Far from being a new phenomenon, prison rape has a long history in the Islamic Republic.
The most systematic type of reported rape has been the rape of virgin girls who were sentenced to death by execution because of political reasons.
Source:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/iranians-say-prison-rape-not-new/?apage=1
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again.
Evidence of a new consumer mindset keeps piling up.
Today's New York Times front page reports Americans are becoming savers. When they shop, it is for necessities. They are spending less on impulse purchases.
Source:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/29/americans-save-more-spend-less-will-it-last/
Jai Morcom, 15, allegedly stepped in to stop a schoolyard fight over a lunch table.
It cost him his life. Seriously sad stuff.
Source:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26001995-421,00.html
A CNN source with very close to the U.S.
Secret Service confirmed to me today that threats on the life of the president of the United States have now risen by as much as 400 percent since his inauguration, 400 percent death threats against Barack Obama -- quote -- "in this environment" go far beyond anything the Secret Service has seen with any oth
Source:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie/why-i-hate-barack-obama-pastor-steven
CNN analyst Mike Brooks reports that the Secret Service has interviewed Anderson, who told TPMmuckraker yesterday: "To be honest with you, I have prayed for Obama to die.
I'm not the only one, I'm just the only one with the spine to say it."
Rep.
Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told a Massachusetts audience at a recent town hall that the House will pass legislation this fall mandating a "complete audit" of the Federal Reserve. The bill to audit the Fed, H.R. 1207, was introduced by libertarian Fed critic Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/frank-bill-mandating-comp_n_271384.html
Original proposal from Senator Rockefeller to let the White House pull the plug on Internet sites drew fire, and the revised one is too.
Sen.
James Inhofe (R-Okla.) admitted this week that he would vote against health care reform without reading the bill, or knowing what was in it. At a town hall meeting Wednesday Sen. Jim Inhofe told Chickasha residents he does not need to read the 1,000 page health care reform bill, he will simply vote against it.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/27/inhofe-ill-vote-against-r_n_270636.html
Why a health insurance executive decided to speak out against an industry that he was once paid to defend.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/opinion/27kristof.html
An Idaho Republican gubernatorial hopeful insists he was joking when he said he'd buy a license to hunt President Barack Obama. He said, "I would never support him being assassinated."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/27/rex-rammell-idaho-goper-j_n_270751.html
Last spring, the news media trumpeted Vice President Dick Cheneys challenge to release the CIAs torture memos.
Since Monday, when the CIA released a significant part of those documents there has been hardly a mention in the mainstream press about the fact that the report largely contradicted what the former vice president has been saying...
Source:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/report-reveals-cheney-misled/
King County Superior Court Judge Michael C.
Hayden sentenced Michael and Katie Lambard, accused of befriending then stealing thousands of dollars from an 80-year-old North Seattle woman, to 33 months behind bars.
Source:
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/08/couple_gets_33_months_in_elder.php
FOX's Glenn Beck: "I Was A Dirtbag & Liar But I'm Not Now!" - 08/26/09
U.S.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins offered encouragement to conservatives at a town hall forum that the Republican Party would embrace a "great white hope" capable of thwarting the political agenda endorsed by Democrats who control Congress and President
Source:
http://cjonline.com/news/state/2009-08-26/jenkins_remark_raises_eyebrows
New home sales are up, and so too are home prices.
But before you celebrate, take a closer look at the data.
Source:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1918864,00.html?iid=digg_share
Chris Broughton, the man who brought an assault rifle and a handgun to the Obama event last week, attended a fiery anti-Obama sermon the day before the event, in which Pastor Steven Anderson said he was going to "pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell", Anderson confirmed to TPMmuckraker today." The sermon was titled "Why I Hate Barack Obama".
The same skewed thinking that supports a Saddam-9/11 link explains the power of health-care myths.
Argentina's supreme court rules that it is unconstitutional for the government to punish people for the personal use of marijuana.
After three years of declines, U.S. home prices showed tentative signs of an upturn in the second quarter of the year, according to an authoritative report released Tuesday.
Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/08/26/MNKJ19DIPA.DTL
Our happy hour fact to confuse the drunks in the pub.
Men with genial personalities make an average of 2.400 a year less...
Source:
http://www.asylum.co.uk/2009/08/25/nice-guys-get-paid-less/
Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's Gang of Six, told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/26/mike-enzi-gang-of-six-rep_n_269447.html
One of the heroes invoked by torture-lovers had nothing but contempt for their views.
