 |
HavenWorks.com/california California News |
|
|
|
|
 US
States
California capital: Sacramento
CA: California Calif. State
Abbr.
#California Weblog 
 Maps
 -West
Coast Port Lockout
A-Z Art / Museums Books+ BusinessNews Censorship Comics / Links ComputerNews Consumer Dictionaries Directories Education Energy Entertainment Environment FIND Free-Speech Genealogy Government.gov Guides Health Medical History Humor I.P. Intellectual Property Intelligence Labor Language Law / Legal >Law Enforcement Library Links Linux Maps Media Military Music & MP3s NET / WEB NEWS-STAND NoteWorthy Nuclear Opinion Parents People Politics Privacy Radio/ Online Reference Science & Tech Search/Engines >SpecialEngines Seniors Space Sports Terrorism Travel TV /Channels U.S. Vocabulary Weather Webcasting Women World California News Illinois News Iowa News Marland News Minnesota News Oregon News Pennsylvania News Texas News Washington News
UN NEWS Australia News Canada News China News Colombia News Cuba News Djibouti News East Timor News France News Germany News India News Indonesia News Iran News Iraq News Israel News Italy News Ivory Coast News Japan News Jordan News Korea News: _North & South Kuwait News Liberia News Libya News Mexico News Pakistan News Poland News Russia News Rwanda News Saudi Arabia News Senegal News Sierra Leone News Spain News Sudan News Syria News Taiwan News Turkey News United Kingdom _News UK News United States News Vietnam News Yemen News Zimbabwe News Special
Reports
9-11
Meta Index September 11 2001
CLONING NEWS STEM CELL NEWS ENRON NEWS MICROSOFT NEWS WORLDCOM NEWS Quad
Cities
Tucson
News
A-Z text Top |
 California
- Capital:_Sacramento
CALIFORNIA News:
 Chris
Cox -  Corporate
-  Government
-  Accounting
-  Law
-  Enforcement
-  Politics
- California
-  New
York
"Cox "Worked to Dismantle The SEC," Says Commission Vet." ... "In recent years, particularly under [Republican President Bush's Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris] Cox, a former California GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] congressman, the SEC has pursued a policy of de-emphasizing enforcement, part of the broader anti-regulatory philosophy of the Bush years -- helping to make Madoff, and perhaps others like him, possible." ... ""[Cox] in many ways worked to dismantle the SEC," Ed Nordlinger, a former longtime enforcement director in the commission's New York office, told TPMmuckraker. "He slowed everything down. I don't think he believed in heavy regulation."" ... "That view has been echoed by several others in a position to know. Ross Albert told TPMmuckraker for a post published yesterday: "Under Cox, SEC had de-emphasized the enforcement program. Cox worshipped at the same altar of de-regulation that the rest of the Bush administration worshipped at."" ... "And a former enforcement division supervisor told Portfolio for a lengthy October story about the SEC under Cox: "It was like someone poured molasses on the enforcement division."" ... "The commission also appears to have passed over for promotion staff members who were too aggressive in their approach to enforcement. Veteran S.E.C. lawyer James Coffman told Portfolio that he was told he didn't get a promotion because he was "too tough." He left the SEC soon after." -By Zachary Roth -TPMMuckracker .TalkingPointsMemo 
 Jim
DeMint -  Bob
Corker -  Richard
Shelby -  Mitch
McConnell -  Foreign
- Money
- Politics
-  Construction
-  Auto
-  Makers
- Government
- Emergency
- Legislation
-  Labor
-  Michigan
- California
-  South
Carolina -  Alabama
-  Tennessee
-  Kentucky
-  German
-  Japanese
-  South
Korean
"Foreign Auto Makers Won Billions in Government Subsidies: Southern States Gave [Foreign] Auto Companies Tax-breaks and Cash for Training." ... "To hear Southern Republicans tell the story, the financial burdens facing Detroit’s automakers are self-made troubles to be settled by the laws of Adam-Smith capitalism." ... "“We don’t think it is the role of government to intervene,” [South Carolina Republican Senator] Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C. [Republican-South Carolina]) told the Fox Business Network last week. “We need to let the market and the laws work the way they are already in place.”" ... "Yet this argument — that the government has no business interfering in free markets — ignores an increasingly frequent tradition among Southern states, which have fronted billions in local taxpayer dollars in the past two decades to attract foreign auto plants. Those incentives, arriving in the form of tax breaks, training for new employees and even land, have enticed [German automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke] BMW to South Carolina, [German automaker] Mercedes