LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.  
February 10, 2010
Log in / Register

 Choose a size
Text Size

Most Read
Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * Haiti, Forgive Us
 * NEW! * Kidnapping Is Not Charity

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture

Digs
Financial Meltdown 101

Truthdig Bazaar
Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography

Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiography

by Ignacio Ramonet and Fidel Castro
$26.40

more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Larry's List   |  

View older articles: [ Page 1 of 294 ] Next >>


Flickr / Steve.Maw

 * NEW! * So Much For Plan B

Car buyers troubled by Toyota’s recalls may have considered turning their attention to Honda, another Japanese automaker with a sterling reputation for reliability. Unfortunately, the second-biggest Japanese automaker just announced an expanded recall of its own.

Posted on Feb 9, 2010


Prius
Flickr / Infrogmation

 * NEW! * And Now for Another Big Toyota Recall

Sorry, Toyota. Certainly there’ll be a slew of jokes about the automaker’s old “Oh, what a feeling!” commercials—oh, wait, too late!—now that Toyota has caught yet another tough break (sorry again) in the form of a recall of about “436,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide,” according to the BBC.

Posted on Feb 9, 2010 3 COMMENTS


Palin
BBC

 * NEW! * Palin Calls Global Warming Research ‘Snake Oil Science’

During her speech at a logging conference in Redding, Calif., on Monday, Sarah Palin criticized California’s environmental regulations, pointed to her polar-bear-related lawsuit against the federal government, and compared certain global warming research to “snake oil science.”

Posted on Feb 9, 2010 34 COMMENTS


cigarette smoking
Flickr/adi&moni

 * NEW! * Scientists Uncover New Risk Associated With Thirdhand Smoke

If anyone needs another reason to stop smoking, here it is: Researchers are turning their attention to the effects of “thirdhand smoke,” the layer of icky residue that lingers on clothes and in living spaces after cigarettes and other tobacco delivery devices are snubbed out. ... (continued)

Posted on Feb 9, 2010 8 COMMENTS



theonion.com

 * NEW! * NASA Needs More Moonage Daydreamers

A lot of people have said in recent weeks that the space agency simply lacks the chutzpah that put a man on a moon. Figure out global warming? Boring, they say. The Onion has come up with a satirical solution that just might blow your minds: Project Spaceman, the David Bowie-inspired Glam Space Program. (continued)

Posted on Feb 9, 2010 2 COMMENTS



Flickr / samirluther

 * NEW! * Congress Has a Snow Day

Thanks to the lousy weather pummeling the nation’s capital, Congress is taking some time off. The House canceled all business pending bluer skies, while the Senate convened for a whole five minutes Monday. As of this posting, there is a 100 percent chance of snow in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 5 COMMENTS



Flickr / AndYaDontStop

 * NEW! * Soldier Accused of Waterboarding 4-Year-Old Daughter

Police have charged an American soldier with assaulting his young daughter. Specifically, Joshua Tabor of Tacoma, Wash., is reported to have waterboarded his 4-year-old three or four times because she was afraid of water and had trouble with her ABCs.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 4 COMMENTS



google.com/friendconnect

 * NEW! * Google Working on Gmail’s Social Skills

Google has been pretty successful at just about everything its engineers have attempted, with the glaring exception of social media. Still getting trounced by Facebook and losing buzzshare to upstarts like Twitter and Foursquare, the company plans to get aggressive, starting with new social features in Gmail. (continued)

Posted on Feb 8, 2010


John Murtha
house.gov

Rep. John Murtha Dies at 77

After serving almost exactly 36 years in the United States Congress, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania has died. He had been in intensive care following gall bladder surgery. He was the first Vietnam War veteran elected to Congress. (continued)

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 7 COMMENTS


Palin
C-SPAN via YouTube

Palin: ‘It Would Be Absurd Not to Consider’ Presidential Run

There are few single statements that have the power to evoke terror and delight in the same breath, but surely this is one of them: On “Fox News Sunday,” the channel’s own political commentator and tea-party headliner Sarah Palin opined “that it would be absurd not to consider” a run for the White House in 2012.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 20 COMMENTS


Wall Street
Wikimedia Commons / Martin St.-Amant

Wall Street Fat Cats Revolt, Send Money to GOP

In case it wasn’t made perfectly clear in recent months how the American political system actually operates on its uppermost levels, here we have an object lesson to consider: Upset by the notion that the Obama administration might be working on regulating the financial industry next, some of Wall Street’s bigwigs are now focusing their funding efforts on the GOP.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 7 COMMENTS


