Santorum’s Racist Rant
While campaigning in Sioux City, Iowa over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum singled out African Americans on the issue of cutting public entitlement funds.

FORMER U.S. SENATOR RICK SANTORUM: I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.

John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation magazine, says Santorum’s comments over the weekend highlight how Republican candidates have failed to reach out to Iowa’s many minority communities.

“Well, it’s an unsettling comment,” Nichols says. “And it’s a particularly unsettling one because in Iowa there is a significant African-American population, not just in Des Moines, but in a number of other cities. These are folks who have really been hit hard by deindustrialization, the shutting down of factories, and a lot of the shifts in our economic system in this country. African Americans have been hit hard in Iowa, and there is a very well-entrenched, very active community. And to have a candidate for president making comments like that, instead of reaching out to the African-American community, is unsettling.”

Iowa is awash in millions of dollars of negative campaign ads funded by so-called Super PACs as voters head to their caucuses in the first real test of the 2012 election. “If you want to see the future of politics in America, turn on the television in Iowa,” says Nichols. “If it is this kind of overwhelming flood of negative ads, literally flipping on a dime to take down any candidate who rises in opposition to the mainstream, or kind of core Republican contender with the most money — it’s a pretty scary picture. And it is one that suggests that if we don’t get serious about addressing Citizens United [v. Federal Election Commission], we’re going to end up with a much uglier, more destructive politics." Nichols estimates the candidates and their PACs spent “$200 per vote” in Iowa.

The latest public opinion polls show Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney holding a narrow lead of 24 percent over Rep. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Meanwhile, the Occupy movement has tried to inject the voices of the 99 percent into the race by holding protests at events and both Republican and Democratic campaign headquarters throughout the state.

Santorum, who picked up an informal endorsement from Fox media mogul Rupert Murdoch on Twitter, has surged from behind to place third in Iowa in the polls, with 18 percent of likely voters.


Obama Signs Defense Bill Allowing For Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens Without Trial
President Barack Obama has signed into law a $662 billion military spending bill that authorizes the government to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial. In a signing statement attached to the bill, Obama said he was signing the bill even though he had, "serious reservations" with parts of the bill dealing with detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists. Sections of the bill were opposed by key members of the Obama administration including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Human rights groups assailed Obama for backing down on his initial threat to veto the legislation. Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch said, "President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in U.S. law." Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union has also been a vocal critic of the legislation. He recently appeared on Democracy Now!

Chris Anders, American Civil Liberties Union: "This is so broadly written, it would become a permanent feature of United States law, so that 10 years, 20 years down the road, any president could still use this power to have the military pick up people and indefinitely detain them without charge or trial, potentially for years, potentially for life.”


Controversial Defense Bill Tightens Sanctions on Iran
The newly approved military spending bill also includes a provision to tighten sanctions on Iran by denying access to the U.S. financial system to any foreign bank that conducts business with the Central Bank of Iran. Last week, Iran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf passageway, if new sanctions are enacted. Earlier today, Iran also threatened to take action if an unnamed U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Persian Gulf.


NATO Forced to Admit Air Strikes Killed Dozens of Libyan Civilians, Contradicting Initial Denials
NATO is admitting for the first time Libyan civilians were killed and injured during its seven-month bombing campaign that led to the ouster and death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. NATO made the acknowledgment after a New York Times investigation revealed at least 40 civilians, and perhaps more than 70, were killed by the bombing raids. The New York Times reports the victims include at least 29 women or children, who often had been asleep in homes when the ordnance hit. Others were killed when NATO warplanes bombed ambulance crews and civilians who were attempting to aid the wounded from earlier strikes.

The New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers visited several of the bombing sites to investigate the air strikes.
C.J. CHIVERS: The Gafez and al-Jarud family compounds lie in Majer, a small farming community near Zlitan. The ugliest known mishap of NATO’s bombing campaign took place here.

ALI HAMID GAFEZ: [translated] In the darkness of night, they bombed me and my family.

