The Banks Still Want a Waiver

HOW should banks atone for those foreclosure abuses — all the robo-signing and shoddy recordkeeping that jettisoned so many people from their homes?

It has been four months since a deal to remedy this mess was floated. Not much has happened since — at least not publicly.

Last week, banking executives and state attorneys general met in Washington to try to settle their differences. At issue was how much banks should pay, and how and to whom, to make this all go away. The initial terms, which emerged in March, were said to carry a $20 billion price tag.

But here is a crucial question: to what extent would such a settlement protect banks from future liability? Will the attorneys general strike a deal that effectively prevents them from bringing new, unrelated lawsuits against the banks?

How Hershey charity director fees rose to half a million

When Leroy S. Zimmerman was named in late 2002 to the board of the small state-chartered Pennsylvania bank that managed the assets of the Hershey charity for disadvantaged youth, the post paid about $35,000 a year and came with restrictions.

Governance reforms to take effect the next year would limit Zimmerman, a former attorney general and powerful Republican, to only that one fee-paying board in the Hershey charitable realm. But this would change. In June 2003, Mike Fisher, then the attorney general, ended the one-board limit.

Within four years, Zimmerman had added two additional fee-paying Hershey boards to his portfolio of responsibilities and his compensation soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For the tax year that ended July 31, 2010, Zimmerman, 76, earned $500,000 - for the second consecutive year. His total compensation on Hershey-related boards in less than a decade is $1.9 million.

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) -- Twenty dollars for a parking place wasn't going to ruin Ellen Majka's day at the beach. But she was still taken aback when she arrived at Rhode Island's popular Scarborough state beach and learned that parking fees had nearly doubled.

"It seems a little steep to me," said Majka, of Westfield, Mass. "Add in the price of gas and it starts to add up. But I didn't come two hours to turn back over $20."

As states and municipalities continue to grapple with the recession's fallout, few turned to big, noticeable tax hikes this year. Instead, they're slashing spending and turning to more modest, narrowly crafted increases in fees and fines -- nickel-and-diming their way to a balanced budget.

Rookie NDP MPs Say Predecessors Shredding Documents, Should Be Sharing

THE CANADIAN PRESS -- MONTREAL - Along with a comfy seat in the House of Commons, incoming New Democrat MPs say they've also inherited empty file folders and at least one cluster of shredded paper.

And, in another case, a rookie MP allegedly acquired a filing cabinet that was completely bare -- except for a sarcastic note that read: "Don't worry about it, it's all been recycled."

NDP MPs in Quebec say several of their predecessors from other parties destroyed constituent files after the election, instead of passing them along.

They say without these documents, there is an information vacuum about ongoing cases involving citizens in their ridings.

RCMP spied on noted literary scholar Northrop Frye: newly released files

OTTAWA - Canada's intelligence service spied on renowned literary scholar Northrop Frye, closely eyeing his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, an academic forum on China and efforts to end apartheid in South Africa.

Newly released archival records show the RCMP Security Service relied on a secret informant to help compile a 142-page file on the esteemed University of Toronto professor, who died in 1991 at age 78.

Every inch the owlish, bespectacled academic, Frye seems an unlikely counter-intelligence target.

But the Mounties, wary of anyone deemed influential among the burgeoning New Left, amassed hundreds of thousands of files during the Cold War — monitoring key institutions such as universities, the media, churches and political organizations.

Canada, natives locked in uneasy dance over self-governance

When asked by authorities to declare his citizenship at the Canada-U.S. border in Ontario, Leroy Hill will say, “North American Indian.” When pressed and asked where he resides, the sub-chief of the Iroquois Confederacy will point across the Niagara River and say, “I live on that side of your line,” and then submit his Iroquois passport.

Neither the words “Canadian” nor “American” will cross his lips. Never have, he said. Never will.

“We’ve never relinquished our sovereignty, we’ve been our own nation for centuries,” said Mr. Hill, of the Six Nations of Grand River, Canada’s largest band of 23,000, with more than half living on a reserve near Brantford, Ont. “We were raised that we’re not Canadian and we’re not American…. I would never carry a Canadian passport.”

Defeated MPs slow citizen cases by removing, shredding files, NDP says

Along with a comfy seat in the House of Commons, incoming New Democrat MPs say they've also inherited empty file folders and at least one cluster of shredded paper.

And, in another case, a rookie MP allegedly acquired a filing cabinet that was completely bare — except for a sarcastic note that read: “Don't worry about it, it's all been recycled.”

NDP MPs in Quebec say several of their predecessors from other parties destroyed constituent files after the election, instead of passing them along.

They say without these documents, there is an information vacuum about ongoing cases involving citizens in their ridings.

Obama administration, GOP clash over debt plan

With the clock ticking ever louder, Obama administration officials and congressional Republicans clashed anew Sunday over extending the nation's debt limit, with the White House threatening a veto if the government's borrowing authority is not extended through the next elections.

