Multimedia

1. -001 Obama Debates Republican Leadership (Whitehouse.gov)
   Provides a video of the event. 01-10
   
   
2. -001 Relief for Haiti Concert and News(CNN News)
   Provides a sample of entertainment from the concert plus news about the current situation. 01-10
   
   
3. -01-18-10 Infection in Haiti Out of Control (CNN News)
   "Victims of the quake are slowly dying." 01-10
   
   
4. -01-24-10 Haiti: One Who Is Making a Difference (MSNBC News)
   Follows Allen Arman, a man who went to Haiti with a backpack and a blackberry to help. 01-10
   
   
5. -07-29-10 Obama Grilled on Jobs on "The View" (ABC News)
   Obama defends his handling of jobs in the USA. 07-10
   
   
6. -08-02-10 Senator Kerry Discusses Afghanistan's Progress (CNN News)
   Senator John Kerry discusses President Karzai, insufficient governance, and U.S. progress in Afghanistan. 08-10
   
   
7. -08-08-10 CNN Moderator Returns Award to Anti-Defamation League in Protest (CNN News)
   Fareed Zakaria said he will return his award and honorarium from the Anti-Defamation League because of its stand over a proposed mosque near ground zero. Zakaria's award was for standing up for freedom of religion.
   
   "The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry." 08-10
   
   
8. -08-08-10 Oil Below the Surface of the Water Still a Potential Hazard (CNN News)
   "CNN's Jim Acosta speaks with boat captain Mike Frenette about the oil still unaccounted for after the Gulf spill." 08-10
   
   
9. -Is Obama's Stimulus Working? (CNN News)
   Panelists discuss the situation. 01-10
   
   
10. The Cost of Dying and Medicare (CBS News)
    "Many Americans spend their last days in an intensive care unit, subjected to uncomfortable machines or surgeries to prolong their lives at enormous cost." 08-10
    
    

News

1. -001 China, India, and USA Make Climate Deal (USA Today)
   "A senior Obama administration official says the U.S., China, India and South Africa have reached a 'meaningful agreement' on climate change."
   
   "The official characterized the deal as a first step, but said it was not enough to combat the threat of a warming planet."
   
   Editor's Note: Coal-fired power plants from China, India, and the U.S. are the top sources of human-caused CO2 emissions in the world.
   
   However, decaying organic matter (biomass) releases 8 times as much CO2 into the air as coal-fired plants and all other human activity. If organic waste from agriculture and forestry is pyrolyzed into clean energy and biochar and on a global scale, the amount of total CO2 in the air could be reversed to avoid a catastrophe. 12-09
   
   
2. -001 Health Care Reform Law Passes (CNN News)
   "President Obama won a historic victory in the struggle for health care reform Sunday as the House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill overhauling the American medical system."
   
   "The measure, which cleared the Senate in December, will now go to Obama's desk to be signed into law. It constitutes the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago." 03-10
   
   
3. -001 Provisions of the New Health Care Reform Bill (MSNBC News)
   "Proposed changes to the Senate-passed health care bill include a scaled-back tax on high-cost health insurance plans – a provision that is widely unpopular with House Democrats – and more money to help states pay for an expansion of Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor and disabled. The new measure, called a reconciliation bill, also would take additional steps to close a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage and to help low- and middle-income Americans purchase health insurance through new insurance exchanges." 03-10
   
   
4. -01-01-10 A Year of Missteps in the Mideast (Time.com)
   "It has taken President Obama just 10 months to achieve something each of his immediate predecessors delivered in their final year in office: failure in the Middle East peace process." 01-10
   
   
5. -01-01-10 Judge Dismisses Charges from Black Water Deaths in Iraq (New York Times)
   "In a significant blow to the Justice Department, a federal judge on Thursday threw out the indictment of five former Blackwater security guards over a shooting in Baghdad in 2007 that left 17 Iraqis dead and about 20 wounded."
   
   "The judge cited misuse of statements made by the guards in his decision, which brought to a sudden halt one of the highest-profile prosecutions to arise from the Iraq war. The shooting at Nisour Square frayed relations between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration and put a spotlight on the United States’ growing reliance on private security contractors in war zones." 01-10
   
   
6. -01-02-10 Corn Biofuel Causes Food Prices to Rise (ABC News)
   "Food prices worldwide have risen dramatically in the past few years, due in part to a similarly dramatic rise in the amount of corn used for ethanol production in the United States. Now, in an effort to make food less expensive, experts are calling for limits on ethanol production, subsidies for corn, and more incentives for biofuels made from nonfood sources."
   
   "From 2001 to 2006, the price of food increased each year by an average of only 2.5 percent. According to the World Bank, the situation worldwide is more dire: food prices have nearly doubled over the past three years. That's erased a decade of economic gains for the poor in some countries." 01-10
   
   
7. -01-02-10 D.C. First State to Charge a Fee for Bags (ABC News)
   "Starting today, the District of Columbia becomes the first major city in the nation to impose a surcharge on disposable paper and plastic bags commonly used at grocery and retail stores everywhere."
   
   "Some 89 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are used each year in the U.S., according to the American Chemistry Council." 01-10
   
   
8. -01-05-10 C.I.A. Shares Data With Climate Scientists (New York Times)
   "The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change." 01-10
   
   
9. -01-05-10 Editorial: Americans, From a British View (New York Times)
   "The first thing I ever heard about Americans was that they all carried guns. Then, when I came across people who’d had direct contact with this ferocious-sounding tribe, I learned that they were actually rather friendly."
   
   "When I finally got to America myself, I found that not only were the natives friendly and hospitable, they were also incredibly polite. No one tells you this about Americans, but once you notice it, it becomes one of their defining characteristics, especially when they’re abroad." 01-10
   
   
10. -01-05-10 Obama: The System Failed (ABC News)
    "President Obama said today that the nation's security and intelligence system "failed in a potentially disastrous way" when a passenger was able to board a U.S.-bound flight with explosives strapped to his underwear." 01-10
    
    
11. -01-06-10 National Security Advisor: Report on Bombing Attempt Will 'Shock' (USA Today)
    "White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel 'a certain shock' when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane." 01-10
    
    
12. -01-07-10 Senate Retirements Highlight Problem for Democrats (Time.com)
    "The surprise twin retirements announced this week by Democratic Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota cap a dismal month for Democrats." 01-10
    
    
13. -01-08-10 Obama Reveals Green Jobs (CNN News)
    "President Obama unveiled a program Friday that will provide $2.3 billion in tax credits for the clean energy manufacturing sector, a move aimed at creating 17,000 jobs." 01-10
    
    
14. -01-10-10 Officials Hid Immigrant Deaths in Jail (New York Times)
    "Silence has long shrouded the men and women who die in the nation’s immigration jails. For years, they went uncounted and unnamed in the public record. Even in 2008, when The New York Times obtained and published a federal government list of such deaths, few facts were available about who these people were and how they died."
    
    "But behind the scenes, it is now clear, the deaths had already generated thousands of pages of government documents, including scathing investigative reports that were kept under wraps, and a trail of confidential memos and BlackBerry messages that show officials working to stymie outside inquiry." 01-10
    
    
15. -01-11-10 Al-Awlaki's Father Denies Son Encouraged Terrorism (CNN News)
    "Al-Awlaki acknowledged his son has espoused some controversial views but all of them, he said, would be protected by freedom of speech provisions in the American Constitution. He denied his son has done anything to encourage terrorists to commit violent acts.ge the world."
    
    "Al-Awlaki's [son's] name surfaced in November when U.S. officials revealed he and Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- the U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5 -- had exchanged e-mails. The intercepted e-mails between the two, officials said, had not not set off alarm bells."
    
    "The cleric recently told Al Jazeera's Arabic-language Web site that he met Hasan nine years ago while serving as an imam at a mosque in the Washington, D.C., area. He said he lauded the Fort Hood attack because it was aimed at troops, whom he accused of fighting an unjust war against Islam."
    
    " 'It is a military target inside America and there is no dispute over that,' Anwar al-Awlaki said." 01-10
    
    
16. -01-11-10 Ford Fusion Hybrid Takes Top Award at Auto Show (MSNBC News)
    "Ford's Fusion Hybrid midsize sedan took top car honors and its versatile Transit Connect compact van snagged truck of the year at the Detroit auto show." 01-10
    
    
17. -01-11-10 Game Change: Behind the Scenes in the 2008 Campaign (ABC News)
    "In 'Game Change' John Heilemann and Mark Halperin document what occurred behind the scenes during the 2008 presidential election." 01-10
    
    
18. -01-11-10 Poll: Obama's Popularity Reaches New Low (CBS News)
    "President Obama's job approval rating has fallen to 46 percent, according to a new CBS News poll."
    
    "That rating is Mr. Obama's lowest yet in CBS News polling, and the poll marks the first time his approval rating has fallen below the 50 percent mark. Forty-one percent now say they disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance as president." 01-10
    
    
19. -01-18-10 Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carriers May Have Water for Haiti (Time.com)
    "Sitting off the coast of Haiti, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson can make some 400,000 gallons of its own fresh water every day, and much of it will soon be going ashore. The nuclear-powered vessel, which had been heading to its new home port in San Diego when it was diverted to Haiti hours after the quake, has massive desalination capacity — purifying the same ocean saltwater it traverses — and the Vinson has a daily excess of 200,000 gallons 'that we can give away,' says Cmdr. William McKinley, who oversees the desalination process." 01-10
    
    
20. -01-20-10 Brown Wins Kennedy's Seat in Senate (USA Today)
    "Brown, one of only five Republicans in the 40-member state Senate, is the first Republican to win a Massachusetts Senate race since 1972. He will be stepping into a seat occupied for 47 years by Sen. Edward Kennedy, a liberal icon and chief advocate for expanding the nation's health care coverage." 01-10
    
    
21. -01-20-10 Obama Comments on Brown's Win in Senate (ABC News)
    "President Obama warned Democrats in Congress today not to "jam" a health care reform bill through now that they've lost their commanding majority in the Senate, and said they must wait for newly elected Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to be sworn into office." 01-10
    
    
22. -01-22-10 Carbon Capture and Storage (Times.com)
    "China and India aren't going to suddenly shut down all their new coal power plants, nor will Western industrial giants close their factories overnight. Solar and wind may be today's sexy new energy sources, but coal is the fastest-growing fuel in the world, boasting twice the known gas reserves and three times the known oil reserves."
    
    "That's why governments and industry have recently begun to pay more attention to carbon capture and storage (CCS) — a process that traps CO2 produced by factories and gas or coal power stations and then stores it, usually underground."
    
    "The potential impact of CCS is huge. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says CCS could contribute between 10% and 55% of the cumulative worldwide carbon-mitigation effort over the next 90 years.""
    
    Editor's Note: Storing carbon as waste makes no sense when it can be stored as activated charcoal (biochar) to improve the productivity of soils and help to clean water--for a fraction of the cost of storage as a gas. See Biochar and Biomass. 01-10
    
    
23. -01-22-10 Obama Vows Push Back on Health Care Reform and Banking (New York Times)
    " President Obama, striking a no-retreat, no-surrender posture in the wake of his party’s humiliating defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race this week, vowed Friday to press on with his expansive domestic agenda — including a health care overhaul and tough new restrictions on banks — even if it meant he had to 'take my lumps' from political critics." 01-10
    
    
24. -01-23-10 E-Book Pricing and Free E-Books (New York Times)
    "Publishers including Harlequin, Random House and Scholastic are offering free versions of digital books to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-retailers, as well as on author Web sites, as a way of allowing readers to try out the work of unfamiliar writers. The hope is that customers who like what they read will go on to obtain another title for money." 01-10
    
    
25. -01-23-10 Obama Brings Back Old Political Team (MSNBC News)
    "President Obama is reconstituting the team that helped him win the White House to counter Republican challenges in the midterm elections and recalibrate after political setbacks that have narrowed his legislative ambitions." 01-10
    
    
26. -01-24-10 Haiti: 150,000 Bodies Recovered So Far (MSNBC News)
    "The confirmed death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake has topped 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area alone, the communications minister said Sunday, with many more thousands dead around the country or still buried under the rubble." 01-10
    
    
27. -01-25-10 Haiti: Desperate Need for Infrastructure (CBS News)
    "To see crowds growing and pushing outside the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, you'd think the biggest job for America's military and diplomats is handling the tears and tempers of people desperate to get to U.S. shores, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. But their biggest concern is getting this country, knocked to its knees, back on its feet. The first order of business is infrastructure repair."
    
    "Top five is the port, the airfield, the electrical grid, the road system and the water system," said Col. Rick Kaiser with the Army Corp of Engineers." 01-10
    
    
28. -01-25-10 Obama Unveils Breaks for Middle Class (CBS News)
    "The initiatives amount to a package of tax credits, spending expansions and new mandates on employers to encourage retirement savings by workers. Most of them will be included in Obama's budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, and they will require approval from Congress. Obama will release that budget Feb. 1." 01-10
    
    
29. -01-25-10 Obama Would Prefer to Be a "Really Good One-Term President" (ABC News)
    "President Obama, buffeted by criticism of his massive health care reform bill and election setbacks, said today he remained determined to tackle health care and other big problems despite the political dangers to his presidency."
    
    " 'I'd rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,' he told ABC's 'World News' anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview today." 01-10
    
    
30. -01-26-10 Young Boy Raises $220,000 for Haiti (CNN News)
    "He's no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn't stopped the British 7-year-old from raising more than £136,000 ($220,000) for victims of the Haiti earthquake."
    
    "[Charlie] Simpson, who's from Fulham, West London, started out hoping to raise just £500 -- around $800 -- for UNICEF's earthquake appeal by cycling five miles around a local park." 01-10
    
    
31. -01-27-10 Toyota Stops Sales of 8 Models in Recall (USA Today)
    "In an unprecedented auto-industry move — but echoing the massive Tylenol drug recall of 1982 — Toyota told its U.S. dealers Tuesday to immediately quit selling the new and used cars and trucks that it recalled on Jan. 21 because their throttles could stick open." 01-10
    
    
32. -01-28-10 Geithner Defends AIG Payouts (WSJ.com)
    "Mr. Geithner repeatedly characterized the government's choices in the giant insurer's rescue as 'tragic' and 'terrible.' But he maintained that the November 2008 decision to pay off banks in full to tear up $62 billion in contracts that were causing AIG to bleed cash was the right one. Had AIG defaulted on the contracts, its credit would have been downgraded by rating firms and it would have gone into bankruptcy, unleashing mayhem on Wall Street and Main Street, he said." 01-10
    
    
33. -01-30-10 Haiti's Capital Becoming a Cashless City (PBS.org)
    "The realities of the Port-au-Prince economy are brutally simple: Hundreds of thousands of workers have had no wages for weeks. The banks are mostly closed. The wire transfer businesses can't give Haitians money wired in from abroad fast enough." 01-10
    
    
34. -01-30-10 Toyota Pedal Fix Approved (CBS News)
    "Federal regulators have cleared Toyota's plan to fix millions of sticky gas pedals, and dealers could get parts to make the repairs as early as Thursday or Friday, people briefed on the matter said Saturday." 01-10
    
    
35. -02-02-10 Chaos Eases in Haiti (New York Times)
    "Four days into a new food distribution program from the United Nations that aims to repair a faltering aid effort, paper coupons that can be redeemed for 55 pounds of rice have become more valuable than Haitian money." 01-10
    
    
36. -02-02-10 Obama Calls for Loans for Small Businesses (Christian Science Monitor)
    "President Obama has proposed a small-business lending initiative designed to help shift America's job-creation engines out of reverse gear." 01-10
    
    
37. -02-02-10 Obama Cuts Back Space Program (Time.com)
    "On Monday, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden unveiled both Obama's proposed space budget through 2015 and the Administration's plans for how that money should be spent. And though Bolden filled his prepared remarks with all the usual promises to 'blaze a new trail,' answer a 'bold challenge,' 'spur innovation' and, of course, inspire young people, the fact of the matter is that the new plans will keep America on the ground for most of the next decade or longer. And whenever U.S. astronauts finally do return to space, they won't be going very far." 01-10
    
    
38. -02-02-10 White House: Republicans Claim Credit for Projects They Voted Against (ABC News)
    "ABC News' Ann Compton reports: The White House has the names, dates, and even photographs to challenge Republican members of Congress who voted against the Recovery Act and its spending last year, but who also went home to claim credit for projects the stimulus brought to their districts." 02-10
    
    
39. -02-02-10 Winners From Obama's Green Job Incentives (U.S. News)
    "On Monday, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden unveiled both Obama's proposed space budget through 2015 and the Administration's plans for how that money should be spent. And though Bolden filled his prepared remarks with all the usual promises to 'blaze a new trail,' answer a 'bold challenge,' 'spur innovation' and, of course, inspire young people, the fact of the matter is that the new plans will keep America on the ground for most of the next decade or longer. And whenever U.S. astronauts finally do return to space, they won't be going very far." 01-10
    
    
40. -02-08-10 Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Announces 40% Hike (CBS News)
    "The Obama administration is asking why Anthem Blue Cross is raising its health insurance rates by nearly 40 percent for some California customers while making handsome profits -- and is pointing to the rate hike as evidence of why health care reform needs to pass." 02-10
    
    
41. -02-08-10 Congressman John Mirtha Dies (New York Times)
    "A spokesman says Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine Corps officer who became an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, has died. He was 77." 02-10
    
    
42. -02-08-10 Safest Cars (ABC News)
    "Drawing from research conducted by Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as well as from interviews with auto safety experts such as Kelley Blue Book's executive editorial director Jack Nerad, ABCNews.com has compiled its own roundup of the safest car choices for drivers of all stripes." 02-10
    
    
43. -02-10-10 Denmark's Case for Antibiotic-Free Animals (CBS News)
    "They call it the "Danish Experiment" - a source of pride for the country's 17,000 farmers. CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric reports how unlike industrial farms in the U.S., which use antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease, farmers in Denmark use antibiotics sparingly, only when animals are sick."
    
    "The experiment to stop widespread use of antibiotics was launched 12 years ago, when European studies showed a link between animals who were consuming antibiotic feed everyday and people developing antibiotic resistant infections from handling or eating that meat." 02-10
    
    
44. -02-10-10 Larry King Interviews Michelle Obama (USA Today)
    "First lady Michelle Obama went on CNN's Larry King Live last night to discuss her campaign against childhood obesity, as well as other subjects -- including another famous woman in U.S. politics, Sarah Palin." 02-10
    
    
45. -02-10-10 Obama Administration Announces New Federal Climate Change Agency (U.S. News)
    " The Obama administration is proposing a new agency to study and report on the changing climate."
    