Thain
U.S. Department of State

Former Merrill Lynch CEO Thain Tapped to Head CIT

John Thain is back. The ex-CEO of Merrill Lynch, who also once held top posts at Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange, has returned to the Wall Street fold, this time as chairman and CEO of the CIT Group. However, this time, one imagines, he won’t have a $35K commode at his disposal.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 5 COMMENTS


Obama
The White House / Pete Souza

Obama Invites Republicans, Dems to Health Care Huddle

Still clearly hoping that health care reform legislation might clear Congress at some point during his tenure in office, President Obama has summoned Republican and Democratic lawmakers to “put their ideas on the table” later this month and discuss possible ways to push a workable bill through both the House and Senate.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010 4 COMMENTS



‘Invisible Things That Might Kill You (but Probably Won’t)’ Edition

Look out for those TSA body scanners and cell phones, take a minute to ponder the oddest book titles of the year (including “Bacon: A Love Story”) and read all about the political collapse of the left, right here on today’s list.

Posted on Feb 8, 2010



Flickr / max-sham

Kremlin Ally Wins Ukrainian Presidency

“Weird” Viktor Yanukovich has won the Ukrainian presidency, exit polls indicate, shifting power in the former Soviet republic to a more pro-Kremlin position after five years of “Orange Revolution” political fervor.

Posted on Feb 7, 2010 7 COMMENTS



AP / Hasan Sarbakhshian

Ahmadinejad Orders Uranium Enrichment

After days of confusion over whether or not Iran would reopen negotiations regarding its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered his country’s atomic energy agency to begin producing uranium for a medical reactor in Tehran. The United States quickly expressed disappointment over the announcement.

Posted on Feb 7, 2010 14 COMMENTS


Karzai
Wikimedia Commons / The White House

Karzai Weighs a Draft

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has tepidly announced he is pondering introducing conscription in order to build a domestic army and police force capable of taking over security operations from NATO troops in his war-torn country.

Posted on Feb 7, 2010 6 COMMENTS


Haiti aftermath
AP / Gregory Bull

Forgiving Haiti’s Debt

Call it pity or call it sensible politics, the G-7 nations have together pledged to cancel $1.2 billion in debt that Haiti owes them, something Global South activists have been requesting for all developing countries—not just those hit by horrible earthquakes.

Posted on Feb 7, 2010 9 COMMENTS


Blankfein
AP / Mark Lennihan

Goldman’s Hand in AIG’s Collapse

Recently disclosed internal documents and an audio recording regarding a 2008 securities standoff between Goldman Sachs and insurance giant AIG appear to be the smoking guns necessary to pinpoint Goldman’s culpability in the mortgage meltdown and the collapse of AIG.

Posted on Feb 6, 2010 11 COMMENTS



Flickr / World Economic Forum

20 Is Enough

Polygamous South African President Jacob Zuma has apologized for fathering his 20th child with a woman who is not one of his three wives. Many health activists are arguing that the 67-year-old is setting bad example, given that South Africa has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV and AIDS.

Posted on Feb 6, 2010 3 COMMENTS



Flickr / tapasparida

Scientists Fear Chinese ‘Superbugs’

Leading scientists are criticizing Chinese doctors and farmers for what they believe is a reckless overuse of antibiotics in both the medical and agricultural industries, which, they argue, has led to an explosion of resistant “superbugs” endangering global health.

Posted on Feb 6, 2010 9 COMMENTS



Flickr / Mpls55408

Tea Party Gets Even Less Inviting

While the tea party movement may be brushed off by some as the work of a bunch of misguided Fox News enthusiasts, the opening speech at the first national Tea Party Convention in Nashville suggests something more sinister at the root.

Posted on Feb 6, 2010 17 COMMENTS



Flickr / davemacvac

British Arms Maker Pays Up

British defense giant BAE has agreed to pay the UK and U.S. governments almost $800 million in penalties after it finally admitted guilt in the face of long-running corruption allegations. The deal allows the company to avoid being placed on an international arms trade blacklist.

Posted on Feb 6, 2010 3 COMMENTS



Flickr / anikarenina

Archbishop Chides Blair on Iraq

The archbishop of Canterbury has some choice words for Tony Blair. The public intellectual criticized Blair’s lack of empathy and his defensive posturing regarding recent inquiries into the Iraq war, declaring the former prime minister to be “one of the most un-Dostoevskian characters in Britain.” Ouch.

Posted on Feb 5, 2010 4 COMMENTS


Fake Missile
nytimes.com

Romania to Host U.S. Missile Shield

In an announcement more apt for a dinner party than a defense memorandum, Romania has agreed to host a new U.S. missile shield in its territory aimed at protecting Western interests from the “emerging threat” of Iranian ballistic missiles.

Posted on Feb 5, 2010 14 COMMENTS


View older articles: [ Page 1 of 294 ] Next >>

 
 

 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2010 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.