May 11

McClatchy - Amid accusations that Air Force Major Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann had not provided adequate resources to defense attorneys, a military judge ordered Hartmann barred from any involvement in the case against Osama bin Laden's driver. The decision is a rebuke of the Pentagon's push for speeding up trials at Guantanamo, with just seven months left in the Bush administration.

Murray Evans | Picher, Oklahoma | May 11

AP - Many have fled this depressed, pollution-scarred mining town. Those who have chosen to stay or have not yet relocated face a new heartache.

A tornado ripped through a 20-block swath of Picher late Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri where tornadoes took the lives of at least 12 others, authorities said.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said Picher's victims included an infant. He said at least three people were confirmed missing.

Why forging a sustainable energy future is dependent on foreign oil

Mother Jones | Paul Roberts | May/June Issue

On February 1, 2006, Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, arrived at the White House in a state of agitation. The night before, in his State of the Union address, President Bush had declared the United States to be "addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." He had announced plans to "break this addiction" by developing alternatives—including a multibillion-dollar subsidized ramp-up of biofuels—and had boldly stated that by 2025, America could cut imports from Gulf states by three-quarters and "make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." "I was taken aback," Prince Faisal later told cnn, "and I raised this point with government officials."

Two years on, anyone who's been to a gas station or a grocery store knows the prince had very little to worry about. Despite supposedly bold initiatives such as last year's Energy Independence and Security Act, America is no freer from foreign oil: Since 2006, imports have remained steady at about 13 million barrels every day, while the price for each of those barrels has jumped by $30. And though federal efforts to encourage biofuel production have significantly boosted output, our heavily subsidized ethanol refiners now use so much corn (closing in on a third of the total crop) that prices for all grains have soared, sparking inflation here at home and food riots abroad.

Carol J. Williams | Miami | May 7

Los Angeles Times - A dinner with 500 fellow Cuban exiles honors the militant and former CIA operative, now 80 and still wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges.

The dapper octogenarian in a crisp blue suit, his face smoothed by plastic surgery, swanned from table to table in the candlelit banquet hall, bestowing kisses and collecting accolades.

An aging movie star being feted by fans? A veteran politico taking his bows?

No, the man being honored by 500 fellow Cuban Americans at a sold-out gala was Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges and under a deportation order for illegally entering the United States three years ago.

Posada, 80, has mostly kept a low profile since his release from a Texas prison a year ago and a federal judge's dismissal of the only U.S. charges against him -- making false statements to immigration officials.

Many of you will no doubt remember and recognize my loathing of SUVs. I've blogged about it many, many times, most especially by laughing (and crying) at Detroit and it's errant stupidity when it comes to SUVs. Things haven't changed:

General Motors Corp still expects the U.S. economy to recover in the second half of 2008, pulling industry-wide auto sales higher, an executive said on Tuesday.
GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni, speaking to reporters and analysts on a conference call, said he saw "early signs" that the U.S. market was steadying.

One thing you can always bet on: stupidity at the Big Three, er Two and A Half now, or something. They haven't changed in Detroit--and one of them will probably have to die before they do. But things are changing elsewhere, as in, the consumers are tired of getting fleeced at the pump (admit it, paying $80 twice a week to fill up an SUV is fucking stupid) and are trading down:

Menicocci, a resident of the upscale Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay, recently placed his 2003 Chevrolet Tahoe with leather seats and 39,000 miles for sale on Craigslist for $16,000 -- roughly $2,000 less than what his research determined was the Kelley Blue Book value. He bought a 2003 Kia Spectra for $5,000 because he was tired of paying so much for gas with his heavy Tahoe. "I was wasting $30 a day compared to $10 a day," he said. "Everybody is like, `What is that? Is that the maid's car?"' said Menicocci, who sells marble and granite for a living. "But I don't care. At this point, I'm way past looks and appearances."

I can't help but reiterate when people says things like, "I'm way past looks and appearances," there is a sea change underway. And not a day too soon. Although, there will always be people with lots of money and little sense who will buy Hummers.

I drive a 20 year old Acura. It runs, gets decent milage and I could care less how it looks. It gets me where I need to go and that is all that ever mattered. But I do look forward to the day when the highways aren't full of huge behemoths and it's safe to putz around on a moped. Then I can really minimize my carbon footprint.

Los Angeles | May 7

Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought Rocky Road, Pralines ’n Cream and other exotic ice cream concoctions to every corner of America, has died at age 90.

Robbins had been ill for some time and died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said his daughter Marsha Veit.

While the company advertised that it offered 31 flavors, in fact it has created more than 1,000 flavors, according to its Web site.

I sure hope he left the recipe for THE only Rocky Road Ice Cream worth eating.

Richard Marosi | San diego | May 7

LA Times - U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they're catching them on the way out.

At random times near the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don't have proper documentation.