Source:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/25/king/index.html
Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, well known as part of his family's political dynasty, spent more than four decades in the Senate, where he championed health care, education and labor.
Here, a look back at his life.
Source:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112007457
Let's get one thing straight: Fidel Castro doesn't think Barack Obama is the great socialist hope for America.
In fact he wrote, "Obama was born, educated, made policy, and succeeded in the imperial capitalist system of the United States. He doesn't wish to or would change the system". See, Obama isn't a socialist. You heard it from Mr. Socialist.
Source:
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/08/castro_people_only_think_obama.php
As The Times' Dawn C.
Chmielewski reported Friday, emissaries of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. recently approached the owners of this newspaper, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Hearst Corp. about joining a consortium that would charge for online news content.
Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten22-2009aug22,0,6637557.column
Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, said today he has not only temporarily halted buying ads on the Glenn Beck Show but also on the Fox News Channel altogether as reported by AP Television writer David Bauder
The Report highlights how depraved were the interrogation practices - and how unjust it is to immunize U.S. leaders.
Source:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/24/ig_report/index.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday ruled against an effort by the U.S.
Federal Reserve to block disclosure of companies that participated in and securities covered by a series of emergency
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE57O03P20090825
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is interviewed by Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray using questions submitted and voted on by the Digg community in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.
". . .
The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended that Attorney General Eric Holder reopen and pursue a host of CIA prisoner-abuse cases . . . The recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Holder, the official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on grounds of anonymity . . ."
Source:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOTk5mUIVTPTRGU5hoR5JJrr38BAD9A97E301
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) acknowledged on Sunday that the claims he made two weeks ago -- that Democratic health care legislation would allow the government to "pull the plug on grandma" -- did not reflect the language of the bills.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/23/grassley-reverses-course_n_266432.html
Betsy McCaughey, the healthcare reform opponent who helped tank the Clinton administration's plans and has been spreading misinformation about the current proposals, has resigned from the board of directors of a medical equipment company.
Source:
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/21/mccaughey/
Chicago politics has always been a contact sport.
But even congressional tough guy Dan Rostenkowski, the Windy City pol who ruled the powerful House Ways and Means Committee for years, didn't know what hit him two decades ago, when irate senior citizens descended upon his car after a town hall meeting to discuss a law that made some of the biggest
Source:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2009/08/golden_oldie_seniors_protest_h.html
Tony Blair has been accused of agreeing a 'blood money' deal involving the Lockerbie bomber with Colonel Gaddafi just hours before BP unveiled a 500million oil contract. The pair thrashed out a controversial prisoner transfer deal just before BP chairman Peter Sutherland announced the firm was investing $900million to search for oil in Libya.
Mexico enacted a controversial law Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging free government treatment for drug dependency.
Wendell Potter was former head of corporate communications at Cigna.
He divulges the corporate bureaucrats roles in misleading the public and the profit incentive to deny care to people who are enrolled in their plans. "... you will be paid a particular bonus if you deny X number of claims; its known, and its part of the culture."
Source:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=14332
The Obama administration will trim its budget deficit forecast for fiscal 2009 to $1.58 trillion, after scrapping money earmarked for bailing out more banks, officials said on Wednesday.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090820/bs_nm/us_economy_usa_deficit
Warren Buffet a highly influential American has finally hit the panic button, saying that we are going to be crushed under a mountain of debt taking inot consideration the amount of debt the country is piling up.
Source:
http://www.fortunewatch.com/warren-buffet-america-has-hit-the-panic-button/
Scotland's government freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds Thursday, allowing him to die at home in Libya despite American protests that mercy should not be shown to the man responsible for the deaths of 270 people.
The agency hired contractors from Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to officials.
It's not only The View and The Today Show that are going crazy for sexy texting"China's threatening a crackdown on people sending seductive messages to each other as well.
Source:
http://gizmodo.com/5335062/china-threatens-jail-time-for-sexy-texting
A barrage of mortar attacks hit the green zone in the capital Baghdad.
Green Zone is a four square mile area is also the most protected, fortified and the safest area in Baghdad. The green zone has many of the important buildings in the city which also includes top government offices, government ministries and many Embassies.
Source:
http://www.dailynewsjunction.com/2009/08/more-then-60-killed-in-over-5-blasts-in-baghdad/
The capitulation of Yale University Press to threats that hadn't even been made yet is the latest and perhaps the worst episode in the steady surrender to religious extremism, particularly Muslim religious extremism, that is spreading across our culture.
