WASHINGTON — The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town. Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history. The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession. These groups argue that the credit squeeze is so severe and the risks to the economy so dire that their industries need financial support as well. The Treasury is considering requests from a variety of industries, but has not decided whether to expand the program, officials said Saturday. Lobbying efforts are intensifying. The Financial Services Roundtable wrote Treasury officials on Friday requesting that the initiative to buy $250 billion in bank stock grow to cover insurers, auto companies, securities dealers and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, including banks. The Treasury’s plan is intended to bolster banks’ tattered balance sheets and get them to resume making loans. As the Treasury now interprets it, these additional groups would not participate in the bank stock program. […]
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn’t agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq. Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday. In addition to halting all military actions, U.S. forces would cease activities that support Iraq’s economy, educational sector and other areas _ ‘everything’ _ said Tariq al Hashimi, the country’s Sunni Muslim vice president. ‘I didn’t know the Americans are rendering such wide-scale services.’ Hashimi said that Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, listed ‘tens’ of areas of potential cutoffs in a three-page letter, and he said the implied threat caught Iraqi leaders by surprise. ‘It was really shocking for us,’ he said. ‘Many people are looking to this attitude as a matter of blackmailing.’ Odierno had no comment Sunday, but U.S. Embassy officials told McClatchy that a lengthy list of the sort Hashimi described has been passed to […]
The United States is ranked 36th in the world in terms of press freedom, up from 48th last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Reporters Sans Frontieres. The US is tied with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan in the 36th spot. Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway are tied for first. Iran, China, Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea are all featured among the ten lowest-ranked countries. According to the survey, the index ‘measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.’ The ranking examines ‘every kind of violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders, imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship, confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). And it includes the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these press freedom violations.’ Self-censorship, financial pressure, the legal framework of the media, and the level of independence of the public media are also taken into account. The report explains the United States’ rise from 48th to 36th: […]
Here’s a little news flash,’ Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska and the Republican candidate for Vice-President, announced in September, during her début at the Party’s Convention, in St. Paul. ‘I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I’ve learned quickly these past few days that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington élite then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.’ But, she added, ‘I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion.’ In subsequent speeches, Palin has cast herself as an antidote to the élitist culture inside the Beltway. ‘I’m certainly a Washington outsider, and I’m proud of that, because I think that that is what we need,’ she recently told Fox News. During her first interview as John McCain’s running mate, with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, Palin was asked about her lack of experience in foreign policy. She replied, ‘We’ve got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual, and somebody’s big fat résumé, maybe, that shows decades and decades in the Washington establishment . . . Americans are getting sick and tired […]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Republican legal campaign questioning the legitimacy of many newly registered voters hit a wall this week when courts rejected several cases filed by GOP state parties and officials. As Democrats registered record numbers of new voters over the recent months, Republicans asked courts to enforce a law intended to prevent fraud, but that voting rights advocates feared could erroneously purge thousands of legitimate voters from the rolls. But over the last week, several judges ruled against or threw out Republican-filed challenges in battleground states. Republicans hit back on Friday, when the White House asked the Department of Justice to investigate 200,000 Ohio voters with questionable registrations. The battles are over a section of the Help American Vote Act, passed in 2002 by Congress to prevent another Florida-style recount. HAVA requires states to match information supplied on voter registration forms with department of motor vehicles and Social Security records. Individuals who provide information that does not match those documents may face confusion at the polls or be required to vote on a provisional ballot. But critics of the provision say inaccurate state databases lead to erroneous disqualifications. A study by […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
