Health, insurance missing from Obama’s same-sex benefits plan
by Daniel Tencer
President Barack Obama will sign an executive memorandum this evening extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, but the extension will likely not include the two benefits considered most important: Health insurance and retirement pensions. |
Nation editor: Obama White House secrecy an ‘insidious tendency’
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
The Obama administration has refused to release a Secret Service list of the names of White House visitors, prompting angry comparisons to the Bush administration. The White House is arguing that it sometimes needs to hold secret meetings on sensitive issues, but a federal judge already dismissed that argument in two Bush administration cases. |
Feinstein denies NSA abuses; Holder refuses to call them ‘illegal’
by David Edwards and Daniel Tencer
The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee came to the defense of the National Security Agency today, saying that the federal agency didn’t commit flagrant abuses in its program to intercept American’s phone calls and emails — but stopped short of denying that the agency had overstepped its bounds or broken the law. |
'Palestinians' without 'Palestine'
by Ira Chernus
June 17, 2009'Obama welcomes Netanyahu acceptance of Palestinian state,' the headlines blared. Well, at least that's settled. With the U.S. president having shown the Israeli prime minister who is boss, both are headed toward the same long-term goal of a two-state solution - or so it seems. |
All But 32 House Dems Back Bad Wars, Big Banks
by John Nichols
Thirty-two Democrats broke with the Obama administration and House Democratic leaders Tuesday to oppose a $106 billion supplemental appropriation to maintain the occupation of Iraq, surge more troops into the quagmire that is Afghanistan and fund the International Monetary Funds anti-social policies of forcing developing countries to sacrifice programs for the poor in order to bail out big banks. |
Netanyahu Speaks; The Israel-Palestine Ball Remains in Obama's Court
by Phyllis Bennis
The Israeli prime minister's speech responding to U.S. wishes for the region amounted to little more than rhetorical change.Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu threw a rhetorical bone to President Obama in his much anticipated speech on June 14, when he used the term 'Palestinian state.' But he conceded nothing of substance, reiterating Israel's continuing rejection of real Palestinian statehood, independence, sovereignty, and self-determination. He demanded that the Palestinians recognize and accept Israel as the 'national homeland of the Jewish People,' not a state of all its citizens, thus requiring Palestinians to accept the legitimacy of Israel's discriminatory practices. And his speech continued Israel's escalation of threats against Iran. |
Activists Urge Obama to Use Trade Pact as Leverage
by Haider Rizvi
NEW YORK - The United States government is coming under intense pressure from rights organizations and environmental groups to redefine its trade pact with Peru, a tool that they charge the government in Lima is using to justify oppression against the indigenous population. |
Former Broward Judge Larry Seidlin sued by elderly neighbor
by Tonya Alanez
FORT LAUDERADALE - 'Judge Larry' is now 'Defendant Larry.'Larry Seidlin, the former Broward Circuit Court judge who gained national notoriety in the Anna Nicole Smith death case, is being sued by an elderly neighbor who claims the judge fleeced her of money and property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. |
