Manufacturing Shrinks Most Since 2003

January 2, 2008
Manufacturing Shrinks Most Since 2003

Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing in the U.S. shrank the most last month in almost five years, triggering speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a percentage point to stave off a recession.

The Institute for Supply Management's factory index fell to 47.7, from 50.8 the prior month, the Tempe, Arizona-based group said today. The figure was lower than forecast by any economist surveyed by Bloomberg News. Fifty is the dividing line between contraction and expansion.

Can the Economy Handle $100 Oil?

January 2, 2008
Can the Economy Handle $100 Oil?

"Add it up and you have a wildly bullish day," says Stephen Schork, an energy consultant in Villanova, Pa., and editor of The Schork Report, a daily energy newsletter. "Fresh capital is charging back into the market and looking to buy." The question now: whether the faltering U.S. economy can avoid a recession in an environment of $100 oil. That's because the price of crude oil has knock-on effects throughout the economy (BusinessWeek, 10/29/07), from the price of gasoline to stock market valuation (BusinessWeek.com, 1/2/08). The worry is that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy, will suffer as prices rise, tipping the economy into a further slowdown or recession.

The world wants America back

January 2, 2008
The world wants America back

For the next several years, world politics will be reshaped by a strong yearning for American leadership. This trend will be as unexpected as it is inevitable: unexpected given the powerful anti-American sentiments around the globe, and inevitable given the vacuums that only the United States can fill.

This renewed international appetite for U.S. leadership will not merely result from the election of a new president, though having a new occupant in the White House will certainly help. Almost a decade of U.S. disengagement and distraction have allowed international and regional problems to swell. Often, the only nation that has the will and means to act effectively is the United States.

The Economy and the New Year

January 2, 2008
The Economy and the New Year

When Mr. Bush says the economy is strong, he is generally referring to rising wages, low unemployment and what he calls healthy economic growth. But wages have either fallen or failed to outpace inflation during most of his tenure. Job creation is now slowing from a pace that has long been subpar. Economic growth is also braking, if not contracting. In any event, growth during the Bush years has not been healthy; rather, it has been abnormally lopsided. Corporate profits have soared (until recently) and the rich have become richer, while most Americans have treaded water or lost ground, their troubling circumstances masked by an unprecedented borrowing binge, now exacting its toll.

Legal voters thrown off rolls

January 1, 2008
Legal voters thrown off rolls

Five years after passage of a federal law to create electronic registration databases to deter voter fraud, the new technology is posing hurdles that could disenfranchise thousands of legal voters, a USA TODAY examination finds.

From Florida to Washington, voters have been challenged because names or numbers on their registration forms did not exactly match other government databases, such as Social Security and motor vehicle agencies. "We know that eligible people have been thrown off the rolls," says Justin Levitt, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

CIA chief to drag White House into torture cover-up storm

December 23, 2007
CIA chief to drag White House into torture cover-up storm

It has emerged that at least four White House staff were approached for advice about the tapes, including David Addington, a senior aide to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, but none has admitted to recommending their destruction.

Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA, said it was impossible for Rodriguez to have acted on his own: "If everybody was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez – one of the most cautious men I have ever met – have gone ahead and destroyed them?"

Looking at America

December 31, 2007
Looking at America

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the
nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators
by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding
principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the
Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we've felt this horror, this sorrowful sense of
estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behavior has become standard practice since Sept.
11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened by the single-minded
hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. But there is no excuse for how President Bush
and his advisers panicked — how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect
American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country
when those ideals are sacrificed.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America's position of moral and political
leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America's global image,
and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most
terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world's anger and alienation and
have not made any of us safer.

In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and
murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never
been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of
prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his
own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and
intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.

We have read accounts of how the government's top lawyers huddled in secret after the attacks
in New York and Washington and plotted ways to circumvent the Geneva Conventions — and both American and international law — to hold anyone the president chose indefinitely without
charges or judicial review.

Life Was Better For Christians Under Saddam

December 21, 2007
Life Was Better For Christians Under Saddam

Life was "better" for Christians in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein than it is today, according to the only Anglican vicar working in Baghdad.

Canon Andrew White, vicar of St George´s Church in the capital of Iraq told Times Online that day-to-day life was 'a lot easier' for Christians when the vicious dictator Saddam Hussein was President of the country. But he said he still believed removing him was the right thing to do, for the sake of the long-term future of the country and its inhabitants.

"It is still very difficult ," he said . " Not like it was under Saddam, it was a lot easier just day - to - day living. There are threats to these our people all the time. They know who the Christians are."

Over 1000 Attorneys Demand Investigation Into Unconstitutional Action By Bush Admin.

December 12, 2007
Over 1000 Attorneys Demand Investigation Into Unconstitutional Action By Bush Admin.

We are lawyers in the United States of America. As such, we have all taken an oath obligating us to defend the Constitution and the rule of law…. We believe the Bush administration has committed numerous offenses against the Constitution and may have violated federal laws…. Moreover, the administration has blatantly defied congressional subpoenas, obstructing constitutional oversight …. Thus, we call on House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to launch hearings into the possibility that crimes have been committed by this administration in violation of the Constitution…. We call for the investigations to go where they must, including into the offices of the President and the Vice President. -- American Lawyers Defending the Constitution

9/11 Panel Study Finds That C.I.A. Withheld Tapes

December 22, 2007
9/11 Panel Study Finds That C.I.A. Withheld Tapes

WASHINGTON — A review of classified documents by former members of the Sept. 11 commission shows that the panel made repeated and detailed requests to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 and 2004 for documents and other information about the interrogation of operatives of Al Qaeda, and were told by a top C.I.A. official that the agency had "produced or made available for review" everything that had been requested.

