Are the wheels falling off Obama's bandwagon? by Doug Thompson The same mainstream media that fawned over President Barack Obama during his historic run for President and the early days of his young, yet struggling administration, are now stepping back and asking serious questions about his policy decisions and actions.
Iran sets terms for U.S. ties by Fredrik Dahl TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of better relations by demanding policy changes from Washington, but the Islamic state is not closing the door to a possible thaw in ties with its old foe.Iran wants the United States to show concrete change in its behavior toward it, for example by handing back frozen assets, but Tehran is not pursuing "eternal hostility," said Professor Mohammad Marandi at Tehran University.
Obama adviser Romer certain of economic rebound in 1 yr by Philip Barbara WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of President Barack Obama's top economic advisers said on Sunday that she was "incredibly confident" the president's efforts will turn the U.S. economy around within one year.Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said because of the programs Obama was implementing, "We will be seeing signs the economy is turning around ... (it) is growing again."
Donating for dollars? Many bailed-out banks still contributing to campaign funds by Jeremy Gantz The federal bank bailouts may be giving new meaning to the term "kickback."Many of the banks rescued last year with taxpayer money have contributed to the campaign coffers of some politicians who approved the bailouts, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Bill in Texas would allow creationists to grant Masters of Science degrees by Joe Byrne If a private college doesn't receive funds from any governmental organization, should they have to be held to any standards or requirements when they award degrees? No, one Texan lawmaker is insisting.Texas State Representative Leo Berman has proposed House Bill 2800, which would exempt any private non-profit institution that requires students to complete “substantive course work” from having to acquire a certificate of authority from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board(THECB). “If you don’t take any federal funds, if you don’t take any state funds, you can do a lot more than some business that does take state funding or federal funding,” Berman says. “Why should you be regulated if you don’t take any state or federal funding?”
US envoy: Afghanistan drug war a failure by Stephen C. Webster US and coalition efforts to eliminate the massive opium poppy trade in Afghanistan have failed under tremendous waste, according to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke."The United States alone is spending over 800 million dollars a year on counter-narcotics. We have gotten nothing out of it, nothing," Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said, at the Brussels Forum conference.
Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? by Frank Rich A CHARMING visit with Jay Leno won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss as hyperbole the stark warning delivered by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Calif., in a letter to the editor published by The Times last week: “President Obama may not realize it yet, but his Katrina moment has arrived.”
Pastor John Hagee's re-branding by Bill Berkowitz It may not be as fascinating, macabre or downright titillating as Michael Jackson's upcoming comeback tour, nor as carefully crafted, and all-consuming, as Richard Nixon's efforts to rehab his image with the public, nevertheless Pastor John Hagee's upcoming sojourn to the nation's capital is geared toward drawing crowds and headlines as well as providing a redemptive opportunity of a sort. While Jackson will be trying to moonwalk his way back into the hearts of his fans, Hagee's comeback revolves around re-stating his support for Israel while at the same time hoping that the mainstream media has forgotten about his outrageous remarks stating that God sent Hitler as a way of expediting the return of the Jews to Israel.
Diplomacy: Israel developing campaign to show its prettier side by Aimee Kligman The photo above, and the reports which accompanied the attack speak louder than any campaign to show that Israel is not only about war and aggression. But the desire to develop this massive $2million+ initiative by the Foreign Ministry reveals that the country is aware that its image has been badly tarnished.
Wall Street: Roller Coasters With Bungee Cords Attached by boloboffin Wired Magazine has published the best article that I've read so far explaining how Wall Street got into the mess that it did: A year ago, it was hardly unthinkable that a math wizard like David X. Li might someday earn a Nobel Prize. After all, financial economists—even Wall Street quants—have received the Nobel in economics before, and Li's work on measuring risk has had more impact, more quickly, than previous Nobel Prize-winning contributions to the field. Today, though, as dazed bankers, politicians, regulators, and investors survey the wreckage of the biggest financial meltdown since the Great Depression, Li is probably thankful he still has a job in finance at all. Not that his achievement should be dismissed. He took a notoriously tough nut—determining correlation, or how seemingly disparate events are related—and cracked it wide open with a simple and elegant mathematical formula, one that would become ubiquitous in finance worldwide.