    "Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, planned to announce Monday that NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service." 02-10
    
    
46. -02-12-10 Behind the Troubles at Toyota (Time.com)
    "What makes the recall since November of nearly 9 million Toyotas that are susceptible to uncontrolled acceleration and balky brakes such a shocking story is not so much the company's manufacture of some shoddy cars or even its dreadful crisis management — though those are errors that will cost it more than $2 billion in repairs and lost sales this year. It's something more pernicious: the vapor lock that seems to have seized Toyota's mythologized corporate culture and turned one of the most admired companies in the world into a bunch of flailing gearheads. Not only is Toyota producing more flawed cars than in the past, but an organization known for its unrivaled ability to suss out problems, fix them and turn them into advantages is looking clueless on all counts." 02-10
    
    
47. -02-13-10 Poll: Most Americans Unaware They Got a Tax Cut (CBS News)
    "Of people who support the grassroots, 'Tea Party' movement, only 2 percent think taxes have been decreased, 46 percent say taxes are the same, and a whopping 44 percent say they believe taxes have gone up."
    
    "Those answers must frustrate the president who has highlighted its tax cuts for the middle class in almost every speech."
    
    "In his Super Bowl Sunday interview with Katie Couric, he touted the tax cuts in the stimulus package: "We put $300 billion worth of tax cuts into people's pockets so that there was demand and businesses had customers."
    
    "While the majority of the tax cuts, passed last February, affected 95 percent of working families, when they took affect by April of 2009, the monetary value was not too large -- most families saw about $70 more in take home pay every month. Individual workers saw about $13 more a week." 02-10
    
    
48. -02-15-10 Additional Credit Card Protections to Start (CBS News)
    "Later this month, the remaining provisions of the "Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009" go into effect. The changes are intended to protect customers." 02-10
    
    
49. -02-15-10 Sen. Evan Bayh Will Not Seek Re-Election (ABC News)
    "Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh announced today that will not seeking a third term, handing a huge blow to Democrats and giving Republicans a key opportunity to pick up another Senate seat in 2010." 02-10
    
    
50. -02-15-10 Top Taliban in Pakistan Captured (New York Times)
    "The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials." 02-10
    
    
51. -02-15-10 Toyota Wins a Round Against Whistleblower (ABC News)
    "An arbitrator has ruled that Dimitrios Biller, a former top in-house lawyer for Toyota, cannot make public thousands of confidential documents that he says prove the automaker regularly hid evidence of safety defects from consumers in hundreds of court cases."
    
    "Biller says he has four boxes worth of documents that he claims were deliberately withheld from plaintiffs' lawyers suing Toyota in product liability lawsuits, despite court orders requiring that the automaker disclose the information." 02-10
    
    
52. -02-16-10 Professor Credited With Saving Others in Shooting (ABC News)
    "Colleagues are touting a University of Alabama in Huntsville biochemistry professor with heroicallly saving lives during last week's campus shooting rampage."
    
    " 'I believe that she acted very quickly to try and stop Dr. Bishop from shooting again,' University of Alabama Huntsville president David Williams told 'Good Morning America' today, adding that professor Debra Moriarity had asked him not to talk too much about her role in stopping Amy Bishop's alleged rampage that killed three and wounded three others." 02-10
    
    
53. -02-16-10 Why Google Wants Faster Internet Speeds (Time.com)
    "In a blog post on Feb. 10, Google product managers Minnie Ingersoll and James Kelly laid out the company's plan to provide as many as 500,000 people in a small number of locales with fiber-optic Internet connections capable of one gigabit per second (Gbps), more than 100 times faster than the typical U.S. broadband connection speed today." 02-10
    
    
54. -02-17-10 Haiti: A Nation of Amputees (Time.com)
    "It looks even harder after the earthquake, given the overwhelming demand for artificial limbs: of the 250,000 people injured, doctors estimate as many as 100,000 are amputees. And that doesn't count the victims who will probably need limbs amputated down the line because of wound infections."
    
    "(To get a sense of scale: the years of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq have, so far, produced just about 1,000 amputees among U.S. military personnel.)" 02-10
    
    
55. -02-17-10 Report Card on the Stimulus (Time.com)
    "The general public's opinion of the bill that authorized the government to spend $787 billion to create jobs and end the recession is that it has been a dud."
    
    "Overall, economic forecasters such as Moody's Economy.com and IHS Global Insight say the bill generated paychecks for anywhere from 1.5 million to 2 million people who would have been out of work this past year without the stimulus."
    
    "But what makes the bill's success hard to judge is that it was oversold. Before the stimulus was passed, a report from President Obama's economic advisers predicted that the bill would ensure that the unemployment rate would remain at 8% or below. By that estimate, the bill looks like a failure. A few months ago, the unemployment rate hit 10%; currently it is 9.7%."
    
    "Another problem is that the bill included a huge jumble of programs." 02-10
    
    
56. -02-19-10 Capture of Afghanistan Taliban Military Chief in Pakistan (Time.com)
    "Only after a careful process of identification did Pakistani and American officials realize they had captured Mullah Baradar himself, the man who had long overseen the Taliban insurgency against American, NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan."
    
    "Mullah Baradar is talking a little, though he is viewed as a formidable, hard-line opponent whose interrogation will be a long-term effort, according to American and Pakistani officials."
    
    "Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Dutch researcher who has lived for several years in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, said Taliban representatives reacted with fury to Mullah Baradar’s arrest and were unlikely to be amenable to political approaches any time soon." 02-10
    
    
57. -02-21-10 America's Falling Crime Rate Over 20 Years (Time.com)
    "In his book why crime rates fell, Tufts University sociologist John Conklin concluded that up to half of the improvement was due to a single factor: more people in prison. The U.S. prison population grew by more than half a million during the 1990s and continued to grow, although more slowly, in the next decade. Go back half a century: as sentencing became more lenient in the 1960s and '70s, the crime rate started to rise. When lawmakers responded to the crime wave by building prisons and mandating tough sentences, the number of prisoners increased and the number of crimes fell." 02-10
    
    
58. -02-21-10 Editorial: Fixing the Senate With Real Filibusters (Time.com)
    " 'The Republicans' indiscriminate use of the filibuster has made it all but impossible to conduct everyday business in the Senate. On an almost daily basis, the Republican minority — just 41 Senators — stops bills from even coming to the floor for debate and amendment,' Democratic Senator Tom Harkin wrote recently in the Huffington Post. 'In the 1950s, an average of one bill was filibustered in each two-year Congress. In the last Congress, 139 bills were filibustered. The Republican abuse of the filibuster is unprecedented, routine, and increasingly reckless.' "
    
    "It has been more than two decades since the last time we saw the majority actually make the minority put up or shut up on a filibuster." 02-10
    
    
59. -02-21-10 Feds Open Criminal Probe into Toyota (CBS News)
    "Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Toyota's safety problems, the company acknowledged Monday as it prepared to answer questions on Capitol Hill about its widespread vehicle recalls." 02-10
    
    
60. -02-21-10 House Panel Says Toyota Misled Public on Accelerator Problem (New York Times)
    "Leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Monday that Toyota relied on a flawed study in dismissing the notion that computer issues could be at fault for sticking accelerator pedals, and then made misleading statements about the repairs."
    
    "Editor's Note: Some German-made cars have a safety feature that always allows the brake pedal to override the accelerator pedal. See "How to Stop a Runaway Car." 02-10
    
    
61. -02-21-10 Obama to Propose a New and Comprehensive Health Care Reform Bill (New York Times)
    "And though Americans have heard officials in both parties talk for nearly a year about “President Obama’s health care plan,” the legislation unveiled on Monday will actually be the first comprehensive proposal put forward by the White House." 02-10
    
    
62. -02-22-10 Fixing a Broken Government (CNN News)
    Provides a special program to examine how government is broken and how to fix it. 02-10
    
    
63. -02-22-10 Time: Top Bush Administration Lawyers Cleared of Misconduct Allegations (Time.com)
    "Bush administration lawyers who wrote 'torture' memos have been cleared of allegations of professional misconduct after a Justice Department internal investigation, which recommends no legal consequences for their actions."
    
    "The report by the Justice Department concludes the high-ranking lawyers who developed controversial legal guidance on waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques may have exercised poor judgment, but not professional misconduct."
    
    Editor's Note: According to the released DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility Report dated July 29, 2009, Time's interpretation is incorrect. The report found John Woo and Jay Bybee guilty of "professional misconduct" in its Conclusions on page 260. 02-10
    
    
64. -02-22-10 Toyota Surges Are Related to Electronics (CNN News)
    "Congress already has thousands of pages of Toyota documents to sift through, but CBS News obtained one internal document that could be devastating to Toyota's claims that electronics aren't at issue."
    
    "CBS News has learned that as early as 2005 Toyota engineers were redesigning software in response to complaints of cars surging unexpectedly, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson."
    
    "That could be crucial because publicly Toyota has insisted for six years - through eight federal investigations - that electronics are not to blame when its cars surge, sometimes out of control."
    
    "Instead, Toyota faults drivers, floor mats and - more recently - sticky gas pedals." 02-10
    
    
65. -02-22-10 Toyota U.S.A. President: Recall May Not Fully Solve Problem (New York Times)
    "A Toyota executive told the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday that the company’s huge recall might 'not totally' solve the problem of unintended sudden acceleration in its vehicles."
    
    "Asked why Toyota had moved away from a business model that prized quality and openness, Mr. Lentz offered a simple explanation: 'We lost sight of our customers.' "
    
    " 'We outgrew our engineering resource,' he said. 'We’re suffering from that today.' ” 02-10
    
    
66. -02-22-10 Velvet Revolution: Top Bush Administration Lawyers Found Guilty of Misconduct by DOJ (Velvet Revolution)
    "Late Friday, the Department of Justice issued its long awaited report on the actions of the DoJ lawyers who authored the infamous legal memos authorizing torture. The report consisted of two parts: the first is a 300-page report from the DoJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluding that the attorneys, specifically John Yoo and Jay Bybee, engaged in 'professional misconduct.' The second is a 69-page cover letter from career Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis finding that the lawyers exercised 'poor judgment.' The OPR finding would under normal circumstances require transmittal to the state bar for disciplinary proceedings. However, Mr. Margolis, a 17-year employee of the DoJ who was in a supervisory position when the legal memos were written, has specifically refused to allow the OPR report to be transmitted." 02-10
    
    
67. -02-24-10 Contractors Outnumber Full-Time Workers in Homeland Security (Time.com)
    "The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was 'unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable.' ” 02-10
    
    
68. -02-26-10 Officials: Orca Trainer Likely Made a Mistake (CBS News)
    "The killer whale that drowned a veteran trainer was just curious about her ponytail and dragged her into the water to investigate a new toy, the former head of animal training at SeaWorld Orlando said Friday." 02-10
    
    
69. -02-27-10 Lone Senator Blocks Unemployment Benefits Extension (CNN News)
    "The Senate adjourned Friday without approving extensions of cash and health insurance benefits for the unemployed after a lone senator [Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky,] blocked swift passage due to his insistence that Congress first pay for the $10 billion package."
    
    "In addition to funding unemployment insurance and the COBRA health insurance program for people who have lost their jobs, the bill would have prevented a scheduled 21 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors."
    
    "Democrats argued the safety net funds are classified as 'emergency' and therefore don't need to be offset." 02-10
    
    
70. -03-01-10 Obama Plans Reduction of Nuclear Arsenal (BBC News)
    "The review comes as the US and Russia appear close to a new deal to cut their nuclear arsenals, despite Moscow's concerns over Washington's missile defence plans."
    
    "The document will also set the tone for the next five-yearly review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT agreement, to be held in May." 03-10
    
    
71. -03-02-10 Ford Number 1 in Car Sales (CNN News)
    "While Ford (F, Fortune 500) reported a 43% increase in U.S. sales in February, much of the gain was due to a 74% jump in fleet sales to businesses. Rental car companies alone accounted for just over 30,000 vehicle sales. Without the rental companies, Ford sales would have been up only 13% in the month." 03-10
    
    
72. -03-02-10 Senate Passes Emergency Bill to Extend Jobless Benefits (USA Today)
    "The Senate has passed stopgap legislation to extend help for the jobless and keep federal highway dollars flowing."
    
    "The 78-19 vote came after a Republican senator who was single-handedly holding up the legislation finally relented under withering assaults by Democrats and dwindling support within his own party." 03-10
    
    
73. -03-02-10 Senator Bunning Kills Unemployment Extension (Time.com)
    "The Senate adjourned last week without approving extensions of cash and health insurance benefits for the unemployed after Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, blocked the measure by insisting that Congress first pay for the $10 billion package. The extension needed unanimous consent to pass because Democrats have labeled it an emergency spending measure." 03-10
    
    
74. -03-02-10 Toyota Offers 0 Percent Financing (CNN News)
    "Toyota called the incentive program, which begins immediately and runs though April 5, 'the company's most far-reaching sales program in its history,' in a corporate announcement." 03-10
    
    
75. -03-03-10 Half of Health Care Dollars Are "Wasted" (CNN News)
    "Consider this: For every dollar the nation spends on health care, 50 cents is wasted."
    
    "According to a 2008 report by Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Health Research Institute, wasteful spending accounts for $1.2 trillion of the $2.2 trillion spent on health care in the United States. The medical waste includes costs associated with inefficient insurance claims processing, defensive medicine, preventable hospital readmissions, medical errors, and unnecessary emergency room visits." 03-10
    
    
76. -03-03-10 Scientists Take Steps to Defend Work on Climate Change (New York Times)
    "For months, climate scientists have taken a vicious beating in the media and on the Internet, accused of hiding data, covering up errors and suppressing alternate views. Their response until now has been largely to assert the legitimacy of the vast body of climate science and to mock their critics as cranks and know-nothings."
    
    "But the volume of criticism and the depth of doubt have only grown, and many scientists now realize they are facing a crisis of public confidence and have to fight back. Tentatively and grudgingly, they are beginning to engage their critics, admit mistakes, open up their data and reshape the way they conduct their work." 03-10
    
    
77. -03-04-10 Abortion Issue May Derail Health Care Reform (ABC News)
    "The issue of abortion has sparked nationwide debate. Anti-abortion groups vigorously oppose the legislation being discussed but groups that favor abortion rights say the House's language would move the federal government into a whole new area of restricting women in the private insurance sector.” 03-10
    
    
78. -03-04-10 Ten Owners Say Toyota Gas Pedal Fix Isn't Working (USA Today)
    "Ten Toyota owners have told federal safety officials that the recall repairs didn't work and that their cars still accelerate when they're not supposed to.” 03-10
    
    
79. -03-04-10 Undersea Methane May Speed Climate Change (USA Today)
    "It lurks beneath the sea."
    
    "No, not The Blob, but something perhaps far more sinister: methane, a potent greenhouse gas 30 times better than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric heat."
    
    "Research released Thursday finds that underground methane appears to be seeping through the Arctic Ocean floor and into the Earth's atmosphere, thanks to a weakening of the protective layer of permafrost at the bottom of the ocean. Once released into the atmosphere, methane could wreak havoc with the world's climate.” 03-10
    
    
80. -03-05-10 Protests Nationwide Over Education Budget Cuts (CNN News)
    "A California movement protesting $1 billion in budget cuts to the state's university system appeared to have burgeoned into a nationwide demonstration on Thursday."
    
    "Students and professors in dozens of states were challenging administrators and state lawmakers over budget cuts and tuition increases that they say are reducing students' class options and increasing their expenses."
    
    "Some of the demonstrations turned chaotic. In Oakland, California, police arrested 160 protesters who shut down a major freeway, according to city police spokeswoman April McFarland.” 03-10
    
    
81. -03-08-10 Academy Award Winners 2010 (People.com)
    Provides coverage of the Oscars race. 03-10
    
    
82. -03-08-10 Editorial: Why Avatar Lost (Time.com)
    "Over the decades, the membership has shown a fondness for small dramas with an obvious social message and a prejudice against gigantic science-fiction pictures that use pioneering techniques to create a compelling new world — albeit with their own obvious social message. Avatar is every bit as political as The Hurt Locker in its eco-friendly theme, and much more boldly anti-military: by the end of the movie, viewers are meant to be cheering for the deaths of the U.S. soldiers trying to occupy Pandora. It didn't help. The Oscar voters saw Avatar (if they did watch it) as just another genre film. No sci-fi movie has ever won Best Picture." 03-10
    
    
83. -03-08-10 Insurers Hike Rates (CBS News)
    "As Obama administration officials push the president's health care plan, exhibit A is a stunning series of rate hikes by private insurance companies." 03-10
    
    
84. -03-09-10 Out-of-Control Prius Stopped by Police Car (CBS News)
    "Toyota issued a recall for its Prius hybrid - the same model involved in Monday's dramatic sudden acceleration incident in California - in November but has yet to send official notices to all vehicle owners."
    
    "Toyota released a statement Tuesday clarifying that it was not issuing a new recall of Prius vehicles."
    
    "Meanwhile, federal officials are sending two investigators to California to determine what caused a Prius to race out of control on a San Diego-area freeway." 03-10
    
    
85. -03-12-10 Experts: Doctors Testing Too Much (Time.com)
    "Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans — maybe even President Barack Obama — are being overtreated." 03-10
    
    
86. -03-16-10 Using "Deem and Pass" to Vote on Health Care Reform (MSNBC News)
    "Scenario No. 1: The Senate bill is deemed passed with the passage of the House Rule for debate. So once the House passed the rules for debating the reconciliation package, the Senate bill could immediately be sent to president for his signature."
    
    "Scenario No. 2: The Senate bill is deemed passed with the House's passage of the reconciliation bill. Since the vote on 'the rule' happens before the vote on reconciliation, this would delay the bill being sent to Obama."
    
    " 'Deem and Pass' has been used often and by both parties. Democrats point out that Republicans used it quite a bit in the 1990s, in fact -- though not for something quite as large as this."
    
    "In this Congress, Democrats used 'Deem and Pass' for raising the debt ceiling, which was tucked into the PayGo bill." 03-10
    
    
87. -03-18-10 Health Care Reform Ready for Vote on Sunday (CNN News)
    "A long-awaited compromise health care bill drafted by top Democrats will cost $940 billion over the next 10 years, according to a preliminary analysis released Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.The bill cuts the deficit by $138 billion during that period of time, the Budget Office report said. It would further reduce the deficit by an additional $1.2 trillion in the following decade, two House Democratic sources told CNN."
    
    "The measure extends health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, helping to guarantee that 95 percent of Americans will be covered, the sources said. It also reduces Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percent annually while extending Medicare's solvency by at least nine years, they added."
    
    "The release of the Congressional Budget Office estimate sets up a likely vote on passage of the health care bill Sunday. Democratic leaders have said the measure will be publicly available for 72 hours before any vote."
    
