THE HEADLINES

(Photo from "Future of the Book" web site)

OCCUPY VERIZON: AMERICA’S LARGEST CELLPHONE COMPANY WILL START CHARGING CUSTOMERS TO PAY THEIR BILLS.

(CNET)

In the latest example of mind-numbing detachment from America’s corporate sector, Verizon announced on Thursday that it will immediately begin charging a $2 fee for customers that pay their bill online or over the phone with a credit or debit card. Vague justifications regarding higher card processing fees were given, but the company’s official response makes little sense given that Verizon customers enrolling in automatic credit card payments will not be subject to the price spike. With unemployment high and ages going down, Verizon users are voicing anger over the decision and many are threatening to dump the service as the comments section attached to this CNET story demonstrates. Verizon’s move is eerily similar to Bank of America’s ill-fated choice to impose vague $5 fees on debit card customers earlier this year, a controversial business decision that was eventually reversed after mass public outrage.

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WILL SYRIA BECOME LIBYA 2.0? U.S. LOOKS AT THEIR “OPTIONS” FOR MILITARY INTERVENTION.

(Foreign Policy Magazine)

Unrest has plagued Syria and the regime of Bashar al-Assad for months, but Western eyes have generally been turned to bigger targets; toppling Mubarak in Egypt and Gaddafi in Libya. That may not be the case for much longer, as violence in Syria escalates and outside intervention from groups like the Arab League is commenced. But the Obama administration, taunted by political criticism that they are “leading from behind” on the Syrian question, is giving every indication that they want in on the action in Damascus. Calling al-Assad and his regime a “dead man walking,” U.S. officials are prepping contingency plans and honing options for intervention in Syria that could replicate the NATO-coordinated campaign against Gaddafi’s Libya. For now, the administration is planning only to increase humanitarian aid and ramp up more passive assistance given to anti-regime fighters inside Syria. But if these actions fail to stop the “killing machine” of al Assad, more aggressive tactics are on the table.

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WITH NEARLY HALF OF CONGRESS MADE UP OF MILLIONAIRES, IT’S A NEW GILDED AGE ON CAPITOL HILL

(New York Times)

As Congress debates issues of taxation and inequality dredged up by public agitation over the “Occupy” protest movement, the lawmakers setting policy for the nation and driving the increase in income inequality are richer and more well-off than at any time in the nation’s history. Almost half the members of Congress are millionaires, and the wealth of those deep pockets in Washington have soared even as the greater economy tanked. The net worth of Congress jumped 15 percent from 2004 to 2010 even as the worth of average Americans plummeted by nearly 10 percent. Insulated from day-to-day pecuniary concerns and the lives of ordinary Americans, the congressional millionaires’ club has increasingly pursued policies that protect their wealth and the wealth of their fellow financial elite, as well as displaying an unwillingness to publicly discuss their own fiscal security. Only 18 members of Congress out of 534 contacted responded to the New York Times when asked to talk about their wealth and if they were impacted by the economic downturn.

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WHAT DOES THE 2010 BP OIL SPILL IN THE GULF AND “AMERICA’S MOST DESERVING MOM” HAVE IN COMMON? MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK...

(Fox

Controversy ensues following reports that detail how local governments in Florida’s Panhandle spent $30 million given them by BP for a tourism-promotion campaign following 2010′s disastrous Gulf oil spill. Concerned with how the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion would affect tourism, state officials pressed BP for funds to be used for advertising and local events aimed at boosting sagging tourism numbers. In exchange for the $30 million earmarked for tourism, Gov. Rick Scott and other state leaders walked away from a legal settlement that could have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate local businesses and pay for cleanup. Turns out that the BP money was mostly misused, being spent on government items not connected to the oil spill and expenses for questionable local events such as the “America’s Most Deserving Mom” contest in Okaloosa County and numerous poker events and fishing tournaments, all with negligible economic impact.

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