March 13, 2010 12:45 pm
Reuters, “Att’y general failed to give legal briefs to Senate”
by Jeremy Pelofsky
Attorney General Eric Holder failed to tell the Senate about seven legal briefs he signed when lawmakers considered his nomination to his current job, according to a letter released on Friday.
Two of the briefs involved appeals to the Supreme Court for Jose Padilla, who sought release from a military prison in South Carolina where he was being held after then-President George W. Bush designated him an “enemy combatant.”
Padilla was held in a military brig for three years before his case was moved to a criminal court in Miami, where he was convicted on charges of offering his services to militants.
Reuters article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:45 pm
MSNBC, “‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ for Thursday, March, 2010”
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition—is job locking.
Think of a situation where we can internationally competitive because we don‘t have this weight on us that other country—other businesses really don‘t have in other countries because they don‘t have this expense of health care which will all be reined in, those costs under this bill.
We cannot afford the status quo. We will make this difference and it will make a wonderful difference in the lives of our people, but also, in the vitality of our economy. That‘s what we want people to talk about.
MSNBC article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:45 pm
Financial Times, “Google to shut China search engine”
by Richard Waters and Kathrin Hille
Google has drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine and is now “99.9 per cent” certain to go ahead as talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent impasse, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking.
In a hardening of positions on both sides, the Chinese government also on Friday threw down a direct public challenge to the US search company, with a warning that it was not prepared to compromise on internet censorship to stop Google leaving.
The signs that Google was on the brink of closing Google.cn, its local search service in China, came two months after it promised to stop bowing to censorship there. But while a decision could be made very soon, the company is likely to take some time to follow through with the plan as it seeks an orderly closure and takes steps to protect local employees from retaliation by the authorities, the person familiar with its position said.
Financial Times article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:45 pm
PCWorld Business Center, “FCC’s National Broadband Plan: What’s in It?”
by Grant Gross
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to release a national broadband plan next week that will lay out an ambitious set of goals for broadband deployment and adoption.
The official version of the plan will be released at a commission meeting Tuesday, but FCC followers have seen the agency unveil several major thrusts of the plan in a series of speeches and briefings in recent weeks. In a mid-February speech, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski kicked off the announcements by saying it was the agency’s goal to bring 100M bps (bits per second) broadband service to 100 million U.S. homes by about 2020.
Many members of the U.S. tech community have called for a national broadband policy for years, and Congress, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in early 2009, required the FCC to develop the plan.
PCWorld Business Center article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:44 pm
Miami News, “Venezuela Murder Rate Has Quadrupled Under Hugo Chávez”
by Kyle Munzenrieder
One person is murdered every two hours in Venezuela, according to new statistics released by the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence.
The murder rate in the South American country has more than quadrupled since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999. There were 54 homicides per 100,000 people last year, a rate only exceeded on the continent by El Salvador, where there were 70 homicides per 100,000 citizens.
“The problem is not so much the criminals, but rather the government’s inaction and lack of policies,” Roberto Briceño León, director of the VOV, told reporters.
Miami News article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:44 pm
The Sacramento Bee, “IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents”
by Bob Shallit
It was every businessperson’s nightmare.
Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.
The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.
Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35.
The Sacramento Bee article continues here.
March 13, 2010 12:44 pm
Google News (UKPKA), “EU develops Greece bailout options”
The EU has developed a set of options to help Greece overcome its financial crisis, which has unsettled the euro currency and markets globally, officials said.
But Athens will have to arrange for possible loan guarantees with individual EU governments, they said.
“There are intensive consultations on a bilateral basis in case Greece needs support for a special loan guarantee that a number of countries could come to provide,” said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for the Spanish presidency of the 27-nation EU.
Google News (UKPKA) article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:19 am
Yahoo! News (Reuters), “House panel to consider healthcare bill Monday”
The House of Representatives Budget Committee on Monday will consider a reconciliation bill that Democrats hope clears the way for final congressional approval of an overhaul of U.S. healthcare, House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said on Friday.
