20081030
Corporate
- 
Government
- 
Politics
- 
US
- 
Britain
- 
Germany
"Banks
to Continue Paying Dividends: Bailout Money Is for
Lending, Critics Say." ... "U.S. [United States] banks getting more than
$163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to
pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission,
over the next three years." ... "The government said it was giving banks
more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders
don't serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly
dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary
program." ... "Critics, including economists and members of Congress, question
why banks should get government money if they already have enough money
to pay dividends -- or conversely, why banks that need government money
are still spending so much on dividends." ... ""The whole purpose of the
program is to increase lending and inject capital into Main Street. If
the money is used for dividends, it defeats the purpose of the program,"
said [New York Democratic Senator] Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y. [Democratic-New
York]), who has called for the government to require a suspension of dividend
payments." ... "The 33 banks signed up so far plan to pay shareholders
about $7 billion this quarter. Companies generally try to pay consistent
dividends and, at the present pace, those dividends will consume 52 percent
of the Treasury's investment over the initial three-year term." ... "The
Treasury's approach contrasts with decisions by foreign governments, including
Britain and Germany, to require banks that accept public investments to
suspend dividend payments until the government is repaid. The U.S. government
similarly required Chrysler to suspend its dividend payments as a condition
of the government's 1979 bailout." (1, 2)
-By Binyamin Appelbaum -WashingtonPost
Sarah
Palin - Money
- Politics
- 
Family
- 
Travel
- 
Flights
- 
2008
Election
"Palin
faces new ethics complaint over kids' travel." ...
"A new ethics complaint has been filed against [2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin, accusing
the Alaska governor of abusing her power by charging the state when her
children traveled with her." ... "The complaint alleges that the Republican
vice presidential nominee used her official position as governor for personal
gain, violating a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. It
follows a report by The Associated Press last week that Palin charged the
state more than $21,000 for her three daughters' commercial flights, including
events where they weren't invited, and later ordered their expense forms
amended to specify official state business." ... "In some cases, Palin
also has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls." ... ""Governor
Palin intentionally secured unwarranted benefits for family members, improperly
used state property to benefit her personal and financial interests, and
illegally altered documents that were the subject of a Public Records request,"
the complaint states." ... "Earlier this month, a legislative report found
Palin violated state ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner."
... "The state already is reviewing nearly $17,000 in per diem payments
to Palin for 312 nights she slept at her home in Wasilla [Alaska], about
an hour's drive from her satellite office in Anchorage [Alaska]." -By
Rachel D'Oro -AP
via -BostonGlobe
20081029
Voting
Machines - Political
- 
Electronic
- 
Technology
- 2008
Election - 
Texas
- 
West
Virginia - 
Tennessee
"Texas
Voters Urged to Avoid Straight-Party Option, After Vote-Flip Complaints."
... "A number of voters in several Texas counties have been complaining
that voting machines they used to cast early votes flipped their votes
from Democratic choices to Republican ones." ... "Voters have reported
that when they tried
to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their
choices to Republican candidates instead. In some cases, voters reported
a problem only with the presidential race; in other cases voters reported
the entire ballot being marked Republican by the machine." ... "The counties
where the problems were reported use different kinds of voting machines
from three of the top voting machine companies -- Election Systems &
Software [ES&S], Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions)
and Hart InterCivic." ... "The same ES&S machines are at the center
of stories in West
Virginia and Tennessee
where voters also reported the machines flipping their votes, though the
scenario in those states was slightly different since voters there weren't
trying to vote a straight-party ticket when the problem occurred." ...
"Complaints so far have come in from at least seven Texas counties -- Collin,
Dallas, El Paso, Galveston, Harris, Jefferson, and Palo Pinto." ... "Collin
County uses Diebold paperless Accu-Vote touch-screen machines; Dallas uses
ES&S paperless iVotronic machines; El
Paso uses Diebold paperless Accu-Vote touch-screen machines; Galveston
uses Hart InterCivic paperless eSlate machines, which use a dial-and-click
system that doesn't require voters to touch the screen; Harris uses Hart
InterCivic paperless eSlate machines; Jefferson and Palo Pinto Counties
use ES&S paperless iVotronic touch-screen machines." -By
Kim Zetter -Wired
Voting
Machine - Technology
- Politics
- 
Video
- West
Virginia - Tennessee
- 2008
Election - 
Obama
- 
McCain
"Video:
Recalibrated Machine in W. Virginia Appears to Record Vote Inaccurately."
... "Video the Vote has a video
showing [West Virginia's] Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright demonstrating
how votes cast on uncalibrated touchscreen machines can jump from one candidate
to another. This is the
kind of problem that voters reported having in several West Virginia
counties last week on touchscreen machines made by Election Systems &
Software. Voters in Tennessee also complained about the same problem on
ES&S machines." ... "In the video, after Waybright demonstrates the
phenomenon on the uncalibrated machine, he calibrates the machine and votes
again. But even though the machine is supposed to be fixed at that point,
it appears to record a vote incorrectly." ... "In the first part of the
video demonstrating an uncalibrated ES&S iVotronic touchscreen machine,
Waybright touches the screen to cast a vote for [2008 Election] Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama, but a check mark appears three boxes
below Obama's name in the slot for Constitution Party presidential candidate
Chuck Baldwin." ... "When he touches the box next to Green Party presidential
candidate Cynthia McKinney's name, the machine sends him to a new screen
where a box and keyboard are displayed for filling in a write-in candidate's
name. When he selects the option for voting a straight-party Democratic
ticket, the machine shows a check mark in the box next to [2008 Election]
Republican presidential candidate John McCain's name." -By
Kim Zetter -Wired
WATCH:
"WV Vote Flipping Caught on Tape" - VideoTheVote
Barack
Obama -
- Ad
- 
Media
- 2008
Election - Families
- Economy
- 
Military
- 
Ohio
- 
Missouri
- 
Kansas
- 
New
Mexico - 
Florida
- 
Arizona
- - US
- 
Iraq
"30-minute
Obama ad shows campaign muscle." ... "[2008 Election
Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama's
30-minute TV ad, which ran simultaneously on broadcast and cable networks
at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, is muscle-flexing that has little precedent, a
campaign advertising expert said." ... ""It's evidence, if you needed any,
that the Obama campaign has more money than there is ad time left to buy,"
said Evan Tracey, director of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. "This
is flexing the muscles."" ... ""The strategic brilliance of this for Obama
is that he is going to consume about 24 hours of the news cycle," Tracey
said. "It boxes [John] McCain in, takes the oxygen out of the room."" ...
"In the carefully produced infomercial, Obama laid out his plans for the
economy and for bringing an end to the war in Iraq." ... "It also featured
stories of struggling families in swing states such as Ohio and Missouri
and included testimonials from high-profile supporters, including Kansas
[Democratic Governor] Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and New Mexico [Democratic
Governor] Gov. Bill Richardson." ... "Obama's Republican opponent, Arizona
Sen. John McCain, was not mentioned, nor was the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican].
The spot ended with a brief, live Obama address to a rally in Florida,
another hotly contested state in this year's campaign." -By
Richard Allen Greene -CNN
WATCH
Barack
Obama ad: "American Stories, American Solutions."
"Obama:
"I'm reminded every single day that I am not a perfect man. I will not
be a perfect president. But I can promise you this: I will always tell
you what I think and where I stand. I will always be honest with you about
the challenges we face. I will listen to you when we disagree. And, most
importantly, I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved
in your own democracy again."" - BarackObama.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - 2008
Election - 2012
Election - Politics
"Palin's
2012 talk leaves McCain aide speechless." ... "[2008
Election Republican] Vice presidential contender Sarah Palin told ABC in
an interview to air Thursday that she's not going to leave national politics
if she doesn't enter the White House in January, fueling speculation that
she's considering running for President in 2012." ... "CNN's Dana Bash
told cohort Wolf Blitzer that a senior [2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Candidate John] McCain advisor was rendered "speechless" by Palin's comment.
"There was a long pause, and then I just heard a 'Huh.' on the other end
of the phone. I mean, this is certainly not a surprise to anybody who has
watched Sarah Palin that she is interested in potentially...a future national
run. Certainly she is being urged to by a lot of people inside the Republican
Party if they do lose."" ... "[Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Palin has
already been called a "diva" and "rogue" by people within the McCain campaign
who see her straying
from prescribed narrative in her speeches, having "lost confidence in most
of the people on the plane."" -By Nick Cargo and David
Edwards -RawStory.com
AIG
- Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- 
Housing
"A
Question for A.I.G.: Where Did the Cash Go?" ...
"The American International Group is rapidly running through $123 billion
in emergency lending provided by the Federal Reserve, raising questions
about how a company claiming to be solvent in September could have developed
such a big hole by October. Some analysts say at least part of the shortfall
must have been there all along, hidden by irregular accounting." ... "“You
don’t just suddenly lose $120 billion overnight,” said Donn Vickrey of
Gradient Analytics, an independent securities research firm in Scottsdale,
Ariz." ... "Mr. Vickery and other analysts are examining the company’s
disclosures for clues that the cushion was threadbare and that company
officials knew they had major losses months before the bailout." ... "Tantalizing
support for this argument comes from what appears to have been a behind-the-scenes
clash at the company over how to value some of its derivatives contracts.
An accountant brought in by the company because of an earlier scandal was
pushed to the sidelines on this issue, and the company’s outside auditor,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, warned of a material weakness months before the
government bailout." ... "The internal auditor resigned and is now in seclusion,
according to a former colleague." ... "These accounting questions are of
interest not only because taxpayers are footing the bill at A.I.G. but
also because the post-mortems may point to a fundamental flaw in the Fed
bailout: the money is buoying an insurer — and its trading partners — whose
cash needs could easily exceed the existing government backstop if the
housing sector continues to deteriorate." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mary
Williams Walsh -NYTimes
20081027
Ted
Stevens
- 
Criminal
- Money
- Politics
- 
Alaska
- 
VECO
- 2008
Election
"Sen.
Ted Stevens guilty of all 7 felony charges." ...
"[Alaska Republican Senator] Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican
senator in history and patriarch of Alaska politics, was convicted Monday
of all seven felony charges for making false statements." ... "Shortly
before 4 p.m., the jury convicted the 84-year-old senator for making false
statements by failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen,
the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends." ... ""This company,
the evidence showed, was not a charity," said Matthew Friedrich, assistant
attorney general for the criminal division at the Justice Department, referring
to Veco Corp." ... "Judge Emmet G. Sullivan deferred sentencing until after
Feb. 25, when a hearing is scheduled on further motions. Stevens faces
up to five years in prison on each count." ... "The jury did not seem to
buy the explanation from Stevens that Allen showered him with gifts he
didn't want and was unaware of, and that he believed the $160,000 he gave
to another contractor covered all costs for the home renovations." -By
Manu Raju with contributions by J. Taylor Rushing and Sam Youngman
-TheHill.com
Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Federal
- 
Law
- Race
- 
Terrorism
- Politics
- Tenn
- 
Ark
"Feds
disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate Obama." ...
"Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree,
shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting [2008 Election]
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said
Monday." ... "In all, the two men whom officials describe as neo-Nazi skinheads
planned to kill 88 people — 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed
in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. [Tennessee.] The numbers 88 and
14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community." ... "The spree, which
initially targeted an unidentified predominantly African-American school,
was to end with the two men driving toward Obama, "shooting at him from
the windows," the court documents show." ... "Sheriffs' deputies in Crockett
County, Tenn., arrested the two suspects — Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells,
Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark. [Arkansas.]
— [October] Oct. 22 on unspecified charges." ... "An ATF [Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms] affidavit filed in the case says Cowart and Schlesselman
told investigators the day they were arrested they had shot at a glass
window at Beech Grove Church of Christ, a congregation of about 60 black
members in Brownsville, Tenn." -By Lara Jakes Jordan
with contributions by Erik Schelzig, Jon Gambrell, and Eileen Sullivan
-AP
via -Yahoo
20081025
Sarah
Palin - Religious
- Video
- 
Kenya
- Alaska
- US
- 2008
Election
"YouTube
Videos Draw Attention to Palin’s Faith." ... "[2008
Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Ms. Palin’s faith
has come under scrutiny after two videos taken in her former church surfaced
on YouTube and became immediate sensations. The first showed a visiting
preacher from Kenya praying fervently over Ms. Palin in a gravelly voice
and asking God to favor her campaign for governor and protect her from
“every form of witchcraft.”" ... "The second showed Ms. Palin at an event
in June praising the African preacher’s prayer as “awesome” and “very,
very powerful.” She is also seen nodding as her former pastor from Wasilla
prays over her and declares that Alaska is “one of the refuge states in
the Last Days,” a piece of prophecy popular in some prayer networks that
predicts that as the “end times” approach, people will flock to Alaska
for its abundant open space and natural resources." ... " ... Ms. Palin
has had long associations with religious leaders who practice a particularly
assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism known as “spiritual warfare.”"
... "Its adherents believe that demonic forces can colonize specific geographic
areas and individuals, and that “spiritual warriors” must “battle” them
to assert God’s control, using prayer and evangelism. The movement’s fixation
on demons, its aggressiveness and its leaders’ claims to exalted spiritual
authority have troubled even some Pentecostal Christians." ... "Bishop
Thomas Muthee, the Kenyan preacher shown on the YouTube video anointing
her as she ran for governor, is celebrated internationally as an effective
spiritual warrior who led a prayer movement that drove a witch out of his
town in Kenya." ... "Critics say the goal of the spiritual warfare movement
is to create a theocracy. Bruce Wilson, a researcher for Talk2Action, a
Web site that tracks religious groups, said: “One of the imperatives of
the movement is to achieve worldly power, including political control.
Then you can more effectively drive out the demons. The ultimate goal is
to purify the earth.”" (1, 2)
-By Laurie
Goodstein -NYTimes
Search
Youtube videos: <Palin Church>
Search
Youtube videos: <Palin witch-hunter>
Search
Youtube videos: <Palin witchcraft>
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - 
History
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
'going rogue,' McCain aide says." ... "Several [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain advisers have suggested
to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide
described as [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah]
Palin "going rogue."" ... "A second McCain source says she appears to be
looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign." ... ""She is a
diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She
does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or
anyone else." ... ""Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself
as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves,
as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."" ... "
... [T]wo sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended
the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked,
both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have
been a lot worse." ... "They insisted that she needed time to be briefed
on national and international issues and on McCain's record." ... ""Her
lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said
another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin
after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to
get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."" -By
Dana Bash, Peter Hamby and John King -CNN
20081022
Sarah
Palin - 
Jeff
Larson - 
Karl
Rove - John
McCain - 
Norm
Coleman - Money
- 
Fashion
- Apartment
- Politics
- 
Minnesota
- 2008
Election
"Sarah
Palin’s Personal Shopper." ... "The attention from
Jeanne Cummings’s much-talked-about
Politico
story has naturally focused on the $150,000 in luxury clothing purchased
for [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin
at Neiman Marcus, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, and Barney’s. What hasn’t yet gotten
any attention is who bought it for her. But buried in the same FEC [Federal
Election Commission] disclosure form that revealed Palin’s taste for the
fine life is the name of the man who appears to have been her personal
shopper: Jeff Larson." ... "Under FEC regulations, the RNC must file what
is called a “Schedule
F form,” which lists “expenditures made by political committees or
designated agents(s) on behalf of candidates for federal office.”" ...
"Larson is the [Republican operative] Karl Rove protégé who’s
a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the “FLS” stands for
Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Syndhorst, all veteran Republican political
operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous
robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to
make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. He’s also well known
in Minnesota for leasing
his basement apartment at a steeply discounted rate to embattled [Minnesota]
Republican Senator Norm Coleman." -By Joshua
Green -TheAtlantic.com
Sarah
Palin - Fashion
- Politics
- McCain
- 2008
Election - Missouri
- 
New
York - Minnesota
"RNC
shells out $150K for Palin fashion." ... "The Republican
National Committee [RNC] has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize
vice presidential candidate [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate] Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain in late August."
... "According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began
in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis
[Missouri] and New York for a combined $49,425.74." ... "The records also
document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis
[Minnesota], including one $75,062.63 spree in early September." ... "The
RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting
no such costs in August." ... "September payments were also made to Barney’s
New York ($789.72) and Bloomingdale’s New York ($5,102.71)." ... "Macy’s
in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin
Cities that hosted last summer’s Republican National Convention, received
three separate payments totaling $9,447.71." ... "An additional $4,902.45
was spent in early September at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination
for men." -By Jeanne Cummings
-Politico.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Fashion
- Money
- Alaska
- 2008
Election - 
Working
- 
People
- 
Health
Care
"Palin
Clothes Spending Has Dems Salivating, Republicans Silent."
... "Since her selection as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate]
John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more
than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for [2008 Election Republican Vice
Presidential Candidate and Alaska] Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even
her infant son, Politico
reported on Tuesday evening." ... "Palin, in the end, had received
the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day." ... "During a week in which
the Republican ticket is trying to highlight its connection to the working
class - and, by extension, promoting its newest campaign tool, Joe the
Plumber - it was revealed that Palin's fashion budget for several weeks
was more than four times the median
salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin
received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household
spends
on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her
clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people."
-By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
20081020
John
McCain - Barack
Obama - Military
- Politics
- 2008
Election - AZ
- 
Nevada
- 
VA
- TX
- US
-Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- 
Vietnam
- History
"McCain
Lies Again, Repeats False Claim He ‘Received The Highest Honor And Awards’
From Every Vets Group." ... "Yesterday, [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ [Republican-Arizona]) held a telephone town hall meeting, in which
“thousands” of Nevadans — according to the McCain campaign — called to
listen in. Among some of the hostile,
pointed, and critical questions came one from a veteran, who challenged
McCain on his voting record regarding funding for the Veterans Administration
and veterans’ priorities:"
"Q:
I know you voted for lesser increases, and sometimes they were so much
less, and our VA desperately needs the money. Can you tell me why you
would vote for less money for the VA when there’s a war going on?"
"M:
Well of course I have not and I’m afraid I’ve been endorsed by the VFW
in every election that I’ve been in. I have been — received the honors,
the highest honor and awards from all our veterans organizations for my
consistent support of them. I don’t know what you’re looking at, but
the DAV, the VFW, the American Legion, all of them have given me their
highest awards for my consistent support of them."
"As
ThinkProgress has repeatedly
[-] documented,
McCain is either willfully lying or he is delusional about his record —
and the meaning of “highest awards.” In fact, McCain has recently stood
on the opposite side of all three of the groups he mentioned:"
"–
Disabled American Veterans (DAV): In a list of 36 “key votes,” shows
McCain “Voted
Against Us” 16 times. ([2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate
Barack] Obama “Voted
With Us” 17 times, and against only once.)"
"–
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW): Endorsed
[Virginia Democratic Senator] Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA [Democratic-Virginia])
GI Bill that McCain vigorously opposed; called McCain’s alternative GI
Bill “very
partisan” and said they “didn’t have much input” in its crafting."
"–
American Legion: Endorsed
Webb’s GI Bill and criticized McCain’s concern
about how it would affect retention, saying the bill “would
encourage young men and women to join the military.”"
"Just
last week, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a
grade of D for his record of voting against veterans. (Obama got a
B.)
The Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) have noted that in its “Key Votes,”
McCain “Voted Against
Us” 15 times and “Voted For Us” only 8. (Obama voted for VVA 12 times,
and against only once.)"
... "Earlier this month, [Texas Democratic Representative] Rep. Chet Edwards
(D-TX [Democratic-Texas]), a leading veterans advocate, excoriated McCain
in an interview with ThinkProgress: “If you look at John McCain’s record
on veterans issues, it’s
a failed one.” It’s a sentiment IAVA executive director Paul Rieckhoff
agrees with. Noting McCain’s dismal voting record on VA funding, Rieckhoff
told ThinkProgress, “If he says the VA’s not working, it’s
in part because he hasn’t funded it properly.”"
"Update In an interview with Richmond's
[Virginia's capital] WTVR on Friday, McCain repeated his favorite lie:
"I've been a friend of the veterans for a long time and I've
received every award from every major veterans organization." He added,
"I'm proud of my support for the veterans."" -By Ali
Frick -ThinkProgress.org
John
McCain -Illegal
- 
Foreign
- Money
- Politics
- 
Russia
- 
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election
"McCain:
Brother, Can You Spare A Ruble?" ... "... the [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign sought
illegal contributions from the Russian ambassador to the United Nations."
"The
Russian Mission to the United Nations issued a bizarre statement to the
UN press corps today stating simply, "We have received a letter from [Arizona]
Senator John McCain requesting financial contribution to his Presidential
campaign. In this connection we would like to reiterate that Russian officials,
the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations or
the Russian Government do not finance political activity in foreign countries.""
"Intrigued,
I called the Russian Mission and a press officer there directed me to this
item on the Mission's website. It seems that the McCain-Palin campaign
sent a generic fundraising letter to Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly I Churkin."
"Accepting
foreign
money is, of course, against the law. The McCain campaign was, in effect,
asking the Russian ambassador for an illegal campaign contribution." ...
"Russian officials don't believe the McCain campaign was deliberately asking
for an illegal donation." -By Steve Benen
-WashingtonMonthly.com
Racist
- Marketing
- Fashion
- Politics
- Terrorism
- Crime
- Illegal
- Immigration
- Economy
- 
Pennsylvania
- 
Alabama
- Fla
"White
supremacists target middle America." ... "The white-power
movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal." ...
"The USA's largest neo-Nazi group is ditching its trademark brown Nazi
uniform with swastika armband for a more muted look in black fatigues."
... "In Pennsylvania, the Keystone State Skinheads is changing its name
to Keystone United to attract members." ... "Supremacist groups are on
the rise as they market themselves to middle America, according to leaders
of the groups and organizations that monitor them. They are fueled by the
debate over illegal immigration and a struggling economy." ... ""Many white
supremacist groups are going more mainstream," says Jack Levin, a Northeastern
University criminologist who studies hate crime. "They are eliminating
the sheets and armbands. … The groups realize if they want to be attractive
to middle-class types, they need to look middle-class."" ... "The FBI [Federal
Bureau of Investigation] knows of about 24 domestic terrorist groups. Spokesman
Richard Kolko would not say how many are white supremacists." ... "Jeff
Schoep, head of the National Socialist Movement, says the government classifies
his group as a domestic group of interest, not domestic terrorists. The
FBI would not comment." ... "[Former Alabama Ku Klux Klan leader Don] Black's
son, Derek, 19, was elected to the Palm Beach County, Fla. [Florida], Republican
committee in August. Local Republican leaders are trying to unseat him
after learning of his white supremacist ties." -By
Marisol Bello -USATODAY
Cartoon
- Fashion
- History
- Germany
- 
Poland
- US
- McCain
- Palin
- 2008
Election - /Channel
- Media
- Corp
"Fox
Family Feud Over ‘Family Guy’." ... "A Sunday night
episode of the Fox animated series “Family
Guy” stirred up trouble by suggesting rather directly that Nazi
officers would have supported the McCain-Palin ticket. And it was another
arm of the News Corp. conglomerate, Fox News Channel, that first reported
on the episode." ... "Fox (the broadcast network) aired the episode in
which Stewie, the obnoxious baby character at the center of the series,
and Brian, a talking dog, traveled back in time to Poland during the 1939
German invasion. The characters ambush Nazi soldiers in an alley and steal
their uniforms so they can travel without drawing attention. Putting on
an overcoat, Stewie notices a McCain-Palin campaign button affixed to the
lapel. “Huh, that’s weird,” Stewie remarks." -By Brooks
Barnes -NYTimes
"Family
Guy" cartoon with animated character "Stewie" in a Nazi uniform with a
McCain/Palin button on it:
WATCH
episode of "Family Guy" cartoon with character Stewie in Nazi uniform with
McCain/Palin button
2008
Election - Law
- Politics
- 
California
- Florida
- 
Massachusetts
- Arizona
"Ontario
police arrest man in voter fraud case: Mark Jacoby,
who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state
laws with his own registration, authorities say." ... "The owner of a firm
that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands
of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion
of voter registration fraud." ... "State and local investigators allege
that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood
California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet
the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote
in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition
signatures and registers voters in California and other states." ... "YPM
has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. Election
officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities
of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently
a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit." -By Evan Halper
-LAtimes
Barack
Obama - Madelyn
Payne Dunham - Grandmother
- 
Hawaii
- 
Illinois
- Kansas
- Politics
- Race
- History
- 
Book
- 2008
Election
"Obama's
grandmother fights to see him elected." ... "Madelyn
Payne Dunham gave young [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate]
Barack Obama a place to call home while his mother traveled the world.
When he needed money for school, she went without new clothes to help pay
his tuition." ... "And when the Illinois Senator decided to seek the Democratic
presidential nomination, Dunham provided the "Kansas heartland" pedigree
he needed to appeal to conservative white voters — and a personal anecdote
about racial prejudice that helped the man with the foreign name and Ivy
League resume connect with the African-American experience." ... "The 85-year-old
former bank executive is said to be "gravely ill" after falling and breaking
her hip, and some reports suggest she might not live to see the results
of the Nov. 4 election. Whatever happens, she's already lived long enough
to see her "Barry" achieve what she'd wanted for him, her brother says."
... "Although he made his mark thousands of miles from the Honolulu [Hawaii's
capital] apartment where she helped raise him, Obama and others credit
Dunham — whose birthday is Sunday — with instilling in him an appreciation
for education and hard work, and with setting an example of thrift, practicality
and tolerance." ... ""I think there's nobody more important than her, except
his mother, in shaping his character," said David Mendell, who interviewed
Dunham in 2004 for the Chicago Tribune and later wrote the book, "Obama:
From Promise to Power."" ... "While her husband [Obama's grandfather, Stanley
Dunham] was away in the Army during World War II, she was home raising
their daughter, Stanley Ann, and supervising a B-29 bomber assembly line
at the Boeing plant in Wichita [Kansas]." -By Allen
G. Breed -AP
via -Google
Obama's
Grandmother:
Madelyn
Payne Dunham
Obama's
Grandparents:
Stanley
Armour Dunham and Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham
Barack
Obama's Grandparents
Barack
Obama - Madelyn
Dunham - Grandmother
- Hawaii
- 
Indiana
- 
Wisconsin
- Des-Moines
- 
Iowa
- Politics
- 2008
Election
"Obama
will make emergency trip to Hawaii to visit his Grandmother."
... "[2008 Election Democratic] Presidential hopeful Barack Obama will
make an emergency trip back to the [Hawaii] islands this week to visit
his grandmother." ... "A campaign spokesman says 86-year old Madelyn Dunham
is very ill." ... "Obama plans to leave Indianapolis [Indiania's capital]
on Thursday afternoon." ... "His grandmother has always been one of the
most important people in his life." ... ""She's the one who put off buying
a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life.
She poured everything she had into me," said Obama on August 28." ... "Obama
will be stepping off the campaign trail for a couple days to be at his
grandmother's side." ... "He cancelled his appearances in Madison, Wisconsin,
and Des Moines, Iowa to make the trip." -By Marisa
Yamane -KHON2.com
Barack
Obama - Madelyn
Dunham - Grandmother
- Politics
- 2008
Election
"Obama
Calls Grandmother "Rock of My Family"." ... "In September,
[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barak Obama talked about
his grandmother [Madelyn Dunham] during an interview with CBS News' Katie
Couric." ... ""She's been the rock of my family. She worked very hard all
of her life. And made a lot of sacrifices on my behalf. And now she can't
travel. She's got osteoporosis that's very bad. She's as sharp as they
come. She explained to me the other day, she said you know the problem
with getting old is that you're the same person, just your body is falling
apart, and it's very frustrating. And that's how she feels. And you know,
spending time with her is something that's going to be a priority after
the election is over."" -By Tim Sakahara
-KGMB9.com
John
McCain - Nathan
Sproul - Money
- Politics
- Investigation
- Law
-California
- Nevada
- 
Oregon
- Minnesota
- Pennsylvania
- West
Virginia - 
Vermont
- Massachusetts
- 
Michigan
- 
Libraries
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election
"McCain
Employing GOP [Republican] Operative Accused Of Voter Registration Fraud."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's campaign
has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of
massive voter registration fraud in several states." ... "According to
campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign,
the RNC [Republican National Committee] and the the California Republican
Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for
purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is
Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] operative
who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic
voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading
efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket."
... "During the 2004 election, Sproul & Associates (the former name
of Lincoln Strategy) was accused of attempting to destroy forms collected
by Democratic voters in Nevada. That
same year in Oregon, Sproul & Associates allegedly instructed canvassers
to only accept Republican registration forms in addition to destroying
those turned in by Democrats." ... "In Minnesota, meanwhile, Sproul's firm
was accused of actually firing workers who brought back Democratic registration
forms, while other canvassers were allegedly paid "$13 an hour, with the
$3 bonus for every [Republican President] Bush, undecided or Ralph Nader
voter registration." Similar problems related to Sproul & Associates
popped up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia." ... "All of this was executed,
it seems, through an elaborate web of deception. As
Salon.com wrote back in 2004:"
"Canvassers
were told to act as if they were nonpartisan, to hide that they were working
for the RNC, especially if approached by the media... In letters the firm
sent to the libraries, Sproul misrepresented itself as America Votes --
a left-leaning national voter registration group not affiliated with Sproul
-- but said that it was interested in registering "all those who wish to
register to vote." Shortly after Sproul canvassers began working the libraries,
though, patrons began complaining that the canvassers were being especially
inquisitive about their political leanings, and some were pushing people
to register as Republicans."
"Sens.
[Vermont Democratic Senator] Patrick Leahy and [Massachusetts Democratic
Senator] Ted Kennedy sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft in
2004 asking that the Justice Department "launch an immediate investigation
into the activities of Mr. Sproul and his firm." Three years later, members
of Congress still weren't satisfied. Rep. [Michigan Democratic Representative
John] Conyers complained in an Oct. 2007 letter that the Justice Department
was not closely scrutinizing Sproul's efforts. "The alleged misconduct
described by many witnesses," he wrote, "clearly suppress[es] votes and
violate[s] the law."" -By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
Barack
Obama - Madelyn
Dunham - Grandmother
- Health
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Politics
- 2008
Election
"Obama
coming to Hawaii to visit ailing grandmother." ...
"[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama spokesman
Robert Gibbs announced that the senator will head to Hawaii Thursday to
see his 86-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who is seriously ill."
... "She was released from the hospital last week and is at her home on
Oahu [Hawaii]. Obama plans to return to the campaign on Saturday." ...
"In a statement Gibbs said: "[Illinois] Senator Obama's grandmother, Madelyn
Dunham, has always been one of the most important people in his life. Along
with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the
time he was born until the moment he left for college. As he said at the
Democratic Convention, she poured everything she had into him." ... ""Recently,
his grandmother has become ill, and in the last few weeks, her health has
deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious. It is for
that reason that Senator Obama has decided to change his schedule on Thursday
and Friday so that he can see her and spend some time with her. He will
be returning the the campaign trail on Saturday.""
-KHNL.com
Obama's
Grandparents:
Barack
Obama's Grandparents: Grandmother Madelyn Dunham and Grandfather Stanley
Dunham
Barack
Obama - Madelyn
Dunham - Business
- 
Woman
- Grandmother
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Politics
- 2008
Election
"Obama's
Grandmother Described As 'Strong Willed': Senator
Leaves Campaign Trail To Make Visit." ... "Those who know Madelyn Dunham
said throughout her life she has been "strong willed" and ambitious." ...
"Dunham's health has slowly deteriorated and during his recent visit to
Hawaii [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator]
Sen. Barack Obama spoke about his grandmother's condition." ... ""Her body
is not in great shape she has osteoporosis which means she can't travel.
She can't sit for a long periods of time on the plane so that's why it
is so important for me to take these trips back to Hawaii," Obama said."
... "Barack Obama since he was 10." ... "Dunham turns 86 on Sunday." ...
"University of Hawaii professor Alice Dewey is a longtime friend of the
Obamas and remembers Dunham's tenacity." ... ""She was a very determined
person as you began to get to know her she knew her mind and followed her
principles," Dewey said." ... "Dunham was one of the first women vice presidents
at the Bank of Hawaii. Co-workers said she was a well respected business
woman." -KITV.com
Environmental
- Politics
"The
League of Conservation Voters Is Friendlier to Republicans than Democrats."
... "The LCV [League of Conservation Voters] scorecard is the major scorecard
for the environmental movement, this is their measure of how friendly to
the environment a candidate is, a selection of key votes that set goals
for the large and sprawling set of green groups." ... "Basically, what
the data suggests is that LCV has two sets of standards, one for Democrats,
who have to meet a certain bar for support, and one for Republicans, who
have to meet a lower bar for support." -By Matt
Stoller -OpenLeft.com
20081017
Barack
Obama - 
Michael
Mukasey - John
McCain - Political
- US
Attorneys - Law
- Investigation
- 2008
Election
"Obama
Lawyer Asks for Probe Into Vote-Fraud Claims (Update1)."
... "Robert Bauer, general counsel to the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Candidate Barack] Obama campaign, wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey
a day after the Associated Press, citing unidentified law enforcement officials,
reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating ACORN.
The name is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now." ... "A special prosecutor appointed by Mukasey already is looking
into whether improper political considerations influenced the firings of
nine U.S. attorneys. At least one prosecutor was fired following Republican
complaints that he didn't aggressively pursue allegations of voter fraud
against ACORN." ... "Bauer said the news leaks are part of a coordinated
effort by [2008 Election Republican John] McCain's presidential campaign
and Republicans. They are ``fomenting specious vote-fraud allegations and
there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,''
Bauer said." ... "``It is apparent,'' he wrote, that law enforcement officials
are serving ``improper political objectives'' that could inhibit voter
participation in the [2008 November] Nov. 4 election. The aim is to ``suppress
the vote and to unduly influence investigations and prosecutions,'' Bauer
wrote. " -By Jeff Bliss
-Bloomberg
Barack
Obama - John
McCain - Michael
Mukasey - Law
- Politics
- Investigation
- 2008
Election
"Obama
Camp Charges GOP with ‘Partisan Plot’ to Suppress Votes."
