Soapbox Road Show

NPR:Money To Run, But No Skills To Hide.

2009-05-25T10:04:00.001-07:00

"Executive fugitives" are leaders of industry and finance toppled by the economic crisis and, often, their own greed. Facing financial ruin and even worse; prison, they decide to make a run for it. But these days, officials say, life on the run isn't that easy, even with a suitcase full of cash.

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Stalemate in Afghanistan??

2009-05-25T07:34:00.001-07:00

The inability of the Marines to dominate the area is an extreme example of how limited troop numbers, especially in the country’s strategically vital south, have hampered the U.S. ability to eradicate the Taliban threat. The U.S. and NATO-led coalition has easily defeated the Taliban in battle, but struggled to prevent insurgents returning

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Wealth:Only Mexico & Russia More Unequal Than America.

2009-05-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

The wealthy are also feeling the pinch of the global recession. The extremes of wealth in the US & Britain had reached level not seen since the 1920's.The gains from recent economic growth flowed disproportionately to the wealthy.The top 10% earners received the vast majority of the growth of 1996-2005.It is not sustainable in the long run....

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MBA's Gone Bad; a Year of Infamy

2009-05-23T06:19:00.001-07:00

An unraveling economy is bound to generate its share of failures. But this one has generated an odd sort of culling of the herd. Instead of taking down the low-hanging fruit—executives with no business training -the current economic crisis has claimed as casualties some highly trained business practitioners who ought to know better: MBAs.

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Insurance Companies Are Already Screwing Obama on Health Car

2009-05-20T12:46:00.001-07:00

One week after the nation's health insurance lobby pledged to President Obama to do what it can to constrain rising health costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is putting the finishing touches on a public message campaign aimed at killing a key plank in Obama's reform platform.

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Homeless:Down And Out in America in Photographs.

2009-05-17T10:28:00.001-07:00

Homelessness & extreme poverty is one of the biggest scandal in America's society. The numbers are truly incredible, and the recession will only make the problem worse. In Los Angeles (America's capital of homelessness) the current estimate is 80,000. In New-Orleans post Katrina 12,000. The photographs were taken between 1983 & 2008.

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Power In America: Wealth, Income & Power.

2009-05-13T06:44:00.001-07:00

This document presents details on wealth & income distribution in the US, and explains how they are power indicators.In 2004 the top 1 % had 42% of the financial wealth, the bottom 80% had 7 % of it. From 1990 to 2005 CEO's pay increased 300% while workers gained a scant 4.3 %. A society based on a system with such inequalities is not sustainable.

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California running out of water for farming; growing popula

2009-05-12T07:25:00.001-07:00

Drought, Politics Trouble Farmers In California : NPR; California is in its third year of drought, and many farmers in the state's crop-rich Central Valley are looking at dusty fields or cutting down their orchards.. Hardest hit is Westlands, the biggest irrigated region in the country, where much of the nation's fruit, nuts and produce

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NPR: Can Democracy survive without newspapers, journalists?

2009-05-10T08:22:00.001-07:00

Mourning Newspapers, Journalism, DemocracyWeekend Edition Essayist Diane Roberts worries about the decline of the newspaper industry and what that means for democracy.

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Sell Fuel Efficient Cars Act of 2008" introduced in Senate

2009-05-08T11:55:00.001-07:00

A bill was introduced in the Senate earlier this month that seeks to offer a $10,000 incentive for low-income families to trade in their old cars for newer, more fuel efficient models. First, a few details: eligible individuals are those who earn less than $25K per year. Autos must be rated at 25 miles per gallon plus and are 4.9 mpg better than th

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The Climate Debate Heats Up - NY Times

2009-05-08T11:37:00.001-07:00

A stalled clean energy bill needs to be revised, and quickly, if there is a chance for comprehensive climate change legislation to be passed by this Congress.The heart of the bill is a provision to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by midcentury — cuts scientists say are necessary to avert the worst cons

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BofA and Citi Need Capital as Stress Tests Results Loom.

2009-05-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

By Karey Wutkowski and Jonathan Stempel WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators have told Bank of America Corp it needs $34 billion of capital to withstand a deep economic downturn, an industry source familiar with results of a government stress...

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The Wide Divide (Graph of CEO pay vs Average Worker)

2009-05-07T10:02:00.001-07:00

Picture speaks for itself.

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25 Men Behind the Financial Crisis

2009-04-30T13:34:00.001-07:00

No single person orchestrated, coordinated, and managed the financial disaster, but there are key players involved. For the purposes of this list, a "man behind the crisis" is someone in a position of power during the crisis who helped form, perpetuate, or aggravate it.

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Bank of America's corporate jet

2009-04-29T09:19:00.001-07:00

Robert Greenwald: Fire Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis

2009-04-29T09:10:00.003-07:00

The economic crisis is out of control, as Bank of America and the corrupt corporate elite continue to wage class warfare. It's time we hit back hard. It's time we fire CEO Ken Lewis.

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Revolt & Bonuses/ B of A shareholders want Lewis out

2009-04-29T09:10:00.001-07:00

Bank of America shareholders meet today in Charlotte, N.C., and this year, angry shareholders are mobilizing to remove three members of the bank's board, including CEO Ken Lewis. Julie Rose reports.

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Money for Nothing

2009-04-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

It’s necessary to rescue Wall Street to protect the economy, but financial firms should be acting like public utilities, not returning to the practices and paychecks of 2007.

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Wall Street Salary Caps Drive Away Assholes - Borowitz Repor

2009-04-26T12:44:00.001-07:00

Experts Warn of ‘Douchebag Drain'

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Pelosi: 75% Of American's Want Investigation into Wallstreet

2009-04-26T09:06:00.001-07:00

"At least 75% of the American people want an investigation as to what happened on Wallstreet. I'm not saying a criminal investigation, they just want to know. In order for us to make the right decisions going forward, we need to know what happened to get us here."

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Wiretap Recorded Rep Harman Promising to Intervene For AIPAC

2009-04-24T06:40:00.001-07:00

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

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U.S. Soldier Killed Herself -- After Refusing Torture Duty

2009-04-24T06:20:00.001-07:00

Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native, served with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a "non-hostile weapons discharge."

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Jim Webb Says Drug Legalization is "On the Table"

2009-04-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table. Sen. Jim Webb, who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug legalization

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Bush Officials Tried to Shift Bame for Abuse to Low Ranking

2009-04-22T17:29:00.001-07:00

New Senate Report:Senior administration officials attempted to shift the blame for abuse to low ranking soldiers. Claims, such as that made by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that detainee abuses could be chalked up to the unauthorized acts of a "few bad apples," were simply false

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MADDOW EXCLUSIVE: Fmr. Bush official blasts torture memos

2009-04-22T17:28:00.001-07:00

Philip Zelikow, former legal counsel to Condoleeza Rice and executive director of the 9/11 Commission, tells Rachel Maddow why he believes the Bush administration’s torture policy was illegal and reveals the legal advice he gave at the time to try and stop torture:

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