News
Goldman Plays, We Pay
The story of the financial debacle will end the way it began, with the super-hustlers from Goldman Sachs at the center of the action and profiting wildly. Never in U.S. history has one company wielded such destructive power over our political economy, irrespective of whether a Republican or a Democrat happened to be president.
HAITI EARTHQUAKE LIVE BLOG: Who to Follow and What to Read for Breaking Developments
Here is the link to Thursday's live blog. Please check the page regularly for updates.
7:45am PDT: The BBC has a disturbing first hand video report from a hospital in Port-au-Prince where, last night, injured people waiting for treatment slept amongst dead bodies.
Eugene Robinson | Our Quick-Fix Electorate
Washington - According to polls, Americans are in a mood to hold their breath until they turn blue. Voters appear to be so fed up with the Democrats that they're ready to toss them out in favor of the Republicans -- for whom, according to those same polls, the nation has even greater contempt. This isn't an "electoral wave," it's a temper tantrum.
Enbridge Announces New Athabasca Oilsands Pipeline Expansion
Enbridge Inc. will be investing $185 million to expand its Athabasca oilsands pipeline in time to accommodate new volumes from Cenovus Energy's Christina Lake project, the pipeline giant said.
The announcement Thursday was the second in less than a week about projects in the northeast corner of Alberta.
The newest expansion will boost capacity of the Athabasca pipeline to 430,000 barrels per day when it comes online by the fall of 2013, Enbridge said.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform Explodes, Fueling Debate Over Offshore Drilling
An explosion Thursday on a Gulf of Mexico oil platform thrust the politics of offshore drilling back in the spotlight, as critics immediately seized on the accident to highlight what they called the industry's inherent dangers.
The explosion and fire happened Thursday morning at a production platform at Vermilion Block 380, about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, according to its owner, Houston-based Mariner Energy, Inc.
Israel Invited to Join Anti-Nuclear Pact
VIENNA - The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has invited Israel to consider joining a global anti-nuclear arms pact and to place all its atomic facilities under his agency's inspections, an IAEA report said on Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said Director General Yukiya Amano met with Israeli leaders during a visit to Israel last month to discuss an Arab-led push for the Jewish state to accede to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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The Clothesline Project
This local Clothesline Project, the 19th annual exhibition of this project in Portland Oregon, was exhibited on August 26th, the 90th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.
Some of the victims were as young as 4 years old; other shirts said 10 years of age, and 12 years of age.
Some referred to sexual abuse and rape by family members. Another stated, "the only time I was ever accepted was when they could touch my body."
Another, "October 1, today I want to kill my dad."
Oil Slick Reported at Burning Platform in the Gulf
Update 8:24 am Eastern, Friday:
After initial reports of an oil sheen spreading from the site of the burning Mariner Energy oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, crews have been unable to find any further evidence of a leak, according to the Associated Press.
Update 4:48 pm Eastern:
Big Oil Rallies to Save Big Oil
The organizer of the Rally for Jobs events, The American Petroleum Institute (API), with help from other industry groups including the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association and the International Association of Drilling Contractors.
Billion Dollar Audit Missed by Pentagon Watchdog
Washington - Military auditors failed to complete an audit of the business systems of an Ohio- based company - Mission Essential Personnel - even though it had billed for one billion dollars worth of work largely in Afghanistan over the last four years.
In September 2007 the U.S. Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) awarded Mission Essential Personnel (MEP) a five-year-contract worth up to 414 million dollars to provide 1,691 translators in Afghanistan. MEP was a start-up company created by three men, including Chad Monnin, a U.S. Army Special Forces reservist who was injured in a parachute accident.
German Military Report: Peak Oil Could Lead to Collapse of Democracy
Peak oil has happened or will happen some time around this year, and its consequences could threaten the continued survival of democratic governments, says a secret Germany military report that was leaked online.
According to Der Spiegel, the report from a think-tank inside the German military warns that shrinking global oil supplies will threaten the world's economic foundations and possibly lead to mass-scale upheaval within the next 15 to 30 years.
Beck's "Apolitical" Black Robe Regiment Will Urge Voter Involvement
Glenn Beck's newly created Black Robe Regiment -- which he has said would be apolitical -- apparently has a clear political direction, according to two of its members.
Dr. Richard Lee of the First Redeemer Church in Atlanta, Ga., and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, both said part of the group's mission is to return to their places of worship and boost voter involvement.
US-Venezuela Links Teeter on the Brink, Dragging a Prudent Foreign Policy With It
Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, Caracas has maintained a testy relationship with the United States, a nation which Chávez views as the primary threat to his dream of reproducing the Bolivarian Revolution. Although the U.S. and Venezuela experienced a very brief honeymoon once President Barack Obama assumed office, the two countries’ relationship has quickly begun to sour. Responding in kind, Chávez has vamped up his anti-imperialist rhetoric in recent months, repeatedly taking stabs at the U.S.
EPA Results Show Contaminated Water in Wyoming Fracking Zone
Government scientists have found that private water walls in Pavillion, Wyo. are polluted with toxic chemicals used in the controversial gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — and residents have been told not to drink from them.
The findings offer the latest evidence that the fast-spreading gas-extraction method could be endangering public health.
The Human Cost of Government Waste and Fraud
There is something missing in the constant political argument about the size of the federal government. Most of the American public want federal programs when needed for disasters, national defense, medical research and the Medicare and Social Security safety net. What the public has said in many polls is that they want not big or smaller government, but effective government. And there is a whole group of good government groups in Washington that work diligently on exposing government fraud and waste and trying to fix it.
One of these organizations, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), has been exposing fraud and waste for almost 30 years.
Lost in Stagnation: Japan's Dismal Tale
Japan’s lost decades may have changed its society for the worse.
Twenty years of struggling with stagnation have left a mark, reports economics writer Charles Hugh Smith in an online article for AOL Daily Finance. He argues that the “consequences for the ‘lost generations’ that have come of age in the ‘lost decades’ have been dire.”
“In many ways, Japan’s social conventions are fraying under the relentless pressure of an economy in seemingly permanent decline,”
Defense Contractor Money Fueling Push to Militarize the US-Mexico Border
After months of prodding from anti-immigration politicians, the entire US-Mexico border is now being watched by the Predator B unmanned surveillance aircraft commonly known as Predator drones. The news may comfort residents of border states where the details of Mexico's brutal drug war continue to make headlines, but here's some more comforting news: violent crime in US border states has decreased during the past decade, and some big border cities are the safest in the nation.
Trying to Be Hopeful About Peace
A few years back when Washington was preparing for the then highly- touted Annapolis Peace Conference, I remember commenting that I was "hopeful, but not optimistic." As we approach the latest incarnation of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, I'm even finding it difficult to be hopeful, though I will continue try to be supportive recognizing, as I do, the consequences of failure.
Convening these talks at this time is certainly a gutsy move for President Barack Obama.
Robert Naiman | Iraq/Afghanistan: A Promise Kept, a Promise Deferred
President Obama wants credit for keeping his promise to end the war in Iraq. Some credit is due: the president reaffirmed his commitment to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by the end of 2011, as required by the agreement between the US and Iraq. But only partial credit is due, because the war-ending task is very far from complete.
Feds Sue Ariz. Sheriff Arpaio, Call His Defiance 'Unprecedented'
PHOENIX - The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.