NewsTrust - Money and Politics - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

The Worldwide Efforts Of The Global Energy Lobby To Kill Progress On Climate Change

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Katherine Goldstein Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/exposed-the-worldwide-eff_n_346110.html?grist&cp&cp - Nov. 05 (Special Report) - The Center For Public Integrity just released a blockbuster investigative report that details the intense corporate pressure to block an effective global treaty from being reached at the UN Climate Talks in Copenhagen in December, and to halt efforts in individual countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Lobbying From The Great Beyond

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Congressional Quarterly - By Alex Knott - Oct. 30 (Special Report) - With a little planning, you can lobby Congress from beyond the grave. Every year, hundreds of Americans continue to make campaign contributions, lobby Congress and in some states cast votes after they have died. And it’s all completely legal.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Anatomy of an Ethics Leak

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Mike Lillis - Oct. 30 (News Analysis) - The news that “dozens” of House lawmakers are under scrutiny by ethics investigators — reported last night by The Washington Post — will likely stir a small storm in Washington, particularly on an otherwise quiet Friday when Congress is out of session.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Pattern of Contract Oversight Problems at the State Department?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

pogoblog.typepad.com - By Bryan Rahija - Oct. 23 (Special Report) - A new Inspector General (IG) audit has recommended that the Department of State (DoS) seek a $132 million rebate from a contractor for a host of construction deficiencies at the American embassy in Baghdad. The contractor, First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting, received $470 million in no-bid contracts for construction of the embassy (referred to in the report as NEC Baghdad).

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Hill Aides Call For JSF Restructure

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

dodbuzz.com - By Colin Clark - Oct. 23 (News Report) - A preliminary Pentagon cost estimate that the F-35 could cost as much as $17.1 billion more than currently planned is prompting calls from congressional sources for the program to be reassessed and restructured.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pro-Israel Group's Money Trail Veers Hard Right

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Eli Clifton - Oct. 22 (News) - But an IPS investigation into the tax records of the donors to StandWithUs, which professes to be ideologically neutral, found a web of funders who support organisations that have been accused of anti-Muslim propaganda and encouraging a militant Israeli and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Some of these organisations have tied the origins of Palestinian nationalism to Nazi ideology, and suggested that a vast Muslim conspiracy - in a similar vein to the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion - is mobilising to undermine the U.S. constitution and impose Sharia law.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Political Fundraising Now "Borders On Insanity"

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Arthur Delaney Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/rep-john-larson-political_n_321525.html - Oct. 15 (News Report) - "If we can get a system that's based on small donors that takes the big money out of the process, there's a value to that. It frees up your time," Larson said. "It borders on insanity when you think of the time and energy that's devoted to the money chase instead of serving your constituents, instead of spending time on issues."

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Dick Gephardt's Spectacular Sellout

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Sebastian Jones - Oct. 03 (Special Report) - In March, months after the government gave an unprecedented $85 billion to AIG, the insurance giant released a list of counterparties, exposing some of the world's top financial institutions as the real recipients of the bailout. First among its peers, Goldman Sachs got a whopping $12.9 billion, despite having claimed in September to be insulated from AIG's troubles. Based on these revelations, Maryland Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings, who had dogged the financial industry since the crisis began, told his staff to prepare a letter calling for an investigation.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Meet the Hazzards

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Nomi Prins, Christopher Hayes - Sep. 23 (Special Report) - As we mark the end of the first year of the financial bailout, the public seems to regard the government's actions with a toxic combination of rage and confusion. People are pissed off but too bewildered to know what to do with that anger. The confusion isn't an accident. The government hasn't exactly been forthcoming about how it's made buckets of money available to the banking sector. When it does disclose some information--such as in July's SIGTARP report from the Treasury or the Federal Reserve's weekly balance sheet--it's in the form of intimidating descriptions, accounting mumbo jumbo and technical reports that do little to illuminate just what the hell is going on. What's worse, banks and the establishment press have portrayed TARP as the sum of the banking industry's federal subsidies. An August 30 New York Times article, "As Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit," gives the impression that taxpayers should be happy to have made $4 billion on the deal, as if our checks were in the mail. But when the government became Wall Street's bank, it wasn't just $700 billion of TARP money that flew north to Wall Street. TARP was but a small fraction (roughly 4 percent) of the full $17.5 trillion bailout and subsidization of the financial sector. [See image.] The details of this total bailout are complicated, but the basic mechanisms aren't beyond the average citizen's grasp. We're going to walk you through it.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Judge Overturns Bank Of America-SEC Settlement Over Merrill Bonuses

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stephen Bernard - Sep. 14 (News Report) - A federal judge on Monday rejected a $33 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America Corp., saying the SEC's accusations of inadequate disclosure by the bank over bonuses paid at Merrill Lynch must now go to trial. Separately, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office is preparing to file charges within the next couple of weeks against several high-ranking executives at Bank of America, claiming they failed to disclose details about the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Sandra Day O'Connor: Stop Electing Judges

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Gene Johnson - Sep. 14 (News Report) - Multimillion-dollar judicial campaigns make it difficult to know whether a judge is deciding a case based on the merits or on concerns about reelection, she said. She noted that the founders of the country believed it crucially important that federal judges have the freedom to make unpopular decisions without worrying about poll numbers. It was only after President Andrew Jackson's election in 1828 that he persuaded states to begin adopting elections for judges.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Top 1 Percent of Americans Reaped Two-Thirds of Income Gains in Last Economic Expansion