... "The [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama
campaign charged Friday that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate]
John
McCain, in concert with the [Republican President] Bush administration,
has embarked on a studied effort to disrupt [2008] Election Day in many
states and suppress the vote." ... "In a conference call with reporters
Friday, Robert Bauer, chief counsel for the Obama campaign, suggested
that a flurry of fraudulent registration complaints recently, and a subsequent
leak by FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] officials that the agency
was investigating the incidents, were part of a coordinated attempt by
McCain and the administration of [Republican] President Bush to
intimidate voters." ... "As evidence of the coordination, Bauer pointed
to recent rhetoric from McCain that Acorn, a left-leaning non-profit group
implicated in submitting fraudulent voter registration forms in several
states was, as McCain put it during this week’s debate, tearing at “the
very fabric of Democracy.’’" ... "McCain’s comments about Acorn were quickly
followed by a Justice Department news leak that the FBI was investigating
the group. The leak, Bauer said, was a clear violation of Justice Department
policies and likely came from the department." ... "Bauer said the timing
of the comments and the leak suggested a “partisan plot” to suppress the
vote on Election Day." ... "In a letter to Attorney General Michael
Mukasey released Friday by the Obama campaign, Bauer called the “current
bogus claims of vote fraud’’ and the McCain campaign’s attempts to breathe
life into the allegations by urging Justice Department investigations was
“history repeating itself.’’" ... "The Republicans used similar tactics
to suppress the vote in 2000 and 2004, Bauer wrote." ... "The leaks that
the FBI recently began investigating hark back to an on-going inquiry into
whether the Justice Department was improperly involved in voter suppression
activities in 2004, Bauer said." -By Christopher Cooper
-WSJ.com
20081015
Sarah
Palin - Russia
- Alaska
- 
Energy
- Markets
- US
- 2008
Election
"Palin
unaware of Russian energy meeting in Alaska." ...
"The campaign of [Republican] vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said
the Alaska governor was unaware of a visit by Russian energy officials
to Anchorage [Alaska] on Monday." ... "Eight high-level officials from
Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, traveled to Anchorage
earlier this week to meet with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources
and the chief executive of ConocoPhillips to discuss energy projects and
the possibility of expanding into new markets." ... "But the campaign said
the governor did not know that the Gazprom delegation was meeting with
the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, who is
a Palin appointee." -By Peter Hamby
-CNN
Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Consumer
- 
Safety
- Law
- Language
- Health
- 
Medicine
- 
Auto
- 
Transportation
"Bush
Rule Changes Could Block Product-Safety Suits." ...
"[Republican President] Bush administration officials, in their last weeks
in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes
or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and
states." ... "The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting
product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle
brakes to pain medicine. The latest changes cap a multiyear effort that
could be one of the administration's lasting legacies, depending in part
on how the underlying principle of pre-emption fares in a case the Supreme
Court will hear next month." ... "This year, lawsuit-protection language
has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued [2008 October]
Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts
car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers
who didn't get to wear one." ... "These new rules can't quickly be undone
by order of the next president. Federal rules usually must go through lengthy
review processes before they are changed. Rulemaking at the Food and Drug
Administration, where most of the new pre-emption rules have appeared,
can take a year or more." ... "The use of rulemaking to protect corporations
from product liability was discussed from early in the Bush administration,
said former Bush domestic-policy adviser Jay Lefkowitz, who was instrumental
in the process." -By Alicia Mundy
-WSJ.com
20081014
John
McCain - William
Timmons - Criminal
- Oil
- Money
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Government
- Iraq
- International
- Law
- 
South
Korea - US
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Transition Chief Aided Saddam In Lobbying Effort."
... "William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain has named to head his presidential
transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime." ...
"The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period
on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted
of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents
of Saddam Hussein's government." ... "During the same period beginning
in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and
Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis
in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi
oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if
the business deal went through." ... "Timmons' activities occurred in the
years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to
be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism." ... "Virtually everything
Timmons did while working on the lobbying campaign was within days conveyed
by Vincent to either one or both of Saddam Hussein's top aides, Tariq Aziz
and Nizar Hamdoon. Vincent also testified that he almost always relayed
input from the Iraqi aides back to Timmons." ... "Talking points that Timmons
produced for the lobbyists to help ease the sanctions, for example, were
reviewed ahead of time by Aziz, Vincent testified in court. Proposals that
Timmons himself circulated to U.S. [United States] officials as part of
the effort were written with the assistance of the Iraqi officials, and
were also sent ahead of time with Timmons' approval to Aziz, other records
show." ... "Vincent, an Iraqi-born American citizen with whom Timmons worked
most closely, pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges in January 2005
that he had acted as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Tongsun Park, the second lobbyist who Timmons worked closely with, was
convicted by a federal jury in July 2006 on charges that he too violated
the Foreign Agent Registration Act." ... "At the time Timmons introduced
the two men, Park's notorious background was well known:" ... "In the 1970s,
Park had admitted to making hundreds of thousands in payments and illegal
campaign contributions to U.S. congressmen on behalf of the South Korean
government. Park was indicted on 36 counts by a federal grand jury, but
fled to South Korea before he could face trial. All of the charges were
later dismissed in exchange for Park providing information about which
public officials received funds from the South Korean government." -By
Murray
Waas with contributions by Patrick B. Anderson
-HuffingtonPost.com
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - 2008
Election
"Bush
Strategist: McCain Knows He Put Country At Risk With Palin Pick."
... "Matthew Dowd, a prominent political consultant and chief strategist
for [Republican President] George W. Bush's reelection campaign eviscerated
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain on Tuesday
for his choice of [Republican] Sarah Palin as vice president." ... "Dowd
proclaimed that, in his heart of hearts, McCain knew he put the country
at risk with his VP choice and that he would "have to live" with that fact
for the rest of his career." ... ""They didn't let John McCain pick the
person he wanted to pick as VP," Dowd declared during the Time Warner Summit
panel. "When Sarah Palin got picked instead of Joe Lieberman, which I fundamentally
believed would have given John McCain the best opportunity in this race...
as soon as he picked Palin, that whole ready versus not ready argument
was not credible."" ... "Saying that Palin was a "net negative" on the
ticket, he went on: "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified
on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that
is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on
that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that.""
-By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
History
- Book
- California
- US
- Global
"Taleb's
`Black Swan' Investors Post Gains as Markets Take Dive."
... "Investors advised by ``Black Swan'' author Nassim
Taleb have gained 50 percent or more this year as his strategies
for navigating big swings in share prices paid off amid the worst stock
market in seven decades." ... "Universa Investments LP, the Santa Monica,
California-based firm where Taleb is an adviser, has about $1 billion in
accounts managed to hedge clients against big moves in financial markets.
Returns for the year through Oct. 10 ranged as high as 110 percent, according
to investor documents. The Standard
& Poor's 500 Index lost 39 percent in the same period." ...
"The S&P 500 dropped 18 percent last week, its worst week since 1933,
on concern that the credit crunch would cripple the financial system and
trigger a global recession." ... "As a trader turned philosopher, Taleb
has railed against Wall Street risk managers who attempt to predict market
movements. Even so, Taleb said he saw the banking crisis coming." ... "``The
financial ecology is swelling into gigantic, incestuous, bureaucratic banks
-- when one fails, they all fall,'' Taleb wrote in ``The Black Swan: The
Impact of the Highly Improbable,'' which was published in 2007." ... "Taleb
said the current crisis is a ``White Swan'', not a Black Swan, because
it was something bound to happen." -By Stephanie Baker
-Bloomberg
Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Federal
- Law
- Politics
- Investigation
- 
Colorado
- Indiana
- Ohio
- Michigan
- Nevada
- 
North
Carolina - 
New
HampshireWisconsin
"Obama
Campaign: Count Every Vote." ... "Republicans have
been raising a huge stink about voter
fraud in recent days, but the much bigger question on Election
Day [2008] is whether every vote (or at least most of them) will actually
be counted." ... "The New York Times published a shocking
story last week, reporting that "tens of thousands of eligible
voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or
have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal
law."" ... "The article continued: "Although much attention this year has
been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by
the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given
to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls." The paper
looked at six swing states: Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and
North Carolina. "Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls
within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when
voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or
have been declared unfit to vote. Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio
seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration
applications for new voters."" ... "The net effect: in Michigan 33,000
voters were removed from the rolls in August and in Colorado 37,000 voters
were purged in three weeks since mid-July. Imagine this scenario--on Election
Day thousands of voters will show up to the polls, only to be told they're
not registered, leading to chaos and confusion, perhaps in large enough
numbers to swing the results in crucial swing states." ... "It's a scary
thought--and one the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack]
Obama campaign says they're preparing for. On a conference call today,
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and legal counsel Bob Bauer laid out
their plans to ensure that every vote is counted." ... ""This has been
an election of enormous interest to the American people and we think that's
something that should be celebrated," Plouffe said. "Our opponents seem
to have a different view."" ... "Obama counsel Bob Bauer pointed to examples
in Montana, where Republicans have used change-of-address forms to improperly
challenge new Democratic registrants (a federal judge called the GOP's
tactics "political chicanery"); in Ohio, where Republicans challenged same-day
registration and absentee voting (the 6th circuit court said the claim
rested on "shaky ground"); in Michigan, where Republicans tried to use
foreclosure lists to purge voters; and in Wisconsin, where the Republican
Attorney General is suing the state's board of elections. (And just today,
a GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] operative was indicted
for lying to the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] about charges that
he jammed the phones of the New Hampshire Democratic Party on Election
Day 2002.)" -By Ari
Berman -TheNation.com
20081010
US
-Global
- Economic
- History
- 
Belgium
- 
"Ex-president
Carter slams Bush on market crisis." ... "Former
[Democratic] President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the "atrocious economic
policies" of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial
crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s." ... "Carter told reporters
on a stopover in Brussels [Belgium and EU's capital] that "profligate spending,"
massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush
took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis."
... "Eight years ago, the United States had a budget surplus, low inflation
and a stable, strong economy, he said." ... "Carter said he was astonished
that the United States now owed China "in the neighborhood of $1 trillion.""
... "Deregulation and what he called a withdrawal of supervision of Wall
Street had encouraged irresponsible elements in the U.S. financial system,
enabling banks to borrow 30 times their value." -By
Paul Taylor with contributions by Sami Aboudi
-Reuters
Norm
Coleman - Money
- Fashion
- Politics
- Minnesota
- Video
- 2008
Election
"A
Simple Question, Yes or No?" ... "Did Nasser Kazeminy
pay for [Minnesota Republican Norm] Colemans suits or not?"
[Cullen
Sheehan]
[Minnesota
Republican Norm Coleman Campaign Manager Cullen Sheehan.]
Japan
- History
- US
- Real
Estate
"Nikkei
tumbles 9.6 percent on crisis fears." ... "Japan's
key stock index plunged a stunning 9.6 percent Friday to close out its
worst week in history as frantic investors worried about a global recession
dumped stocks after huge losses on Wall Street." ... "The benchmark Nikkei
225 index tumbled 881.06 points to 8,276.43, its lowest since May 2003.
It was its biggest one-day percentage loss since the stock market crash
of October 1987." ... "The index dropped by more than 11 percent at one
point but recovered modestly in the afternoon." ... "Since last Friday,
the Nikkei has lost nearly a quarter of its value." ... "Mid-sized insurer
Yamato Life Insurance Co. [Company] went bankrupt Friday, becoming the
first major Japanese financial company to collapse on the fallout from
the U.S. [United States] credit crisis. On Thursday, New City Investment
Corp.'s [Corporation's] bankruptcy filing made it Japan's first real-estate
investment trust to fail." -By Shino Yuasa
-AP via -Google
Barack
Obama - John
McCain - Terrorism
- History
- Illinois
- Pennsylvania
- 2008
Election
"Obama
charges McCain trying to divide country." ... "[2008
Election Democratic] Presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday accused
Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain of trying
to divide the country, but he let fellow Democrats handle harsher attacks
while he kept his message mostly upbeat." ... "Speaking to an outdoor audience,
Obama said "it's not hard to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division."
He said Americans want "someone who can lead this country" with a steady
hand in a time of economic crisis, not divide it." ... "Echoing McCain's
"country first" motto, Obama said, "Now more than ever it is time to put
country ahead of politics."" ... "With little more than three weeks before
the election, the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential candidate
is seeking to turn his campaign around by steadily escalating his attacks
on his Democratic foe and raising questions about his associations with
[William] Ayers, who in 1969 helped found the violent Weather Underground
group blamed for bombing government buildings in the early 1970s[.]" ...
"The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Obama
and Ayers are not close but that they live in the same Chicago [Illinois]
neighborhood and worked together on two nonprofit organization boards from
the mid-1990s to 2002. Ayers also hosted a small meet-the-candidate event
for Obama in 1995 as he first ran for the state Senate." ... "During the
campaign, Obama has denounced Ayers' radical actions and views." ... "In
an interview with Philadelphia[ Pennsylvania]-based radio talk show host
Michael Smerconish, Obama said Thursday that when he met Ayers in the mid-1990s
Ayers was teaching education the University of Illinois." ... ""I was sitting
on this board with a whole bunch conservative businessmen and civic leaders
and he was one of the people who was on this board," Obama said of the
Annenberg Challenge, a nonprofit educational group [funded by Republican
billionaire Walter Annenberg]. "Ultimately I ended up learning about the
fact that he had engaged in this reprehensible act 40 years ago, but I
was eight years old at the time and I assumed that he had been rehabilitated.""
(1, 2)
-AP via -MSNBC
John
McCain - Barack
Obama - Sarah
Palin - Terrorism
- Language
- Pennsylvania
- Illinois
- Politics
- 2008
Election
"McCain's
attacks fuel dangerous hatred." ... "2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain: If your campaign does not
stop equating [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois
Senator] Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and
portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding
the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore
of potentially instigating violence." ... "At a [2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, "Kill
him!" At one of your rallies, someone called out, "Terrorist!" Neither
was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed
and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa. [Pennsylvania],
the crowd was seething with hatred for the Democratic nominee - an attitude
encouraged in speeches there by you, your running mate, your wife and the
local Republican chairman." ... "Shame!" ... "John McCain: In 2000, as
a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W.
Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military
service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political
gain." ... "You have changed. You have a choice: Go down in history as
a decent senator and an honorable military man with many successes, or
go down in history as the latest abettor of right-wing extremist hate."
... "Your rallies are beginning to look, sound, feel and smell like lynch
mobs." ... "John McCain and Sarah Palin, you are playing with fire, and
you know it. You are unleashing the monster of American hatred and prejudice,
to the peril of all of us. You are doing this in wartime. You are doing
this as our economy collapses. You are doing this in a country with a history
of assassinations." -By Frank Schaeffer
-BaltimoreSun
20081009
Joe
Biden - John
McCain - Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Consumer
- Regulation
-Mo
- Arizona
- Tennessee
- 2008
Election
"Biden
Accuses McCain of Waffling on Homeowner Help Plan."
... "[2008 Election] Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden started
his 24-hour swing through the Show-Me State [Missouri] Thursday with a
swipe at Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator]
Sen. John McCain for already changing the mortgage buy-up plan that the
GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] candidate introduced in Tuesday’s
presidential debate in Nashville [Tennessee]." ... "“John said he was going
to spend $300 billion of your tax money to buy from banks bad mortgages
that they now own. And he was going to buy them, though, at a discount,
an authority, meaning he wasn’t going to buy them for what the bank paid
for them -- he’s going to buy them for what their market value was," Biden
said at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo. [Missouri.]
"And then on Wednesday morning he said, his campaign said, 'No, we made
a mistake. We are going to buy them for exactly what the bank paid for
them.'" ... ""So, he’s going to spend $300 billion of your money so the
banks don’t lose a single penny!" Biden continued. "I’m not making this
up. I know it sounds like fiction, but I’m not making this up." ... ""That’s
not bailing out the homeowner," Biden added. "You’re bailing out the bank.""
... "“Ladies and gentlemen, in a matter of months, days, even hours, John
McCain has gone from first cutting regulation consumer protections from
banks –- that was his initial position, cut those protections -- then ignoring
the banks and lenders and not even talking about them, now to talking about
banks and lenders, and now he’s gone to the point of actually wanting to
reward banks and lenders for their greedy behavior," Biden continued. "Ladies
and gentlemen, this is not a steady hand, and the latest proposal is not
only bad for taxpayers, it’s bad for homeowners and it’s bad for the economy,
and everybody seems to be aware of it this morning."" -By
Matthew Jaffe -ABCNEWS.com
John
McCain - 
Hillary
Clinton - Barack
Obama - Consumer
- Homeowners
- Bank
- Government
- New
York - 2008
Election
"McCain
Rebuked for Comparing Mortgage Plan to Clinton."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain was
rebuked by an aide to [New York Democratic Senator] Hillary Clinton on
Thursday for inaccurately comparing his [home] mortgage buy-up plan to
one proposed earlier this year by the former first lady." ... ""It's wrong
to suggest the new McCain plan is what Senator Clinton proposed ," said
Clinton spokesperson Kathleen Strand. "She and Senator Obama are focused
on helping struggling homeowners and holding bank lenders responsible.
