Tag: Docudharma Times

Report: Bush-era surveillance went beyond wiretaps

A government report raises new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice officials in the dark about the post-Sept. 11 program.

By Josh Meyer

July 11, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing additional secretive activities that created “unprecedented” spying powers.

The report also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program.

In a move that it described as “extraordinary and inappropriate,” the report said the White House relied on a single, lower-level attorney in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel for assessments about the programs’ legality.

The attorney, John Yoo, a young George W. Bush appointee with close ties to the president’s inner circle, wrote a series of memos legally blessing the program even though his superiors and most top officials were uninformed about it.

Death Toll Debated In China’s Rioting

Officially, 184 People Died on Sunday

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, July 11, 2009

URUMQI, China — The Yu siblings could hardly bear to look at the police snapshots of the dead — the images so full of anger and cruelty. So they took turns sifting through them in search of their brother, who had been missing since ethnically charged riots shook this city in far western China on Sunday.

Yu Xinqing was the one who found him, victim No. 46.

Yu’s elder brother, Yu Xinping, had been finishing his shift when a protest by Muslim Uighurs turned violent and some went on a rampage, attacking Han Chinese in the city. His body was mangled from multiple knife wounds and was badly burned.

USA

Leaders in House Seek to Tax Rich for Health Plan



By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: July 10, 2009

WASHINGTON – House Democrats will ask the wealthiest Americans to help pay for overhauling the health care system with a $550 billion income tax increase, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee said Friday.

The proposal calls for a surtax on individuals earning at least $280,000 in adjusted gross income and couples earning more than $350,000, said the chairman, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York.

It would generate about $550 billion over 10 years to pay about half the cost of the legislation, Mr. Rangel said. As the proposal envisions it, the rest of the cost would be covered by lower spending on Medicare, the government health plan for the elderly, and other health care savings.

AIG Seeks Clearance For More Bonuses

$2.4 Million in Executive Payments Due Next Week

By Brady Dennis and David Cho

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, July 10, 2009

American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

The troubled insurance giant has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

The request puts the administration’s new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.

China Bans Mosque Prayers Amid Strife



By EDWARD WONG and ANDREW JACOBS

Published: July 10, 2009

URUMQI, China – Chinese authorities banned prayer gatherings at mosques here on Friday, the principal day of prayer for Muslims, as security officials tried to prevent further ethnic violence in the Xinjiang region.But officials appeared to partially relax the ban on Friday afternoon, allowing shortened prayer services after hundreds of Uighur worshippers gathered outside at least two of Urumqi’s main mosques, news agencies reported.

Meanwhile, in another large Xinjiang city, the ancient Silk Road oasis town of Kashgar, foreign journalists and other visitors were instructed to leave.

USA

Pool accused of turning away minority kids

Swim club denies any wrongdoing in statement on Web site

msnbc.com news services

HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. – In a statement posted on its Web site Thursday afternoon, a swim club said accusations that it discriminated against a day camp for minority children were untrue.

The Valley Club doesn’t have the capacity to deal with outside groups and returned money to more than one day camp, the club said.

Alethea Wright, director of Creative Steps, a summer camp for minority children, said the organization paid for weekly swim time at the pool. But during a trip there June 29 some of the children said they heard people asking what “black kids” were doing at the club, Wright said.

Cities Lose Out on Road Funds From Federal Stimulus



By MICHAEL COOPER and GRIFF PALMER

Published: July 8, 2009

Two-thirds of the country lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges. But cities and their surrounding regions are getting far less than two-thirds of federal transportation stimulus money.

According to an analysis by The New York Times of 5,274 transportation projects approved so far – the most complete look yet at how states plan to spend their stimulus money – the 100 largest metropolitan areas are getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money. In many cases, they have lost a tug of war with state lawmakers that urban advocates say could hurt the nation’s economic engines.

Mexico accused of torture in drug war

Army using brutality to fight trafficking, rights groups say

By Steve Fainaru and William Booth

PUERTO LAS OLLAS, Mexico – The Mexican army has carried out forced disappearances, acts of torture and illegal raids in pursuit of drug traffickers, according to documents and interviews with victims, their families, political leaders and human rights monitors.

From the violent border cities where drugs are brought into the United States to the remote highland regions where poppies and marijuana are harvested, residents and human rights groups describe an increasingly brutal war in which the government, led by the army, is using harsh measures to battle the cartels that continue to terrorize much of the country.

In Puerto Las Ollas, a mountain village of 50 people in the southern state of Guerrero, residents recounted how soldiers seeking information last month stuck needles under the fingernails of a disabled 37-year-old farmer, jabbed a knife into the back of his 13-year-old nephew, fired on a pastor, and stole food, milk, clothing and medication.

USA

In fundamental shift, consumers are saving rather than spending

The belt-tightening is almost certain to have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, in which about 70% of gross domestic product comes from personal consumption.

By Don Lee

July 9, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The continuing decline in consumers’ use of charge cards and other forms of credit reflects an underlying weakness in the U.S. economy that most of the government’s recovery plans fail to attack head-on. And it suggests a fundamental shift in the way Americans save and spend that is likely to act as a drag on the economy for at least several years.

Beset by rising unemployment, declining wages and persistent credit-tightening by banks, consumers are pulling back. Although some economists welcome the trend after years of open-handed spending, the belt-tightening is almost certain to have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, in which about 70% of gross domestic product comes from personal consumption.

New Protests in Western China After Deadly Clashes



By EDWARD WONG

Published: July 7, 2009

URUMQI, China – For a second successive day, rival protesters took to the streets here on Tuesday, defying Chinese government efforts to lock down this regional capital of 2.3 million people and other cities across its western desert region after bloody clashes between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

The fighting, which erupted Sunday evening, left at least 156 people dead and more than 1,000 injured, according to the state news agency.

Police fired tear gas on Tuesday at Han Chinese protesters armed with clubs, lead pipes, shovels and hoes, news reports said. Earlier, in an attempt to contain China’s worst ethnic violence in decades, the authorities imposed curfews, cut off cellphone and Internet services and sent armed police officers into neighborhoods.

7 U.S. troops in Afghanistan are killed

The daily death toll is the highest in months. Observers warn that Americans need to brace themselves for mounting casualties in the conflict as more U.S. troops enter it.

By Laura King and Julian E. Barnes

July 7, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Washington — As U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffered the largest one-day death toll in months Monday, military officials and experts warned Americans to brace for rising casualties as thousands of additional service members pour into the country to confront a resurgent Taliban.

So far this year, 95 American troops have died in Afghanistan, including seven on Monday, according to the independent website icasualties.org. At the current rate, 2009 would be the deadliest for the U.S. in more than seven years of fighting, surpassing the number killed last year, the military said.

Part of this is due to the Obama administration’s decision to scale back operations in Iraq to refocus on Afghanistan, and the military is in the process of sending 21,000 additional troops into the country. Officers insist that the new strategy will work — and indeed is already showing signs of promise. But, they cautioned, the arrival of more troops means more fighting and more U.S. deaths, at least in the short term.

USA

Hospitals Reach Deal With Administration

$155 Billion in Health Savings Offered

By Ceci Connolly and Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

The nation’s hospitals agreed last night to contribute $155 billion over 10 years toward the cost of insuring the 47 million Americans without health coverage, according to two industry sources.

The agreement that three hospital associations reached with White House officials and leaders of the Senate Finance Committee is the latest in a series of side deals that aim to reduce the cost of revamping the nation’s health-care system and to neutralize influential industries that have historically opposed such reforms.

Familiar Players in Health Bill Lobbying

Firms Are Enlisting Ex-Lawmakers, Aides

By Dan Eggen and Kimberly Kindy

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, July 6, 2009

The nation’s largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.The tactic is so widespread that three of every four major health-care firms have at least one former insider on their lobbying payrolls, according to The Washington Post’s analysis.

Nearly half of the insiders previously worked for the key committees and lawmakers, including  Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and  Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), debating whether to adopt a public insurance option opposed by major industry groups.

 Scores Killed in Clashes in Western China



By EDWARD WONG

Published: July 6, 2009

BEIJING – The Chinese state news agency reported Monday that at least 140 people were killed and 816 injured when rioters clashed with the police in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

The casualty toll, if confirmed, would make this the deadliest outbreak of violence in China in many years.

The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot.

USA

Judge approves plan to sell G.M.’s assets

Sale to new, government-backed company part of bankruptcy proceedings

By Michael J. de la Merced

A federal judge late on Sunday approved a plan by General Motors to sell its best assets to a new, government-backed company, a crucial step for the automaker to restructure and complete its trip through bankruptcy court.

The decision by the judge, Robert E. Gerber, of Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, came after three days of hearings to address the 850 objections to the restructuring plan and after he received a revised sale order from G.M.’s lawyers.

In his 95-page opinion, Judge Gerber wrote that he agreed with G.M.’s main contention: that the asset sale was needed to preserve its business, in the face of steep losses and government financing that is slated to run out by the end of the week.

Supreme Court leaned right on many issues this term

But the divided justices began shifting from the Bush administration’s hands-off approach to business, clearing the way for more consumer lawsuits. Sotomayor could change the direction more next term.

By David G. Savage

July 5, 2009

Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court, now the lone branch of government dominated by Republican appointees, continued this year to lean to the right on matters of race, crime, the environment and campaign funding.

But the just-completed term, which began amid last fall’s collapse on Wall Street, also saw a tilt to the left and away from the George W. Bush administration’s hands-off policy toward business. Reversing the recent trend, the justices this year cleared the way for consumer-driven lawsuits against banks and the makers of drugs and cigarettes.Overall, the court remained closely divided in a year in which neither the conservative nor liberal bloc could claim major wins. Now the justices will be on recess for two months, while the Senate decides whether to approve President Obama’s first nominee to the court.

Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election



By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and NAZILA FATHI

Published: July 4, 2009

CAIRO – The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult – if not impossible.

USA

Foot-shooting season opens in Alaska

Stephen Foley reports on Sarah Palin’s announcement that she is quitting as her home state’s governor

Sunday, 5 July 2009

About the only thing political junkies were able to agree on, after Sarah Palin’s bombshell announcement that she is quitting as governor of Alaska, was that anticipation of her memoirs next year just went through the roof.

The fast-emerging view of Republican Party operatives and commentators – including some of those that have championed her national career since before the beginning – was that Palin just shot her political moose, completing one of the most spectacular flameouts in the modern era.

Some of her staunchest supporters argued that her resignation, 18 months before the end of her term, frees her to pursue a 2012 presidential bid, but they appeared to be speaking more out of hope than expectation.

HAPPY    

INDEPENDENCE DAY  

Gov. Palin Says She Will Quit, Citing Probes, Family Needs



By Philip Rucker and Eli Saslow

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Sarah Palin, the Republican Alaska governor who captivated the nation with a combative brand of folksy politics, announced her resignation yesterday in characteristic fashion: She stood on her back lawn in Wasilla, speaking into a single microphone, accompanied by friends and neighbors in baseball hats and polo shirts.

The announcement that she will step down by the end of July stunned the political establishment, fueling speculation about why she is leaving office with 18 months left in her first term and whether her future will include a run for the presidency.

Anti-Americanism plays in Russia  

President Obama is to visit Russia next week, but U.S. hopes to ‘reset’ ties with Moscow may run into the problem that being in opposition to America is a stance that serves the Kremlin.

By Megan K. Stack

July 4, 2009

Reporting from Moscow — When President Obama visits the Kremlin next week, he will face the task of trying to reset relations with a government that has built its power base and defined itself by its anti-American, neo-Cold War stance.

It’s an opportune moment for the United States to warm up a frosty relationship. Moscow could help on some of Washington’s most intransigent foreign policy troubles, including Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. But in Russia, there is scant evidence of a desire for a fresh start.Despite a reshuffle of power that installed Russian leader Vladimir Putin as prime minister and his career underling, Dmitry Medvedev, in the presidency, the Kremlin’s policies remain unchanged, including its habit of drumming up anti-American sentiment to bolster political power at home.

USA

Countrywide fraud case hinges on disclosures to investors

The SEC suit says former CEO Angelo Mozilo and other ex-executives knew of heavy risks in subprime loans. But the defense is expected to argue that those risks were well publicized.

By E. Scott Reckard

July 4, 2009

With a trail of damaging e-mails and big-money stock sales, the federal government’s fraud case against Angelo Mozilo and two other former Countrywide Financial Corp. executives appears to have plenty of ammunition.

The trio knew the mortgage lender was taking heavy risks but kept quiet about it, the civil lawsuit contends. It cites internal company e-mails in which Mozilo derided some of Countrywide’s loans as “toxic” and conceded the company was “flying blind” about certain risks it was taking.

But if there is a chink in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case, it may also lie in statements made by Mozilo and other Countrywide executives, legal experts say.

Secrets, Secrets, Secrets

Always Keeping Secrets

That’s How “Open Government”

Works!    

Purity of Federal ‘Organic’ Label Is Questioned



By Kimberly Kindy and Lyndsey Layton

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, July 3, 2009

Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.

The government’s turnaround, from prohibition to permission, came after a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and overruled her staff. That decision and others by a handful of USDA employees, along with an advisory board’s approval of a growing list of non-organic ingredients, have helped numerous companies win a coveted green-and-white “USDA Organic” seal on an array of products.

 Head Scarf Emerges as Indonesia Political Symbol



By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: July 2, 2009

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The three parties competing in Indonesia’s presidential election next week have plastered this city with campaign billboards and posters depicting, predictably, their presidential and vice presidential choices looking self-confident.

