Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched BermanExposed.org, a site dedicated to exposing lobbyist Richard Berman’s activities, his myriad front groups and projects, his employees’ work, and his firm’s tactics.Read More......
For years, Berman has been a front man for business and industry in campaigns against consumer safety and health promotion groups. Through his public relations firm, Berman and Company, Berman has fought unions, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and other watchdog groups in their efforts to raise awareness about childhood obesity, the minimum wage, the dangers of smoking, mad cow disease, drunk driving, and other issues. Berman runs at least 15 industry-funded front groups and projects, such as the Center for Union Facts (CUF).
Berman and those in his employ have long been shills for a range of industries, including those related to tobacco, alcohol, chain restaurants, and tanning. Within these various groups and his public relations firm, Berman holds 16 different positions and his employees have at least 33 job titles among them. CREW’s site lists as many of those positions as are publicly available.
The group included the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, the Wall Street Journal's Gerry Seib, National Journal's Ron Brownstein, the New York Times Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, among others.... CNN's Roland Martin, The Boston Globe's Derrick Z. Jackson, and USA Today's DeWayne Wickham. Paul Krugman, who Obama's willing to hear out on economic issues, was invited, but didn't attend.Read More......
A group of gays had planned long ago to be on the slopes of Park City's mountain resorts last week.Read More......
They had been coming each year since early in the decade, and Park City, seen for years as one of the friendliest places in Utah to gays, had been hospitable to the group But the 2009 edition of what had been dubbed Utah Gay & Lesbian Ski Week was cancelled.
An organizer told The Park Record many of the gay skiers indicated they would not visit Utah in order to show solidarity with those who have called for a boycott of the state stemming from the passage in California of Proposition 8, the ballot measure against gay marriage supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The cancellation of the gay ski week, which had been scheduled Jan. 7-11, is the first substantive evidence of Park City's economy suffering from the boycott. There had only been scattered concern in Park City that gays would refuse to visit. Local leaders had hoped gays and their supporters would consider Park City an open-minded enclave in Utah....
Had the full group traveled to Park City, Harriot estimated the visitors would have spent between $125,000 and $150,000 on lodging, lift tickets, meals and entertainment. An online itinerary for the canceled ski week lists days at each of the three local mountain resorts, organized lunches and dinners, nightlife options and a Saturday night party.
"The boycott worked and there was not enough people to do the group," Harriot said.
The skiers had planned an evening at Kristauf's Martini Bar on lower Main Street, where owner Lisa Christoffersen said they had stopped in during the 2008 trip. She said they probably would have spent a "couple grand" at Kristauf's this year.
"To me, that would provide my payroll for two weeks" and pay several utility bills, she said, adding, "They spend well and they tip well. It's a big boost for everyone."
A combination of extreme cold and high fuel prices has created a humanitarian crisis for the village of Emmonak, according to resident Nicholas Tucker.Read More......
In a letter sent out as a cry for help, Tucker describes economic conditions in which families are rationing food and warmth for themselves and their children in the Southwest Alaska village of 800.
The situation could easily worsen — extreme cold that arrived early this winter and stuck around means heating fuel must soon be flown in, which residents fear will push the price from $7.83 per gallon to $9 a gallon or more.
CEO Steve Jobs will take a medical leave of absence until the end of June. Apple COO Tim Cook will take over for Steve Jobs until then. Trading is halted until 5 p.m. ET, CNBC estimates.Read More......
In a letter to Apple employees, Steve said, "during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought." Last week, Steve disclosed that he was suffering from a "hormone imbalance."
CNBC's Jim Goldman says he spoke to two well known tech execs last week, one expressing "dire concerns" about Jobs' health. Another exec said Jobs was in a "state of denial" about his health.
Following a blockbuster brokerage deal with Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. is set to unveil a sweeping plan to unload several businesses and reduce its size by one-third -- moves that essentially sound a death knell for its financial-services supermarket model, according to a published report.Read More......
Citigroup announced a brokerage joint venture with Morgan Stanley late Tuesday, in what could be the first part of a major reorganization of the struggling company.
Citigroup announced a brokerage joint venture with Morgan Stanley late Tuesday, in what could be the first part of a major reorganization of the struggling company.
Beyond the Morgan Stanley joint venture, Citi will soon announce measures to shed two consumer-finance units and its private-label credit-card business, and step back from proprietary trading, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Citi plans to narrow its focus to just wholesale banking for large corporate clients and retail banking for customers in selected markets around the world, according to the newspaper, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Three-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, whose family's attempt to get him a birthday cake made him an instant object of sympathy (his parents, not so much), was taken from his parents by NJ authorities. According to Lehigh Valley Live, "New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services took the 3-year-old, as well as JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 1, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who turns 1 in April" from their home. It's unclear why the children were taken, but Holland Township police Chief David Van Gilson "said his department received no reports of abuse or negligence." Parents Heath and Deborah Campbell are expected to attend a hearing today.I don't know why, but I'm actually having an ounce of apprehension about these kids being removed. Don't get me wrong, I think anyone who names their kid Adolf Hitler is clinically insane. But there are lots of bad parents out there, and nobody ever removes their kids (though in some cases, they probably should). I'm not going to be shedding a tear for Baby Hitler's parents, but still, I'm curious if you guys think the kids should be taken from the parents? And under what theory? (H/t AMERICAblog reader Leo.) Read More......