. . Senator McCain's new plan calls for bailing out and rewarding irresponsible
bank and mortgage lenders, while sticking taxpayers with the bill."" -By
Teddy Davis and Arnab Datta -ABCNEWS.com
US
- History
- Global
"US
STOCKS-Recession fear plunders Wall St, Dow dives 678.91."
[DOW at 8,579.19] ... "U.S stocks plummeted for a seventh straight
session on Thursday as investors bet recent moves by authorities worldwide
to thaw frozen credit markets would not be enough to avert a global recession."
... "The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 678.91 points, or 7.33
percent, to 8,579.19, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX plummeted
75.02 points, or 7.62 percent, to 909.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC
sank 95.21 points, or 5.47 percent, to 1,645.12." ... "The steep declines
came on the anniversary of the Dow's all-time closing high above 14,000."
... "The Dow average has lost 2,271.47 points in the last seven trading
days -- the worst ever in such a period. Since its record closing high
a year ago today, the Dow has tumbled 5,585.34 points -- or almost 40 percent."
... "The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index .VIX, Wall Street's
preferred fear gauge, hit another all-time closing high -- jumping 11.11
percent to end at 63.92." (1, 2,
3)
-By Kristina Cooke with contributions by Leah Schnurr,
Ellis Mnyandu, and Jan Paschal -Reuters
Noteworthy
- Sarah
Palin - Military
- Terrorism
- Alaska
- Federal
- Oil
- 
Land
- Money
- Politics
-
- International
- Law
- US
- 2008
Election
"Alaskan
Independence Party: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel."
... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin,
it could be argued, following her own logic, thinks so little of America's
perfection that she continues to "pal around" with a man--her husband,
actually--who only recently terminated his seven-year membership in the
Alaskan Independence Party. Putting plunder above patriotism, the members
of this treasonous cabal aim to break our country into pieces and walk
away with Alaska's rich federal oil fields and one-fifth of America's land
base--an area three-fourths the size of the Civil War Confederacy." ...
"AIP's charter commits the party "to the ultimate independence of Alaska,"
from the United States which it refers to as "the colonial bureaucracy
in Washington." It proclaims Alaska's 1959 induction as a state "as illegal
and in violation of the United Nations charter and international law.""
... "AIP's creation was inspired by the rabidly violent anti-Americanism
of its founding father Joe Vogler, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American," reads
a favorite Vogler quote on AIP's current website, "I've got no use for
America or her damned institutions." According to Vogler AIP's central
purpose was to drive Alaska's secession from the United States. Alaska,
says current Chairwoman Lynette Clark, "should be an independent nation.""
... "Vogler was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives
that went bad. The prior year, he had renounced his allegiance to the United
States explaining that, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared
to my hatred for the American government." He cursed the stars and stripes,
promising, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is
an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Palin has never denounced
Vogler or his detestable anti-Americanism." ... "Palin's husband Todd remained
an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era
palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration,
she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft
constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent
nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that
she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience
so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006
convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention."
-By Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. -HuffingtonPost.com
20081008
Japan
- 
Hong
Kong - 
Indonesia
- 
Taiwan
"Asian
markets crumble, Nikkei 225 dives 9.4%: Hang Seng
loses 8.2%, S&P/ASX 200 off 5%, Indonesia index slumps 10.4%." ...
"Asian markets crumbled Wednesday, as investors alarmed by a deteriorating
financial markets situation dumped blue-chip stocks to raise cash, sending
several indexes tumbling down to multi-year lows." ... ""It's not just
the hedge-funds, everybody is selling ... And there are no buyers," said
Dale Tsang, managing director at Imperial Dragon Asset Management Co. in
Hong Kong. "There is a state of panic, for cash. Everybody needs cash.""
... ""No, I haven't seen anything like this, and I don't think anybody
has seen anything like this before, except those who are over 75 years
old and have seen the Great Depression," Tsang added." ... "Japan's Nikkei
225 Average tumbled the most to close 952.5 points, or 9.4%, lower at 9,203.32
for its worst single-day percentage drop in years. The broader Topix index
lost 8% to 899.01. Both benchmarks declined for a fifth straight session."
... "In Taipei [Taiwan's capital], the Taiex tumbled 5.8% to 5,206.40,
its lowest level since July 2003. " -By V. Phani Kumar
-MarketWatch
Barack
Obama - John
McCain - Terrorism
- History
- Economy
- Tenn
- 2008
Election
"Obama:
McCain Scoring 'Cheap Political Points'." ... "[2008
Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack
Obama says the personal attacks levied against him by the campaign of his
presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, particularly references to his association
with 1960s anti-war radical Bill Ayers, are an attempt to "score cheap
political points."" ... ""Why don't we just clear it up right now," Obama
told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in an exclusive interview for World News.
"I'll repeat again what I've said many times. This is a guy who engaged
in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the
time I met him, 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education
at the University of Illinois . . . And the notion that somehow he has
been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that . . .
I've 'palled around with a terrorist', all these statements are made simply
to try to score cheap political points."" ... "Obama said that the McCain
campaign is making personal attacks "the centerpiece of the discussion
in the closing weeks of a campaign where we are facing the worst economic
crisis since the Great Depression and we're in the middle of two wars.""
... ""I think that makes very little sense, not just to me but to the American
people," Obama said." ... "Obama said he believes the personal attacks
are an attempt to "change the subject" and draw attention away from the
issue at the front of most voters' minds: the
struggling economy." ... ""I mean, you've had their spokespeople over
the last couple of days say if we talk about the economic crisis, we lose.
I mean, you can't be much more blatant than that," he said." ... "Obama
also said he was surprised some of those attacks weren't
brought up by his opponent at the debate
Tuesday night at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn [Tennessee]."
... ""I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top
attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that
he wasn't willing to say it to my face. But I guess we've got one last
debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that he needs to, he will
raise it during the debate."" (1, 2,
3)
-By Katie Escherich and Lauren Sher
-ABCNEWS.com
John
McCain - Terrorism
- Women
- Abortion
- Clinics
- Federal
- Law
- Politics
- History
- Arizona
- Oregon
- 2008
Election
"Woman's
rights advocate: McCain sides with 'sympathizers and enablers of domestic
terrorism'." ... "The Arizona Senator [and 2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain] may not have directly consorted
with any clinic bombers, but his legislative record was certainly favorable
to them, and critics are hammering his association with sympathizers of
domestic terrorists who target abortion providers." ... "People For the
American Way encouraged McCain to "look in the mirror" after a RAW
STORY report revealed McCain's connection with Marylin Shannon, a Republican
official in Oregon who was a McCain delegate at this year's GOP [GOP=Grand
Old Party=Republican (2008 election)] convention. The two appeared together
at a 1993 fundraiser for an ultra-conservative organization where Shannon
praised a woman who was later convicted of attempted murder in the shooting
of an abortion clinic doctor." ... "“When anti-choice extremists were terrorizing
American women and their doctors, John McCain had multiple opportunities
to make what should have been an easy choice,” PFAW president Kathryn Kolbert
said
Tuesday. “But he chose political expediency over law and order." ...
""He didn’t say a word when Marylin Shannon sympathized with an attempted
killer. He voted against the clinic access bill even as everyday Americans
were being assaulted and besieged by domestic terrorists," continued Kolbert,
a longtime women’s rights advocate who successfully argued a crucial abortion
rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. "As someone who faced
repeated threats for work on behalf of reproductive rights, I am deeply
disturbed by John McCain’s willingness to stand with and side with sympathizers
and enablers of domestic terrorism.”" ... "McCain and Shannon appeared
together at a fundraiser for the Oregon Citizens Alliance in 1993, a gathring
of Christian right extremists that even fellow Republicans advised McCain
not to attend because the group was so far outside the mainstream." ...
"Speaking before McCain, Shannon offered some kind words for Shelley Shannon,
who was accused and later convicted of shooting an abortion doctor: "I'm
not related to Shelly Shannon, but I think she's a fine lady," the vice
chairwoman of the state Republican Party said. McCain apparently said nothing
to contradict that judgement, and less than three months later he voted
against a bill that would make abortion clinic bombings a federal crime."
-By Nick Juliano -RawStory.com
Joe
Biden - Barack
Obama - Sarah
Palin - Terrorism
- Politics
- Fl
- Law
- Enforcement
- 2008
Election
"Biden:
Palin Must Condemn Supporters' Hateful Obama Attacks."
... "[2008 Election Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate] Joe Biden lashed
out at [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin
on Wednesday, calling her recent rhetoric "ugly" and "mildly dangerous,"
and expressing shock that the Alaska Governor did not interrupt recent
rallies when supporters shouted
hateful attacks about Barack Obama, including "treason!" and "kill
him!"" ... ""I watched the news and I heard a couple people hollering from
the audience semi-vile things about 'terrorists,' things like that," Biden
said on NBC's Today show. "The idea that a leading American politician
who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop mid-sentence
and turn and condemn that -- it's just a slippery slope, it's a place that
we shouldn't be going."" ... "Biden repeated the sentiment on ABC's Good
Morning America:" ... ""I think it goes way too far. Look, this really
is a case where, when you don't have anything to talk about, attack --
and it gets really over the edge," he said. "I mean, some of the stuff
she's saying about Barack Obama and the stuff that people are yelling from
the crowd, if she hears it, she should be at least be saying, whoa, whoa,
whoa, that's overboard. But this is volatile stuff."" ... "A Secret Service
spokesperson said
on Tuesday that agents were trying to track down more information about
the individual who yelled "kill him" during the Palin event in Clearwater,
Fl. [Florida], on Monday." -By Nico
Pitney -HuffingtonPost.com
20081007
Secret
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Military
-Terrorism
- Politics
- McCain
- Obama
- 2008
Election
"New
U.S. intelligence report warns 'victory' not certain in Iraq."
... "A nearly completed high-level U.S. [United States] intelligence analysis
warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash
a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political
gains achieved over the last year." ... "U.S. officials familiar with the
new National Intelligence Estimate said they were unsure when the top-secret
report would be completed and whether it would be published before the
Nov. 4 presidential election." ... "More than a half-dozen officials spoke
to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because NIE's, the most authoritative
analyses produced by the U.S. intelligence community, are restricted to
the president, his senior aides and members of Congress except in rare
instances when just the key findings are made public." ... "The new NIE,
which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has
significant implications for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack
Obama, whose differences over the Iraq war are a major issue in the presidential
campaign." ... "The findings seem to cast doubts on McCain's frequent assertions
that the United States is "on a path to victory" in Iraq by underscoring
the deep uncertainties of the situation despite the 30,000-strong U.S.
troop surge for which he was the leading congressional advocate." ... "But
McCain could also use the findings to try to strengthen his argument for
keeping U.S. troops in Iraq until conditions stabilize." ... "For Obama,
the report raises questions about whether he could fulfill his pledge to
withdraw most of the remaining 152,000 U.S. troops _ he would leave some
there to deal with al Qaida and to protect U.S. diplomats and civilians
_ within 16 months of taking office so that more U.S. forces could be sent
to battle the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan." ... "The findings
of the intelligence estimate appear to be reflected in recent statements
by Army [General] Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in
Iraq, who has called the situation "fragile" and "reversible" and said
he will never declare victory there." -By Jonathan
S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel
and Nancy A. Youssef with
contributions by Leila Fadel
-McClatchyDC.com
McCain
- Terrorism
- Finance
- History
- Secret
- Government
- 
Intelligence
- Military
-Politics
- 
Iran
- 
Nicaragua
- Foreign
-Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election
"McCain
linked to private group in Iran-Contra case." ...
"GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee John McCain
has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas
seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra
affair." ... "The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international
organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death
squads in Central America." ... "The council's founder, retired Army [Major
General] Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the
organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career
in Arizona." ... "Covert arms shipments to the rebels called Contras, financed
in part by secret arms sales to Iran, became known as the Iran-Contra affair.
They proved to be the undoing of Singlaub's council." ... "In 1987, the
Internal Revenue Service withdrew the tax-exempt status of Singlaub's group
because of its activities on behalf of the Contras." ... "Elected to the
House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council,
McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the
Contras, a CIA[Central Intelligence Agency]-organized guerrilla force in
Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras."
... "Months before the cutoff, top [Republican President] Reagan administration
officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network and put
National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The
goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded
to resume CIA funding." ... "Singlaub's private group became the public
cover for the White House operation." ... "Secretly, Singlaub worked with
North in an effort to raise millions of dollars from foreign governments."
-By Pete Yost -AP
via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin - Terrorism
- Politics
- Alaska
- Iran
-
- History
- US
- Federal
- Law
- Enforcement
- Earth
- Environment
- 2008
Election
"The
Palins' un-American activities." ... ""My government
is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."" ...
"The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the
Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for [2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah] Palin, that's the
very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd [Palin], belonged to
for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier
this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless
you.")" ... "AIP chairwoman Lynette
Clark told me recently that Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. "She's
Alaskan to the bone ... she sounds just like Joe Vogler."" ... "So who
are these America-haters that the Palins are pallin' around with?" ...
"Before his strange murder in 1993, party founder Vogler preached armed
insurrection against the United States of America. Vogler, who always carried
a Magnum with him, was fond of saying, "When the [federal] bureaucrats
come after me, I suggest they wear red coats. They make better targets.
In the federal government are the biggest liars in the United States, and
I hate them with a passion. They think they own [Alaska]. There comes a
time when people will choose to die with honor rather than live with dishonor.
That time may be coming here. Our goal is ultimate independence by peaceful
means under a minimal government fully responsive to the people. I hope
we don't have to take human life, but if they go on tramping on our property
rights, look out, we're ready to die."" ... "This quote is from "Coming
Into the Country," by John McPhee, who traipsed around Alaska's remote
gold mining country with Vogler for his 1991 book. The violent-tempered
secessionist vowed to McPhee that if any federal official tried to stop
him from polluting Alaska's rivers with his earth-moving equipment, he
would "run over him with a Cat and turn mosquitoes loose on him while he
dies."" ... "Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance
before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the
entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had
persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue."
... "That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American
hostages." ... "AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year
by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S.
before he could reach his U.N. platform." -By David
Talbot -Salon
Reporter
- Politics
- Government
- Financial
- 
Social
Security - 
Accounting
- 2008
Election
"If
Social Security Was a Private Corporation Then it Would Sue Tom Brokaw
for Every Penny He Has." ... "If a news reporter
deliberately makes a false statement claiming that a private company like
Boeing or Microsoft is going broke, the company has the right to sue the
reporter and the news agency. That is why reporters rarely make statements
like Microsoft or Boeing (or Lehman Brothers, AIG, or Goldman Sachs) are
going broke." ... "However, reporters can freely impugn the financial health
of a government program like Social Security because a government program
cannot sue for libel. That is why Brokaw knew that he could imply that
Social Security is going broke, even though it is not true. Social Security
cannot sue Brokaw even if he deliberately tells explicit lies about its
financial health." ... "Those who are interesting in learning about the
true state of Social Security's financial health can find out by looking
at the non-partisan Congressional
Budget Office's website [PDF]." -By Dean
Baker -Prospect.org
20081006
John
McCain - Racist
- Terrorism
- Money
- History
- 2008
Election - Phoenix
- Arizona
- US
- Military
- Law
- Foreign
"Why
McCain's Time With Council Of World Freedom Matters."
... "Since Sunday, Democrats have been buzzing about the re-revelation
that during the 1980s, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain served on the board of a far-right
conservative organization that had supplied arms and funds to paramilitary
organizations in Latin America." ... "Democratic strategist Paul Begala
lit the fire when, during an appearance on Meet the Press, he warned that
this relatively obscure detail from McCain's past could draw him into a
guilt-by-association game he was bound to regret." ... ""John McCain sat
on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said
Begala, "The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the
board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World
Anti-Communist League - the parent organization - which ADL said 'has increasingly
become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists
and anti-Semites.'"" ... "But McCain's involvement in the U.S. Council
for World Freedom, which extended from 1981 through, possibly, 1986 is
significant -- not merely because it ties him to unsavory characters but
because it firmly associates him with a foreign policy that was, at the
time and still, controversial." ... "The USCWF was founded in Phoenix,
Arizona in November 1981 as an offshoot of the World Anti-Communist League.
The group was, from the onset, saddled with the disreputable reputation
of its parent group. The WACL had ties to ultra-right figures and Latin
American death squads. Roger Pearson, the chairman of the WACL, was expelled
from the group in 1980 under allegations that he was a member of a neo-Nazi
organization." ... "It [The USCWF] claimed to support "pro-Democratic resistance
movements fighting communist totalitarianism." And during the 1980s it
became a vehicle for the [Republican President] Reagan administration to
prop up some of the more totalitarian, anti-communist efforts in Central
America." ... "The funders of the U.S World Council of Freedom read like
a who's who list of prominent conservative figures. Joe Coors, the Republican
Beer baron was reportedly a big donor. Time Magazine wrote that the Christian
Broadcasting Network was a backer as well. The Washington Times newspaper,
owned by the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon, started a fundraising
drive of its own." ... "Through it all, McCain was a member." ... "...
