News of the Week
*************** How did they determine those Obamacare waivers? By Neal Boortz How did the Obama administration go about determining who received healthcare waivers and who did not? *************** Corrupt Obamacare Waiver Process Is Like a Scene from Atlas Shrugged by Dan Mitchell In a column about the revolving door between big government and the lobbying world, here’s what the irreplaceable Tim Carney wrote about the waiver process for folks trying to escape the burden of government-run healthcare. *************** "Hide the Decline" *************** Ideological money laundering This is a guest post by Ben Pile, of Climate Resistance fame. As everybody now knows, the headlines from IPCC WGIII report on renewable energy appear to have been written by Greenpeace. When the Summary for Policy Makers was published last month, I was one of many who noted the role of Greenpeace, and the extent to which the SPM's authors were involved in the renewable energy industry. *************** A blunder of staggering proportions by the IPCC by Anthony Watts Steve McIntyre has uncovered a blunder on the part of Pachauri and the IPCC that is causing waves of doubt and calls for retooling on both sides of the debate. *************** Changing Tides: Research Center Under Fire for 'Adjusted' Sea-Level Data By Maxim Lott Is climate change raising sea levels, as Al Gore has argued -- or are climate scientists doctoring the data? *************** Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade By Lewis Page What may be the science story of the century is breaking this evening, as heavyweight US solar physicists announce that the Sun appears to be headed into a lengthy spell of low activity, which could mean that the Earth – far from facing a global warming problem – is actually headed into a mini Ice Age. War & Terror *************** Lawmakers sue President Obama over Libya By REID J. EPSTEIN A bipartisan group of House members announced on Wednesday that it is filing a lawsuit charging that President Obama made an illegal end-run around Congress when he approved U.S military action against Libya. *************** Grand jury probing possible CIA war crimes in Iraq By REID J. EPSTEIN A federal prosecutor has launched a secret grand jury to investigate possible CIA war crimes at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq National *************** The Definitive Scandal: ‘Gunwalker’ Much Worse Than ‘Iran-Contra’ Pay attention to this era-defining event: The 2,000+ weapons are implicated in an estimated 150 shootings of Mexican officers and soldiers, two American officers, and an unknown number of civilians. *************** Nuclear Plant, Left for Dead, Shows a Pulse By MATTHEW L. WALD HOLLYWOOD, Ala. — Spider webs line the 50-story cooling towers, parts have been amputated for the scrap value of their nickel or copper, and the control room still has analog dials at Bellefonte 1, a half-built nuclear plant here that was shelved 23 years ago. *************** Candidate sees Southern Nevada as 'nuclear center for excellence' By Ed Vogel, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU RENO -- To the applause of a crowd of 100 people, Congressional District 2 candidate Kirk Lippold on Wednesday called for the construction of two nuclear power plants at the Nevada National Security Site and the use of the Yucca Mountain site as the national center of nuclear fuel reprocessing. *************** Baltimore Opens City Curfew Center BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore City officials are collaborating to keep teens off the streets and out of trouble this summer. *************** Google denies special deal for Barack Obama By BYRON TAU & BEN SMITH Google denied Wednesday that it gave President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign special access to a new advertising program, something a sales representative from the search and advertising giant had claimed in an email to customers. *************** Wisoncisn Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law By Patrick Marley and Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel Madison - Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker's plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers. *************** Clark apologizes for 'smackin’ her around' comment By Tim Damos A rolling tape on an answering machine has caught an unsuspecting Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, saying he wanted to "smack around" a woman from his district after she hung up on him. Economy
& Taxes *************** The Vise, or stag-double-flation The more I sift through the economic news, the more anxious I grow. It's not one piece; it's when they all start to fit together. Are we in an economic vise, with both deflationary and inflationary pressures squeezing us ... until we break? *************** White House’s Daley seeks balance in outreach meeting with manufacturers By Peter Wallsten and and Jia Lynn Yang It was supposed to be the White House’s latest make-nice session with corporate America — a visit by Chief of Staff William M. Daley to a meeting with hundreds of manufacturing executives in town to press lawmakers for looser regulations. *************** Don't Look Now, But Stagflation May Be Here By Dunstan Prial Stubbornly high unemployment has been the bane of this economic recovery. Inflation has been creeping higher for months. And on Wednesday, data tied to a key manufacturing index was disappointing, to say the least. *************** Why 70% Tax Rates Won't Work Memo to Robert Reich: The income tax brought in less revenue when the highest rate was 70% to 91% than it did when the highest rate was 28%. *************** Second manufacturing report shows decline amid mixed signals by Ed