November 2008 News History Archives

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November 26, 2008 News URL: #November-26-2008-News
20081126 Wednesday

- Infant - Food - Health - Science - Politics - Industrial - Maker - US - China
"FDA finds melamine traces in U.S. infant formulas." ... "The Food and Drug Administration has found trace amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in some U.S. [United States] infant formulas, but at levels 10,000 times lower than those found in Chinese-made formula." ... "In China, where faked formula killed at least four children and sickened more than 53,000, large amounts of melamine were added to watered-down milk to make it appear to have an appropriate protein content." ... "The trace amounts of melamine and cyanuric acid, a melamine by-product, were found in formula from Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson, which together make more than 90% of all infant formula produced in the United States." -AP via -USATODAY

- China - Media - Politics - Entertainment - Music - Free Speech - Law - US
"China state media blast new Guns N' Roses album." ... "A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest Guns N' Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation." ... "Delayed since recording began in 1994, "Chinese Democracy" hit stores in the U.S. on Sunday, although it is unlikely to be sold legally in China, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications." ... "In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."" ... "The album "turns its spear point on China," the article said." -By Christopher Bodeen -AP via -Yahoo

- Economics - History - Politics
"Amity Shlaes strikes again." ... "When you hear claims that the New Deal made the depression worse, they often come directly or indirectly from the work of Amity Shlaes, whose misleading statistics have been widely disseminated on the right." ... "Now, Ms. Shlaes has found a new target: John Maynard Keynes. There’s a lot to critique in this piece, but this one takes the cake:"

"But the most telling fact about the new rush to spend is that its advocates have insisted on invoking the New Deal. They tend to gloss over the period when the phrase, “We are all Keynesians now,” was actually first uttered: the mid-1960s. (Uttered by Friedman, in fact, though he meant only that we all work in the terms of the Keynesian lexicon.)"

"The Great Society of that period was the ultimate Keynesian experiment, and it didn’t work very well."

- Jeff Sessions - Auto - Makers - Workers - Health Care - Pension - Politics - Federal - Economy - 2010 Election - Michigan - Ohio - US - Foreign - Alabama - Georgia - Kentucky - Japan - South Korea
"It's North vs. South in Big Three bailout fight." ... "Should taxpayers in Alabama be required to bail out [American] automakers whose plants are concentrated in Northern states like Michigan and Ohio?" ... "Alabama is home to three Honda [Japan automaker] and Hyundai [South Korea automaker] plants. And just across the state line in Georgia, a new Kia [Hyundai] plant is set to open and will likely employ many Alabamans." ... "[Alabama Republican Senator] Sen. Jeff Sessions, R- Ala. [Republican-Alabama], told reporters Wednesday, “I can not imagine a real justification for a worker in Alabama who does not have any health insurance at his company to be taxed to maintain a Cadillac health care plan for somebody in Detroit [Michigan].”" ... "The struggle over whether Congress should make the loan is a classic regional battle: North vs. South, unionized states like Michigan vs. mostly non-union ones like Alabama." ... "“There are some states that might think there’s a competitive advantage for them if the Big Three don’t make it,” [Michigan Democratic Senator] Sen. Carl Levin, D- Mich. [Democratic-Michigan], a Big Three ally, told reporters Tuesday." ... "[Kentucky Republican Senator] Sen. Jim Bunning, R- Ky. [Republican-Kentucky], who is up for re-election in 2010, said Wednesday, “It’s not a balancing act. It’s whether the federal government should intervene in the private-sector economy. And I believe it should not. I am very concerned that people as hard-headed as the three people who spoke to us yesterday would not have a plan in place and not have any concession to make, but they would just want the money so they can burn through it. That’s unacceptable.”" ... "And if Chrysler and General Motors go into bankruptcy or liquidation?" ... "“I think that’s probably the best thing that can happen,” [Kentucky Republican Senator] Bunning replied. “Then there will be a reorganization and they’ll be able to jettison things they couldn’t ordinarily jettison, like health care benefits, like pension benefits and there will be someone to pick those up like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. And then they will be able to restructure their salaries to get more in line with foreign producers and they may come out of bankruptcy a heck of a lot better off than they go into it.”" (1, 2) -By Tom Curry -MSNBC

- Georgia - Nevada - 2008 Election - Politics
"RNC gives NRSC $2 million for GA runoff." ... "[Nevada Republican Senator] Sen. John Ensign said Wednesday that the Republican National Committee (RNC) has transferred $2 million earmarked for the Senate runoff in Georgia to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which was $4 million in debt after [2008] Election Day." ... "The committee has already launched a $700,000 ad buy in the Georgia race, which pits [Georgia Republican Senator] Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga. [Republican-Georgia]) against former state [Georgia State Democratic Representative] Rep. Jim Martin (D [Democratic])." -By Aaron Blake -TheHill.com

- John McCain - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Missouri - Arizona - Politics
"McCain wins Missouri; State's streak over!" ... "Fifteen days after [2008] Election Day, Republican [Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain has narrowly edged out [Democratic] President-elect Barack Obama in the state, according to CNN's review of the latest unofficial vote totals from the Missouri Secretary of State. This resolves the final outstanding contest of the 2008 presidential race." ... "With Missouri's 11 electoral votes in Senator McCain's column, the final count is 365 for Obama and 173 for McCain." ... "McCain's edging out of Obama in Missouri breaks the state's bellwether streak in which Missourians correctly picked the presidential candiate in every election dating back to the 1960 contest. Missouri got it wrong in 1956, voting for the Democratic challenger Adlai Stevenson, who lost the election to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Before that election, Missouri correctly picked the winner in every race for the White House dating back to 1904." -By Paul Steinhauser with contributions by Robert Yoon -CNN

- Lawmakers - Politics - Auto - Makers - Industry - Union
"Union busting is the real motivation." ... "The same lawmakers who were okay with handing over tens of billions of dollars to white collar execs at AIG and in the mortgage industry are now balking at saving hundreds of thousands of American blue collar jobs via a similar handout to the auto industry. Instead, the chorus is growing - particularly among conservatives - calling for automakers to declare bankruptcy and throw themselves on the mercy of the court." ... "This possibility has anti-labor activists and pundits practically beside themselves with glee, as they see forced bankruptcy as a backdoor route to union busting. That's because in a bankruptcy filing, all union contracts could be terminated at the discretion of the trustee overseeing the proceeding." ... "Of course, unions have already made significant concessions in recent years, in an attempt to save members' jobs and America's legacy industry. And the same people who want to see a union autoworker earning 50K a year make less in salary, and pay more for his health insurance don't seem that concerned about the fact that the white-collar management at these companies continues to earn obscene salaries, even as the companies they lead are dying. (When management earns ever-increasing salaries even as the performance of their companies tanks, that's not capitalism, and it's got nothing to do with unions.)" ... "Bailout may not be the right answer for our auto industry. But fair discussion of the issue is impossible when the real motivation for some legislators is not what's best for the American economy, but their not-so-secret desire to kill off the American labor movement." -By Katie Allison Granju -KnoxNews.com

