tagged w/ Federal Oversight
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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for harsh, painful interrogation of terror suspects Thursday, even as his administration released Bush-era memos graphically detailing — and authorizing — such grim tactics as slamming detainees against walls, waterboarding them and keeping them naked and cold for long periods.
Human rights groups and many Obama officials have condemned such methods as torture. Bush officials have vigorously disagreed.
In releasing the documents, the most comprehensive accounting yet of interrogation methods that were among the Bush administrations most closely guarded secrets, Obama said he wanted to move beyond "a dark and painful chapter in our history."
Past and present CIA officials had unsuccessfully pressed for more parts of the four legal memos to be kept secret, and some critics argued the release would make the United States less safe.
Michael Hayden, who led the CIA under George W. Bush, said CIA officers will now be more timid and allies will be more reluctant to share sensitive intelligence.
"If you want an intelligence service to work for you, they always work on the edge. That's just where they work," Hayden said. Now, he argued, foreign partners will be less likely to cooperate with the CIA because the release shows they "can't keep anything secret."
On the other side, human rights advocates argued that Obama should not have assured the CIA that officers who conducted interrogations would not be prosecuted if they used methods authorized by Bush lawyers in the memos.
Obama disagreed, saying in a statement, "Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for... more
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The House on Wednesday approved yet another bill to restrict bonuses and compensation at financial firms that have received government bailout money, as Democrats muscled the legislation past angry Republican opposition.
The vote was 247 to 171, with 237 Democrats and 10 Republicans in favor.
Congress has been wrestling with the issue of limiting bonuses ever since a huge public outcry last month over $165 million in payouts made by American International Group, the insurance firm, which has received about $200 billion in bailout funds.
The bill adopted by the House on Wednesday would bar firms that received a capital infusion from the federal government from paying any bonus or other compensationthat is “unreasonable or excessive” as defined by the Treasury, until their bailout money had been reimbursed to the government.
The firms would also be barred from paying any bonus that was not “directly based on performance-based measures.”
A spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Senate Democrats would “study” the House legislation along with other proposals and would decide how to proceed “over the next few weeks.”
End of Excerpt
Source: The New York Times
Do you think the government has the right to limit bonuses in companies that have received bailout money?The House on Wednesday approved yet another bill to restrict bonuses and compensation... more
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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama unveiled a new plan to help the U.S. autos industry Monday, saying the failure of the industry is not the fault of its workers but a “failure of leadership” in Washington and Detroit.
In a White House speech, Obama said the companies — and the auto industry — must stand on their own, not as “wards of the state” supported by tax dollars.
GM will get 60 days worth of financing to restructure, while Chrysler is getting up to $6 billion and 30 days to complete a deal with Italian automaker Fiat. The Obama administration also replaced GM CEO Rick Wagoner with the company’s chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson.
If the companies fall short, Obama raised the specter of using bankruptcy laws to force their restructuring.
Obama sent a blunt message to Detroit automakers: To survive — and win more government help — they must remake themselves top to bottom. Driving home the point, the White House ousted the General Motors chairman as it rejected GM and Chrysler’s restructuring plans.
Over the weekend, the White House said neither GM nor Chrysler submitted acceptable plans to receive more bailout money, setting the stage for a crisis in Detroit and putting in motion what could be the final two months of two American auto giants.
End of Excerpt
Source: MSNBC
For full text of Obama's Speech go here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/us/politics/30obama-text.htmlWASHINGTON - President Barack Obama unveiled a new plan to help the U.S. autos... more
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DETROIT — The chairman and chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, is resigning, just hours before President Obama was expected to unveil his rescue plans for G.M. and the ailing American auto industry, a person close to the decision said Sunday.
Mr. Wagoner was asked, and agreed to, step down as part of G.M.’s restructuring agreement with the Obama administration, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made yet.
End of Excerpt
Source: The New York Times OnlineDETROIT — The chairman and chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, is... more
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