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50-State, $25B Mortgage Settlement: Relief for Struggling Homeowners or Bailout for Big Banks?

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Feb. 10 (News Analysis) - The U.S. Justice Department has unveiled a record mortgage settlement with the nation's five largest banks to resolve claims over faulty foreclosures and mortgage practices that have indebted and displaced homeowners and sunk the nation's economy. While the deal is being described as a $25 billion settlement, the banks will only have to pay out a total of $5 billion in cash between them. We speak to one of the settlement's most prominent critics, Yves Smith, a longtime financial analyst who runs the popular finance website, "Naked Capitalism." "The settlement, on the surface, does look like it's helping homeowners," Smith says. "But, in fact, the bigger part that most people don't recognize is the way it actually helps the banks with mortgages on their own books... The real problem is that this deal is just not going to give that much relief." [includes rush transcript]

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Keystone Pipeline Facts

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Robert Redford - Feb. 10 (News Analysis) - 'Joe Nocera's op-ed in the New York Times yesterday deserves a response and a reiteration of the facts surrounding the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. ...Let's put the rhetoric aside, and simply focus on the facts. Nocera wants us to believe that approving this pipeline is a matter of national security. ... The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would not make the United States of America safer. Why? It would not make us safer, because the majority of the processed oil was already scheduled for export to foreign countries. That's right, this Keystone XL pipeline's Canadian tar sands oil would have

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The ‘Stan: An officer’s unvarnished view

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

armytimes.com - By Lance M. Bacon - Feb. 06 (Special Report) - An Army officer is fed up with “rosy official statements” that paint Afghanistan as a picture of progress, and he is demanding military leaders come clean about the “absence ofsuccess on virtually every level.”

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I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen's Race Is For Money, Not Cure

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Emily Michele - Feb. 05 (News Analysis) - I don’t know about you, but I would never expect directors of a charitable “non-profit” organization to make more than most doctors, lawyers, or even politicians. Their CEO and president, Hala G. Moddelmog, made $531,924, plus $26,683 in change. That's more than President Obama makes.

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Indiana Election Chief Found Guilty Of Voter Fraud

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Charles Wilson - Feb. 04 (News Report) - Indiana's top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday,

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6 Shocking Ways Capitalism Is Failing Working America

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Les Leopold - Feb. 01 (News Analysis) - Capitalism is coming apart at the seams and the middle-class is paying the price.

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Inside the Bacchanalian Wall Street Fraternity Party of Billionaire Bankers and Hedge Fund Predators

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Bill Moyers, Michael Winship - Jan. 31 (News Report) - They got together at the St. Regis Hotel off Fifth Avenue to eat rack of lamb, drink and haze their newest members, who are made to dress in drag, sing and perform skits while braving the insults, wine-soaked napkins and petit fours – those fancy little frosted cakes — hurled at them by the old guard. In other words, a gilt-edged Animal House, food fight and all.

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New Report Shows Big-Money Politics and Broadcast Media Are Undermining Democracy

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

FreePress.net - Jan. 26 (Special Report) - On Thursday, Free Press released Citizens Inundated, a report that follows the money trail from big-spending political donors to the bank accounts of the nation's largest broadcast companies.

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Corruption Scandal Rocks Vatican, Whistle Blower Archbishop Vigano Was Transfered Against His Will

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - Jan. 26 (News Report) - The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts. The show "The Untouchables" o

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Mitt Romney's Bain Capital 'earned' $342 million by bankrupting a company and firing 850 Floridians

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Kos - By Jed Lewison - Jan. 24 (News Analysis) - you can add The Miami Herald to the list of people and organizations who Mitt Romney says are attacking free enterprise. That's because today's edition takes a look at how Bain Capital "earned" $342 million from investing $30 million in the acquisition of medical technology firm named Dade International. Despite profiting by hundreds of millions of dollars from the deal, Romney's company led Dade to bankruptcy, laying off thousands of workers throughout the country—including 850 in Miami alone.

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Mitt Romney Tax Returns Released: Paid Just 13.9% Rate In 2010, Had Swiss Bank Account

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Steve Holland, Kim Dixon - Jan. 23 (News Report) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

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Undercover police had children with activists

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Rob Evans, Paul Lewis - Jan. 22 (News Report) - Undercover police had children with activists — Disclosure likely to intensify controversy over long-running police operation to infiltrate and sabotage protest groups — Two undercover police officers secretly fathered children with political campaigners they had been sent to spy …

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Global Internet Voting Firm Buys U.S. Election Results Reporting Firm

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Black Box Voting - By Bev Harris - Jan. 13 (News Analysis) - In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company. When you view your local or state election results on the Internet, on portals which often appear to be owned by the county elections division, in over 525 US jurisdictions you are actually redirected to a private corporate site controlled by SOE software, which operates under the name ClarityElections.com.

