Monthly Archives: April 2013

04.18.13
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Marketwatch: No decisions made on gun-control bill: Boehner

House committee chairmen are looking at gun violence proposals but no decisions
have been made about legislation, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.
“When we have a decision to announce, we’ll announce it,” Boehner told
reporters, a day after the Senate defeated an amendment that would have expanded
background checks for gun buyers.

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Do Republicans also need an education on the Second Amendment?  What do you think?  This is an interesting statement from the top GOP in the House.  Click below for the direct link.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-decisions-made-on-gun-control-bill-boehner-2013-04-18?siteid=yhoof2

04.18.13
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Motoramic: Why does the world’s largest automaker need $146.5 million from Kentucky?

On Friday, Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda and Kentucky officials are expected to announce a $530 million expansion of Toyota’s sprawling Georgetown factory in the Bluegrass State so that it can build 50,000 Lexus ES sedans a year. In return for adding 570 permanent jobs, Kentucky will give Toyota a package of tax breaks and other incentives worth $146.5 million. Such deals are so common they rarely draw comment, but it’s worth asking: Why does the world’s largest automaker need a handout?

To get the incentives, Toyota promised to hire up to 570 new full-time workers at the Georgetown plant, along with 180 temporary workers. As the Louisville Courier-Journal reports, those permanent employees will be paid an average of $26 an hour in wages and benefits, a bit more than half of what long-time employees in Georgetown make.

It would be unfair to Toyota to single it out for taking a path trod so often by other automakers and corporations; in fact, it’s unheard of for an automaker from General Motors to Mitsubishi to expand a plant without some kind of government gift. Last December, The New York Times counted up 35 different grants to Ford from Kentucky alone between 2007 and 2010, totaling $307 million — which came even as the company cut jobs.

And those breaks pale to the deals automakers bargain for when they open new plants, with the current record held by Volkswagen, whose Tennessee factory came with incentives that total $577 million over several years. In return for those incentives, VW vowed to hire 2,000 full-time workers, for a cost of about $288,500 per job, a ratio that was the highest ever for a new auto assembly plant in the United States. When Kia opened its plant in Georgia in 2009, it did so only after driving a hard bargain for a $400 million incentive package, including everything from school property tax breaks to a free rail spur to ship cars from the factory.

State and local governments give automakers endless breaks for several reasons. A new auto plant often means additional jobs from parts suppliers on top of the add-on boost to the local economy. In tough times for American workers, automotive manufacturing jobs ofter stability and wages well above what’s available in most service industry careers. And many state officials fear being held to answer why a project was lost if the pot wasn’t sweet enough.

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How do you feel about this government intervention?  Click below for the full article.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/why-does-world-largest-automaker-146-million-kentucky-164424807.html

04.18.13
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New York Times: Mortgage Relief Checks Go Out, Only to Bounce

A $300 relief check that bounced. The name and other information was redacted by The New York Times for privacy reasons.

When the bank account is running dry and the mortgage payment is coming due, the phrase “insufficient funds” is the last thing you want to hear.

Now imagine hearing those two words when trying to cash a long-awaited check from the same bank that foreclosed on you.

Many struggling homeowners got exactly that this week when they lined up to take their cut of a $3.6 billion settlement with the nation’s largest banks — lenders accused of wrongful evictions and other abuses.

Ronnie Edward, whose home was sold in a foreclosure auction, waited three years for his $3,000 check. When it arrived on Tuesday, he raced to his local bank in Tennessee, only to learn that the funds “were not available.”

Mr. Edward, 38, was taken aback. “Is this for real?” he asked.

It is unclear how many of the 1.4 million homeowners who were mailed the first round of payments covered under the foreclosure settlement have had problems with their checks. But housing advocates from California to New York and even regulators say that in recent days frustrated homeowners have bombarded them with complaints and questions.

The mishap is just the latest setback to troubled homeowners. It took more than two years to resolve a federal investigation into the foreclosure abuses. Even after the settlement in January, the checks were delayed for weeks.

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The Too Big to Fail Banks certainly didn’t seem to have trouble getting their checks from Hank Paulson or Ben Bernanke but it looks like these folks weren’t so fortunate.  Click below for the full article.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/victims-of-foreclosure-abuses-face-another-woe-bounced-checks/

 

04.18.13
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Associated Press on Murder Case: Abortion clinic worker says “I saw 10 babies breathe”

former abortion clinic worker capped the five-week murder trial of her former boss with powerful testimony that she saw more than 10 babies breathe before they were killed.

