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15 Jun 2011 16:40

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U.S.: North Carolina moving towards axing Planned Parenthood’s funding

  • veto The Republican-controlled House in North Carolina passed a provision attached to their budget which strips Planned Parenthood of all federal and state funding. Democratic Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the budget to avoid the funding being axed.
  • override The North Carolina GOP has voted to override the veto, sending the budget along to the state Senate, which will likely follow suit. This is horrible news for women’s health concerns, as a funding halt would especially limit health care for low-income women. source

09 May 2011 17:17

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U.S.: U.S. aid to Pakistan comes under fire after bin Laden killing

  • $18 billion in aid given by the U.S. to Pakistan since 2002 source
  • » Bang for your buck: The above figure is a cause for angst among some U.S. politicians in the wake of the surprising (to say the least) discovery of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last week. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Susan Collins have made it clear they may not support further funding — Collins says she’s concerned about Pakistan playing a “double-game.” On the other side of the issue, Senator Richard Luger supports continuation of the aid, saying that Pakistan is simply too critical to counter-terrorism to sever financial ties.

20 Apr 2011 14:33

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World: Wikileaks: U.S. has financial hand in Syria’s opposition

  • $6 million in secret U.S. funding to Syrian opposition causes source
  • » Wikileaks strikes again: Cables released by the organization say that after the Bush administration’s severing of diplomatic ties with the Syrian regime in 2005, the U.S. had funnelled money to groups hostile to the Bashar al-Assad government. About $6 million went to a group of Syrian exiles in London with connections to Barada TV, a satellite station that beams into Syria and provides coverage of the protests against Assad. The funding began in 2006, and continued at least until September 2010, meaning the Obama administration’s diplomatic overtures to the Assad regime weren’t very sincere — frankly, this makes us feel a little better about U.S. policy towards them. Be sure to notch another tally for Wikileaks, exposing yet more profoundly relevant, enthralling information about our geopolitical world.

07 Apr 2011 13:50

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Politics: Non-fiscal issues make government shutdown harder to avert

  • fiscal As we mentioned yesterday, there’s a big gap between what Democrats are willing to cut in spending and what Republicans want — in fact, they can’t even agree on how many spending cuts are actually in yesterday’s offered compromise.
  • not fiscal Sen. Harry Reid, though, claims the spending cut jockeying isn’t the only hold-up, so are the policy issues pertaining to things like abortion. The GOP has spent a lot of time since their big win in 2010 pushing for these social aims. source

18 Feb 2011 15:50

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U.S.: Another paper tiger? House pushes to strip Planned Parenthood funding

  • 240-185 to strip the org of funding source
  • » This has nothing to do with abortions: This bill, which only passed in the GOP-controlled house, affects preventative-health services like cancer screenings or contraception – not abortions, which are maybe 3% of Planned Parenthood’s entire array of services and are already not supported through federal funding – at the grand cost of $330 million. Now, the likelihood that this would actually affect Planned Parenthood as-is? That’s very low, because this is part of that whole Republican-pushed spending plan that will likely not get through the Senate or Obama in its current form, but the fact that it’s even on the table is getting a lot of people worked up.

18 Jan 2011 09:27

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Biz: Cheezburger Network: Stupid videos, insanely high funding

  • $30 million in funding for cat videos and The Daily What source

03 Aug 2010 10:27

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Politics: Monkeys on cocaine? The GOP narrows down bad stimulus projects

  • What a beautiful scene, right? Too bad it’s no longer open to the public. The Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center at Mount St. Helens was closed back in 2007 due to staffing issues – but, as the GOP is quick to remind you, it’s getting new glass windows anyway thanks to the stimulus. It’s just one of the recipients Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain pointed out in their list of the 100 worst stimulus projects. Our personal favorite? Monkeys on cocaine. source
 

02 Jun 2010 10:25

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World: That flotilla was getting a little help from Turkey’s money

  • We became famous. We are very thankful to the Israeli authorities.
  • Insani Yardim Vakfi board member Omar Faruk • In an immediate reaction to the incident that killed nine and left hundreds stuck in the country for a day. Faruk’s Turkey-tied group, better known as the IHH, has been helping fund the Free Gaza Movement. The group’s goal with the flotilla seemed not to get the flotilla to Gaza but the draw a reaction from Israel. It worked. Israel, for its part, says that the IHH has terrorist ties and seem to have the ultimate goal of destroying the Israeli state. They deny it, of course. source

28 Jan 2010 09:31

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World: Afghanistan’s grand plan to stop the Taliban : Pay them off!

  • $500 million fund to get them to renounce violence source

24 Sep 2009 19:47

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Biz, Tech: Twitter has a lot of venture capital; it should give us some

  • $100 million amount of money being injected into the site in a hot round of venture capital
  • three years length of time the site has been around; really guys, it’s only been that long? source