Corporations & Media
Geopolitics - Geoeconomics | Despite nominal national elections earlier this year, control over the Iraqi economy is still run out of the Pentagon. In May 2003 Paul Bremer III, was put in charge with the imposing title, Administrator, of a newly created Coalition Provisional Authority ...
New York Times | While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children come down with respiratory problems.
Washington Post | A BP drilling engineer involved in the planning of the Macondo well declined to testify before a federal investigative panel Friday, invoking through his lawyer his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Dateline Zero | BP is accused of withholding ‘critical’ spill data. And they will continue to withhold it, because the Democrat-controlled Senate has voted to block the White House’s investigative committee from having subpoena power.
Electronic Frontier Foundation | It looks like Apple, Inc., is exploring a new business opportunity: spyware and what we're calling "traitorware." While users were celebrating the new jailbreaking and unlocking exemptions, Apple was quietly preparing to apply for a patent on technology that, a...
Daily Beast | After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the intensified support for privatization under George W. Bush, logistics, security, and intelligence contracting grew by leaps and bounds. Despite attempts by the Obama administration to rein in outsourcing and reduce the government’s relian...
Catastrophist | Within BP’s exploration plot “Mississippi Canyon 252″ [MC 252] — otherwise known as the “Macondo Prospect” — there were plans for two wells: “Well A” — and “Well B”. Both were exploratory wells that were intended to be “temporarily abandoned”:
Guardian | "We don't want to change Wikipedia or turn it into a propaganda arm," says Naftali Bennett, director of the Yesha Council. "We just want to show the other side. People think that Israelis are mean, evil people who only want to hurt Arabs all day."
Information Clearing House | Jeffrey Goldberg’s current cover story in The Atlantic, “The Point of No Return,” achieved massive distribution across a broad spectrum of old and new media in the United States. Some observers – including Glenn Greenwald in “How Propagandists Function” – noted ...
ARS Technica | Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into...
Washingtons Blog | Fox News reports that BP is trying to keep animal carcasses away from public view: Local Gulf Coast residents and those monitoring turtles say that BP is removing carcasses at night to hide them from the public:
Common Dreams | So Google and Verizon went public Monday with their "policy framework" -- better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it. News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that's seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling on Google to liv...
Bloomberg | A judge ordered Wells Fargo & Co. to stop manipulating debit-card transactions without consumers’ knowledge to increase revenue from overdraft fees while ruling the bank should pay about $203 million to customers because of the practice.
Salon | FINRA says Morgan Stanley didn't properly alert clients about relationships the bank might have with the companies being covered in the research notes. Big investment banks have separate divisions that provide research and analysis to customers about publicly traded companies.
SnowSpot | In this clip, Andrew Napolitano makes a good case for Wikileaks being an essential asset to democracy and protecting democracy. Great points are made but would topics like these have been broached during the Bush administration?
Thing | "There was five exabytes [five billion gigabytes] of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003," he said. "But that much information is now created every two days, and the pace is increasing... People aren't ready for the technology revolution that's going to happ...
Cnet | At a conference here Wednesday, Schmidt noted that using artificial intelligence, computers can take 14 pictures of anyone on the Internet and stand a good chance of identifying that person. Similarly, the data collected by location-based services can be used not only to show where someon...
PC World | AT&T and Verizon, the two largest U.S. mobile carriers, are also partnering with T-Mobile, and are in talks with Discover and the U.K. bank Barclays. Tapping your iPhone or Droid at a cash register sounds like an efficient way to reduce wallet clutter, and based on the program's s...
Democracy Now | The Nation magazine has revealed new details about how BP is receiving tax credits by relying on cheap or free prison labor to help clean up the Gulf spill. BP’s reliance on prison labor has been criticized by many in the region since the disaster has left so many people out of w...
PC World | Security concerns over Facebook have been raised yet again after a security consultant collected the names and profile URLs for 171 million Facebook accounts from publicly available information. The consultant, Ron Bowes, then uploaded the data as a torrent file allowing anyone with...
Economist | ON TUESDAY July 27th BP announced its chief executive, Tony Hayward, was stepping down after just three years in the job. He leaves with a year’s salary, £1m ($1.6m), and a pension reported to be worth £11m, accrued over 28 years of service
WSWS | The oil giant penciled in losses of $32.2 billion for its second quarter earnings statement. These include $2.9 billion for its response so far and $29.3 billion in future estimated costs that the company says will cover all further damages associated with the spill.
Go Banking Rates | While Wal-Mart press isn't always positive, they have been credited by some with keeping inflation rates low with their relentless push for lower prices. Now, they may save you money on more than laundry detergent and prescriptions. Soon, you may be banking at Wal-Mart.
SHTF Plan | Whistle blower Hugh Kaufman is a senior policy analyst at the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. Though the EPA will not officially tell us exactly what’s going on with dispersant chemicals being used in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Kaufman seems to have a legitimate conc...
Salon | CNN's Kyra Phillips and John Roberts spent a good five minutes yesterday expressing serious concern over what they called "the dark side" of the Internet: the plague of "anonymous bloggers" who are "a bunch of cowards" for not putting their names on what they say, a...
Wall Street Journal | A critical alarm system that should have warned workers of danger aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig had been disabled before the rig erupted into flames on April 20, the vessel's chief electrician testified Friday at a federal hearing into the accident.
