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US Congress withholds billions from Medicaid, jobless benefits
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/medi-j01.shtml
The failure of Congress to pass a bill containing Medicaid relief to the states and jobless benefit extensions to millions of long-term unemployed workers ensures that the social crisis will intensify in the coming weeks and months. The decision will result in a new wave of foreclosures, evictions, homelessness, and hunger, while states will be compelled to further slash social spending.
PermalinkWhy a Bank-Bashing Populist Democrats Opposed the Wall Street "Reform" Bill
No member of the House has been a harsher critic of the abuses of big banks and Wall Street that Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur. No member of the House has been more on-target in his condemnations and her calls for reform. During the bank bailout fight of 2008, Kaptur became a national folk-hero as millions of Americans clicked on YouTube videos of her ripping the bankers who had come to Congress looking for handouts. "The crimes of Wall Street will make Watergate look like penny ante theives," she declared. In particular, Kaptur condemned the bailout for failing to protect families facing foreclosure.
Senate GOP again kills jobless aid extension
Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38021290/ns/business-us_business
For the third time in three weeks, Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing unemployment checks to millions of people.
The GOP's Genetic Link to Big Oil
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25848.htm
If scientists were to compare the DNA of Republican congress-critters and of oil corporations, I'll bet they'd find that they match perfectly. After all, the two species have identical political instincts and seem to have a natural affinity for each other — so I'm pretty sure they sprang from the same genetic pool.
National debt soars to highest level since WWII
The federal debt will represent 62% of the nation's economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Kagan Hearings: Gags, Guns, God, and Gays
Link: http://www.truth-out.org/kagan-hearings-gags-guns-god-and-gays60943
Kagan has never been a judge and she hasn't published very many academic law opinions. As a result, the confirmation process is leaning heavily on her counsels to President Bill Clinton as a White House adviser, her clerkship with legendary liberal Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and her stint as Dean of Harvard Law School.
War-funding puzzle stumps Democrats
Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39203.html
House Democratic support for the war in Afghanistan has eroded to a point where President Barack Obama is now so reliant on Republican votes that he’s backtracking from his own party’s efforts to add new education funding to avert teacher layoffs.
Top Republican: Raise Social Security's retirement age to 70
Boehner, the top Republican lawmaker in the House, said "We're all living a lot longer than anyone ever expected," The GOP leader said Social Security was the most important entitlement to reform, though he also pledged Republicans would bring legislation to the floor to repeal and replace the healthcare reforms passed earlier this year if the GOP wins back control of the House this fall.
Obama and Cameron pledge to defend BP profits
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/obam-j29.shtml
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron met this weekend during the G20 summit in Canada to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the BP oil spill. The goal of the meeting, however, was not to coordinate cleanup and recovery efforts, but to once again give a US and UK government guarantee of the profits of BP.
Billions Missing, Lies Mounting
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/further/2010/06/29
In Congress on Monday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich told it straight on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: billions of dollars "gone missing," as in stolen, by warlords, drug lords, corrupt government officials "underwritten by the lives of our troops." While people at home lose jobs, homes, savings, schooling, pensions, hope.
U.S. charges 11 as secret agents; Russia calls action 'unfounded'
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/europe/la-naw-russian-agents-20100630,0,3690752.story
An FBI investigation turns up a vast spy operation on the East Coast with 'deep cover' assignments. Russia's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the arrests are a throwback to the Cold War.
House, Senate Democrats agree on pro-Wall Street bank “reform”
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/bank-j28.shtml
The financial regulatory overhaul agreed to Friday by House and Senate conferees represents a total capitulation by the Obama administration and Congress to Wall Street. The measure that was announced following a 20-hour negotiating session was even weaker than the largely token bills passed last December by the House of Representatives and by the Senate last month. It is expected to be voted on this week by the two congressional chambers.
Sticking the Public With the Bill for the Bankers' Crisis
Link: http://www.thenation.com/article/36771/sticking-public-bill-bankers-crisis
I'm talking about the heads of state who, on Sunday night, smashed social safety nets and burned good jobs in the middle of a recession. Faced with the effects of a crisis created by the world's wealthiest and most privileged strata, they decided to stick the poorest and most vulnerable people in their countries with the bill.
RBS tells clients to prepare for 'monster' money-printing by the Federal Reserve
As recovery starts to stall in the US and Europe with echoes of mid-1931, bond experts are once again dusting off a speech by Ben Bernanke given eight years ago as a freshman governor at the Federal Reserve. Entitled "Deflation: Making Sure It Doesn’t Happen Here", it is a warfare manual for defeating economic slumps by use of extreme monetary stimulus once interest rates have dropped to zero, and implicitly once governments have spent themselves to near bankruptcy.
The damning new evidence that points to a cover-up by Tony Blair's government
Link: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=12951
The official story of Dr David Kelly is that he took his own life in an Oxfordshire wood by overdosing on painkillers and cutting his left wrist with a pruning knife. He was said to be devastated after being unmasked as the source of the BBC’s claim that the Government had ‘sexed up’ the case for war in Iraq.
Senate Democrats and Obama abandon the jobless
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/jobs-j26.shtml
Senate Democrats gave up efforts to extend unemployment benefits for millions of jobless workers after the third vote on overcoming a Republican filibuster failed. The Obama administration has made only a token effort to push through the extension.
The making of an eco-catastrophe
Link: http://socialistworker.org/2010/06/25/making-of-a-catastrophe
ALMOST EVERYTHING you need to know about the warped priorities of capitalism is contained in the following contradiction: Unprecedented national resources were marshaled to fight a war for oil in the Persian Gulf, yet an oil spill on our doorstep in the Gulf of Mexico is left to gush for weeks.
Gulf Coast residents outraged at BP, government response
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/gulf-j25.shtml
Gulf Coast residents are seething in anger at BP and the federal government for their inability to contain the oil spill and deal with its consequences. Residents are nearly unanimous in their dissatisfaction with BP’s conduct of the cleanup, and many see the official response as incompetent and riddled with corruption.
US Supreme Court ruling favors convicted corporate swindlers
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/skil-j25.shtml
The US Supreme Court has significantly restricted the ability of federal prosecutors to bring criminal charges against corrupt politicians and corporate CEOs who plunder their own companies, setting strict limits on the use of a 1988 law making it a crime for such officials to deprive constituents or shareholders of their “intangible right of honest services.”
Why was General McChrystal fired?
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j25.shtml
Reactions within the US establishment to the firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal indicate that disparaging remarks by McChrystal and his aides concerning President Obama and other civilian officials published in a Rolling Stone article were not the principal cause of his dismissal.
Senator introduces legislation to shift tax burden back to billionaires
Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0624/senator-reintroduces-legislation-shift-tax-burden-billionaires/
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is sick of the super-rich avoiding estate taxes. On Thursday, he made good on his word: he today introduced legislation to restore the estate tax on the wealthiest Americans, which he says would bring in at least $264 billion in the next ten years to help reduce the national debt.
Australian prime minister Rudd ousted in political coup
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/rudd-j24.shtml
In extraordinary events over the past 24 hours, Rudd was removed through a campaign orchestrated by multi-national mining companies, the Murdoch media and other corporate interests and implemented through a series of backroom manoeuvres by right-wing factional warlords and union bureaucrats.
Supreme Court weakens key anti-corruption law
Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0624/part-enron-bosss-conviction-quashed-supreme-court/
Two high-profile prosecutions criticized; Conrad Black's fraud conviction vacated; Part of Enron boss’s conviction vacated
Kagan Calls Israeli Judge Dredd “My Judicial Hero”
Link: http://www.infowars.com/kagan-calls-israeli-judge-dredd-my-judicial-hero/
New video has emerged on the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings which shows Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan praising an Israeli activist judge as “my judicial hero,” underscoring Kagan’s alarming hostility to the Constitution and her views on empowering appointed judges with political agendas. Under Kagan’s definition of the government’s role in policing free speech, the state would also have a remit to censor things like newspaper editorials, as well as the political opinions of radio talk show hosts or television reporters.
Too much government? Paul stands alone against spill subpoena power
Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0624/government-ron-paul-stands-oil-spill-subpoena-power/
When the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to grant subpoena powers to a presidential commission formed to investigate the BP oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico, the sole "no" vote was cast by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). A Paul spokeswoman declined to comment on the vote, but the Texas libertarian is well known as a supporter of offshore drilling.
Beyond BP
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/pers-j23.shtml
More than two months have passed since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico set off what has become the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States. The amount of oil that has spewed into the Gulf, poisoning one of the most important ecological and economic regions of the country, is still unknown, but has to be figured in the tens of millions of gallons at least.