    "The House will consider two measures Sunday: an $875 billion plan that the Senate passed in December and the revised $940 billion measure."
    
    "If the $875 billion Senate bill passes, it will go to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. If the revisions are approved, they still will have to clear the Senate." 03-10
    
    
88. -03-19-10 Self-Executing Rule for Health Care Reform (Time.com)
    "The House Democratic leadership now expects to schedule a vote on the Senate health care bill and send it to President Obama's desk next Friday, March 19, or Saturday, March 20." 03-10
    
    
89. -03-21-10 Health Care Reform Bill (CNN News)
    "A long-awaited compromise health care bill drafted by top Democrats will cost $940 billion over the next 10 years, according to a preliminary analysis released Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office."
    
    "The bill cuts the deficit by $138 billion during that period of time, the Budget Office report said. It would further reduce the deficit by an additional $1.2 trillion in the following decade, two House Democratic sources told CNN."
    
    "The measure extends health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, helping to guarantee that 95 percent of Americans will be covered, the sources said. It also reduces Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percent annually while extending Medicare's solvency by at least nine years, they added."
    
    "The release of the Congressional Budget Office estimate sets up a likely vote on passage of the health care bill Sunday. Democratic leaders have said the measure will be publicly available for 72 hours before any vote."
    
    "The House will consider two measures Sunday: an $875 billion plan that the Senate passed in December and the revised $940 billion measure."
    
    "If the $875 billion Senate bill passes, it will go to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. If the revisions are approved, they still will have to clear the Senate." 03-10
    
    
90. -03-22-10 Google Moves from China to Hong Kong (New York Times)
    "Just over two months after threatening to leave China because of censorship and intrusions by Chinese hackers, Google said Monday that it was closing its China-based Internet search service and instead directing Chinese users to a Hong Kong-based uncensored version of its search engine, which may get blocked in mainland China." 03-10
    
    
91. -03-22-10 Margaret Moth, Photojournalist, Dies (CNN News)
    "She 'led the complete life,' Amanpour said. 'I don't think Margaret could ever look back and say, "What if?" She did it to the max, and she did it brilliantly. And she did it on her terms.' " 03-10
    
    
92. -03-23-10 Obama Signs Health Care Reform into Law (CNN News)
    "President Obama signed sweeping health care reform legislation into law Tuesday, hailing the moment as the latest example of America facing up to major challenges for the benefit of all its people." 03-10
    
    
93. -03-27-10 Obama Makes Recess Appointments (CBS News)
    "Fed up with waiting, President Obama announced Saturday he would bypass a vacationing Senate and name 15 people to key administration jobs, wielding for the first time the blunt political tool known as the recess appointment."
    
    "The move immediately deepened the divide between the Democratic president and Republicans in the Senate following a long, bruising fight over health care. Mr. Obama revealed his decision by blistering Republicans, accusing them of holding up nominees for months solely to try to score a political advantage on him." 03-10
    
    
94. -03-28-10 Editorial: Obama's Visit to Afghanistan (Time.com)
    "Fresh from a bruising victory on health care and a nuclear arms deal with Russia, President Barack Obama turned to a third campaign promise — victory and an honorable exit from Afghanistan. That could prove tougher than any challenge overcome so far, and the president appears to know it." 03-10
    
    
95. -03-28-10 Russia and U.S. Agree to Slash Nuclear Weapons (MSNBC News)
    "The U.S. and Russia sealed the first major nuclear weapons treaty in nearly two decades Friday, agreeing to slash the former Cold War rivals' warhead arsenals by nearly one-third and talking hopefully of eventually ridding a fearful world of nuclear arms altogether." 03-10
    
    
96. -04-01-10 China Moves Closer to U.S. on Iran (MSNBC News)
    "After months of tense relations, China is showing new willingness to engage in talks with the United States, a diplomatic opening that may help the Obama administration achieve U.N. consensus on tightening sanctions on Iran."
    
    " 'It was a remarkable change,' said Shi Yinhong, an international affairs professor at China’s Renmin University, 'a stunning adjustment of China’s policies.' " 04-10
    
    
97. -04-09-10 Potential Supreme Court Nominees to Replace Stevens (ABC News)
    "Lawyers for President Obama had prepared a short list of potential replacements for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens long before he officially announced his retirement today." 04-10
    
    
98. -04-09-10 Potential Supreme Court Nominees to Replace Stevens (CBS News)
    "The immediate speculation as to who will replace Stevens centered on two female candidates: Federal Appellate Judge Diane Wood and Solicitor General Elena Kagan." 04-10
    
    
99. -04-16-10 Government Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud (CBS News)
    "The government has accused Goldman Sachs & Co. of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in subprime investments it sold as the housing market was collapsing."
    
    "The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint Friday that Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create — and then bet against — subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to other investors." 04-10
    
    
100. -04-20-10 AIG a Victim of Goldman (CNN News)
     "It's hard to think of AIG as a victim after the insurer made failed bets that were so big, taxpayers were forced to bail the firm out to the tune of $182 billion."
     
     "The troubled insurer's downfall stemmed from insurance contracts (credit default swaps) on assets called collateralized debt obligations owned by Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs. Those CDOs were made up of mortgage securities, which plummeted in value when the bottom fell out of the housing market."
     
     "AIG was forced to raise billions of dollars in collateral in order to insure against the CDOs' losses." 04-10
     
     
101. -04-20-10 New $100 Bill Announced (CBS News)
     "The folks who print America's money have designed a high-tech makeover of the $100 bill. It's part of an effort to stay ahead of counterfeiters as technology becomes more sophisticated and more dollars flow overseas, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says."
     
     "The new blue security ribbon will give a 3-D effect to the micro-images that the thousands of lenses will be magnifying. Tilt the note back and forth and you will see tiny bells on the ribbon change to 100s as they move."
     
     "But that's not all. Tilt the note back and forth and the images will move side to side. Tilt the note side to side and the images will move up and down."
     
     "In addition, to the left of Franklin's portrait, will be an inkwell that will change color from copper to green when the note is tilted. The movement will also make a Liberty Bell appear and disappear inside the inkwell." 04-10
     
     
102. -04-20-10 Top Investment Bank Goldman Faces Harsh Questioning (CNN News)
     "Even as Wall Street's top investment bank reported a first-quarter profit of $3.5 billion, the results did little to alleviate the intense scrutiny the firm has been under since the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm with defrauding investors last Friday."
     
     "Last week, the agency filed a civil suit against Goldman, alleging that the New York City-based company allowed hedge fund Paulson & Co., who made billions of dollars betting against the U.S. mortgage market, to help select securities in a so-called collateralized debt obligation, or CDO." 04-10
     
     
103. -04-21-10 Cautionary Tale on Selling City's Water System (USA Today)
     "Dick Hierstein was Pekin's city manager when the referendum passed. Selling a water system to a private company is 'a terrible, terrible mistake,' he says." 04-10
     
     
104. -04-21-10 Goldman to Contest SEC Charges (CBS News)
     "In rebutting a federal lawsuit claiming that it defrauded its clients, Goldman Sachs argues that its customers were big financial firms, intimately familiar with the complex financial securities the bank was selling."
     
     "The SEC argues that a little-known financial firm with a nondescript name was misled about an investment that Goldman was working to assemble. ACA -- or more precisely, one of its subsidiaries -- was in the business of helping banks choose which home loans to package together into a security."
     
     "In early 2007, Goldman asked ACA to help one of its clients, John Paulson, a hedge fund manager, create such an investment linked to the value of home loans. According to the agency, Goldman led ACA to think that Paulson wanted to bet on a security that would increase in value. In fact, Paulson was looking to bet on a security that would decline. Paulson helped pick home loans that would form the basis for the investment, and these were loans that the hedge fund predicted would go bad." 04-10
     
     
105. -04-22-10 The Case Against Goldman Sachs (Time.com)
     "The reality is that Wall Street's CDO synthesizer set one of the economy's largest sectors off in the direction of creating nothing but waste — pure economic waste. These CDOs didn't help anyone afford a house. No cars were purchased. No one got a loan to go to college. These CDOs were the last stop in a vast transfer of wealth from a large group of American mortgage holders to a much smaller group of already rich traders who profited as the CDOs failed." 04-10
     
     
106. -04-24-10 Goldman Boasted as Meltdown Unfolded (Time.com)
     "E-mails released by a Senate committee investigating the financial crisis show top executives at Goldman Sachs Inc. boasting about money the firm was making as the housing market collapsed in 2007." 04-10
     
     
107. -04-24-10 Regulation and Washington (New York Times)
     "Seldom in our 230-odd years as a country have Congress and the White House had the fortitude to impose on American bankers and financiers a set of regulations sufficiently stringent to prevent them from pushing us into destructive panics and recessions. And once again Washington may be demonstrating its lack of backbone." 04-10
     
     
108. -04-26-10 Editorial: Insufficient American Income Caused Financial Disaster (CNN News)
     "American homeowners borrowed because they could not earn enough. China loaned to keep its factories turning. Money flowed in a frenzied torrent across the Pacific. And somebody had to make it all happen: Wall Street. It created the debt instruments China wanted to buy and packaged the mortgages that Main Street felt pressured to sell. With trillions of dollars changing hands, even a small percentage fee could pay a lot of people a lot of billions in fees."
     
     "No doubt some of those fee-takers did abusive things. But the whole dynamic was abusive and dangerous. And so-called financial reform is a petty distraction from that larger, more important, and more urgent dynamic: raising American incomes so Americans borrow less, and redirecting Chinese trade to the home market so that the Chinese lend less. Until we achieve those two things, any recovery will only invite the next disaster."
     
     Editor's Note: These comments are the opinions of the author and not the Awesome Library. 04-10
     
     
109. -04-27-10 Editorial: Goldman Executives Still Don't Get It (Time.com)
     "I've been watching the hearing on TV, and I am nauseated to report that they still don't get it. The world came to the brink of financial ruin, and the people driving the mortgage securities death-machine still can only look back and say that at the time it all made sense. To say that the Goldman Sachs executives testifying lack introspection is like saying that the Black Death was a minor health scare." 04-10
     
     
110. -04-27-10 First Offshore Wind Farm Approved (Time.com)
     "The Obama administration has approved what would be the nation's first offshore wind farm, off Cape Cod, inching the U.S. closer to harvesting an untapped domestic energy source — the steady breezes blowing along its vast coasts." 04-10
     
     
111. -04-27-10 Goldman Executives Testify Before Senators (CNN News)
     "Goldman has been accused in recent days of betting aggressively against the nation's housing market, making as much as $3.7 billion in the process."
     
     "Documents released by the committee this week also demonstrated that Goldman may have been engaging in other questionable practices, including selling investment products to customers that they believed could fail." 04-10
     
     
112. -04-27-10 Malcolm X Killer Freed (CNN News)
     "Thomas Hagan, the only man who admitted his role in the 1965 assassination of iconic black leader Malcolm X, was paroled Tuesday." 04-10
     
     
113. -04-27-10 Vatican Official Overseeing Abuse Left Abusive Priest in Place (USA Today)
     "The cardinal who oversees priest abuse cases at the Vatican didn't restrict a California priest after learning in 1995 that he had molested a 13-year-old boy a decade earlier." 04-10
     
     
114. -04-29-10 Louisiana Governor Declares State of Emergency (CNN News)
     "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Thursday as winds drove a massive oil spill toward the state's coast and authorities scrambled to mitigate its environmental effects."
     
     Also try -04-30-10 Ronstadt and Tancredo Debate New Arizona Immigration Law (CNN News)
     "Singer Linda Ronstadt and former Congressman Tom Tancredo debate the legality of Arizona's immigration law." 04-10
     
     
     • -04-30-10 Unchecked Gusher from Ocean's Floor: No End in Sight (Time.com)
       "It may be time to stop referring to the Deepwater Horizon rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico as an oil spill. A spill sounds like something temporary, a glass of milk overturned, which empties and then can be cleaned up. But what is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the sensitive shorelines of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, isn't a spill. It's an unchecked gush of crude oil from beneath the bottom of the ocean into the water — and no one can say for sure when it will finally stop." 04-10
       
       
     • -04-30-10 White House Drops Offshore Drilling Until Investigation Complete (ABC News)
       "As some Democratic lawmakers call on President Obama to suspend his plans to expand offshore oil drilling, the White House today said that there will be no new domestic offshore drilling until the investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is complete." 04-10
       
       
     • -05-06-10 Dire News on Oil Spill (ABC News)
       "The sunken oil rig could spew up to 10 times more oil than originally thought." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-06-10 Dow Drops, Then Partially Recovers (ABC News)
       "Stocks took a sudden, breathtaking plunge today, with the Dow Jones industrial average suddenly falling nearly 1,000 points at one point this afternoon -- before rebounding just as quickly. It closed down some 348 points, at 10,520.32."
       
       "The brief plunge -- more than 990 points at its low point -- was the biggest intraday point drop in the history of the Dow Jones industrial average. The major averages all closed down more than 3 percent." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-08-10 Judge Slams Other Judge on Deaths (ABC News)
       "A San Diego judge accused her fellow judges today of mishandling criminal cases and said the murders of Chelsea King and Amber DuBois might have been prevented if their killer had been kept in prison for a prior sex offense." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-08-10 Oil Blowout Preventers Known to Fail (CBS News)
       "Cutoff valves like the one that failed to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster have repeatedly broken down at other wells in the years since federal regulators weakened testing requirements, according to an Associated Press investigation."
       
       "These steel monsters known as blowout preventers or BOPs - sometimes as big as a double-decker bus and weighing up to 640,000 pounds - guard the mouth of wells. They act as the last defense to choke off unintended releases, slamming a gushing pipe with up to 1 million pounds of force. "
       
       "We have compiled this chronology in the spirit of transparency so the American people can have a clear understanding of what their government has been and is doing to respond to the massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster."
       
       Also try Oil Spills. 05-10
       
       
     • -05-08-10 Oil Containment Box Fails to Work (CBS News)
       " Icelike crystals encrusting a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box meant to contain oil gushing from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico forced crews Saturday to back off a long-shot plan to contain the leak."
       
       "While the precise cause is still under investigation, the sequence of events described in the interviews provides the most detailed account of the April 20 blast that killed 11 workers and touched off the underwater gusher that has poured more than 3 million gallons of crude into the Gulf."
       
       Also try Oil Spills. 05-10
       
       
     • -05-08-10 Times Square Bombing Attempt: What If? (Time.com)
       "If you wanted to do a lot of damage with a well-rigged car bomb, the junction of West 45th Street and Broadway in midtown Manhattan, where Times Square narrows into an asphalt bottleneck, would be the place to pick." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-08-10 Will the Domes Do the Trick? (Time.com)
       "Even as volunteers and private contractors helped spread booms to protect Lake Pontchartrain and the city of New Orleans from the oncoming oil, BP on Friday began lowering a 70-ton containment dome over the first of three leaks from the Deepwater Horizon wreck, 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface. If the operation is successful, the dome — and two others that will be deployed over the weekend — will channel oil up to ship on the surface, and could reduce the leakage of oil by some 85%."
       
       " 'I want to manage everyone's expectations,' said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry, the federal on-scene coordinator for the spill response." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-10-10 Obama Nominates Kagan as Justice (New York Times)
       "President Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation’s 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country’s future."
       
       "In settling on Ms. Kagan, the president chose a well-regarded 50-year-old lawyer who served as a staff member in all three branches of government and was the first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School. If confirmed, she would be the youngest member and the third woman on the current court, but the first justice in nearly four decades without any prior judicial experience." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-11-10 Cameron Becomes Britain's New Prime Minister (MSNBC News)
       "Conservative leader David Cameron became Britain's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years Tuesday after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government."
       
       "Cameron said he aims to form a full coalition government with the third-place Liberal Democrats after his Conservative Party won the most seats but did not get a majority in Britain national election last week." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-13-10 BP to Try a Tube to Stop Oil Leak (MSNBC News)
       "Setting aside their 'top hat' strategy for now, BP officials said Thursday they would instead try threading a small tube into a jagged pipe gushing crude from the Gulf seafloor." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-16-10 Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf (New York Times)
       "Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-19-10 Movie Review: How Wall Street Robbed the World (Time.com)
       "The central part of Inside Job details the history of deregulation, from Reagan to Clinton to George W. Bush, and the rise of financial instruments like derivatives and credit default swaps. Much of this material is familiar, both from news reports and books on the crisis and from earlier docu-blasts, particularly Leslie and Andrew Cockburn's American Casino and Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. In a way, Ferguson is the un-Moore: he's off-camera, asking questions, not front and center; his tone is serious and precise, not comedic-bombastic. Nor is Ferguson, who earned his Ph.D. in political science from M.I.T., a knee-jerk anticapitalist. In the '90s he and a partner created a software company, Vermeer Technologies, which they sold to Microsoft for $133 million. Unlike Moore, he's more at ease talking to the powerful than to the tearfully dispossessed. Inside Job contains just one brief interview with a woman who lost her home; the other conversations are with the articulate elite of bankers and professors." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-21-10 Former Student Sues School on Claim of Violation of Privacy Rights (CNN News)
       "A 19-year-old Pennsylvania woman sued her former high school Thursday, claiming school officials invaded her privacy and violated her free-speech rights when they confiscated her cell phone, found semi-nude photos stored inside and turned the phone over to authorities." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-21-10 Oil Spill: How Much Is a Pelican Worth? (CNN News)
       "Just how much is a dead pelican worth? BP is about to find out."
       
       "As the owner of the still-leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil giant will pay billions of dollars in damages, much of which will compensate for the birds, fish, mammals and plants that are killed by the accident." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-21-10 Why Wal-Mart's Sales Should Have Everyone Worried (CNN News)
       "When Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), an economic bellwether, notes that customers can't afford the gas to get to the stores and that they're increasingly using food stamps when they get there, things are bad." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-22-10 "Top Kill" Planned to Stop Oil Leak (CNN News)
       "A "top kill" method intended to stop the runaway flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico will likely be tried early next week, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Friday."
       
       "In the procedure, thick, viscous fluid twice the density of water will be pumped at a high rate into the site of the leak to stop the flow so that it can then be sealed with cement, Suttles said." Also see Oils Spills. 05-10
       
       
     • -05-22-10 Editorial: Arizona Law Violating U.S. Treaty (CNN News)
       "That law, SB 1070, requires Arizona law enforcement agents to determine the citizenship status of people they stop if the officer has an undefined 'reasonable suspicion' that the person is not in this country lawfully."
       
       "The ACLU and a coalition of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit this week challenging the unconstitutional law. There is little doubt among experts that the new Arizona law will lead to increased racial profiling."
       