to Alabama and [Japanese automaker] Nissan to Tennessee. The result of the government subsidies has been the steady emergence of the South as an auto-manufacturing powerhouse. Some are dubbing it the “New Detroit” – a region where real estate is cheap and the labor’s not unionized." ... "Not coincidentally, these Southern states are represented by the same coalition of GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] senators who led the fight against the recent Detroit [Michigan] bailout proposal. That legislation would have provided $14 billion in emergency bridge loans to General Motors and Chrysler, both of which say they lack the finances to survive the month. Rallying behind the animated opposition of GOP [Republican Senators] Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.[Tennessee]), Richard Shelby (Ala.[Alabama]), Mitch McConnell (Ky.[Kentucky) and South Carolina’s DeMint, Senate Republicans killed the legislation." ... "On Friday, the day following the Senate vote, Shelby told CNBC that if the Big Three had only managed their business operations as well as the foreign companies, known as transplants, they wouldn’t be scrambling now for a taxpayer-funded bailout." ... "“You look at the South,” Shelby said. “You take — not just Mercedes in my hometown — but BMW, Honda and all of them. These companies are flourishing with American workers made in America.”" ... "But the flourishing of the transplants didn’t come without significant taxpayer help. Shelby’s Alabama, for example, secured construction of a [German automaker] Mercedes-Benz plant in 1993 by offering $253 million in state and local tax breaks, worker training and land improvement. For [Japanese automaker] Honda, the state’s sweetener surrounding a 1999 deal to build a mini-van plant was $158 million in similar perks, adding $90 million in enticements when the company expanded the plant three years later. A 2001 deal with [Japanese automaker] Toyota left the company with $29 million in taxpayer gifts." ... "Alabama is hardly alone. Corker’s Tennessee recently lured [German automaker] Volkswagen to build a manufacturing plant in Chattanooga [Tennessee], offering the German automaker tax breaks, training and land preparation that could total $577 million. In 2005, the state inspired Nissan to relocate its headquarters from southern California by offering $197 million in incentives, including $20 million in utility savings." ... "In 1992, South Carolina snagged a BMW plant for $150 million in giveaways. In Mississippi in 2003, Nissan was lured with $363 million. In Georgia, a still-under-construction [South Korean automaker] Kia plant received breaks estimated to be $415 million. The list goes on." -By Mike Lillis -WashingtonIndependent.com 
Business
- Politics
- Election
- Auto
- Manufacturing
- Law
- California
- Mich
-  Ohio
"Auto bailout's death seen as a Republican blow at unions: For some Senate Republicans, a vote against the [American auto manufacturing] bailout was a vote against the United Auto Workers, and against organized labor in general." ... ""Handing a defeat to labor and its Democratic allies in Congress was also seen as a preemptive strike in what is expected to be a major battle for the new Congress in January: the unions' bid for a so-called card check law that would make it easier for them to organize workers, potentially reversing decades of declining power. The measure is strongly opposed by business groups." ... ""This is the Democrats' first opportunity to pay off organized labor after the election," read an e-mail circulated Wednesday among Senate Republicans. "This is a precursor to card check and other items. Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it." ... "One major car dealer said conservatives let political ideology get in the way of protecting the country's interests." ... ""Being a Republican myself, I feel very betrayed by the Republican Party right now," said Beau Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Motors Inc. in North Hills [California]. Galpin has the nation's largest Ford dealership as well as lots where it sells eight other foreign and domestic brands." ... "[Michigan Democratic Representative] Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.[ Democratic-Michigan]), a labor ally, said Friday that Republican senators who opposed the bailout might have "wanted to crush a longtime political rival, the United Auto Workers," without concern for the economic consequences." ... "[Ohio Democratic Senator] Sen. Sherrod Brown (D[Democratic]-Ohio) characterized the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] opposition as "class-warfare assault by the Republicans."" ... ""They never ask about banker salaries. . . . They never asked they give money back," he said." (1, 2) -By Jim Puzzanghera with contributions by Ken Bensinger -LAtimes 
