Obama: ‘No time for delay’ on credit card reform by Raw Story US President Barack Obama on Saturday renewed his appeal to Congress to pass a credit card reform bill that would outlaw sudden interest rate increases, hidden fees and what the White House calls “unfair penalties.”“There is no time for delay,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “We need a durable and successful flow of credit in our economy, but we can’t tolerate profits that depend upon misleading working families.”
U.S. forces shoot Iraqi boy dead after grenade attack by Reuters BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Saturday its troops had shot dead a 12-year-old Iraqi boy suspected of throwing a grenade at them, and said it believed insurgents were paying children to help them.Iraqi police, speaking on condition of anonymity, said however the boy, whom they named as Omar Moussa Salih, had not been involved in the grenade-throwing.
Report: Under Obama, military commissions may return by Stephen C. Webster “By any measure, our system of trying detainees has been an enormous failure,” Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama said as a candidate for president.However, in what would appear to be a major reversal from campaign promises, the Obama administration is on the verge of reestablishing controversial military commissions the Bush administration used to try terror war prisoners, a Saturday report revealed.
Chevron’s Environmental Disaster in Ecuador by Paul Paz y Mińo I grew up with family tales about the unique beauty of Ecuador. My father's family made their living on tourism in the Andes, the Galapagos, and the Amazon. Sadly, what was to us a mysterious and majestic example of the wonder of creation was merely a dumping ground to Texaco. They chose to discard 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the pristine rainforest, poisoning its people.
Psychologists' E-Mails Stir Interrogation Issue by Farah Stockman Critics urge inquiry on ethics questionWASHINGTON - Newly public e-mails between psychologists involved in the Bush administration's controversial detention program have fueled a fierce debate over whether mental-health professionals should give advice on warfare, and whether the nation's largest psychology association tacitly blessed the government's use of abusive interrogations involving waterboarding and sleep deprivation.
Court allows police to track vehicles with GPS by Stephen C. Webster A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that police were within their constitutional authority when they placed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle belonging to a man accused of stalking.The decision was rendered following the denial of an appeal by Michael Sveum, who was convicted of aggravated stalking. Sveum petitioned the court to overturn his conviction, but the court ruled that police — who had obtained a warrant to track Sveum’s vehicle — did not in fact need a warrant so long as the device was on the outside of the vehicle.
Far From Over by Bob Herbert It’s a measure of just how terrible the economy has become that a loss of more than a half-million jobs in just one month can be widely seen as a good sign. The house is still burning down, but not quite as fast.I can understand why people are relieved that we no longer seem to be hurtling toward a depression, but beyond that I see very little to be happy about.
The Care and Feeding of Arlen by Gail Colins Our topic for today is party loyalty. Not a much-valued characteristic these days. Really, not all that cool since somewhere around the Eisenhower administration. Or maybe Grover Cleveland.We just went through a whole election in which everybody wanted to be a maverick. And Arlen Specter had been a Democrat for only six days before he was on “Meet the Press” denying that he had ever told President Obama that he would be loyal.
Piggish Capitalism - The Connection Between Swine Flu Outbreaks & Wall Street's Meltdown by David Sirota Let's say you have a diversified industry of small, medium and large sized firms. Let's say you then gut anti-trust enforcement, eviscerate regulation, and massively increase subsidization to create textbook oligopoly. And then, finally, let's say the few mega-conglomerates that dominate the oligopoly make big mistakes and dangerous decisions. What are you going to get? As I show in my new newspaper column, you're going to get exactly what you got not just in the Wall Street meltdown, but also in the swine-flu outbreak.
I'm not against religion, I'm against religious hypocrisy by Mary Shaw From time to time I write articles and blog posts that are critical of religious hypocrisy.That always generates hate mail to my inbox from Christians who seem to think I am criticizing their religion. I assure you that is not the case.While I am not a religious person, I respect the right of every human being to subscribe to whatever religions/philosophies work for them. Indeed, as a human rights activist, I feel obligated to defend Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
The last thing we need: The return of high energy prices. by Matthew Hubbard In the press, there is quiet talk of positive signs in the economy. Beyond the good news that the stock market is no longer plummeting, the reasons for this guarded optimism elude me.There has been a positive trend for the world economy since this time last year, though it is hardly news. Last May, the price of a barrel of crude oil was over $120, and in July it peaked at over $140. There was a time when the rule of thumb was that a gallon of gas would cost about 5% the price of a barrel of crude, but the price increases seen this century mercifully ended that correlation. Even so, crude prices well over $100 a barrel meant a gallon of gas was about $4, and the general economy suffered greatly under that extra burden for the cost of transporting goods and people.
Health Noir: $10 Million Ransom Demand for Data - and Stranger Crimes Are Coming by RJ Eskow "Attention, Virginia!" the ransom note begins. "I have your shit! In *my* possession, right now, are 8,257,378 patient records and a total of 35,548,087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uhoh :( "
Auto Bailout Could Export American Jobs by Brent Budowsky If you look closely at the way the auto bailout is being managed, it appears that one of the major results will be that American taxpayers’ money will be used to move automotive jobs away from America, into low-wage foreign nations. This is what happens when a bailout is treated like an investment banking problem, not a business-rebuilding or job-creating program. A taxpayer bailout should not move jobs from the Midwest to low-wage nations.
American Expression: Card Companies Resisting Reforms by Danny Schechter Will The US Senate Pass Long Needed Reforms Of Credit Card Abuses?I was recently advised by American Express, a company whose credit cards I pay in full each and every month, and with whom I have been a paying "member" since l981, that my credit card limit is being cut. I have become unworthy.
The Obama Administration is Becoming a Stand-Up Comedy Act by Dave Lindorff What a joke the Obama administration is becoming, as it keeps trying to prop up failing industry after failing industry.First we had the president becoming First Car Salesman, offering federal guarantees for GM and Chrysler car warrantees so that potential car customers wouldn't turn away from those two companies' showrooms fearing that the manufacturers would go bust and leave them holding the bag. Then he started touting the cars themselves, saying they were "great products" and that people should go out and buy them.