Queues formed at the machine as the mistake became evident on 13 August.
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8207444.stm
Terrorist cells in Baghdad are in mourning for suicide bomber Ahmed al-Khalaf, 19, who was killed by a car bomb Monday, 200 yards from an Iraqi police station, his intended target.
Source:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/suicide_bomber_killed_en_route_by
Ernest Hancock, who had a 9 mm pistol & was with an assault rifle-wielding cohort at the Obama event in Arizona yesterday, was a vocal supporter and friend of right-wing anti-government militia members who were convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges in the 90s.
The Viper Militia was charged with plotting to blow up federal buildings in 1996.
Source:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/ernest_hancock_viper_militia_gun_obama_event.php
At a Barney Frank town hall meeting in Dartmouth, MA, a constituent asks, "Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?"Frank responds: "On what p...
Very few things happen in Washington that are in the public's interest when corporations have huge financial stakes in the game, as they obviously do with health care " unless the public is actively involved, engaged and organized, Reich wrote. Be very loud.
Be very vocal. Make a racket. Get others to do the same. Make a hell of a fuss.
Thats the word this morning from spokesperson Sue Mallino, who confirmed to Media Matters that it pulled its ads off the Fox News program.
Mallino would not comment on whether the move was made in response to Beck's claim that Obama is a "racist" an allegation that sparked a campaign by ColorofChange.org to get advertisers to stop supporting Beck.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/17/gmac-financial-services-c_n_261148.html
On today's "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan" on MSNBC, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said that even if the committee's final version of a health insurance reform bill gives him everything he says he wants, he will vote against it.
In a YouTube video, the man who carried a semi-automatic assault rifle outside yesterday's presidential event tells fellow demonstrators "We will forcefully resist people imposing their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote."
From CNN: Multiple People Carry Assault Weapons/Pistol To President Obama's VFW Event In Phoenix, Arizona - 08/17/09
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities announced what they believed to be the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted on Monday in a scheme in which more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen.
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57G4GC20090817
By George Chen, Asia Private Equity Correspondent HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, which made big paper losses on stakes in Morgan Stanley and Blackstone, is set to invest up to $2 billion in U.S. mortgages as it...
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57G0T020090817?rpc=64
The war on drugs leads to unregulated, and often violent, public drug dealing.
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081601758.html?referrer=digg
Rep.
Michelle Bachman says she will run for president if God calls her to do so, and reminisces about the afternoon when God instructed her to run for the House of Representatives.
The Ticket identifies the student who made the now famous image of Obama as the Batman's Joker.
Source:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/08/obama-joker-artist.html
Birthers, anti-tax tea-partiers, town hall hecklers; these are "either" the genuine grass roots or evil conspirators staging scenes? If you don't understand that any moment of genuine political change always produces both, you can't understand America, where the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy & elites exploit the crazy
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081401495.html?referrer=digg
The Charles Manson follower convicted of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford has been released after more than three decades behind bars.
If anyone defined the word "crazy" this one did.
Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32416452/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
The air traffic controller on duty during the midair crash of a helicopter and an airplane Saturday was distracted and talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone when the accident occurred, and his supervisor had left the tower, reports show.
Even as more Americans find themselves unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, new analysis shows chief executives at some of the nation's best-known companies are hauling in the dough.
Source:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/14/ceo-salaries-pay-no-heed-to-recession/
Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez.
The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/income-inequality-is-at-a_n_259516.html
On World Population Day this year India's new health and welfare minister came out with an idea on how to tackle the population issue: Bring electricity to every Indian village so that people would watch television until late at night and therefore be too tired to make babies.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/13/sex.or.tv/index.html
Technical support issued a warning to congressional staff that the site may be slow or unresponsive because of the large volume of e-mail being sent to members.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090813/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_web_sites
Two Russian attack submarines are considered to have failed their secret mission in international waters after being detected by the United States and Canada, a report said on Thursday.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090813/wl_canada_afp/russiauscanadamilitarysubmarines
CLERMONT, Fla. -- A vocal and graphic Internet campaign attacking President Barack Obama just hit Central Florida and one of its first targets was a U.S.
Post Office. The poster campaign is a national one, and known talk-radio and Internet personality Alex Jones is pushing people to post and videotape the signs in a stand against Obama.
They are falling like dominos.
Source:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/13/766166/-STATE-FARM-PULLS-GLENN-BECK-SUPPORT!!!!
