Wyly brothers built an empire side-by-side ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/31/2010Born during the Depression in a northeast Louisiana plantation town of 3,000, Charles Wyly and his younger brother Sam have been inseparable since childhood: numbers 3 and 13 on the state-championship high school football team, business partners who turned ideas into billion-dollar companies, philanthropic champions and benefactors of politicians, including the Bush political dynasty. Now the brothers are co-defendants in a far-reaching securities fraud suit
Rangel says colleagues who similarly sought donations were not punished ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/31/2010Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) has chosen a less-than-collegial defense to charges that he violated House ethics rules when he asked corporate donors with legislative interests to give to an academic center bearing his name.
He was not the only lawmaker to solicit donations in this manner, his lawyers argue, saying that peers who did the same thing were not punished.
Senate approves jobless payments to millions ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Houston Chronicle07/30/2010WASHINGTON — State unemployment agencies are gearing up to resume sending unemployment payments to millions of people as Congress moves to ship President Barack Obama a measure to restore lapsed benefits.
After months of increasingly bitter stalemate, the Senate passed the measure Wednesday by a 59-39 vote.
Obama promised to quickly sign the legislation into law once the House takes a final vote on Thursday.
“Americans who are working day and night to get back on their feet and support
Arizona immigration protesters hit the streets ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ LA Times07/30/2010Reporting from Phoenix —
Hundreds of marchers protesting Arizona's hard-line stance against illegal immigration took to the streets Thursday even as the local sheriff launched raids to arrest illegal migrants — vivid signs that the court ruling stopping most of a controversial state law will not quell the furious debate over immigration here.
And as expected, the state swiftly appealed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, who on Wednesday temporarily halted key parts of the law o
SEC charges billionaire Texas brothers who donate to GOP with fraud ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/30/2010Sam and Charles Wyly, billionaire Texas brothers who gained prominence spending millions of dollars on conservative political causes, committed fraud by using secret overseas accounts to generate more than $550 million in profit through illegal stock trades, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thursday.
A good 'View' for Obama ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/30/2010Anyone who scoffed at the president's decision to hang with Whoopi and the gang was out to lunch.
That includes you, Rosie.
The appearance was good for him, good for "The View" and, incidentally, good for the audience.
Yes, the world was not panting to find out that the president of the United States doesn't know who Snooki is. And, as a Twitter enthusiast, I was personally crushed to learn that he knows nothing about his account other than that "some 20-year-old" is tweeting for him.
Sarah Palin chooses her next "mama grizzly" ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/30/2010Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed Wyoming State Auditor Rita Meyer's campaign for governor as the 2008 vice presidential nominee continues to back a stable of women running in contested statewide primary races.
"Voters know that Rita has a unique blend of steel magnolia and mama grizzly," Palin wrote on her Facebook page. "Her true grit has not escaped the eye of other Americans who know that at every level of political office we all benefit with commonsense constitutional conser
Democrat Rangel charged with 13 ethics violations ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/30/2010The House ethics committee charged Rep. Charles B. Rangel with 13 separate violations of House rules Thursday, saying his various financial dealings broke the "public trust." The long-awaited release of the charges against Rangel at an afternoon hearing was the first formal step toward a possible ethics trial in mid-September.
After eleventh-hour settlement talks broke down, the committee announced that it had found "substantial reason to believe" that the New York Democrat had violated Hou
Within the Fed, Worries of Deflation ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/30/2010WASHINGTON — A subtle but significant shift appears to be occurring within the Federal Reserve over the course of monetary policy as the economic recovery is weakening.
On Thursday, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, warned that the Fed’s policies were putting the economy at risk of becoming “enmeshed in a Japanese-style deflationary outcome within the next several years.”
The warning by Mr. Bullard, who is a voting member of the Fed committee that determi
Emotions Flare After Immigration Law Is Blocked ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/30/2010PHOENIX — As the Arizona governor on Thursday formally appealed a federal judge’s ruling that prevented the most contested parts of the state’s immigration law from taking effect, a burst of protest and recrimination made clear the ruling had hardly soothed emotions in the state.
