Archive for the ‘Domestic’ Category
Geithner Visit: Chinese Economists Skeptical of U.S. Strength
2 Jun 09 | CSM
A survey of 23 experts finds deep concern about Beijing’s large dollar holdings. Read the rest of this entry »
Audience Laughs After Geithner Tells China Its Dollar Assets are Safe
1 Jun 09 | Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong U.S. currency. Read the rest of this entry »
Eavesdropping Case Tests Obama Vows on Secrecy
by William Fisher
1 Jun 09 | IPS
Despite President Barack Obama’s formation of a new task force to review government secrecy, and an ongoing investigation into use of the so-called “state secrets doctrine”, lawyers for the new administration refused last week to disclose information on the government’s use of warrantless wiretaps and backed legislation to block the release of photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read the rest of this entry »
Local Currencies Really Can Buy Happiness
30 May 09 | IPS
In the face of an economic system which seems to be premised on environmental harm and profit-driven growth, a handful of communities across the U.S. and the globe have begun experimenting with alternative forms of local currency as a pathway to sustainability. Read the rest of this entry »
White House to Merge Domestic, International Security Staffs
26 May 09 | AWC News
Obama to create “Global Engagement Directorate”. Read the rest of this entry »
Backlash Grows Against Obama’s Preventive Detention Proposal
by Glenn Greenwald
25 May 09 | Salon
The backlash against President Obama’s extraordinary proposal for indefinite “preventive detention” — already widespread in the immediate aftermath of his speech — continues to grow. Read the rest of this entry »
President Obama Defends Guantánamo Closure, But Endorses Indefinite Preventive Detention
22 May 09 | AI
In a major speech on national security on 21 May 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama restated his commitment to closing the Guantánamo detention facility and to ending the use of the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” approved under the previous U.S. administration. Read the rest of this entry »
Dollar Hits Five-Month Low, Gold Hits Two-Month High
22 May 09 | FT
The dollar dropped to its lowest level so far this year as optimism that the worst of the financial crisis may be over stemmed haven demand for the currency. Read the rest of this entry »
CCR Guantánamo Attorneys Comment After President’s Speech
21 May 09 | CCR
Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner and Managing Attorney for CCR’s Guantanamo project Shayana Kadidal responded with disappointment to President Obama’s speech this morning. CCR represents the detainees at Guantánamo and is part of the key FOIA lawsuit surrounding the torture photo disclosures. Read the rest of this entry »
Did White House OK Earliest Detainee Abuse?
by Ari Shapiro
20 May 09 | NPR
It is clear that increasingly abusive interrogation techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee, in the months between his capture and the first Justice Department memo authorizing harsh interrogations. But the legal guidance that authorized those early interrogations remains shrouded in secrecy. Read the rest of this entry »
Using the Courts to Undercut Union Power
by Lee Sustar
21 May 09 | SWO
Lee Sustar looks at the court order banning an L.A. teachers’ strike last week in the context of the long history of anti-union judges intervening in labor struggles.
Prosecutors Still Opposing DNA Access for Prisoners Despite New Laws
by Jonathon Turley
18 May 09 | Jonathon Turley.org
We have seen a number of cases on this blog where prosecutors fought efforts by prisoners to obtain DNA tests that might prove their innocence — only to be proven innocent once the tests were performed. Prosecutors are rarely denounced for these reprehensible efforts. The story in the New York Times indicates that prosecutors are continuing to oppose such testing even in states that passed new laws guaranteeing such testing. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama Eyes ‘Preventive Detention’ System
20 May 09 | AWC News
President seeks legal basis to hold people who can’t be charged with any crimes. Read the rest of this entry »
Unexceptional Americans: Why We Can’t See the Trees or the Forest
by Noam Chomsky
20 May 09 | LAW
The Torture Memos and Historical Amnesia
The torture memos released by the White House elicited shock, indignation, and surprise. The shock and indignation are understandable. The surprise, less so. Read the rest of this entry »
Judge Says U.S. Can Hold Detainees Indefinitely
20 May 09 | Raw Story
A Bush appointed judge ruled late Tuesday night that the United States can hold detainees for an indefinite period. Read the rest of this entry »
Senate Democrats Reject Funding to Close Gitmo
Barack Obama’s controversial decision to shut down Guantanamo Bay made headlines around the world. But while most Democrats initially supported the plan, now theyre refusing to finance the move. (2:50):
G.M. Bankruptcy Plan Eyes Quick Sale to U.S. Gov’t
20 May 09 | Reuters
General Motors Corp’s (G.M.) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »
CIA Chief: Torture Debate in a ‘Nation at War’ a Distraction
19 May 09 | LAT
Speaking at the Pacific Council on International Policy, Panetta calls on lawmakers not to be distracted by the debate over Nancy Pelosi and waterboarding. ‘We are a nation at war,’ he says. Read the rest of this entry »
Supreme Court Tosses Former Detainee’s Lawsuit
The justices rule that Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim arrested after Sept. 11, may not sue former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for abuses he says he suffered. Read the rest of this entry »
The Impotent President
by Paul Craig Roberts
15 May 09 | Counterpunch
Who runs America?
What do you suppose it is like to be elected president of the United States only to find that your power is restricted to the service of powerful interest groups? Read the rest of this entry »
Boy Scouts Train in Post-9/11 Law Enforcement Methods
14 May 09 | NYT
Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
Military Commissions: Neither Court Nor Tribunal
President Obama’s decision Friday to revive military tribunals to try suspected terrorists will likely fail to erase the taint of illegitimacy over the courts despite efforts at reform, civilian and military legal experts said. Read the rest of this entry »
Obama’s 48-Hour Makeover
Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama
by Jeremy Scahill
15 May 09 | AlterNet
The ‘Black Shirts’ of Guantanamo routinely terrorize prisoners, breaking bones, gouging eyes, squeezing testicles, and ‘dousing’ them with chemicals. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Sets Free Test Case Detainee
15 May 09 | BBC
An Algerian man held for seven years by the U.S. has arrived in France after being set free from Guantanamo Bay. Read the rest of this entry »