Morrissey Yesterday it was the Empire State manufacturing index that turned unexpectedly negative. Today, it’s the Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index that dropped into the red … “unexpectedly.” *************** IMF cuts U.S. growth forecast, warns of crisis By Luciana Lopez SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth on Friday and warned Washington and debt-ridden European countries that they are "playing with fire" unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits. *************** Obama Blames ATMs for High Unemployment President Obama explained to NBC News that the reason companies aren't hiring is not because of his policies, it's because the economy is so automated. ... "There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don't go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you're using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate." *************** US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression It's official: The housing crisis that began in 2006 and has recently entered a double dip is now worse than the Great Depression. *************** 99% Chance of Another Recession by 2012 *************** Egypt Debt Buoyed by Obama Guarantee for Eurobonds: Arab Credit By Alaa Shahine and Ahmed A Namatalla Egypt is rated Ba3, three levels below investment grade, by Moody’s, which lowered the rating for a second time this year in March. Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images President Barack Obama’s guarantee on $1 billion of Egyptian Eurobonds is poised to reduce the country’s borrowing costs, helping the transition to democracy after six decades of autocratic rule. *************** US retail sales show first fall in 11 months By Shannon Bond in New York US retail sales fell in May for the first time in nearly a year as supply constraints curtailed sales of new cars and consumers remained generally cautious. *************** Gold to Reach $5,000 Due to Supply Shortage: Report By: John Melloy An exhaustive report by Standard Chartered predicts that gold [GCCV1 1524.50 8.90 (+0.59%) ] will more than triple to $5,000 an ounce because of a lack of supply, not just because of a surge in demand that most bullion bugs cite in their bullish calls. *************** Shale Oil to Set-off US Oil Boom? By Robert Sullivan Texas has always been known for its oil, but the black stuff has been overshadowed recently by the ‘game-changing’ shale gas boom in the state and across the rest of the country. *************** International *************** Japan halts nuclear plant clean-up TOKYO - A rise in radiation halted the clean-up of radioactive water at Japan's Fukushimi nuclear power station on Saturday hours after it got under way, a fresh setback to efforts to restore control over the quake-stricken plant. *************** Mexican teenage girls train as drug cartel killers By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Dwarfed by surrounding reporters and with her head bowed to avoid the television cameras, the slender 16-year-old hesitated slightly before she answered the question. "I'm a hitwoman," she said. *************** How China Could Yet Fail Like Japan By: Martin Wolf Until 1990, Japan was the most successful large economy in the world. Almost nobody predicted what would happen to it in the succeeding decades. Today, people are yet more in awe of the achievements of China. Is it conceivable that this colossus could learn that spectacular success is a precursor of surprising failure? The answer is: yes. *************** China Social Unrest Getting Out of Control: Expert Deepanshu Bagchee China's security services have managed for now to curb social unrest in the southern manufacturing city of Zengcheng after migrant workers set fire to government buildings over the weekend. But one economist says the discord is more worrying for markets than the nation’s widely-telegraphed soaring inflation. *************** Butlins bans bumping on the bumper cars When Sir Billy Butlin introduced bumper cars to Britain more than 80 years ago, it can be assumed he expected holiday makers to have fun on the fairground ride bumping into each other. *************** Police 'covered up' violent campaign to turn London area 'Islamic' Police have been accused of “covering up” a campaign of abuse, threats and violence aimed at “Islamicising” an area of London. *************** Opinion *************** Thoughts on the Greek Madness By Victor Davis Hanson Anyone who has lived in Greece can see why the question of default or a “haircut” is not a matter of if, but when. It is a wonder that crazy things have lasted as long as they have there. The symptoms are well known *************** How to write about eugenics without mentioning Progressives, Margaret Sanger or Planned Parenthood The BBC is running an article on its news website on the legacy of the eugenics-inspired forced sterilisations carried out in North Carolina in the middle decades of the last century. *************** Are We Seeing the Cognitive Limits of the Regulatory State? by Steven Hayward Ever since the election in November I've been saying that I expected that someone at the White House was going to place a discreet phone call to Lisa Jackson over at the Environmental Protection Agency telling her to go on vacation until after the 2012 election, and to cool it with the whole suite of new regulations that threaten a chokehold on the American economy. *************** THE MINISTRY OF LOVE By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D. When is “love” NOT love? One example would be the horrors that occurred in the “Ministry of Love” under Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984. *************** |
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