But one party, Golkar, has also put up posters of the candidates’ wives next to their husbands, posing demurely and wearing Muslim head scarves known here as jilbabs. The wives recently went on a jilbab shopping spree in one of Jakarta’s largest markets, and published a book together titled “Devout Wives of Future Leaders.”

Most polls suggest that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party will be re-elected in next Wednesday’s vote, after running a smooth campaign based on his economic policies and a popular anticorruption drive.

USA

U.S. Shifts Strategy on Illicit Work by Immigrants



By JULIA PRESTON

Published: July 2, 2009

Immigration authorities had bad news this week for American Apparel, the T-shirt maker based in downtown Los Angeles: About 1,800 of its employees appeared to be illegal immigrants not authorized to work in the United States.

But in contrast to the high-profile raids that marked the enforcement approach of the Bush administration, no federal agents with criminal warrants stormed the company’s factories and rounded up employees. Instead, the federal immigration agency sent American Apparel a written notice that it faced civil fines and would have to fire any workers confirmed to be unauthorized.

what I’m saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you

and your families to get something done

to make health care affordable,

to get universal health insurance,

to make America energy independent, to save your jobs

and create new ones.

That’s what the Democratic Party is all about.

From 2006

Now Holy Joe Is Against It

He Loves Those

Lobbyists  

Staffer at SEC Had Warned Of Madoff

Lawyer Raised Alarm, Then Was Pointed Elsewhere

By Zachary A. Goldfarb

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, July 2, 2009

An investigator at the Securities and Exchange Commission warned superiors as far back as 2004 about irregularities at Bernard L. Madoff’s financial management firm, but she was told to focus on an unrelated matter, according to agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation.

Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, sent e-mails to a supervisor, saying information provided by Madoff during her review didn’t add up and suggesting a set of questions to ask his firm, documents show. Several of these questions directly challenged Madoff activities that much later turned out to be elements of his massive fraud.

US begins major offensive against Taliban in southern Afghanistan

Military aims to clear insurgents from Helmand River valley before Afghan presidential elections on 20 August

 Associated Press

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 July 2009 02.41 BST

Thousands of US marines and hundreds of Afghan troops moved into Taliban-dominated villages in southern Afghanistan today in the first major operation under Barack Obama’s strategy to stabilise the country.

The offensive was launched shortly after 1am local time in Helmand province.

The Taliban stronghold, in the south of the country, is the world’s largest opium poppy producing area.

The goal is to clear insurgents from the Helmand River valley before the Afghan presidential elections take place on 20 August.

The offensive – called Operation Khanjar, or Strike of the Sword – was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war’s new phase, involving nearly 4,000 marines and 650 Afghan forces.

British forces led similar, but smaller, missions to clear insurgents from Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar provinces last week.

USA

Facing Deficits, Some States Cut Summer School



By SAM DILLON

Published: July 1, 2009

COCOA, Fla. – A year ago, the Brevard County Schools ran a robust summer program here, with dozens of schools bustling with teachers and some 14,000 children practicing multiplication, reading Harry Potter and studying Spanish verbs, all at no cost to parents.

But this year Florida’s budget crisis has gutted summer school. Brevard classrooms are shuttered, and students like 11-year-old Uvenka Jean-Baptiste, whose mother works in a nursing home, are spending their summer days at home, surfing television channels or loitering at a mall.

Nearly every school system in Florida has eviscerated or eliminated summer school this year, and officials are reporting sweeping cuts in states from North Carolina and Delaware to California and Washington.

 “This case sharpens our focus on Judge Sotomayor’s troubling speeches

and writings, which indicate the opposite belief:

that personal experiences

and political views should influence

a judge’s decision.”

Brought To You

By A Known Moron

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee

Despite Majority, Obama to Be Tested

Diverse Ideology Cuts Democrats’ Edge

By Shailagh Murray and Dan Balz

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

After a series of early and relatively easy victories on Capitol Hill, the White House appears certain to face a more difficult road when Congress returns to work next week.

Not content to task lawmakers with passing an ambitious agenda of record new spending, sweeping health-care reform and other major initiatives, President Obama yesterday nudged the Senate to move ahead with its version of a landmark energy bill the House passed on Friday. In recent weeks, he has also revived the idea of pursuing broad changes in immigration law.

Obama and his aides have proved adept at navigating the politics and eccentricities of the legislative branch.

In a Coup in Honduras, Ghosts of Past U.S. Policies



By HELENE COOPER and MARC LACEY

Published: June 29, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Obama on Monday strongly condemned the ouster of Honduras’s president as an illegal coup that set a “terrible precedent” for the region, as the country’s new government defied international calls to return the toppled president to power and clashed with thousands of protesters.