The new law technically went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, but major provisions of it, including one giving police officers a larger role in enforcing immigration violations, were suspended Wednesday by the
Advertise on NYTimes.com Gates Assails WikiLeaks Over Release of Reports ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/30/2010WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday denounced the disclosure this week of 75,000 classified documents about the Afghanistan war by the Web site WikiLeaks, asserting that the security breach had endangered lives and damaged the ability of others to trust the United States government to protect their secrets.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Mr. Gates portrayed the documents as “a mountain of raw data and individual impressions, most several years old” that offered
Republicans Block Bill to Aid Small Business ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/30/2010WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected a bill to aid small businesses with expanded loan programs and tax breaks, in a procedural blockade that underscored how fiercely determined the party’s leaders are to deny Democrats any further legislative accomplishments ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The measure, championed by Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, had the backing of some of the Republican Party’s most reliable business allies, including the United St
Charges against Rangel unveiled after efforts to reach settlement fail ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/29/2010The House ethics committee formally unveiled charges Thursday against Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) after efforts to reach a settlement apparently fell short, setting in motion a potentially historic trial of the 20-term congressman.
In a preliminary hearing on the case, a subcommittee disclosed 13 charges that lawmakers described as "very serious" violations of House rules and federal law. Rangel did not appear at the hearing -- his presence was not required -- but he submitted a written
Snowe is fourth Senate Republican to support Kagan nomination ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/29/2010WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan picked up support from another Senate Republican today, as Olympia Snowe, of Maine, announced she would support Kagan's nomination.
Snowe is the fourth Republican to announce her support. Republicans Susan Collins, also of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have already said they will vote to confirm Kagan.
Arizona county deported 26,146 ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/29/2010WASHINGTON — Officers from a single Arizona county helped deport more than 26,000 immigrants from the United States through a federal-local partnership program that has been roundly criticized as fraught with problems.
Statistics obtained by the Associated Press show that the Maricopa County sheriff’s office was responsible for the deportation or forced departure of 26,146 immigrants since 2007.
That is about a quarter of the national total of 115,841 sent out of the United States by offi
Ruling Against Arizona Is a Warning for Other States ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/29/2010A federal judge in Arizona on Wednesday broadly vindicated the Obama administration’s high-stakes move to challenge that state’s tough immigration law and to assert the primary authority of the federal government over state lawmakers in immigration matters.
The ruling by Judge Susan R. Bolton, in a lawsuit against Arizona brought on July 6 by the Justice Department, blocked central provisions of the law from taking effect while she finishes hearing the case.
But in taking the forceful s
Immigration demonstrations kick off in Arizona ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ LA Times07/29/2010Reporting from Phoenix —
Opponents of Arizona's hardline stance on illegal immigration launched a small religious procession from the state Capitol before dawn Thursday, the first of a series of demonstrations for the day the nation's strictest immigration law was due to take effect.
A federal judge Wednesday halted implementation of much of the law, known as SB1070, ruling it unconstitutional. But activists said they had to keep up the pressure on a state that has come to define the nation
House lawmakers, citing corruption, may block $4 billion in aid to Afghanistan ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ LA Times07/29/2010Reporting from Washington —
House lawmakers voiced deep doubts on Wednesday about the Obama administration's efforts to fight corruption in Afghanistan, and warned that they may block $4 billion in U.S. aid unless they are convinced it will not be stolen or wasted.
At a time of growing skepticism in Congress about the Afghanistan mission, lawmakers told U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke that they lacked confidence in the Afghan government's promises to end corruption, and the Obama administra
'The intent of both proposals is to make the Senate more like the Senate' ♦♦ By: Ezra Klein ♦♦ Washington Post07/29/2010This morning, I went to the latest in a series of Senate Rules Committee hearings on filibusters and holds. This one focused on two reform proposals, offered by Sens. Michael Bennet and Frank Lautenberg.
Bennet's proposal is quite sweeping. It would eliminate anonymous holds, limit holds without bipartisan support to two days, and limit all holds to 30 days. It would require 41 senators to vote to uphold the filibuster, reversing the current requirement that 60 senators vote to stop it. That
On midterm campaign trail, Obama mixes populist appeal with wooing of big donors ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/29/2010President Obama's message to voters this election year is simple and full of populist zeal: Democrats are on the side of the little guy, not the Wall Street brokers, celebrities and chief executives.
