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26 May 2011 17:09

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U.S.: Report: John Ensign made life harder for John Ensign

  • John Ensign fouls up his legal situation: A report by Reuters today suggests that a decision by John Ensign himself may have paved the way for the charges he could be facing. Throughout the probe, investigators had wanted to get a look at a trove of Ensign’s e-mails, which he and his team claimed were protected by attorney-client confidentiality. The probe could very well have gone nowhere without them. That is, until Ensign himself handed them over as he was preparing to leave the Senate, after having refused for 18 months. Why on earth he did this is unknown, but it seems he may have scored an “own goal” here. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 May 2011 15:51

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U.S.: Obama Judicial nominee Goodwin Liu asks to withdraw his name

  • Goodwin Liu says goodbye: One of the many contentious battles between the Republican Party and the Obama administration may come to a close, as judicial nominee Goodwin Liu has asked the President to withdraw his name from consideration. Obama nominated Liu on February 24th, 2010, and he’s languished in the Senate approvals process ever since. His nomination was a hit with the President’s liberal base, as Liu is rather liberal himself (and a UC Berkeley professor, to boot), but that made the political strategy for the GOP all too obvious. With the strength of the Senate filibuster still in hand, they decided to wait it out, hoping that Senate gridlock would scuttle his nomination. It seems that they were right. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 May 2011 12:32

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U.S.: Two ways Obama’s health care plan is actually working

  • Who’s getting insured? A greater number of people under 26 now get to stay on their parents’ insurance. It helps because they’re paying for it — meaning that they’re helping lower costs for the elderly. When they get older, they’ll be helped by younger generations in the same way.
  • Who’s insuring people? As small businesses are getting incentives for providing health care, insurance-providing businesses with fewer than 10 employees have grown by 46%. That’s huge; it helps people who need health care most. And the IRS has approved more incentives, too. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 May 2011 11:18

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U.S.: Supreme Court sides with Arizona on immigrant worker law

  • 5-3 states can take away business licenses, the SCOTUS says source
  • » Obama and the Chamber of Commerce, together at last: In a decision in a case that put two longtime adversaries on the same side of a losing battle, the Supreme Court backed an Arizona immigration law that encourages employers to verify their workers — or they could lose their business license if they knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. We don’t know if we agree with the Supreme Court’s decision on this case — especially because it could lead to a number of copycat laws as a result of this. (By the way, in case you were wondering: Justice Elena Kagan didn’t vote in the case, as it came up while she was still Solicitor General.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 23:24

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U.S.: Study: Whites feel left behind by shifting racial dynamics

  • These data are the first to demonstrate that not only do whites think more progress has been made toward equality than do blacks, but whites also now believe that this progress is linked to a new inequality — at their expense.
  • Tufts University psychologist Samuel Sommers • Describing his study, published in the peer-reviewed Perspectives on Psychological Science, which shows that some white people feel that, as blacks gain ground in society, they’re falling behind. Which is to say that, due to societal changes, many whites feel they receive detrimental treatment compared to blacks. It’s a perception which, while felt by some whites, isn’t necessarily true, according to Sommers. On top of flying in the face of ample evidence to the contrary, he notes that it’s felt worst in the job market. “Economists have documented over and over again that it takes twice as many resumes to get a call back from an employer if you have a black-sounding name,” he says. This is a study we wish didn’t exist. We still have a way to go. (thanks reallyfoxnews) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 14:10

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Biz, U.S.: Bubble watch: Is the student loan market about to crash?

  • $24k average amount of debt a graduating college student has
  • $800B amount in outstanding student debt — with 30% of it securitized
  • 40% number of student loans that are in default after 15 years; not good source
  • » This is huge. To put it in perspective: Student loans are the nation’s largest source of debt – even more than credit cards. Tuition has risen faster than inflation, and lenders are quick to help students. That’s because until 2009 the government had a program in place that purchased loans that weren’t paid back. That sounds a lot like the housing market, right? Couple all of that with the fact that college graduates are having harder times finding jobs, and you don’t get a very good picture over the long-term.
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 11:19

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U.S.: Woman dies after finding out about her dad’s death in Joplin tornado

  • Another crushingly sad tale from the Joplin storm: After a 54-year-old woman found out on Tuesday that her father died in Sunday’s incredibly tragic tornado in the Missouri town, she had a heart attack and later died. The woman, a schoolteacher, lived in a nearby town and attended church in the city of 50,000. Despite the fact that she wasn’t killed in the storm itself, the coroner says that they will consider her death a storm-related casualty. Such a gut punch. Officials in the city plan to continue searching for those missing, combing over areas they’ve covered as many as three times already — all in the hopes of finding a survivor in the rubble. Hold out hope. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 May 2011 23:17

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U.S.: Upset: Dem Kathy Hochul wins GOP House seat in special election

The NYT portrayed her win in a conservative NY district as a statement on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. They didn’t mention Scott Walker prankster Ian Murphy’s 1 percent of the vote. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 14:54

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U.S.: More storms expected in devastated Joplin, Missouri

  • Scenes from Joplin, and fears of further storms: The death toll in Joplin continued to grimly creep upwards today, with 117 now confirmed dead, and relief and rescue services still faced with such a job that you should probably brace for that number to change again. To make matters worse, the NOAA has issued warnings of severe storms the next few days across a broad swath of the American heartland, with Joplin lying in the highest risk zone. Please do everything possible to stay safe, everybody. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 10:46

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U.S.: The logistics of Supreme Court’s California prison overcrowding case

  • The gates of California prisons aren’t going to be opened, and 30,000 prisoners aren’t going to walk out tomorrow. The court ordered a very slow, conscientious process that gives state prison and law enforcement officials compete discretion on how to accomplish it.
  • Prison Law Office attorney Don Spector • Pointing out that the process of releasing 30,000 prisoners in California might be a bit … complicated. There are some ideas, though, including having short-term non-violent offenders serve at the county level rather than the state level, which might ease the prison system’s burden. Gov. Jerry Brown signed that plan in April. Unfortunately, that plan hasn’t received funding from the state due to disagreements with the legislature on the issue. Other options: Finding a different way to fund the state-to-county thing, coming up with a new plan — or shipping off prisoners to other states. The state has shipped around 10,000 California to nearby states like Arizona, Oklahoma or Mississippi (wait, that’s not nearby!), and they might increase the number, based on the Supreme Court’s decision. Either way, this is a logistics nightmare. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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