Will torture probe target Bush officials? Top Dem says ’stand by’
by David Edwards and Stephen Webster
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on MSNBC that while the Senate has indeed been examining finer details of CIA torture authorized by the Bush administration, 'chain of command' issues are still to come. |
ACLU hits Obama hard over torture controversies
by Daniel Tencer
The American Civil Liberties Union had strong words on Friday for the Obama administration’s efforts to block the release of torture photos and its attempts to end a lawsuit over extraordinary rendition.The ACLU criticized the White House’s deal with Congress, struck on Thursday, which eliminated a provision in a military financing bill that would have blocked the release of torture photos — but only after President Barack Obama promised to 'use every legal and administrative remedy' available to keep the photos from the public. |
Female inmates segregated for 'looking gay'
by Daniel Tencer
Dozens of women at Virginia's Fluvanna Correctional Center were segregated from the general prison population for having short hair, or loose-fitting clothes, or otherwise 'looking gay,' employees at the facility admit.In an effort to prevent sexual encounters between inmates -- which are illegal in Virginia -- prison staff identified those women who fit stereotypes of lesbian appearance and sent them to what guards referred to as 'the butch wing.' |
Florida-Seminole gambling deal in jeopardy
by Josh Hafenbrack
TALLAHASSEE - All bets are off.The Seminoles aren't likely to approve a gambling deal under terms set by the state Legislature, citing provisions that could increases costs and competition, the tribe's attorney said Thursday.Billions in funding for public schools are on the line at a time of severe deficits. |
Obama abandons plan to bring detainees to U.S.
by Capitol Hill Blue
President Barack Obama is pulling the plug on his controversial plan to resettle cleared Guantanamo detainees in the United States, admitting defeat in the face of strong, bi-partisan opposition from Congress.His capitulation on the issue is a rare defeat for the popular President. |
It's Official: The Era of Cheap Oil Is Over
by Michael T. Klare
Energy Department Changes Tune on Peak OilEvery summer, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy issues its International Energy Outlook (IEO) -- a jam-packed compendium of data and analysis on the evolving world energy equation. For those with the background to interpret its key statistical findings, the release of the IEO can provide a unique opportunity to gauge important shifts in global energy trends, much as reports of routine Communist Party functions in the party journal Pravda once provided America's Kremlin watchers with insights into changes in the Soviet Union's top leadership circle. |
Climate Pledges Bound to Breach Key Warming Target: Scientists
by Agence France Presse
BONN, Germany - Pledges currently on the table at the UN climate talks will doom Earth to a warming of more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a figure that has been widely endorsed as a safe limit, scientists said on Thursday.Warming 'is virtually certain to exceed 2 C' (3.6 F) compared to pre-industrial times, said their assessment of national positions. |
The GOP's 100-Reactor/Trillion-Dollar Energy Plan Goes Radioactive
by Harvey Wasserman
As the prospective price of new reactors continues to soar, and as the first 'new generation' construction projects sink in French and Finish soil, Republicans are introducing a bill to Congress demanding 100 new nuclear reactors in the US within twenty years. It explicitly welcomes 'alternatives' such as oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 'clean coal.' Though it endorses some renewables such as solar and wind power, it calls for no cap on carbon emissions. |
Selling America by the pound, and other economic news of the weird
by Alan Bisbort
Don't look now, fellow GM owners, but we may be able to get out of this economic mess more easily than any of the so-called experts predicted. Mine eyes hath beheld a miracle this past week: General Motors sold its Hummer brand to a Chinese manufacturer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. |
Four Reasons Why the Public Option is Irrefutable
by Cenk Uygur
I'm not a healthcare wonk. Of course, I want the 46 million uninsured Americans to get coverage, but they have not been my primary concern in healthcare reform (even though I have been among the uninsured many times in my life). I have to admit I'm being a bit selfish here because I mainly want to have less expensive health insurance that still gives me decent coverage. |
Tying Obama to Bush's Budget Mess
by Robert Parry
Some people say that George W. Bush didn’t solve any national problems during his eight years in office, but that’s not exactly right.In 2001, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the Fed might have trouble influencing interest rates if the entire federal debt were paid off – an event that budget projections then forecast. Nailed that one, ex-President Bush can declare. |
Is Israel's Aggression a Question of Pride?
by Ira Chernus
Suppose Barack Obama really does want to herd the Israelis and Palestinians into serious, fruitful peace negotiations. How could he, or anyone, hope to get an agreement from these seemingly intractable enemies? Two researchers think they've found at least the beginning of an answer. |
Justice for the privileged. For the rest, the rules - economic, military, legal - are plenty good enough.
by Robert C. Koehler
Take empathy out of the concept of justice and what you have left are rules: simple, mechanical, lifeless.'Are we really going to insist,' Texas Sen. John Cornyn asked the other day, after President Obama talked about closing down the Guantanamo detention facility, 'that the jihadist with a suitcase nuke captured in Times Square be read his Miranda rights . . .?' |
Where's the Anger? The Wheels Are Coming Off Obama's and the Democrats' Recovery Program
by Dave Lindorff
My bank, a small regional institution that was not involved in sub-prime lending, and that was not a recipient of any TARP bailout money, cut off my home equity line of credit two weeks ago. They did it abruptly, with no notice--I only discovered it had happened when I tried to get a $500 advance from it to cover a payment I was making on my credit card. When I asked what was going on, the local branch manager informed me that 'we are closing out a lot of credit lines while we reassess the value of houses in this region, which have been falling.' |
Density and Secrecy Will Defeat Democracy in Kennedy's Health Care Bill
by Allison Kilkenny
The public finally got a look at Senator Kennedy's behemoth 615-page health care bill, a document so gargantuan that Huffington Post put out an SOS to readers to help the editors read it. During the lead-up to the health care war, Kennedy promised Americans that the conversation about their health industry would be a national one, unlike the debacle the first time the Clintons tried to take on private health care. No more secrecy, Teddy promised. Except, this time the negotiations are -- once again -- happening behind closed doors, and the public's favorite option, single-payer, isn't represented at the table. |
Bernanke's Next Parlor Trick
by Mike Whitney
Ben Bernanke is getting ready to pull another rabbit out of his hat and he's hoping no one figures out what he's up to. Here's the scoop; the Fed chief needs to 'borrow up to $3.25 trillion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30' (Bloomberg) without triggering a run on the dollar. But, how? If the stock market keeps surging, investors will turn their backs on low-yielding US Treasuries and move into riskier securities hoping for better returns. The only way to attract more buyers to US debt is by raising interest rates which will kill the 'green shoots' of recovery and make it harder for people to buy homes and cars. It's a conundrum. |
