David A. Love, JD
Black Commentator Editorial Board
With his speech at Cairo University, President Obama has laid the groundwork, potentially, for a new era of peace in the Mideast.  Israeli officials are now realizing that they will have to accept a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.  Meanwhile, there is an indication that the President’s [...]

by Clive Betts and Cambria Politico
For the Liberal Democrats, the European votes looked a disaster, and one must wonder whether the party has much future in Wales, writes Clive Betts from the National Assembly press gallery.
Before the poll, the party was confident about winning the fourth seat; in the event, the Lib Dems came 14,000 votes [...]

by The Reverend Dr. Brit Minshall
President Obama addressed the Turkish parliament in the most diplomatic of terms concerning “the terrible events of the past,” an accepted reference to the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Turkish forces.  Morning Edition (April 11) reminded us that candidate Obama was quick to identify this [...]

by Carl Bloice
 
Michael T. Darda, chief economist at the research and trading firm MKM Partners, probably summed up last week’s message from Washington best, telling the New York Times, “Less bad is always a prelude to good.”
The things one learns.
We are being asked to believe that the results of the “stress tests” were “not as bad as [...]

by Chisun Lee, ProPublica
 
A stockpile of documents about hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees, some written by the prisoners themselves, could be destroyed under a little-known provision of a federal court order the Bush administration obtained in 2004.
For four years, records in the prisoners’ habeas corpus lawsuits challenging the legality of their detentions have been piling up [...]

by Ben Protess, ProPublica - 
The list of banks joining the Obama administration’s foreclosure relief program is growing—and so is the cost.
So far, the Treasury Department has committed more than $13 billion to 11 loan servicers participating in Making Home Affordable, the administration’s plan to modify mortgages for people on the verge of losing their homes. The servicers include [...]

 
by Paul Kiel, ProPublica
We’ve been working hard over the past six months to keep tabs on the billions flowing from the Treasury Department. But as the government’s response to the financial crisis has grown and scattered, it’s gotten harder and harder to lay it all out for readers.
The site we’re unveiling today will hopefully make all that a [...]

 
by Alexandra Andrews, ProPublica
Looking for a new job? Mortgage scammers have found a lucrative market in New York City: Prosecutors there tell the New York Times that mortgage fraud runs little risk of arrest while raking in big rewards. Officials at several New York district attorneys’ offices acknowledge that many fraud cases evade prosecution, “saying they lack the staff [...]

by Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica
 
Perchlorate, a hazardous chemical in rocket fuel, has been found at potentially dangerous levels in powdered infant formula, according to a study  by a group of Centers for Disease Control scientists. The study, published last month by The Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, has intensified the years-long debate about whether or how the [...]

by Ben Protess, ProPublica
 
Yesterday was a bad day to be a Blagojevich.
Four months after Rod Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges, the ousted Illinois governor and his brother, Rob, were indictedby a federal grand jury in a wide-ranging scheme to “deprive the people of Illinois of honest government,” prosecutors said.
In total, the ex-governor faces 16 felony counts (PDF), [...]