“We do not want to go back to a dark past,” Mr. Obama said, in which military coups override elections. “We always want to stand with democracy,” he added.

The crisis in Honduras, where members of the country’s military abruptly awakened President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday and forced him out of the country in his bedclothes, is pitting Mr. Obama against the ghosts of past American foreign policy in Latin America.

USA

GM to pull out of joint venture with Toyota at California plant

General Motors says it and Toyota can’t agree on what vehicle to build at the NUMMI plant in Fremont. The move jeopardizes the future of the last vehicle assembly plant in California.

By Ken Bensinger and Julie Strack

June 30, 2009

Reporting from Los Angeles and Fremont, Calif. — America’s auto crisis has stretched beyond the Midwest all the way to California.

The state’s last automobile plant is facing potential closure after General Motors Corp. said Monday that it would drop out of the joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp. that operates the factory and builds three vehicles there.

The troubled automaker will produce its final Pontiac Vibe at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI, by the end of August. Whether Toyota plans to keep building its Corolla sedans and Tacoma small pickups at the Fremont, Calif., plant is still being decided.

The Japanese automaker has long resisted layoffs and closures. But given the high costs of manufacturing in California, the dearth of surrounding parts suppliers and the fact that the Northern California factory is Toyota’s only unionized facility in the U.S., many experts worry that the company may follow GM’s lead and exit the Golden State.

“The fact that Iran is stable,

calm and secure, they’re upset with this,”

Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hosein Mohseni Ejei

told Iran’s Press TV.

U.S. ready to leave Iraqi cities despite violence

Many wonder if U.S.-trained forces will be able to keep areas secure

Associated Press

BAGHDAD – Death squads roamed the streets, slaughtering members of the rival Muslim sect. Bombs rocked Baghdad daily – until thousands of U.S. troops poured in two years ago, establishing neighborhood bases and taking control of the Iraqi capital and other cities.

By Tuesday, all but a small number of American soldiers will have left Baghdad and other urban areas, handing over security to Iraqi soldiers and police still largely untested as an independent fighting force.

State television has been showing a countdown clock with a fluttering Iraqi flag and the words “June 30: National Sovereignty Day.”

Iran frees five detained British embassy employees

Five of nine people detained after being accused of involvement in post-election unrest have been released, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman says

 Ian Black and Matthew Weaver

guardian.co.uk, Monday 29 June 2009 09.01 BST

Five of the nine British embassy employees accused of involvement in the post-election unrest in Iran have been released, officials in Tehran said today.

The development came as Iran announced that a partial recount of votes in this month’s disputed presidential election had begun.

“Out of nine people, five … have been released and the rest are being interrogated,” Hassan Qashqavi, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, was quoted as saying by the state-funded Press TV.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office refused to confirm the figure, saying only that “several have been released and some remain in custody”.

Yesterday, the Iranian intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi, claimed Tehran had video proof that the Iranian employees at the embassy “were distinctly present at the scene of clashes” following the 12 June election.

USA

How a Loophole Benefits GE in Bank Rescue

Industrial Giant Becomes Top Recipient in Debt-Guarantee Program

By Jeff Gerth and Brady Dennis

ProPublica and Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 29, 2009

General Electric, the world’s largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government’s key rescue programs for banks.

At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government.

The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.

Once the patients are treated, the militia removes them from the hospital to an undisclosed location, she said.

Health-Care Activists Targeting Democrats

Sniping Among Liberals May Jeopardize Votes Needed to Pass Bill

By Ceci Connolly

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, June 28, 2009

In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause.

The attacks — ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns — have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama’s top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.

The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regime plots purge after Iran election protests

The supreme leader’s brutal crackdown has crushed dissent on the streets

From The Sunday Times

June 28, 2009  Marie Colvin

Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, are bracing themselves for a purge if, as expected, he returns to office following the country’s bitterly disputed presidential election.

His defeated rival, Mir Hos-sein Mousavi, who came a distant second in a poll he insists was rigged by the regime, has continued to defy what he has called “huge pressures” to halt his campaign for a new vote.

Last week his communications with the outside world were severely restricted, his web page was taken down and his newspaper was closed, with 25 of its employees arrested.

Supporters said they feared Mousavi could become another Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader who has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.

Mousavi inspired hundreds of thousands of Iranians who poured onto the streets to demand that the results of the June 12 election should be annulled.

USA

U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace



By JOHN MARKOFF and ANDREW E. KRAMER

Published: June 27, 2009

The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet.

Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official.

But there the agreement ends.

Russia favors an international treaty along the lines of those negotiated for chemical weapons and has pushed for that approach at a series of meetings this year and in public statements by a high-ranking official.