Telegraph | It was claimed that contained within the contracts were clauses restricting scientists from publishing any academic research undertaken for the oil giant, sharing them with other researchers or even talking about them for as long as three years.
News Busters | Anchors Kyra Phillips and John Roberts discussed the "mixed blessing of the internet," and agreed that there should be a crackdown on anonymous bloggers who disparage others on the internet.
The Car Connection | Ford often gets a lot of undue credit for surviving the financial econo-storm without needing government aid--most forget that Ford actually ran out of cash before General Motors and Chrysler, but was able to get private financing because it happened before the lending land...
Wired | Borrowing a page from patent trolls, the CEO of fledgling Las Vegas-based Righthaven has begun buying out the copyrights to newspaper content for the sole purpose of suing blogs and websites that re-post those articles without permission. And he says he’s making money.
The Register | A post in a support forum says customers should hear from Dell shortly. It does not provide any technical explanation of what type of spyware is included with the hardware or what extra cleaning process customers should go through.
Campaign for Liberty | There are many myths about the current political scene, although one never would know it from reading the New York Times, and especially its editorial pages. For example, Paul Krugman continues to insist that Herbert Hoover followed the "liquidationist" advice of his tre...
Wall Street Journal | Gene Goforth sells showerheads—big ones, like the Raindance Imperial 600 AIR. Selling for as much as $5,457, it has a 24-inch spray face, 358 no-clog channels and a triple-massage option. "You can just stand under it, and it helps your psyche," says Mr. Goforth, who has one...
CNTV | Shanghai has been China's top destination, for multinationals. Even during the world economic slump, the city's foreign direct investment still increased. Data shows Shanghai's foreign direct investment has already surpassed more than 5 billion US dollars in the first half of this year.
PR Newswire | Citing new information about Google's classified government contracts and the Internet giant's admitted Wi-Spying activity, Consumer Watchdog today said it is more imperative than ever for the Energy and Commerce Committee to conduct hearings into possible privacy violations by G...
RAW Story | A State Department email has accused the Post of planning to make public "top secret" information about defense and intelligence contractors working for the US, despite an admission in the same email that the Post's information came from "open sources."
Newsweek | The issue of ethical sourcing has long galvanized human-rights groups. In Liberia, Angola, and Sierra Leone, the notorious trade in “blood diamonds” helped fund rebel insurgencies. In Guinea, bauxite sustains a repressive military junta.
SF Public Press | It was fall 2008 and the holiday sales rush loomed, Cortney Balzan recalled. That’s when he said he felt forced to confront one of America’s largest retailers and warn it that it might be misleading its customers.
Slate | In the historic election of 1912, a sitting president faced a former president and a future president. William Howard Taft, the conservative Republican incumbent, enjoyed support from banking and business, which mostly opposed any new federal powers and agencies that might restrict t...
Flavorwire | Subway systems are a perfect location for advertisements for two reasons: one, commuters spend a lot of time within them; and two, potential customers are held captive, either waiting on the platform or squished on the train just looking for an excuse not to make eye contact with th...
Alternet | In a interview with Ralph Nader on C-SPAN's Book TV to promote his book Lies the Government Told You, Judge Andrew Napolitano said that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should have been indicted for "torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrant."
WTSP | Sanja Roche says her SGH-T329 handset was sitting on the living room table when its battery exploded and caught fire around 2:00 a.m. on March 2nd. The family called 911 and Hillsborough County firefighters rushed to the home off State Road 527 in Seffner.
Washington's Blog | National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced new procedures to allow media free travel within the 20-meter boom safety zones if they have followed simple procedures for credentialing, and provided they follow certain rules and guidelines.
Associated Press | An amended complaint filed in June 2008 takes issue with Apple's practice of "locking" iPhones so they can only be used on AT&T's network, and its absolute control over what applications iPhone owners can and cannot install on the gadgets.
ABC | Neighbors in a northwest Houston neighborhood are scared after a bomb was sent to a woman at her home and exploded. Neighbors say the explosive was disguised as a box of chocolates. Eyewitness News first reported the incident Friday night. Investigators say the woman received the...
Sweet Jeebus | I bet their stock went up that week, because the mavericks on Wall Street know to reward any company that will go to those lengths to make a profit. Of course, if we would just abolish the FDA, none of this would have happened because the first time one of Pfizer’s products kille...
Reuters | CNN has fired a senior editor for Middle East news after she published a Twitter message that said she respected a Lebanese Shi'ite cleric branded a terrorist by the United States, U.S. and British media said on Thursday.
Daily Finance | Not all CEOs are as generous as Apple's (AAPL) Steve Jobs. The company's founder makes a mere $1 a year, while a starting sales associate at one of his Apple stores makes more than $31,200. But Jobs is an anomaly.
Freep | The BP oil spill is hitting close to home for dozens of metro Detroit BP station owners, with many trying to switch brands as angry consumers boycott their businesses. Abdel Berry, owner of three BP stations, has already converted his Ypsilanti and Detroit stores to the Sunoco bran...
Guardian | Paul Jennings, until last year chief executive of the Octel chemical works near Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, and his predecessor, Dennis Kerrison, exported tonnes of tetra ethyl lead (TEL), to Iraq. TEL is banned from cars in western countries because of links with brain damage to ...