The operation appears to be an expansion of a broader federal crackdown targeting illegal immigrants in jails, airports and workplaces across the country.

Vincent Bond, an agency spokesman, said departing immigrants are fair targets.

"If our officers come upon people who are here illegally . . . regardless of whether they're leaving the country, we detain them, make a record of the fact they were here illegally and return them to Mexico," Bond said.

Don't know what this is about but it certainly bears watching:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.

This guy may very well be a bad actor. Or he may not. He is, after all, investigating Karl Rove.

John R Wilke | Washington | May 6

WSJ - Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.

More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency's computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch's home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office.

The independent agency, created by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is charged with protecting federal employees and deciding whether their complaints merit full-scale investigation -- a first line of defense against fraud and mismanagement in government. It also enforces a ban on U.S. employees engaging in partisan political activity.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Mr. Bloch had used "Geeks on Call," an outside computer-service firm, to erase his computer and those of two former staff members in December 2006. more..

Rick Merritt | San Jose, CA | May 2

EE Times - The U.S. government fined a consulting firm $45,000 for placing online job ads for computer programmers that said only H-1B visa holders should apply. The case is just the tip of an iceberg of H-1B abuses, according to a lobbying group that filed the original complaint.

The Department of Justice said iGate Mastech Inc. (Pittsburgh) placed 30 online job ads in May and June 2006 asking for only H-1B visa holders. The case is one of 215 the DoJ has handled involving preference for H-1B workers over U.S. citizens since the year 2000.

One of the iGate ads was for a Java programmer in the Midwest. It stated "Only H-1s Apply, and should be willing to transfer H-1B."

Great insight from Stirling here:

So what all of this means is that the numbers as presented are accurate, but uninformative to the question that most Americans want to know. What they say is that the very small elites are prevailing in their gambling to keep control of the economy, while producing a radically lower standard of living for everyone else. They are continuing in their gamble to incarcerate or keep in the military the small core of people who are willing to break bones to make political change. Here.

No, it's not a touchy-feely, nice sentiment. But that doesn't make it untrue. Nothing will change until the war ends. Period. Full stop.

Quite a catch-22 there, huh?

Rob Hotakainen | Washington | May 2

McClatchy - The Federal Reserve Board moved Friday to place new regulations on the nation's credit card industry that would make it more difficult for lenders to raise interest rates and give consumers more time to pay their bills.

If enacted, the regulations would be the most sweeping change in decades, offering consumers more protection against late fees and stopping lenders from making credit offers that regulators deem to be deceptive.

"The proposed rules are intended to establish a new baseline for fairness in how credit card plans operate," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. "Consumers relying on credit cards should be better able to predict how their decisions and actions will affect their costs."

The banking industry promised a fight, saying the regulations would hurt consumers.

more

Ralph Blumenthal | Huntsville, TX | May 3

IHT - Here in the nation's leading death-penalty state, and some of the 35 others that practice capital punishment, execution dockets are quickly filling up.

Less than three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a seven-month halt in lethal injections, at least 14 execution dates have now been set in six states between May 6 and October. The first, on Tuesday, is in Georgia of a man who killed his companion and another woman.

"The Supreme Court essentially blessed their way of doing things," said Douglas Berman, a professor of law and a sentencing expert at Ohio State University. "So in some sense, they're back from vacation and ready to go to work."


more at the link

Leonard Doyle | Washington | May 3

Independent - America's love affair with sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks is finally over.

The gas-guzzlers that ply the country's freeways and clog its city streets and parking lots are falling victim to ever-rising petrol prices, rather than concern about the country's oversized carbon footprint. The fall-off in sales is dramatic however.

Even offers like that from a Denver showroom of a year's free petrol with each new SUV isn't shifting the pick-ups and 4x4s quickly enough to stave off financial ruin for the country's car manufacturers.

With petrol now selling for almost $4 (£2) a gallon, consumers are trading in their Humvees and Ford Explorers so fast that for the first time, one in five cars sold in the US is now a compact or subcompact. In another first, sales of six-cylinder vehicles were bypassed by smaller four-cylinder, mostly Japanese, cars in April.

Miriam Raftery | April 29

Raw Story - Tony Krvaric has never fully disavowed his piratical past.

Any job applicant knows that background checks are routine – especially for jobs involving authority or oversight of money. So why didn’t the San Diego Republican Party do a simple Google search before naming Tony Krvaric as its chairman?

Online research reveals that Krvaric is the co-founder of Fairlight, a band of software crackers which later evolved into an international video and software piracy group that law enforcement authorities say is among the world’s largest such crime rings. After co-founding Fairlight in Sweden, Krvaric established U.S. operations for the organization, including an arm headquartered in Southern California—a major center for the computer and video game industry.