       "Civil libertarians have criticized the law as a violation of basic constitutional rights because it transforms Arizona's Latino community and other people of color -- who may be presumed by law enforcement officers to be in the country 'unlawfully' -- into potential criminal suspects." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-24-10 Editorial: The Polarizing Role of Churches (CNN News)
       "The figures underlie a striking change in the characteristics of American churches of all denominations: in the '60s, those showing up in church on Sunday might have represented a cross-section of American viewpoints; today, they are more likely to reflect traditionalist views, further driving modernists away from religion altogether - and intensifying what some have called the 'devotional divide' in American politics."
       
       "The difference in viewpoints between traditionalists and modernists is profound - and has dramatic effects on today’s culture wars." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-27-10 Document: Number of Attempted Attacks on U.S. at All-Time High (CNN News)
       "Just weeks after the failed car bombing of New York's Times Square, the Department of Homeland Security says 'the number and pace of attempted attacks against the United States over the past nine months have surpassed the number of attempts during any other previous one-year period.' " 05-10
       
       
     • -05-27-10 Economic Consequences of the Gulf Oil Spill (CNN News)
       "The four biggest industries in the Gulf of Mexico are oil, tourism, fishing and shipping, and they account for some $234 billion in economic activity each year, according to a 2007 study done by regional scholars and published by Texas A&M University Press." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-29-10 "Top Kill" Not Working (CBS News)
       "A risky procedure to stop the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico has yet to show much success, and BP is considering scrapping it in favor of a different method to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history, an executive said Saturday." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-29-10 Effort to Cap the Oil Gusher (New York Times)
       "The new strategy is to smoothly cut the riser that the oil is leaking from and then place a cap. Pipes attached to the cap would then take the oil to a storage boat waiting at the surface." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-29-10 Gulf Oil's Underwater Threat (Time.com)
       "So far, it's impossible to predict exactly where the toxic cloud [of oil] is heading. If shallow currents take hold of it, they could keep the chemicals near the surface, hastening the breakdown that occurs when they're exposed to sunlight. But if the chemicals hitch a ride on deeper currents, they could sweep down into the canyon, turn south along the west coast of Florida, and then reach the Keys. It's not even out of the question for them to catch the Loop Current and swing up the Atlantic coast of the U.S. The effect on ocean life could be devastating and it will by no means be limited to the fish themselves." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-29-10 Infrared Camera Shows Oil Slick Extending for Hundreds of Miles (CBS News)
       "From the air, the oil-slick waters stretch for hundreds of miles, the camera only picking up images from the surface of the water."
       
       "The federal government now estimates as many 39 million gallons worth of oil has poured into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon rig collapsed. Zappa says it is clear from the pictures seen in this video that the cleanup booms are simply overmatched." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-29-10 Kerry and Lieberman Reveal Strong Climate Bill (IGSD.org)
       "The Senate climate bill unveiled today by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) contains a section entitled “Achieving Fast Mitigation” to address non-CO2 climate forcers, including black carbon soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These non-CO2 greenhouse gases and pollutants, together with others like ground-level ozone, make up 40-50 percent of total climate forcing."
       
       "One of the non-CO2 forcers’ most important attributes is that they are short-lived in the atmosphere – days to a decade and a half – meaning reductions will produce benefits fast and help to avoid the tipping points for abrupt climate change." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-31-10 Fisherman Files Retraining Order Against BP (CNN News)
       "A fisherman who was hospitalized after becoming ill while cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico has filed a temporary restraining order in federal court against oil company BP." 05-10
       
       
     • -05-31-10 Methods Tried to Stop Leaking Oil (New York Times)
       "Since a fire engulfed the Deepwater horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, engineers have attempted a number of techniques to slow or stop the torrent of oil leaking from the wellhead 5,000 feet below the surface."
       
       Provides diagrams as well as descriptions. 05-10
       
       
     • -06-01-10 Al Qaeda No. 3 Believed Killed (ABC News)
       "US officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda’s No. 3 -- Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, known as Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri and Mustafa Abu al-Yazid – has been killed. Al Qaeda released a eulogy of Shaikh Sa’id tonight, officials said."
       
       "Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri are the spiritual founders, and considered No. 1 and No. 2 of al Qaeda list, but Shaikh Sa’id is considered the link between those two and rest of the operation, and for all intents and purposes the one running the organization day to day." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-03-10 BP Settles for a "Rougher Cut" of Pipe to Seal Gusher (CNN News)
       "An effort to slice off the pipe with a precision diamond-edged cutter failed Wednesday, forcing BP to settle for a rougher cut of the pipe made with shears. The more primitive cut means that a rubber seal will not be as tight as previously hoped, said U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government's response manager."
       
       "Meanwhile, the government has now declared 37 percent of the Gulf off limits for fishing." 05-10
       
       
     • -06-05-10 BP Cap Stopping 20 Percent of Gushing Oil per Day (CNN News)
       "By Friday afternoon, the company said on its website that it had collected 76,020 gallons of oil in the first 12 hours after it put the cap on the well, which is less than 10 percent of the 798,000 gallons of oil federal authorities estimate is pouring into the Gulf daily." 05-10
       
       
     • -06-05-10 Microbes Put 8 Times More Carbon in the Air than Humans (Yale.edu)
       "On the surface of the ocean, photosynthetic bacteria Microbes have been absorbing and releasing greenhouse gases since they evolved 3.5 billion years ago suck vast amounts of carbon dioxide dissolved in the water and turn it into organic molecules. The ocean is also rife with bacteria that feed on organic matter and release carbon dioxide as waste. Meanwhile, the microbes that break plant matter into soil release 55 billion tons a year of carbon dioxide. 'It’s eight times what humans are putting into the atmosphere through fossil fuel burning and deforestation,' says Allison."
       
       Editor's Note: Keeping carbon from the decay of organic waste from returning to the air is a strong way of reversing the amount of excess carbon in the air. See Biomass and Biochar or Catastrophic Climate Change. 05-10
       
       
     • -06-07-10 Legal Issues Surrounding the Oil Spill in the Gulf (CNN News)
       "To help readers navigate the legal landscape surrounding BP's mammoth oil spill (or "oil spew," as some argue it should more properly be called) in the Gulf Coast, I have looked into some of the law-related questions and statements that keep surfacing as the press and bloggers keep up with the crisis. I rely mainly here on an interview with Christopher B. Kende, an international insurance law specialist at the firm of Cozen O'Connor. Kende also teaches attorneys about the legal issues stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a lecturer for HB Litigation Conferences." 05-10
       
       
     • -06-08-10 Subsea Oil Plumes Found 142 Miles from Rig (MSNBC News)
       "There have been reports of such underwater "plumes" previously, but BP had questioned whether oil was actually forming below water."
       
       "This is the first time the presence of oil plumes has been confirmed by a government agency." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-09-10 Analysis of Results from Primary Elections (CNN News)
       "Voters in 12 states held primary elections Tuesday night, but the outcomes of two contests in South Carolina will be delayed by another two weeks. A runoff will be held June 22 for the Republican gubernatorial nomination as well as for a GOP congressional seat in the northern part of the state." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-09-10 BP Ordered to Provide Backup Plans (CNN News)
       "Federal authorities have given BP 72 hours to come up with sound contingency plans for the collection of gushing oil in the event of an operational failure or severe weather." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-10-10 BP's History of Negligence (Time.com)
       "In 2005, a massive explosion rocked BP's Texas City refinery, after a blowdown drum overfilled with liquid hydrocarbons. The resulting inferno killed 15 people and wounded more than 170. It was the worst industrial accident in the U.S. since 1990, and in its aftermath BP was skewered by investigators for its generally sloppy practices, including its use of old equipment, overworked and unsupervised employees and contractors and management's inattention to safety."
       
       "Nor was Texas City an isolated incident. Months after the fire, Hurricane Dennis battered the Gulf, nearly destroying BP's 59,500-ton offshore platform Thunder Horse and exposing the structure's shoddy ballast system. The next year, a corroded pipeline in BP's Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska leaked thousands of barrels of crude in the worst on-land oil spill in the state's history." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-10-10 Costner Presents a Potential Solution to Oil Spill (ABC News)
       "Costner has been funding a team of scientists for 15 years in hopes of developing a technology to clean up massive oil spills, and his research has created a powerful centrifuge that he claims can separate oil from water and dump the oil into a holding tank."
       
       Costner presents to Congress. 05-10
       
       
     • -06-11-10 Editorial: Where Are the Cleanup Crews? (iReport.com)
       "When I looked for the first time at Grand Bess I was shocked. The outer booms had come apart in two different places and in another area, the boom was sinking. The inner soaker boom was totally saturated in oil and needed to be changed. The saturated booms were on the rocks where pelicans were sitting, floating haphazardly or sinking, twisted around, and laying over the outer boom. I looked around me and thought again… Where are the people BP has hired to oversee and maintain this boom? Where are the people they hired because, as far as I could see in every direction, there were at most five boats in the entire bay."
       
       "There doesn’t seem to be a strong chain of command overseeing the clean up. BP is reactive instead of proactive. They appear overwhelmed and unable to handle the tasks of the day to day clean-up. Someone should have reported the boom and it should have been changed and properly placed around the island."
       
       Editor's Note: This article is posted on CNN but has not been edited to remove spelling errors, punctuation errors, or other errors. 06-10
       
       
     • -06-11-10 Who Decides If an Oil Spill Claim Is Legitimate? (Time.com)
       "Fishing can bring in a lot of money in a very short period of time during the right season, but fishermen might be hard-pressed to provide evidence — bank statements, pay stubs — that can back that up. The same goes for many other businesses: if receipts are dwindling at a restaurant, or guests are cancelling at a resort, how is it possible to prove that the spill alone is responsible?" 06-10
       
       
     • -06-13-10 Focus Shifts to Stopping Graft in Afghanistan (New York Times)
       "The military’s intelligence network in Afghanistan, designed for identifying and tracking terrorists and insurgents, is increasingly focused on uncovering corruption that is rampant across Afghanistan’s government, security forces and contractors, according to senior American officials." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-14-10 The Physics of Oil Spills (MSNBC News)
       Shows what happens to oil over days, week, months, and years as it interacts with the ocean. 06-10
       
       
     • -06-14-10 What Happens to the Toxic Waste from the Oil Spill? (MSNBC News)
       "But where the oil is concentrated in slicks on the surface, some of it can be burned off. The Deepwater Horizon response website said that as of Saturday, more than 95,000 barrels had been disposed of that way."
       
       "After that it gets more complicated. More than 400 skimmer boats are collecting oily water from the surface of the Gulf — about 474,000 barrels as of Saturday. That mixture, as well as the runoff from rinsing down oily equipment or washing oiled birds, is supposed to be collected and transported to facilities like the River Birch Landfill near Avondale, La." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-15-10 Efforts Described as Chaotic in the Gulf Oil Spill (New York Times)
       "From the beginning, the effort has been bedeviled by a lack of preparation, organization, urgency and clear lines of authority among federal, state and local officials, as well as BP. As a result, officials and experts say, the damage to the coastline and wildlife has been worse than it might have been if the response had been faster and orchestrated more effectively." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-16-10 BP Partnering with Iran (Time.com)
       "But BP remains one of the most active major western oil companies engaged in joint-venture energy projects with the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum outside of Iran. In the last five years, BP has begun extracting around 4 million cubic meters per day of natural gas from a field in Britain's North Sea in a 50-50 joint venture with Iran, worth $1 million a day at June 15, 2010 spot prices. And BP operates one of the world's largest gas fields in Azerbaijan in a joint venture with Iran and other foreign oil companies, producing 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, worth up to a reported $2.4 billion per year." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-18-10 Olivia Bouler, Artist Trying to Help the Gulf Coast (CNN News)
       "Her teachers knew she loved to doodle on her tests and homework, but no one thought Olivia Bouler's drawing skills would raise more than $110,000 to help birds affected by the Gulf oil spill."
       
       "The 11-year-old wrote to the Audubon Society and told them she had an idea that could help raise money." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-20-10 Governors Claim that Coast Guard and Federal Bureaucracy Continue to Delay Solutions (ABC News)
       "But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges."
       
       "Sixty days into the crisis, it still can be tough to figure out who is in charge in Louisiana, and the problem appears to be the same in other Gulf Coast states."
       
       Alabama Governor Bob Riley said "the problem is there's still no single person giving a 'yes' or 'no.' While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard's command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.' "
       
       " 'It's like this huge committee down there,' Riley said, 'and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power.' " 06-10
       
       
     • -06-20-10 Manute Bol Dies at 47 (CNN News)
       "Manute Bol, one of the tallest players in NBA history, died Saturday at the age of 47, a spokeswoman with the University of Virginia Medical Center confirmed to CNN." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-20-10 Mayor of Guadalupe Gunned Down (CNN News)
       "Gunmen shot and killed the mayor of the Mexican town of Guadalupe as his wife and child watched, the mayor of nearby Ciudad Juarez told CNN." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-21-10 Florida County Tells the Federal Authorities to Stay Back (CNN News)
       "The Okaloosa County Commission voted unanimously this week to allow their emergency managers to override and overrule federal emergency managers and take on the responsibility of saving the sand and beaches that provide about 50 percent of their economy. Tourist bookings are down about 30 percent this summer, according to local officials."
       
       "But they did wonder if they'd be going to jail for defying the federal government's cleanup operation." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-24-10 Karzai Loses Key Ally in McChrystal (Time.com)
       "The day after the sacking of General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, a variety of reactions emerged. His replacement at the head of what is officially called the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) by General David Petraeus calmed the nerves of some and inspired hope in others. But many in the Afghan capital — most likely including President Hamid Karzai, who considered McChrystal his chief American ally — are deeply pessimistic about what's to come." 06-10
       
       
     • -06-28-10 Senator Byrd Dies (CNN News)
       "West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the self-educated son of a coal miner who became the longest-serving member of Congress, died early Monday at age 92, the senator's office said."
       
       "Byrd, a nine-term Democrat, was known as a master of the chamber's often-arcane rules and as the self-proclaimed 'champion of the Constitution,' a jealous guardian of congressional power." 06-10
       
       
     • -07-01-08 BP Oil Spill Now Largest Ever in Gulf (CBS News)
       "The blown-out well that has been spewing oil for two and a half months has now sent some 140.6 million gallons of oil into the Gulf surpassing the 140 million gallons from a spill off the coast of Mexico in 1979 and 1980. Even by the lower end of the government's estimates, at least 71.2 million gallons are in the Gulf."
       
       "The calculation is based on the higher end of the government's range of barrels leaked per day, minus the amount BP says it has collected from the blown-out well using two containment systems."
       
       "The growing total is crucial to track, in part because London-based BP PLC is likely to be fined per gallon spilled, said Larry McKinney, director of Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi's Gulf of Mexico research institute." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-02-10 Chemical Dispersants Still Heavily Used in Gulf (CNN News)
       "Chemical dispersants keep flowing into the Gulf of Mexico at virtually unchanged levels despite the Environmental Protection Agency's order to BP to 'significantly' scale back, according to a CNN analysis of daily dispersant reports provided by the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-02-10 Gulf Coast Beaches Update (CNN News)
       "As Americans gear up for the Fourth of July weekend, coastal areas affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are working hard to keep beach-bound travelers informed."
       
       "Here are some of the latest updates from destinations affected by the oil disaster...." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-02-10 Pay of Walmart CEO Compared to Pay of Worker (ABC News)
       "A study last fall by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal Washington D.C. research group, found that CEOs in the country's S&P 500 companies make, on average, 319 times more than the average American worker."
       
       "IPS associate fellow Sam Pizzigati said that in the 1970s, that ratio was 30 to 1." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-02-10 Republican Leader Calls Afghanistan a "War of Obama's Choosing" (CBS News)
       "Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele suggested at a Connecticut fundraiser that Afghanistan is 'a war of Obama's choosing' despite the fact that it began years before the president took office."
       
       "Steele also said of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan: 'This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.' "
       
       "Steele's comments prompted William Kristol, the editor of the influential conservative magazine the Weekly Standard, to call for Steele's resignation."
       
       " 'At a time when Gen. Petraeus has just taken over command, when Republicans in Congress are pushing for a clean war funding resolution, when Republicans around the country are doing their best to rally their fellow citizens behind the mission, your comment is more than an embarrassment,' he wrote. 'It's an affront, both to the honor of the Republican party and to the commitment of the soldiers fighting to accomplish the mission they've been asked to take on by our elected leaders.' " 07-10
       
       
     • -07-03-10 EPA Scientists Discuss Dispersants (CNN News)
       "The EPA study showed that the chemicals, when not mixed with oil, did not significantly disrupt the endocrine systems of marine life. But the agency has said it plans to conduct more tests of the toxicity of the dispersant when mixed with crude." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-06-10 BP Underperforms on Promise to Clear Oil from Gulf (CBS News)
       "The Washington Post reported today that, in the 77 days since the spill began, BP has skimmed or burned only about 60 percent of the oil it promised regulators it could remove in a single day. In March, BP told the government it had the capacity to skim and remove 491,721 barrels of oil each day in the event of a major spill. As of Monday, however, skimming operations have removed on average less than 900 barrels a day."
       
       "In total, about 2 million barrels of oil have been released into the Gulf as of Monday." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-06-10 BP Underperforms on Promise to Clear Oil from Gulf (Time.com)
       "The Washington Post reported today that, in the 77 days since the spill began, BP has skimmed or burned only about 60 percent of the oil it promised regulators it could remove in a single day. In March, BP told the government it had the capacity to skim and remove 491,721 barrels of oil each day in the event of a major spill. As of Monday, however, skimming operations have removed on average less than 900 barrels a day."
       
       "In total, about 2 million barrels of oil have been released into the Gulf as of Monday." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-07-10 Hawaii Governor Vetoes Civil-Unions Bill (Time.com)
       "After weeks of lobbying and political maneuvering, the governor of the Aloha State vetoed a controversial measure Tuesday that would allow same-sex and unwed heterosexual couples the same protections under the law that married couples have." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-07-10 U.S. and Israel Shift Attention (New York Times)
       "President Obama said Tuesday that he expected direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin 'well before' a moratorium on settlement construction expired at the end of September, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel pledged to take 'concrete steps' in the coming weeks to get the talks moving." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-11-10 Spain Wins World Cup Title for 2010 (CNN News)
       "Spain won the World Cup for the first time in their history as an extra-time goal from midfielder Andres Iniesta gave them a last-gasp 1-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final at Soccer City." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-17-10 BP Oil Leak Stopped Temporarily (CNN News)
       "The verdict so far: generally good news but still some uncertainty about whether there's a leak in BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico, now fitted with a containment cap." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-21-10 Financial Reform Bill's New Policies (Time.com)
       "The new Financial Stability Oversight Council should help monitor systemic risks by encouraging regulators to think beyond their narrow silos. And the new resolution authority should help the government put failed behemoths to death without endangering global finance; Republicans are calling it a bailout provision, but it's really a tool that officials can use instead of a bailout."
       