“I thought they were breathing,” Kareema Cross testified Thursday, explaining that she saw their chests go up and down in the clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell. “He would say they’re not really breathing.”

Cross, 28, is the final prosecution witness in the capital murder case against Gosnell. He is charged in the deaths of a patient and seven babies allegedly born alive.

Cross also described seeing three babies move, one after being born in a toilet, and heard a fourth give a “soft whine.”

Cross, who worked at the clinic from 2005 to 2009, was so disturbed by its operation that she took photos and called authorities, although she gave a relative’s name.

A 2011 grand jury report blasts state and city officials for failing to inspect or shut down Gosnell’s busy clinic in West Philadelphia. A 2010 FBI raid over Gosnell’s separate pain management practice ultimately led to its closure.

The defense has denied that babies were born alive, and Cross is sure to face strenuous questioning Thursday afternoon from Gosnell’s lawyer, Jack McMahon.

Click below for the full article.

http://news.yahoo.com/abortion-clinic-worker-saw-10-babies-breathe-183731159.html

04.18.13
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Medals for Drones??? Say it ain’t So!!! Reuters: Pentagon scraps medal for drone pilots after uproar

 

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rolled back a decision by his predecessor, Leon Panetta, who two months ago unveiled a “Distinguished Warfare Medal” outranking the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, awarded to wounded troops.

Hagel, a Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts, said instead the Pentagon would create a “distinguishing device” that can be affixed to existing medals.

Opponents had decried Panetta’s high placement of the medal, which was meant to be a nod to the changing nature of warfare and represented the most substantial shakeup in the hierarchy of military medals since World War Two.

Brian Jopek, whose 20-year-old son, Ryan, earned a Bronze Star when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2006, had branded Panetta’s decision a “slap in the face.

Click below for the full article.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/15/us-usa-pentagon-medal-idUSBRE93E12V20130415

 

04.18.13
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Business Insider: Pentagon to take over CIA’s drone program?

Drone Operator

Recently divulged plans to shift the drone program away from the CIA and solely  into the hands of the Defense Department (DoD) highlights a huge issue  about targeted killings by CIA drone pilots.

 

Daniel Klaidman of the Daily Beast reports (emphasis  ours):

“CIA and DoD operators would begin to  work more closely together to ensure a smooth hand-off. The CIA would remain  involved in lethal targeting, at least on the intelligence side, but would not actually control the unmanned aerial vehicles.”

“Since the inception of the drone  program, targeting decisions have been made inside the CIA with  little or no input from other agencies, though the White House sometimes  weighs in … [but Obama] does not … sign  off on all CIA strikes.”

The disclosure may explain how U.S. drones kill people whose  identities aren’t confirmed.

Read more:  http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3#ixzz2Qs63gKh9

Click below for the full article.

http://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-taking-over-drone-strikes-2013-3

04.18.13
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AP: Al-Qaida’s No. 2 in Yemen slams US drone strikes

The deputy leader of al-Qaida in Yemen is calling on Saudis to revolt against the king, slamming the use of bases in Saudi Arabia to launch lethal U.S. drone strikes.

Saeed al-Shihri’s audio recording appeared to back up al-Qaida denials that he was killed in a drone attack. Al-Shihri calls the Saudi royal family “the greatest agent of America.”

The 14-minute audio recording was made public on Wednesday. It was not known when it was recorded.

Click below for the full article.

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/world/story/Al-Qaidas-No-2-in-Yemen-slams-US-drone-strikes/8Ss4_J2FF0KzgmNWcVvFfA.cspx

04.18.13
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News Daily: Iran condemns Boston blast, criticizes US policy

Iran condemns Boston but criticizes US policy

Iran’s top leader on Wednesday condemned the twin bombing attacks in Boston, yet chided the U.S. for employing a double standard when it comes to drone attacks that kill innocent civilians.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, which follows the logic of Islam, is opposed to any bombings and killings of innocent people no matter if it is in Boston, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria and condemns it,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian military leaders he was addressing in Tehran.

