, President Barack Obama is taking a bend-but-don't-break posture.He will compromise on certain details if he must, he signaled at his news conference Tuesday evening, but not on the heart of his key initiatives. |
Florida Senate, House lay out opposing gambling proposals
by Mary Ellen Klas
TALLAHASSEE -- Roulette wheels could start spinning at the Seminole Tribe's casinos while its competitors would get blackjack or electronic bingo machines under a Senate proposal introduced Tuesday that could open the door to the largest gambling expansion in state history. |
U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers
by Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks."This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," said Senator Benjamin Cardin. |
Turley: Cheney war crimes probe would be 'shortest in history'
by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
President Barack Obama said all the right things on 60 Minutes, according to Jonathan Turley. But no mere verbal rebuff to the former vice president will see the law upheld.If Obama would step out of the way and allow prosecutors to look at evidence of alleged Bush administration war crimes, "it would be the shortest investigation in history," Turley said on a Monday episode of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. |
Obama: No need for a 'global currency'
by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Australian PM voices support for the dollar, says new currency not on G20's agendaDuring a live, prime-time press conference at which reporters focused almost exclusively on economic matters, President Barack Obama gave his first public opposition to Russia and China's proposal of a world currency to supplant the dollar. |
Will Israel be Brought to Book?
by Seumas Milne
The evidence of war crimes in Gaza is a challenge to universal justice: will western-backed perpetrators ever stand trial?Evidence of the scale of Israel's war crimes in its January onslaught on Gaza is becoming unanswerable. Clancy Chassay's three films investigating allegations against Israeli forces in the Gaza strip, released by the Guardian today, include important new accounts of the flagrant breaches of the laws of war that marked the three-week campaign - now estimated to have left at least 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis dead. |
Fiscal Plan Fails both Markets and Taxpayers
by Joseph E. Stiglitz
Let's be clear: President Barack Obama inherited an economy in freefall and could not possibly have turned things around in the short time since his election. Unfortunately, what he is doing is not enough.The real failings in the Obama recovery program lie not in the stimulus package -- though it is too heavily weighted toward tax cuts, and much of it merely offsets cutbacks by states -- but in its efforts to revive financial markets. America's failures provide important lessons to countries around the world that are or will be facing increasing problems with their banks: |
Amnesty International Lambastes US for Treatment of Immigrant Detainees
by Ken McLaughlin
In a scathing report on the treatment of immigration detainees held in detention centers and more than 300 local facilities such as the Santa Clara County Jail, Amnesty International charges the federal government violates human rights by allowing tens of thousands of people to languish in custody every year without receiving hearings to determine whether their detention is warranted. |
Obama Channeling Bush on State Secrets Claim
by Carrie Johnson
Like Predecessor, New Justice Dept. Claiming PrivilegeCivil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak some of the most sensitive intelligence-gathering programs of the Bush White House. |
With “no condoms” stance, Pope molests Africa
by Theo Talcott
The Catholic Church should just stop offering sex tips or edicts for a century or two. Really, all credibility on sexual issues is gone, and their reactionary ignorant public policy endangers humanity’s long-term survival.On a recent tour in Africa, Pope Benedict says that condoms were not the answer to Africa’s AIDS problem, and could make the problem worse. This is a sinful lie that will cause death to poor people. |
