Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Dozens in Congress Face Inquiries About Defense Lobbying and Corporate Influence Peddling
October 30th, 2009Via: Washington Post: House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, […]
Chinese-Made Turbines to Fill U.S. Wind Farm
October 30th, 2009Maybe I need a Shame and Embarrassment category. Via: Wall Street Journal: A Chinese wind-turbine company, with financing help from Beijing, has struck a deal to be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S., a sign of how Chinese firms are aggressively capitalizing on America’s clean-energy push. The 36,000-acre […]
U.N. Can’t Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
October 30th, 2009Via: ProPublica: The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential U.N. audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats… As Afghanistan prepares for a second round of national voting, the documents and interviews paint the fullest picture to date of […]
Too Big to Fail List a Secret
October 30th, 2009Via: Reuters: U.S. regulators on Thursday scoffed at the administration’s plan to not publicly identify financial firms the government considers “systemic,” saying such a list cannot remain under wraps for long and federal laws could mandate disclosure. “It’s likely that most, if not all, of the institutions so identified would eventually be known to the […]
More Than 40% of President Obama’s Top-Level Fundraisers Given Posts in His Administration
October 30th, 2009Via: USA Today: More than 40% of President Obama’s top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama’s campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been […]
Stimulus Money Going to Contractors That Are “The Most Egregious Offenders of State and Federal Laws”
October 29th, 2009Via: Washington Post: President Obama and members of Congress told federal agencies earlier this year to avoid awarding funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to contractors with troubled histories of work for the federal government. But that isn’t happening at numerous agencies, a Washington Post analysis shows. So far, 33 federal departments and […]
GMAC May Receive Third Bailout From U.S. Government
October 28th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: GMAC Inc., the lender that received two government bailouts totaling $13.5 billion, is in talks with the Treasury Department to receive a third lifeline, a person familiar with the matter said. The U.S. government may inject an additional $2.8 billion to $5.6 billion into GMAC, the person said, declining to be identified because […]
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on CIA Payroll
October 28th, 2009Via: New York Times: Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a […]
Britain: Spotter Cards: What They Look Like and How They Work
October 26th, 2009Via: Guardian: This kind of highly confidential document – pictured above – is rarely seen by the public. These so-called “spotter cards” are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations. The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was […]
Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency
October 25th, 2009Via: Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama has declared 2009 H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, the White House said on Saturday. The declaration will make it easier for U.S. medical facilities to handle a surge in flu patients by allowing the waiver of some requirements of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs as […]
