According to an unprecedented legal theory apparently adopted by the Obama administration, persons and entities who leak or publish classified information are “enemies” of the United States punishable by death or life imprisonment. If this theory had been applied to recent leaks, it would have meant death or life in prison for Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who leaked a CIA agent’s identity, and Post columnist Robert Novak, who published the operative’s name.   read more

President Obama last week ordered a Chinese company to sell its interest in four wind energy projects located within the airspace of the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Oregon, where the military conducts training missions for unmanned drone aircraft. The Chinese were also ordered to remove all structures and other assets stored at the site.   read more

The Trust Women Foundation has purchased the building where the late George Tiller provided abortion services, including so-called late-term abortions. They plan to open the Trust Women Family Planning and Memorial Center. Tiller was shot to death while serving as an usher at his church on May 31, 2009, by Scott Roeder, an antiabortion zealot from Kansas City.   read more

Another sign of the partisan divide is found in responses to the question: Would you mind if your child married someone from another political party? In 1960, only 5% reacted negatively. By 2010, 40% objected to the idea, including 50% of Republicans and 30% of Democrats. The authors of the survey posit that the growing hostility has less to do with actual policy or ideological differences, but more to do with increasingly negative election campaigns that emphasize attacking the other side.   read more

Americans also have grown more despondent about the future for young people. Less than 30% said they believed the next generation would have more opportunity to get ahead than they did.   read more

The DOE began funding research into fracking and horizontal drilling in 1975, and five years later, lawmakers approved an important tax break to encourage “unconventional” natural gas drilling. Among the most important government contributions was the development by government scientists of micro-seismic (3D) mapping, which is known in the industry as “frack mapping.” Federal subsidies for the oil and natural gas industry began in 1916.   read more

Kantar’s figures show that since April, 91% of Obama ads have been paid for by the Obama campaign or the Democratic National Committee, with only 9% being funded by outside groups. On the Republican side, on the other hand, outside groups have paid for 55% of the pro-Romney/anti-Obama ads, while the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee have footed the bill for only 45%.   read more

15% of black students and 14% of Latino students attend “apartheid schools,” where whites make up less than 1% of enrollment. Half of black students in the Chicago metro, and one-third in New York, attend apartheid schools.   read more

From 1990 to 2008, white women without a high school diploma lost an average of five years off their life span, from 78 to 73. White men with similar education levels lost an average of three years, from 70 to 67. Experts from the University of Illinois at Chicago said several factors may have caused the decline: an increase in prescription drug overdoses; higher rates of smoking among women; rising obesity, and growing numbers of people without health insurance.   read more

Consistent with the Obama administration’s policy of focusing deportation policy on those with prior criminal records, in 2011 the U.S. expelled a record 188,000 immigrants with criminal records, 55% of all those returned without a removal order. The majority of these were charged with drug-related offenses, criminal traffic offenses (such as hit-and-run and driving under the influence) and immigration violations.   read more

Nearly half (48%) of all mail is now of the junk variety. With Americans disposing much of it into the garbage, and thus landfills and recycling centers, local governments are trying to prevent the Postal Service from delivering unwanted mail. Meanwhile, the newspaper industry is also opposing the Postal Service’s push to lower the cost of sending junk mail…because it will mean less junk advertising fliers and inserts in Sunday papers and a potential loss of $1 billion a year in revenue.   read more

Citing cost concerns, Senate Republicans this week blocked legislation designed to create a Veterans Job Corps that would have spent $1 billion over five years to put unemployed veterans back to work. The Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012, loosely based on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, would have put ex-soldiers to work preserving and restoring federal, state and local lands and find them jobs in firefighting and police work.   read more

Some of the programs are what are known as “submerged policies” that get little attention, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit; the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction; and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credits. However even in the case of high-profile programs, many beneficiaries were unaware that they were using a government program. For example, 45% of Americans enrolled in Social Security replied that they did not benefit from a government program, as did 41% who qualified for Medicare.   read more

Only 42% of company employees age 25-64 participate in a pension plan in their current job, according to a study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. This is a fall from 50% in 1979. The implication that 58% of private sector workers don’t have pension plans is that this mass of people must rely entirely on Social Security once they retire.   read more

Forrest refused to consider the motion last Friday, and said she would review the matter on September 19, following the conclusion of the Jewish New Year. Unwilling to wait, the Justice Department asked another judge, Raymond Lohier, to stay Forrest’s decision. Lohier, who, like Forrest, was appointed by President Barack Obama, sided with the administration and blocked the ruling. Administration lawyers contended that Forrest’s ban on the new law could imperil the country’s security.   read more

A top Department of Justice official publicly defended the increasing use of deferred-prosecution agreements for white-collar criminals. These agreements allow corporations and their executives who have committed fraud to avoid criminal charges in exchange for admitting wrongdoing and paying fines. Critics of deferred prosecution claim that in practice it is just an easy for corporate executives to avoid personal responsibility for the actions of the companies they run.   read more