 Christmas
-  Children
- Consumer
-  History
- Sacramento
- California
"Christmas bleak for KB Toys as it files Chapter 11." ... "The toy retailer filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday just two weeks before Christmas and announced plans to immediately liquidate its stores, including all four in the Sacramento [California's capital] area." ... ""It's sad that all of these companies are going out of business," said Gina Quivan of Sacramento after a day of Christmas shopping with husband Justin Vasquez and their three children. Vasquez carried a large bag of toys stamped with the KB Toys logo." ... "KB Toys now joins a growing list of household names tacking up going-out-of-business signs, from Linens 'n Things to Mervyns to Circuit City and Shoe Pavilion. That a toy retailer failed just before Christmas shows how bleak things have become." ... "Retail sales are at their worst in 35 years, and three in five people say they'll spend less money over the next 90 days, according to a survey of consumer spending released Thursday by Maryland-based researcher ChangeWave." ... "The 86-year-old company decided the most viable way to cover its debt was to liquidate its stores via immediate going-out-of-business sales." -By Darrell Smith -SacBee.com
Auto
- Makers
- Emergency
- Money
- Politics
- Workers
-  Environmental
- Laws
-  Fuel
-  Technology
-  Emissions
- Government
- Michigan
- California
"Murky future for auto rescue amid GOP opposition." ... "A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit's [Michigan] automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate." ... "Republicans are challenging lame-duck [Republican] President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant concessions from autoworkers and creditors and reject tougher environmental rules imposed by House Democrats." ... "The automakers initially asked Congress for $25 billion, then returned two weeks later to plead for as much as $34 billion. But with the {Republican President Bush] White House refusing to dole out new spending for the Big Three [Automakers], congressional Democrats agreed to use an existing program that was to help carmakers retool their factories to make more fuel-efficient cars." ... "That fund yielded only $15 billion in emergency loans, and when negotiators agreed to leave some money in the environmental program, the amount fell to $14 billion." ... "Democrats agreed to scrap language — which the White House had declared a deal-breaker — that would have forced the carmakers to drop lawsuits challenging tough emissions limits in California and other states. But they kept a provision to force the automakers to abide by those states' limits — a kind of consolation prize for environmentalists, who already were livid at the raid of the fuel-efficiency program." -By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Ken Thomas -AP via -Yahoo
 John
Boehner
-  Don
Young -  Doc
Hastings -  Jack
Abramoff -  Tom
DeLay -  Jerry
Lewis -  Ken
Calvert -  John
Doolittle - Ohio
-  AK
-  WA
- Texas
- CA
-  Florida
- Money
- Politics
- US
Attorney - Law
- Federal
- Investigation
"House GOP [Republicans] Gives Scandal-Ridden Don Young’s Committee Seat To Scandal-Ridden Doc Hastings." ... " ... [Ohio Republican Representative and House Minority Leader John Boehner told Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) that he could no longer support him as ranking Republican on the Natural Resources Committee, leading to Young’s resignation from the post." ... "The AP reports that a panel of top House leaders picked [Washington state Republican Representative] Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA [Republican-Washington]) today to lead the committee. “The recommendation by the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] Steering Committee is final under a rule change adopted Wednesday.”" ... "Recall, Jack Abramoff once boasted of having an “excellent relationship” with Hastings, who received $14,000 [*] from Abramoff’s firm, Preston Gates — including $1,000 from Abramoff himself. After taking control of the Ethics Committee, Hastings reportedly fired two staff lawyers involved in unanimous decisions to admonish [Texas Republican] Tom DeLay for improper fundraising. Hastings also contacted fired [United States] U.S. Attorney John McKay and attempted to pressure him in an ongoing investigation." ... "As ThinkProgress has documented, Boehner has a history of playing musical chairs with committee assignments for corrupt members:" "[California Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis: Boehner ruled that Rep. Jerry Lewis of California could continue as the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee while under federal investigation on ethics charges.""Despite Boehner’s ethics pledge after ethics pledge, the culture of corruption still rules at the end of the day." -By Satyam Khanna -ThinkProgress.org
