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Boston bomb victims who cash survivor checks lose state health insurance

“Months after the Boston Marathon bombing, J.P. Norden is still recovering from losing his leg, but he can’t cash a $1.2 million check provided to survivors because he would lose his state health insurance for the poor. Norden, and his brother Paul, both had legs amputated and received identical checks as part of the $60 million being distributed by One Fund charity. They told The Washington Post that they are very aware they would quickly use up the $1.2 million with their ongoing medical expenses.” Continue reading →

Government tax advisor quits after tape reveals him giving tips on avoidance

“A tax advisor to the British government was forced to resign after he was secretly filmed giving advice on how to avoid paying tax, officials said on Saturday. David Heaton was recorded by undercover BBC reporters at a London conference explaining to companies how to keep their money out of finance minister George Osborne’s ‘grubby mitts’. Two months later, he started work on a panel advising the revenue ministry, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), on how to tackle abuse of the tax rules, according to the BBC. A spokeswoman for HMRC confirmed that Heaton had resigned to preserve the integrity of the panel.” Continue reading →

White House leans on industry for bottled water push

“First Lady Michelle Obama is launching her new Drink Up initiative at an event Thursday in Watertown, Wisconsin. According to the White House, the American Beverage Association and International Bottled Water Association are both promoting the effort. The two associations are the major lobbying forces inside the Beltway for both the bottled water and beverage association. According to the visitor’s logs, one of the American Beverage Association’s lobbyists, Susan Neely, visited the White House several times. The American Beverage Association is a lobbying heavyweight that has spent $680,000 so far in 2013. The bottled water association has spent $60,000 so far in 2013.” Continue reading →

Elizabeth Warren says Janet Yellen a ‘terrific’ choice to succeed Bernanke

“Rebel Democrats on Monday threw their weight behind a growing campaign for Janet Yellen to take over the US Federal Reserve, as their successful revolt against White House pick Larry Summers emboldened those calling for tougher policy toward Wall Street. Investors were betting that Yellen would look more favorably on the continuation of the Fed’s massive financial stimulus programme, known as quantitative easing (QE). Yellen has backed Bernanke in his plans to extend the $85bn-a-month bond-buying programme that is aimed at stimulating the economy and keeping interest rates down. Summers had been perceived as being more critical.” Continue reading →

Bruce Schneier: Surreptitiously Tampering with Computer Chips

“The paper talks about several uses for this type of sabotage, but the most interesting — and devastating — is to modify a chip’s random number generator. This technique could, for example, reduce the amount of entropy in Intel’s hardware random number generator from 128 bits to 32 bits. This could be done without triggering any of the built-in self-tests, without disabling any of the built-in self-tests, and without failing any randomness tests. I have no idea if the NSA convinced Intel to do this with the hardware random number generator it embedded into its CPU chips, but I do know that it could. Yes, this is a conspiracy theory. But I’m not willing to discount such things anymore.” Continue reading →

The 7 Choices Left to the Military-Industrial Complex

“Since 2002 the US government has presided over one of the most dramatic financial bubbles of all time: the bubble of the military-industrial complex. This bubble, like all others, will pop, and it looks to be deflating right now. The amounts of money that have been spent in the past decade can only be characterized as obscene. In addition to the military complex, we have a massive intelligence complex. Not only that, but we also have a massive law enforcement complex. The Department of Homeland Security has given them at least $34 Billion in the past several years, on top of their take from local taxes, state taxes, fines, seizures, and other Fed money.” Continue reading →

Government consumer credit card data-mining program challenged

“Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials are seeking to monitor four out of every five U.S. consumer credit card transactions this year — up to 42 billion transactions – through a controversial data-mining program, according to documents obtained by the Washington Examiner. In addition, CFPB officials hope to monitor up to 95 percent of all mortgage transactions, according to the planning document. CFPB Director Richard Cordray defended the data-mining practice and said his agency is monitoring credit card usage at 110 banks, including Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, Discover and American Express.” Continue reading →

Google Street View driver in triple hit and run crash in Indonesia

“A driver collecting video data for internet giant Google’s Street View feature in Indonesia slammed into two vehicles after trying to flee responsibility for an earlier crash, police said Saturday. The Indonesian man had been driving a Subaru hatchback in Bogor district on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday with Google’s logo and a camera poking from the roof, when he hit a public minivan. The minivan driver got in his vehicle, Gunawan said, and gave chase for around three kilometres (around two miles), before the Google car smashed into a second minivan. ‘He tried to flee again, but soon crashed into a parked truck before he gave up,’ Gunawan said.” Continue reading →