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Last Updated: Jun 17th, 2009 - 13:24:07 |
Prosecutors Win Conviction on Third Try in Sears Tower Case
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| Photo of Liberty Six from wsvn.com |
In Miami, five defendants have been convicted of a plot to blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower. One of the defendants was acquitted. It was the government’s third attempt to convict the so-called “Liberty City Six” after two mistrials. The case has been criticized for lacking any physical evidence and relying on an FBI informant who reportedly devised the plot for which the defendants were convicted.
Foreclosure Notices Hit Record in April
New figures show a record number of homes faced foreclosure last month. According to RealtyTrac, 342,000 homes received foreclosure notices in April, a one percent increase from March. Nearly 64,000 homes were repossessed, bringing the total number to more than 1.3 million since August 2007.
Unemployment Rate Hits 8.9%; 539,000 Lost Jobs in April
The nation’s unemployment rate has reached 8.9 percent, the highest in twenty-six years. Five hundred thirty-nine thousand workers lost their jobs in April. The current unemployment rate would jump to nearly 16 percent if it included laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have had to settle for part-time work. African American workers remain the hardest hit by the economic crisis. The official black unemployment rate is now 15 percent, but economists estimate the actual rate is closer to 27 percent. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner attempted to put a somewhat positive spin on the latest unemployment numbers.
Timothy Geithner: “They’re encouraging, in some sense, because the rate of decline in the economy as a whole is slowing. You’re seeing some signs of stability. But these are enormously large numbers. You know, you had more than half a million Americans lose their jobs again. And it just underscores the fact that the economy as a whole is still going through a very challenging period.”
Geithner: Social Security Not “Untouchable”
A new government report is warning the Social Security and Medicare programs are nearing insolvency sooner than predicted. On Tuesday, the Obama administration said the Medicare fund that covers hospital bills for senior citizens could run out of money by the year 2017. And it said the Social Security trust fund could be depleted by the year 2037, four years earlier than previous warnings. Republicans have long used the warnings of Social Security insolvency to push for its privatization. But the figures are controversial, in part because they fail to account for Treasury Department loans on Social Security’s estimated $2.5 trillion surplus. Economists have also long pointed out Social Security could remain solvent by minimal tax adjustments. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner indicated the White House would be open to Republican attempts to undo Social Security, saying, “The President explicitly rejects the notion that Social Security is untouchable politically.”
Federal Deficit to Reach Record $1.8 Trillion
The Congressional Budget Office is estimating the federal deficit will reach a record $1.8 trillion this year. This means the government will have to borrow nearly fifty cents for every dollar it spends.
Goldman Sachs Pays $60 Million to Settle Predatory Lending Case
In other economic news, Goldman Sachs has agreed to a $60 million settlement to resolve claims by a Massachusetts regulator that it participated in predatory lending practices involving subprime mortgages.
Obama Questioned on Single Payer
At a town hall-style event in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, local resident Linda Allison asked President Obama why the White House and the Democratic-led Congress have ruled out single payer.
Linda Allison: “My question is, so many people go bankrupt using their credit cards to pay for healthcare. Why have they taken single payer off the plate? And why is Senator Baucus on the Finance Committee discussing healthcare, when he has received so much money from the pharmaceutical companies? Isn’t it a conflict of interest?”
President Obama: “If I were starting a system from scratch, then I think that the idea of moving towards a single-payer system could very well make sense. That’s the kind of system that you have in most industrialized countries around the world. The only problem is that we’re not starting from scratch. We have historically a tradition of employer-based healthcare. And although there are a lot of people who are not satisfied with their healthcare, the truth is, is that the vast majority of people currently get healthcare from their employers, and you’ve got this system that’s already in place. We don’t want a huge disruption as we go into healthcare reform, where suddenly we’re trying to completely reinvent one-sixth of the economy.”