 Terrorism
- Criminal
- Political
- History
- Corporate
- Religion
- Prison
-  Pat
Robertson - Abortion
- Gay
- Rights
- Law
- California
- Texas
-  US
-  Iraq
-  Military
"Bush Awards Presidential Citizen Medal To Watergate Crook Chuck Colson." ... "Established in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor for a civilian, recognizing Americans “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.”" ... "Today, [Republican] President Bush honored 24 recipients of this year’s award, including actor Gary Sinise and Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp. Also included in that mix was Chuck Colson, “the first member of the [Republican President] Nixon administration to serve prison time for Watergate-related offenses.” Colson was President Nixon’s counsel from 1969-1973 and pleaded guilty in 1974 to obstruction of justice. Colson received a one to three year sentence, but served just seven months. David Plotz at Slate described Colson’s role in the Nixon administration:" "As special counsel to the president, he [Chuck Colson] was [Republican President] Richard Nixon’s hard man, the “evil genius” of an evil administration. According to Watergate historian Stanley Kutler, Colson sought to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators, and he plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution. He eventually pleaded guilty to scheming to defame Daniel Ellsberg and interfering with his trial.""Since that time, Colson has become an evangelical prison reformer, running the nonprofit Prison Fellowship, which advocates for “privately run prisons and the delivery of all social services by faith-based groups.” However, according to author Allan Lichtman in “White Protestant Nation,” Colson has also remained involved in conservative politics:" "Colson brought together politically conservative Catholics and Protestands for a statement of common beliefs, advised conservative politicians including Texas [Republican] governor George W. Bush, and worked with Christian right leaders Pat Robertson and James Dobson on the development of political strategy. He disseminated conservative messages on sex roles, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, gay rights, and separation of church and state in his radio broadcasts and columns, reaching millions of Americans.""On October 3, 2002, Colson was also one of the co-signers of a letter from prominent evangelical leaders supporting an invasion of Iraq. More recently he has spoken out in favor of California’s Prop. 8, accusing the LGBT community of “anti-religious bigotry.”" -By Amanda Terkel -ThinkProgress.org 
 Blackwater
- Investigation
- Corporate
- Military
- California
-  North
Carolina - US
- Iraq
- International
- Politics
"Plea by Blackwater guard helps indict 5 others." ... "In the first public airing of an investigation that remains a source of international outrage, the Justice Department unsealed its case against five private security guards, built largely around the chilling testimony of a sixth guard about the 2007 shootings that left 17 unsuspecting Iraqi civilians dead at a busy Baghdad [Iraq's capital] traffic circle." ... "In pleading guilty to manslaughter, the sixth security guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, described how he and the other guards used automatic rifles and grenade launchers to fire on cars, houses, a traffic officer and a girls' school. In addition to those killed, at least 20 people were wounded." ... "The six guards were employed by Blackwater Worldwide, the largest security contractor in Iraq; the company, based in North Carolina, has not been charged in the case." ... "Ridgeway said in the court documents unsealed Monday that the episode in Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, started when the guards opened fire on a white Kia sedan "that posed no threat to the convoy."" ... "The case remained a sore point during the [Republican President] Bush administration's negotiations with Iraq for an agreement setting new rules for the continuing presence of U.S. [United States] troops. Ultimately, a major provision of the agreement ended immunity for private contractors working in Iraq." (1, 2) -By Ginger Thompson -IHT.com
Electric
- Cars
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Technology
-  Transportation
- Infrastructure
- Jobs
- Consumer
- Military
- Historic
- San