And yet as his poll numbers slide, the president's greatest utility to Democratic candidates may not be his presence at campaign events -- some would prefer that he keep his distance -- but his still impressive skill at vacuuming up millions of dollars from some of the country's richest and mos
Poll shows opposition to health care overhaul declining ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/29/2010Opposition to the landmark health care overhaul declined over the past month, to 35 percent from 41 percent, according to the latest results of a tracking poll, reported Thursday.
Fifty percent of the public held a favorable view of the law, up slightly from 48 percent a month ago, while 14 percent expressed no opinion about the measure, according to the poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The approval level was the highest for the legislation since it was enacted in March, after a div
A Matter of Time ♦♦ By: Michael J. Panzner ♦♦ Financial Armageddon07/29/2010They are going to have to spend more of our money to keep their ponzi going. Shouldn't we be telling them no?
Bill Gross Ponders "Deep Demographic Doo-Doo" ♦♦ By: Mike "Mish" Shedlock ♦♦ Global Economic Trend Analysis07/29/2010Public economic policy depends on "growing our way out of fiscal irresponsibility". What happens when you aren't growing? Their models fall apart. If ever there was a time when we need new faces in Washington it is now.
Oh, They DO Intend To Steal From You ♦♦ By: Karl Denninger ♦♦ Market-Ticker07/29/2010Washington and Wall Street ... keeping secrets again. This time ... as usual ... it means that law enforcement is selective at best.
Dems election strategy: Equate GOP and tea party ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/28/2010WASHINGTON -- The Democrats' national chairman on Wednesday trotted out his party's fall election strategy to limit potential GOP gains, claiming Republican goals are inseparable from the tea party's, from killing off Medicare to abolishing the departments of Education and Energy.
Republicans brushed off Tim Kaine's attack and struck back at the Democrats who run Washington, saying their "arrogant agenda" has so frustrated voters that they want a new party in charge.
DNC plan tries to tie Republican Party to fringe 'tea party' elements ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/28/2010Democratic leaders unveiled a plan Wednesday to link the Republican Party to some of the most extreme elements of the "tea party" movement, seeking to define all GOP candidates as outside the mainstream by highlighting such tea party talking points as ending Medicare and privatizing Social Security.
With lawmakers preparing to head home to their districts to campaign during the August recess, Democratic leaders sought to demonstrate that all Republicans are cut from the same cloth as such
Judge Blocks Key Parts of Immigration Law in Arizona ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/28/2010PHOENIX — A federal judge, ruling on a clash between the federal government and a state over immigration policy, has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect.
In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on the border state’s fierce debate over immigration, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix said some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday.
Criminal probe of oil spill to focus on 3 firms and their ties to regulators ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/28/2010A team of federal investigators known as the "BP squad" is assembling in New Orleans to conduct a wide-ranging criminal probe that will focus on at least three companies and examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to law enforcement and other sources.
Paper: Perry land deal benefited from courtesies ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Houston Chronicle07/28/2010DALLAS — Gov. Rick Perry's investment in a Texas resort property was enhanced by a series of professional courtesies and personal favors from friends, campaign donors and the head of a Texas family with a rich history of political power-brokering, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday.
Together they may have enriched the Republican governor by nearly $500,000, according to an independent real estate appraisal commissioned by the newspaper.
Perry's aides said all transactions surrounding
On opposite sides of world, Obama and former Australian PM linked by a common story ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/28/2010Is there an ominous message for President Obama coming from Down Under?
Kevin Rudd's tenure as prime minister of Australia, from 2007 until last month, can be seen as an almost eerie harbinger of Obama's political fortunes.
A young, charismatic leader, Rudd catapulted to leadership with the same wonky-but-inspiring persona and a can-do message of government action that foreshadowed the Obama campaign of a year later.
Why Some Republicans Want to ‘Restore’ the 13th Amendment ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ MSNBC07/28/2010f there is an aspect of the human condition that is unaddressed by the platform of the Republican Party of Iowa, adopted last month at the state convention in Des Moines, you’d have to look awfully hard to find it. Its 387 enumerated planks and principles range widely over politics, culture, and economics, from sweeping statements of belief (“America is good”) to the fine nuances of agricultural policy (“We support the definition of manure as natural fertilizer”) and touching on the mythical “N
Rangel seeks plea agreement to avoid ethics trial ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/28/2010WASHINGTON — Representative Charles Rangel attempted a last-minute plea deal yesterday to head off a House ethics trial that could embarrass him and damage Democrats facing potentially severe election losses.
