A discussion about local, state, and federal governments.
Great article in the Guardian about climate change and the tough decisions facing world leaders. Prince Charles recently slammed the food industry for its lack of leadership and now President Obama is moving climate change out of the science labs and into our morality chambers by challenging our leaders to do what is right, not […]
The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed by Michael Grabell and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica It’s 4:18 a.m. and the strip mall is deserted. But tucked in back, next to a closed-down video store, an employment agency is already filling up. Rosa Ramirez walks in, as she has done nearly […]
(photo courtesy of thinkprogress.com) US Senate passes comprehensive immigration reform (via AFP) In a vote hailed by US President Barack Obama, the Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform that would put 11 million undocumented people on a path to earning citizenship. Chants of “Yes we did!” erupted from the public galleries after senators…
Moderately legitimate (via The Economist) THE SUPREME COURT struck down an unusually large number of statutes this term. Just this week, the court nullified Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), both federal laws. Last week, it struck…
Inspector General Faults Medicare for Not Tracking ‘Extreme’ Prescribers by Tracy Weber, Charles Ornstein and Jennifer LaFleur, ProPublica More than 700 doctors nationwide wrote prescriptions for elderly and disabled patients in highly questionable and potentially harmful ways, according to a critical report of Medicare’s drug program released today. The review by the inspector general of […]
Image source: www.whocalledmyphone.net
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images Fantasies of the frontier (via The Economist) THE debate over security on America’s south-western border operates on several levels of fantasy. The first is the idea that a 2,000-mile border that divides two countries with per-capita incomes of, respectively, $50,000 and $10,000 (and an insatiable appetite for drugs vs an […]
Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say by Paul Kiel, ProPublica Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees. The employee statements were filed late […]
What Grades Do We Give Gannett and Ball State? Local resident Chris Hiatt has been sharing his displeasure across social media channels regarding the “cozy relationship” between the StarPress and Ball State University. According to Hiatt, it would seem that the pages of our local newspaper are used as a “public relations department” for Ball […]
Now on Trial at Guantanamo Bay: Spiral Notebooks by Cora Currier, ProPublica The Guantanamo Bay trials of alleged terrorists, restarted by President Obama in 2011, have been marked by secrecy, snafus, and delays. ProPublica’s Cora Currier is at Gitmo this week for one such case. Read her first dispatch, about arriving at the U.S.’s most infamous court. […]