He may be presiding over two wars and facing a terror threat at home and abroad, but you'd hardly know it from listening to President Barack Obama speak.
Obama has uttered more than a half-million words in public since taking office Jan. 20, and an analysis of nearly every word in this vast public record shows that domestic topics dominate.
Just before midnight, a "note" was posted on Sarah Palin's Facebook page titled, "Concerning the "Death Panels." Predictably, the media latched onto it and reported her thoughts.
However, there's a problem: there's no way in hell Sarah Palin wrote it.
Source:
http://gawker.com/5336475/theres-just-no-way-that-sarah-palins-writing-her-facebook-notes
A far-right religious group called the Liberty Council appears to be behind much of the misinformation on euthanasia and health care reform.
Stephen Hawking, always British, did not die at the hands of "socialized medicine" as the GOP said he would have. "I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the NHS.
I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
Source:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/hawking-ironically-my-death-panel-saved-my-life.php
Stephen Hawking, always British, did not die at the hands of "socialized medicine" as the GOP said he would have. "I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the NHS.
I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived."
Source:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/hawking-ironically-my-death-panel-saved-my-life.php
Before the spin starts to take hold on the consciousness of Americans, it is important to review what has happened recently at these town hall meetings to discuss potential health care reform in America. Right wing groups that have previously been throwing Tea Parties received astroturfing instructions from FreedomWorks ...
Source:
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/08/12/mobs-intimidation-and-deceit-at-town-halls/
Feel like your company has been particularly stingy on the raises this year? You're not imagining it.
Source:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1915812,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
A cargo ship may have travelled through the English Channel after being hijacked by pirates, coastguards say.
Web site ColorofChange.org, reacting to a long line of racist comments about President Barack Obama, has managed thus far to knock loose from Beck's fold Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, Progressive, S.C.
Johnson, Geico and, just this morning, Sargento.
Source:
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/08/more-advertisers-pull-support-for-glenn-beck/
One of the things that is so pathetic about the demagoguery of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck is that their understanding of history is so puerile that in any civilized debate they would be laughed off the stage.
Source:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/11/dont_know_much_about_history_1/
"As of August 4, GEICO no longer runs any paid advertising spots during Mr.
Beck's program."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-rucker/geico-pulls-its-ads-from_b_256724.html
China has leveled new allegations in the arrest of employees of one of the world's largest mining companies, saying Rio Tinto overcharged Chinese steel mills by $100 billion over six years.
Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/10/china.riotinto/index.html
It took an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to convince Best Buy to replace Bryan's Panasonic LiFi LCD Projection TV after it ate through four lamps.
Bryan had purchased Best Buy's extended warranty, which contains a no lemon clause that promises a replacement after three failed repairs.
Source:
http://consumerist.com/5334380/eecb-forces-best-buy-to-finally-replace-defective-tv
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade bolstered on Monday Sarah Palins claim that health care reform would establish death panels to determine who deserves care and who deserves euthanasia.
Kilmeades assertion came during a discussion about an op-ed article written for USA Today by House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
Source:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/10/fox-host-pushes-false-death-panel-claim/
Geronimo was a beautiful painted quarter horse. "He was a type of horse that he got along with everybody," says owner Ivonne Rodriguez.
She had Geronimo for five years -- until his slaughtered carcass was found under a tree.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/10/horses.slaughtered/index.html
MSNBC just aired footage of the crowd at the Obama town hall meeting on health care that's supposed to start later today in New Hampshire and pointed out one man in a group holding protest signs with a gun in a holster on his hip.
Whatever the concealed carry laws in New Hampshire, you have to figure guns are not allowed at a presidential event.
Source:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/armed_and_dangerous.php
A military court in Myanmar today declared pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest and extended her sentence by a year and a half -- well past the date for national elections scheduled for 2010.
Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-suu-kyi12-2009aug12,0,5260250.story
The worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression will probably end in the third quarter, but uncertainty exists over the speed and duration of the economic recovery, according to the most recent survey of private economists.
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5792C820090810
Former House Speaker Next Gingrich defended the bizarre/untrue claim by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that the president's health care plan would result in a "death panel" that could kill her Down Syndrome son.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/09/gingrich-defends-palins-o_n_254926.html
Kavita Patel, who works with Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and who worked for years before as a physician, debunks the myth that reform will mean a "government takeover" of health care or lead to "rationing." To the contrary, reform will forbid many forms of rationing that are currently being used by insurance companies.