- Ted Stevens - Criminal - Oil - Money - Federal - Law - Alaska - History - 2008 Election
"Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens loses re-election bid." ... "[Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his [2008 Election] re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a Washington political power and Alaska icon who couldn't survive a conviction on federal corruption charges. His defeat by Anchorage [Alaska] Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats within two seats of a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority." ... "Stevens' ouster on his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the days of the [Democratic President] Johnson administration while holding seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress." ... "Last month just days before the election, Stevens was convicted by a federal jury in Washington of lying on Senate disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from an oil field services company. -By Michael R. Blood with contributions by Jesse J. Holland, Andrew Taylor and Rachel D'Oro -AP via -Yahoo

- Children - Food - Poverty - Health - Safety - Government - Language - Politics - Economics - Accounting
"50 percent more US children went hungry in 2007." ... "Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday." ... "The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998." ... "Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives." ... "Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."" -By Michael J. Sniffen -AP via -Yahoo

- Obama - Government - Law - Enforcement - Markets - Accounting - History - Enron - Noteworthy - Eliot Spitzer - New York  - US - Global
"How to Ground The Street: The Former 'Enforcer' On the Best Way to Keep Financial Markets in Check." ... "[Democratic] President-elect Barack Obama will soon face the extraordinary task of saving capitalism from its own excesses, much as [Democratic President] Franklin D. Roosevelt had to do 76 years ago. Up until this point in the crisis, policymakers have appropriately applied the rules of triage -- Band-Aids and tourniquets, then radical surgery -- to keep the global financial system alive. Capital infusions, bailouts, mega-mergers, government guarantees of unimaginable proportions -- all have been sought and supported by officials and corporate chief executives who had until now opposed any government participation in the marketplace. But put aside for the moment the ideological cartwheel we have seen and look at the big picture: The rules of modern capitalism have been re-written before our eyes." ... "The new president's team must soon get to the root causes of the mistakes that have brought us to the economic precipice. Yes, we have all derided the explosion of leverage, the failure to regulate derivatives, the flood of subprime lending that was bound to default and the excesses of CEO [Chief Executive Officer] compensation. But these are all mere manifestations of three deeper structural problems that require greater attention: misconceptions about what a "free market" really is, a continuing breakdown in corporate governance and an antiquated and incoherent federal financial regulatory framework." ... "First, we must confront head-on the pervasive misunderstanding of what constitutes a "free market." For long stretches of the past 30 years, too many Americans fell prey to the ideology that a free market requires nearly complete deregulation of banks and other financial institutions and a government with a hands-off approach to enforcement. "We can regulate ourselves," the mantra went." ... "Those of us who raised red flags about this were scoffed at for failing to understand or even believe in "the market." During my tenure as New York state attorney general, my colleagues and I sought to require investment banking analysts to provide their clients with unbiased recommendations, devoid of undisclosed and structural conflicts. But powerful voices with heavily vested interests accused us of meddling in the market." ... "When my office, along with the Department of Justice, warned that some of American International Group's reinsurance transactions were little more than efforts to create the false impression of extra capital on the company's balance sheet, we were jeered at for attacking one of the nation's great insurance companies, which surely knew how to balance risk and reward." ... "And when the attorneys general of all 50 states sought to investigate subprime lending, believing that some lending practices might be toxic, we were blocked by a coalition of the major banks and the [Republican President] Bush administration, which invoked a rarely used statute to preempt the states' ability to probe." ... "No major market problem has been resolved through self-regulation, because individual competitive behavior doesn't concern itself with the larger market. Individual actors care only about performing better than the next guy, doing whatever is permitted -- or will go undetected. Look at the major bubbles and market crises. Long-Term Capital Management, Enron, the subprime lending scandals: All are classic demonstrations of the bitter reality that greed, not self-discipline, rules where unfettered behavior is allowed." ... "Those who truly understand economics, as did Adam Smith, do not preach an absence of government participation. A market doesn't exist in a vacuum. Rather, a market is a product of laws, rules and enforcement. It needs transparency, capital requirements and fidelity to fiduciary duty. The alternative, as we are seeing, is anarchy." (1, 2) -By Eliot L. Spitzer -WashingtonPost

- Corporate - Television - Media - Politics
"If it’s Sunday, it’s still conservative." ... "In 2006, Media Matters conducted a study on Sunday political talk shows, finding that “Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows — in some cases, dramatically so.” From 2001 to 2005, conservative guests outnumbered progressives “by 58 percent to 42 percent.” Atrios notes that tomorrow’s shows will also be dominated by conservative guests:"

"7 Appearances by Republican current elected officeholders"
"3 Appearances by Democratic current elected officeholders."
"2 Appearances by Republican former elected officeholders."
"1 Appearance by a [Republican President] Bush Cabinet Secretary."
"T. Boone Pickens [former Republican swift boat contributor]"
"Ted Turner. "

- Global - Financial - Crisis - Terrorism - Intelligence - Nuclear - US - Pakistan - China - Afghanistan - Yemen
"Experts See Security Risks in Downturn: Global Financial Crisis May Fuel Instability and Weaken U.S. [United States] Defenses." ... "Intelligence officials are warning that the deepening global financial crisis could weaken fragile governments in the world's most dangerous areas and undermine the ability of the United States and its allies to respond to a new wave of security threats." ... "U.S. government officials and private analysts say the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term risk of a terrorist attack, as radical groups probe for weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East while forcing Western nations to cut spending on defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources said." ... "The crisis could also accelerate the shift to a more Asia-centric globe, as rising powers such as China gain more leverage over international financial institutions and greater influence in world capitals." ... "Some of the more troubling and immediate scenarios analysts are weighing involve nuclear-armed Pakistan, which already was being battered by inflation and unemployment before the global financial tsunami hit. Since September, Pakistan has seen its national currency devalued and its hard-currency reserves nearly wiped out." ... "Analysts also worry about the impact of plummeting crude prices on oil-dependent nations such as Yemen, which has a large population of unemployed youths and a history of support for militant Islamic groups." ... "Annual spending for U.S. intelligence operations currently totals $47.5 billion, a figure that does not include expensive satellites that fall under the Pentagon's budget." ... "U.S. officials are following developments with particular concern because of Pakistan's critical role in the campaign against terrorism, as well as the country's arsenal of dozens of nuclear weapons. Al-Qaeda has appealed directly to Pakistanis to overthrow their government, and its Taliban allies have launched multiple suicide bombings, some aimed at economic targets such as the posh Marriott hotel in Islamabad [Pakistan's capital], hit in September." ... "Economic and social unrest has helped drive recruiting for militant groups that cross into Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops." ... "China already was on track to surpass the United States as the world's largest economy, perhaps as early as 2030. Now, many experts believe the global recession could help it do so faster." (1, 2, 3) -By Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost

- 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

- Political - Corporate - Television - Media - Michigan - Massachusetts - New York - Arizona - Georgia - Louisiana - Alabama
"More Muscle." ... "TPM Reader RS ..."

