What did happen on October 11, 2010 was the fact that the COLA freeze for 58 million people was announced. And because of how the congress has chosen to measure the supposed cost of living: they found that for the last two years there has been NO INCREASE in those costs. However despite this, the congress did vote themselves a COLA in the senate of $5,300 and in the House it was $ 4,700. Clearly Congress felt they owed themselves a cost of living increase while the 58 million Social Security recipients were denied any increase at all.
...the recent involuntary sudden departures of the White House chief of staff and national security adviser, along with what WMR can confirm from multiple sources is a president who is suffering from Nixonian levels of paranoia, depression, and schizophrenia, has some top-level administration officials considering the first-ever invocation of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment — the involuntary removal of the president from office. The White House meltdown has the Washington political circuit buzzing under the surface.
Cancer is a man-made disease fuelled by the excesses of modern life, a study of ancient remains has found. Tumours were rare until recent times when pollution and poor diet became issues, the review of mummies, fossils and classical literature found.
The rule of law - a critical element of good governance – thrives best in Sweden, the Netherlands and in several other wealthy nations but is sorely lacking in Pakistan, Kenya, and Liberia, among other poor countries, according to a major new index released here Thursday by the World Justice Project (WPJ).
Ben Bernanke's speech on Friday in Boston could turn out to be a real barnburner. In fact, there's a good chance the Fed chairman will announce changes in policy that will stun Wall Street and send tremors through Capital Hill. Along with another trillion or so in quantitative easing, Bernanke is likely to appeal to congress for a second round of fiscal stimulus, this time in the form of a two-year suspension of the payroll tax. That's what he figures it will take to jump-start spending and rev-up the flagging economy. It could be an extraordinary intervention.
In something of a post-democratic, "Mad Max" scenario, United States troops are being trained on how to handle rioting Americans in case the nation collapses into anarchy. This change in troop protocol is being brought out in response to riots and civil unrest that are happening in Europe. It isn't too far off to think the United States will soon become an iron fist, martial law police state catering to the elite. As for those who are being policed and bossed around, well, that's their problem.
You could easily miss the thin, gravel road that leads to Al Arakib, a Bedouin village in the north Negev. It is a bit ironic, given the enormity of the struggle there and its deep implications for the Jewish state. Israeli forces have razed the village five times since late July, sparking cries of ethnic cleansing and leaving more than 300 Bedouin homeless. But the equally determined residents, along with a handful of Jewish activists, continue to rebuild. The government claims that Al Arakib was abandoned and, as such, belongs to the state. Israel calls the Bedouin squatters who "infiltrate" the area and settle it illegally. According to the state, these people must be removed to make way for a forest to be planted by the Jewish National Fund.
While governor hopefuls Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman debated on Tuesday night in San Rafael, the Green Party candidate for governor was being arrested outside the hall. Police charged Laura Wells with trespassing after she tried to get into the debate that she was not allowed to participate in.
A large force of Israeli police and special forces supported by armoured bulldozers, machinery and trucks have demolished a Palestinian village for the sixth time. The Israelis entered Al-Arakib in the Negev region (part of Palestine occupied in 1948), on the morning of 13 October. Local sources said that the occupation forces imposed a tight cordon around the village, setting up checkpoints at its entrances; people, including media representatives, were prevented from entering or leaving the village. The same sources said that clashes took place between the Israel occupation authority's forces and the villagers. Israeli police arrested a number of residents along with activists who were trying to stop the demolitions.
Speaking out a year ago against the idea of holding civilian trials for terrorism suspects, Liz Cheney captured the paranoid arrogance of the past decade with stunning efficiency: “This demonstrates conclusively that we are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” she said. Oh the horror! Fair trials, rule of law, habeas corpus, Miranda rights, blah, blah, blah — remember what a nuisance our justice system used to be before Liz’s father and the rest of the neocon High Nooniacs made us safe by hustling us off to a police state and perpetual war? I can’t help but think about the younger Cheney’s comment — and the fear it implies, not of terrorists but of liberals
The Titanic that is the U.S. housing market has just sprung its biggest leak, and even some of the largest banks responsible for this mess, like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, are now imposing a temporary moratorium on foreclosures. They have done so very reluctantly and only after courts throughout the nation, and the attorneys general of 40 states, questioned the legality of a securitized system of homeownership that has impoverished tens of millions.
In 2002, as the Bush administration was turning to torture and other brutal techniques for interrogating "war on terror" detainees, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz loosened rules against human experimentation, an apparent recognition of legal problems regarding the novel strategies for extracting and evaluating information from the prisoners.
The opportunity to choose is utterly meaningless and irrelevant when the supposed choices that are offered are fundamentally the same ones with different packaging. In the 21st Century, different packaging is in this instance essentially what is known as corporate branding, which means that messages, images, and imagery target a mass (and often undiscerning) audience. These messages, images, and imagery rarely have anything whatsoever to do with reality. The objective of corporate branding is of course massive manipulation, not the dissemination of truth or the positing of reality.
Winter PatriotOctober 14, 2010 - The Stryker Combat Brigade in Afghanistan, some of whose members stand accused of killing civilians for sport, was led by a man who openly sneered at the U.S. military's counterinsurgency strategy, according to Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post....I cannot speak for Tunnell, but my understanding begins with the fact that the words 'insurgent' and 'insurgency' are entirely inappropriate in this context. In dictionary-English, as opposed to the political double-talk that goes on in America, an 'insurgent' is someone who rebels against a legitimately established government. Both Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed, invaded, demolished and occupied, based on transparently obvious lies.
Justice secretary warns that western nations are 'not out of the woods yet' Ken Clarke warned today that the world economy was "in grave danger of financial collapse". Speaking at the Prison Governors' Association's annual conference, the justice secretary said western nations are "not out of the woods yet". Clarke said: "We have rescued ourselves for the moment from being bracketed with the weaker brethren with doubts about our credit rating and the costs of our borrowing, but if we fail to deliver the kind of programme we have set out we will be back there all too soon if we are not too careful."
A Tea Party-backed Republican congressional nominee has championed abolishing public schools in California, and is currently the favorite to win his November election.
The founder of whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks says the US government is involved in a campaign of "financial warfare" against the group.
Defense lawyer says Phoenix police officer indicted on murder charge in on-duty shooting. A Phoenix police officer has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge for the on-duty shooting of a suspect, his lawyer said Thursday. Officer Richard Chrisman was served a summons on the indictment, attorney Craig Mehrens said. The indictment also charged him with aggravated assault and misdemeanor cruelty to animals.
Artists from across cultural and music genre divides unite in festival for Palestinians. London's 'Jazza Music Festival' kicked off Tuesday with a number of artists performing free of charge to help raise aid for the occupied Palestinian territories and highlight their plight. The event offered a mix of music genres that crossed both cultural as well as generational divides, where a diverse audience enjoyed tunes from classic Arabic oud to a touch of contemporary Palestinian hip-hop passing through styles of jazz and into a melodic portrait of England's north east.
In a small Punjab village, Inderjit Mann has proven more than capable to handle reins of power. 
Statistics can mislead in a country as diverse and divided as India. 
Air India Flight 187 is, more often than not, packed with Indo-Canadians travelling for weddings, funerals, shopping or just to visit family. 
His mother was killed by his grandfather in Malton. His father drank himself to death. Now Manmohan finds family love in the Punjab. 
Rapid growth is attracting foreign companies in the city with India's second-highest household income.. 
Maoists are gaining the upper hand in Indian regions facing injustice and neglect. Can soccer help keep young minds off rebellion? 