       "Obama's plan was full of sensible responses to the last meltdown. It cracked down on the mortgage industry, taking aim at 'liar loans' handed to borrowers with no income by lenders with no skin in the game. Most derivatives will now be traded through regulated clearinghouses, so markets can see what they're worth and who's at risk. There were new protections for investors, new restrictions for hedge funds and lots of other excellent proposals that will now be the law of the land." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-22-10 Editorial: Cap and Trade Is Dead (Time.com)
       "The headline has been written countless times, but this time it is true: carbon cap-and-trade of any sort will not come out of this Congress—and perhaps it never will. Instead of comprehensive economy-wide carbon cap that Senator John Kerry had urged—and that the House had already passed a year ago—or even the compromise utility-only cap bill that had been suggested as an alternative, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that he would move forward next week on a bill that only deals with the BP oil spill and a few other low-profile energy policies." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-22-10 Weather and the Oil Spill (Time.com)
       "Time to play good news/bad news on the Gulf spill once again. Good news: retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen told reporters today that he was all but ready to authorize BP's static kill procedure, which would involve pumping mud in through the containment cap, and that it could begin within 48 hours. If it works, the procedure could bring an earlier end to a blown well that has spilled up to 190 million gallons of oil into the Gulf."
       
       "However, there's trouble brewing on the horizon—literally. A storm is forming in the Caribbean, and the system is likely to move into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, with a 50% chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm by Friday." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-23-10 Ford Sales Climb (New York Times)
       "The automaker surprised Wall Street, making $2.6 billion in the quarter as it continued to grab sales from rivals. Ford's U.S. sales rose 28 percent in the first six months of this year. That's almost double the pace of industrywide sales."
       
       "It was Ford's fifth straight quarterly profit, and the No. 2 U.S. automaker predicted a strong 2010 and even better 2011." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-23-10 Innocent Man Executed? (CNN News)
       "A Texas state board is set Friday to revisit questions surrounding a controversial 2004 execution, with supporters of the man's family warning the panel is trying to bury its own critical review of the case." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-23-10 News Veteran Daniel Shorr Dies (CBS News)
       "Veteran journalist Daniel Schorr, who worked with CBS News for two decades, died this morning after a short illness. He was 93."
       
       "Since 1985 Schorr has been a senior news analyst for National Public Radio, contributing commentary to 'All Things Considered' and 'Weekend Edition.' " 07-10
       
       
     • -07-23-10 Worker: Oil Rig Alarm Not Fully On (New York Times)
       "The emergency alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was not fully activated on the day the oil rig caught fire and exploded, triggering the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a rig worker on Friday told a government panel investigating the accident." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-24-10 Internet Addresses Running Out (CNN News)
       "IP addresses are numbers assigned to all of the devices -- computers, phones, cars, wireless sensors, etc. -- that log on to the internet."
       
       "According to the blog ReadWriteWeb, the internet is changing and evolving so quickly -- with so many new types of devices connecting -- that we're running out of numbers to assign to all of these Web-enabled electronics." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-25-10 Battle Looming Over Expiring Tax Cuts for the Wealthy (CNN News)
       "An epic fight is brewing over what Congress and President Obama should do about the expiring Bush tax cuts, with such substantial economic and political consequences that it could shape the fall elections and fiscal policy for years to come. "
       
       "Democratic leaders, including Mr. Obama, say they are intent on letting the tax cuts for the wealthy expire as scheduled at the end of this year." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-26-10 Toxic Fish Could Help Shut Down Heaviest Polluters (Reuters.com)
       "A proposed rule on mercury, a pollutant bad for fish and the people who eat too many of them, could help the Obama administration get near its short-term climate goal -- even if Congress fails this year or next to pass a bill tackling greenhouse gases directly." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-27-10 BP Outs Hayward (CNN News)
       "Tony Hayward will step down as chief executive of BP, the company announced Tuesday, amid ongoing outrage over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."
       
       "BP said Hayward will be replaced by American Robert Dudley effective Oct. 1." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-27-10 New Theory for National Differences in Intelligence Scores (Newsweek.com)
       "If the study holds up, it could be revolutionary for our understanding of the still-bewildering variation in national intelligence scores—and also a pressing injunction to continue the fight against malaria and other developing-world diseases, which some global-health watchers have recently declared unbeatable." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-27-10 Oil Spill Quickly Disappearing (New York Times)
       "The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than anyone expected, a piece of good news that raises tricky new questions about how fast the government should scale back its response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-27-10 Shocking New N.F.L. Poster on Concussions in Football (New York Times)
       "The National Football League is producing a poster that bluntly alerts its players to the long-term effects of concussions, using words like 'depression' and 'early onset of dementia' that those close to the issue described as both staggering and overdue." 07-10
       
       
     • -07-28-10 Judge Blocks Controversial Sections of Immigration Law (New York Times)
       "A federal judge, ruling on a clash between the federal government and a state over immigration policy, has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect." 07-10
       
       
     • -08-01-10 Police: No Criminal Case Will Be Filed Against Gore (CNN News)
       "The Portland Police Bureau did not recommend prosecution 'due to a lack of credible evidence,' according to the Multnomah County district attorney's office." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-02-10 Depths of Gulf Oil Spill Disaster (CNN News)
       "The Gulf Coast oil disaster is made up of many facets: the lives, the numbers, the science, the economy, the wildlife and more. The worst U.S. spill began April 20, and the consequences could last decades. Explore some of the threads of this unfolding story." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-02-10 Marshes Show Resilience (USA Today)
       "Today, many of those operating in the Gulf — from coastal scientists to fishermen such as Adams — are optimistic the marshes will rebound. Given the worst ecological damage mankind can throw at it, the marshes have displayed a stunning resiliency, they say." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-04-10 Government Report: Most of the Oil Poses Little Additional Risk (New York Times)
       "The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-04-10 Missouri Voters Reject Portion of Health Reform Bill (ABC News)
       "Voters in Missouri’s primary weighed in Tuesday on one of the most contentious aspects of the new health reform law – whether the government has the ability to force its citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a fine/tax." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-04-10 Presidential Citizens Medals Announced (Whitehouse.gov)
       "The 2010 Citizens Medal will recognize U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service outside of their regular jobs...." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-04-10 Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned (CBS News)
       "A federal judge overturned California's same-sex marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if gays have a constitutional right to marry in America." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-05-10 Editorial: Comments on the Removal of Most Troops from Iraq (Time.com)
       "There is no 'victory' in Iraq, nor will there be. There is something resembling stability, for now. There is a semblance of democracy, but that may dissolve over time into a Shi'ite dictatorship — which, if not well run, could yield to the near inevitable military coup. Yes, Saddam is gone — and that is a good thing. The Kurds have a greater measure of independence and don't have to live in fear of mass murder, which are good things too. But Iran's position in the region has been strengthened. Its Iraqi allies, especially Muqtada al-Sadr's populist movement, will play a major role — perhaps one more central than ours — in shaping the future of the country. Our attempt to construct an Iraq more amenable to our interests will end no better than the previous attempts by Western colonial powers. Even if something resembling democracy prevails, the U.S. invasion and occupation will not be remembered fondly by Iraqis." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-06-10 Illegal Immigrant Family Outed to Mrs. Obama (ABC News)
       "When a Maryland second-grader told Michelle Obama in May that her mom "doesn't have papers," little did she know the entire world could be watching – including authorities with the power to send her parents back to Mexico." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-06-10 Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned (ABC News)
       "A federal judge in California ruled today that the state's same-sex marriage ban amounts to unconstitutional discrimination and should be immediately struck down."
       
       " 'Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples,' wrote Judge Walker." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-06-10 Top California Officials Urge Judge to Allow Same-Sex Marriage (CNN News)
       "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked a federal judge Friday to allow same-sex marriages while an appeal over the struck-down law that banned them makes its way through the courts."
       
       "Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown filed briefs two days after Chief U.S District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, violated the constitutional rights of same-sex couples." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-10-10 Smelling Gulf Seafood for Safety (AOL News)
       "With many petrochemicals, humans will notice 1 part per million, or even less, of their smelly components in air. That's like a few tablespoons in an Olympic-sized swimming pool (if you pretend those chemicals have the same density as water)."
       
       "That's why the FDA says it's very unlikely for tainted seafood to reach your plate after a battery of smell tests. And our sensitivity to such small traces of oil makes it even harder for higher, toxic levels to go undetected." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-12-10 Judge to Allow Same-Sex Marriage in California (New York Times)
       "Just a week after ruling that Proposition 8 – a 2008 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage – was unconstitutional, a federal judge lifted his stay of his decision on Thursday, opening the door for untold numbers of gay couples to marry in the nation’s most populous state. But he delayed implementation of the order to lift the stay until Aug. 18." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-14-10 Auto Industry Recovering (New York Times)
       "After a dismal period of huge losses and deep cuts that culminated in the Obama administration’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-14-10 President Obama Backs Mosque Near Ground Zero (Time.com)
       "President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country's founding principles demanded no less."
       
       " 'As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,' Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York and the nation." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-19-10 Last U.S. Combat Troops Leave Iraq (ABC News)
       "Scatterings of combat troops still await departure, and some 50,000 will stay another year in what is designated as a noncombat role. They will carry weapons to defend themselves and accompany Iraqi troops on missions (but only if asked). Special forces will continue to help Iraqis hunt for terrorists."
       
       "So the U.S. death toll — at least 4,415 by Pentagon count as of Wednesday — may not yet be final." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-19-10 Pakistani Floods Are the "Worst Imaginable" (ABC News)
       "Ambassador Richard Holbrooke painted an ugly picture of the devastation from the floods in Pakistan that have left 4 million people homeless.
       
       "The special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan said they are 'the worst floods imaginable,' affecting 20 million people, submerging an area the size of Italy and ruining much of the county’s infrastructure." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-19-10 There's More Oil in the Gulf Spill (Time.com)
       "And now that the oil plume has formed under the water, it could stay there for some time. While oil can evaporate or be broken down by microbes rather quickly on the surface, the colder temperatures of the depths significantly slow down that decomposition. In fact, the Science researchers estimate that the temperatures found 3,000 ft. below the ocean surface could mean decomposition will happen ten times slower than it would on the surface. How long the oil will remain in some fashion is anyone's guess right now, but Florida State University scientist Ian MacDonald told Congress today that the 'imprint of the BP discharge will be detectable in the marine environment for the rest of my life.' " 08-10
       
       
     • -08-20-10 Assassinations in Afghanistan (Time.com)
       "The Obama Administration's new military strategy in Afghanistan may be a sign of desperation — a Hail Mary pass — but it may just work. The President's counterterrorism adviser John Brennan describes it as giving up the hammer for the scalpel. The military, as we know from classified military documents put on the Internet by WikiLeaks last month, prefers the term kinetic strike. I've heard the Pentagon use the term eliminating command nodes. But I'll go ahead and call it by its everyday name: assassination."
       
       "The tactic is familiar in the war on terrorism, of course, its template being the CIA's unmanned-aerial-vehicle strikes on al-Qaeda operatives in the tribal areas of Pakistan — another form of assassination. Putting aside questions of the long-term wisdom of firing area weapons into small villages, no one has convincingly disputed the fact that these strikes have badly hurt al-Qaeda, with its remnants either hiding in caves or fleeing to places like Yemen. Not surprisingly, the military has asked, Why can't we do the same in Afghanistan?" 08-10
       
       
     • -08-21-10 Iranian Reactor Comes Online with Russian Fuel (Time.com)
       "Despite the media hysteria over a supposed drumbeat for war with Iran, the White House is not unduly worried by the news that Russia will, on Saturday, begin loading enriched uranium into Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. "
       
       "Instead of prompting confrontation, the move to bring Bushehr online will be used by the Administration to argue that it demonstrates Western readiness to accept a Iranian nuclear energy program without uranium enrichment. The uranium that will power the Bushehr reactor is imported from Russia, while the reactor's spent fuel — from which Iran could hypothetically extract plutonium if it had the technology to do so, and if it weren't under the scrutiny of IAEA inspectors — will be removed from Iran by the Russians. And the fact that Bushehr will produce electricity with Russian-supplied uranium, says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, "underscores that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions, as it states, are for a peaceful nuclear program." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-22-10 Help the People of Pakistan (Avaaz.org)
       "A humanitarian catastrophe of terrifying proportions is unfolding in Pakistan, with a fifth of the country under water, and millions of people homeless and desperately needing assistance."
       
       "Some relief efforts are underway, but the international response to the mega-disaster has been irresponsibly slow and weak -- the UN has urgently appealed for $460 million of vital aid, but just 60% has been committed. Relief workers warn that without an immediate increase in aid the death toll could sky-rocket."
       
       "With the expert advice of leading humanitarian NGOs on the ground, we'll offer donations to trusted local organizations, including: Hirrak Development Centre (HDC) and Participatory Welfare Services (PWS). With these partners on the ground our community will help provide much needed humanitarian aid. 100% of the funds raised will go directly to helping Pakistanis cope with this disaster and strengthen their local systems." Visitors sometimes misspell as Packistan, Pakestan, or Packestan. 09-08
       
       
     • -08-22-10 Ten Things Today's Kids Will Never Experience (Time.com)
       "The class of 2014 doesn't wear watches, doesn't write in cursive and has no idea why Nirvana is awesome. That's according to Beloit College's annual Mindset List, aimed at helping teachers understand today's cultural references. TIME takes a look at other bygone experiences today's kids will miss." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-22-10 Training Pastors, Rabbis, and Imams at the Same School (Time.com)
       "Claremont will commence a first on U.S. soil: a 'theological university' to train future pastors, imams, and rabbis under one roof. The experiment to end isolated clerical training brings together Claremont, the Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) and the Academy for Jewish Religion California. The hope of officials at all three organizations is that when leaders study their own religious traditions together alongside friends of other faiths, they will develop the respect and wisdom necessary to transform America's fractured religious outlook." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-23-10 Federal Judge Halts Some Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Research (CNN News)
       "A U.S. district judge granted a preliminary injunction Monday to stop federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that he said destroys embryos, ruling it went against the will of Congress."
       
       "The ruling by Judge Royce C. Lamberth was a blow to the Obama administration, which last year issued guidelines to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-23-10 Final Rules on Credit Card Debt Take Effect (ABC.com)
       "The final act of a three-part set of credit card reform rules is now in effect." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-23-10 Suggestions for President Obama (CNN News)
       "Ten weeks is an eternity in politics, and Republican and Democratic strategists say there are some key things Obama can do in the final stretch to restore the confidence of the American people and minimize expected losses for his party." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-29-10 No Compelling Evidence for Prevention or Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (New York Times)
       "The scene was a kind of science court. On trial was the question 'Can anything — running on a treadmill, eating more spinach, learning Arabic — prevent Alzheimer’s disease or delay its progression?' "
       
       "To try to answer that question, the National Institutes of Health sponsored the court, appointing a jury of 15 medical scientists with no vested interests in Alzheimer’s research. They would hear the evidence and reach a judgment on what the data showed."
       
       " 'Currently,' the panel wrote, 'no evidence of even moderate scientific quality exists to support the association of any modifiable factor (such as nutritional supplements, herbal preparations, dietary factors, prescription or nonprescription drugs, social or economic factors, medical conditions, toxins or environmental exposures) with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.' "
       
       "To its great surprise, the Duke group discovered a vast amount of literature on Alzheimer’s prevention. Instead of coming up empty on many topics, Dr. Williams said, 'We came up empty on very few.' ”
       
       "The problem, the group wrote, was that 'the quality of the evidence was typically low.' ”
       
       "Low confidence did not necessarily mean the measures did not work — it meant the evidence was so faulty that there was no way of deciding." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-30-10 Enormous Dead Zone in the Gulf (CNN News)
       "Scientists have recorded one of the largest 'dead zones' in the Gulf's history this year. This oxygen-sapped area -- currently about the size of New Jersey -- is caused in large part by fertilizer that funnels into the ocean from Midwestern farms, since more than 40 percent of the land in the United States drains into the Gulf."
       
       "The fertilizer kicks off a chain reaction of biological processes that, in the end, drains the water of oxygen and kills fish, shrimp and other marine creatures that can't swim away."
       
       "Early testing indicates that the ocean ecosystem is already under intense stress: It takes less fertilizer pollution today, for example, to produce a large dead zone in the Gulf than it did several years ago."
       
       "That's a sign that the dead zone will continue to grow unless fertilizer levels are cut drastically." 08-10
       
       
     • -08-31-10 Editorial: Beck "Rewrites" Civil Rights History (CNN News)
       "In the year and half since President Obama took office, [Glen] Beck has led his loyal followers on a journey not just to 'reclaim' civil rights but much more audaciously to rewrite the sweeping narrative arc of American history from the time of the Founding Fathers forward."
       
       "Most moderates and liberals aren't even aware that this Hollywood-size script doctoring of U.S. history is taking place -- and the political consequences may be enormous. George Orwell wrote that 'who controls the past ... controls the future.' Beck and his fans may reclaim a lot more than the legacy of 1960s civil rights this weekend -- unless America's too silent majority is finally ready to start fighting back for our past." 08-10
       
       
     • -09-07-10 Poll: Revolt Against Status Quo Gives Republicans the Edge (ABC News)
       "Swelling economic discontent has pushed dissatisfaction with the federal government to its highest level in 18 years, with the same forces that put Barack Obama on the road to the presidency two years ago now threatening to undo his party's control of Congress." 09-10
       
       
     • -09-10-10 Muslims Travel Across America, Finding an Embracing Nation (CNN News)
       "It was also remarkable to have people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, 'just bend over backwards and be friendly to us,' he said." 09-10
       
       
     • -09-23-10 "Value-Added" Teacher Evaluation (Time.com)
       "The last decade has yielded an explosion of data about student performance. In many places, these data can be used to create a year-over-year analysis of how much a teacher advanced the learning of an individual student. Because value-added models can control for other factors impacting student test scores, the most important being whether a student arrived in a teacher's classroom several grade levels behind, this method of analysis can offer a more accurate estimate of how well a particular teacher is teaching than simply looking at the latest set of student test scores. High-flying teachers can be recognized, and low performers can be identified before they spend years doing a disservice to kids. Science and technology to the rescue again!" 09-10
       
       
     • -09-23-10 Republican "Pledge to America" Released (CNN News)
       "House Republican Leader John Boehner suggested Thursday the Republicans' pledge to extend all Bush-era tax cuts is crucial to fixing the economy, even if it adds an estimated $4 trillion dollars to the deficit." 09-10
       
       
     • -09-26-10 Israelis Drop Restrictions on Building Settlements in Palestinian Territory (ABC News)
       "In Revava, a settlement deep in the West Bank [of Palestinian territory], about 2,000 activists released 2,000 balloons in the blue and white of the Israeli flag at sundown Sunday. The balloons were meant to symbolize the 2,000 apartments that settlers say are ready to be built immediately."
       