C.J. CHIVERS: Late on August 8th, a bomb struck the house of Ali Hamid Gafez, collapsing the second floor and killing five women and seven children. A few minutes later, a nearby compound belonging to Altiya al-Jarud was hit. Two buildings inside were destroyed, killing four men. The survivors said that his neighbors rushed to help dig through the ruins of the second compound. NATO attacked once more. Eighteen more people died.

Chivers added that he “only saw a small sampling of the strike sites that may have been affected, so the death toll is probably much larger.”

Despite NATO’s acknowledgment of civilian deaths, the alliance is saying it does not have the capacity or intention of investigating the deadly strikes on civilians. Unlike in Afghanistan, NATO has not expressed condolences or given small payments to victims or their families. Overall, NATO destroyed more than 5,900 military targets and carried out 9,700 strikes during the seven-month bombing campaign. Warplanes from France, Britain, the United States, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Canada took part in the bombing.


Justice Department Blocks Controversial South Carolina Voter ID Law
The U.S. Department of Justice has blocked South Carolina’s new law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls from taking effect, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act. The Justice Department said data submitted by South Carolina showed that minority voters were about 20 percent more likely to lack acceptable photo ID required at polling places. Backers of South Carolina’s new voter ID law says it is needed to prevent voter fraud, but the state did not submit any evidence to the Justice Department showing that voter fraud was a problem. In related news, a 93-year-old Tennessee woman who worked as maid at the State Capitol for 30 years says she has been told she can’t vote in the upcoming election because of Tennessee’s new voter ID regulations. Thelma Mitchell has a state ID she used when she cleaned the offices of Tennessee lawmakers, but she has been barred from voting because she cannot produce a birth certificate.


U.S. Drone Program Spans Continents, Agencies
New details have been revealed on the extensive growth of the U.S. secretive drone program under President Obama. The Washington Post reports the U.S. drone program currently operates out of dozens of clandestine locations and at least six secret bases on two continents. Targets of drone strikes are determined by alternating military and intelligence agencies including the Joint Special Operations Command and the CIA, who both work off of overlapping, yet different assassination lists. The division of authority allows the military and the CIA to avoid the operational review of a single committee. Since President Obama took office in 2009, the drone program has expanded outside of Pakistan, where it was initiated, and the number of strikes has risen from 44 over the course of five years, to nearly 240. The number of casualties resulting from drone strikes has reportedly skyrocketed from roughly 400 to more than 1,600. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan have all been outspoken supporters of the program in recent years. The only member of Obama’s team known to have formally raised objections is Dennis Blair, who was forced out from his role as director of national intelligence last year.


Bank of America Settles Countrywide Bias Case with $335M Fine
Bank of America has agreed to pay a $335 million settlement over allegations its Countrywide Financial division discriminated against Black and Hispanic borrowers. The Justice Department says the settlement is the largest of its kind in history. Investigators found Countrywide charged higher rates to more than 200,000 people of color compared to White borrowers with similar credit. It also found Countrywide directed more than 10,000 minorities toward more expensive subprime mortgages, while giving White borrowers with similar credit regular loans.


Lawmakers Call for Probe of CIA-NYPD Ties
Over two dozen members of Congress are calling for an investigation into the ties between the Central Intelligence Agency and the New York Police Department. Lawmakers want the Department of Justice and House Judiciary Committee to look at how and why the CIA has been involved in the department’s monitoring of Muslim communities. Over the summer, the Associated Press revealed a number of disclosures about the NYPD, including its incorporation of a senior CIA official into its ranks, its infiltration and mapping of ethnic communities in New York City and surrounding areas, and its surveillance of numerous institutions, including mosques and universities.


8 Soldiers Charged Following Suicide of Hazing Victim
The Army has announced eight soldiers are being charged in the death of an Army private who apparently took his own life in Afghanistan earlier this year. Nineteen-year-old Danny Chen was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in October. Chen’s family said he had been subjected to race-based hazing, with soldiers forcing him out of bed, throwing rocks at him, calling him ethnic slurs and forcing him to do push-ups with his mouth full of water. The eight soldiers have been charged with crimes ranging from dereliction of duty to manslaughter. In a related case, a group of Marines was recently court-martialed following the suicide of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew, an Asian-American soldier who military prosecutors say also killed himself after being hazed.