McCain's association with a group that reportedly circumvented law, financed
right-wing military institutions, and engaged in sometimes brutal anti-communist
tactics, could be telling for some voters." -By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
John
McCain - 2008
Election - Law
- Politics
- Investigation
- Arizona
- Texas
- US
- Iraqi
"FEC
Queries McCain Campaign on 'Excessive Contributions'."
... "The FEC [Federal Election Commission] sent a letter to [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's
campaign treasurer [September] Sept. 30 demanding the candidate turn over
more information about "contributions that appear to exceed the limits.""
... "The letter is accompanied by a nine-page list showing scores of overages
from McCain's August campaign finance report, including nearly $13,000
from Texas rancher Ray R. Barrett Jr.; $9,200 from an Iraqi security consultant,
H. Carter Andress; and $5,000 from Joseph F. Davolio, an executive at a
major national liquor, beer and wine distributor." ... ""Please inform
the Commission of your corrective action immediately in writing and provide
photocopies of any refund checks and/or letters reattributing or redesignating
the contributions in question," the letter from the FEC's senior campaign
finance analyst, Leah S. Palmer, says. "The acceptance of excessive contributions
is a serious problem."" -By Matthew Mosk
-WashingtonPost
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Barack
Obama - Politics
- 2008
Election
"Lagging
In The Polls, Palin Shifts To Fear Tactics." ...
"On the day when the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John]
McCain campaign released a new attack ad not-so-subtly titled “Dangerous,”
[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin made
a concerted effort to use words like “fearful” and “afraid” to describe
Barack Obama, signaling her campaign’s decision to make the election a
referendum on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack]
Obama’s character, rather than the issues facing the country." ... "Palin
has devoted a significant portion of every one of her stump speeches in
recent days to lamenting that the “filter of the mainstream media” has
not given her a chance to do what she really wants to do: talk about the
issues. But in filter-free forums across the country, Palin continues to
speak in generalities about where she and John McCain want to take the
country, calling for tax cuts, winning the wars, and reforming government,
while providing very few details on how she would accomplish those goals."
... "Instead, Palin has increasingly focused her remarks on tearing down
Obama." ... "Though it is nothing new for Palin to question Obama’s promise
to initiate tax cuts, it has only been in recent days that she her stump
speeches have been marked by a series of scathing, personal attacks." ...
"Although she almost always wears a sunny demeanor, smiling broadly even
as she delivers her scathing barbs against Obama, Palin’s words show that
she has embraced the traditional vice presidential candidate’s role of
being the attack dog and is even more willing than McCain to engage in
personal mudslinging." -By Scott Conroy
-CBSNews
John
McCain - Poor
- Families
- Seniors
- Federal
- Health
- Politics
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Plans Federal Health Cuts: Medicare, Medicaid Spending
Would Be Reduced to Offset Proposed Tax Credit." ... "[Republican Presidential
Candidate] John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions
to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts
estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government
programs." ... "The Republican presidential nominee has said little about
the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan "budget
neutral," as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn't given a specific
figure for the cuts, but didn't dispute the analysts' estimate." ... "In
the months since Sen. McCain introduced his health plan, statements made
by his campaign have implied that the new tax credits he is proposing to
help Americans buy health insurance would be paid for with other tax increases."
... "But Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain's senior policy adviser, said
Sunday that the campaign has always planned to fund the tax credits, in
part, with savings from Medicare and Medicaid. Those government health-care
programs serve seniors, poor families and the disabled." ... "In April,
when [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain gave a major speech about his health
plan, Mr. Holtz-Eakin, the senior policy adviser, said the tax provisions
alone were budget neutral -- meaning that health benefits would have to
be subject to both income and payroll taxes." -By
Laura Meckler -WSJ.com
John
McCain - Terrorism
- Politics
- Women's
- Medical
- Abortion
- Rights
- Federal
- Law
- Enforcement
- Colorado
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Voted To Protect Domestic Terrorists Who Carry Out Violence At Abortion
Clinics." ... "Referencing a recent New York Times
article, [spokesperson for 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
John McCain, Nancy] Pfotenhauer claimed that if McCain “hung out with somebody
who had bombed abortion clinics” it would be a legitimate topic of discussion."
... "Pfotenhauer’s invocation of abortion clinic bombers in defense of
McCain is ironic given that McCain has repeatedly voted against protecting
Americans from domestic terrorists in the anti-choice movement. On multiple
occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government’s
ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:"
"–
Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the
Jed Report notes, McCain voted
in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion
clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses
who perform abortions” federal crimes."
"–
Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s
“Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within
8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later
upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court."
"–
Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties
by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain
“voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health
clinics to avoid
paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring
bankruptcy.””
-ThinkProgress.org
20081004
Secret
- John
McCain - Terrorism
- History
- Money
- Politics
- 
Radio
- Federal
- Law
- Enforcement
- 2008
Election - Clinton
- New
York -Arizona
"Why
is the NY Times continuing to ignore McCain's "own Bill Ayers"?"
... "... [The New York[ Times has yet to mention, let alone
devote an entire article to, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's relationship with radio host and
convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy [Republican President Nixon
associate]." ... "As
Media Matters for America has noted,
Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction
for his role
in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist
of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers.
Liddy has acknowledged
preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary";
plotting
to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting
with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating
with investigators; plotting
to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting
to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention
-- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed
from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never
carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed
his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his
shooting targets after [Democratic President] Bill and [New York Senator]
Hillary Clinton." ... "Liddy has donated
$5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February
2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during
the presidential campaign, including as recently as May.
An online
video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07"
includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as
an "old friend." During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence
to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he
was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come
on your program."" ... "Additionally, in 1998, Liddy reportedly
held a fundraiser at his home for McCain. Liddy was reportedly scheduled
to speak at another fundraiser for McCain in 2000. The Charlotte Observer
reported on January 23, 2000, that McCain's campaign vouched for Liddy's
"character":"
"His
[McCain's] campaign officials said Liddy's character will appeal to many
voters because he was following orders from [Republican] President Nixon
and kept silent afterward."
""His
(Liddy's) judgment might be in question, but I don't think his character
is," said Ed Walker, the York County chairman of McCain's campaign. "He
was following orders just like any good soldier, and he didn't tell on
anybody. He felt like he was on a mission and kept his silence.""
"Liddy's
2000 speech was reportedly canceled due to bad weather." ... "In his May
4 [Chicago] Tribune column,
[columnist Steve] Chapman wrote:"
"What
McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form
of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent
more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary.
That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret
White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him,
McCain has embraced him."
...
"Last
November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend,"
and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family,"
he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon,
and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles
and philosophies that keep our nation great.""
"Which
principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break
into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and
photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war
activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention?
The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an
unfriendly newspaper columnist?"
"Liddy
was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history --
and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has
no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner
of war.""
[Chicago
Tribune columnist Steve Chapman]
"
-By Jon Sime -MediaMatters.org
20080929
Giuliani
- 
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government- Law
- Politics
- History
"The
Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore."
... "The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place
as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are
being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars
to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five
years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over
a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, [Republican President]
Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting
the U.S. [United States] Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are
swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door."
... "No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use,
they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order
to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just
read the first four paragraphs of the lead
story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the
real deal is:"
""Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of
the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from
it."
""Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments
covered, not just those related to mortgages."
""At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the
assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions,
a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees."
""Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets
of financial institutions.""
"Unbelievable.
Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to
clean up like bandits. Even [Republican] Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for
his firm to be hired
(and paid) to "consult" in the bailout." ... "The problem is, nobody
truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even [Republican President
Bush's] Treasury Secretary [Henry] Paulson admitted he doesn't know the
exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out
of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't
figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone. " -By
Michael
Moore
20080925
John
McCain - Barack
Obama - Financial
- Law
- Veterans
- Housing
- Energy
- 2008
Election - US
- Iran
"McCain
has not sponsored a banking bill this Congress."
... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not
introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while [2008
Election Presidential] Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five."
... "Obama’s legislation calls for bolstering housing assistance for veterans,
amending the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders
with an advisory vote on executive compensation, halting mortgage transactions
that promote fraud, authorizing local and state governments to crack down
on companies that invest in Iran's energy sector and authorizing a pilot
program to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless." -By
Bob Cusack -TheHill.com
US
- Germany
- Global
- Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
"Era
of U.S. financial dominance at an end: Germany."
... "Germany blamed the United States on Thursday for spawning the global
financial crisis with a blind drive for higher profits and said it must
now accept more market regulation and a loss of its financial superpower
status." ... "In some of the harshest criticism of the United States since
the crisis threw Wall Street banks into financial disarray this month,
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said the turmoil would leave "deep
marks" on both sides of the Atlantic, but called it primarily an American
problem." ... ""The world will never be as it was before the crisis," Steinbrueck
told the Bundestag lower house of parliament." ... ""The United States
will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world
financial system will become more multi-polar," he said." ... "The crisis
has put the [Republican President] Bush White House, which has long advocated
a hands-off approach to markets, on the defensive and forced it to rethink
its financial policy." -By Noah Barkin and Kerstin
Gehmlich -Reuters
via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin - Politics
- 2008
Election - Alaska
- US
- Kenya
"Palin
once blessed to be free from 'witchcraft'." ... "A
grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed
in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for
her protection from "witchcraft" as she prepared to seek higher office."
... "The video shows Palin standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the
pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as
he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from "every form of witchcraft.""
... "Pentecostals are conservative in their reading of the Bible. Unlike
most other Christians — including most evangelicals — Pentecostals believe
in "baptism in the Holy Spirit." That can manifest itself through speaking
in tongues, modern-day prophesy and faith healing, which includes the laying
on of hands." ... "The [Reverend] Rev. Zipporah Ndiritu, who studied under
Muthee in the Kiambu, Kenya-based Word of Faith Church, said the bishop
is revered among evangelicals there. In a phone interview from Mombasa,
Kenya, she said church doctrine focuses on ridding the world of demons
— and witches." -By Garance Burke
-AP via -Google
WATCH:
Republican Palin's church's speaker Reverend Muthee lays hands on Sarah
Palin to pray she be kept safe from "every form of witchcraft."
Search: <Palin witch> in <Google>
<YouTube>
Financial
-Crisis
- Politics
- Government
"Bailout
Could Deepen Crisis, CBO Chief Says: Asset Sales
May Lead to Write-Downs, Insolvencies, Orszag Tells Congress." ... "The
director of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the proposed
Wall Street bailout could actually worsen the current financial crisis."
... "During testimony before the House Budget Committee, Peter R. Orszag
-- Congress's top bookkeeper --said the bailout could expose the way companies
are stowing toxic assets on their books, leading to greater problems."
... ""Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures
of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled
assets on their books at inflated values," Orszag said in his testimony.
"Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent.""
... "In an interview later yesterday, Orszag explained using the following
example: Suppose a company has Asset X, whose value is recorded on the
books as $100. Because of the current economic decline, Asset X's real
value has dropped to $50. If the company takes part in the government bailout
and sells Asset X for $50, the company has to report a $50 loss on its
books. On a scale of millions of dollars, such write-downs could ruin a
company." ... "Such companies "look solvent today only because it's kind
of hidden," Orszag said. "They actually are insolvent" already, he said."
(1, 2)
-By Frank Ahrens -WashingtonPost
Jobs
- History
- 
Weather
- Disasters
- 
Louisiana
- Texas
"Jobless
claims soar near 7-year high: First economic report
since financial meltdown shows initial unemployment claims rose by 7%,
boosted by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike." ... "According to a study by the
Department of Labor, initial filings for state jobless benefits increased
by a seasonally adjusted 32,000 to 493,000 in the third week of September.
It was the highest number of weekly claims since Sept. 29, 2001, when unemployment
soared in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." ... "The Labor Department
said about 50,000 of the new claims were due to the effects of Hurricanes
Gustav and Ike. There were 18,400 more claims from the week before in Louisiana
alone, and Texas added 1,200." ... "Earlier this month, the government
reported that there were 84,000 jobs lost in August, bringing to 605,000
the number of jobs cut from payrolls by U.S. employers in the first eight
months of the year." ... "The unemployment rate surged to 6.1% last month,
a nearly five-year high and up from 5.7% in July. In the last recession,
unemployment reached a high of 6.3%." -By David Goldman
-CNN
20080924
John
McCain - Financial
- Disaster
- Politics
- Government
- Massachusetts
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Democrats
claim Wall St. bailout breakthrough." ... "Democratic
[Massachusetts Representative] Rep. Barney Frank said on Wednesday Democrats
had reached an agreement to stem one of the worst U.S. financial disasters
in decades, and that there would be enough votes to pass the measure and
send it to [Republican] President George W. Bush to sign into law." ...
"Frank took a dig at [2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John
McCain, who interrupted his campaign to return to Washington on Thursday
to help work on a Wall Street bailout." ... ""All of sudden, now that we
are on the verge of making a deal, John McCain here drops himself in to
help us make a deal, Frank said." ... "He expressed fear that McCain, a
U.S. [United States] senator from Arizona who has spent much of the year
away from the Capitol campaigning, could end up slowing down work on the
bill." ... "The Massachusetts Democrat noted that a meeting on Capitol
Hill on Thursday will be interrupted for a "photo op" at the White House
with congressional Democrats and Republicans as well as Bush." ... ""We're
trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign," Frank said." ...
"Democrats blamed the crisis largely on the failure of Bush to adequately
regulate the financial industry." (1, 2,
3)
-By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro with contributions
by Doina Chiacu -Reuters
John
McCain - 
Rick
Davis - Corporate
- Politics
- Federal
- Housing
- Va
- Law
- 2008
Election
"Unsevered
Ties? Regulatory filings indicate that [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign chief Rick Davis
remains an officer with his lobbying firm." ... "Rick Davis, John McCain's
campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of
his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials
that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to
corporate records." ... "The McCain campaign this week criticized news
stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month
consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled [housing] mortgage giant
recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday
by
NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting
fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar
with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any
substantial work for the payments." ... "Filings made by "Davis Manafort
Partners" with the Virginia Corporation Commission as recently as April
1, 2008, show that Davis was still listed as one of only two corporate
officers and directors of the firm, according to records on the
commission’s Web site [PDF] reviewed by NEWSWEEK. That filing records
Davis as the "treas/clerk" of the firm; his business partner, Paul Manafort
is listed as the president and chief executive officer." ... "Another filing
by “Davis Manafort, Inc.” [PDF] (with the same Alexandria, Va. [Virginia]
address, and recorded on Oct. 17, 2007) also lists Davis as an officer
and director of the firm, reporting his position as "T/Clerk," a reference
to his formal title as corporate treasurer and clerk." ... "Both filings
are annual reports of basic corporate information that are required by
Virginia state law." -By Michael Isikoff
-Newsweek
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
- Government
- Law
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin:
US could face another Great Depression." ... "[2008
Election] Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday
that the United States could be headed for another Great Depression if
Congress doesn't act on the financial crisis." ... "Asked whether there's
a risk of another Great Depression if Congress doesn't approve a $700 billion
bailout package, Palin said, "Unfortunately, that is the road that America
may find itself on."" ... "Couric pressed Palin on examples of how McCain,
a 26-year congressional veteran, had led the charge for more oversight."
... "The Alaska governor cited [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
John] McCain's warnings about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago
as well as image as a maverick. Questioned again for examples, and reminded
that McCain had been chairman of the Commerce Committee, Palin said, "I'll
try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."" ... "McCain has insisted
Palin is ready to take over as president, but he made no mention of including
her in the meetings he wants in Washington to deal with the financial crisis."
-By Sara Kugler -AP
via -Yahoo
Barack
Obama - Christian
- 
University
- Oregon
- Race
- 2008
Election
"Effigy
of Obama found hanging from tree at George Fox University."
... "Officials at George Fox University say a life-size effigy of [2008
Election] Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was found hanging
from a tree at the Christian school's Newberg [Oregon] campus."
-KATU.com
John
McCain -
- Politics
- Money
- 2008
Election
"EXCLUSIVE:
John McCain Uses Idol Makeup Artist!" ...
"The 72-year-old [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John
McCain] was recently made TV-ready by makeup artist Tifanie White who's
worked on So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol."
... "McCain paid the 2002 beauty-school grad $5,583.43 for her services,
according to the Federal Election Commission."
-UsMagazine.com
20080923
Secret
- Afghanistan
- US
- Military
- 2008
Election - Terrorism
- Politics
- 
Dutch
- 
Canadian
"'Grim'
Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US." ...
"US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National
Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the
situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before
the [2008] election, according to one US official familiar with the process."
... "According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim"
picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded
in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors."
... "Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Rand Corporation think
tank, called the situation in Afghanistan "dire."" ... ""We are now at
a tipping point, with about half of the country now penetrated by a range
of Sunni militant groups including the Taliban and al Queida," Jones said.
Jones said there is growing concern that Dutch and Canadian forces in Afghanistan
would "call it quits."" ... ""The US military would then need six, eight,
maybe ten brigades but we just don't have that many," Jones said." ...
"Last week, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, told Congress "we're running out of time" in Afghanistan. "I'm not
convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Mullen testified." ...
"Perhaps foreshadowing the NIE assessment on Afghanistan, Adm. Mullen told
Congress, "absent a broader international and interagency approach to the
problems there, it is my professional opinion that no amount of troops
in no amount of time can ever achieve all the objectives we seek in Afghanistan.""
(1, 2)
-By Brian Ross -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Iraq
- Investigators
- 
Reconstruction
- Accounting
- Politics
"$13
Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted Or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says."
... "A former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that more than $13 billion
meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through
elaborate fraud schemes." ... "Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator
for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy
Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that an Iraqi auditing bureau
"could not properly account for" the money." ... "While many of the projects
audited "were not needed -- and many were never built," he said, "this
very real fact remains: Billions of American dollars that paid for these
projects are now gone."" ... "He said a report that went to Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials was never published
because "nobody cares" about investigating such cases. Many investigators,
he said, feared for their safety because 32 of his co-workers have been
murdered. " -By Dana Hedgpeth with contributions by
Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
John
McCain -Rick
Davis - Corporate
- Politics
- Federal
- Housing
- Wisconsin
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Transition Head Lobbied for Freddie Mac Before Takeover."
... "The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential
transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing
Freddie
Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation's financial
crisis." ... "Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is
William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000
through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie
Mac and Fannie
Mae." ... "Newly available congressional records show Timmons's
firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred
under terms of the government rescue of the failed [housing] mortgage giant.
Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company's midyear
financial-disclosure form." ... "McCain has labeled Freddie Mac and Fannie
Mae as prime culprits in creating the financial storm that has roiled Wall
Street and Washington." ... "``At the center of the problem were the lobbyists,
politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the
administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac,'' he said last week in Green Bay, Wisconsin." ... "``Using money and
influence, they prevented reforms that would have curbed their power and
limited their ability to damage our economy,'' he said. ``And now, as ever,
the American taxpayers are left to pay the price for Washington's failure.''"
... "The McCain camp was also dealing with reports about the lobbying work
of campaign manager Rick Davis." ... "The New York Times reported yesterday
that Davis was paid almost $2 million in fees over five years by a group
primarily funded by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that was intended to help
stave off more stringent federal regulation of the housing companies. "
-By Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger
-Bloomberg
Henry
Paulson
- Financial
- Crisis
- Politics
- Legislation
"Bad
News For The Bailout: The [Republican President Bush
Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson Plan." ... "At a Senate Banking Committee
hearing Tuesday, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle complained of being
rushed to pass legislation or else risk financial meltdown." ... "In fact,
some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury
would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy." ... ""It's not based on any particular
data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted
to choose a really large number."" -By Brian Wingfield
and Josh Zumbrun with contributions by Liz Moyer
-Forbes
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Media
- Politics
- 
Commentary
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Campbell
Brown Rips McCain Camp's "Sexist" Treatment Of Palin."
... "A prominent female news anchor chastised the [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign Tuesday evening for engaging
in sexism and insulting behavior in its attempt to shield [2008 Election
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah
Palin from members of the press." ... "In a fiery commentary, Campbell
Brown laid into John McCain for casting a "chauvinistic chain" that ran
over his running mate. Punctuated by a call to "Free Sarah Palin," the
CNN anchor highlighted the attempt Tuesday by the McCain campaign to ban
editorial reporters from covering Palin's visit with world leaders
at the UN, as yet another gender-demeaning move in a campaign highlighted
by sexist behavior." ... ""[Campbell Brown:] "Tonight I call on
the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate
flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska
for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And
you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If
that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow
her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters...
Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah
Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing
her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic
chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an
end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this
race as the men do. So let her act like one."" -By
Sam
Stein -HuffingtonPost.com
WATCH:
Female news anchor tell Republican McCain camp to end its "sexist" treatment
of Republican Sarah Palin and "Free Sarah Palin"
Dick
Cheney - Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Lawmakers
- Politics
"White
House Dispatches Team to Push Economic Bill." ...
"The White House today is drumming up extraordinary pressure on Congress
to approve its plan to enact a $700 billion mortgage bailout fund, suggesting
the markets cannot wait much longer and dispatching Vice President Cheney
and other top officials up Pennsylvania Avenue to jawbone lawmakers." ...
"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke,
who collaborated in drawing up the proposal, are testifying this morning
on Capitol Hill in an effort to defend their handiwork." ... "[Republican
President Bush's Deputy Press Secretary Tony] Fratto insisted that the
plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over
previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged
lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should
be enough." -By Keith Koffler
-RollCall.com
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Legislative
- Politics
"Good
ideas and lies." ... "So, this morning [Republican
President Bush's Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson told
a whopper:"
[Hank
Paulson:] "We gave you a simple, three-page legislative outline and I thought
it would have been presumptuous for us on that outline to come up with
an oversight mechanism. That’s the role of Congress, that’s something we’re
going to work on together. So if any of you felt that I didn’t believe
that we needed oversight: I believe we need oversight. We need oversight."
"What
the proposal actually
did, of course, was explicitly rule out any oversight, plus grant immunity
from future review:"
"Sec.
8. Review."
"Decisions
by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable
and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court
of law or any administrative agency."
"I’m
not playing gotcha here. This is telling: if Paulson can’t be honest about
what he himself sent to Congress — if he not only made an incredible power
grab, but is now engaged in black-is-white claims that he didn’t — there
is no reason to trust him on anything related to his bailout plan." -By
Paul
Krugman/Blog
-NYTimes
Housing
- Consumer
- People
- Working
- Families
"Millions
spend half of income on housing." ... "[Al] Ray is
one of more than 7.5 million people — almost 15 percent of American homeowners
with a mortgage — who are spending half of their income or more on housing
costs, according to 2007 data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That is up from nearly 7.1 million the year before." ... "Traditionally,
the government and most lenders consider a homeowner spending 30 percent
or more of their income on housing costs to be financially burdened. But
that definition now covers almost 38 percent of American homeowners with
a mortgage — 19 million of them." ... "Though home prices have fallen this
year, in the most expensive markets where home prices tripled during the
boom, many working families still cannot afford to buy a home." ... "More
than 4 million homeowners were at least one month behind on their loans
at the end of June, and almost 500,000 had started the foreclosure process,
according to the Mortgage Bankers Association." -By
Adrian Sainz and Alan Zibel with contributions by Allen Chen
-AP via -Yahoo
20080922
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Politics- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"The
Media Blackout: Nearly 40 Days and Counting." ...
"As of this writing, it has been 39 days and 22 hours since [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain
last held a news conference (despite having promised to hold weekly Q&A
sessions with the press if he's elected). According to the Democrats, it's
been 24 days and 11 hours since his running mate, [2008 Election Republican
Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin, held one." -By
Michael D. Shear -WashingtonPost
20080921
Henry
Paulson
- Government
- Politics
- US
- Foreign
"Foreign
Banks Can Unload Bad Debt Too: Paulson." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that foreign
banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion
U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis."
... ""Yes, and they should. Because ... if a financial institution has
business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States,
if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on
the American people as any other institution," Paulson said on ABC TV."
-CNBC
John
McCain - Barack
Obama - Health-Care
- Economy
- Parents
- Social
Security - Journal
- Fla
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Health-Care Article Fuels New Clash Over Economy."
... "An article [by McCain] about health care published in an obscure journal
led to a new skirmish Saturday between the campaigns of [2008 Election
Presidential Candidates] Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain
over who should be trusted with the ailing economy." ... "The article was
published in Contingencies magazine, which is produced under the auspices
of the American Academy of Actuaries. In it, McCain touted his plans for
increasing competition in health care as one way to expand coverage and
reduce costs." ... "McCain wrote, "Opening up the health insurance market
to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last
decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less
burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."" ... "Obama,
appearing at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. [Florida],
mocked his rival for sounding out of touch at a time when Washington is
moving rapidly to re-regulate the financial industry to curb the excesses
that put the system into near-paralysis in the past week." ... ""So let
me get this straight -- he wants to run health care like they've been running
Wall Street," Obama told the audience. "Well, Senator, I know some folks
on Main Street who aren't going to think that's such a good idea."" ...
"With millions of Americans worrying about their retirement security as
federal officials rushed to stabilize the shaky financial system, Obama
also seized on McCain's support for partial privatization of Social Security.
He said McCain was prepared to gamble with people's life savings." ...
""If my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it
would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week,"
he said. "Millions would've watched as the market tumbled and their nest
egg disappeared before their eyes. Millions of families would've been scrambling
to figure out how to give their mothers and fathers, their grandmothers
and grandfathers, the secure retirement that every American deserves.""
(1, 2)
-By Dan Balz -WashingtonPost
Sarah
Palin - McCain
- Investigation
- Politics
- Law
- Alaska
- Virginia
- New
York - 2008
Election
"Alaskans
angered that Palin is off-limits: Queries are directed
through the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain
campaign machine. Her political capital at home is eroding." ... "Jerry
McCutcheon went to [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate]
Sarah Palin's office here last week to request information about the firing
of former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, the scandal that for
weeks has threatened to overshadow the governor's role as Republican presidential
candidate John McCain's running mate." ... "McCutcheon was given a phone
number in Virginia to call: the national headquarters of the McCain-Palin
campaign." ... "Why, he wanted to know, did he have to call a campaign
office 4,300 miles away to find out what was going on in Alaska government?"
... ""Why did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?" the
Anchorage Daily News demanded in an editorial Saturday. "Is it too much
to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans,
about her actions as Alaska's governor?"" ... "The biggest controversy
came Tuesday, when the McCain-Palin campaign called a news conference to
dispute the claim that Monegan was dismissed for refusing to fire the trooper."
... "Edward O'Callaghan, who until recently was co-chief of the terrorism
and national security unit of the U.S. [United States] attorney's office
in New York, and a former Palin spokeswoman now working for the national
campaign, accused Monegan of a "rogue mentality" and "outright insubordination."
They said he had flown to Washington, D.C., without Palin's approval to
lobby for more police funding." ... "Democratic leaders, incensed that
outsiders were attacking a respected former state official, produced a
travel document Friday showing that in fact Monegan had a signed authorization
from the governor's chief of staff before making what the Palin camp had
called an "unauthorized" lobbying trip." ... ""I don't know why they're
trying to paint this [legislative investigation] as a Democratic partisan
attack," said state Sen. Wielechowski. "The thing I constantly remind people
of is: Democrats didn't push this. You know who pushed it? It was the Republicans.
This is the thing people conveniently forget now. There were no Democrats
out there screaming for an investigation."" (1, 2)
-By Kim Murphy -LAtimes
Sarah
Palin - Crime
- Women
- Medical
- 
DNA
- Law
- Politics
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
town charged women for rape exams." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of] Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin's hometown required women to pay for their own rape examinations
while she was mayor, a practice her police chief fought to keep as late
as 2000." ... "Former state [Alaska State Democratic Representative] Rep.
Eric Croft, a Democrat, sponsored a state law requiring cities to provide
the examinations free of charge to victims. He said the only ongoing resistance
he met was from Wasilla [Alaska], where Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002."
... ""It was one of those things everyone could agree on except Wasilla,"
Croft told CNN. "We couldn't convince the chief of police to stop charging
them."" ... "Alaska's Legislature in 2000 banned the practice of charging
women for rape exam kits -- which experts said could cost up to $1,000."
... "For years, Alaska has had the worst record of any state in rape and
in murder of women by men. The rape rate in Alaska is 2.5 times the national
average." ... "The bill, HB270, was before the legislature for six months.
In testimony, one expert called the practice of billing the victim "incomprehensible."
Others compared it to "dust[ing] for fingerprints" after a burglary, only
"the victim's body is the crime scene."" ... "During a rape exam, the victim
removes her clothing and a medical professional gathers DNA evidence from
her body. There is also a medical component to assess her injuries." ...
"[Tara] Henry, the forensic nurse, said charging victims "retraumatizes
them."" ... ""Asking them to pay for something law enforcement needs in
order to investigate their case, it's almost like blaming them for getting
sexually assaulted," she said." -By Jessica Yellin
-CNN
John
McCain - Corporate
- Government
- Disaster
- Politics
- US_Debt
- Healthcare
- Social
Security -Rights
- Book
- 2008
Election
"Naomi
Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'."
... "The bailout of Wall Street’s largest players by the federal government
is another example of the [Republican President] Bush administration pursuing
a corporate agenda at the expense of average Americans, a prominent author
argued on Friday." ... "In a Friday night interview on HBO's Real Time
with Bill Maher, Naomi Klein said President Bush’s $700
billion proposal to rescue the financial sector stems from a profiteering
streak that has dominated the last eight years." ... ""The disaster is
far from over," Klein said. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have
moved the disaster to Main Street."" ... "Referring to the bailout, Klein
said the "bomb has yet to detonate" and that the real crisis will strike
when tax payers are overwhelmed when faced with the debt from the bailouts."
... "According to Klein, the bomb will detonate if
Sen. John McCain becomes president and "rationalizes" that it is necessary
to privatize government programs like social security and healthcare because
neither the government nor Americans can afford them." ... ""The real disaster
has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode
on American tax payers," Klein said." ... "Klein’s book, "The Shock Doctrine:
The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," outlines how crises, real or perceived,
have been used by governments, especially the United States under George
W. Bush, to strong-arm
a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its
government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept." -By
David Edwards and Andrew McLemore -RawStory.com
WATCH:
Naomi Klein on Republican Bush's "Shock Doctrine"
20080920
John
McCain - Cindy
McCain - Barack
Obama - Auto
- Workers
- Homes
- Michigan
- 2008
Election
"All
the Candidates’ Cars." ... "When you have seven homes
[McCain], that's a lot of garages to fill. " ... "And based on public vehicle-registration
records, here's the score. John and Cindy McCain: 13. Barack and Michelle
Obama: one." ... "One vehicle in the McCain fleet has caused a small flap.
United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger, an Obama backer, accused
McCain this month of "flip-flopping" on who bought daughter Meghan's foreign-made
Toyota Prius. McCain said last year that he bought it, but then told a
Detroit [Michigan] TV station on [September] Sept. 7 that Meghan "bought
it, I believe, herself." (The McCain campaign did not respond to multiple
requests for comment.)" ... "Obama's lone vehicle also is a green machine,
a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid." -By Keith Naughton and
Hilary Shenfeld -Newsweek
John
McCain -
- 2008
Election
"Anchorage
Paper: McCain Confuses National Guard and Army Troops."
... "" -EditorAndPublisher.com
20080919
Henry
Paulson
- Corporate
- Government
- Illegal
- Accounting
- Politics
- History
-US
- Global
"Can
you trust a Wall Street veteran with a Wall Street bailout?"
... "Making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, [Republican President
Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeatedly said today's financial
problems were long in the making. He should know. He was part of the Gold
Rush that has brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse."
... "Paulson presided over one of the most profitable runs on Wall Street
as chairman and chief executive officer of investment banking titan Goldman
Sachs & Co. from 1999 until [Republican] President Bush nominated him
on May 30, 2006 to take over the Treasury Department." ... "But with Paulson
now seeking virtually unfettered authority to administer the largest bailout
of the financial industry in U.S. [United States] history, many are wondering
whether Paulson also doesn't come with enormous potential conflicts of
interest." ... "Paulson has surrounded himself with former Goldman executives
as he tries to navigate the domino-like collapse of several parts of the
global financial market. And others have gone off to lead companies that
could be among those that receive a bailout." ... "The administration's
draft law also would preclude court review of steps Paulson might take,
something Joshua Rosner, managing director of economic researcher Graham
Fisher & Co. in New York, said could be used to mask previous illegal
activity." ... "The Treasury proposal sent to Congress also offers no process
to hire asset managers in an open and competitive process. That's particularly
questionable given that Wall Street players are now hiring Wall Street
players, Rosner said." ... ""This seems to invite a risk of collusion between
sellers and buyers to the detriment of the taxpayer," he wrote." ... "At
a minimum, there's irony in Paulson being in charge of so large a bailout."
... "In the last annual report at Goldman that Paulson signed off on in
November 2005, a year in which he received $38 million in compensation,
investors were clearly told that the federal government wouldn't be there
to save them from bad investments." ... "In 2002, Paulson received $12.1
million in compensation, including a $6.3 million bonus — an improvement
over the previous three years when Wall Street accounting scandals unsettled
investment banks, including a $1.5 billion settlement Goldman and other
banks paid for issuing overly bullish research reports that promoted deals
the banks themselves were involved in." ... "Published reports said Paulson
received $30 million in compensation and salary in 2003." -By
Kevin
G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com
Henry
Paulson
- Government
- Money
- Politics
- Law
- American
International Group - Calif
"Bush
Asking For $700 Billion Bailout." ... "Struggling
to stave off financial catastrophe, the [Republican President] Bush administration
on Friday laid out a radical bailout plan with a jawdropping price tag
_ a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages
and other bad debt held by tottering institutions." ... "Congressional
officials said they expected a request for legal authority to buy up the
bad loans, at a cost in excess of $500 billion to the government." ...
"The federal government already has pledged more than $600 billion [Reuters
reports: $900 billion] in the past year to bail out, or help bail out,
some of the biggest names in American finance. That includes the rescue
of investment bank Bear Stearns in March, the takeover of mortgage giants
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this month and the takeover of the world's
largest insurance company, American International Group, just this week."