The review was conducted earlier this month after the disclosure that in November 2005, the C.I.A. destroyed videotapes documenting the interrogations of two Qaeda operatives.

Congress subpoenas ex-CIA official

December 20, 2007
Congress subpoenas ex-CIA official

WASHINGTON - The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena Thursday for Jose Rodriguez, the former CIA official who directed that secret interrogation videotapes of two suspected terrorists be destroyed.

The panel ordered Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, to appear for a hearing on Jan. 16. Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said Rodriguez "would like to tell his story but his counsel has advised us that a subpoena would be necessary."

The CIA cracked open its files to congressional investigators Thursday, inviting them to the agency's Virginia headquarters to begin reviewing documents and records related to the videotapes.

UNICEF: War has taken a toll on Iraq's children

December 21, 2007
UNICEF: War has taken a toll on Iraq's children

BAGHDAD — More than four years after the United States invaded Iraq, the country's children continue to face a litany of problems from disrupted educations to unsafe drinking water, detentions and violence, UNICEF reported Friday.

Violence and displacement often kept Iraqi children out of school this year. The organization estimates that 2 million educations were interrupted, especially among primary-school students.

The report says that only 28 percent of 17-year-olds in Iraq took final exams this summer, and fewer than half passed. However, UNICEF-supported programs to distribute classroom materials, rebuild schools and provide more learning opportunities benefited 4.7 million children, the agency reported.

Criminal Probe Opened Over CIA Tapes

January 2, 2008
Criminal Probe Opened Over CIA Tapes

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department opened a full criminal investigation Wednesday into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, putting the politically charged probe in the hands of a mob-busting public corruption prosecutor with a reputation for being independent.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that he was appointing John Durham, a federal prosecutor in Connecticut, to oversee the investigation of a case that has challenged the Bush administration's controversial handling of terrorism suspects.

The CIA acknowledged last month that in 2005 it destroyed videos of officers using tough interrogation methods while questioning two al-Qaida suspects. The acknowledgment sparked a congressional inquiry and a preliminary investigation by Justice into whether the CIA violated any laws or obstructed congressional inquiries such as the one led by the Sept. 11 Commission.

Sex education found to help teenagers delay sex

December 19, 2007
Sex education found to help teenagers delay sex

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Pentagon finds little long-term progress in Iraq

December 18, 2007
Pentagon finds little long-term progress in Iraq

WASHINGTON — Despite significant security gains in much of Iraq, nothing has changed within Iraq's political leadership to guarantee sustainable peace, a Pentagon report released Tuesday found.

The congressionally mandated quarterly report suggests that the drop in violence won't hold unless Iraq's central government passes key legislation, improves the way it manages its security forces and finds a way to reconcile the country's competing sects. It said none of those steps has been taken.

US Army loses another 12,000 guns and trucks

December 17, 2007
US Army loses another 12,000 guns and trucks

The US military in Iraq has lost track of another 12,000 weapons, including more than 800 machine-guns, and everything from 2100 new electricity generators to half a dozen garbage trucks.

The latest gap in record-keeping follows a report by the US government's accountability office in the summer which revealed that 190,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and automatic pistols earmarked for Iraqi government forces had gone astray in 2004 and 2005 and could be in insurgent hands.

The US Defence Department said an audit between March and May this year could trace only £41m-worth of armoured vehicles and other equipment worth more than £500m which was supposed to be part of Iraq's police and army training and outfitting package.

Morgan Stanley Posts Loss, Borrows From China

December 19, 2007
Morgan Stanley Posts Loss, Borrows From China

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley wrote down its subprime-infected mortgage holdings by a greater-than-expected $9.4 billion and received a $5 billion cash infusion from state- controlled China Investment Corp.

Chief Executive Officer John Mack called the fourth-quarter loss of $3.56 billion, the first in the New York-based firm's history, "embarrassing.'' He'll forgo his bonus for the year, the company said today in a statement.

Mack's strategy of expanding in mortgages and making bigger trading bets backfired as losses from securities linked to home loans more than doubled in November. He ousted Co-President Zoe Cruz, who had overseen the fixed-income unit responsible for the mortgage trades, last month and promoted James Gorman and Walid Chammah, who previously ran wealth management and the New York- based firm's European operations.

Tax Cuts Don't Boost Revenues

December 06, 2007
Tax Cuts Don't Boost Revenues

If there's one thing that Republican politicians agree on, it's that slashing taxes brings the government more money. "You cut taxes, and the tax revenues increase," President Bush said in a speech last year. Keeping taxes low, Vice President Dick Cheney explained in a recent interview, "does produce more revenue for the Federal Government." Presidential candidate John McCain declared in March that "tax cuts ... as we all know, increase revenues." His rival Rudy Giuliani couldn't agree more. "I know that reducing taxes produces more revenues," he intones in a new TV ad.

If there's one thing that economists agree on, it's that these claims are false. We're not talking just ivory-tower lefties. Virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves--and were never intended to. Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, even devotes a section of his best-selling economics textbook to debunking the claim that tax cuts increase revenues.

Congratulations to the record-breaking Senate GOP — Most Obstructionist Ever

December 19, 2007
Congratulations to the record-breaking Senate GOP — Most Obstructionist Ever

The 49-member Senate Republican minority has done something no Senate minority in American history has ever done: they've filibustered more bills than any Congress ever has — and they broke the record with a full year to spare.

"In just one session, a minority in Congress has prevented a mind-blowing 62 pieces of legislation from going to the floor for an up or down vote,’ said Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey. "Our report shows how over and over again, the uncompromising minority has thwarted the will of majorities in Congress and of the American people, holding the Senate floor hostage to a radical right-wing agenda." […]