Dollar Trades at Record Low Versus Euro

March 13, 2008
Dollar Trades at Record Low Versus Euro

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded at a record low against the euro as firms from Citigroup Inc. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the Federal Reserve's plan to inject $200 billion into the banking system may fail to break the freeze in money-market lending.

The U.S. currency plunged yesterday against the euro, yen and Swiss franc, erasing a rally from March 11 when the Fed said it would lend Treasuries to financial institutions and take mortgage debt as collateral. Traders bet the Fed will cut rates by as much as three quarters of a percentage point next week to avert a recession, while the European Central Bank keeps borrowing costs unchanged at 4 percent.

Citing Faith, Bush Defends War

March 12, 2008
Citing Faith, Bush Defends War

NASHVILLE — President Bush delivered a rousing defense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday, mixing faith and foreign policy as he told a group of Christian broadcasters that his policies in the region were predicated on the beliefs that freedom was a God-given right and "every human being bears the image of our maker."

Study: People become more liberal as they age

March 11, 2008
Study: People become more liberal as they age

"And what we found was that the changes that the stereotypical older person is presumed to make, if any, towards increased conservatism were not true for the majority of the items that we looked at," Prof. Danigelis said.

For example, on gender equality in politics, older people became more liberal over time.

401(k)s tapped to save homes

March 10, 2008
401(k)s tapped to save homes

Struggling to save their homes from foreclosure, more Americans are raiding their 401(k) retirement accounts to pay their bills — and getting slammed with taxes and penalties in the process, according to retirement plan administrators.

Rather than borrow money from their 401(k) accounts, which would have to be paid back, a growing number of beleaguered families have been cashing out, plan administrators say.

McCain Received Defense Firm Cash After Backing Its Contract

March 11, 2008

McCain Received Defense Firm Cash After Backing Its Contract

Critics on Tuesday questioned whether Sen. John McCain catered to special interests when he aggressively threw his support behind a $35 billion Pentagon contract for a European plane maker.

McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, played a crucial role in blocking the deal to build air tankers from going to U.S.-based Boeing, instead paving the path for EADS to score the loot. He framed his decision as an example of political integrity; Boeing has previously been exposed of contract abuse. But a review of campaign finance donations and lobbying records suggests that money and personal lobbying may have also been in play.

Fallon Resigns

March 11, 2008
Fallon Resigns

Fallon was the subject of an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed him as at odds with a president eager to go to war with Iran. Titled "The Man Between War and Peace," it described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

It is highly unusual for a senior commander to resign in wartime. Fallon took the post on March 16, 2007, succeeding Army Gen. John Abizaid, who retired after nearly four years in the job. Fallon was part of a new team of senior officials, including Gates, chosen by Bush to implement a revised Iraq war policy.

McCain budget numbers don't add up, experts say

March 10, 2008
McCain budget numbers don't add up, experts say

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain's reputation for "straight talk" has helped him clinch the U.S. Republican presidential nomination but budget experts say his numbers do not add up.

McCain's promises to reduce wasteful spending if elected president in November would not begin to cover the costs of his proposed tax cuts, analysts say.

He also has not yet explained how he would rein in the health-care and retirement costs expected to swamp the federal budget as some 77 million people retire from the U.S. work force in the coming decades.

House GOP funk worsens

March 9, 2008
House GOP funk worsens

For National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.), every week seems to bring a new set of problems. On Saturday night, things got even worse.

With Democrat Bill Foster's victory in the Illinois 14th District special election, Democrats now hold the seats occupied only 21 months ago by former Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) — the two GOP lawmakers who ran the House from 1998 to 2006.

Surging costs of groceries hit home

March 9, 2008
Surging costs of groceries hit home

American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to household budgets as food prices increase at the fastest rate since 1990.

After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent.

McCain Campaign Condemns Backer's Obama Remarks

March 10, 2008
McCain Campaign Condemns Backer's Obama Remarks

A spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain today condemned comments by Iowa Rep. Steve King (R), who on Friday said terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Barack Obama is elected president.

"The Senator rejects the type of politics that degrades our civics and this campaign will be about the future of our country," Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker said. "[Sen.] McCain could not be clearer on how he views these types of comments and obviously that view extends to Congressman King's statement."

F.B.I. Investigates Missing G.O.P. Money

March 6, 2008
F.B.I. Investigates Missing G.O.P. Money

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits.

The financial records of the group, the National Republican Congressional Committee, may also have been falsified for several years, Republican officials said. The campaign committees of several Republican lawmakers may also have been victims of a scam that is now under criminal investigation by the F.B.I.

US House files suit to enforce subpoenas against 2 White House officials

March 10, 2008
US House files suit to enforce subpoenas against 2 White House officials

WASHINGTON: The House Judiciary Committee filed suit Monday to force top aides to President George W. Bush to provide information about the firing of U.S. attorneys.

The lawsuit filed in federal court says former White House counsel Harriet Miers is not immune from the obligation to testify and that she and White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten must identify all documents that are being withheld from Congress.

They knew, but did nothing

March 6, 2008
They knew, but did nothing

Even reporters in Washington who covered intelligence issues acknowledged they were largely ignorant that summer that the CIA and other parts of the Government were warning of an almost certain terrorist attack. Probably, but not necessarily, overseas.

The warnings were going straight to President Bush each morning in his briefings by the CIA director, George Tenet, and in the presidential daily briefings. It would later be revealed by the 9/11 commission into the September 11 attacks that more than 40 presidential briefings presented to Bush from January 2001 through to September 10, 2001, included references to bin Laden.

Dangerous Cracks Appearing in Job Market

March 8, 2008
Dangerous Cracks Appearing in Job Market

Dangerous cracks in the nation's job market are deepening. Employers slashed jobs by the largest amount in five years and hundreds of thousands of people dropped out of the labor force — ominous signs that the country is falling toward a recession or has already toppled into one.

For the second straight month, nervous employers got rid of jobs nationwide. In February, they sliced payrolls by 63,000, even deeper than the 22,000 cut in January, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Dems Win Hastert Seat

March 9, 2008
Dems Win Hastert Seat

CHICAGO (AP) — A longtime Republican district fell to the Democrats Saturday when a wealthy businessman and scientist snatched former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election.

Democrat Bill Foster won 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Republican Jim Oberweis. With 565 of 568 precincts reporting, Foster had 51,140 votes to Oberweis' 46,270.

Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick

March 10, 2008
Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick

WASHINGTON - Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

Clashing Over Church Ritual and Flag Protocol at the Naval Academy

March 8, 2008
Clashing Over Church Ritual and Flag Protocol at the Naval Academy

Below a cobalt blue stained-glass window of Jesus, one midshipman dips the academy flag before the altar cross, and the other dips the American flag.

The dipping of the flag has begun this nondenominational Protestant service at the Naval Academy for 40 years. But in civilian life, the American flag is never to be dipped, and the Navy says, it is not dipped at any other worship service at the academy or at any other installation.