which I will skip, because of the following issues:
Obama’s Growing War in Yemen Includes New Base, Assassination Attempts (of US citizens)
http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/27/obamas-growing-war-in-yemen-includes-new-base-assassination-attempts/This Dana Priest article is interesting for the way it fleshes out the way the US is working in Yemen (primarily), Pakistan, and Somalia. But note this line, which she kind of buries in there.
As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was thought to be meeting with other regional al-Qaeda leaders. Although he was not the focus of the strike and was not killed, he has since been added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing or capture by the JSOC, military officials said.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/01/26/the-list-of-us-citizens-targeted-for-killing/
When it comes to progressive priorities in the Senate, there's one standard: 60 votes are needed. But for Ben Bernanke, there's a second standard: 50 will be just fine, thank you.
Democratic leaders in the Senate are asking colleagues who are reluctant to support Bernanke's nomination for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman to nevertheless vote with them to end a filibuster and allow a vote on the actual nomination. The reluctant members would then be free to vote no to express their displeasure. Several Democrats have committed to just that and others are considering it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/double-standard-for-berna_n_436971.html
Wall Street is marketing derivatives last seen before credit markets froze in 2007, as the record bond rally prompts investors to take more risks to boost returns.
Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are encouraging clients to buy swaps that pay higher yields for speculating on the extent of losses in corporate defaults. Trading in credit- default swap indexes rose in the fourth quarter for the first time since 2008, according to Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. data. Federal Reserve data show leverage, or borrowed money, is rising in capital markets.
Investors who retreated to the safety of government debt during the financial crisis are returning to the simplest forms of so-called synthetic collateralized debt obligations after last year’s record 57.5 percent rally in junk bonds left money managers with fewer options. While President Barack Obama’s adviser Paul Volcker has blamed credit swaps and CDOs for taking the financial system “to the brink of disaster,” bankers say the instruments help companies raise capital.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aCb6JDT0sOWc&pos=10
REMEMBER: THERE HAS BEEN ZERO REGULATION IMPOSED SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE
A new poll from NBC/Wall Street Journal shows only 28 percent supporting the idea that the federal government is “working well” or “okay,” with the remaining 7 in 10 saying it’s “unhealthy,” “stagnant,” or needs major reform. The poll shows a public that’s nearly unanimous around the idea that there’s too much partisan infighting, too much special interest power. 61 percent say that neither party has been ready enough to compromise.
You can see how this snuck up on Democrats. They did, after all, spent all of last year watering down their every proposal seeking bipartisan support. Now, not only have they failed to get it, they’ve also been cast as sinners in the hands of an angry electorate. The poll shows 48 percent blaming congressional Republicans for the country’s problems, compared to 41 percent blaming congressional Democrats, and 27 percent blaming the president. That’s got to be cold comfort to a majority party looking at electoral disaster.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/democratic_party/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/01/27/public_enemies
Complicating matters, though, the White House is already sending mixed signals about what's going to be in the speech. Obama will call for a three-year freeze on discretionary domestic spending on anything besides national security -- which, most analysts believe, is exactly the kind of spending the government needs to be doing more of to get the economy moving again. Not to mention that it undermines the type of rhetoric Obama might otherwise need to use to defend the rest of his agenda. "This has no social redeeming value whatsoever," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America's Future. "It miseducates the country, it represents an ideological retreat which doesn't make sense ... The administration defends it as being merely symbolic, but the symbolism is entirely wrong."
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/barack_obama/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/01/26/state_of_obama
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