News in Brief: Judge With Oil Investments Blocks Drilling Moratorium, and More ...
A US district judge with investments in affected energy firms blocked President Obama's six-month drilling moratorium Tuesday, The Washington Post reports. The judge's repeal allows BP and other companies to resume deepwater drilling in the wake of the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M0SU20100623
Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday. The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found.
Senators Challenge Pres. Obama on Rumors of Amnesty Thorugh Executive Actions
Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate.
Further evidence of criminal negligence by BP and US government in Gulf disaster
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/gulf-j22.shtml
Evidence of the criminal negligence of BP and the US government in the run-up to the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion continues to mount. BP’s decision to ignore important safety warnings for the sake of profit and repeated regulatory green lights from the Bush and Obama administrations made a disaster like that presently overtaking the Gulf of Mexico all but inevitable.
Judge Blocks Gulf Offshore Drilling Moratorium
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/22-12
A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill. The White House said the administration would appeal. It had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling at 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.
The American Way of War: The Dismal "War on Terror" from Bush to Obama
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/22-7
A year and a half into the presidency of Barack Obama, any hopes that he would usher in a dramatic rethinking of U.S. foreign policy have been more or less definitively dashed. Notwithstanding the wild-eyed warnings of right-wing hawks who see Obama as "the first post-American president", with a covert agenda that is part Saul Alinsky and part Frantz Fanon, the president has so far proven himself to be have little inclination to break with the past when it comes to foreign policy.
Tillman mother sought to warn Obama of McChrystal
The mother of the slain football player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman sought to warn President Obama against making General Stanley McChrystal his commander in Afghanistan.
Top Afghan war general appears to deride Biden
The top U.S. war commander in Afghanistan told an interviewer he felt betrayed by the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. An article out this week in “Rolling Stone” magazine depicts Gen. Stanley McChrystal as a lone wolf on the outs with many important figures in the Obama administration and unable to convince even some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the war.
Large majorities on Hill back Israel's flotilla raid
Link: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Large_majorities_on_Hill_back_Israels_flotilla_raid.html
Even as Israel shows signs of loosening its blockade of Gaze, large majorities in the House and Senate have signed off on letters supporting the blockade and defending Israel's enforcement of it against a Turkish vessel. Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, along with 83 other senators, have signed the Senate version of the letter, which is backed by AIPAC; 298 members of the House have signed on.
BP 'downplayed' oil concerns - Obama Video
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/06/20106213322754222.html
A US congressman has accused BP of playing down its concerns about the volume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Representative Ed Markey, the chairman of a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released an undated, internal BP document, which estimates a worst-case scenario oil flow of 100,000 barrels (15.9 million litres) of oil per day.
Satanist Insider Responds to "Disbelievers"
Link: http://www.henrymakow.com/response_to_disbelievers.html
"After the culling, you will lick the hand which feeds you."... "[Satanists] get insulted when we don't readily believe their lies." You bought 9/11, didn't you? If not, you did nothing about it, did you? You engage in pointless politics, attend our churches, work harder and longer for less and less, die in our wars, use our banks, follow the curriculum and enjoy modern media. We can't ask for much more.
Gulf oil spill: BP accused of lying to Congress
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/20/gulf-oil-spill-bp-lying
BP has been accused by a senior US politician of lying to Congress to reduce its liabilities, after an internal company document showed that the oil giant's own worst-case assessment of the size of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico was 20 times its public estimate.
Not All Environmentalists Pleased with Climate Legislation
Link: http://www.truth-out.org/not-all-environmentalists-pleased60172
One would think that the environmental community would be united behind what is being hailed by some as the most significant and important piece of climate legislation to ever be introduced in the United States Senate.
Emanuel: Barton’s apology to BP shows how GOP would govern
Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0620/emanuel-barton-shows-gop-govern/
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) may have apologized for apologizing to BP last week, but Democrats on the Hill aren't letting go of the controversial remarks, and are using them to fundraise and to paint the Republicans as a party that defends the interests of big business at any cost. Within hours of Barton's remarks Thursday, the Democrats had an ad prepared: "Tell Republicans -- stop apologizing to big oil," the ad states. And The Hill reported Sunday that Democrats are going after Republicans on a committee opposed to the president's $20-billion escrow fund for oil spill victims.
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