"Here is something progressives really need to address. On Sunday morning political shows, three Democrats are confirmed as guests: [Michigan Democratic Senator] Carl Levin, [Massachusetts Democratic Representative] Barney Frank, and [New York Democratic Representative] Charlie Rangel. It's as if Democrats didn't just win huge electoral advances in the Presidential, House, and Senate elections. So we get the same thing we've had the past 8 years--republican hegemony on Sunday. [Arizona Republican Senator Jon] Kyl? Check. [former Georgia Republican Representative Newt] Gingrich? Check. [Republican Michael] Steele? Check. [Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby] Jindal and [Alabama Republican Senator Richard] Shelby? Check and check? Just look at The Page for the whole list. When is the "liberal media" going to give some of the oxygen to Democrats?"

- Don E Siegelman - Karl Rove - Michael Mukasey - Leura G Canary - Bob Riley - Criminal - US Attorney - Politics - Federal - Law - Alabama - Georgia - Michigan
"More Allegations of Misconduct in Alabama Governor Case." ... "Next month in Atlanta [Georgia's capital], a federal court will hear the high-profile appeal of former [Democratic] Alabama governor Don E. Siegelman, whose conviction on corruption charges in 2006 became one of the most publicly debated cases to emerge from eight years of controversy at the [Republican President] Bush Justice Department. Now new documents highlight alleged misconduct by the Bush-appointed [United States] U.S. Attorney and other prosecutors in the case, including what appears to be extensive and unusual contact between the prosecution and the jury." ... "The documents, obtained by TIME, include internal prosecution e-mails [PDF] given to the Justice Department and Congress by a whistle-blower during the past 18 months. [Michigan Democratic Representative] John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which investigated the Siegelman case as part of a broader inquiry into alleged political interference in the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Justice Department, last week sent an eight-page letter [PDF] to Attorney General Michael Mukasey citing the new material." ... "Conyers says the evidence raises "serious questions" about the U.S. Attorney in the Siegelman case, who, documents show, continued to involve herself in the politically charged prosecution long after she had publicly withdrawn to avoid an alleged conflict of interest relating to her husband, a top GOP operative and close associate of Bush adviser Karl Rove. Conyers' letter also cites evidence of numerous contacts between jurors and members of the Siegelman prosecution team that were never disclosed to the trial judge or defense counsel." ... "Critics, including a bipartisan group of 52 state attorneys general, have raised numerous questions, including the allegation that Siegelman was prosecuted at the insistence of Bush-appointed officials at the Justice Department and Leura G. Canary, a U.S. Attorney in Montgomery [Alabama] whose husband [William "Bill" Canary] was Alabama's top Republican operative and who had worked closely with Rove for years." ... "The documents — whose authenticity is not in dispute — include e-mails written by Canary, long after her recusal, offering legal advice to subordinates handling the case. At the time Canary wrote the e-mails, her husband — Alabama GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican operative William J. Canary — was a vocal booster of the state's Republican governor, Bob Riley, who had defeated Siegelman for the office and against whom Siegelman was preparing to run again. Canary also received tens of thousands of dollars in fees from other political opponents of Siegelman." ... "A key prosecution e-mail describes how jurors repeatedly contacted the government's legal team during the trial to express, among other things, one juror's romantic interest in a member of the prosecution team." ... "What's more, when prosecutors conducted their own investigation of suspected improper conduct by jurors after the trial, two of them were interviewed, despite instructions from the judge that no contact with jurors should occur without his permission. Those interviews were not publicly disclosed until nearly two years later, when the head of the [Department Of Justice] DOJ's criminal division belatedly wrote all parties, including the appeals court in Atlanta, to inform them." ... "Further undisclosed evidence of prosecution team members speaking with jurors following the verdict emerges in [Justice Department staffer Tamarah] Grimes' written statement to the DOJ." -By Adam Zagorin -TIME.com

- Auto - Makers - Federal - Politics - Unemployment - Michigan - Ohio - Indiana
"GM Collapse at $200 Billion May Exceed Bailout Plan (Update1)." ... "General Motors Corp., seeking a federal bailout as its cash dwindles, would cost the government as much as $200 billion should the biggest U.S. [United States] automaker be forced to liquidate, a forecasting firm estimated." ... "A GM [General Motors] collapse would mean ``more aid to specific states like Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and more money into unemployment and extended benefits,'' Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said today in an interview. He prepared the estimate for Bloomberg News." ... "The projected expense of $100 billion to $200 billion covers funds for existing programs, such as unemployment insurance, and new measures that would be needed to revive economic growth after millions of auto-related job losses." ... "Such a sum would be an eightfold increase over the $25 billion bailout package that will be debated in Congress next week to help prop up Detroit-based GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC amid the industry's worst sales year since 1991." ... "A GM shutdown would cost jobs among suppliers as well as at the automaker itself, pushing the U.S. unemployment rate next year to 9.5 percent, compared with current projections of as high as 8.5 percent due to the weakened economy, Behravesh said." -By Alex Ortolani and Mike Ramsey -Bloomberg

- AIG - Workers - Federal - Politics
"AIG to Pay Millions To Top Workers: Move Comes on Heels Of Revised Bailout." ... "American International Group plans to pay out $503 million in deferred compensation to some of its top employees, saying it must tap the funds to keep valuable workers from exiting the troubled insurance giant." ... "News of the payments to top AIG [American International Group] talent comes as the federal government has just put more money into saving the company from bankruptcy, beefing up the total public commitment to $152 billion. Meanwhile, members of Congress are questioning the company's expenditures -- including lavish business trips to resorts -- during a time when taxpayers are on the hook for the bailout." ... "AIG's troubles stem from bad bets it made guaranteeing and buying risky mortgage investments. On Monday, the U.S. [United States] government announced that it would have to expand its rescue of the company to nearly double the $85 billion loan it first provided in September when AIG was unable to pay billions of dollars in claims." ... "The company reported losses this week that brought total losses to $37.63 billion for the first nine months of the year." -By Carol D. Leonnig -WashingtonPost

- 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

- Henry Paulson - Corporate - Government - Investigation - Legislation
"Bailout Lacks Oversight Despite Billions Pledged: Watchdog Panel Is Empty; Report Is Unfinished." ... "In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders." ... "Along the way, the [Republican President] Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package." ... "Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed." ... "The legislation grants the special inspector, who is expected to be the primary overseer of the program, a budget of $50 million. The measure calls for him to conduct audits and investigations of how the government spends money under the bailout program, including on equity investments in firms. In particular, he is to report about any assets acquired and their value, plus an explanation of why they were acquired and details on individuals or companies involved in the transactions." ... "The leading candidate for the post is Neil M. Barofsky, a federal prosecutor in New York, and his nomination could come as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter." ... "For their part, lawmakers have yet to nominate the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel, though leaders of both parties said they hoped they would be named by the end of the month and start work by December." ... "The legislation also created a body called the Financial Stability Oversight Board, whose five members include [Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. But it has no staff of its own, and few expect that policymakers can conduct oversight of themselves. "It's sort of a joke in terms of oversight," a congressional aide said." (1, 2) -By Amit R. Paley -WashingtonPost

