McCain Loan Raises Fed. Election Board Questions

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The government's top campaign finance regulator says John McCain can't drop out of the primary election's public financing system until he answers questions about a loan he obtained to kickstart his once faltering presidential campaign.

Federal Election Commission Chairman David Mason, in a letter to McCain this week, said the all-but-certain Republican nominee needs to assure the commission that he did not use the promise of public money to help secure a $4 million line of credit he obtained in November.

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Peace Sign Turns 50

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One of the most widely known symbols in the world, turns fifty this week. It was first displayed on home-made banners and badges in London on February 21, 1958, to mark the launching of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

The sign was later appropriated by scores of disparate protest movements, the US counter culture (which made it truly famous) and, because the designer has refused to copyright the symbol, by scores of marketers and advertisers. For reasons unknown the peace sign has resonated like no other and it's now, at fifty, one of the most widely recognized symbols in the world.

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Bulletproof Host Keeps Wikileaks Up

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Wikileaks, the whistleblower resource that a federal judge in California ordered shut down last week, remains mostly available online almost a week after the injunction was issued, thanks in part to the efforts of PRQ (prq.se), its Sweden-based hosting company that was not so quick to comply with the takedown notices it received from lawyers.

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New Links for WikiLeaks

Click here for WikiLeaks' other websites

US Banks Quietly Borrow $50bn from Fed

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US banks have been quietly borrowing massive amounts of money from the Federal Reserve in recent weeks by using a new measure the Fed introduced two months ago to help ease the credit crunch.

The use of the Fed's Term Auction Facility, which allows banks to borrow at relatively attractive rates against a wider range of their assets than previously permitted, saw borrowing of nearly $50bn (£26bn) of one-month funds from the Fed by mid-February.

US officials say the trend shows that financial authorities have become far more adept at channelling liquidity into the banking system to alleviate financial stress, after failing to calm money markets last year.

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U.S. Leaves Holes in Texas-Mexico Border Wall

From DemocracyNow.org
The Department of Homeland Security is coming under criticism over where it’s building a new border wall between Texas and Mexico. According to the Texas Observer, the Bush administration is suing many poor landowners along the border in an effort to force them to give up property for the eighteen-foot steel and concrete wall. But at the same the time, the Department of Homeland Security is leaving large gaps in the wall to avoid building the wall on the property of wealthy residents. In the small town of Granjeno, the wall abruptly ends at the property of Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt, whose family runs Hunt Oil. Hunt is a close friend of President Bush and serves on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Court Limits Suits Over Medical Devices

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WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it harder for consumers to sue manufacturers of federally approved medical devices.

In an 8-1 decision, the court ruled against the estate of a patient who suffered serious injuries when a catheter burst during a medical procedure.

The case has significant implications for the $75 billion-a-year health care technology industry, whose products range from heart valves to toothbrushes.

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