Obama did not address the second part of Linda Allison’s question about Democratic Senator Max Baucus, who has excluded single-payer advocates from Senate Finance Committee hearings. Allison says she was partly inspired to ask the question after viewing Democracy Now!‘s coverage on Wednesday of single-payer advocates who disrupted Baucus’s hearing.
Obama Criticized For Reviving Military Commissions
Human rights organizations are criticizing President Obama’s decision to revive the military tribunal system for Guantanamo Bay prisoners despite the administration’s pledge to grant prisoners expanded legal rights.
Stacy Sullivan of Human Rights Watch: "This has been tried before. The first round of military commissions were struck down by the Supreme Court. They were revived under slightly improved rules and once again they were still profoundly unfair. They allowed coerced evidence into the courtroom and they had terrible hearsay rules, the judges didn’t even know what the rules were. The proceedings were totally chaotic. This will be the third time that there is an effort to resurrect the military commissions and we have absolutely no faith that they are going to be any better, even if you do improve the rules slightly.”
On Friday President Obama unveiled new legal protections for prisoners in the renewed system. These include bans on hearsay evidence and evidence obtained through torture, as well as giving prisoners more leeway in selecting their military counsel.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs defended the tribunal system.
Robert Gibbs: “The president, as I said, during the debate said that properly structured military commissions had a role to play. The changes that he is seeking, he believes, will ensure the protections that are necessary for these to be conducted in order to reach that certain justice, as well as live up to our values.”
Obama Reverses Pledge to Release Photos of Prisoner Abuse
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has reneged on a pledge to release several dozen photos showing the torture and abuse of prisoners at overseas CIA and military jails. Last month, the Justice Department chose not to challenge an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking the photos’ release. But after indications he was having second thoughts, President Obama confirmed Wednesday he will block the photos’ release.
President Obama: “The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals. In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger. Moreover, I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse.”
Around forty-three photos had been set for release. The military is believed to have as many as 2,000 photos depicting prisoner abuse. Amrit Singh, an ACLU lawyer who argued the case, said, “This essentially renders meaningless President Obama’s pledge of transparency and accountability that he made in the early days after taking office… [The Obama administration] has essentially become complicit with the torture that was rampant during the Bush years by being complicit in its coverup.”
Obama Budget Cuts 121 Programs
President Obama has unveiled a budget plan that would save $17 billion by cutting some 121 programs. Obama called the cuts a necessary step to avoid leaving crippling debt to future generations.
President Obama: “We can no longer afford to spend as if deficits don’t matter and waste is not our problem. We can no longer afford to leave the hard choices for the next budget, the next administration or the next generation. We will also continue to look for ways we can save taxpayer money. And I know there are many in both parties in Congress committed to cutting spending and eager to work with us.”
The Obama budget includes a four percent increase in military spending. The Pentagon would also see more cuts than any other department, totaling $8.8 billion from fourteen programs.
Despite Campaign Pledge, Obama Shuns Needle Exchange
Health advocates are criticizing a budget item that would reverse an Obama campaign pledge to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS by lifting the federal ban on needle exchange programs. The Obama budget includes language that bans any federal spending on needle exchange.
Pelosi Accuses CIA of Misleading Congress on Torture
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is accusing the CIA of deliberately misleading Congress about the torture of foreign prisoners. Pelosi made the charge Thursday in acknowledging she first learned of the waterboarding of CIA prisoners in 2003. Republicans have pointed to Pelosi’s involvement in torture briefings to deflect scrutiny of Bush administration officials. This week, the CIA released documents showing Pelosi was briefed on CIA waterboarding in September 2002. But Pelosi insisted she was told waterboarding wasn’t being used then and said secrecy rules forced her to remain silent when she learned more details several months later.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “The CIA briefed me only once on enhanced interrogation techniques in September 2002 in my capacity as ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. I was informed then that the Department of Justice opinions had concluded that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques were legal. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed.”