- Labor- Market
"Jobless claims hit 25-year high, imports plunge." ... "The number of U.S. workers drawing jobless benefits hit a 25-year high this month and imports suffered a record fall in September, according to reports on Thursday that underscored a rapid drop-off in the U.S. economy." ... "The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by an unexpectedly steep 32,000 last week to 516,000, the highest since the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Labor Department said." ... "The number of workers still on the benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid hit 3.9 million in the week to November 1, the highest since January 1983." ... ""This is obviously very, very serious deterioration in the labor market, more than a lot of people had expected even a couple of months ago," said Scott Brown, chief economist with Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Fla." ... ""We are looking at the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and the biggest economic crisis we have had in the United States since the early 1980s."" (1, 2) -By Doug Palmer with contributions by Lisa Lambert and Diane Craft -Reuters

- Henry Paulson - Government - Emergency - Politics - AIG
"Washington's $5 Trillion Tab: Fighting the financial crisis has put the U.S. on the hook for some $5 trillion a report says. So far." ... "For all the fury over [Republican President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion emergency economic relief fund, it seems downright puny when compared to the running total of the government's response to the credit crisis." ... "According to CreditSights, a research firm in New York and London, the U.S. government has put itself on the hook for some $5 trillion, so far, in an attempt to arrest a collapse of the financial system." ... "The Fed has taken on much of that total, including lending a cumulative $1 trillion in overnight or short-term loans since March to primary dealers through its emergency discount window and making a cumulative $1.8 trillion available through its term auction facility, a series of short-term transactions it began making available twice a month in January. It should be noted that a portion of the funds lent in these programs has been repaid and that the totals represent what has been made available." ... "The Fed also took on tens of billions in debt, including $29 billion in debt of Bear Stearns, and made $60 billion of credit available to American International Group  (nyse: AIG -  news  -  people ). It is committing $22.5 billion to set up a special purpose vehicle to manage some of AIG's residential mortgage-backed securities, and it is financing $30 billion of a second fund to hold $70 billion of multi-sector collaterized debt obligations on which AIG wrote credit default swaps." ... "The Treasury, in addition to the $700 billion raised in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, agreed to guarantee money market funds against losses up to $50 billion, will inject $40 billion of capital into AIG and is backing the conservatorship of Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ), to the tune of $200 billion." ... "The FDIC [Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation], meanwhile, is guaranteeing $1.5 trillion of senior unsecured bank debt." ... "Not included in the total are the Fed's long-existing discount window lending to commercial banks, the mortgage modification plan announced by regulators on Tuesday, support for the Federal Home Loan Banks and a myriad of other programs." -By Elizabeth Moyer -Forbes

- Auto - Makers - Jobs - Government - History - Military - Politics - Ohio
"Failure of auto industry could set off catastrophe." ... "Advocates for the nation's automakers are warning that the collapse of the Big Three -- or even just General Motors -- could set off a catastrophic chain reaction in the economy, eliminating up to 3 million jobs and depriving governments of more than $150 billion in tax revenue." ... ""We've got to do this because the cost of inaction is so high to communities, to workers, to companies," said [Ohio Democratic Senator] Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio. He was among many lawmakers worried that an industry collapse would be devastating for everything from school districts to small businesses." ... "Even if just GM [General Motors] collapsed, the failure could bring down the other two companies -- and even the U.S. [United States] operations of foreign automakers -- as parts suppliers run out of money and shut down." ... "Concern about the automakers hit new heights Friday when GM and Ford reported they spent a combined $14.6 billion more than they took in last quarter. GM said it could run out of money by the end of the year." ... "Ford said it could last through 2009, but only because it arranged a hefty credit line last year." ... "All this comes after tight credit and economic uncertainty in October reduced U.S. auto sales to their lowest level in 25 years -- with no rebound in sight." ... "The Big Three have cut their combined U.S. hourly work force more than 40 percent since 2005, from 244,000 to about 139,000." ... "Brown, the Ohio senator, said letting the industry collapse would also be a national security risk, eliminating companies that were essential in two world wars." -By Tom Krisher and Ken Thomas -AP via -Yahoo

- Blackwater - Corporate - Military - Federal - Investigation - NC - US - Iraq
"Blackwater likely to be fined millions in Iraq weapons case." ... "The State Department is preparing to slap a multi-million dollar fine on private military contractor Blackwater USA for shipping hundreds of automatic weapons to Iraq without the necessary permits." ... "Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country's black market, department officials told McClatchy, but no criminal charges have been filed in the case." ... "The expected fine is the result of a long-running federal investigation into whether employees of the firm shipped weapons hidden in shrink-wrapped pallets from its Moyock, N.C. [North Carolina] headquarters to Iraq, where Blackwater is the State Department's largest personal security contractor." ... "Since the arms shipment allegations first became public 14 months ago, Blackwater, which has received $1.2 billion in federal contracts, according to the Web site fedspending.org, has consistently denied involvement in illicit arms trafficking." ... "However, the State Department found that Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations, one department official said. Of that number, 119 were "particularly ... erroneous," he said." ... "Blackwater employees are also the subjects of a Justice Department probe into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's [Iraq's capital] Nisoor Square on Sept. [September] 16, 2007." ... "A federal grand jury is weighing whether to indict the Blackwater guards who were involved in the killings." -By Warren P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com

- Sarah Palin - John McCain - 2008 Election - Politics - Alaska - Arizona
"What Just Happened." ... "Despite all the grief she's gotten, I continue to think that the selection of [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] John McCain's running mate represents the breaking of a consensual cultural barrier far more fundamental than most people realize. It's not just that she was inexperienced (Spiro Agnew and John Edwards weren't much more experienced than Palin when they ran for VP) but that she was — obviously, transparently, completely — uninterested in and uninformed about national policy at nearly every level.  We've simply never seen someone so completely unmoored from the normal requirements of national office before. She was chosen purely at the level of celebrity, and an awful lot of people seemed to be just fine with that." ... "Via email, here's an excerpt from Wolf Blitzer's interview today with Palin:"

"BLITZER: Another question. What are your new ideas on how to take the Republican Party out of this rut that it’s in right now? Give me one or two new ideas that you’re going to propose to these governors who have gathered here in this hotel."

"PALIN: Well, a lot of Republican governors have really good ideas for our nation because we’re the ones there on the front lines being held accountable every single day in service to the people whom have hired us in our own states and the planks in our platform are strong and they are good for America. It’s all about free enterprise and respecting the ..."

"BLITZER: Does that mean you want to come up with a new Sarah Palin initiative that you want to release right now."

"PALIN: Gah! Nothing specific right now. Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations."

