The move - which holds that information surrounding the massive eavesdropping program should be kept from the public because of its sensitivity - follows an earlier decision in March to block handover of documents relating to the Bush Administration's decision to spy on a charity. The arguments also mirror the Bush Administration's efforts to dismiss an earlier suit against AT&T.
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Bailing out the financial sector will cost taxpayers $167 billion more than originally anticipated, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.
The original figure in January was $189 billion, but it is now $356 billion — $152 billion more for 2009 and $15 billion more next year, the CBO says in its March report updating the budget and economic outlook.
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/conservatives-claiming-bin-laden-iran
From Bill Moyers Journal:
Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald are the first recipients of the Park Center for Independent Media Izzy Award (named for I.F. Stone) — named "Pillars of independent media, chosen for the award, because of their journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom.
There seems to be some reticence in the media, especially from the conservative side of the aisle (which means almost everything except two shows on MSNBC, the SF Chron and the Village Voice) to take on the noe-nazis. There were no searching in-depth stories of the militia movement when the Oklahoma City Loserman blew up the Federal building there or when one of the Midwest Losermen drove around and shot people who appeared to be in an ethnic minority. There was no discussion of the Right-wing hate bloviators when a Loserman in Tennessee took a shotgun to the congregation of a Unitarian church in order to carry out the bidding of the far-Right pundits to "kill all liberrrulls." Why is that?
Second: To those of you out there who have been promoting similar conspiracy theories, those of you who have been spreading rumors that the Obama Administration is going to ban anything more powerful than a BB gun or that "ammo tracking" is going to make ammunition, I say this: You own a part of this. Not all of it, this Loserman was unhinged. Not even a majority of it. But part of it.
Third: The reportage has maintained that the Pittsburgh Loserman was dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps. Receiving a dishonorable discharge means that you cannot legally purchase a gun. Look at question 11.g on AFT Form 4473, if you were to answer "yes", you get tossed out the door of a gun shop. So are they going to walk back the cat on his weapons and find out who sold them to him?
Rasmussen reports that 57% of us favor a military response against North Korea after the communist country launched a long range missile (which landed in what was an epic failure in the middle of the Pacific Ocean).
Only 15% are against it.
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"It's clear that Obama's even more dangerous than Mohammed Atta, since he's actually talking about reducing stockpiles of nuclear weapons."
[...] Perhaps we should look at it differently, and use Benedict as our grand reminder that the general Rule of Divinity still holds true: the more you claim to be some sort of inviolable authority on things sacred and holy, the less you are to be trusted and the more we should all hope and pray for your urgent obsoletion. Simple enough?
Yep.
The Washington Post published an incoherent screed against Eric Holder written by a man named Edward Whelan today. Whelan is identified as the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (as well as former deputy in the OLC). What is the Ethics and Public Policy Center?
The Ethics and Public Policy Center was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues.
Check out their web page. Undiluted batshit craziness. "Pope was right to expose cult of the condom" (referring to opposition to the use of condoms to slow the spread of AIDs in Africa), "Should the University of Notre Dame honor our most anti-life president?", an article by Rick Santorum, an article that wonders "If Whole Foods is a culture's answer to the demise of the Sixth Commandment".
Amazing what Fred Hiatt will publish.
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How to live to be 114
Nigeria's anti-narcotics agency confiscated 6.5 tonnes of marijuana on Tuesday - from the home of a man who claimed he was 114 years old.
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Boy, it sure looks like they were trying to pump every cent they could into the stock market in an attempt to keep it on life support. And look how well that worked out!
Shortly before the first signs of the stock market collapse, the Bush administration made a crucial decision that has propelled an estimated one to two million workers into stock-heavy retirement funds.
Many of the funds in which workers were automatically enrolled dropped more than 25 percent last year, while a more conservative investment strategy rejected by the Bush administration would have resulted in a gain of 4.7 percent.
If the workers failed to specify how they wanted their money invested, the company would be required by law to place their retirement money in investment funds that, for the most part, relied heavily on stocks. The administration specifically rejected calls for a more conservative investment option.
Thanks, George!
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Though the actual unemployment rate is at a high 8.5 percent, it's actually closer to 15.6 percent when you include "those who want a job but have stopped looking for work and those who want full-time positions but have to settle for part-time employment."
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Today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will "propose cuts or delays in weapons programs in an effort to rein in defense spending that has risen 72 percent since 2000." In response, major defense contractors have been increasing their lobbying efforts in Washington in an attempt to "preserve their programs."
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Obama responds to the legalization of the rape of a wife by her husband in Afghanistan by saying he thinks the law is "abhorrent" and that his administration's views are being communicated to the Karzai government, but that the priority for the U.S. right now is al Qaeda.
The Afghanistan law poses a difficult diplomatic challenge for Obama and for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said recently, "Women's rights are a central part of American foreign policy in the Obama Administration; they are not marginal; they are not an add-on or an afterthought."
President Karzai said he ordered his Justice Ministry to review the law, and if anything in it contravenes the country's constitution or Shariah law, "measures will be taken." But he added that he had studied the law earlier in the day and, "I don't see any problems with it."
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