In the latest issue of Money and Markets, Sean Brodrick takes a closer look at how financial institutions are collapsing and the damage has now spread into the prime mortgage market. Mr. Brodrick also discusses how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s liabilities add up to $5.3 billion dollars.

Financial institutions are collapsing like dominoes: Countrywide Financial and New Century Financial collapsed in 2007, Bear Stearns in early 2008 and just recently IndyMac. Even big regional banks are small enough to fail, which is why National City and Washington Mutual both saw their stocks get 25% cuts on July 14. According to a Bridgewater study, total financial losses from the current credit crisis will hit $1.6-trillion. It’s not just the losses on banks’ books. A recent Bank of America study said that the meltdown in the U.S. subprime real estate market had led to a global loss of $7.7 trillion dollars in stock market values just since October.

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Analysts say retrofitting commercial jetliners with fuel vapor inerting systems will cost airlines over 1 billion dollars. The new rule started its life as a recommendation from the NTSB a decade ago, after their investigation into the crash of TWA Flight 800 concluded that a fuel-air explosion was to blame.

But a new report challenges this investigative finding.

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Analysis of an extensive terrorism database housed at the University of Arkansas has revealed patterns in activities of terrorists preparing for an attack, information that can be invaluable for law enforcement agencies seeking to prevent terrorist attacks.

Brent L. Smith, director of the university’s Terrorism Research Center, reported the research results in the current issue of the National Institute of Justice Journal and will present the results at an upcoming NIJ conference. Funded by a series of NIJ grants, Smith was assisted by Kelly Damphousse of the University of Oklahoma as well as Jackson Cothren and Paxton Roberts of the University of Arkansas.

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While Americans likely recall the 1968 Democratic National Convention for the violent riots between anti-war protesters and Chicago police, the convention did lead to changes in the nation’s political system, notes Rowan University political science professor Bruce Caswell.

“Just from the point of view of the presidential nominating process, there was a big change after 1968,” says Caswell, who was studying and working in Chicago during the convention and attended some of the protests.

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Eight members of the Ohio Election Justice Campaign filed papers on Thursday in United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, asking Hon. Judge Algenon Marbley to begin criminal contempt proceedings for the destruction of ballots from the November 2004 election.

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign (OEJC) submitted over 1000 pages of supporting documents.

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Consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) — hailed since their inception in 2000 as a tool to help control costs — are resulting in members forgoing care and discontinuing drugs to treat chronic medical problems, according to two newly published studies.

Under employer-offered CDHPs, members pay up-front deductibles either out-of-pocket or from a dedicated health-care account before insurance coverage begins. Proponents — including President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain — argue that consumers in a market-oriented approach will make better health-care choices and drive health-care costs down by doing cost comparisons and accessing information about their conditions. Critics argue that people will instead opt out of important care.

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Leaders from politics, business, entertainment, the military; media, religion, law, academe, finance and non-profit and community organizations from throughout the country have already confirmed their intent to participate in a nationwide conference on Race and Reconciliation in America, to be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on July 24 and 25.

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As first reported on CNN’s situation room with Wolf Blitzer, a new website - www.PutHillaryOnTheTicket.com, has been launched urging the 18 million who voted for Hillary Clinton for president to sign an open letter to Barack Obama imploring him to put Hillary on the ticket as his vice-presidential nominee and pledging to actively support an Obama Hillary ticket.

The online petition reads as follows:
“We are 18 million strong who voted for Hillary Clinton for President. We know that Job 1 is winning against John McCain on November 4th. We firmly believe an Obama Hillary ticket is the very best way to defeat a 3rd bush term. We implore you in the strongest possible terms, and with the utmost urgency to put Hillary on the ticket as your vice-presidential nominee.

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President Bush’s call this week for Congress to end its decades-old ban on offshore oil and gas drilling has highlighted key differences in the big-oil platforms of presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Barak Obama and John McCain.

But when it comes to big-picture energy policies, Obama and McCain are similar in some ways but not others, suggests an environmental politics expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

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As the issue of torturing foreign suspects plays out in Washington and the news media, there is a little-known aspect of the torture issue that some would find surprising and hopefully alarming. These issues are being brought to light by Freedom from Covert Harassment and Surveillance (FFCHS). FFCHS, a human rights organization, whose membership is comprised of victims both in the US and internationally has retained attorney Jonathan Wilson to represent them in combating these issues. Most recently, Attorney Wilson has addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy requesting a hearing and congressional investigation into FFCHS allegations. These allegations include non-consensual experimentation with Directed Energy Weapons (DEW’s) and organized stalking perpetrated by the US military and other intelligence agencies, corporations, and teams of private citizens.

In March of 2008 FFCHS, in collaboration with Attorney Wilson, faced a challenging and ongoing crisis with compelling evidence pointing toward the need for governmental oversight and legislation that would protect targeted individuals against the use of DEW’s and organized stalking via covert surveillance. DEW’s are a class of military armaments that project sound and eight types of electromagnetic energy in the full spectrum - radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light, ultraviolet light, x rays, gamma rays, and cosmic waves. DEW’s function by manipulating sound and energy with various wavelengths and frequencies used in current military applications and for covert purposes intended to torture, induce auditory effects, and inflict internal injury to unwitting civilian targets. Currently, the US Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed by President Bush contradicts the International Declaration of Human Rights in that it sanctions inhumane treatment and torture. In a web of complex overlays there is no protection for victims. FFCHS believes that immediate intervention from Congress is imperative to achieve the goal of freedom from DEW abuses, unwarranted surveillance, organized stalking, and harassment. Attorney Wilson states, “Many citizens are desperate to be freed from the disturbing, intrusive and oppressive targeting.”

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