Francisco - Sacramento
- California
- Michigan
-  Oregon
- Washington
- US
- Global
-  Planet
-  Climate
- Emissions
"Recharge America with Electric Cars." ... "Today, our country is facing a set of seemingly insurmountable problems:" "• an economic meltdown of historic proportions""Yesterday, joined by San Jose [California] Mayor Chuck Reed and Oakland [California] Mayor Ron Dellums I [San Francisco, California's mayor Gavin Newsom] announced a nine-step policy plan for transforming the Bay Area into the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the U.S. [United States]" In support of this initiative Better Place, a global electric transportation company announced that it would enter the U.S. market with California as its first state, beginning in the Bay Area." ... "Commercial availability of electric cars is targeted to begin in 2012, and Better Place estimates its network investment in the Bay Area will total $1 billion when the system is fully deployed. I welcomed Better Place's announcement and anticipate many other EV companies will focus on the Bay Area as a top-priority market." ... "Electric vehicles represent an overarching, game-changing solution that allows us to transform, and recharge the American transportation sector for the 21st century. By accelerating the conversion of the car industry from its oil dependent past, to a new electric century, we can jump start the car industry, eliminate our dependence on oil, reduce our required presence in the middle east, create millions of jobs, and eliminate a significant portion of our CO2 emissions." ... "This plan ties together a triangle of influence that can get our nation back on track: Detroit [Michigan] car makers who know how to scale production, working in concert with San Francisco's culture of innovation, aided by Sacramento [California's capital] and Washington DC [America's capital] policy-making. The goal is to create a sustainable strategic advantage for the US instead of a series of bailouts." ... "As California prepares to launch this electric recharge infrastructure project, it can also serve as a blueprint for a more widely integrated solution." ... "California can generate upwards of $2.5B in new investment in jobs and the economy for the infrastructure effort, with billions more in cars and battery sales to consumers. The nation as a whole can trigger tens of billions in infrastructure, manufacturing and innovation investment. At the same time, this conversion reduces the cost to the consumer and nation per mile we drive. California, followed by the western US states of Oregon and Washington are ready to drive this effort." -By Gavin Newsom -HuffingtonPost.com
Gay
- Religion
- Politics-  People
- San
Francisco - California
- Salt
Lake City -  Utah
"Mormons Tipped Scale in Ban on Gay Marriage." ... "Less than two weeks before [2008] Election Day, [Frank Schubert] the chief strategist behind a ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California called an emergency meeting here." ... "The campaign issued an urgent appeal, and in a matter of days, it raised more than $5 million, including a $1 million donation from Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president [David McKay] of the Mormon Church." ... "The California measure, Proposition 8, was to many Mormons a kind of firewall to be held at all costs." ... "First approached by the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco [California] a few weeks after the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, the Mormons were the last major religious group to join the campaign, and the final spice in an unusual stew that included Catholics, evangelical Christians, conservative black and Latino pastors, and myriad smaller ethnic groups with strong religious ties." ... "Shortly after receiving the invitation from the San Francisco Archdiocese, the Mormon leadership in Salt Lake City [Utah's capital] issued a four-paragraph decree to be read to congregations, saying “the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan,” and urging members to become involved with the cause." ... "“And they sure did,” Mr. Schubert said." ... "Jeff Flint, another strategist with Protect Marriage, estimated that Mormons made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door in election precincts." ... "In the end, Protect Marriage estimates, as much as half of the nearly $40 million raised on behalf of the measure was contributed by Mormons." (1, 2) -By Jesse McKinley and Kirk Johnson -NYTimes 
Criminal
-  Computer
- Hackers
-  E-Mails
- Corporation
- Technology
- California
- US
- Worldwide