Boston Resident Convicted of Aiding Al-Qaeda for Online Postings
A U.S. citizen and Boston area resident has been convicted of "conspiring to support" al-Qaeda and other terrorism charges after a controversial trial. Tarek Mehanna was accused of trying to serve in al-Qaeda’s "media wing." He was 27 years old when he was arrested in October 2009 and has been held in solitary confinement. Mehanna was originally courted by the FBI to become an informant. His lawyers argued that Mehanna was acting well within his First Amendment rights in posting jihadist content online and was expressing his own political views, not conspiring with al-Qaeda. But the jury found Mehanna guilty on all charges. The defense says it will appeal. In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts criticized the verdict, saying it "undermines" free speech.


U.S. Asks Science Journals to Withhold Study Findings
For the first time in history, a U.S. government advisory board has asked scientific journals not to publish scientific findings, for fear the information could be used by terrorist groups to construct lethal viruses and kick off worldwide epidemics. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, overseen by the National Institute of Health, has asked Nature and Science to leave out the details of a study conducted in the Netherlands and the United States. The study led to the creation of a highly transmissible form of a deadly flu virus. The virus, officially known as A(H5N1), causes bird flu. It doesn’t typically transfer between humans, but when it does, it is exceptionally deadly. Scientists have worried that if the virus did develop the capacity to easily pass from person to person, it could lead to one of the most catastrophic pandemics ever. The panel says the scientists should publish the conclusion of their findings, but omit certain details that would allow the experiments to be recreated. Bruce Alpert, editor of Science, noted that the findings revealed that the virus could be more easily evolved into a dangerous state than previously believed and could be spread through the air. Scientists say they will probably withhold some information if the government provides a way for legitimate researchers to information.


Islamic Center Targeted in String of Firebombings in Queens
Police in New York City are searching for a man believed to be responsible for targeting three homes, a business and an Islamic community center in and around Queens. On Sunday evening, a security camera captured images of a hooded man throwing a Molotov cocktail at a home that houses a small Hindu temple. The second attack occurred at a prominent Islamic community center where roughly 100 people were worshipping. The third target was a corner store owned by an immigrant from Yemen, and another attack took place at the home of a Christian family. Another bomb was thrown at a home just across the Nassau County border. There were no injuries reported in the attacks.


Appeals Court Upholds Telecom Immunity Law, OKs Spying Suit
A federal appeals court has upheld a 2008 law granting immunity to telecom companies that aided the Bush administration’s warrantless domestic spy program. Groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union had filed an appeal consolidating 33 different cases against the companies — including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Verizon and BellSouth — after a lower court ruled that the firms are protected by Congress-mandated retroactive immunity. But on Dec.29, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the telecom suits, ruling the retroactive immunity law is constitutional. The ruling could mark the end of legal attempts to hold the telecom firms accountable for the spying in court. But in a victory for civil liberties advocates, the court revived a separate legal attempt to sue the government for the warrantless domestic spying program. A lower court had dismissed the case after the government successfully argued it would jeopardize so-called "state secrets." The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which brought the case, hailed the ruling, saying, "The American people may [finally] get a judicial ruling on whether the massive spying done on them since 9/11 is legal or not."


Judge Says SEC Misleading, Obstructing on Citibank Settlement Ruling
A federal judge has accused the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of misleading an appeals court and withholding important information. U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff of New York said the SEC had misled a federal appeals court in seeking to overturn his recent decision rejecting a proposed $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission over Citigroup’s sale of toxic mortgage debt. In a major decision, Rakoff had said the proposed settlement was "neither reasonable, nor fair, nor adequate, nor in the public interest" and "pocket change to any entity as large as Citigroup." The SEC had accused Citigroup of selling $1 billion of deceptive mortgage-backed securities in 2007 just as the nation’s housing bubble was about to burst. Citigroup made $160 million in profits on the transaction, while investors lost $700 million.


