Monday, October 27, 2008

SPB News for Monday.



Hunt for Iraqi targets spills over the border; US blames Damascus.


Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street --Civil rights campaigners say images must not be added to databases Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street. The new technology for Project Midas, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months.

So When Will Banks Give Loans? By Joe Nocera It is starting to appear as if one of Treasury’s key rationales for the recapitalization program -- namely, that it will cause banks to start lending again -- is a fig leaf, Treasury's version of the weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Treasury wants banks to acquire each other and is using its power to inject capital to force a new and wrenching round of bank consolidation... Mr. [Mark] Landler’s story noted that Treasury would even funnel some of the bailout money to help banks buy other banks. And, in an almost unnoticed move, it recently put in place a new tax break, worth billions to the banking industry, that has only one purpose: to encourage bank mergers... Late Thursday afternoon, I caught up with Senator Dodd, and asked him what he was going to do if the loan situation didn’t improve: "If it turns out that they are hoarding, you’ll have a revolution on your hands. People will be so livid and furious that their tax money is going to line their pockets instead of doing the right thing. There will be hell to pay."

Administration to Bypass Reporting Law The Bush regime has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security. The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress "without any prior comment or amendment" by superiors at the department or the White House. But newly disclosed documents show that the Justice Department issued a legal opinion last January questioning the basis for that restriction, and that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, later advised Congress that the administration would not "apply this provision strictly" because it infringed on the president's [sic] powers. Several members of Congress reacted with outrage to the administration’s claim, which was detailed in a memorandum posted this week on the Web site of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the move "unconstitutional."

Deal on American presence in Iraq close to collapse Senior Iraqi politicians have warned that a crucial deal between Baghdad and Washington governing the presence of American troops in the country is doomed to failure after eight months of talks. "The Sofa [Status of Forces Agreement] is dead in the water," said one Iraqi politician close to the talks. He added that Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, believed that signing it would be "political suicide". The collapse of the deal would severely undermine American policy.

Pentagon Finds KBR Violated Its Contract on Electrical Work in Iraq The Pentagon has rebuked its largest contractor in Iraq after a series of inspections uncovered shoddy electrical work and other problems on American military bases there, according to several Defense Department officials. The Defense Contract Management Agency, the Pentagon agency in charge of supervising contractors in Iraq, determined in August that KBR, the Houston-based company that provides virtually all basic services for the American military in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has been guilty of "serious contractual noncompliance" in Iraq, the officials said. At least 18 people have died from electrocution since the March 2003 invasion, including 10 from the Army, 5 from the Marine Corps, 1 from the Navy and 2 military contractors.

PIT BULL TURNS ON MCMAVERICK — NOW PALIN'S BUCKING HER OWN TICKET — By CARL CAMPANILE in Mesilla, NM, and GINGER ADAMS OTIS in NY — Sarah Palin is the rogue elephant in the GOP war room. — The maverick mom is distancing herself from John McCain and blowing off the advice …
Campaign trail for Monday.
McCain-Palin team
Obama-Palin team
10/27 Barack in Canton, OH (LIVE) @ 12:30pm EST
10/27 Barack in Pittsburgh, PA (LIVE) @ 5pm EST
10/27 Michelle in Las Vegas, NV @ 12am EST
10/27 Joe in Greenville, NC @ 10am EST
10/27 Joe in Greensboro, NC (LIVE) @ 2:15pm EST
10/27 Joe in New Port Richey, FL (LIVE) @ 7:30pm EST
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