The talks between Rangel’s lawyer and the House Ethics Committee’s nonpartisan attorneys were confirmed by Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and ethics chairwoman. She said she is not involved in the talks, adding that the committee’s lawmakers have always accepted the professional st
Ariz. braces for immigration law ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/28/2010PHOENIX — The sheriff of Arizona’s most populous county is making room in a vast outdoor jail and determined to round up illegal immigrants to fill it. Police from the US-Mexico border to the Grand Canyon are getting last-minute training. And protests and marches are planned throughout Phoenix.
Arizona’s new immigration law takes effect tomorrow, creating a potentially volatile mix of police, illegal immigrants, and thousands of activists, many planning to show up without identification as a
Ex-Regulators Get Set to Lobby on New Financial Rules ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/28/2010WASHINGTON — As the battle over toughened financial restrictions moves to a new front, the regulatory agencies that will create hundreds of new rules for the nation’s banks will face a lobbying blitz from companies intent on softening the blow. And many of the lobbyists the regulators hear from will be their former colleagues.
Nearly 150 lobbyists registered since last year used to work in the executive branch at financial agencies, from lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission to
Campaign Finance Bill Is Set Aside ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/28/2010WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday refused to take up a bill that would require more disclosure of the role of corporations, unions and other special interests in bankrolling political advertisements, after Democrats failed to persuade even one Republican to support it.
The bill was drafted in response to a Supreme Court decision in January allowing unlimited campaign spending by corporations and interest groups.
House Approves Money for Wars, but Rift Deepens ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/28/2010WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to provide $59 billion to continue financing America’s two wars, but the vote showed deepening divisions and anxiety among Democrats over the course of the nearly nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
The 308-to-114 vote, with strong Republican support, came after the leak of an archive of classified battlefield reports from Afghanistan that fueled new debate over the course of the war and whether President Obama’s counterinsurgen
House to vote on war spending bill amid calls for change in strategy ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/27/2010WASHINGTON – House lawmakers this afternoon are planning to vote on a bill that would add $33 billion in spending for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a proposal that has stoked further controversy in the wake of new disclosures this week.
House rules will require a two-thirds majority to pass the bill, which includes several other spending items, and the vote is expected to be close.
Representative James P. McGovern, a leading anti-war Democrat, has been harshly critical of the additional f
New Health Official Faces Hostility in Senate ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/27/2010WASHINGTON – House lawmakers this afternoon are planning to vote on a bill that would add $33 billion in spending for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a proposal that has stoked further controversy in the wake of new disclosures this week.
House rules will require a two-thirds majority to pass the bill, which includes several other spending items, and the vote is expected to be close.
Representative James P. McGovern, a leading anti-war Democrat, has been harshly critical of the additional f
New Health Official Faces Hostility in Senate ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/27/2010WASHINGTON — Unlike many other health policy experts, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the new chief of Medicare and Medicaid, has extensive real world experience.
As co-founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., he worked with doctors and nurses to upgrade care at hundreds of hospitals from Contra Costa County, Calif., to Green Bay, Wis., to Florence, S.C. — and from Britain to Sweden to South Africa.
He led efforts to reduce medical errors, eliminate hospital-acqui
Democrats push forward on campaign spending disclosure act ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/27/2010WASHINGTON — Facing a difficult climb to the 60 votes needed to overcome resistance by Republicans, Senate Democrats are pushing forward this afternoon toward a vote on legislation that would force more spending disclosure in federal campaigns.
Democrats had hopes that Senator Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, could be persuaded to support the bill, known as the DISCLOSE Act, but Brown’s office confirmed this morning that he remains opposed.
Obama, GOP spar over how to revive ailing economy ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Houston Chronicle07/27/2010WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama derided an economic plan from the top House Republican as repeating job-killing policies of the past that help drive the country into recession.
In turn, House GOP leader John Boehner said the president had stooped to partisan attacks because he can't sell his own plan at a time when millions of people want to know what happened to the jobs Obama promised to create.