In the past year oil has traded above $120 per barrel and below $50 per barrel, generating plenty of buzz (even within government agencies like the Commodities Futures Trading Commission) about oil speculators and their mysterious ways of making mounds of money.
Source:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1915359,00.html?iid=digg_share
In July Tesla sold a record number of Tesla Roadsters, and perhaps more importantly, it netted $1 million on $20 million of gross income.
Source:
http://blogs.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1034027_tesla-turns-a-corner---and-a-profit
Talking Points Memo reports that a health care protester in New Mexico has been encouraging those following him on Twitter to bring their guns to town hall meetings " and use them against ACORN and SEIU if provoked.
SEIU, in particular, appears the to be latest boogeyman for the anti-health care protesters.
In a new posting on her Facebook account, former Gov.
Sarah Palin (R-AK) made a dire statement about health care reform -- that it could result in an Obama-created "death panel" killing her infant son with Down Syndrom.
In shocking new charges, quoted by MSNBCs Keith Olbermann on Thursday, two former Blackwater employees claim that Blackwater was guilty of providing Iraqi child prostitutes to the men at its compound in Baghdads fortified Green Zone and that owner Erik Prince knew of this activity and did nothing to stop it.
Source:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/07/blackwater-provided-child-prostitutes/
Apparently if you disagree with the President you should silence yourself.
Source:
http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-dont-want-the-folks-who-created-the-mess-to-do-a-lot-of-talking/
The guy with the annoying voice who led a crusade against evolution has lost his job with the Grey Lady after taking a job advertising for a financial services company. Apparently, Ben Stein's decision to become a pitchman for freescore.com, a dubious financial services firm, finally put his employer over the edge.
Source:
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/08/ben-stein-fired-by-new-york-times/
A Russian activist blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and Google's Blogger and YouTube was targeted in a denial of service attack that led to the site-wide outage at Twitter and problems at the other sites on Thursday, according to a Facebook executive.
A CNN anchor today tore down Rick Scott, the founder of an organization that's been funding anti-health care reform protests and the former CEO of a hospital company that paid $1.7 billion to settle charges of overcharging Medicare and Medicaid.
New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country.
Before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove this, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html
Here's a fun example of astroturfing in its purest form: A woman attending a town hall event for Rep.
Steve Kagen (D-WI), and--while loudly raising objections to the Democrats' health care reform proposal--insisting she's just a regular concerned citizen. Except, she's actually a GOP official.
Source:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/grassroots-protester-actually-gop-official.php
Three companies who run ads during Glenn Beck -- NexisLexis-owned Lawyers.com, Proctor & Gamble and Progressive Insurance -- today distanced themselves from Beck.
LexisNexis has pulled its advertising from Beck and says it has no plans to advertise on the program in the future.
Iraq is considering blocking websites deemed pornographic or that incite violence or crime, triggering fears of a return to Saddam Hussein-style state censorship and government propaganda.
A U.S. senator has rejected a plan by the State Department to issue a report affirming Mexico is respecting human rights in its war against drug traffickers, which could delay release of millions of dollars in U.S....
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE57420Y20090805?rpc=64
Holidaymakers have been told to keep away from beaches in northern France covered in seaweed after doctors gave warning that it could give off lethal fumes when it rots.
The incident was in Brittany, where green seaweed is spreading across the regions beaches as nitrates pollute the water supply as a result of intensive agriculture.
Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6740746.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2015164
A Republican senator is calling for the White House to suspend a new project that asks members of the public to flag fishy claims about President Obama's health care plans, arguing that it raises privacy concerns and will serve to chill free speech.
Source:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/08/gop-senator-white-house-encroaching-on-first-amendment.html
Sportswear giant Adidas reports a fall in profits as consumers buy less sportswear during the economic downturn.
Maybe BMW should try selling ketchup or mayonnaise.
It's not as ridiculous as it sounds: according to an upcoming study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, recession-wracked shoppers are eager to embrace luxury brand names over a wide range of product categories.
Source:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1914011,00.html
Rupert Murdochs sprawling media empire reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $203 million, compared to a profit of $1.1 billion last year.
In reaction to the news, Murdoch said that all News Corp sites will be charging for content by 2010.
Source:
http://www.thewrap.com/article/news-corp-reports-34-billion-net-loss_4881
To the surprise of few outside the rarefied world of the Religious Right, it has emerged that George W Bushs abstinence only policies led directly to a rise in teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC says southern states (the Bible Belt) tend to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.