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Why Is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Rania Khalek - Jan. 09 (News Report) - Virtual charter schools, which offer classes online instead of in a classroom, have become the fastest-growing segment of the charter school industry. And while data on their effectiveness is scarce, state legislators across the country are passing laws to expand cyber schools at the behest of privatization advocates and online education companies at an alarming rate, with little regulation.

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Rick Santorum-Linked Universal Health Services Facility: Fraud, Assault And Alleged 'Exorcism'

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jason Cherkis - Jan. 06 (News Report) - Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has become a top-tier candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in recent weeks by appealing to evangelical votersas a man steeped in family values and his Christian faith. From 2007 to 2011, however, Santorum served on the board of directors of Universal Health Services Inc., a large hospital chain which racked up dozens of allegations of abuse during that time -- including everything from rape to suicide attempts allowed by neglect to murder.

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New Walkergate Charges - the short version

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Kos - By Giles Goat Boy - Jan. 06 (News Report) - Here's the really short version: A Walker appointee, a Walker campaign aide, and a child molester embezzled money that was intended for disabled veterans.

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Chief Justice Roberts' Defense Doesn't Persuade Court Critics

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Mike Sacks - Jan. 05 (News Report) - Chief Justice John Roberts used his annual year-end report to defend his colleagues' integrity, but that defense did not move prominent critics clamoring for the justices to abide by the same ethical rules as other federal judges do.

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How Americans really feel about drugs - Media Criticism - Salon.com

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By David Sirota - Jan. 05 (News Analysis) - As dishonest as this kind of agitprop is, it unfortunately — but predictably — continues unabated. This is, after all, the golden era of agitprop — a moment in which wars are no longer wars, corporations are people

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Super PAC Disclosure Requirements Hot Topic Of Conversation Among GOP Candidates

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The rapid rise and far-reaching impact of super PACs -- the well-financed non-party groups that helped carry former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to victory in the Iowa caucuses -- have persuaded some prominent Republicans that restrictions of some sort on the groups' activities may be in order.

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10 Ultra-Rich Congresspeople Who 'Represent' Some of the Most Financially Screwed Districts

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Sarah Jaffe - Dec. 28 (News Analysis) - According to a Washington Post story this week, “Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analysis of financial disclosures, from $280,000 to $725,000 in inflation-adjusted 2009 dollars, excluding home equity.”

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Philippines Floods 2011: Bodies Found Far Away From Ravaged Villages, Coastline

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Hrvoje Hranjski - Dec. 26 (News Report) - Many of the dead were women and children who drowned in their beds. Others scrambled to climb roofs to escape the overflowing rivers and muddy waters that carried dangerous debris and logs from nearby mountains. The logs were still floating off the coast. President Benigno Aquino III, who banned logging in February following previous flooding deaths that experts say were caused partly by deforestation and soil erosion, has ordered an investigation.

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Newt Gingrich's Campaign Resurgence Funded by Secretive Coterie of Super PACs, Wealthy Backers

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 23 (News Report) - the Center for Public Integrity has published new details on how Gingrich has the backing of two so-called super PACs that raise unlimited donations, but legally must operate independently of the campaign. We speak with Peter Stone, a reporter with Center for Public Integrity who has covered lobbying and campaign finance issues for the past two decades, and McClatchy investigative reporter Greg Gordon.

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Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Mounting Storm of Anti-Latino Bias, Prisoner Abuse, Sex-Crimes Negligence

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Juan Gonzalez - Dec. 22 (News Report) - The controversy around Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is growing by the day. In a scathing report, the Justice Department has accused Arpaio of "wide-ranging discrimination against Latinos," leading federal authorities to suspend Arpaio’s access to programs under which undocumented immigrants are handed over from his jail for deportation. "The federal government was using Arpaio as sort of a showcase, a model for its 287(g) program, in allowing local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws... But it failed miserably," says Stephen Lemons, a reporter for the Phoenix New Times. Arpaio has faced growing calls to resign amidst mounting evidence that his police department failed to properly investigate more than 400 sex crime and homicide cases.

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Why the FDA Okays Eating Seafood 10,000 Times Over the Safe Limit for Dangerous Carcinogens

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Brad Jacobson - Dec. 19 (News Report) - The FDA downplayed the risk of contamination and ignored staff members who proposed higher levels of contamination protection while providing no scientific evidence to back up its policy.

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For Hire: Lobbyists or the 99%?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

publicampaign.org - Dec. 16 (Special Report) - This report builds on a recent report on corporate tax dodging by Citizens for Tax Justice by examining lobbying expenditure data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics. We also look at publicly available data on job creation, federal campaign contributions, and executive compensation, to understand how these corporations have been spending their cash.

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