Representative Jim Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership, said he hopes a vote by the full chamber could be held on the measure within the next 10 days.
Yahoo! News (Reuters) article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:18 am
Fox News, “Man at Wheel of ‘Out-of-Control’ Prius Has Troubled Financial Past”
The man who became the face of the Toyota gas pedal scandal this week has a troubled financial past that is leading some to question whether he was wholly truthful in his story.
On Monday, James Sikes called 911 to report that he was behind the wheel of an out-of-control Toyota Prius going 94 mph on a freeway near San Diego. Twenty-three minutes later, a California Highway Patrol officer helped guide him to a stop, a rescue that was captured on videotape.
Since then, it’s been learned that:
— Sikes filed for bankruptcy in San Diego in 2008. According to documents, he was more than $700,000 in debt and roughly five months behind in payments on his Prius;
— In 2001, Sikes filed a police report with the Merced County Sheriff’s Department for $58,000 in stolen property, including jewelry, a digital video camera and equipment and $24,000 in cash;
— Sikes has hired a law firm, though it has indicated he has no plans to sue Toyota;
— Sikes won $55,000 on television’s “The Big Spin” in 2006, Fox40.com reports, and the real estate agent has boasted of celebrity clients such as Constance Ramos of “Extreme Home Makeover.”
Fox News article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:18 am
The Hill, “Obama puts off overseas trip to focus on healthcare reform battle”
by Michael O’Brien
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed the decision to delay the trip from March 18 to March 21 in a message on Twitter.
Obama was set to leave March 18, and the White House hoped the House would approve the Senate’s healthcare bill by that time.
But House leaders have pushed back at the deadline, criticizing Gibbs and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the process.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that meeting the White House deadline is highly unlikely.
The Hill article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:18 am
Breitbart (PR Newswire), “Obama Justice Department Shut Down Federal ACORN Investigation According to Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch”
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) detailing federal investigations into the alleged corrupt activities of Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). The documents reference serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by ACORN as well as the Obama administration’s decision to shut down a criminal investigation without filing criminal charges.
The documents include background information on two specific complaints filed in October 2008 by Lucy Corelli and Joseph Borges, Republican Registrars of Voters in Stamford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, respectively, during the 2008 election season.
Breitbart (PR Newswire) article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:18 am
Fox News, “Al Qaeda Suspect Worked at U.S. Nuclear Plants”
An American charged in Yemen with being a member of Al Qaeda had worked at nuclear power plants in the U.S., a spokesman for a group of plants in New Jersey said Thursday. But a state official said the man did not breach security there.
Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old natural-born U.S. citizen, was arrested in Yemen earlier this month and is accused of killing a guard in an attempt to break out of a hospital.
The FBI, the State Department and other authorities said they were trying to gather information about Mobley. But the allegations appeared to illustrate a phenomenon U.S. intelligence officials have warned about: American Muslims becoming radicalized and joining terrorist movements overseas.
Fox News article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:17 am
CNSNews, “For First Time, U.S. Will Submit Criticism of Its Own Human Rights Record to U.N. Human Rights Council”
by Penny Starr
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the State Department is soliciting comments from citizens, advocacy groups and other non-governmental organizations on the human rights record of the United States.
“Human rights are universal, but their experience is local. This is why we are committed to holding everyone to the same standard, including ourselves,” Clinton told a press briefing at the State Department, where she unveiled the “2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.”
Clinton said the U.S. is now gathering facts on its own record because – as a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council – it is participating in the UNHRC’s “universal periodic review” process.
CNSNews article continues here.
March 12, 2010 11:17 am
USA Today, “States may hold onto tax refunds for months”
by William M. Welch
Residents eager to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months.
States from New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn say they have either delayed refunds or are considering doing so because of budget shortfalls.
“It’s an indicator of how bad it is,” says Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. “You know things are bad when you have to do that.”
USA Today article continues here.
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