Krvaric has also been appointed by California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring to head up the state party’s budget committee. RAW STORY's investigation reveals the California GOP has put an alleged pirate in charge of its treasure trove.

Jennifer Loven | Washington | April 29

AP -
Bush Blames Congress for Not Passing Foreclosure, Gas Bills
The President Says Congress Is Not Sending Him Bills That He Can Sign

President Bush says Congress is blocking his proposals to deal with high gas prices and dragging its feet on legislation to make more student loans available and ease the mortgage crunch.

Bush told a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday that it's a "tough time for our economy." He said Americans were "understandably anxious" about the economy.

Washington | April 28

Reuters - Full decision here.  [h/t Think Progress]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a tough state law requiring voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, a decision critics say could keep some blacks and poor people from voting in the November 2008 elections.

Stepping into a partisan political battle, the nation's high court voted 6-3 to reject a challenge to Indiana's toughest-in-the-nation voter identification law.

Democrats and other opponents had argued that the law is unconstitutional because it makes it too difficult for some people to vote, especially minorities, the poor, the disabled and the elderly. Those groups are most likely not to have government identification and also tend to vote for Democrats.

Gardiner Harris | April 28

NYT - Drug and medical device companies should be banned from offering free food, gifts, travel and ghost-writing services to doctors, staff and students in all 129 of the nation’s medical colleges, an influential college association has concluded.

The proposed ban is the result of a two-year effort by the Association of American Medical Colleges to create a model policy governing interactions between the schools and industry. While schools can ignore the association’s advice, most follow its recommendations.

Rob Restuccia, executive director of the Prescription Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to eliminating conflicts of interest in medicine, said the association’s report would transform medical education.

“Most medical schools do not have strong conflict-of-interest policies, and this report will change that,” he said.

Les Blumenthal | April 27

McClatchy - No one knows exactly why they started appearing in increasing numbers off Washington state and Oregon, or how many of them there are, but scientists and commercial fishermen believe jumbo squid, known to attack divers, could threaten the declining salmon population and signal another change brought on by global warming.

While I don't approve of arranged marriages or child abuse, I don't think the State of Texas did the right thing by invading Warren Jeff's ranch and then separating children from their mothers in masse, as was done.

If crimes were comitted, the guilty should pay, but the state can't issue blanket indictments that assume everyone in the place was party to crimes alleged to have been comitted without supporting evidence.

If the state has evidence of child abuse, it should target individual offenders. I am reasonably certain that the majority of women in this case have broken no law and I know damn well the children haven't.

Edith Honan | New York | April 25

Reuters - Three New York City police officers were found not guilty of all charges on Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man killed in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day.

A New York state judge cleared two officers of manslaughter and other charges and a third of reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23. Bell was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in November 2006.

After the verdict, loud sobs were heard in the courtroom. Outside, about 200 demonstrators angrily yelled at television cameras.

"They're murderers, criminals, and they are going to rot in hell where they belong," one man shouted.

Michael M. Grynbaum | Washington | April 24

IHT - Sales of new homes in March plummeted to the lowest level since the housing recession of the 1990s, the government said on Thursday, as inventories rose to the highest point in more than a quarter century.

Buyers vanished from the housing market last month at a swift rate. Sales of new homes fell 8.5 percent, a far sharper decline than economists had forecast.

Sales are running at an annual rate of 526,000 after adjusting for seasonal factors, the lowest point since October 1991.

Adding to the gloom, the Commerce Department lowered its initial estimate for February sales as well, to a 5.3 percent decline from 1.8 percent.

more...

David Brown | April 22

Washington Post - For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.

In nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s, according to a study published today.

The downward trend is evident in places in the Deep South, Appalachia, the lower Midwest and in one county in Maine. It is not limited to one race or ethnicity but it is more common in rural and low-income areas. The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County), where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983.

A few weeks ago I received the news that my old coach and math teacher, Craig Newell, had died. I haven't written about it till now because I've been thinking of him since then. He was an odd man, spare and lean, with the whippet body of a greyhound, and he had a way of cocking his head when he looked at you which was inevitably parodied every year when the seniors did their annual play.

I spent five years around him, in high school, a boarder in an all boys school. It was an excellent school, well run, with fair rules and no brutality, but I hated the place and was miserable most of the time, though still happier there than I would have been at home. Mr. Newell was my grade 9 math teacher, but I didn't really make a connection with him till a few months into the year.

Government authority is crossing a line
By Raul Reyes
USAToday

Last week, Eloisa Tamez, 73, lost the latest round in her ongoing fight with the U.S. government. A judge ordered her to let Washington survey her land near Brownsville, Texas. It lies in the path of a proposed border fence. Now, Tamez, heir to an original Spanish land grant dating to the 1700s, fears that her property will be seized with good reason.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recently waived more than 30 laws in order to expedite construction of the border fence. He did so with little regard for the concerns of residents, local officials and environmentalists.