... "In a session with House Democrats, they described a plan where the
government would in essence set up reverse auctions, putting up money for
a class of distressed assets _ such as loans that are delinquent but not
in default _ and financial institutions would compete for how little they
would accept for the investments, said [California Democratic Representative]
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. [Democratic-California], who participated in
the call." ... ""You give them good cash; they give you the worst of the
worst," Sherman said of the plan, which he complained that Bush and his
economic advisers were trying to panic lawmakers into rubber-stamping."
... "[Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson rejected
Democrats' calls to include tighter regulations, corporate reforms or limits
on executive compensation as part of the measure, Sherman said. "He's doing
his best to paint a picture of the sky falling, and then he says, because
the sky's falling, you have to do it my way."" -By
Tom Raum and Jeannine Aversa with contributions by Julie Hirschfeld Davis,
Martin Crutsinger, Andrew Taylor, Marcy Gordon, David Espo, Jim Abrams,
and Joe Bel Bruno -AP
via -HuffingtonPost.com
Political
- Science
- 
Psychology
- DNA
- Nature
- Nurture
- 
Nebraska
"Are
you a born conservative (or liberal)? A new study
suggests that your political attitudes are wired in from the beginning."
... "It's literally in their DNA." ... "People with strongly conservative
views were three times more fearful than staunch liberals after the effects
of gender, age, income and education were factored out." ... "Kevin B.
Smith, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and a study author, said conservatives were more vigilant to environmental
threats, and he speculated that this innate tendency led them to support
policies that protect the social order." ... "Fowler said the study added
to the growing research suggesting that over millions of years, humans
have developed two cognitive styles -- conservative and liberal. Cautious
conservatives prevented societies from taking undue risks, while more flexible
liberals fostered cooperation." ... ""For the species to survive, you need
both," he said." ... "But Jon Krosnick, a political science professor at
Stanford University, said it was impossible to draw any conclusions from
a study with so few people, all from a small Midwestern town." ... "The
study is the latest to challenge the long-standing dogma that upbringing
and environmental factors determine political attitudes." -By
Denise Gellene -LAtimes
John
McCain - Banking
- Health
- Politics
- Government
- Law
- 2008
Election
"McCain
on banking and health." ... "Here’s what [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and John] McCain has to say about the
wonders of market-based health reform:"
"[McCain:]
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition,
as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices
of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based
regulation.""
"So
McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial
deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health
care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!"
-By
Paul
Krugman/Blog
-NYTimes
20080918
Sarah
Palin - 
Chuck
Hagel - John
McCain - Nebraska
- Alaska
- US- International
- Russia
- 2008
Election
"[Republican
Senator] Sen. Hagel doubts Palin's ready." ... "[Nebraska
Republican Senator] Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is the nation's most prominent
Republican officeholder to publicly question whether Sarah Palin has the
experience to serve as president." ... ""She doesn't have any foreign policy
credentials," Hagel said Wednesday in an interview. "You get a passport
for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you
can say. You can't say anything."" ... "Palin was elected governor of Alaska
in 2006 and before that was the mayor of a small town." ... "The McCain
campaign has cited the proximity of Alaska to Russia as evidence of her
international experience." ... "Hagel scoffed at that notion." ... ""I
think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about,
'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something
about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American
people."" ... ""I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's
got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said."
-By Joseph Morton -World-Herald
20080917
Finance
- American
International Group
"S&P
says pressure building on U.S. "AAA" rating." ...
"Pressure is building on the pristine "AAA" rating of the United States
after a federal bailout of American International Group Inc, the chairman
of Standard & Poor's sovereign ratings committee said on Wednesday."
... "The $85 billion bailout of AIG on Tuesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve
"has weakened the fiscal profile of the United States," S&P's John
Chambers told Reuters in an interview." (1, 2,
3)
-By Walden Siew with contributions by Jan Paschal
and Chizu Nomiyama -Reuters
American
International Group - Government
- Politics
- Housing
"Tab
for Government Rescues Rises to $900 Billion." ...
"The U.S. [United States] Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue insurance
giant American International Group from bankruptcy with an $85 billion
loan on Tuesday, the latest in a series of bailouts and loans for the financial
and housing sectors." ... "The action brings the total tab for government
rescues and special loan facilities this year to more than $900 billion."
-Reuters via -CNBC
20080916
Money
- Politics
- Jobs
- Federal
- History
"Democrats
are better for the economy than Republicans." ...
"The figures below are all from the annual Economic
Report of the President, and the analysis is primitive. Nevertheless,
what these numbers show almost beyond doubt is that Democrats are better
at virtually every economic task that is important to Republicans." ...
"This exercise implicitly assumes that lower taxes are always good and
higher government spending is always bad. " ... "The only point is that
if you find the Republican mantra of lower taxes and smaller government
appealing, and if you care only about how fast the economy is growing,
not how that growth is shared, you should vote Democratic." ... "On average,
in years when the president is a Democrat, the economy grows faster; inflation
is lower; fewer people can't find a job; the federal government spends
a smaller share of GDP, whether or not you include defense spending; and
the deficit is lower (or—sweet [Democratic President] Clinton-years memory—the
surplus is higher)." -By Michael Kinsley
-Slate
Money
- Politics
- Calif
"Federal
bank insurance fund dwindling." ... "Banks are not
the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established
to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer may
be the lender of last resort." ... "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.,
whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by
Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department
loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest thrift, or another
struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said Tuesday."
... "Eleven federally insured banks and thrifts have failed this year,
including Pasadena, Calif. [California]-based IndyMac Bank, by far the
largest shut down by regulators." ... "The [FDIC] fund, which is marking
its 75th anniversary this year with a "Face Your Finances" campaign, is
at $45.2 billion — the lowest level since 2003." ... "The failure of IndyMac
Bank in July cost $8.9 billion." ... "There were 117 banks and thrifts
considered to be in trouble in the second quarter, the highest level since
2003, according to FDIC data released last month." -By
Marcy Gordon with contributions by Christopher S. Rugaber
-AP via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin -
Don
Young - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Transportation
- Construction
- 
Animals
- Environment
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
supports $600 million 'other' bridge project." ...
"[Alaska Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said
"no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere [after supporting it
even after Congress had stopped it]." ... "But a bridge to her hometown
of Wasilla [Alaska], that's a different story." ... "A $600 million bridge
and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000
residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could
worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales." ...
"Local officials already have spent $42 million on plans to route traffic
across the Knik Arm inlet, a narrow finger of water extending roughly 25
miles northeast of Anchorage toward Wasilla. The proposal exists thanks
to an earmark request by Republican [Alaska Representative] Rep. Don Young,
whose son-in-law has a small stake in property near the bridge's proposed
western span." ... ""This is basically an incredibly expensive project
that doesn't help commuters, doesn't help create jobs and may drive whales
to extinction," said Justin Massey, an attorney advising environmentalists
opposed to the proposal. "It is also a project that serves the area where
the governor is from, which is near and dear to her heart."" ... "Palin
still supports the second bridge, officially named Don Young's Way in honor
of the congressman." -By Garance Burke
-AP via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin -Criminal
- Money
- Politics
- Women
- Children
- Law
- Federal
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Source:
Sex Assault Program Cited in Monegan Firing Targeted Child Abusers."
... "So [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor]
Sarah Palin's latest explanation
for why she fired Walt Monegan is that he had gone over her head in seeking
federal money for an initiative to combat sexual assault crimes, before
she had approved the program." ... "But it now appears that the program
in question is one that most elected officials would be wary of admitting
they hadn't strongly backed. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska
Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use
the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials,
and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault
-- including those against children." ... "In other words, if Palin's new
story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going
after child molesters." ... "ABC News reported
yesterday that, although Alaska leads the nation in reported rapes
per capita, Palin hasn't made the issue a priority as governor." ... "Monegan,
however, appeared eager to change that. "He seemed to get the issue and
really took it seriously," Brown told TPMmuckraker." ... "According to
the Palin camp, too seriously." -By Zachary Roth
-TPMMuckracker
.TalkingPointsMemo
Noteworthy
- Emergency
- Money
- Politics
- Legal
- History
- AIG
"U.S.
to Take Over AIG in $85 Billion Bailout; Central Banks Inject Cash as Credit
Dries Up: Emergency Loan Effectively Gives Government
Control of Insurer; Historic Move Would Cap 10 Days That Reshaped U.S.
[Unijted States] Finance." ... "[Under Republican President Bush] The U.S.
government seized control of American International Group Inc. -- one of
the world's biggest insurers -- in an $85 billion deal that signaled the
intensity of its concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the
financial system." ... "The step marks a dramatic turnabout for the federal
government, which had been strongly resisting overtures from AIG for an
emergency loan or some intervention that would prevent the insurer from
falling into bankruptcy. Just last weekend, the government essentially
pulled the plug on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., allowing the big investment
bank to go under instead of giving it financial support. This time, the
government decided AIG truly was too big to fail." ... "Under terms hammered
out Tuesday night, the Fed will lend up to $85 billion to AIG, and the
U.S. government will effectively get a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer
in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. The two-year
loan will carry an interest rate of Libor plus 8.5 percentage points. (Libor,
the London interbank offered rate, is a common short-term lending benchmark.)"
... "The loan is secured by AIG's assets, including its profitable insurance
businesses, giving the Fed some protection even if markets continue to
sink. And if AIG rebounds, taxpayers could reap a big profit through the
government's equity stake." ... "It puts the government in control of a
private insurer -- a historic development, particularly considering that
AIG isn't directly regulated by the federal government. The Fed took the
highly unusual step using legal authority granted in the Federal Reserve
Act, which allows it to lend to nonbanks under "unusual and exigent" circumstances,
something it invoked when Bear Stearns Cos. was rescued in March." ...
"The U.S. on Sept. 6 took over mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac as they teetered near collapse." ... "In bailing out AIG, the Federal
Reserve appeared to be motivated in part by worries that Wall Street's
financial crisis could begin to spill over into seemingly safe investments
held by small investors, such as money-market funds that invest in AIG
debt." ... "Indeed, on Tuesday the $62 billion Primary Fund from the Reserve,
a New York money-market firm, said it "broke the buck" -- that is, its
net asset value fell below the $1-a-share level that funds like this must
maintain. Breaking the buck is an extremely rare occurrence. The fund was
pinched by investments in bonds issued by now collapsing Lehman Brothers."
... "Money-market funds are supposed to be among the safest investments
available. No fund in the $3.6 trillion money-market industry has lost
money since 1994, when Orange County, Calif., went bankrupt. A number of
money-market funds own securities issued by AIG. The firm is also a big
insurer of some money-market instruments." -By Matthew
Karnitschnig, Deborah Solomon, Liam Pleven and Jon E. Hilsenrath with contributions
by Diya Gullapalli, Serena Ng, Damian Paletta and Ashby Jones-WSJ.com
20080915
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Immigration
- Religion
- US
- Alaska
- Russia
- Iraq
- Military
- 2008
Election
"John
McCain's Journey From Maverick to Liar." ... "When
Jon Stewart asked [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John]
McCain last year, "Are you going into crazy base world?" the celebrated
maverick acknowledged, "I'm afraid so."" ... "McCain flip-flopped on the
[Republican President] Bush tax cuts. He abandoned immigration reform.
He reached out to Jerry Falwell and other religious conservatives." ...
"It wasn't enough. And so, in a move that even one of his longtime advisers
conceded (in a remark captured by an open microphone) was disturbingly
"cynical," McCain gave the base [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate] Sarah Palin." ... "So far, the main "maverick" actions that
McCain has promised as the next Republican president are to trim nonmilitary
Democratic spending and continue the Iraq war. You can't get more conventional
than that." ... "And even that message has been somewhat undermined by
disclosures that Palin was a champion of those costly federal earmark projects
she has lobbied for in Alaska—where, you know, you can see Russia." ...
"At this point, McCain has taken the obvious way out—launching a series
of distracting attacks on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate]
Barack Obama, with slim regard for truth." ... "The ads have spurred a
backlash, the consequences
(or lack) of which may well decide the election." ... "For 18 months,
Obama has wagered all his chips on the (quaint? idealistic? brilliant?)
idea that the American people are tired of the same old sleazy and divisive
politics. McCain has now chosen to bet against him." ... "And we are the
cards." -By John Aloysius Farrell
-usnews.com
Federal
- Law
- Politics
- History
"Wall
Street crisis is culmination of 28 years of deregulation."
... "On Monday, one Wall Street bank, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy
protection and another, Merrill Lynch, sought comfort by selling itself
to Bank of America for $50 billion. Earlier this year, the government helped
enable the sale of faltering investment bank Bear Stearns to J.P. Morgan
Chase, and more recently took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac." ... "Such troubles were supposed to have been prevented, or at least
mitigated, by regulatory systems that the nation began to put in place
after the banking system collapsed at the start of the Great Depression."
... "Many banks at the time were badly wounded by their personal and financial
ties to securities trading. The 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, and later the
1956 Bank Holding Company Act, mandated the separation of banks, insurance
companies and securities firms." ... "Those and many other federal laws
stabilized the banking and securities markets, but by the 1970s, a stumbling
U.S. [United States] economy led to a change in America's political-economic
values. [Republican President] Ronald Reagan led a movement that came to
power in 1980 proclaiming faith in free markets and mistrust of government.
That conservative philosophy has dominated America for the past 28 years."
... "Even after taxpayers had to rescue deregulated savings and loans,
or S&Ls, with a $200 billion bailout in the late 1980s, the push to
loosen regulation paused only briefly." ... "In 1999, [Democratic] President
Clinton signed the Financial Services Modernization Act, which tore down
Glass-Steagall's reforms by removing the walls separating banks, securities
firms and insurers." -By David
Lightman -McClatchyDC.com
Psychological
- Science
-People
- 2008
Election
"The
Power of Political Misinformation." ... "As the [2008
Election] presidential campaign heats up, intense efforts are underway
to debunk rumors and misinformation. Nearly all these efforts rest on the
assumption that good information is the antidote to misinformation." ...
"But a series of new experiments show that misinformation can exercise
a ghostly influence on people's minds after it has been debunked -- even
among people who recognize it as misinformation. In some cases, correcting
misinformation serves to increase the power of bad information." ... "A
variety of psychological experiments have shown that political misinformation
primarily works by feeding into people's preexisting views." ... "[Yale
University political scientist John] Bullock and others have also shown
that some refutations can strengthen misinformation, especially among conservatives."
... "In a paper approaching publication, Nyhan, a PhD student at Duke University,
and Reifler, at Georgia State University, suggest that Republicans might
be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have
more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives
might "argue back" against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening
their belief in the misinformation." -By Shankar Vedantam
-WashingtonPost
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Investigation
- Politics
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Fired
Official: Governor Sarah Palin Did Not Tell the Truth to ABC:
Walt Monegan Says He Was Called to [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov.'s Office Over a "Private Family Matter"."
... ""She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her
husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan
official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation
known as "Troopergate". "And she's not telling the truth to the media about
her reasons for firing me."" ... "In a 20/20 interview, Palin told ABC's
Charles Gibson she dismissed Monegan for poor job performance and that
neither she nor her husband pressured Monegan to fire State Trooper Wooten.
"We never did. I never pressured him to hire or fire anybody," Palin said."
... "But Monegan told ABC News.com he was summoned to a meeting with Todd
Palin in December 2006, shortly after Sarah Palin became governor." ...
""I was called to her Anchorage formal Governor's office to talk with Todd
Palin about an issue that was a private family matter," recounted Monegan.
Todd became "upset," Monegan recalled, when told the allegations had already
been investigated and the case would not be re-opened." ... ""When Sarah
later called to tell me the same thing, I thought to myself, 'I may not
be long for this job.'" But, Monegan said, he stood by his position. "I
held the public trust. As Chief, I was responsible."" ... "Governor Palin
initially agreed to "cooperate fully" with the Alaska state legislative
investigation but since being chosen as [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] John McCain's running mate both she and her husband have refused
to testify voluntarily." (1, 2,
3)
-By Rhonda Schwartz and Justin Rood
-ABCNEWS.com
Barack
Obama - John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Disaster
- Politics
- Workers
- Colorado
- Arizona
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Obama
blames Wall St. crisis on Republican policy." ...
"[Obama on McCain:] "In 19 months he [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate John McCain] has not named one thing he would do differently
from this [Republican President Bush] administration on the central issue
of this election," [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack]
Obama said of McCain. "Not one thing. And we know that if we go down that
path, that the next four years will look exactly like the last eight.""
... ""Can you afford to take a chance on someone who's voted against the
minimum wage 19 times," Obama asked a crowd of thousands under a blazing
sun at a rally in western Colorado at the start of a swing through contested
Western states. "When it was $4, he was against it, when it was $5 he was
against it, when it was $6 he was against it."" ... "Charging that McCain
was out of touch, Obama said, "He doesn't get what's happening between
the mountains in Sedona [Arizona] where he lives and the corridors of power
where he works. Why else would he say that we've made great progress economically
under George Bush. Why else would he say that the economy isn't something
he understands as well as he should." ... ""Why else would he say, today
of all days, just a few hours ago — think about this, we just woke up to
news of financial disaster — and this morning he said that the fundamentals
of the economy are still strong. Sen. McCain, what economy are you talking
about?"" ... "He also took a little poke at McCain's running mate, [Alaska
Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin, raising the "Bridge to Nowhere"
in Alaska that she initially supported and later opposed. Saying that McCain
had put some lobbyists in key roles of his campaign, Obama said, "If you
think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to
put themselves out of business, well I've got a bridge to sell you up in
Alaska."" -By Terence Hunt
-AP via -Yahoo
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Money
-Politics
- Travel
- Family
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Tax Mystery Enters Second Week: Itemizing The Questions."