Days after signing into law tougher regulations on the financial industry, Obama said S
Test ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ AAA Staff07/27/2010Please disregard
Obama Assails Republicans on Campaign Finance ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday sought political advantage from the expected defeat of a campaign finance measure that he has championed by pre-emptively attacking its Republican opponents for “nothing less than a vote to allow corporate and special-interest takeovers of our elections.”
Mr. Obama’s statement to reporters at the White House was added to his daily schedule after it became clear that the Senate would vote Tuesday on whether to take up a bill that would require corporat
Document Leak May Hurt Efforts to Build War Support ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/27/2010WASHINGTON — The disclosure of a six-year archive of classified military documents increased pressure on President Obama to defend his military strategy as Congress prepares to deliberate financing of the Afghanistan war.
The disclosures, with their detailed account of a war faring even more poorly than two administrations had portrayed, landed at a crucial moment. Because of difficulties on the ground and mounting casualties in the war, the debate over the American presence in Afghanistan
WikiLeaks disclosures unlikely to change course of Afghanistan war ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010In the first 24 hours after the unauthorized release of more than 91,000 secret documents about the war in Afghanistan, a few things became clear to the officials, lawmakers and experts reading them:
-- New evidence that the war effort is plagued by unreliable Afghan and Pakistani partners seems unlikely to undermine fragile congressional support or force the Obama administration to shift strategy.
-- The disclosure of what are mostly battlefield updates does not appear to represent a ma
GE finds itself on wrong side of Obama's defense agenda ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010For more than a year, General Electric has been notable among U.S. corporations for enjoying generally friendly relations with the White House. The company was broadly supportive of President Obama's stimulus efforts, and its chairman, Jeffrey Immelt, sits on a White House economic advisory board.
But now the White House and GE are clashing publicly over a fighter-jet engine -- built by the company and its British partner, Rolls-Royce -- that has been on the Pentagon's chopping block for ye
Obama finds that the Internet bites back ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010For a man who came to power by harnessing the potential of the Internet, President Obama has been oddly out of sorts in recent days as the medium turned against him.
Last week, his advisers embarrassed themselves when they fired a mid-level Agriculture Department official over a supposedly racist video clip on
a right-wing blog -- only to apologize and offer to rehire her when they learned that the innocent woman had been the victim of selective excerpting.
Then, on Monday afternoon, W
At Blagojevich trial, 'dirty schemes' in detail ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010CHICAGO -- As governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich was a bully who rigged state business to build his campaign treasury and line his pockets, a federal prosecutor said Monday, urging jurors to find Blagojevich guilty of two dozen corruption charges.
Blagojevich (D) broke the law repeatedly, ending with a frenzied 2008 attempt to sell the Senate seat once held by President Obama, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Niewoehner said at the close of a seven-week trial, detailing what he descr
Among House Democrats in Rust Belt, a sense of abandonment over energy bill ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/27/2010When Democratic Rep. John Boccieri went home to Ohio early this year to talk with voters in his Canton-based district, he figured he would have to do battle with at least some constituents over his support for health-care reform. And the economic stimulus. And the auto company bailouts.
But at a meeting with business leaders, he had to come up with fast answers on something completely different: Why, the businessmen wanted to know, had Boccieri voted for a bill last summer to cap carbon em
Where Economic Success is Going to Come From ♦♦ By: John Mason ♦♦ Mase: Economics and Finance07/27/2010Government intervention in markets has lead to malinvestments. And ... to think they want to intervene some more. These guys are not smart enough. In fact ... they have outsmarted themselves and as usual we pay for their mistakes.
Leaks Add to Pressure on White House Over Strategy ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/26/2010WASHINGTON — The White House sought to reassert control over the public debate on the Afghanistan war on Monday as political reaction to the disclosure of a six-year archive of classified military documents increased the pressure on President Obama to defend his war strategy.
On Capitol Hill, leading Democratic lawmakers said the documents, with their fine-grain portrayal of a war faring even more poorly than two administrations have previously portrayed, would intensify congressional scrut
GOP lawmakers optimistic about 'no' votes ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/26/2010n February, when unpredictable Sen. Jim Bunning single-handedly stalled extensions of unemployment benefits for several days, his Republican colleagues quickly abandoned him, worried that the GOP would be cast as the party against helping people who are out of work.