       " 'Today it's over and we will do everything we can to make sure it never happens again,' settler leader Dani Dayan told the crowd. 'We return with new energy and a new determination to populate this land.' "
       
       "It was unclear what how the official end of the slowdown would affect construction. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already signaled future settlement construction will be kept to a minimum, in contrast to relatively unfettered housing activity of past Israeli governments." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-01-10 Iraq's Political Impasse (Time.com)
       "It's not much of a surprise that Iraq's dysfunctional political class still has yet to form a government five months after its election. More of a surprise is that the country hasn't fallen apart as a result of the political stalemate." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-01-10 Study: Atheists Know More About Religion (Time.com)
       "According to a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, atheists and agnostics tend to know more about religion than members of most faiths, the Los Angeles Times reports. For example, most Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the founder of the Protestant movement. Atheists took the top spot in the survey, followed by a tie between Mormons and Jews." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-02-10 Rahm Emanuel Leaves the White House (New York Times)
       "The two officials, who declined to be named in advance of the official announcement, confirmed that Mr. Obama planned to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, to replace Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Rouse has been at the president’s side since Mr. Obama arrived in Washington nearly six years ago as a senator, serving as his chief of staff." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-03-10 Grading Rahm Emanuel (TheWeek.com)
       "As Obama's polarizing chief of staff steps down, a look at what he did right, and where he came up short." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-03-10 Rick Sanchez Terminated at CNN (CBS News)
       "CNN has yet to issue a public statement addressing Sanchez's controversial statements, but the CNN anchor did not appear on his daily program on Friday afternoon." 09-10
       
       
     • -10-08-10 Jailed Chinese Human Rights Advocate Given Nobel Prize (New York Times)
       "Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for his activism, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of 'his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.' " 10-10
       
       
     • -10-09-10 Largest Bank Puts Halt to Foreclosures in All States (New York Times)
       "Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank, said Friday that it was extending its suspension of foreclosures to all 50 states." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-09-10 Teachers Buying School Supplies...and More (Time.com)
       "Welcome back to school in budget-strapped California, where pencils, paper and textbooks are indeed prized goods — and their availability in classrooms is increasingly dependent upon the resourcefulness of teachers. As a matter of financial survival, teachers share tips for donation websites, clip coupons together in staff rooms and learn how to spruce up garage-sale items (bought with their own pennies, of course)."
       
       "It's a dire time for public education in California. Nearly $17 billion has been cut from schools over the past two years, and a possible $2.4 billion more in cuts are expected in the next year. Teachers have been forced to take pay cuts and endure furlough weeks. And thanks to the 18,000 education-department layoffs last year, classrooms have grown in size. To keep their classrooms afloat, and to avoid even further out-of-pocket expenses (which, since two years ago, have increased from approximately a few hundred dollars to about $1,500 annually), many California teachers are scrambling to find fresh ways to thriftily educate their students and maintain their physically crumbling classrooms." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-10-10 What Is "Free Speech"? (Time.com)
       The issues here are whether Westboro church members have a "free speech" right to picket the funerals of soldiers and whether states have the right to severely restrict such picketing. "Snyder [the father of the soldier] ultimately sued Westboro, a move that set the stage for an epic First Amendment battle that reached the Supreme Court on Oct. 6. What exactly does the First Amendment protect--the Phelpses' right to freedom of speech or Snyder's rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of religion? And what happens when these values are in conflict?"
       
       "Westboro opponents are hoping the court will comment on, if not uphold outright, state laws that restrict funeral picketing. The court could encourage states to write stronger statutes. In Kansas, for example, Westboro can't picket within 150 ft. (46 m) of a church an hour before a funeral starts or return to the area until two hours after the ceremony ends. But as the Snyder case shows, Westboro can inflict plenty of damage beyond that buffer zone."
       
       "On the other side, the ACLU and other free-speech advocates are supporting Westboro's right to offend, as are many news organizations. Chief among their arguments: having changed the route of the procession, Snyder did not directly encounter the picketers or any of their signs at his son's funeral. He saw and read about them afterward while watching the news and searching online." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-12-10 Federal Judge Orders Stop to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy (AOL News)
       "A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction Tuesday immediately stopping enforcement of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, suspending the 17-year-old ban on openly gay U.S. troops." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-12-10 Fred Davis, Republican Ad Man (Time.com)
       "...Davis has no trouble standing out as a Republican admaker in Hollywood, willing to do what he must to win." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-14-10 Obama's Administration to Ask Judge to Keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy (CBS News)
       "The Justice Department has asked a U.S. judge to allow the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on gays to continue during an appeal."
       
       "In court papers, the Obama administration says the case raises serious legal questions and that the government will be irreparably harmed unless the current policy is allowed to remain in place temporarily."
       
       "Editor's Note: President Obama claims that he is against the law and wants Congress to change it. Congress has no law it is considering for changing the policy. However, if his administration does not appeal the judge's decision, the judge's decision has the force of law now. 10-10
       
       
     • -10-17-10 Haiti: The Beginning of Rubble Removal (New York Times)
       When rubble removal finally became an urgent priority late this summer, only baby steps were taken."
       
       "At its September meeting, Haiti’s reconstruction commission, led by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former President Bill Clinton, approved a $17 million United Nations Development Program plan to clean up six neighborhoods — an important project but only a small piece of the $1 billion in reconstruction projects approved to date." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-19-10 Judge May Deny Obama Administration's Request on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy (CBS News)
       "A federal judge said on Monday that she is learning toward denying a government request to delay her order halting the military from enforcing its ban on openly gay troops." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-20-10 Gulf Spill Stain Still There (Time.com)
       "Our need for an energy revolution hasn't changed, but we seem unable to make the hard choices and compromises that are necessary to bring about that change. We haven't gotten serious about attacking our demand for oil—witness New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's recent decision to kill a needed transit tunnel—or funding the heavy-duty research into renewables and other forms of clean energy. Venture capital investment in clean tech is declining. Perhaps worst of all, the oil spill and the debate that ensued over offshore drilling seemed to deepen the sense that a clean environment and a growing economy were simply opposed. An spill-free Gulf would be nice—but drilling jobs are nicer." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-27-10 Holocaust Participation by German Diplomats (Time.com)
       "One of the pillars of Germany's political establishment, the Foreign Ministry, was a 'criminal organization' during the Nazi era, and the country's diplomats played a far more active role in the Holocaust than was previously acknowledged. Those are some of the troubling findings of a new 880-page government-sponsored report, called 'The Ministry and the Past: German Diplomats in the Third Reich and the Federal Republic,' which has shaken the nation. Drawn from thousands of historical documents, the report, due to be officially released on Thursday, makes for uncomfortable reading as it debunks a long cherished belief that Germany's Foreign Ministry was a hive of resistance to the Nazi regime and that German diplomats were not involved in the mass extermination of millions of Jews in Nazi death camps."
       
       
     • -10-27-10 Stomp Victim: Attack Was Planned (CBS News)
       "The woman who was wrestled to the ground and kicked in the head for holding a critical sign at a Rand Paul event says that the violence was 'premeditated' and that her partner heard Paul supporters say, 'We're here to do crowd control and we might have to take someone out.' "
       
       
     • -10-29-10 Obama: Explosives Found in Cargo (New York Times)
       "Two packages containing explosive devices originating in Yemen and bound for two places of Jewish worship in Chicago set off a global terror alert that began when one package was found at a FedEx facility in Dubai on Thursday, and then another was found early Friday morning near London, sparking a day of dramatic precautionary activity in the United States." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-30-10 How We Handle Terror Scares (MSNBC News)
       "Successfully coping with a stressful episode actually produces rewards in the brain, said Ki Ann Goosens, a neuroscientist at MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research who specializes in the study of fear, anxiety and stress." 10-10
       
       
     • -10-31-10 A Vow Against Negative Ads (New York Times)
       "In his appearances around the state, the No. 1 applause line for John Hickenlooper, the Democratic candidate for Colorado’s governor, comes when he talks about running a positive campaign." 10-10
       
       
     • -11-02-10 Campaign Ads: The Good and the Bad (Time.com)
       "A leading pollster looks at why some election ads worked with viewers and others did not." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-03-10 Republicans Win Big in the U.S. House of Representatives (MSNBC News)
       "Americans who insisted they were tired of partisan divisions elected a divided Congress on Tuesday, giving Republicans control of the House of Representatives but leaving Democrats with a razor-thin hold on the Senate, NBC News projected." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-04-10 Does "Quantitative Easing" Work for Financial Recovery? (Time.com)
       "The Federal Reserve has finally announced what everyone expected – a giant program of quantitative easing aimed at restarting the stalled economic recovery. The idea is to push more money into the economy to encourage banks to lend and companies to borrow, invest and hire. In other words, the Fed thinks that by pumping an extra $600 billion into the economy (through purchases of Treasury bonds), it can rescue the recovery and prevent deflation."
       
       "But will it work? One way to answer that question is to look at Japan's experience." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-05-10 Debunking Myths on the Cost of Obama's Trip to Asia (CNN News)
       "It's a story that originated from a single, unnamed sourced in India -- but it quickly gained momentum, spreading like wildfire among critics of the Obama administration in the United States and eventually, the airwaves." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-05-10 Olbermann Suspended for Campaign Contributions (New York Times)
       "Keith Olbermann, the pre-eminent liberal voice on American television, was suspended Friday after his employer, MSNBC, discovered that he made campaign contributions to three Democrats last month." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-12-10 Former German Chancellor: Bush Not Telling the Truth (AOL News)
       "Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says George W. Bush is 'not telling the truth' in a passage from his newly released memoir in which he accuses Germany of breaking its promise to support the Iraq war." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-13-10 Myanmar Releases Aung San Suu Kyi (Guardian.co.uk)
       "Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was freed from house arrest on Saturday, setting her on the path to a possible new confrontation with the generals who had kept her out of the public eye for 15 of the past 21 years." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-14-10 Editorial: Beck's Fascination with Nazis (Christian Science Monitor)
       "Fox News' Glenn Beck says liberal philanthropist George Soros was complicit in 'sending Jews to the death camps' – even though Soros escaped the Holocaust as a young Jewish teenager."
       
       "Yet Fox News officials in the past have had to explain and defend Beck’s comments invoking Nazis and the Holocaust – which he frequently does in blasting his ideological opponents. In July, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank tallied up Beck’s references: '202 mentions of Nazis or Nazism, according to transcripts, 147 mentions of Hitler, 193 mentions of fascism or fascist, and another 24 bonus mentions of Joseph Goebbels' – most of them directed at President Obama." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-16-10 U.S. House Panel Convicts Rangel of Ethics Violations (New York Times)
       "A House ethics panel has convicted Representative Charles B. Rangel of all but one of the 13 ethics violations he faced, for offenses ranging from accepting a rent-stabilized apartment from a Manhattan developer to failing to pay taxes on rental income from his Dominican villa to raising charitable donations from companies and corporate executives who had business before the committee he led."
       
       "The convictions cast a cloud over the half-century political career of Mr. Rangel, an 80-year-old Democrat who was re-elected this month to a 21st term representing Harlem and who was the head of the House Ways and Means Committee." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-17-10 Doctors Brace for Possible Medicare Cuts in Payments (ABC News)
       "The cuts have nothing to do with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. They're the consequence of a 1990s budget-balancing law whose requirements Congress has routinely postponed. But these cuts don't go away; they come back for a bigger bite."
       
       "Doctors have muddled through with temporary reprieves for years. This time, medical groups estimate that as many as two-thirds of doctors would stop taking new Medicare patients, throwing the health program for 46 million older and disabled people into turmoil just when the first baby boomers will become eligible." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-18-10 Computer Virus a "Game Changer" (CNN News)
       "A highly complex computer attack that may have been targeting Iran's nuclear power plants is posing a serious security threat to critical infrastructure worldwide, according to government and cyber-industry experts testifying Wednesday on Capitol Hill."
       
       "The computer worm known as Stuxnet was discovered this past July and specifically targets computers that run critical infrastructure such as the electric power grid, water treatment and oil and gas pipelines." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-18-10 Cutting Defense Spending (Time.com)
       "It's a strange fight to be having as the U.S. military wraps up one war and remains engaged in a second. But with defense spending basically doubling since 9/11 -- and now topping the Cold War average -- it's one of the few fat targets left as lawmakers confront economically-stressed constituents demanding they do something about the nation's soaring deficit. The $700 billion the nation pumps into the Pentagon every year accounts for about half of the nation's discretionary spending." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-24-10 Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Convicted (MSNBC News)
       "Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay — once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress — was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-24-10 U.S. Sends Carrier Group to Korea (MSNBC.com)
       "A U.S. aircraft carrier group set off for Korean waters on Wednesday, a day after North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island, in a move likely to enrage Pyongyang and unsettle its ally, China."
       
       "The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that the United States believes the North's attack was an isolated action and not part of a wider campaign by Pyongyang."
       
       "State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley also said the United States expects China to use its influence to get North Korea to cease its provocative behavior, saying Beijing could play a 'pivotal' role in helping to calm the situation."
       
       "Tuesday's attack was the heaviest in the region since the Korean War ended in 1953, and marked the first civilian deaths in an assault since the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987."
       
       "A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement it had responded in 'self-defense' and accused the South of firing shells into its waters near the disputed maritime border." 11-10
       
       
     • -11-30-10 President Proposes Freeze in Federal Worker Pay (NewsDaily.com)
       "President Barack Obama proposed a two-year freeze on Monday on the pay of federal workers and vowed to work with Republicans to cut the ballooning U.S. budget deficit." 11-10
       
       
     • -12-03-10 Jobless Rate Is Up (Time.com)
       "Employers added only 39,000 jobs last month, a sharp decline from the 172,000 created in October. The weakness was widespread. Retailers, factories, construction companies, financial firms and the government all cut jobs last month."
       
       "With hiring so weak, the unemployment rate rose from 9.6% to 9.8%. The jobless rate has now topped 9% for 19 straight months, the longest stretch on record." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-06-10 Climate Change Skeptics to Lead in the House (ABC News)
       "All of the contenders in line to head the prestigious House committees responsible for setting America's energy and science policy are global warming skeptics, and that's causing scientists to worry that Republicans will use their new positions for political grandstanding at the expense of scientific advancement." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-06-10 Elizabeth Edwards Stops Cancer Treatment (CNN News)
       "Elizabeth Edwards is surrounded by family and friends in her North Carolina home after being informed by her doctors that further cancer treatment would be unproductive." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-06-10 President and Republicans Near Tax Deal (New York Times)
       "As the White House and Congressional Republicans near a deal on sweeping tax legislation, including an extension of the Bush-era tax rates for all income levels, President Obama has agreed to give up the “Making Work Pay” tax credit that was the central tax break for middle and low-income Americans in last year’s economic stimulus bill." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-06-10 Wikileaks Lists Sites Key to U.S. Security (CNN News)
       "WikiLeaks has published a secret U.S. diplomatic cable listing places the United States considers vital to its national security, prompting criticism that the website is inviting terrorist attacks on American interests." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-11-10 Global Warming Deal Is Sealed (Time.com)
       "Over the strenuous and highly verbal objections of Bolivia, the more than 190 countries at Cancún adopted a compromise deal that points the way towards a new system fo climate diplomacy that will include complementary actions by both developed and developing nations. The Cancun Agreements "mark a new era in international cooperation on climate change," said Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, who presided over the negotiations." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-15-10 Wikileaks Damage Estimates (CNN News)
       "While embarrassing to both U.S. diplomats and the foreign leaders mentioned in the cables, there haven't been any bombshells out of the small percentage of cables released so far. But the implications of the leaks -- not just for America's relations with countries around the world but for politics worldwide, security of information and the future of an unregulated cyberworld -- are enormous and not yet fully known." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-17-10 House Sends Tax-Cut Bill to President for Signing (MSNBC News)
       "Acting with uncommon speed, Congress sent President Barack Obama sweeping, bipartisan legislation late Thursday night to avoid a Jan. 1 spike in income taxes for millions and renew jobless benefits for victims of the worst recession in 80 years." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-22-10 Study: Fox Viewers More Misinformed (USNews.com)
       "MSNBC took some hits, but it was the daily viewers of Fox News who were significantly more misinformed about healthcare, climate change, and Barack Obama. They were 14 points more likely to mistakenly believe that 'the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts,' and 13 points more likely to erroneously believe that 'the auto bailout only occurred under Obama,' and 12 points more likely to hold the incorrect belief that 'when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it.' By 30 points, they mistakenly believed that 'most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring.' " 12-10
       
       
     • -12-23-10 Clinton's Apology and Haiti's Future (Change.org)
       "Former President Bill Clinton said at a recent Senate hearing that he regrets the impact in Haiti of the free trade policies that became a hallmark of his presidency."
       
       " 'It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake,' Clinton said this month. 'I had to live everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody else.' "
       
       "Prior to the era of so-called 'free trade,' Haiti could feed itself, importing only 19% of its food and actually exporting rice. Today, Haiti imports more than half of its food, including 80% of the rice eaten in the country."
       
       "In fact, President Rene Preval, himself a rice grower, has asked for international food aid to be replaced by financial support for farmers and the re-development of the agricultural sector. Preval knows that sustained success in rebuilding depends on food sovereignty, or the ability for Haitian farmers to grow their own crops and feed their own communities." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-24-10 The Self-Destruction of Merrill Lynch (MSNBC News)
       "Two years before the financial crisis hit, Merrill Lynch confronted a serious problem. No one, not even the bank's own traders, wanted to buy the supposedly safe portions of the mortgage-backed securities Merrill was creating."
       
       "Bank executives came up with a fix that had short-term benefits and long-term consequences." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-25-10 Schwarzenegger's Mixed Legacy (ABC News)
       "In the year before the recession hit, he signed what has become his biggest legacy in office — a law sponsored by Democrats that has made California a global leader in combating climate change."
       
       "Cannon said that after a promising start, Schwarzenegger failed to engage rank-and-file lawmakers who could have helped him broker deals."
       
       " 'A lot of the work of a governor, as a long line of governors starting with Earl Warren showed, is how you're able to negotiate with the Legislature ... the governor and the Legislature together never really got their hands dirty on the fiscal issues,' Cannon said. 'He was elected to do that. That's what he campaigned on.' "
       
       "Now, Schwarzenegger leaves incoming Gov. Jerry Brown in virtually the same fiscal position he inherited but with fewer options to fix it. After successive years of gimmicks to close the gaps, California's deficit is estimated at $28 billion over the next 18 months." 12-10
       
       
     • -12-29-09 CIA May Have Failed to Circulate Report on Terrorism Suspect (CNN News)
       "The father of terrorism suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab talked about his son's extremist views with someone from the CIA and a report was prepared, but the report was not circulated outside the agency, a reliable source told CNN's Jeanne Meserve on Tuesday."
       
