Senate torture report confirms Bush, top officials guilty of war crimes

clipped from www.wsws.org A report issued Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee has provided official and bipartisan confirmation that the infamous acts of torture carried out by US personnel at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo were planned, ordered and orchestrated by the highest-ranking officials in the US government. Based on the Senate's own conclusions, those named in the document, including President George W. Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are guilty of war crimes.

The Meltdown Continues

clipped from www.nytimes.com Old Ways of Life Are Fading as the Arctic Thaws For the four million people who live in the Arctic, in remote outposts and the improbable industrial centers built by Soviet decree, a changing climate presents new opportunities. But it also threatens their environment, their homes and, for those whose traditions rely on the ice-bound wilderness, the preservation of their culture.

No Escape: Thaw Gains Momentum

clipped from www.nytimes.com Scientists have concluded that the momentum behind human-caused warming, combined with the region's tendency to amplify change, has put the familiar Arctic past the point of no return.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

clipped from www.nytimes.com Jdimytai Damour, 34 was crushed to death when a mob of shoppers would apparently rather kill a man than miss out on a holiday bargain.

Bush Last Minute Rule Changes Put Workers at Risk of Illness and Death

clipped from www.nytimes.com The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health. Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

Home Prices in Record Decline

clipped from realestate.yahoo.com The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price national index recorded a 16.6% decline in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. That eclipsed the previous record of 15.1% set during the second quarter.

Cuomo Investigates Bonuses at Banking Companies

clipped from dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com The New York attorney general has expanded his investigation of bonus payments to Wall Street executives whose banking companies are receiving $125 billion in support from the federal government.

Reverse Socialism

Over $60,000,000,000 in bonuses from taxpayers to rich bankers. True, but they only get that once a year.

clipped from www.foxbusiness.com

Why Bailouts Don't Work

clipped from www.commondreams.org The point is, however, there are more cost-effective ways to help out workers in failing businesses than to have the government simply subsidize the continued operation of enterprises that have been destroyed by management. In truth, all the talk in congress and in the Obama camp about rescuing jobs is just a cover for bailouts that are really aimed at rescuing managers and investors, not workers.