The Supreme Court of Honduras, defying an order of the Organization of American States, is standing by its decision to oust former President Manuel Zelaya. The court repeated its earlier position after a two-hour meeting with OAS head Miguel Insulza on Friday. And now for the international backlash.
At the end of this month, Sarah Palin will no longer be Alaska’s governor. The Thrilla from Wasilla made her announcement on Friday, sparking speculation that she may be preparing to run for president in 2012—or that she was compelled to resign for less opportune reasons. Updated
The immigration raids of the Bush years that have carried over into the Obama administration may be changing. The era of federal agents busting into shops and rounding up undocumented workers for deportation is being replaced by a new effort to use fines and civil sanctions, making employers responsible, rather than the workers themselves.
Not only are the Freemasons a bit weird, some are also a bit racist. The admittance of Victor Marshall, a 26-year-old African American, to a chapter in Atlanta last year caused many Georgian Freemasons to seek to revoke the charter of Marshall’s chapter, sparking a legal battle over equality in this new “post-racial” world.
It was the British! According to the Iranian government, it wasn’t the corrupt election or even general resentment toward a heavy-handed state that led to the massive postelection protests in Iran. Instead the regime has detained staffers from the British Embassy in Tehran, and reportedly will put them on trial on charges of inciting protests against the government.
For a mere $250,000, lobbyists and captains of industry were invited to “an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of [Washington Post] CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth.” Invitees were promised unfettered access to the paper’s reporters as well as “key Obama administration and congressional leaders.”
Unemployment rose to 9.5 percent last month, the highest level in 26 years. Meanwhile, Wall Street payouts are not dropping. Goldman Sachs will be shelling out a whopping $20 billion to its employees this year. As we enter the 20th month of this recession, unemployment is becoming a way of life for many, and the very same people who created this mess are still reaping the profits.
Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is being held in a detention center in Ramle, Israel, after venturing out to sea with about 20 other activists to provide aid to Gazans as part of the “Free Gaza Movement.” The ship Spirit of Humanity was intercepted by the Israeli navy before the group could reach its destination. McKinney will be sent back to the U.S. soon, the American Embassy said.
So, Al Franken officially will become a senator next week, but given his long and bitter battle with rival Norm Coleman, not to mention his pronounced unpopularity among Republicans, it’s not entirely surprising that a Rasmussen Reports national poll released Thursday registered substantial voter displeasure at the prospect of Franken’s arrival on Capitol Hill.
Homosexual relations between consenting adults are no longer considered criminal in India, thanks to a court ruling that overturned a long-standing federal law. The BBC rounded up some reactions from Indian citizens after news of the judgment broke around the country.
Let’s see if this one takes. After critics blasted an earlier, more expensive version, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee took another crack at a plan to provide coverage for tens of millions of Americans without health insurance. The latest plan, released Thursday, comes at the lower cost of $611.4 billion, as opposed to the $1 trillion proposal that didn’t go over so well last month.
It’s been a year and a half since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and although her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now Pakistan’s president, local investigations haven’t produced many answers about her murder. Now a United Nations commission, led by Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, is conducting its own inquiry.
While Congress was away, President Obama made another play to boost public support of his health care reform plan. It came Wednesday in a town-hall-esque forum in Virginia. Those hoping for the federal government to back a viable single-payer system, however, will have to keep on hoping.
As if quitting smoking wasn’t hard enough: The FDA is slapping mental health warnings on varenicline and buproprion, two drugs commonly prescribed to help smokers ditch their “cancer sticks,” as both medications may cause serious neuropsychiatric problems and could even provoke suicidal behavior among users.
Despite Gov. Mark Sanford’s public mea culpas and hopeful Scriptural references, it seems that several prominent figures from South Carolina’s Republican ranks are putting the heat on him to devote himself fully to his family—and we all know what that political parlance means.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a Democratic proposal to cut $11.4 billion in spending, saying that “the Legislature must solve the entire [$27 billion] deficit ... and must not push the problem off to tomorrow.” With IOUs now a certainty and the state in financial ruin, a prominent Democrat called the governor’s stance “the most irresponsible thing that I’ve seen in my 15 years of public service.”
The Honduran coup leaders are showing their bravado. Said hombres have defied an international deadline to return democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya to power within 72 hours, doubling down on their swagger with a quip that “only a foreign invasion could reinstate him.”
A Los Angeles police review panel comprised mostly of cops has refused to fire any of the officers involved in the 2007 May Day brutality in MacArthur Park. The city shelled out $13 million in settlements because of the melee, but the worst punishment handed down was a 20-day suspension for one cop.
SEIU President Andrew Stern and Wal-Mart have joined forces, breaking with most other companies to support President Obama’s plan requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers. The thing often forgotten is Wal-Mart’s horrible record on health care and its current move to make about 40 percent of its employees part-time and thus ineligible for benefits.
The Food and Drug Administration’s expert panel has recommended the agency ban Vicodin and Percocet. Both drugs contain acetaminophen, which is known to cause liver damage. The panel also recommended reducing the standard doses of over-the-counter acetaminophen products, such as Tylenol.
Al Franken won’t officially be a U.S. senator until next week, but he’s set to make a big impact, and not just because he gives his party that 60th seat. Senate Democrats have reserved four committee spots for Franken, two of which will make him a key participant in health care reform and the confirmation of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
At long last, the Minnesota Supreme Court has declared Al Franken the victor in the state’s remarkably tight and seemingly endless U.S. Senate race. The comedian-turned-politician won the almost eight-month-long battle against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who conceded Tuesday, by 312 votes, giving the Democrats a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate to add to their comfortable advantage in the House.
A car bomb killed at least 20 people and wounded 40 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Tuesday. The bombing comes on the heels of national celebrations marking U.S. troops’ pullback from Iraq’s cities and towns, and just a week after another suicide attack left 80 people dead in Taza Khurmatu, just south of Kirkuk.
The Israeli navy has seized a boat carrying 20 peace activists trying to deliver food, medicine and school supplies to the Gaza Strip. The trip was carried out by the Free Gaza Movement in defiance of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, in place since Hamas took control of the area in 2007.
After facing loads of criticism at home and abroad, China is delaying a rule on the mandatory installation of anti-porn and anti-violence software on all new computers sold. Many have found problems with the software, claiming it blocks sensitive political sites and opens computers to government surveillance and hackers.
Posted on Jun 30, 2009
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The Age of Paine