- Sarah Palin - John McCain - 2008 Election - Media - Politics - Alaska - Arizona
"Why Palin Still Matters." ... "Let's be real in a way the national media seems incapable of: this person [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin] should never have been placed on a national ticket in a mature democracy. She was incapable of running a town in Alaska competently. The impulsive, unvetted selection of a total unknown, with no knowledge of or interest in the wider world, as a replacement president remains one of the most disturbing events in modern American history. That the press felt required to maintain a facade of normalcy for two months - and not to declare the whole thing a farce from start to finish - is a sign of their total loss of nerve. That the Palin absurdity should follow the two-term presidency of another individual utterly out of his depth in national government is particularly troubling. 46 percent of Americans voted for the possibility of this blank slate as president because she somehow echoed their own sense of religious or cultural "identity". Until we figure out how this happened, we will not be able to prevent it from happening again. And we have to find a way to prevent this from recurring." ... "It happened because [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] John McCain is an incompetent and a cynic and reckless beyond measure. To have picked someone he'd only met once before, without any serious vetting procedure, revealed McCain as an utterly unserious character, a man whose devotion to the shallowest form of political gamesmanship trumped concern for his country's or his party's interest." ... "It was a final product of the now-exhausted strategy of fomenting fundamentalist resentment to elect politicians dedicated to the defense of Israel and the extension of American military hegemony in every corner of the globe. Palin was the reductio ad absurdum of this mindset: a mannequin candidate, easily controlled ideologically, deployed to fool and corral the resentful and the frightened, removed from serious scrutiny and sold on propaganda networks like a food product." ... "This deluded and delusional woman still doesn't understand what happened to her; still has no self-awareness; and has never been forced to accept her obvious limitations. She cannot keep even the most trivial story straight; she repeats untruths with a ferocity and calm that is reserved only to the clinically unhinged; she has the educational level of a high school drop-out; and regards ignorance as some kind of achievement. It is excruciating to watch her - but more excruciating to watch those who feel obliged to defend her." ... "Her candidacy, in short, was indefensible. It remains indefensible." -By Andrew Sullivan -TheAtlantic.com

- 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

- Barack Obama - Race - Terrorism - Religion - Politics - Idaho
"Idaho students chant 'assassinate Obama' on school bus: Report." ... "Madison County, Idaho was once dubbed "the reddest place in America" by Salon, but that didn't make it any less shocking when elementary school children allegedly started chanting "assassinate Obama" on the school bus." ... "According to an article which appeared in Salon in 2006, "You've heard of Jesusland, but Rexburg, Idaho, is something more. It's not just a small town in rural Eastern Idaho. It's a small town in rural Eastern Idaho completely dominated by a fast-growing Mormon college, Brigham Young University-Idaho."" ... "The full KIDK story can be read here." -By David Edwards and Muriel Kane -RawStory.com

- Corporate - Government - Politics - Investigations - Massachusetts - New York
"Hard Times, But Big Wall Street Bonuses." ... "For Wall Street workers still employed, there could be a hefty bonus in their checks next month." ... "According to a report from financial news agency Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs, for example, has set aside $6.8 billion for bonuses, and Morgan Stanley, $6.4 billion." ... "And the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Massachusetts [Democratic Representative] Democrat Barney Frank, isn't happy. "These are people who lost enormous amounts of money," Frank observes. "How do you give a bonus to someone for having failed so badly as many of these people did?"" ... "What's got many on Main Street and Capitol Hill angry, [CBSNews correspondent Priya] David says, is the possibility that some of the $700 billion government bailout package could go into the pockets of Wall Streeters to pay their bonuses." ... ""All of the money is to go into new loans," Frank points out. "None of it is to go into compensation of any kind for the employees."" ... "[Democratic] New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened an investigation into the Wall Street bonuses. He sent a letter to nine financial institutions, demanding "a detailed accounting regarding your expected payments to top management in the upcoming bonus season."" ... "Cuomo told CBS News, "These are tax dollars that are going to these institutions, and I believe the taxpayers have a right to hold the institutions accountable for what they're doing with their money."" -CBSNews

_2008 News News Reference November 2008 News
November 11, 2008 News URL: #November-11-2008-News
20081111 Tuesday

- Animals - Environment - Global - Climate - Gases - Industrial - Science - History
"Report: Greenhouse gases imperil oceans' web of life." ... "Corals, lobsters, clams and many other ocean creatures — including some at the bottom of the food chain — may be unable to withstand the increasing acidity of the oceans brought on by growing global-warming pollution, according to a report Tuesday from the advocacy group Oceana." ... "Based on scientific findings of the past several years, Oceana's report "Acid Test" examines the far-reaching consequences of the accumulation of heat-trapping gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the world's oceans." ... "A high level of carbon dioxide in seawater depletes the carbonate that marine animals need for their shells and skeletons. Creatures who are at risk if trends continue include corals, which provide habitats for about a quarter of the world's fish; things many people like to eat, including shrimp and lobster; and pteropods, or swimming sea snails, which are an important part of the base of polar and sub-polar food chains." ... "The acidity of the oceans' surfaces has increased 30 percent since before the Industrial Revolution, and the current trend would increase it 100 percent by the end of this century, exceeding levels of the past 20 million years, the report says." -By Renee Schoof -McClatchyDC.com 

- Barack Obama - People - Politics - Illinois - Hawaii - US - Indonesia - Kenya
"Obama's Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani." ... "The most detailed and fascinating explication of [Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama's faith came in a 2004 interview he gave Chicago Sun Times columnist Cathleen Falsani when he was running for U.S. Senate in Illinois." ... "Because of how controversial that interview became, Falsani has graciously allowed us [Beliefnet.com] to print the full conversation here." ... "FALSANI: What do you believe?" ... "OBAMA: I am a Christian." ... "So, I have a deep faith. So I draw from the Christian faith." ... "On the other hand, I was born in Hawaii where obviously there are a lot of Eastern influences." ... "I lived in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, between the ages of six and 10." ... "My father was from Kenya, and although he was probably most accurately labeled an agnostic, his father was Muslim." ... "And I'd say, probably, intellectually I've drawn as much from Judaism as any other faith." ... "So, I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there's an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived." -Beliefnet.com

- Henry Paulson - Secret - Corporate - Government - Politics - Emergency - Law
"Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Disclose [$2 Trillion in taxpayer loans to banks] (Update2)." ... "The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral." ... "Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return." ... "``The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that's a big problem,'' said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. ``In a liquid market, this wouldn't matter, but we're not. The market is very nervous and very thin.''" ... "Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure." ... "The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression." ... "``It's your money; it's not the Fed's money,'' said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. ``Of course there should be transparency.''" -By Mark Pittman, Bob Ivry and Alison Fitzgerald -Bloomberg

- Henry M Paulson Jr - Illegal - Corporate - Government - Politics
"A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks: With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy." ... "The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the [Republican President] Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention." ... "But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion." ... "The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin." ... ""Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a backdoor way of providing aid to banks."" ... "The story of the obscure provision underscores what critics in Congress, academia and the legal profession warn are the dangers of the broad authority being exercised by [Republican President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in addressing the financial crisis. Lawmakers are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers." ... "The change to Section 382 of the tax code -- a provision that limited a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers -- came after a two-decade effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according to lobbyists." ... "More than a dozen tax lawyers interviewed for this story -- including several representing banks that stand to reap billions from the change -- said the Treasury had no authority to issue the notice." ... "Section 382 of the tax code was created by Congress in 1986 to end what it considered an abuse of the tax system: companies sheltering their profits from taxation by acquiring shell companies whose only real value was the losses on their books. The firms would then use the acquired company's losses to offset their gains and avoid paying taxes." ... "Lawmakers decried the tax shelters as a scam and created a formula to strictly limit the use of those purchased losses for tax purposes." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Amit R. Paley -WashingtonPost