Even so, with an eye toward nervous financial markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the two sides seem to be making progress in their long-running debt battle and predicted they will avert a historic federal default.

“It's unthinkable that this country will not meet its obligations on time. It's just unthinkable. We never do that. It's not going to happen,” Mr. Geithner said.

Defeated MPs shredded files before new MPs arrived

MONTREAL — Along with a comfy seat in the House of Commons, incoming New Democrat MPs say they’ve also inherited empty file folders and at least one cluster of shredded paper.

And, in another case, a rookie MP allegedly acquired a filing cabinet that was completely bare — except for a sarcastic note that read: “Don’t worry about it, it’s all been recycled.”

NDP MPs in Quebec say several of their predecessors from other parties destroyed constituent files after the election, instead of passing them along.

They say without these documents, there is an information vacuum about ongoing cases involving citizens in their ridings.

Koch, Exxon Mobil Among Corporations Helping Write State Laws

Koch Industries Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) are among companies that would benefit from almost identical energy legislation introduced in state capitals from Oregon to New Mexico to New Hampshire -- and that’s by design.

The energy companies helped write the legislation at a meeting organized by a group they finance, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington-based policy institute known as ALEC.

The corporations, both ALEC members, took a seat at the legislative drafting table beside elected officials and policy analysts by paying a fee between $3,000 and $10,000, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News.

A pair of Toronto residents allege that Mayor Rob Ford violated municipal campaign finance laws during his 2010 election run and are requesting a compliance audit.

It’s the third request for a review of whether Mr. Ford followed the rules during his $1.3-million winning mayoral campaign. But Max Reed and Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler have gone to considerable lengths in their application, submitting a 17-page document that outlines their allegations after essentially conducting their own informal audit of Mr. Ford’s publicly released numbers. The audit request has been endorsed by York University professor Robert MacDermid, an expert on Ontario’s municipal campaign finance laws.

Winning Canada, losing Afghanistan

Yours and mine weren’t the hearts and minds Canadian soldiers were aiming for when they first landed in Kandahar amid the stratospherically high hopes of early 2002.

But as the last of our combat troops trickle home nearly a decade later, few would dispute it is Canada they won. Death by death, injury by injury, the hard slog of the longest war transformed not only the Canadian Forces, but the way Canadians see them.

Afghanistan remains, at best, an open question. At worst, a lost cause.

But the “new” Canadian army — bloodied, battle-hardened and better equipped than at any point since the Cold War — occupies the Canadian consciousness in a way old hands can’t remember since the 1950s.

Boehner's Market Signals? Did August 2nd Just Become Tomorrow?

Unbelievable.  The scripting of this high stakes drama between House Speaker John Boehner balancing the White House on one side and the never compromise, never surrender Tea Party on the other keeps getting better and better.

Reports have emerged that House Speaker Boehner told his caucus that their team needs to "provide a positive signal on a plan to avert a U.S. default by tomorrow." 

That's right, by the time markets in Asia open tomorrow.  That's right, Sunday in DC is pretty much Monday in Asia -- and the roller coaster of financial shocks could start if Boehner doesn't get his act together.

Instead of August 2nd being the debt default deadline, Boehner's tactics and now his statement to his own troops have created market expectations that will either be met -- or be disappointed, possibly creating a real sell-off in American treasuries.

Corporate Profits Boom In Second Quarter, While Jobs Remain A Bust

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Strong second-quarter earnings from McDonald's, General Electric and Caterpillar on Friday are just the latest proof that booming profits have allowed Corporate America to leave the Great Recession far behind.

But millions of ordinary Americans are stranded in a labor market that looks like it's still in recession. Unemployment is stuck at 9.2 percent, two years into what economists call a recovery. Job growth has been slow and wages stagnant.

"I've never seen labor markets this weak in 35 years of research," says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

Boehner Set To Call Obama's Bluff In Push For Short-Term Debt Ceiling Deal

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is set to call the Democratic Party's bluff on the debt ceiling. The Ohio Republican, in a briefing with his conference on Saturday, announced that he would press for a short-term deal, with major spending cuts paired with longer-term deficit-reduction strategies, as a way around the current impasse.

That strategy puts the speaker directly at odds with the White House and allied Democrats, who have insisted for weeks that they would not support a short-term extension of the debt ceiling. The president went so far as to dare House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to test his opposition to a temporary deal during a tense meeting more than a week ago.

Whether that rigidity will fade as the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling nears is a big gamble on Boehner's part.

'Super Congress': Debt Ceiling Negotiators Aim To Create New Legislative Body

WASHINGTON -- Debt ceiling negotiators think they've hit on a solution to address the debt ceiling impasse and the public's unwillingness to let go of benefits such as Medicare and Social Security that have been earned over a lifetime of work: Create a new Congress.

This "Super Congress," composed of members of both chambers and both parties, isn't mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but would be granted extraordinary new powers. Under a plan put forth by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation to lift the debt ceiling would be accompanied by the creation of a 12-member panel made up of 12 lawmakers -- six from each chamber and six from each party.