Last month, as jobless benefits were again to set to expire, Bunning (Ky.) still objected to funding them in a way that would increase the deficit. But this time, nearly every Republican in the Senate joined him, leading to a mon
WikiLeaks: More US documents coming on Afghan war ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ AAA Staff07/26/2010LONDON—The release of some 91,000 secret U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war is just the beginning, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised Monday, adding that he still has thousands more Afghan files to post online.
The White House, Britain and Pakistan have all condemned the online whistle-blowing group's release Sunday of the classified documents, one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history. The Afghan government in Kabul said it was "shocked" at the relea
Warren’s Candidacy Raises a Partisan Debate ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/26/2010Elizabeth Warren last week won the endorsements of several dozen Congressional Democrats, two of the nation’s leading labor groups and her hometown newspaper, The Boston Globe.
One would be forgiven for thinking that the Harvard professor is running for elected office.
Instead, Ms. Warren’s supporters want President Obama to nominate her as the first head of a new consumer financial protection bureau created by the legislation he signed into law last week. They say that Ms. Warren, who
White House: Afghan war leaks put lives 'at risk' 90,000 military records are disclosed online ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ MSNBC07/26/2010WASHINGTON — Some 90,000 leaked U.S. military records posted online Sunday amount to a blow-by-blow account of six years of the Afghanistan war, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures.
The online whistle-blower WikiLeaks posted the documents on its website Sunday. The New York Times, London's Guardian newspaper and the German weekly Der Spiegel were given early access to the documents.
The White House responded imme
The Tax Con ♦♦ By: Tom Lindmark ♦♦ But Then What07/26/2010We have to raise taxes because we can't reduce spending? Maybe we need somebody else in charge.
President Obama signs six-month extension of emergency unemployment benefits ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/23/2010President Obama signed a six-month extension of emergency jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, restoring aid to nearly 3 million people whose checks have been cut off since the program expired in early June.
The White House signing ceremony came barely three hours after the House approved the $34 billion measure on a vote of 272 to 152. The Senate passed the measure Wednesday after a months-long stalemate. President Obama signs six-month extension of emergency unemploym
APNewsBreak: Records show Greene's military flops ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/23/2010COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Surprise U.S. Senate nominee Alvin Greene frequently mentions his 13 years of military service, but records obtained Thursday by The Associated Press show that the veteran who has called himself an "American hero" was considered a lackluster service member at best.
The records, which document his superiors' decisions to pass over Greene for promotion, cite mistakes as severe as improperly uploading sensitive intelligence information to a military server, and as basic as an
A place for race on Obama's agenda ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/23/2010Two years ago, in a powerful speech in Philadelphia, presidential candidate Barack Obama warned that Americans will not be able to overcome their divisions if they continue to "tackle race only as a spectacle."
This week, however, the subject of race returned to the forefront as just that: A spectacle over a selectively edited Internet video that led to the hasty firing of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod for seemingly making racist comments. Then came a rush of recrimination
House set to approve additional jobless benefits ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ AAA Staff07/22/2010WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is one House vote away from resuming unemployment payments to millions of people whose benefits have lapsed as the nation suffers through a wretched job market.
President Barack Obama is set to sign the bill as soon as Congress can ship it to him. The Senate broke through months of stalemate in passing the measure Wednesday by a 59-39 vote. The House was expected to pass it around midday Thursday.
Some 2.5 million people who have been out of work for six months
Workers on Doomed Rig Voiced Concern About Safety ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/22/2010WASHINGTON — A confidential survey of workers on the Deepwater Horizon in the weeks before the oil rig exploded showed that many of them were concerned about safety practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes or other problems.
In the survey, commissioned by the rig’s owner, Transocean, workers said that company plans were not carried out properly and that they “often saw unsafe behaviors on the rig.”
Some workers also voiced concerns about poor equipment reliability, “whic
Boehner not sure if his brothers have jobs ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/22/2010At a media breakfast Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner attempted to show that he sympathizes with the unemployed. But in the process he admitted that he didn't even know whether his own siblings had jobs.