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

cbpp.org - By Avi Feller, Chad Stone - Sep. 09 (Special Report) - Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.[1] During those years, the Piketty-Saez data also show, the inflation-adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households grew more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent of households.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Supreme Court Eyes Decades of Campaign Finance Laws

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Independent - By Daphne Eviatar - Sep. 09 (News Analysis) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments in a case that could reverse major gains made in recent decades to reduce the influence of corporate money on federal elections. At first blush, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission appears to

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Analysis: Two precedents in jeopardy

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

SCOTUSblog - By Lyle Denniston - Sep. 09 (News Analysis) - If supporters of federal curbs on political campaign spending by corporations were counting on Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., to hesitate to strike down such restrictions, they could take no comfort from the Supreme Court’s 93-minute hearing Wednesday on that historic question. Despite the best efforts of four other Justices to argue for ruling only very narrowly, the strongest impression was that they had not convinced the two members of the Court thought to be still open to that approach. At least the immediate prospect was for a sweeping declaration of independence in politics for companies and advocacy groups formed as corporations.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Rep. Mike Pence, Who Led Witch Hunt Against Van Jones, Took $1,000s From Extremist Erik Prince

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Jeremy Scahill - Sep. 08 (News Report) - Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican whose name has been mentioned as a potential GOP presidential candidate (and who is not sure if he believes in evolution), led the witch-hunt to force the resignation of White House Green Jobs advisor, Van Jones, over comments Jones made years ago and a 9/11 "truth" petition Jones signed which he said he did not read in its entirety. Jones apologized for some of his comments, which were made before he took his job with the Obama administration and said the petition "certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Miles Grant - Sep. 04 (News Report) - A friend just alerted me to the website PlantsNeedCO2.org, which is running ads on NYTimes.com. From the site’s “about us” page: Our mission is to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2 and help prevent the inadvertent negative impact to human, plant and animal life if we reduce CO2. Plants Need CO2 is a 501 (c)(3) non profit corporation. How do I say this? False. I know you’re never gonna believe who really owns the website ... Big Oil. It’s registered to Quintana Minerals Corporation:

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Flushing Blackwater

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 26 (Investigative Report) - Blackwater, the private mercenary company owned by Erik Prince, has been thrust back into the spotlight by a series of stunning revelations about its role in covert US programs. Since at least 2002, Blackwater has worked for the CIA in Afghanistan and Pakistan on "black" contracts. On August 19, the New York Times revealed that the company was, in fact, a central part of a secret CIA assassination program that Dick Cheney allegedly ordered concealed from Congress. The paper then reported that Blackwater remains a key player in the widening air war in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where it arms drone aircraft. These disclosures follow allegations--made under oath by former Blackwater employees--that Prince murdered or facilitated the murder of potential government informants and that he "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe."

NewsTrust Rating: 5.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Life After the Death of the Public Option

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

FiveThirtyEight - By Nate Silver - Aug. 16 (News Analysis) - From the President on downward, the White House now seems resigned to losing the fight over the "public option", a government-run insurance plan that would complete against private plans. It's time to re-assess the playing field in light of this development.Is the public option really dead?

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Health care reform: A simple explanation

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Aug. 14 (News Analysis) - From death panels for the disabled to euthanasia for Granny, blatantly, patently wrong information about health care has gotten a lot of attention. (See our Greatest Hits list for the ones we found most significant.) But set aside the shouting, and there are still many legitimate areas for debate. Details on health care are very much works in progress, and Congress is considering a number of measures. With President Obama and the Democrats largely on the defensive, a lot of the debate has focused on what the bills are not. Here, we'll explain what's actually in the bills, and where the genuine disagreements lie.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"You Do Not Cut Deals with the System that Has to Be Replaced"

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Ralph Nader - Aug. 14 (News Analysis) - The Obama administration admitted last week it promised to oppose proposals to let the government negotiate drug prices and extract additional savings from drug companies. In return, drug companies reportedly pledged to reduce costs by up to $80 billion. The White House has tried to back off the reported agreements, but the drug industry says it expects the White House to uphold its pledge.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

US, Swiss Cement Deal On Secret UBS Bank Accounts

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jessica Gresko - Aug. 12 (News Report) - The Swiss and U.S. governments announced a deal Wednesday to settle American demands for the identities of suspected tax dodgers, despite Switzerland's vaunted bank secrecy. But they kept all details under wraps, including how many of the 52,000 names sought by the IRS from banking giant UBS AG will be revealed.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama Reverses Campaign Pledge to Renegotiate NAFTA

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS - Aug. 11 (News Report) - It was Obama’s first official summit under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. On the campaign trail, Obama had promised to open up NAFTA to renegotiations. But he’s backed off that pledge since taking office, blaming the global economic meltdown.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Aug. 04 (News) - Sworn statements filed in Federal Court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a "crusade" to eliminate Muslims and Islam and that the company may have been involved in murders to suppress information from federal investigators.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Nobody's Talking About the Silver Bullet That Could Heal the Economy and Cure Most Social Ills

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Jeff Ritterman, M.D. - Aug. 03 (Special Report) - The core message is that the countries that distribute their incomes the most equally have the longest life expectancy and the highest quality of life. The same is true for states within the U.S.; the more income equality, the longer the life span. Unfortunately, the United States is now the most unequal of the wealthy countries, with the exception of Singapore.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Forged letters to congressman anger local groups

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Charlottesville Daily Progress - By Brian McNeill - Jul. 31 (News Report) - As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer