Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.
Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.
CIA Invests In Company That Monitors Social Network Sites
March 1st, 2010
The investment arm of the CIA is investing in a firm that monitors social media as part of the CIA’s effort to access more “open source intelligence.” The firm is known as Visible Technologies and has offices in New York, Seattle, and Boston.
There is a reason that 702 American banks, nearly one in ten, were on the FDIC “problem list” as of the end of 2009. A large number of small and mid-sized banks are burdened with home and commercial mortgages that are in default and may even go into foreclosure.
Written By Kathy Ozer and Marcia Ishii-Eiteman March 1st, 2010
“Lobbyists won’t find a job in my White House.” President Obama assured us with this claim upon inauguration. And yet he just nominated to two key posts “Big Ag” industry power brokers, who come straight from the chemical pesticide and biotechnology sectors. While they may not be registered as lobbyists, both men come from organizations representing powerful agribusiness interests, which every year spend millions of dollars in lobbying to advance their companies’ chemical and transgenic products.
The Unemployed Now Have Their Own Union, and It's Catching on Quickly
Written By Harry Kelber March 1st, 2010
It's been only a month that a union for the unemployed has come into existence through an ingenious grass-roots organizing campaign. In case you haven't heard about it, the union's name is "UR Union of the Unemployed" or its nickname, "UCubed," because of its unique method of organizing.
Liberals are dismissing Joseph Stack's rant as a brutal anti-government battle cry -- "Tea Party on steroids." Conservatives are dismissing it as the petulant whine of a "victim" who couldn't hack capitalism.
The tortured manifesto cannot be credibly labeled as left- or right-wing. Rather, it's a non-partisan screed against problems roiling the Republic -- and Stack's head -- for years. A crippled economy dominated by political and corporate potentates. A campaign and election system rotted by special interests and money. Byzantine tax laws that baffle small business owners and individuals.
Black Farmers Win $1.25 Billion in Discrimination Suit
February 22nd, 2010
Thousands of black farmers who were discriminated against by the U.S. Agriculture Department will be eligible to receive $1.25 billion in a settlement, the government said on Thursday.
The settlement of the case, known as Pigford II, is contingent on Congress approving $1.15 billion for the farmers, in addition to $100 million already provided in the Farm Bill.
The Mysterious Death of Bush's Cyber-Guru - Michael Connell
February 22nd, 2010
Shortly before six o’clock on the evening of December 19, 2008, a man standing outside his home in Lake Township, Ohio heard the whine of an engine in the sky above him.
Moments later two red lights broke through the low clouds, heading almost directly toward the ground. It was a light aircraft, and for a second, as it descended below the tree line, the man thought it would climb back up. Instead, there was a terrible thud, and the sky turned orange. When the fire crews arrived, they found the burning wreckage of a Piper Saratoga strewn across a vacant lot. The plane had narrowly missed a house, but the explosion was so intense that the home’s plastic siding was on fire. So was the grass. The pilot had been thrown from the plane and died instantly. Body parts and pieces of twisted metal were scattered everywhere. A prayer book lay open on the ground, its pages on fire.
The coming ultimate crisis for the United States and quite possibly the world is explained in detail in this 30 minute documentary by N.I.A. (The National Inflation Association). This is a must see documentary for all
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