"I've got real empathy for those who are unemployed," the Ohio Republican said. "As most of you know, I've got 11 brothers and sisters. I know that three of my brothers lost their jobs. I'm not sure whether they've found jobs, yet, so I've got a lot of empathy for those caught i
The Obama team's image of steely resolve gets a bit tarnished ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/22/2010At the height of the 2008 presidential campaign, as Barack Obama started the search for a running mate, the media seized onto a story about Jim Johnson, the man Obama had chosen to lead the search.
Reports started emerging that Johnson had received a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide, a firm he had once regulated, and as the media frenzy began, Obama and his top aides huddled to discuss it.
David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, later called it a "Grade-A s---storm."
"The day the
Shirley Sherrod wants to talk to President Obama ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/22/2010Ousted but now recruited U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod says she wants to hear directly from President Obama that he and his administration are fully committed to fighting discrimination against black farmers.
“I can’t say that the president is fully behind me,” Sherrod told ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday morning. “I would hope that he is…I would love to talk to him.”
Sherrod -- whose forced resignation Monday night based on a misleading video snippet led to
Three of every four oil and gas lobbyists worked for federal government ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/22/2010Three out of every four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked in the federal government, a proportion that far exceeds the usual revolving-door standards on Capitol Hill, a Washington Post analysis shows.
Key lobbying hires include 18 former members of Congress and dozens of former presidential appointees. For other senior management positions, the industry employs two former directors of the Minerals Management Service, the since-renamed agency that regulates the
Obama signs financial overhaul law ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ LA Times07/21/2010The legislation creates a bureau with the power to make rules for credit cards, mortgages and other products. Backers say the law is powerful protection for consumers; foes see a 'permanent bailout' and a 'boondoggle.'
Reporting from Washington —
Declaring that "the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes," President Obama on Wednesday signed landmark legislation providing the most sweeping overhaul of financial rules since the Great Depression.
FDA orders halt in enrollment in clinical trial for diabetes drug Avandia ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Boston Globe07/21/2010WASHINGTON – The FDA today ordered drug maker GlaxoSmithKline to stop enrolling new patients in a controversial clinical trial of its widely marketed diabetes drug, Avandia.
One of the 17 sites that has been enlisting patients for the study, comparing the safety of Avandia to another drug, Actos, is in Haverhill; the doctor overseeing patients for that location in the trial, Dr. Seth Bilazarian, has declined to say how many patients he has recruited in the trial thus far. Bilazarian did not
Excluded from invitation list for Obama's signing of Wall Street reform: Wall Street titans ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/21/2010When President Obama steps Wednesday onto the stage at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center to sign Wall Street reform into law, many of the titans of Wall Street will be absent.
Among those who did not receive an invitation to be among the 400 people at the 11:30 a.m. bill signing: Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, Goldman Sachs's Lloyd Blankfein, Wells Fargo's John G. Stumpf and -- somewhat surprisingly -- J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon.
Firing of USDA official Shirley Sherrod now under review ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ Washington Post07/21/2010A fuzzy video of a racially themed speech that prompted the ouster this week of an Agriculture Department official has opened a new front in the ongoing war between the left and right over which side is at fault for stoking persistent forces of racism in politics.
By early Wednesday, as the full context of the video became known, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he would review his decision to ask USDA official Shirley Sherrod to step down.
Long-Term Jobless in the Current Economic Malaise ♦♦ By: John Mason ♦♦ Mase: Economics and Finance07/21/2010These clowns want to repeat themselves. Their fooling around with the market over the past 50 years is the heart of the darkness. In fact they are not quite as smart as they think they are.
With one-two punch, Goldman Sachs' second-quarter profit takes a dive ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ LA Times07/20/2010Reporting from New York —
Hit by a big government fine and difficult trading conditions, leading Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has reported a sharply lower profit.
The bank announced Tuesday morning that profit in the second quarter of the year was down 86% from the first quarter of 2010 and 84% from the second quarter of 2009 to $613 million, or 0.78 cents a share.
The announcement by the company comes just days after it settled a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Com
Senate Is Set to Extend Aid to the Jobless ♦♦ By: AAA Staff ♦♦ New York Times07/20/2010WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are poised to break a partisan stalemate on Tuesday over extending unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who have been jobless for six months or more, but the fight seems certain to continue playing out as a defining issue in the midterm elections.
One day before a crucial procedural vote to provide added unemployment assistance through November, President Obama appeared in the Rose Garden on Monday with three out-of-work Americans to hammer Republica