       "Had that information been shared, the 23-year-old Nigerian who is alleged to have bungled an attempt to blow up a jetliner as it was landing in Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day might have been denied passage on the Northwest Airlines flight, the source said." 12-09
       
       
     • -Aid in Haiti Elusive (MSNBC News)
       "The world still can't get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty one week after an earthquake shattered Haiti's capital. The airport remains a bottleneck, the port is a shambles. The Haitian government is invisible, nobody has taken firm charge, and the police have largely given up." 01-10
       
       
     • -Editorial: Global Financial System Still At Risk (MSNBC News)
       "A year after the panic that brought the world’s financial system to the brink of collapse, the Group of 20 nations will now assume the role of a permanent council on global economic cooperation. But there is still no global regulatory framework to prevent another major market meltdown." 09-09
       
       
     • -Haiti Updates (CNN News)
       Provides ongoing information and news about the situation in Haiti after the earthquake. 02-10
       
       
     • -House Passes Health Care Reform Bill (CBS News)
       "In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives narrowly passed landmark health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous."
       
       "The 220-215 vote late Saturday night cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress. But it will be tougher to get Senate approval because Democrats will need 60 out of 100 votes to end debate and bring legislation to a final vote, and several moderate Democratic senators still have reservations." 11-09
       
       
     • -How to Not Get H1N1 Flu (Time.com)
       "Keeping your hands clean can stop viruses that are living and breeding around you from causing infection." 09-09
       
       
     • -Lobbyists to Be Ejected from Advisory Panels (CBS News)
       "Hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the Obama administration to curb K Street's influence in Washington, according to White House officials and lobbying experts."
       
       "The new policy -- issued with little fanfare this fall by the White House ethics counsel -- may turn out to be the most far-reaching lobbying rule change so far from President Obama , who also has sought to restrict the ability of lobbyists to get jobs in his administration and to negotiate over stimulus contracts."
       
       "Under the policy, which is being phased in over the coming months, none of the more than 13,000 lobbyists in Washington would be able to hold seats on the committees, which advise agencies on trade rules, troop levels, environmental regulations, consumer protections and thousands of other government policies." 11-09
       
       
     • -Medicare Advantage Cuts Could Affect Millions (U.S. News)
       "Democrats say they're not trying to kill the program, but they are trying to change it. Between the House and Senate healthcare bills, they've proposed cutting $120 billion to $150 billion from Medicare Advantage over the next decade. The savings are a major slice of how Democrats intend to pay for reform." 11-09
       
       
     • -Poll: Majority Backs Public Option (MSNBC News)
       "As Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials work to shape health care bills that will go to the House and Senate floors, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and now wins clear majority support from the public." 10-09
       
       
     • -Poll: Public Option at Highest Popularity Yet (MSNBC News)
       "According to the poll, 48% say they favor a public health plan administered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers, compared with 42% who oppose it. That's a shift from last month, though within the margin of error, when 48% opposed the public option and 46% supported it. And it's a 10-point swing from August, when 47% were in opposition and 43% were in favor."
       
       "In another question asked a different way -- is it important to give people a choice of a public option? -- a combined 72% answered that it was either 'extremely important' or 'quite important,' while just 23% said it was 'not that important' or 'not at all important.' Those numbers are virtually unchanged from last month." 10-09
       
       
     • -Steps for a Health Reform Bill to Become Law (MSNBC News)
       Explains the steps. 09-09
       
       
     • 02-06-10 Toyota Knew About Brake Problem (CNN News)
       "Prius hybrid cars coming off Toyota's assembly line in Japan have had an improved version of the software used to control the cars' brakes since January."
       
       "That's little consolation to those driving Priuses made before then which seem to be the source of mounting complaints about brake performance and have been linked to four crashes." 02-10
       
       
     • 03-09-10 Israel Announces More Housing in East Jerusalem (Time.com)
       "This appears to be the diplomatic equivalent of an ambush. Vice President Biden, on a visit to Israel, spent the day talking up the close relationship between Israel and the United States."
       
       "Then Israel, playing not-quite gracious host, announced the construction of 1,600 new homes for Jews in the disputed territories of East Jerusalem, a move that kicks sand in the face of Obama Administration requests to stop such settlement expansion." 03-10
       
       
     • 03-14-10 Famous Muslim Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Terrorism (CNN News)
       "Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri: At a news conference in London, England, on Tuesday, the renowned Islamic scholar issued a fatwa -- a religious ruling -- condemning suicide bombers as destined for hell, removing extremists' certainty of earning paradise after death."
       
       "The 600-page fatwa is arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date. Qadri said his aim was to set an important precedent that might allow other scholars to similarly condemn the ideas behind terrorism." 03-10
       
       
     • 03-18-10 Study: The Case for Global Climate Change Stronger (Time.com)
       "By looking at a wide range of observations from all over the world, the Met Office study concludes that the fingerprint of human influence on climate is stronger than ever. "We can say with a very high significance level that the effects we see in the climate cannot be attributed to any other forcings [factors that push the climate in one direction or another]," says study co-author Gabriele Hegerl of the University of Edinburgh." 03-10
       
       
     • 03-22-10 Taking the Health Care Message to Voters (ABC News)
       "ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: The voting is over, but the selling has just begun, as both sides prepare to take their best cases on health care to the American people this fall." 03-10
       
       
     • 03-23-10 Toyota Had Evidence of Electronic Cause of Surges in 2002 (CNN News)
       "Auto manufacturer Toyota warned dealerships in 2002 that Camry owners were complaining about throttles surging and recommended adjustments in an electronic control unit to fix the problem, according to a document obtained by CNN." 03-10
       
       
     • 04-01-10 Health Reform: Wait Until June (CNN News)
       "For millions of uninsured or underinsured Americans, health reform legislation will soon remove some of the barriers preventing them from getting the coverage they need."
       
       "The most immediate changes affecting those who don't have health insurance, or are not buying enough insurance to meet their needs, start in about 81 days." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-01-10 Vatican: Pope Has Immunity in Sex Abuse Trials (MSNBC News)
       "Pope Benedict, accused by victims' lawyers of being ultimately responsible for a cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests, cannot be called to testify at any trial because he has immunity as a head of state, a top Vatican legal official said on Thursday." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-01-10 Warrantless Wiretapping Ruled Illegal (New York Times)
       " 'Despite the government trying to throw up every procedural roadblock imaginable in this case, the judge has ruled that the Bush administration broke the law,' Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who is on both the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, said Thursday." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-01-10 iPad Launch (Time.com)
       "As the world prepares for the release of the iPad, the young — who may have seen the company only as the colossus behind the iMac, iPod and iPhone family of products and the iTunes and App stores that service them — might be surprised to know how hard the life of an Apple lover once was." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-05-10 Karzai Threatens to Join Taliban (CBS News)
       "Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened over the weekend to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continued to come under outside pressure to reform, several members of parliament said Monday." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-05-10 Why Karzai Is Pushing Back (Time.com)
       "But bizarre as his behavior may seem, there may be a method in Karzai's madness. For one thing, he has begun denouncing the Western powers in his country because he knows he can — Karzai would have been cut adrift some time ago if there were any other viable alternative on whom the U.S. could pin its strategy. The wily President knows that the presence of foreign forces in his country is deeply unpopular, particularly when civilians are killed in the course of NATO military operations. Karzai, moreover, is humiliated and shown to be powerless when his protestations over such operations are ignored by his Western patrons. So while he may have been installed by a U.S.-led invasion, if Karzai is to survive the departure of Western forces, he will have to reinvent himself as a national leader with an independent power base. He's obviously determined not to go the way of Mohammad Najibullah, the former Soviet-backed leader who was executed by the Taliban seven years after the Red Army withdrew. So from Karzai's point of view, he's pushing back against the U.S. not only because he can, but also because he must if he is to survive politically." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-06-10 Court Rules Against "Net Neutrality" (Techland.com)
       "Net neutrality essentially means the status quo. When you, the home internet user, currently turn on your computer and log online, you have paid an Internet service provider a certain amount of money for unrestricted access. You search what you want to search, stream whatever audio or video you wish."
       
       "Imagine a scenario in which your Internet access paralleled your access to cable television. For your basic fee, you get access to most basic web sites. But now Comcast can restrict which sites you access, and could charge a premium rate for premium access."
       
       "I, for one, think this scenario isn't just possible, but likely. Providers have been fighting for some time to create preferential pricing models, to get the more aggressive Internet users to pay more for unlimited data. And after Tuesday's decision, if I was in charge of Comcast, I'd already be devising ways to divvy up access, brainstorming how to squeeze more bucks out of more users. You want YouTube? Then order tier 2. Hulu? Tier 3? BitTorrents? Tier 4." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-06-10 U.S. Seeks Fine Against Toyota (New York Times)
       "The Transportation Department said Monday it would seek a $16.4 million fine against Toyota, the largest allowed, because the company had failed to promptly notify the government about potential problems with accelerator pedals." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-08-10 Obama Defends New Nuclear Treaty with Russia (ABC News)
       "In Prague to sign a nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia, President Obama pushed back against Republican critics, including Sarah Palin, who say that his new nuclear stance is too soft and leaves the United States vulnerable to attacks." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-10-10 Signature: Future Pope Resisted Defrocking Priest (MSNBC News)
       "The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including 'the good of the universal church,' according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-11-10 Editorial: Lessons from Kyrgyzstan (New York Times)
       "For Washington and the West there are lessons, if anyone wants to learn them. The key one is that authoritarian regimes are not only unpalatable allies; they are unreliable ones. They block all safety valves — free elections and media, democratic discourse, opposition. Change usually comes in an explosion. Dependence on them is both miserable ethics and poor strategy."
       
       "Finally, Kyrgyzstan is not the exception in Central Asia. It is the rule. The region’s other leaders resemble Bakiyev in many respects, and some are worse. All are autocrats and most are extravagantly corrupt. (And all allow their territory to be used for the resupply of allied forces in Afghanistan)." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-11-10 Editorial: Were Confederate Soldiers Terrorists or Heroes Fighting for State's Rights? (CNN News)
       "Based on the hundreds of e-mails, Facebook comments and Tweets I've read in response to my denunciation of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's decision to honor Confederates for their involvement in the Civil War -- which was based on the desire to continue slavery -- the one consistent thing that supporters of the proclamation offer up as a defense is that these individuals were fighting for what they believed in and defending their homeland."
       
       "Realskirkland sent me a Tweet saying, 'Slavery is appalling, but was not the only reason for the CW [Civil War]. Those men, while misguided on some fronts stood up for what they felt was right. They embodied that American ideal that the states have a right to govern themselves. THAT is what a confederate soldier stood for.' "Martin: "...I will never, under any circumstances, cast Confederates as heroic figures who should be honored and revered. No -- they were, and forever will be, domestic terrorists."
       
       "The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-11-10 Editorials: Successors for Justice Stevens (CNN News)
       "As if this year's political climate wasn't heated enough, the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens hands the Obama administration another difficult and high-stakes decision." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-11-10 Nuclear Terrorism a Global Security Priority (ABC News)
       "World leaders from 47 countries are descending on Washington, D.C., this week for an unprecedented summit to discuss what is arguably one of the most pressing global security questions: What can be done to prevent a nuclear weapons attack by terrorists?" 04-10
       
       
     • 04-11-10 Obama: Failure to Mention Slavery in Proclamation "Unacceptable" (CNN News)
       "Virginia's proclamation of Confederate History Month without any reference to slavery was unacceptable, President Obama said in an interview broadcast Friday."
       
       "Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, now the Democratic National Committee chairman, issued a statement Wednesday blasting the exclusion of slavery from the original proclamation."" 'A failure to acknowledge the central role of slavery in the Confederacy and deeming insignificant the reprehensible transgression of moral standards of liberty and equality that slavery represented is simply not acceptable in the America of the 21st century,' he continued." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-13-10 Consumer Reports: Lexus GX 460 SUV Unsafe (USA Today)
       "Consumer Reports is warning consumers not to buy the Lexus GX 460 SUV because it is a safety risk, the magazine editors say."
       
       "The magazine purchases all of the vehicles it tests, and ran the Lexus through four different drivers in similar situations, and each driver experienced the same thing. To confirm the test, the magazine paid to use another Lexus GX 460. It, too, had problems."
       
       "The test, called a lift-off oversteer, involves the driver taking his or her foot off the accelerator while steering through a turn. In real-world driving, drivers often do the same thing when entering exit ramps, or when driving through a large turn and encountering an obstacle, or after discovering a turn is too tight for the speed of the vehicle." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-14-10 Astronauts Decry Obama's Space Plan (CNN News)
       "The Obama administration's vision for the future of manned space flight will bump the United States to "second or even third-rate" status as a space-faring nation, the commanders of three U.S. moon missions warned Wednesday."
       
       "The letter was signed by the first and last men to walk on the moon -- Neil Armstrong from Apollo 11 and Eugene Cernan from Apollo 17 -- and James Lovell, who commanded the heroic Apollo 13 flight." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-14-10 Editorial: Other Presidents More Radical than Obama (CNN News)
       "None of the presidents are really radical in any global sense. Any all-good or all-bad analysis of American history always misses the big picture. And politics is history in the present tense."
       
       "As a country, we have become accustomed to using fear and hate in the service of hyper-partisanship. We need to wake up to the fact that demonizing people we disagree with, and indulging in attempts to delegitimize a duly elected president from Day One, hurts us all as a nation. We can do better -- and we deserve better, especially from people who want to lead the nation themselves." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-15-10 Foreclosure Rates Set New U.S. Record (Time.com)
       "A record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of this year, a sign banks are starting to wade through the backlog of troubled home loans at a faster pace, according to a new report."
       
       "RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. homes taken over by banks jumped 35 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. In addition, households facing foreclosure grew 16 percent in the same period and 7 percent from the last three months of 2009." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-15-10 GM's Pension: A Ticking Time Bomb for Taxpayers (Time.com)
       "General Motors Corp. may no longer be the world's biggest automaker, but it still operates the country's largest pension fund. The threat to its pension plans has always been an issue, butit took on a new urgency when GM disclosed April 7 that its plans were underfunded by more than $27 billion, with more than half of that being owed to U.S. workers and retirees." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-16-10 Editorial: Resurgence of Racism in Confederate Symbols (CNN News)
       "Today, Confederate history is as much about 1965 and the Voting Rights Act as it is about 1865 and Lee's surrender. The long history of the ways Confederate symbols have been used and Confederate history has been evoked to support racist violence and African- American oppression haunts Gov. McDonnell's declaration of Confederate History Month."
       
       "Confederate history cannot be separated from the issue at the center of the Civil War, slavery. But it also cannot be separated from the history of segregation, massive resistance, and the fight against the civil rights movement."
       
       "Historically, Confederate versions of the past and Confederate symbols have meant opposition to equal rights for all Americans. In officially recognizing Confederate History Month, Gov. McDonnell is asking Virginians to join together in celebration of this history of white supremacy." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-16-10 Obama Gets Cool Reception at NASA (Time.com)
       "Once elected, Obama began changing course fast. He started by sacking Michael Griffin, the fiercely focused if not always interpersonally winning NASA administrator who had pushed the program along to the point where metal was being cut on the new spacecraft and the booster Ares 1X was poised for launch. In Griffin's place, Obama picked Charlie Bolden, a former astronaut and a bit of a cipher."
       
       "In February, the President finally filled in some of the details of his plan and sent Bolden out to sell them — and the howls were immediate. Constellation would be scrapped, as would any NASA plans to design and build new boosters and spacecraft. NASA's roughly $15 billion budget would actually be increased by about $1.5 billion per year, but most of that would be invested in a vague series of projects that included developing advanced robotics, life-support hardware and flight systems like in-orbit refueling. The design and construction of the spacecraft and boosters would be turned over to private industry." 04-10
       
       
     • 04-16-10 Obama Orders Visitation Rights for Gays and Lesbians (CNN News)
       "President Obama has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a rule that would prevent hospitals from denying visitation privileges to gay and lesbian partners."
       
       "The president's Thursday memo said, 'There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. ... Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides.' "
       
       " 'Gay and lesbian Americans are 'uniquely affected' by relatives-only policies at hospitals, Obama said, adding that they 'are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated.' " 04-10
       
       
     • 05-01-10 Machines and Microbes Will Clean Up Oil (CNN News)
       "There's no way to stop oily water from reaching land along the Gulf Coast, but experts will use tools both massive and microscopic to clean it up." 05-10
       
       
     • 05-06-10 Newsweek Folds as Weeklies Fade (New York Times)
       "For generations, Time and Newsweek fought to define the national news agenda every Monday on the newsstand. Before the Internet, before cable news, before People magazine, what the newsweeklies put on their covers mattered."
       
       "But Mr. Meacham said that national coherence was still a worthwhile goal."
       
       " 'I would argue the fragmentation in media makes a place like Newsweek even more important,' Mr. Meacham said. 'There are not that many common denominators left.' " 05-10
       
       
     • 10-04-10 Obama and the Current Middle East Crisis (Time.com)
       "The Administration appears to have overestimated what can be achieved by having the two sides in the same room, given the obvious gulf between their expectations and bottom lines. The Palestinians had to be strong-armed into showing up at all, believing that Netanyahu's refusal to implement the complete settlement freeze demanded last year by the Obama Administration simply confirmed their suspicion that he has no intention of concluding a credible peace deal. Netanyahu is happy to talk, but on his own terms, and is under no domestic political pressure to cut a deal with the Palestinians. Rather than generating momentum toward a self-sustaining process, the current talks appear to see both sides going through the motions in order to strengthen their case in their own negotiations with Washington. And over the past decade, that's a negotiation in which the Israelis have fared far better than the Palestinians." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-06-10 Experts: Lessons From Oil Spill Not Learned (CBS News)
       "Oil industry and government officials could get caught flat-footed again by another deep-water blowout in the coming months because they have yet to incorporate many of the lessons learned during the BP disaster, experts inside and outside the business tell The Associated Press." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-12-10 Wall Street Set to Give Employees Record High Pay (MSNBC News)
       "Wall Street pay is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, according to a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal."
       
       "Some three dozen top banks and securities firms will pay $144 billion in salary and benefits this year, the paper said. That’s a 4 percent increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to a survey conducted by the Journal. Compensation is expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms surveyed, including banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-14-10 Most College Graduates Are Moving Back Home (CNN News)
       " 'This recession has hit young adults particularly hard' according to Rich Morin, senior editor at the Pew Research Center in DC."
       