Khamenei criticized the U.S. for killing people with drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan and backing forces that kill others in Iraq and Syria.

“What kind of logic is this that if children and women are killed by Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan and by U.S.-backed terrorists in Iraq and Syria is not a problem, but if a bombing happens in the U.S. or another Western country, the whole world should pay the cost?” he asked in his comments, which were posted on his website.

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What do you think?  Do you think that United States Foreign Policy conflicts with its goal of spreading peace, prosperty, liberty, freedom, and democracy?

http://www.newsdaily.com/article/5605e8c7ed7059672cf5d0f464e3b85f/iran-condemns-boston-blast-criticizes-us-policy

04.17.13
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Yahoo News: For Obama, stinging gun bill defeat is personal and political

What happens to a president who romps to reelection, channels a national tragedy that sparked coast-to-coast outrage into a deeply personal crusade, then fails to get a measure backed by nine out of ten Americans through the Senate, where his party holds a majority? Thanks to the NRA-fueled defeat of a bill that might have mildly tightened limits on gun sales, President Barack Obama is learning the hard way.

For the families of those killed or wounded by gun violence and who watched with judging eyes as the Senate killed the measure by a vote of 54-46 (it needed a supermajority of 60 votes to pass) what to make of the vote was an easy call.

“Shame on you!” Patricia Maisch shouted from the visitors gallery above the Senate floor.

Maisch, a grandmotherly figure who disarmed the shooter in the Tucson carnage that nearly claimed the life of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was happy to elaborate as reporters swarmed her after the vote. “I decided I could not sit still,” she said. “They have no souls, they have no compassion.”

But on Wednesday, they had the votes.

That’s Message One for Obama from this stinging legislative defeat: Having emotion and the majority on your side isn’t enough. NRA leader Wayne LaPierre, after all, didn’t even need to show up.

The knock on Obama has often been that he’s Mr. Spock, viewing his approach as the most logical and assuming that logic will trump the other’s side’s arguments and emotions. But only the most cynical observers will argue that the president didn’t take this fight personally – with frequent flashes of very public anger and anguish ever since the slaughter of 20 schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary. And supporters of the legislation deployed the families of the slain as lobbyists in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Moreover, as the White House never tired of pointing out, polls show roughly 90 percent of Americans support expanded background checks.

“I will put everything I’ve got into this, and so will Joe,” Obama promised in January, with Vice President Biden at his side. “But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it.”

In the end, though, four red-state Democrats joined 41 of the Senate’s 45 Republicans to defeat the bill. Why stick their necks out for legislation whose death in the Republican-led House of Representatives was essentially foreordained?

Click below for the full article.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-stinging-gun-bill-defeat-personal-political-234849868–politics.html;_ylt=AhMEeTY6VfIiF8QAHtN7SpvyWed_;_ylu=X3oDMTQzNzlxa2ZiBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIFRvcFN0b3JpZXMEcGtnA2QzMGIyZjAzLTk5OTEtMzY3My1hOWJiLTUwMTBjNjhkNmE5MgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDTWVkaWFTZWN0aW9uTGlzdAR2ZXIDYjBlMGU5NDMtYTdjMi0xMWUyLWFmZmUtNzM5MDdkZGMxMTA0;_ylg=X3oDMTNqcDRvMzU3BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMjEwZTBhNzAtMzljNC0zNDg0LTg4MmUtZDAzYWU0ZTg3YjgxBHBzdGNhdAN1LXN8Y3JpbWVzYW5kdHJpYWxzBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQR0ZXN0A1FFX1Rlc3Q-;_ylv=3

04.17.13
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CNN: Senate rejects expanded gun background checks

In a major defeat for supporters of tougher gun laws, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday defeated a compromise plan to expand background checks on firearms sales as well as a proposal to ban some semi-automatic weapons modeled after military assault weapons.

The votes were on a series of amendments to a broad package of gun laws pushed by President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre in December.

However, fierce opposition by the powerful National Rifle Association led a backlash by conservative Republicans and a few Democrats from pro-gun states that doomed key proposals in the gun package, even after they had been watered down to try to satisfy opponents.

After the votes, Obama angrily criticized the NRA and senators who voted against the expanded background checks for rejecting a compromise he said was supported by a strong majority of Americans.

Click below for the full article.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/politics/senate-guns-vote/index.html