Source:
http://www.secularism.org.uk/the-truth-at-last-abstinence-onl.html
A JUDGE can tell prospective jurors that in a criminal trial, unlike an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, scientific evidence is not necessary to secure a conviction, an appeals court in Baltimore ruled on July 7th.
Source:
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14140222&source=hptextfeature
Nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines have been patrolling off the U.S. over recent days in a rare mission that has raised concerns at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/world/05patrol.html
Keith Olbermann harshly criticized members of Congress in a "Special Comment" tonight for paying more attention to the needs of the health care industry, who donate large sums of money to their campaigns, than to their constituents, who would benefit greatly from health care reform.
Olbermann titled the segment "legislators for sale".
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/03/olbermann-slams-members-o_n_250580.html
A mysterious 'alien like' creature horrified holidaymakers after it washed up on Gower Beach in Wales.
The writhing mass of tentacles, which measured 3ft from end to end, was described by a zoology expert today as 'like something out of Doctor Who'.
Two American TV journalists held in North Korea for more than four months and sentenced to a decade of hard labor are free after ex-President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to Pyongyang and appealed their case to the rogue states reclusive leader Kim Jong Il.
If there's one good thing that can come out of a recession it's that most things become more affordable.
During the course correction, there are definitely some bargains to be had and sometimes increasing your bottom line can be as simple as changing your zip code. We've used the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
US President Barack Obama is the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day and is being protected by an increasingly over-stretched and under-resourced Secret Service, according to a new book.
The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.
To get the economy back on track, will Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95% of Americans? In a This Week exclusive, Tim Geithner told me, We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically, Geithner told me.
And thats going to require some very hard choices.
Source:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/08/geithner-wont-rule-out-new-taxes-for-middle-class.html
A Sudanese journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing "indecent" trousers vowed on the eve of her judgment that she is ready to be whipped 40,000 times in her bid to change the country's harsh laws.
Source:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/lubna-ready-for-40000-lashes-to-change-harsh-law-20090803-e6l9.html
Long after President Barack Obama's first term ends in 2013, millions of U.S. families will still be paying the price for the recession. From auto workers in Detroit too old for retraining, to Hispanic...
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5720J120090803?rpc=64
A new poster depicting President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight has appeared in Los Angeles, according to rightwing sources.
Blog posters to such online sites as American Thinker and Tammy Bruce are predictably in the throes of political orgasm.
Source:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/politics/new-anti-obama-joker-poster/
Three Americans were backpackers and a Kurdish official had warned them not to hike in the mountains because of the proximity of the Iranian border.
Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/01/iran.americans.detained/index.html
They are stepping forward " from Dallas and Denver, Portland, Las Vegas, Montana " talking about what happened, to them and their friends, during their years in the Church of Scientology.
Source:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/article1023717.ece
He's become a publicity nightmare for CNN, embarrassed his boss and hosted a show that seemed to contradict the network's no bias brand.
And on top of all that, his ratings are slipping.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/02/lou-dobbs-a-publicity-nig_n_249466.html
Major David Frakt gave a blistering argument, a virtual indictment of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gonzales for enabling war crimes in his request for pretrial dismissal in the case of United States v Mohammed Jawad, the 12 year old child that was tortured by the United States then held in Gitmo indefinitely.
The Court has now ordered the release of Jawad.
Opposition political activists and protesters stood trial in Tehran Saturday on charges of rioting and conspiring against the ruling system in the country's first trial following the disputed presidential election, Iran's state media reported.
The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2009-08-01-iraq-coalition_N.htm
The main terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport was evacuated Saturday morning, stranding hundreds of passengers, after a man entered the building with a fake bomb in a bag, police said.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_re_us/us_laguardia_evacuation
Since the press wasn't allowed within 40 feet of the great Beer Summit of 2009 it is up to Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac to show us what happens when a white man and a black man sit down to share a beer.
Earlier this year, Halliburton agreed to pay nearly $560 million in fines to the federal government to end an investigation into its former subsidiary, KBR, and its involvement in bribing Nigerian officials to get construction contracts.
It was reportedly the largest fine ever paid by a U.S. company in a foreign bribery investigation.
Source:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/07/hailluburton_corruption_the_gi.php
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday ramped up her criticism of insurance companies, accusing them of unethical behavior and working to kill a plan to create a new government-run health plan. ''It's...
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56T4CZ20090730?rpc=64
