Courtesy Rawstory:
Popular Ohio Democratic congressman Rep. Dennis Kucinich was targeted by vandals, according to police records reviewed by UPI.
“The wife of the congressman and former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate told authorities that vandals, likely teenagers, had hit their home with paint balls,” the wire service reported.
The Plain Dealer said that Kucinich’s wife heard a loud banging noise around 1:30 am last Thursday and subsequently noticed the outside of the Kucinich’s home had been hit with orange paintballs. Elizabeth Kucinich said the vandals returned Friday and attacked their home with additional paintballs.
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Courtesy Rawstory
Henry Waxman, a long-serving, outspoken, progressive California Democrat, has launched a bid to take control of perhaps the most powerful committee in the House of Representatives.
The move has many moderate Democrats worried about what they see as a takeover from the party’s left flank.
Waxman currently chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but last week he announced an attempt to take over the Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. John Dingell (D-MI). The powerful committee has jurisdiction over an array of important areas, including environmental policy and healthcare.
While there had been some expectation in Washington over the last several months that Waxman might seek the new post, his formal announcement last week caught Dingell off guard. Roll Call reports that Dingell is mobilizing allies in the Blue Dog and New Democrats coalitions to stave off Waxman’s rise.
The coordination marks a departure for the groups, which have not traditionally worked together, and a shared fear that with Democrats preparing to take control of all levers of political power, moderates could get steamrolled by emboldened liberals.
“We’re very concerned about the direction that some are trying to move our majority,” said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Blue Dog co-chairman for communications.
Leaders of both groups were working the phones last week to round up support for Dingell, the 27-term dean of the House, in his counteroffensive against Waxman’s surprise challenge. Ross and Reps. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.), both senior Blue Dogs, joined Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the New Democrats, on Dingell’s 26-member team.
Dingell’s sympathy for the auto industry has contributed to a lack of action on climate change legislation, frustrating environmentalists.
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Courtesy CBS News:
PENN HILLS (KDKA) ― Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s right to vote in Penn Hills has been challenged — and election officials will not count his absentee ballot (or that of his wife) until the matter is resolved, Allegheny County Elections Department director Mark Wolosik confirmed.
Erin Vecchio, chairman of the Penn Hills School Board and chair of the Penn Hills Democratic Party, says she challenged the Santorums’ right to vote in Pennsylvania this morning because they really live in Virginia.
Vecchio says the local judge of elections filled out the appropriate objection forms and she paid the $10 per person fee.
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From The Dough Roller:
While the $700 billion bailout and presidential election have dominated the news, the U.S. House passed a major piece of credit card reform legislation. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008 passed the House on Sept. 23 by a vote of 312-112 (with nine members not voting).
The bill, which still needs to pass the Senate before heading to the White House, would have a major impact on everything from how credit card issuers apply cardholder payments to outstanding debt to limits on interest rate increases.
Here are some of the more significant provisions of the act:
Retroactive interest rate increases and universal default limits. One of the biggest complaints leveled against the credit card industry is the practice of raising interest rates significantly due to a late payment or other default, or sometimes for no reason at all. The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would limit a card issuer’s ability to raise interest rates. Specifically, a credit card company could not (with some exceptions) raise interest rates on existing balances. Furthermore, if the interest rate on future balances was raised, the credit card issuer would be limited in how quickly it could insist that the old balance subject to the lower interest rate is paid off.
Here are some other interest rate-hike protections the act would provide:
If a cardholder loses the benefit of an introductory rate, the new rate could not exceed what the interest rate would have been at the expiration of the introductory period.
A consumer must be given a 45-day written notice before higher interest rates take effect.
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ASHINGTON (CNN) — The United Kingdom has MI-5, which roots out spies and terrorists in the British Isles.
Canada has CSIS — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Now Congress is asking: Should the U.S. have its own domestic intelligence agency?
On Monday, at the request of Congress, the RAND Corporation outlined the pros and cons of establishing a domestic intelligence agency. It also discussed different ways to organize a new entity, either as part of an existing department or as a new agency.
But there’s one thing you won’t find in the report — a recommendation on what to do.
“We were not asked to make a recommendation, and this assessment does not do so,” the report says.
Instead, says RAND’s Gregory Treverton, the report provides a “framework” for policymakers to use when deciding whether and how to reorganize counter-intelligence efforts at home.
RAND is a nonprofit think tank seeking to help improve policy and decision making through objective research and analysis.
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Courtesy Wired
President Bush on Monday signed into law legislation creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the nation’s drug czar.
Two weeks ago, the House sent the president the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act” (.pdf), a measure the Senate approved days before creating a cabinet-level copyright czar charged with implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy and “report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.”
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States needs a new economic stimulus plan that pumps billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and budget relief for cash-strapped state and local governments, Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told ABC television he will put together an economic stimulus bill when Congress returns to Washington after the November 4 elections, while a key Republican said he would support an effort that “makes sense.”
Rep. Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican who serves as House minority leader, said he would support a stimulus plan if it did not include massive public works spending and budget bailouts for states that overspent on health care and other social programs.
“A stimulus plan that makes sense is something that I’ll be helpful with,” Blunt said, also on ABC television.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week said a $150 billion economic stimulus plan was needed to help counteract a faltering economy shaken by a paralyzed banking system and steep stock market falls.
On Monday, Pelosi and House Democratic leaders will meet with key economists to discuss a jobs creation and recovery plan that will complement the recently passed $700 billion rescue legislation for financial institutions. Participants will include former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt and former Federal Reserve vice chairman Alice Rivlin.
The Congress earlier this year passed a $152 billion stimulus package that provided tax rebates of up to $600 per adult to support consumer spending at a time of rising energy and food costs.
Most of that money has already been spent, and many economists say financial turmoil will squeeze the economy into recession in the fourth quarter.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sen. Ted Stevens had a “sterling” reputation for integrity as he vouched for the Alaska Republican at the lawmaker’s corruption trial on Friday.
Stevens is accused of lying on his financial disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in renovations to his home in Girdwood, Alaska, and other gifts from Alaska oil services firm VECO Corp and its former chief executive, Bill Allen.
Powell, appearing as a character witness for the defense, said during cross-examination by prosecutor Brenda Morris that he had no personal knowledge about the case against Stevens and had never been to Girdwood.
The 84-year-old Stevens is seeking re-election in November after 40 years in the Senate. Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican in history, has denied the charges.
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It seems anxiety from the financial crisis is reaching new highs, but the tipping point for one individual came at the Lehman Brothers gym in the midst of the company’s collapse.
While former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld was testifying before the House Oversight Committee Oct. 6, CNBC reported he had been punched in the face at the Lehman Brothers gym after it was announced the firm was going bankrupt. CNBC and Vanity Fair contributor Vicki Ward said Fuld was attacked at the gym on a Sunday following the bankruptcy.
“Frankly, I sat there and listened and I’m with the guy who apparently, the day before Barclays announced they were coming in and Lehman had already filed for bankruptcy, went over to him in the gym and punched him because that’s how I feel when I, you know, when I watched that,†Ward said on the Oct. 6 “Power Lunch.†“I didn’t think he was contrite at all, I thought he was arrogant.â€
Ward confirmed previous reports about the incident that reportedly occurred Sept. 21 and said the information came from “two very senior sources.â€
“From two very senior sources – one incredibly senior source – that he went to the gym after … Lehman was announced as going under. He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the corner, pumping iron and he walked over and he knocked him out cold. And frankly after having watched this, I’d have done the same too.â€
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