Chrysler’s Future, GMO Foods and the New Black Panter Party
A federal bankruptcy judge clears the way for Chrysler’s sale to Italian automaker Fiat.
The government of Zimbabwe bans the sale of genetically modified foods, despite widespread starvation.
The Justice Department drops a voter intimidation case originally brought by the Bush administration against members of the New Black Panther Party.
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1. BUSINESS
A federal bankruptcy judge clears the way for Chrysler’s sale to Italian automaker Fiat.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on how the Chrysler bailout was mismanaged:
“The federal government poured billions of dollars into Chrysler, which then went bankrupt and now is in the process of merging with Fiat. But Chrysler may never revive, thanks to absurdly generous compensation for the company’s union employees. The Obama Administration has refused to cut union wages substantially, though it had no compunction about ripping off the pension funds and other lenders who loaned money to Chrysler to try to keep it afloat. Even union members seem surprised by how little they were asked to sacrifice. (The Administration is also seeking to rip off GM bondholders to benefit the union).”
2. HEALTH
The government of Zimbabwe bans the sale of genetically-modified foods, despite widespread starvation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Gregory Conko on the safety of GM crops:
“Ever since the methods of gene-splicing were invented in 1973, dozens of major scientific organizations—including the UK’s Royal Society, the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, and the U.S. National Academy of Science—have investigated the potential risks of GM organisms and reached remarkably similar conclusions. The process of genetic modification is not inherently risky, they found, and genetically modified organisms do not pose new or unique risks compared to unmodified organisms or organisms modified in more conventional ways.”
3. LEGAL
The Justice Department drops a voter intimidation case originally brought by the Bush administration against members of the New Black Panther Party.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on how the Obama administration has politicized the Justice Department:
“In the 2008 campaign, Obama complained about the ‘politicization’ of the Justice Department. But he is guilty of it far more than Bush ever was. Obama’s Justice Department has rubberstamped unconstitutional legislation sought by Democratic lawmakers that even liberal Justice Department attorneys admit is unconstitutional. It has downplayed even egregious voter fraud and denials of the right to vote committed by black officials, chronicled in a ruling by a federal appeals court. And it has deliberately done little or nothing to remedy clear-cut violations of the voting rights of American soldiers overseas.”
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