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

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

The Meltdown Continues

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

No Escape: Thaw Gains Momentum

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

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

clipped from www.nytimes.com Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.

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

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

The Government Bailout: 10% Used to Pay Bonuses

clipped from www.blackvoices.com AOL Money & Finance is also reporting that $70 billion dollars of the bailout package can be expected to be paid to Wall Street executives in bonuses this year -- after they screwed up our economy? In addition, a former Goldman Sachs executive, 35 year-old Neel Kashkari, has received the Treasury Department job of doling out our tax payer money to "needy" Wall Street firms.

Home Prices in Record Decline

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

Cuomo Investigates Bonuses at Banking Companies

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

Reverse Socialism

Over $60,000,000,000 in bonuses to rich bankers from the Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP).

clipped from www.foxbusiness.com