Mar 31 2010
April 1, 2010
We’ll look at President Obama’s decision to open the door to off-shore oil drilling and how it fits within his promise to spur clean energy. And, a federal judge’s ruling this week could void all patents on human genes – we’ll find out what it means for industry, medicine, and patients. Plus, the Youth Justice Coalition is calling for justice for 19 year old Tedi Snyder in a case they say is illustrative of what’s wrong with the California Juvenile Justice System.
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Thousands of conservatives descended on a windswept patch of desert in Searchlight, Nevada last weekend for a Tea Party Express rally which kicked off a 40 city tour which is to culminate on April 15th in Washington, D.C. Originally intended to stir up opposition to Sen. Harry Reid’s re-election bid this fall, the rally was a mass tirade against the passage of the Health Care Reform Bill, layoffs, high taxes, and Wall Street bailouts. The rally was headlined by Sarah Palin who spoke to her adoring followers in a concert-style setting. Palin exhorted what she called the “lame-stream” media to “get it right” by insisting that her use of violent language serve only to inspire people to get involved in the political process. Uprising correspondent Chris Bennett went …
According to figures released by the US Commerce Department on Monday, consumer spending in the economy rose just three-tenths of a percent in February. Though it marked the fifth straight month of improvement, February’s rate of growth was the slowest paced since September. Consumer spending accounts for over two-thirds of all economic activity in the U.S. and some analysts interpret the Commerce Department findings as a signal of a fragile economic recovery. But at the same time that consumer spending has inched slightly upward, inflation-adjusted household incomes have remained stagnant for the past half year. Wages and salaries increased by only one-tenth of a percent in February. Flat household incomes coupled with unemployment rates and high debt burdens factor into future forecasts for the U.S. economy. Another important indicator, job creation …
US Admiral Mike Mullen met with tribal elders in the tiny Afghan village of Marjah yesterday. Marjah was the site of a major offensive by US troops intended to rout Taliban fighters, and a pre-cursor to a larger fight in Kandahar this June. Mullen’s meeting followed a surprise visit to Afghanistan by President Obama this past Sunday. Obama addressed US troops in the region, whose numbers have been steadily increasing under the President’s new policy. He also met with President Karzai in a meeting intended to convey a strong message over rampant corruption in the central government. Karzai had promised not to sign into law a 2007 bill that passed the warlord-dominated parliament providing blanket amnesty to all Afghan war criminals and human rights abusers. But recently the law simply …
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles this Saturday to remind President Barack Obama of his promise to deliver comprehensive legislation on immigration. During his election campaign, the President vowed to move on the issue of reform within the first year of his tenure. In effort to pressure the White House while reviving the momentum of the immigrant rights movement, the March for Fair and Comprehensive Immigration Reform promised a spirit of unity heading into a single mobilization in the city scheduled for May 1st. The LA protests followed a larger demonstration in Washington, D.C. earlier this month that attracted more than 200,000 people. President Obama, in a videotaped message, assured marchers in the nation’s capital that he would work on forming a bipartisan consensus …
Thousands of conservative Americans gathered over the weekend in Searchlight, Nevada, hometown of Democratic Senator Harry Reid, to kick off a national tour that will culminate in Washington DC on April 15th, tax day. Under the banner of the right-wing so-called Tea Party movement, activists carrying signs that read Don’t Tread On Me, rallied to condemn the Obama Presidency. Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a Tea-Party favorite, addressed the crowds defending her recent rhetoric loaded with violent, firearms-related imagery where she urged her supporters to set their sights on “targets,” and to “never retreat, instead reload.” The provocative language coming from the right is not easily dismissed in light of yesterday’s charges against a Michigan-based right-wing Christian militia for conspiracy to murder police officers in an …
Weeks after Iraqis voted for their parliamentary representatives, election results are finally in. Former prime minister Iyad Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc won a slim plurality of 91 seats over incumbent PM Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coalition which won 89 seats. Allawi lost Iraq’s last elections, being seen as too close to the US. But this time around he has enjoyed support from a largely Sunni population as well as secular Shiites. The Iraqiya bloc has faced accusations of bringing back Saddam Hussein’s Baathist tendencies into Iraqi politics. His rival Al Maliki on the other hand, faces accusations of being influenced by the Iranian regime and commands strong support among Iraq’s Shiite majority. While the English-speaking media has assumed a win for Allawi, it is as yet unclear which coalition …
