Group items tagged

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Goldstone Report Finds Israeli Military Guilty of War Crimes in Gaza The Independent reports that a United Nations fact-finding inquiry has found that Israel committed war crimes during its attack on Gaza last winter, as did the Palestinian Hamas. The lion's share of blame in the report, however, falls on Israeli forces, which stand accused of planning out a disproportionate use of force, the punishing of a civilian population, and reckless disregard for civilian lives-- all of which are war crimes in international law. The report suggests that some Israeli actions may have gone beyond being mere war crimes to being crimes against humanity. The report will go to the UN Human Rights Commission, which will likely accept it. The findings could in theory drag Israeli officials before the World Court in the Hague, though in practice this outcome is highly unlikely. Both the Israeli government and Hamas rejected the report as biased, which is a pretty good indication that it is even-handed.

A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could readily become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf. 

An Arab member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008.

Elena Kagan: Reported Supreme Court Choice Perfectly Positioned for Confirmation

Treasury lied to public about health of big banks last October + may have unfairly distributed TARP funds, says Report from Neil M. Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program: http://bit.ly/JeUBZ (NYTimes.com)

Sold Out~How Wall Street & Washington Betrayed America

Relevant Twitter hashtags: #acorn #beck #glennbeck #foxnews #obamafail #p2 #tcot #acorn #spg #rush #iamthemob #teaparty #mob #ttparty #obamacare #liberty #912DC #tcot #tlot #ocra #spg #wingnuts #nra #hhrs #ocra #912 #rush #hannity #boycottFOX #p2 #topprog #topprog #p2 #mediamatters #drudge #gop #tpp #tjot #tbot #patriot #tnmn #ronpaul #beck

FOXnews duped. Goof follows spoof. Glenn Beck reports ACORN fakeout as fact: http://bit.ly/X4oNL

The U.S. military was so fearful of classified information ending up on Wikileaks it considered ways to undermine the organisation, a newly published secret report on the site appears to show.

Gary Jackson, the ex-President of private security contractor Blackwater (now known as Xe), has been indicted on federal weapons charges, the Associated Press reports. Four other Blackwater officials will also face prosecution. As Mother Jones noted last month, this news wasn't entirely a surprise.

Citigroup's Shocking 'Plutonomy' Reports -- h/t Michael Moore

Sanders/Dodd Audit-The-Fed allows audit of TARP + TALF, but not FOMC, discount window operations, or agreement with foreign central banks. "Even the so called "independent" leftists, Kucinich and Sanders, have both capitulatied to the corporate, class markets and their class despotism, proving they are not real opposition leaders, but phony socialists, phony anti war activists." ~Eric Albert Schwing I read all three versions of the Sanders amendment carefully, and I believe Sanders made a good call if the decision was compromise with Dodd or have no amendment at all. The big differences with the compromise are: -Single audit covering December 1,2007 to May 2010 rather than open-ended audit until all bailout funds are recovered. -Specific parameters on the audit focusing on whether proper procedures were followed and what could be done to improve Fed governance. However it is not clear that the audit is limited to these items. -Fed website still must report lots of previously undisclosed details about the bailout measured-who got what and why. ~bmull

Wall Street + The Financial Crisis | What has Washington done to remedy the issues identified here?

A report casts doubts on federal officials' candor regarding their use of TARP funds.

10/05/09 Stockholm, Sweden Even with the US dollar's deterioration over the past six months, the G7 has decided to let it continue to fall. Forbes reports today that the G7 "abandons the dollar." This is despite problems, such as economic instability, that a weakening dollar can cause central bankers around the world. From the US perspective, there are some benefits associated with a weaker dollar, in terms of increased exports and the possibility of inflating away the massive debt the government is building up so quickly.

Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. That it is still in power, and will remain in power after this election, is a testament to our inability to separate illusion from reality. We still believe in "the experts." They still believe in themselves.

Reviews changes in the financial condition of U.S. families, including developments in assets, liabilities, and debt payments.

ob Openings and Labor Turnover data for March 2010 is scheduled to be released May 11, 2010, at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time.