SPB News for Tuesday

Right-Wing's Latest Call To Arms: Boycott 'Government' Motors

Court Rejects DADT Challenge, Following Obama Request

Credit card delinquency rising

Billionaire tax cheat: UBS recruited wealthy for tax shelters

Religious leaders to lobby Obama for torture probe

Clinton orders review of State Department security — CNN State Department Producer — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday she has ordered a review of security and vetting procedures that let a State Department employee suspected of spying for Cuba slip through the cracks.

Arabia urges US to withhold Israel aid Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has urged Barack Obama, the US president, to follow up his speech to the Muslim world with tangible action, including applying stronger pressure on Israel to accept a viable Palestinian state. "The United States has the means to persuade the Israelis to work for a peaceful settlement," Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, said in an interview with Newsweek, a US magazine. Asked if the US should withhold aid to Israel, Prince Saud said: "Why not? If you give aid to someone and they indiscriminately occupy other people’s lands, you bear some responsibility."

Bound, blindfolded and beaten -- by Israeli troops --Children among Palestinian detainees abused during West Bank operation, according to soldiers' confessions Two Israeli officers have testified that troops in the West Bank beat, bound and blindfolded Palestinian civilians as young as 14. The damaging disclosures by two sergeants of the Kfir Brigade include descriptions of abuses they say they witnessed during a search-and-detain operation involving hundreds of troops in Hares village on 26 March. The testimonies have been seen by The Independent and are expected to add fuel to the controversy over recent remarks by Colonel Itai Virob, commander of Kfir Brigade, in which he said violence against detained Palestinians was justified in order to accomplish missions.

Panel finds lax oversight of wartime contracting --Wartime Contracting Commission presents bleak assessment of how taxpayer dollars have been spent since 2001 The Defense Department has failed to provide adequate oversight over tens of billions of dollars in contracts to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, says a new report by an independent commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending. U.S. reliance on private sector employees has grown to "unprecedented proportions," yet the government has no central database of who all these contractors are, what they do or how much they're paid, the bipartisan commission found.

Oregon soldiers sue KBR for exposure to cancer-causing chemical in Iraq Five current and former Oregon Army National Guard soldiers filed suit Monday against a war contractor that they say knowingly exposed them to a cancer-causing chemical in Iraq. The suit alleges that managers from Kellogg, Brown & Root, or KBR, of Houston, knew before the Oregon Guard arrived at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in May, 2003, that the site was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic and long identified carcinogen.

600,000 Seniors About to Lose Their Homes More than 600,000 seniors are delinquent in their mortgage payments or already in foreclosure, USA Today reports. Unlike younger people, many are on fixed incomes and lack the money or job opportunities to catch up on payments when they fall behind.

Palin hits NYC, joins Rudy at Yankees game

U.S. says TARP issue out of Court's reach — The Obama Administration argued Monday that no court, including the Supreme Court, has the authority to hear a challenge by Indiana benefit plans to the role the U.S. Treasury played in the Chrysler rescue, including the use of “bailout” (TARP) funds.

Lieberman, Graham Seek To Block Torture Photos At All Costs

Hastert's son announces run for Congress, wants to be part of ‘next generation of leadership’ — ELBURN - Ethan Hastert has announced he'll run for his father's old seat in Congress. — Hastert, 31, said Monday that he's forming a committee to begin his campaign and fundraising for the 14th District Congressional seat.