"Spam traffic plunges after report blames server hosting company: The number of such e-mails falls about two-thirds worldwide after Internet providers cut off a server company accused of enabling nefarious activity." ... ""I'm not under the illusion that it's going to last forever, but it's nice to have these small victories," said Paul Ferguson, an advanced threat researcher at software security company Trend Micro Inc. who contributed to the effort." ... "He and other analysts circulated a dense report Wednesday that blamed some companies for allowing spam to proliferate. Two big providers of Internet connections named in it -- Hurricane Electric Internet Services and Global Crossing Ltd. -- acted quickly to cut ties to the core subject of the document, a little-known Silicon Valley [California] company called McColo Corp. [Corporation] that rents out servers to clients." ... "The researchers didn't say whether McColo knowingly aided criminals, but they described some of the nefarious activities conducted on some websites the company hosted. Among other things, McColo reportedly enabled its customers to control vast networks of hijacked computers to send spam and take payments for fake anti-virus software." ... "The criminal groups that allegedly used McColo are largely believed to be based overseas. The groups now have to find other service providers." -By Joseph Menn -LAtimes 
 Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Race
- Terrorism
- Politics
-  New
Jersey - New
York - Michigan
-  Pennsylvania
- Calif
- North
Carolina -  Maine
"Local Newspapers Cover Rising Number of Racist Anti-Obama Actions in Small Towns." ... "Away from the spotlight, many local newspapers around the country have covered recent incidents of racially-motivated reactions to last week’s [2008] election, from flags hung upside down to the dangling of nooses and cross-burnings. As we noted last week, a couple in northern New Jersey who had an [Democratic President-Elect Barack] Obama sign on their front lawn woke up to find the charred remains of a cross out there. Local residents today announced a "unity march" to protest the still-unsolved incident." ... "Now come these fresh reports." ... "The Associated Press revealed today, "Police on eastern Long Island [New York region] are investigating reports that more than a dozen cars were spray painted with racist graffiti, reportedly including a message targeting President-elect Barack Obama. The graffiti included racist slurs and sexually graphic references. At least one resident in the quiet Mastic [New York] neighborhood told Newsday her son's car was scribbled with a message threatening to kill Obama."" ... "Employees at Hampel's Key and Lockshop in Traverse City, Michigan, flew an American flag upside down last Wednesday protesting of the new president-elect, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported." ... "Also in Michigan, in Midland, a man dressed in full Ku Klux Klan regalia walked around toting a handgun and waving an American flag. Initially denying it, the man eventually admitted to police that the display was a reaction to the Obama victory." ... "In Pennsylvania, an interracial couple in Apolacon Township discovered the remains of a burned cross in their front yard." ... "Authorities in Temecula, Calif. [California], found spray-painted graffiti on a city sidewalk containing a swastika and anti-Obama slogan." ... "Today, the NAACP called on North Carolina State University to expel four students who spray painted racist messages about Obama." ... "Another post-election noose incident happened in Maine. “More than 75 people rallied Sunday against an incident last week in which black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island the day after Barack Obama won the presidential election,” according to the Bangor Daily News." -By Dexter Hill -EditorAndPublisher.com
 Al
Gore - Barack
Obama - Global
- Climate
- Technology
- Money
- Environmental
- Emissions
- Law
- Politics
- San
Francisco - California
"Gore urges US to try for 100% renewable energy within a decade." ... "[Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama should set drastic targets to force the US [United States] to switch to renewable energy in an effort to slow down climate change, according to the former [Democratic] vice president Al Gore. Gore said that one of Obama's first acts as US president should be to demand a move to 100% renewable energy within 10 years." ... ""We can do that," he said during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco [California] last Friday. "The declaration from [Democratic] President [John F] Kennedy that we would land a man on the moon and bring him back safely was thought by many to be impossible."" ... "During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to invest $150bn (£96bn) in renewables over 10 years as part of the plan to increase US energy security amid fear of oil shortages, while also cutting carbon emissions. Many hope to see those policies enacted with a far-reaching climate-change bill that would bring the US back into the global environment fold." -By Bobbie Johnson -Guardian.co.uk 