Even before word came on Tuesday that Citigroup might split into pieces to shore up its finances, an unpleasant message was moving through Congress and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team: the banks need more taxpayer money.Read More......
In all likelihood, a lot more money.
Mr. Obama seems to know it; a week before his swearing-in, he is lobbying Congress to release the other half of the financial industry bailout fund. Democratic leaders in Congress seem to know it, too; they are urging their rank and file to act quickly to release the rescue money. And Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, certainly knows it.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bernanke publicly made the case that one of the most unpopular and most scorned programs in Washington — the $700 billion bailout program — needs to pour hundreds of billions more into the very banks and financial institutions that already received federal money and caused much of the credit crisis in the first place.
The most glaring example that the banking system needs even more help is Citigroup. Though it already has received $45 billion from the Treasury, it is in such dire straits that it is breaking itself into parts.
Like many banks, Citi is finding that its finances keep deteriorating as the economy continues to weaken.
The 2.7 percent December plunge in sales, which followed a November drop revised upward to 2.1 percent, confirmed private sector reports that retailers had suffered their worst holiday shopping season since at least 1969.MarketWatch puts the drop in more context:
Since consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of total economic activity, the weakness is a major factor depressing overall economic activity.
December's sales were down a record 9.8% compared with the previous December.Mind you, the previously December we were already in a recession, so even that doesn't give us a full picture of what a "normal" Christmas retail season should be like.
Terror suspects who have been held but released from Guantanamo Bay are increasingly returning to the fight against the United States and its allies, the Pentagon said Tuesday.If we'd only imprisoned them a little bit longer, maybe then they'd love us. Read More......
Sixty-one detainees released from the U.S. Navy base prison in Cuba are believed to have rejoined the fight, said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, citing data from December. That's up from 37 as of March 2008, he said.
Senate Democrats will edge their Republican counterparts by at least three votes on almost all committees under an assignment scenario laid out Tuesday night by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).Okay, now that the Democrats have increased their margins and their power in the Senate, they need to act like the party in power. McConnell will want to obstruct and delay at every opportunity. The country is in peril and this is no time for GOP games. The Democrats have to roll the Republicans. And, if the GOP wants to filibuster, make them really filibuster. Read More......
After weeks of negotiations with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Reid announced a lineup that assigns three more Democrats than Republicans to all committees except Appropriations and Armed Services, which will have four more Democrats.
In one sense, Bush's final rating is worse than either Carter's or Truman's, because his disapproval score is significantly higher. Whereas Bush and Carter share identical 34% final job approval ratings, 61% of Americans disapprove of the job Bush is doing, compared with 55% who said they disapproved of Carter in December 1980. Similarly, whereas Bush's final approval rating is slightly higher than Truman's 32% in 1952, his disapproval rating is also higher (61% vs. 56%), resulting in a lower net approval rating for Bush.Of all the recent presidents, Bill Clinton had the highest approval rating (66%) upon leaving office.
Only Richard Nixon was explicitly less popular at the time of his exit than Bush is today. Gallup's final approval polling on Nixon, in which 24% of Americans said they approved of the job he was doing, was conducted Aug. 2-5, 1974, less than a week before Nixon resigned from office over the Watergate break-in political scandal.
Read More......
President George W. Bush praised three "true friends of the United States" as he awarded the nation's highest civilian honor to Tony Blair, John Howard and Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe.Um, sure. Too bad all of the "truth" was a pack of lies and distortion. Doesn't The Poodle have to grab coffee for some Wall Street execs or something? Read More......
The three men were given the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony at the White House in the final days of Bush's presidency.
"This afternoon I'm pleased to award the Medal of Freedom to three extraordinary leaders," Bush said.
Each of the men was "a true friend of the United States who met historic challenges with great tenacity, and who provides a lasting example of statesmanship at home and abroad," he said.
Blair and Howard were Bush's staunchest allies in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, and the outgoing president paid lengthy tribute to each of them and their "firm adherence to the principles of freedom and democratic values."
"They're the sort of guys who look you in the eye and tell you the truth and keep their word," he said.
British economic confidence has been shattered by the financial crisis, according to a unique international poll published today. It shows that people here are now less likely to trust banks, the stockmarket or the government's economic management than people in comparable nations.Read More......
The research, carried out by WIN, an international network of pollsters including ICM in Britain, used professional polling techniques to assess public opinion in 17 countries, including the major G8 economies as well as China and India.
On most measures, British people emerged as among the most pessimistic of the 14,555 people questioned around the world.
Remarkably, confidence in the banking system appears lower in Britain - 4.2 out of 10 - than in bankrupt Iceland, which polled 4.6.
While around a third of citizens in developing economies such as India and China say the economic situation in their countries could improve in coming months, more than three-quarters of people in Britain expect it to worsen.
Pessimism here is slightly deeper than in competitors such as France, Spain and Germany, and equal to Japan.
British people are also less likely than average to think that their government can manage the situation, despite Gordon Brown's bank interventions and fiscal stimulus.
"A spate of retirement announcements by Senate Republicans this year have further complicated attempts by GOP strategists to begin rebuilding a party devastated by across-the-board losses in recent elections," the Washington Post reports.Read More......
The reason: "The common element in each decision appears to be the difficult path facing Republicans if they hope to regain the majority. Republicans control only 41 Senate seats and have 20 incumbents up for reelection in 2010, compared with 17 for the Democrats."
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