- 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

- Barack Obama - E-Mail - Database - 2008 Election - People - Communications - Media - Politics - GOV - Legislation - 2010 Election
"Under Obama, Web Would Be the Way: Unprecedented Online Outreach Expected." ... "Armed with millions of e-mail addresses and a political operation that harnessed the Internet like no campaign before it, [Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama will enter the White House with the opportunity to create the first truly "wired" presidency." ... "Obama aides and allies are preparing a major expansion of the White House communications operation, enabling them to reach out directly to the supporters they have collected over 21 months without having to go through the mainstream media." ... "The nucleus of that effort is an e-mail database of more than 10 million supporters. The list is considered so valuable that the Obama camp briefly offered it as collateral during a cash-flow crunch late in the campaign, though it wound up never needing the loan, senior aides said. At least 3.1 million people on the list donated money to Obama." ... "Millions more made up the volunteer corps that organized his enormous rallies, registered millions of voters and held countless gatherings to plug the senator to friends and neighbors. On Election Day [2008], they served as the backbone of Obama's get-out-the-vote operation, reaching voters by phone and at the front door, serving coffee at polling stations and babysitting so parents could stand in line at voting precincts." ... "After Obama declared victory, his campaign sent a text message announcing that his supporters hadn't heard the last from the president-elect. Obama conveyed a similar message to his staff in a campaignwide conference call Wednesday, signaling that his election was the beginning, and not the culmination, of a political movement." ... "Accordingly, the president-elect's http://www.change.gov transition Web site features a blog and a suggestion form, signaling the kinds of direct and instantaneous interaction that the Obama administration will encourage, perhaps with an eye toward turning its following into the biggest special-interest group in Washington." ... "Once Obama is sworn in, those backers may be summoned to push reluctant members of Congress to support legislation, to offer feedback on initiatives and to enlist in administration-supported causes in local communities. Obama would also be positioned to ask his supporters to back his favored candidates with fundraising and turnout support in the 2010 midterm elections." (1, 2) -By Shailagh Murray and Matthew Mosk with contributions by Alec MacGillis -WashingtonPost

- Child - Labor - Safety - Enforcement - Employers - Politics - Food - Agriculture - Plants - Construction - People - Federal - Immigration - North Carolina - South Carolina - Iowa
"Child labor going largely unchecked." ... "Nery Castañeda tackled a job that was never intended for kids his age." ... "One afternoon last fall, the 17-year-old Guatemala native ran a machine to grind damaged pallets into mulch. When a co-worker at the Greensboro [North Carolina] plant returned from another task, he didn't see Nery – until he looked inside the shredder." ... "“A person shouldn't die like this,” said older brother Luis. “…He came with a dream and found death.”" ... "Decades after the enactment of regulations designed to prevent such tragedies, thousands of youths still get hurt on American jobs deemed unsafe for young workers. On a typical day, more than 400 juvenile workers are injured on the job. Once every 10 days, on average, a worker under the age of 18 is killed, federal statistics show." ... "Enforcement has waned, despite new evidence that many employers are ignoring child labor laws. U.S. [United States] Department of Labor investigations have dropped by nearly half since fiscal year 2000." ... "“There are lots of kids being asked to do work that's been prohibited for them – and it's been prohibited because it's dangerous,” said Carol Runyan, who heads UNC's Injury Prevention Research Center. “…Our system is failing them.”" ... "More than 3 million youths under age 18 have jobs. Regulations prohibit them from doing a variety of hazardous jobs, including most meat-processing work." ... "But last month, at an immigration raid at a House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Greenville, S.C. [South Carolina], six juveniles were among the workers detained. Three young workers told the Observer they were under 18 when they held jobs at House of Raeford plants requiring them to make thousands of cuts a day with sharp knives. The company says it requires job applicants to present identification showing their age, but not all the documentation is accurate." ... "At Agriprocessors, a large meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, authorities recently charged owners with thousands of child-labor violations after finding that teenage employees were asked to use circular saws, clean floors with powerful chemicals and perform other dangerous tasks." ... "“The raids in Postville and Greenville show that 15- and 16-year-old kids are doing some of the most dangerous jobs in America,” says Reid Maki of the National Consumers League. “ … It's time for the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate slaughterhouses and poultry plants.”" ... "A study of 16- and 17-year-old construction workers in North Carolina, published in 2006, found that more than 80 percent did tasks that were clearly prohibited. A national survey of young retail and service workers, published in 2007, found that more than half of males and more than 40 percent of females performed prohibited tasks." ... "Runyan, who co-authored both studies, says much of the blame lies with employers." ... "“I suspect there are employers who flagrantly disregard the law,” she said. “And I suspect there are others who are clueless.”" ... "Total federal penalties for child labor violations dropped 29 percent from 2000 to 2007." -By Ames Alexander and Franco Ordonez -Observer

- Barack Obama - Economics - History - Federal - Politics - Social Security - Health Care
"Franklin Delano Obama?" ... "Suddenly, everything old is New Deal again. [Republican President] Reagan is out; F.D.R. [Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Democratic President] is in. Still, how much guidance does the Roosevelt era really offer for today’s world?" ... "The answer is, a lot. But [Democratic President-Elec] Barack Obama should learn from F.D.R.’s failures as well as from his achievements: the truth is that the New Deal wasn’t as successful in the short run as it was in the long run. And the reason for F.D.R.’s limited short-run success, which almost undid his whole program, was the fact that his economic policies were too cautious." ... "About the New Deal’s long-run achievements: the institutions F.D.R. built have proved both durable and essential. Indeed, those institutions remain the bedrock of our nation’s economic stability. Imagine how much worse the financial crisis would be if the New Deal hadn’t insured most bank deposits. Imagine how insecure older Americans would feel right now if Republicans had managed to dismantle Social Security." ... "Can Mr. Obama achieve something comparable? Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff, has declared that “you don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste.” Progressives hope that the Obama administration, like the New Deal, will respond to the current economic and financial crisis by creating institutions, especially a universal health care system, that will change the shape of American society for generations to come." ... "But the new administration should try not to emulate a less successful aspect of the New Deal: its inadequate response to the Great Depression itself." ... "Now, there’s a whole intellectual industry, mainly operating out of right-wing think tanks, devoted to propagating the idea that F.D.R. actually made the Depression worse. So it’s important to know that most of what you hear along those lines is based on deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. The New Deal brought real relief to most Americans." -By Paul Krugman -NYTimes