Auto
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Jobs
- Fuel
-  Retirees
-  Health
Care - California
-  Nevada
-  Henry
Paulson
"Dem Leaders Want Bush To Aid Auto Industry." ... "Democratic leaders in Congress asked the [Republican President] Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century." ... "House Speaker [and California Democratic Representative] Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader [and Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout to include car companies." ... ""A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector's work force," they wrote. "The economic downturn and the crisis in our financial markets further imperiled our domestic automobile industry and its work force."" ... "Automakers already want an additional $50 billion in loans from Congress to help them survive tough economic conditions and pay for health care obligations for retirees." ... "The money would be on top of the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles." -By Deb Riechmann -AP via -HuffingtonPost.com
Gay
- Religion
- Money
- Salt
Lake City - Utah
-  Tourism
- California
- Family
- Law
- 2008
Election
"Utah Boycott Urged After Calif. Vote." ... "Utah's growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for its aggressive promotion of California's ban on gay marriage." ... "Gay rights activist John Aravosis, whose well-trafficked AmericaBlog.com is urging the boycott, is unapologetic about targeting Utah rather than California, where voters defined marriage in the state Constitution as a heterosexual act." ... "Utah, Aravosis said, "is a hate state," and on this issue, "at a fundamental level, the Utah Mormons crossed the line. . . . They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards. You don't do that and get away with it."" ... "The Mormon Church, based in Salt Lake City [Utah's capital], encouraged members to work for passage of the ballot measure. Thousands of Mormons worked as grass-roots volunteers and gave tens of millions of dollars to the campaign." ... "Proposition 8, the measure passed Tuesday, overrode a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed." -By Brock Vergakis -WashingtonPost
2008
Election - Law
- Politics
- California
- Florida
-  Massachusetts
-  Arizona
"Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case: Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say." ... "The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud." ... "State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states." ... "YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit." -By Evan Halper -LAtimes
 John
McCain -  Nathan
Sproul - Money
- Politics
- Investigation
- Law
- California
- Nevada
- Oregon
-  Minnesota
- Pennsylvania
-  West
Virginia -  Vermont
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
-  Libraries
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election
"McCain Employing GOP [Republican] Operative Accused Of Voter Registration Fraud." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states." ... "According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC [Republican National Committee] and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket." ... "During the 2004 election, Sproul & Associates (the former name of Lincoln Strategy) was accused of attempting to destroy forms collected by Democratic voters in Nevada. That same year in Oregon, Sproul & Associates allegedly instructed canvassers to only accept Republican registration forms in addition to destroying those turned in by Democrats." ... "In Minnesota, meanwhile, Sproul's firm was accused of actually firing workers who brought back Democratic registration forms, while other canvassers were allegedly paid "$13 an hour, with the $3 bonus for every [Republican President] Bush, undecided or Ralph Nader voter registration." Similar problems related to Sproul & Associates popped up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia." ... "All of this was executed, it seems, through an elaborate web of deception. As Salon.com wrote back in 2004:" "Canvassers were told to act as if they were nonpartisan, to hide that they were working for the RNC, especially if approached by the media... In letters the firm sent to the libraries, Sproul misrepresented itself as America Votes -- a left-leaning national voter registration group not affiliated with Sproul |