Pelosi has called on the CIA to release detailed records of her 2002 briefing. The CIA, meanwhile, has denied a request from former Vice President Dick Cheney to release full records of prisoner interrogations to prove Bush administration torture tactics yielded valuable intelligence. Critics have dismissed Cheney’s call as political posturing because of the likelihood the CIA would reject his request.
Obama Taps GE Attorney To Be Nation’s Top Environmental Litigator
Meanwhile President Obama has tapped a top attorney at General Electric to be the nation’s top environmental litigator. If confirmed Ignacia Moreno would lead the Justice Department’s efforts to enforce environmental laws and defend federal regulations in lawsuits. Her selection has concerned many environmental groups. Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch said: “It seems as if she has spent maybe more time defending polluters than prosecuting them.”
Illinois Senate Opposes Escalation of Afghan Occupation
President Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan is facing opposition in his home state of Illinois. The Illinois State Senate has passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of all US troops from Afghanistan instead of Obama’s plans to increase the occupation.
Senate Defeats Proposal to Cap Credit Card Rates
The Senate has defeated an amendment that would have capped credit card interest rates at 15 percent. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders tried to include the measure in a bill imposing new regulation on the credit card industry. Democratic lawmakers have vowed to protect consumers and crack down on the credit card companies’ abusive practices. But Sanders’ proposal drew just thirty-three votes, with a bipartisan group of sixty senators voting against. Sanders said, “When banks are charging 30 percent interest rates, they are not making credit available. They’re engaged in loan-sharking.”
Low Pay Led to Fatigue for Co-Pilot in Buffalo Plane Crash
Federal transportation officials have revealed the Continental Airlines plane that crashed near Buffalo earlier this year was co-piloted by a sleep-deprived twenty-four-year-old who made just $16,000 a year. Because of her low pay, Rebecca Lynne Shaw was forced to live with her parents in Seattle and commute by plane across the country to her Newark-based job. Fifty people were killed in the crash of Continental Flight 3407 on February 12th. The victims included Alison Des Forges, one of the world’s foremost experts on Rwanda, and Beverly Eckert, who had become an advocate for 9-11 families after losing her husband in the attacks on the Twin Towers.
More International News
Ex-Soldier Convicted in Iraq Rape, Murder Case
A former US soldier has been convicted for the 2006 rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the killing of her family. On Thursday, a federal jury found Steven Green guilty on all seventeen counts. Prosecutors say Green was the ringleader in raping and killing fourteen-year-old Abeer Kassem Hamza al-Janabi and killing her parents and five-year-old sister. Three soldiers have already been sentenced to life in prison in the case.
Palestinians Mark 61st Anniversary of Al-Nakba
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, Palestinians marked the 61st anniversary of Al-Nakba Thursday, the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians maintain their national aspirations despite more than six decades of dispossession and occupation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: “We are clinging to our national beliefs to establish our own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for refugees in the framework of a just and agreed solution based on UN Resolution 194.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, is set to meet with President Obama at the White House on Monday.
Peruvian Indigenous Groups Fight Plans to Develop Natural Resources
And the Peruvian government has sent troops into the Amazon to squash protests by Peruvian indigenous groups who oppose plans develop the region’s natural resources. On Friday the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle called for an insurgency against new laws that open up natural resource sectors like gas, lumber and oil to private investors.
Indigenous leader Alberto Pizango: “The national committee for the struggle appointed by all of you has decided by expressed mandate to prepare itself to declare our (indigenous) communities as an insurgency against the government of Mr. Alan Garcia Perez… Insurgency means disobeying the government because of the mistreatment. They abuse us. They are killing our communities.”
Wanda Sykes Performs at White House Correspondents Dinner
And the White House Correspondents Association dinner was held Saturday in Washington. The comedian Wanda Sykes provided the evening’s entertainment.
Wanda Sykes: “It is truly an honor to be here. It really is. I keep getting asked the same question: you know, are you nervous? Are you nervous? I’m like, ‘With this administration, what is there to be nervous about?’ You know, if I do a good job, I get great press; and if I screw it up royally, Tim Geithner will give me a bonus.”
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