       "So hard that a whopping 85% of college seniors planned to move back home with their parents after graduation last May, according to a poll by Twentysomething Inc., a marketing and research firm based in Philadelphia. That rate has steadily risen from 67% in 2006." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-19-10 Officials Push for Stronger Ability to Wiretap (New York Times)
       "Law enforcement and counterterrorism officials, citing lapses in compliance with surveillance orders, are pushing to overhaul a federal law that requires phone and broadband carriers to ensure that their networks can be wiretapped, federal officials say."
       
       "The officials say tougher legislation is needed because some telecommunications companies in recent years have begun new services and made system upgrades that caused technical problems for surveillance. They want to increase legal incentives and penalties aimed at pushing carriers like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast to ensure that any network changes will not disrupt their ability to conduct wiretaps." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-26-10 Afghan President Getting Payments from Iran (New York Times)
       "President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday that he regularly receives bags of cash from the Iranian government in payments amounting to millions of dollars, as evidence mounted of a worsening rift between his government and its American and NATO supporters." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-26-10 The Corruption Index (Time.com)
       "The data for the list comes from a variety of assessments and business opinion surveys that are compiled and measured by several institutions. The CPI defines corruption as "the abuse of entrusted power for private gain" in both the public and private sectors. On the list's scale, a 10 is considered very clean, while 0 is considered highly corrupt."
       
       "Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore all tied for first place, scoring 9.3 with Sweden and Finland coming behind them at 9.2 with Canada, the Netherlands and Australia all in the high 8's. However, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia have some serious mopping to do, at the very least, with each of them scoring 1.5 or below." 10-10
       
       
     • 10-27-10 Estimates of Alaska's Oil Reserves Lowered by 90 Percent (CNN News)
       "The U.S. Geological Survey says a revised estimate for the amount of conventional, undiscovered oil in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is a fraction of a previous estimate."
       
       "The group estimates about 896 million barrels of such oil are in the reserve, about 90 percent less than a 2002 estimate of 10.6 billion barrels."
       
       
     • 10-31-10 Rally to Restore Sanity (HuffingtonPost.com)
       "In the shadow of the Capitol and the election, comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert entertained a huge throng Saturday at a 'sanity' rally poking fun at the nation's ill-tempered politics, its fear-mongers and doomsayers. 'We live now in hard times,' Stewart said after all the shtick. 'Not end times.' " 10-10
       
       
     • 10-31-10 Stewart and Colbert Fans "Serve Us Sanity, Not Tea (CNN News)
       "Stewart and Colbert's skewering of the media, Democrats and Republicans has been lauded as a great way to appeal to a large segment of the population, especially young voters, frustrated by politicians and the murky political process that takes place in Congress." 10-10
       
       
     • 11-18-10 Secret Transfer of Nuclear Materials (McClatchydc.com)
       "Working under extraordinary secrecy, the U.S. and Kazakh governments in the past year have moved nuclear material that could have been used to make more than 770 bombs from a location feared vulnerable to terrorist attack to a new high-security facility." 11-10
       
       
     • Financial Reform Bill Passes (CNN News)
       "President Obama will sign into law Wednesday the Wall Street reform bill -- the most-sweeping set of changes to America's financial regulatory system since the 1930s."
       
       "The bill aims to strengthen consumer protection, rein in complex financial products and head off more bank bailouts." 07-10
       
       
     • Hawking: Abandon Earth or Face Extinction (BigThink.com)
       "Stephen Hawking: I believe that the long term future of the human race must be in space. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load." 08-10
       
       
     • Obama Announces Climate Deal (New York Times)
       "President Obama announced here [Copenhagen] on Friday night that five major nations, including the United States, had together forged a climate deal. He called it 'an unprecedented breakthrough' but acknowledged that it still fell short of what was required to combat global warming."
       
       "The accord provides a system for monitoring and reporting progress toward those national pollution-reduction goals, a compromise on an issue over which China bargained hard. It calls for hundreds of billions of dollars to flow from wealthy nations to those countries most vulnerable to a changing climate. And it sets a goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050, implying deep cuts in climate-altering emissions over the next four decades."
       
       "Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, a Sudanese diplomat who has been representing the Group of 77 developing countries, denounced the accord."
       
       " 'The developed countries have decided that damage to developing countries is acceptable,' he told reporters, saying that the 2-degree target would 'result in massive devastation to Africa and small island states.' He and many other representatives of the most vulnerable countries wanted a target of 1.5 degrees."
       
       Editor's Note: The likely and irreversible climate changes that a 2 degree increase may bring are gigantic: Loss of Arctic ice in summers (triggering more warming via the oceans), loss of a large portion of Asia's freshwater from glaciers, melting of permafrost in Russia and elsewhere (releasing enormous amounts of CO2 and methane), slowing or stopping of global ocean currents (increasing temperature extremes), and cascading consequences from each of these individual events taken together.
       
       We can no longer reverse the overall amount of CO2 in the air by just using solar and wind energy or improving energy efficiency; with such methods alone, the climate will continue to warm because 8 times more CO2 enters the air from decaying biomass than from human activity. It is the combination of decaying biomass plus human activity that has increased the CO2 by 3 percent per year. We can, however, reverse the total CO2 in the air by pyrolyzing organic waste (biomass). 12-09
       
       
     • Oil Cleanup Effort (ABC News)
       "More than 30 million gallons of oily water have been removed from the surface, and another 10 million-plus gallons have been burned. More than 1.8 million gallons of dispersants have been dropped, and the Coast Guard estimates that with every gallon of chemicals used, up to 20 gallons of oil may be disseminated." 07-10
       
       
     • Oil-Eating Microbes for Cleaning Oil Along the Coast (CNN News)
       Osprey Biotechnics claims microbes can clean oil along the shoreline. In Alaska, with nitrogen and phosphorous as nutrients, microbes were used to help clean oil along the shoreline. 07-10
       
       
     • One Million Gmail Phone Calls on the First Day (CNN.com)
       "For comparison, there are somewhat more than 300 million people in the United States. If the average person makes 10 calls per day--research in 2008 put the number at 208 calls per month--that means about one out of every 3,000 calls in the U.S. went through the service on its first day." 08-10
       
       
     • Researchers Double Estimate of Oil Spewing into Gulf (CNN News)
       "Researchers have doubled estimates of how much oil has been spewing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, reporting Thursday that up to 40,000 barrels (1.7 million gallons) a day may have escaped for weeks." 06-10
       
       

Papers

1. -04-20-10 Height, Dorothy Dies (CNN News)
   "President Obama called her a hero and the 'godmother' of the movement, noting she 'served as the only woman at the highest level of the civil rights movement -- witnessing every march and milestone along the way.' " 04-10
   
   
2. -07-03-10 Giant Oil Skimmer Being Tested (Time.com)
   "A converted tanker billed as the world's largest oil skimmer is being tested in the Gulf of Mexico, where officials hope it will scrub millions of gallons of oil-tainted seawater."
   
   "Officials want to verify the ship can make good on its promise of sucking up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day." 07-10
   
   
3. -07-03-10 Serena Williams Wins Wimbledon, 13th Grand Slam (USA Today)
   "Serena, who has won five of the last eight Grand Slams, moved ahead of Billie Jean King into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time list of women's Grand Slam champions with 13, the most of any active woman player. Williams also has five Australian Opens, three U.S. Opens and one French Open." 07-10
   
   
4. -A Massive Transfer of Power to the Treasury Department (Time.com)
   "To put the bailout plan, [sic] in some kind of perspective, Paulson would rule over a pile of assets that exceeds the annual Pentagon budget of $507 billion by nearly 50 percent. For at least the next year, and perhaps for years after, Treasury's spending authority will make it harder for the next President to fulfill campaign promises and pump money into new priorities." 09-08
   
   
5. -Editorial: A Lesson from Gainsville (CNN News)
   "In a city [Gainsville] where there's really no longer a place for the kind of religious intolerance promoted by Jones' shrinking congregation, which has fewer than 50 members and whose website recently decried Gainesville's prevailing credo of 'coexistence,' Jones is simply lashing out for attention in the only way delusional bigots know how."
   
   "But what's most ironic is that a big impetus for Jones' publicity stunt is the anti-Islamic feelings emanating from New York City — whose residents, we heartland philistines are told, are the nation's most enlightened, but whose majority opposition to a mosque near Ground Zero has only encouraged Islamophobes like Jones and, in the process, tainted the image of a Florida town that seems to deserve it least." 09-10
   
   
6. -Editorial: Big Changes in the Republican Party (CNN News)
   "In the two ultimate media states where television is king, Florida and California, the billionaire and almost- billionaire ex-business leaders have beaten the establishment politicians by pouring unlimited resources into television commercials. Whether they can win in November against establishment politicians will be a real test." 08-10
   
   
7. -Editorial: Economic Summit Fell Short (New York Times)
   "In normal times we don’t expect a lot from summit meetings. But with the global economy imploding, leaders at Thursday’s meeting of the world’s top 20 economic powers had an urgent responsibility to come up with concrete policies to fix the global financial system and restore growth. They fell short."
   
   "Where they fell dangerously short was their refusal to commit to spend the hundreds of billions of dollars in additional fiscal stimulus that the world economy needs to pull out of its frighteningly steep dive. With consumer spending and business investment collapsing around the world, rich countries are the only ones that have the resources to do what is needed." 04-09
   
   
8. -Editorial: Why the Car Companies Are in Trouble (New York Times - Thomas Friedman)
   "How could these companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it. It led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, G.M. threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas guzzlers." 11-08
   
   
9. -Five Differences Between House and Senate Health Care Reform Bills (Time.com)
   "With the passage of sweeping reform legislation on a rare Christmas Eve session of the Senate, the long debate over health care reform has now reached its final stage. But as much as Senate Democrats and the White House will celebrate their historic achievement this holiday season, they still have genuine obstacles to overcome before they can get a bill to President Obama's desk in the New Year." 12-09
   
   
10. -Four Lessons From Flight 253 (Time.com)
    "Not until Northwest Flight 253 was beginning its final descent into Detroit, at about 11:40 Christmas morning, did a handful of passengers step in to do what all the early-warning systems and security personnel could not: stop a terrorist trying to detonate a bomb on a plane on the quietest morning of the year."
    
    "It turns out that Washington's way of ranking likely terrorists, which was overhauled after Sept. 11, still resembles a Rube Goldberg contraption. There are four different U.S. terrorism databases, and yet Abdulmutallab's name never rose above the least threatening one." 01-10
    
    
11. -Health Care and Retirement (Time.com)
    "One of the most underestimated costs in retirement is health care, and for good reason. The figures can be staggering. A healthy 65-year-old couple should plan on $305,000 in out-of-pocket health costs during their retirement, according to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute." 01-10
    
    
12. -Is Obama a Socialist? (Christian Science Monitor)
    "The assertion is getting louder: President Obama is a socialist, a wealth-redistributing wolf in Democrat's clothing gnawing at America's entrepreneurial spirit."
    
    "So, is Mr. Obama trying to form The Socialist Republic of America? Or are the accusations mainly a political weapon, meant to stick Obama with a label that is poison to many voters and thus make him a one-term president?" 07-10
    
    
13. -Marines End Role in Iraq (CBS News)
    "The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan." 01-10
    
    
14. -Primaries: Key Elections and Dates (CNN News)
    Provides a map with election dates and locations. 06-10
    
    
15. -Study: Preventing H1N1 From Spreading(U.S. News)
    "Perhaps I should take a hint from a coworker who yesterday forwarded me a study showing that H1N1, the virus that causes swine flu, remains contagious long after those first few can't-get-out-of-bed days."
    
    "The study, published last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that H1N1 is most contagious within the first three days after symptoms appear but that infected individuals could still spread the disease after a week."
    
    "Bottom line: If you've got flulike symptoms, do your best to avoid close contact with others for several days or even a week. Skip family gatherings, especially if you know that certain high-risk individuals may be present: kids younger than 5 years old; seniors over 65; pregnant women; and those with asthma, diabetes, impaired immunity, or heart or lung conditions. While the CDC no longer recommends that we stay home from work or school until all our symptoms are gone, the agency does still have this recommendation in place for healthcare workers or those visiting relatives in the hospital." 10-09
    
    
16. -Tracking the Gulf Oil Spill (New York Times)
    Provides a map. 06-10
    
    
17. -Unsustainable Deficit Is Projected (USA Today)
    "President Obama's budget would generate unsustainably large deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to new estimates released Friday."
    
    "The dismal deficit figures, if they prove to be accurate, inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends or else pare back his agenda." 03-09
    
    
18. Bernanke: Job Outlook Grim (CNN News)
    " 'At the rate we're going, it could be four, five years before we are back to a more normal unemployment rate,' Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday night." 12-10
    
    
19. Bubble of Methane Caused Oil Rig Explosion (Time.com)
    "The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers conducted during BP's internal investigation." 05-10
    
    
20. Congress Passes Bill for 9/11 Responders (Time.com)
    "After a last-minute compromise, Congress passed legislation Wednesday to provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors of the September 2001 terrorism attack on the World Trade Center and responders who became ill working in its ruins." 12-10
    
    
21. Credit Card Traps (PBS.org)
    "Every credit card for a credit card company is like a lottery ticket. They're just waiting to see who's going to maybe stumble a little. Maybe get into trouble on a car loan. Maybe nothing at all except they just look vulnerable. They're just in the right zip code. They're just the right profile for people who won't be able to run any place else. And those are the ones you slam. Those are the ones you hit with the 29 percent interest rate, the 35 percent interest rate, the new fees. And then, because of course if you can't pay it, then you get hit with a fee for not paying or for paying late, for going over limit. And the game is afoot. With any luck at all from the credit card company's perspective, these people will become little annuities that will just keep generating profits for the credit card companies for months, for years, maybe forever." 12-08
    
    
22. Editorial: Imam Describes Reasons for Islamic Center in New York City (CNN News)
    "The Imam behind the Islamic community center to be built 2 blocks from 'ground zero' gives his reasoning for not moving the location. Opposition surfaced a year after the plans were reported on the front page of the New York Times." 09-10
    
    
23. FCC Passes Ruling to Protect Net Neutrality (Techland.com)
    "In the first act of US Internet access regulation, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to pass the first net neutrality laws. The measure will make sure that home internet users will be able to access any legal Web material, with some regulations set in place to protect people browsing the Internet on their mobile phones. The legislation was introduced over a year ago by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The two opposing votes came from the Republican members of the committee, who said that they felt the measures were unnecessary." 12-10
    
    
24. Obama Signs "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal (Time.com)
    "Declaring that members of the military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services." 12-10
    
    
25. President Signs New Tax-Cut Bill (MSNBC News)
    "President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from tax cuts for millionaires and the middle class to longer-term help for the jobless." 12-10
    
    
26. Senate Approves Start Nuclear Treaty With Russia (CNN News)
    "The Senate voted Wednesday to approve the new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia -- a major foreign policy victory for the Obama administration near the end of the lame-duck session of Congress." 12-10
    
    
27. Siberian Methane Leaks Offer a Potential Threat (USA Today)
    "Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground has begun thawing more rapidly, accelerating the release of methane — a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — at a perilous rate."
    
    "Katey Walter Anthony, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been measuring methane seeps in Arctic lakes in Alaska, Canada and Russia, starting here around Chersky 10 years ago."
    
    "More than 50 billion tons could be unleashed from Siberian lakes alone, more than 10 times the amount now in the atmosphere, she said."
    
    "But the rate of defrosting is hard to assess with the data at hand."
    
    "The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its 2010 Arctic Report Card issued last month, said the average temperature of the permafrost has been rising for decades, but noted 'a significant acceleration' in the last five years at many spots on the Arctic coast." 11-10
    
    
28. Study: Microbes Dispersed Surprising Amounts of Oil in Gulf Spill (CNN News)
    "A new study finds oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from a ruptured BP well degraded at a rate that was 'much faster than anticipated,' thanks to the interaction of a newly-found and unclassified species of microbes with the oil particles." 08-10
    
    
29. Tax Deal Will Trim Payroll Taxes (New York Times)
    "President Obama closed in on a deal with Congressional Republicans on Monday to extend the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels for two years as part of a package that would extend jobless aid for long-term unemployed, cut payroll taxes for all workers for a year and take other steps to bolster the economy, an administration official said."
    
    " 'Make no mistake, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family and that could cost our economy well over a million jobs,' Mr. Obama said at the White House."
    
    "The payroll tax cut would put about $120 billion back in the pockets of workers and the unemployment benefits would cost about $60 billion, officials said. Continuing the lowered tax rates for the highest-earners, by contrast, would cost the government $700 billion in lost revenue over the next 10 years, according to budget analysts." 12-10
    
    
30. The Debate Over the Islamic Center in New York City (CBS News)
    "Of course the national argument isn't about measuring the length of two city blocks - it's about the distance between perceptions. If you believe Islam is a moral religion hijacked by terrorists, proximity doesn't matter."
    
    "If you believe Islam condones 9/11, this is too close."
    
    "One thing most people don't know is that the prayer space part of the project already exists. Hundreds of Muslims have been worshiping in the abandoned building for more than a year, ever since a nearby mosque lost its lease. The mosque near Ground Zero is a fact. The only question is whether the community center will go ahead." 09-10
    
    
31. The Road to Adulthood Getting Longer (New York Times)
    "Baby boomers have long been considered the generation that did not want to grow up, perpetual adolescents even as they become eligible for Social Security. Now, a growing body of research shows that the real Peter Pans are not the boomers, but the generations that have followed. For many, by choice or circumstance, independence no longer begins at 21." 06-10
    
    
32. Time's 10 Worst Bosses (Time.com)
    "On Oct. 16, America celebrated National Boss Day. In honor of this under-the-radar holiday, TIME takes a look at some of the nation's most egregiously bad chief execs." 10-10
    
    
33. Time's 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century (Time.com)
    "TIME surveys the 25 women of the last one hundred years who have most influenced our world." 11-10
    
    
34. Time's 50 Best Inventions of 2010 (Time.com)
    "Here are the year's biggest (and coolest) breakthroughs in science, technology and the arts." 11-10
    
    
35. Tracking Stimulus Spending (CNN News)
    "The $862 billion economic stimulus package 'was never intended to save every job,' Obama said on Wednesday at the White House marking the anniversary of his signing the bill. 'Businesses are the true engine of growth (and) always will be. But during a recession ... what government can do is provide a temporary boost.' " 03-10
    
    
36. U.S. Spent Tiny Fraction of Foreclosure Prevention Program (MSNBC News)
    "When the Obama administration launched its flagship foreclosure prevention program in early 2009, it pledged to spend up to $50 billion helping struggling homeowners. But the government has so far only spent a tiny fraction of that." 11-10
    
    

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