- Food - Money - Manufacturing
"On store shelves, stealthy shrinking of containers keeps prices from rising." ... "The only way to know you are buying less is to look at the weight on the label...." ... "Across the supermarket, manufacturers are trimming packages, nipping a half-ounce off that bar of soap, narrowing the width of toilet paper and shrinking the size of ice cream containers." ... "Often the changes are so subtle that they create "the illusion that you are buying the same amount," explained Frank Luby, a pricing consultant with Simon-Kucher & Partners of Cambridge, Mass." ... "Shoppers understand the manufacturers' dilemma but also say they feel deceived at times." ... ""What these companies don't realize is that their chronically deceptive marketing ploys tell us loud and clear that we absolutely cannot trust them for anything," Yukl said." ... "Other shoppers agree. "I think the whole thing is deceitful, and yes, it does irritate me, and I do feel they are tricking the consumer," said Bill Stone of Long Beach. "This practice, however, has been going on for many years and apparently the manufacturers feel it is to their advantage to try to slip these changes by the customer rather than announcing it."" -By Jerry Hirsch -LAtimes

- Secret - Military - Law - Politics - Terrorism - Intelligence - Virginia - US - World - Syria - Pakistan
"Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda." ... "The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials." ... "These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that [Republican President Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States." ... "In 2006, for example, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected militants’ compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan, according to a former top official of the Central Intelligence Agency. Officials watched the entire mission — captured by the video camera of a remotely piloted Predator aircraft — in real time in the C.I.A.’s [Central Intelligence Agency] Counterterrorist Center at the agency’s headquarters in Virginia 7,000 miles away." ... "Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the C.I.A., according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of C.I.A.-directed operations." ... "According to a senior administration official, the new authority was spelled out in a classified document called “Al Qaeda Network Exord,” or execute order, that streamlined the approval process for the military to act outside officially declared war zones." ... "It was issued after the Bush administration had already granted America’s intelligence agencies sweeping power to secretly detain and interrogate terrorism suspects in overseas prisons and to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on telephone and electronic communications." (1, 2) -By Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti -NYTimes

- Radio -  - Opinion - Politics - People - 2008 Election - Obama - Government - Retirement - Money
"Right-wing media feeds its post-election anger." ... "... [M]any on the losing end of last week's [2008] election want to hold on to their anger. And there are those in the media -- led by the likes of [radio talker Rush] Limbaugh and [Fox tv talker Sean] Hannity -- only too ready to feed that animus, along with their own ratings." ... "In a time when the nation calls out for cool leadership and rational discussion, Limbaugh stirs the caldron, a tendency he proved in a particularly grotesque way last week when he accused Obama's party of plotting a government takeover of 401(k) retirement plans." ... ""They're going to take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security trust fund, whatever the hell that is," Limbaugh woofed. "Trust fund, my rear end."" ... "A slight problem with Limbaugh's report: Obama and the Democrats have proposed no such thing." ... "To broadcast such a report -- so drained of context as to constitute a lie -- would be a shameless act at any time. But Limbaugh needlessly stirred the fears of the millions he holds in his thrall -- making the 401(k) thievery sound like nearly a done deal. Shameless." -By James Rainey -LAtimes

- Nuclear - Technology - Industry -Factories - Government - New Mexico
"Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes." ... "Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos [New Mexico], the US [United States] government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb." ... "The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground." ... "The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. 'Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,' said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. 'They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.'" ... "The company plans to set up three factories to produce 4,000 plants between 2013 and 2023." ... "The reactors, only a few metres in diameter, will be delivered on the back of a lorry to be buried underground. They must be refuelled every 7 to 10 years." -By John Vidal and Nick Rosen -Guardian.co.uk

- Sarah Palin - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Rhetoric - Politics - Racist - Federal - Investigation - Intelligence
"Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama: [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin's attacks on [2008 Election Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign." ... "The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers." ... "The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric." ... "But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further." ... "The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks." ... "Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"" ... "Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."" -By Tim Shipman -Telegraph.co.uk

- Sarah Palin - John McCain - Clothes - Money -Comedian - Canada - France - Mexico - US - 2008 Election - 2012 Election
"Palin calls critics among McCain aides ‘jerks’." ... "The [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign aides complained about the $150,000 that the Republican National Committee had spent on [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Ms. Palin’s clothes, the way a Canadian comedian was able to embarrass the campaign by calling her and pretending to be the president of France, and the political ambitions she seemed to harbor beyond 2008." ... "By the end of the week, their complaints had escalated considerably, with Fox News quoting unnamed McCain campaign officials as saying that Ms. Palin had not known that Africa was a continent, not a country, and claiming that she did not know which countries were covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement [the US, Canada, and Mexico]." ... "Ms. Palin told reporters in Alaska that the anonymous criticism was “cowardly,” and that she had discussed the campaign’s position on Nafta at her debate prep sessions." ... "“I remember having a discussion with a couple of debate preppers,” she said. “So if it came from one of those debate preppers, you know, that’s curious. But having a discussion about Nafta — not, ‘Oh my goodness, I don’t know who is a part of Nafta.’ ”" ... "“So, no, I think that if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about Nafta, and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context,” Ms. Palin said. “And that’s cruel and it’s mean-spirited, it’s immature, it’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks, if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right.”" -By William Yardley and Michael Cooper with contributions by Julie Bosman and Brian Stelter -NYTimes -MSNBC

- 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

- Barack Obama - John Boehner - Karl Rove - 2008 Election - Media - Politics - Corporate - Healthcare - Ohio - US - Iraq - Global - Climate
"Sunday Roundup." ... "In the wake of [2008 Election Democratic President-Elect Barack] Obama's overwhelming victory, and Democratic gains in the House and Senate, conservatives are desperately trying to convince the world that these results are meaningless. "Democrats should not make the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism," insisted [Ohio Republican Representative] John Boehner. "Barack Obama understands this is a center-right country," claimed Karl Rove. "This country remains every bit as center-right as it has for a generation," parroted Brent Bozell. And David Brooks dreamed of an Obama administration that understands "this was an election where the middle asserted itself." Drunk on self-delusion, a staggering GOP whistles past the electoral graveyard, missing the whole point of this election: the center has shifted, and positions that used to be considered "left-wing" -- on healthcare, on global warming, on corporate responsibility, on Iraq -- are now solidly mainstream." -By Arianna Huffington -HuffingtonPost.com

- Barack Obama - Nebraska - History - Law - Maine - 2008 Election
"Obama wins electoral vote in Nebraska." ... "For the first time ever, a blue circle will appear in Nebraska on national electoral maps." ... "[2008 Election Democratic President-Elect] Democrat Barack Obama won the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District on Friday, scooping up one of the state's five electoral votes." ... "In the process, he made history and shone the spotlight on Nebraska's unusual electoral college system." ... "[Obama's Nebraska campaign director John] Berge said the victory was a tribute to all the work done by staffers and the hundreds of Obama volunteers who manned telephones and walked neighborhoods in the Omaha [Nebraska] metropolitan area." ... "Obama's win will assuredly spark interest in the split electoral system, which only Nebraska and Maine use. All other states are winner-take-all on electoral votes." ... "It was the first time since 1964 that Nebraska has awarded an electoral vote to a Democrat. The state has been reliably Republican since it voted for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson that year." ... "Obama ignored Nebraska's history this year, sending 16 paid staffers into the 2nd District and opening three offices in Omaha." ... "A 1991 state law allowed Obama to concentrate his efforts on the Omaha area, where Democrats outnumber Republicans." ... "Nebraska is the first state in the modern era to have a split electoral decision." ... "Nebraska and Maine are not, however, the first states to try a split-electoral system, said Randy Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha." -By Robynn Tysver -Herald