... "When news broke last week that [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate and Governor of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin received more than $17,000
in state-issued per diems for evenings spent in her own home, several tax
experts and watchdogs asked whether [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] John McCain's running mate had ever declared and paid taxes
on that money as income. Including travel reimbursements for Palin's family
members, the Washington Post reported
that the total amount of potentially taxable income totals over $60,000
for Palin's first 18 months as governor." -By Seth
Colter Walls -HuffingtonPost.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Money
- Politics
- Federal
- Alaska
- Oil
- 2008
Election
"Palin's
Project List Totals $453 Million." ... "Last week,
[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate [and Arizona Senator]
Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov.
Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress,
presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin
has asked U.S. [United States] taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific
Alaska projects over the past two years." ... "These projects include more
than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing
industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She
also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island
that has a year-round population of less than 100." ... "During an appearance
Friday on ABC's "The View," Sen. McCain said Gov. Palin shared his views,
and hasn't sought congressional earmarks. "Not as governor she hasn't,"
he said." ... "In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197
million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first
year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging
from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation
and obesity prevention." ... "The state's earmark requests stand out in
part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush
with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In
fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got
a check for $3,200." ... "The McCain campaign has also come under fire
for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial
"Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely
populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed
it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use
the funds for other projects." -By Laura Meckler and
John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Criminal
- Politics
- Women
- Children
- Safety
- Law
- Money
- Religion
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Critics
Question Palin's Record on "Epidemic" Rape, Domestic Violence in Alaska:
Effort to Tackle Sex Violence Stalled by [2008 Election Republican Vice
Presidential Candidate Sarah] Palin's Office, Sources Say." ... "Evangelicals
and social conservatives have embraced [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate John] McCain's vice presidential pick for what they call her
"pro-family," "pro-woman" values. But in Alaska, critics say [Alaska Republican
Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin has not addressed the rampant sexual abuse,
rape, domestic violence and murder that make her state one of the most
dangerous places in the country for women and children." ... "Alaska leads
the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI
[Federal Bureau of Investigation], with a rate two and a half times the
national average – a ranking it has held for many years. Children are no
safer: Public safety experts believe that the prevalence of rape and sexual
assault of minors in Alaska makes the state's record one of the worst in
the U.S. [United States] And while solid statistics on domestic violence
are hard to come by, most – including Gov. Palin – agree it is an "epidemic.""
... "Despite the governor's pro-family image, public safety experts and
advocates for women and children struggled when asked to explain how Palin's
leadership has helped address the crisis. And current and former officials
from Palin's administration confirmed that an ambitious plan to tackle
the crisis has apparently sunk into doldrums after arriving at the governor's
office." ... ""She's really done a lot of work on oil and gas, but when
it comes to violence against women and children. . . we haven't been on
her radar as a priority," said Peggy Brown, executive director of the Alaska
Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The Juneau[Alaska's capital]-based
group is an umbrella organization for shelters and anti-violence programs
around the state." ... "State troopers respond to most domestic violence
calls outside of Alaska's major cities, but they're too short-staffed and
under-funded to do it well, according to Robert Claus, a recently retired
trooper." (1, 2,
3)
-By Justin Rood -ABCNEWS.com
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Health
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Sarah
Palin Installed Tanning Bed at Governor's Mansion."
... "Self-proclaimed "hockey mom" [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential
Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin had a private tanning
bed installed in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau, Alaska, Usmagazine.com
confirmed on Monday." ... ""She did. She paid for it with her own money,"
Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska's Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities told Us." ... "The
Narco News Bulletin first reported on the
former beauty queen's penchant for a bronzed body." ... "Tanning
beds can cost up to $35,000 to install in a home - not including the cost
of parts, Color Me Tan manager Erin Weise told the Narco News." ... ""I
don't think it's normal for people to have a tanning bed in their house,
" Wiese, who is based in Fairbanks [Alaska] said. "It's expensive."" ...
"Palin's running mate, [2008 Election Republican] presidential candidate
John
McCain battled skin cancer in 1993, and again in 2000."
-UsMagazine.com
Sarah
Palin - Ohio
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
and the Teleprompter." ... "At a fundraiser in Canton,
Ohio, this evening, [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
and Governor of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had an interesting description
of her speech to the Republican convention." ... "“There Ohio was right
out in front, right in front of me," Palin said. "The teleprompter got
messed up, I couldn’t follow it, and I just decided I’d just talk to the
people in front of me. It was Ohio.”" ... "This struck many of us -- who,
as she spoke, followed along with her prepared remarks, and noted how closely
she stuck to the script -- as an unusual claim. (Especially those of my
colleagues on the convention floor at the time, reading along on the prompter
with her, noticing her excellent and disciplined delivery, how she punched
words that were underlined and paused where it said "pause," noting that
"nuclear" was spelled out for her phonetically.)" ... "I should note that,
after Palin's speech, some conservative bloggers reported that sources
close to McCain had told them that the teleprompter had broken and Palin
"winged it."" ... ""The teleprompter did not break," wrote
Politico's Jonathan Martin. "Sarah Palin delivered a powerful
speech last night, but she did not 'wing it'..."" ... "Says Martin, "Perhaps
there were moments where it scrolled slightly past her exact point in the
speech. But I was sitting in the press section next to the stage, within
easy eyeshot of the teleprompter. I frequently looked up at the machine,
and there was no serious malfunction. A top convention planner confirms
this morning that there were no major problems."" -By
Jake Tapper -ABCNEWS.com
20080914
John
McCain - William
E. Timmons, Sr. - Corporate
- Government
- Politics
- Oil
- Drug
- Housing
- Consumer
- Investigation
- Law
- Foreign
- Japan
- US
- 2008
Election
"Obama
Memo on a [Republican McCain] "Lobbyist-Run White House"."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain's Team
of Lobbyists Grows, As They Plan for a Lobbyist-Run White House" ... "Joining
the ranks of the seven lobbyists running McCain's campaign, William Timmons,
a top Washington lobbyist, has been named to plan McCain's transition effort.
With at least 177 lobbyists helping advise, raise money and run his campaign,
there was little doubt who would be influencing McCain's White House, should
he win, but this appointment just confirms: a John McCain White House will
be organized, managed and influenced by lobbyists and the same old Washington
politics John McCain has decried. Campaigning on reform while surrounding
himself with lobbyists for the oil industry, big drug companies and foreign
interests doesn't seem much like change, and nothing shows that more than
naming a top Washington lobbyist to plan his transition." ... "SEPTEMBER
2008: TIMMONS JOINS MCCAIN TEAM" ... "One Of DC's “Most Senior Inside Players,”
A Special Interest Lobbyist To Help McCain Transition Planning Effort.
William E Timmons, Sr., the McCain campaign's new senior advisor of a hypothetical
transition, is a “prominent Washington lobbyist who has worked for every
Republican president since Richard Nixon” pointed out Time magazine. This
year alone, he is registered as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac, Anheuser-Busch,
an insurance industry trade group, an oil industry group, and a pharmaceutical
company. Time called him one “of Washington's steadiest and most senior
inside players.” [Time, 9/12/08; Senate Office of Public Records]" ...
"Timmons, A Former Nixon Aide, Founded Lobbying Shop In The Aftermath Of
Watergate. “Aftershocks of the Watergate scandal were still rumbling in
1975 when William Timmons and three other former Nixon aides decided to
launch their own lobbying shop. ‘We figured if we got 10 clients to pay
us $100,000 a year, we'd be in the clover,' recalls the 76-year-old Timmons.”
[Politico, 3/7/07]" ... "WHILE MCCAIN CRITICIZED FREDDIE MAC'S LOBBYISTS,
TIMMONS EARNED MILLIONS LOBBYING FOR FREDDIE MAC." ... " ... Timmons Earned
More Than $2.7 Million for His Firm Lobbying for Freddie Mac from 2000-2008.
William Timmons earned $2,795,000 in lobbying fees for his firm lobbying
from 2000 through the 2nd Quarter of 2008. His firm lobbied for Freddie
Mac on housing issues. [Timmons and Company Lobbying Disclosures, 2000-2008]"
... "TIMMONS ALSO EARNED MILLIONS FOR HIS FIRM LOBBYING FOR OIL COMPANIES"
... "Timmons Earned $2.1 Million for His Firm Lobbying for Unocal and Also
Lobbied for Chevron. William Timmons lobbied for Unocal from 1999-2005
and then briefly lobbied for Chevron in 2005 after the firm purchased Unocal.
[Timmons and Company Senate Lobbying Disclosures, 1999-2005]" ... "Timmons
Lobbied on Two Price Gouging Prevention Bills For Oil Industry. According
to lobbying disclosure forms, William Timmons – on behalf of the American
Petroleum Institute – lobbied on S. 94 and S. 1263 in 2007, two bills which
dealt with prohibiting price gouging by merchants. Timmons continued his
registration, which began in 1999, into the summer of 2008. [Timmons and
Company Senate Lobbying Disclosures]" ... "HITACHI: Timmons Contract Came
As US Government Opened Investigation" ... "8/2/85: Justice Dept. Opens
Investigation Of Hitachi For Antitrust Violations. In early August 1985,
the US Dept. of “investigation of Hitachi Ltd. for alleged unfair pricing
practices.” The probe “accused the Japanese of closing their doors to U.S.-produced
goods while using unfair tactics to make gains in the domestic U.S. marketplace.”.
[San Diego Union Tribune, 8/7/85]" ... "8/27/85: Hitachi Hires Timmons's
Firm. The $75,000 contract (one year) was to “represent the interests of
Hitachi before the legislative and executive branches.” [FARA, Exhibit
AB, http://www.fara.gov/docs/3489-Exhibit-AB-19850901-D0V9DI01.pdf
]" ... "[FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) filings, US Dept. of Justice
(fara.gov)]" -From the
capaing of Barack Obama
-TIME.com
McLobbyist.com
Sarah
Palin - Rove
- 
Abramoff
- 
E-Mail
- Secrecy
- Government
- 
Archive
- Politics
- Legal
- Investigation
- Computer
- 
Internet
- Tech
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Even
before VP nomination, Palin's e-mail use questioned."
... "Moments after [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate
and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican [2008
Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, she sat with
her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always
with her." ... "The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow
users to read and send e-mails) for state business and another for personal
matters, but those worlds intertwine." ... "Palin routinely uses a private
Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's
office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." ... "The practice
raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed
during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."" ... "Even before
the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing
over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to
get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail
accounts?" ... "The governor's Yahoo account is "the most nonsensical,
inane thing I've ever heard of," said Andree McLeod, who is appealing the
administration's decision to withhold e-mails." ... ""The governor sets
the tone and the tone that has been set by this governor is beyond the
pale," McLeod said. "Common sense tells you to use an official state e-mail
account for official state business."" ... "State lawyers say that the
governor's e-mails about public business should be treated like any other
public record, even if she's sent them through a private account such as
Yahoo." ... "Some of her aides also routinely use Yahoo, but even messages
sent from one private account to another should be public, if they concern
public business, said Dave Jones, an assistant attorney general." ... ""The
difficulty is finding out they exist," Jones said." ... "The [Republican
President] Bush administration has drawn heat over revelations that more
than 80 White House aides, including senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, used
private GOP e-mail servers for government business. The controversy surfaced
during congressional investigations into White House contacts with convicted
lobbyist Jack Abramoff and into the firings of U.S. attorneys." -By
Lisa Demer -ADN.com
via -McClatchyDC.com
Sarah
Palin - E-Mails
- Archive
- Politics
-Legal
- Investigation
- Family
- 
Privacy
- Alaska
- 2008
Election
"Palin
asked to release her husband's e-mails." ... "Can
[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor]
Gov. Sarah Palin legally keep e-mails between her husband and her administration
from being released to the public?" ... "That's the question the lawyer
of Andree McLeod, a self-described Republican watchdog, put to the governor
last week in an appeal to disclose e-mails between her administration and
her husband, Todd." ... "Those e-mails could shed light on how Gov. Palin,
the Republican vice-presidential candidate, runs the state. And they could
also help reveal what role Todd Palin, who the state Legislature's special
investigator called a "central figure" in the governor's firing of former
Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, played in his wife's administration."
... "In July, the governor's office refused to disclose the contents of
about 40 e-mails between Todd Palin and Gov. Palin's administration as
part of a larger public records request by McLeod. Other e-mails between
Todd Palin and the governor's staff were released, McLeod said, but had
some parts redacted. Todd Palin is copied as a recipient on most of the
e-mails but also authored a few." ... "Some of the subject lines of the
withheld e-mails, which were created between [February] Feb. 1 and [April]
Apr. 15. of this year, included: "Andrew Halcro," and "PSEA." Halcro is
a political rival of Palin. The PSEA is the union that represents the Alaska
State Troopers, including trooper Mike Wooten, who is divorced from Gov.
Palin's sister and is also a key figure in the investigation of Monegan's
firing." ... "In redacting or denying the request for e-mails, the governor's
office mostly cited Gov. Palin's right to a "deliberative process privilege,"
a law designed to let public officials receive candid advice from their
staff and consultants regarding matters of the state without fear of that
advice going public." ... "But McLeod's lawyer, Donald Mitchell, said Gov.
Palin waived that privilege when Todd Palin was included in her staff's
e-mails. Documents released to one member of the public have to be available
to all members of the public, he said." ... ""Mr. Palin is a private citizens
whose only connection to the office of the governor is that, at your invitation,
he from time to time is physically present in the offices of ... the governor
for no reason other than that he is your spouse," Mitchell wrote in his
appeal directly to the governor." ... "Those who pay attention to Alaska's
public records laws said Mitchell's legal argument holds water." ... "Larry
Persily, a former Empire editor who recently finished working for Gov.
Palin in Washington D.C., said he would bet his Alaska Permanent Fund dividend
that a judge would agree with him that Gov. Palin has no claims to the
deliberative process privilege once her administration's e-mail discussions
include her husband." ... ""The dike has got a hole in it, it's over,"
Persily said. " -By Alan Suderman
-JuneauEmpire.com
20080913
John
McCain - Barack
Obama - Military
- Investment
- Arizona
- Mo
- 2008
Election
"McCain
on FCS: Flip-flop or fib?" ... "Has [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain
renounced his longtime antagonism toward the Army’s Future Combat Systems?"
... "On [September] Sept. 8, the Republican presidential candidate told
a rally crowd in Lee’s Summit, Mo. [Missouri], about an [2008 Election
Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama video message to a liberal
advocacy group." ... "“He promised them he would, quote, ‘slow our development
of Future Combat Systems,’” McCain said, according to wire reports. “This
is not a time to slow our development of Future Combat Systems.”" ... "Flashback
to July, however, when his campaign furnished McCain’s economic plan to
The Washington Post, declaring that “there are lots of procurements — Airborne
Laser, [C-17] Globemaster, Future Combat System [sic] — that should be
ended and the entire Pentagon budget should be scrubbed.”" ... "In fact,
McCain has long criticized the over-budget, behind-schedule FCS program.
In 2005, he blasted the Army for allowing the program to balloon to $161
billion, and forced the service to rewrite the main FCS contract." ...
"So where does McCain really stand? Some bloggers and analysts have suggested
that he used the term “future combat systems” generically. Obama’s campaign
maintains their candidate was speaking specifically about FCS, in which
case McCain may be twisting his rival’s words." ... "Loren Thompson of
the Lexington Institute called it deceitful." ... "“McCain’s interpretation
of Obama’s position is typical of the way in which the Republicans have
twisted Democratic views in order to undercut their opponents and at the
same time obscure the past positions of the Republicans,” Thompson said.
“Future Combat Systems is the centerpiece of Army modernization. However,
McCain has been more critical of it than anyone else in the chamber. Obama
has been much more detailed and thoughtful in his comments about future
military investment than McCain’s very superficial statements.”" -By
Bradley Peniston with contributions by Antonie Boessenkool
-ArmyTimes.com
Sarah
Palin - Ted
Stevens - Don
Young - Money
- Politics
- Federal- Transportation
- Construction
- Architecture
- Alaska
- Nevada
- 2008
Election
"Palin
Administration Still Pursuing ‘Nowhere’ Project."
... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor
of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has portrayed herself as a foe of pork-barrel
spending, pointing in particular to her role in killing the $398 million
"Bridge to Nowhere” between Ketchikan (pop. 7,400) and its airport on Gravina
Island (pop. 50). I "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" she said
in her speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. "If
our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.""
... "But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing
a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of
as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original
project." ... ""What the media isn't reporting is that the project isn't
dead," Roger Wetherell, spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Transportation,
said. In a process begun this past winter, the state’s DOT is