Seismologists: Fracking Linked to 11 Ohio Earthquakes Since March
Seismologists believe a pair of earthquakes that rocked Ohio recently may have been the result of the controversial natural gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. A 4.0-magnitude earthquake shook the city of Youngstown Saturday, one week after another quake shook a nearly identical location. Both sites are at the bottom of a 9,200-foot-deep disposal well where waste from fracking had been injected under pressure. The quakes were the tenth and eleventh to occur near the well since March. Links between fracking sites and earthquakes have also been noted in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma.



EPA Enacts New Pollution Standards for Power Plants
The Environmental Protection Agency has released the first national standards to cut emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants from power plants. The agency says the new standards will prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks each year, as well as preventing 130,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms. Power plants are the leading source of arsenic and cyanide pollution and are responsible for half of mercury emissions in the United States. In a statement, the group Earthjustice, which filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration that led to the new standards, said, "We’re celebrating today after a long fight for cleaner air."

More International News
U.N. Security Council Members Criticize U.S. on Israeli Settlements
Members of the U.N. Security Council have issued rare public criticism directed at the United States over the Obama administration’s refusal to allow a resolution criticizing Israel’s settlement building in the Occupied Territories. After a closed-door session on Tuesday, diplomats from all the regional blocs represented on the Council expressed frustration with the Obama administration’s stance. The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said the United States is alone in blocking action against illegal settlement building.

Riyad Mansour: "It is very unfortunate that when you have this kind of support in the Security Council, that the Security Council cannot legislate that in a resolution on parameters, in a resolution of condemnation of settlement activities, and a demand from Israel to stop this illegal behavior immediately in all the occupied territory, including in East Jerusalem. And the reason why the Security Council was unable to act on this very important issue, simply because of a position of one powerful country in the Security Council."



Cuba Releases Over 2,500 from Prison, Freeing 5 Political Prisoners
Cuba has released more than 2,500 prisoners under a New Year’s amnesty announced last week. Cuba says it made the decision ahead of a visit from Pope Benedict XVI scheduled for the spring. A Cuban human rights group says five of an estimated 66 political prisoners were among those released.


Oil Slick from Massive Spill in Nigeria Threatens Coastline, May Be Largest Spill in a Decade
Communities along Nigeria’s Niger Delta have been put on

The oil giant Shell may have spilled as much as 2.4 million gallons of oil off the coast of Nigeria.

alert following a major oil spill from the oil giant Shell. Satellite images indicate the spill may be the worst in the area in over a decade. The massive oil slick is making its way to the Nigerian coast, threatening local wildlife, massive pollution along the shore. Shell says less than 40,000 barrels have leaked so far, but Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency says the spill could be three times as large. Satellite images from the environmental group SkyTruth show as much as 2.4 million gallons of oil have spilled. The spill comes just four months after the United Nations said it would take 30 years and around a billion dollars for a small section of the delta to recover from environmental damage caused by Shell and other companies.

U.S. Delays North Korea Food Aid Despite Warnings of Deaths
The Obama administration is facing urgent pleas to reverse a decision to delay food aid to North Korea in aftermath of the death of Kim Jong-il. The U.S. had reportedly been poised to deliver aid before Kim Jong-il’s death was announced but now says it will need more time to assess the new regime. Humanitarian groups warn many North Koreans are likely to die of malnutrition in the coming months if the nation does not receive an increased amount of aid. Lack of food has been a central issue for North Koreans since the mid-1990s, when famine struck the region, killing hundreds of thousands. Reports suggest the U.S. could deliver as much as 240,000 tons of aid.


Senegal: Music Star Youssou N’dour Announces Plans to Run For President Senegalese music star Youssou N’dour has announced plans to run against Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade in next month’s election. The 85-year-old Wade has ruled Senegal for 11 years.


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