- 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

- Economy - History - Auto - Manufacturing - Construction
"Jobs lost in 2008: 1.2 million: Payrolls shrink by 240,000 in October, 10th straight month of cuts. Unemployment soars to 6.5%." ... "The government reported more grim news about the economy Friday, saying employers cut 240,000 jobs in October - bringing the year's total job losses to nearly 1.2 million." ... "According to the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, the unemployment rate rose to 6.5% from 6.1% in September and higher than economists' forecast of 6.3%. It was the highest unemployment rate since March 1994." ... "With 1,179,000 cuts, the economy has lost more than a million jobs in a year for the first time since 2001 - the last time the economy was in a recession. With most economic indicators signaling even more difficult times ahead, job losses will likely deepen and continue through at least the first half of 2009." ... ""It's pretty clear that we're in a recession," said Robert Brusca, economist at FAO Economics. "There is reason for us to believe we'll see a drumbeat of heavy job losses for a while, and there's room for them to get even worse."" ... "Brusca noted that separate readings on the manufacturing and auto industries indicated economic conditions are the worst in about 30 years." ... ""We may be in a severe recession, in which case these job numbers are not even big yet," he said, suggesting monthly job loss totals could grow in excess of 300,000 an unemployment could rise to around 7%." ... "Job losses were spread across a wide variety of industries. Manufacturing lost 90,000 jobs, the leisure and hospitality industries cut 16,000 jobs, and construction employment shrank further by 49,000 jobs." ... "In another sign of weakness, a growing number of workers were unable to find jobs with the amount of hours they want to work. Those working part-time jobs - because they couldn't find full-time work, or their hours had been cut back due to slack conditions - jumped by 645,000 people to 6.7 million, the highest since July 1993." ... "The so-called under-employment rate, which counts those part-time workers, as well as those without jobs who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work, rose to 11.8% from from 11%, matching the all-time high for that measure since calculations for it began in January 1994." -By David Goldman -CNN

- Chinese - Hackers - US - Government - E-Mail - Network - Military - Technology - Intelligence - Politics
"Chinese hack into White House network." ... "Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US [United States] official told the Financial Times." ... "On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed the [Republican President Bush] White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system." ... "US government cyber intelligence experts suspect the attacks were sponsored by the Chinese government because of their targeted nature. But they concede that it is extremely difficult to trace the exact source of an attack beyond a server in a particular country." ... "The official said the Chinese cyber attacks had the hallmarks of the “grain of sands” approach taken by Chinese intelligence, which involves obtaining and pouring through lots of - often low-level - information to find a few nuggets." ... "Some US defence companies have privately warned about attacks on their systems, which they believe are attempts to learn about future weapons systems." ... "The National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, a new unit established in 2007 to tackle cyber security, detected the attacks on the White House. But the official stressed that the hackers had only accessed the unclassified computer network, not the more secure classified network." ... "The US has increased efforts to tackle cyber security, particularly since Chinese hackers believed to be associated with the Peoples’ Liberation Army last year perpetrated a major attack on the Pentagon." ... "US military computer experts battled for weeks against a sustained attack that eventually overcame the Pentagon’s defences. The cyber attackers managed to obtain information and emails traffic from the unclassified computer system that supports Robert Gates, the defence secretary. Pentagon IT technicians were forced to take the network down for days to conduct repairs." -By Demetri Sevastopulo -FT.com

- Barack Obama - John McCain - 2008 Election - Historical - Race - Politics
"Barack Obama Wins Presidency: [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain Concedes As Democrat [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama] Earns Historic Victory; "A New Dawn Of American Leadership Is At Hand," Says President Elect." ... "In an extraordinary moment in America's history, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has won the 2008 presidential election and will become the 44th president of the United States and the country's first African-American leader." ... ""Because of what we did on this day, in this election, in this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama told 125,000 supporters gathered in Chicago's Grant Park to celebrate his victory." ... ""If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," he added." ... ""A new dawn of American leadership is at hand," Obama said." ... "[McCain:] "We have come to the end of a long journey," McCain said in a concession speech late Tuesday night. "The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly."" ... ""Let there be no reason now for any American not to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on earth," he added, lauding the historic nature of Obama's victory for African-Americans." ... "Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, assuring that their party will control Congress and the White House just two years after the Republican Party controlled both." ... ""The road ahead will be long," Obama said in his remarks. "Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.""-CBSNews

- Barack Obama - John McCain - Sarah Palin - Fashion - Money - Internet - Hacking - Federal - Investigation - 2008 Election - Technology - Politics - US - Russia - China
"Hackers and Spending Sprees." ... "The computer systems of both the [2008 Election Presidential Candidates] Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown "foreign entity," prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today." ... "At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved." ... "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.)" ... "NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost." (1, 2) -Newsweek

- Dick Cheney - Opinion - Politics - History - 2008 Election - 2004 Election
"In 2008, will media recall 2004 declarations of Bush "mandate"? Summary: [Republican] President Bush was re-elected in 2004 with 286 electoral votes, the smallest popular-vote margin since 1976 (excluding the 2000 election) and the lowest electoral vote count for an incumbent president's re-election since 1916. Nevertheless, many in the media were quick to echo [**] [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that "the nation" gave Bush "a mandate." It remains to be seen whether the media will apply the same standard in assessing the results of the 2008 election." -By S.S.M. -MediaMatters.org

- Barack Obama - Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham - Grandmother - Hawaii - NC - 2008 Election - Politics
"Obama's grandmother dies a day before election." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the Democratic presidential contender, has died, Obama announced Monday, one day before the election. Madelyn Payne Dunham was 86." ... "Obama announced the news from the campaign trail in Charlotte, N.C. [North Carolina.] The joint statement with his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng said Dunham died peacefully late Sunday night after a battle with cancer." ... "They said: "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances."" ... "Last month, Obama took a break from campaigning and flew to Hawaii to be with Dunham as her health declined." ... "Stanley Dunham [Obama's grandfather] died in 1992, while Obama's mother died in 1995. His father is also deceased." ... "When Obama was young, he and his grandmother toured the United States by Greyhound bus, stopping at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Disneyland and Chicago [Illinois], where Obama would years later settle. " -By Herbert A. Sample with contributions by Nedra Pickler -AP via -Yahoo

- Barack Obama - John McCain - Sarah Palin - 2008 Election - Economy - Politics - War - US - Iraq - World
"Francis Fukuyama." ... "I’m voting for Barack Obama [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of [Republican] George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale." ... "McCain’s appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain’s lurching from [Republican President] Reaganite free- marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all." -By Francis Fukuyama-AmConMag.com

- Halloween - Politics - John McCain - Barack Obama - 2008 Election - Michigan - Kids
"McCain Supporter Denies Candy To Children Of Obama Supporters On Halloween (VIDEO)." ... "Kids in this suburban Detroit [Michigan] neighborhood cried foul after a [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain supporter refused to give them candy because they were the children of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama supporters." -By Nicholas Graham -HuffingtonPost.com