Every four years, we are treated to the spectacle of journalists and moderators asking tough, pointed questions of presidential candidates, only to have the candidates completely ignore the questions and launching into their pre-planned talking points. And every four years, corporate spokespeople wonder -- is that how...
Corrupt politicians are often blamed for economic ills, particularly in less developed economies. Using a loan-level data set containing all corporate loans in Pakistan between 1996 and 2002, we investigate political corruption in banking. Classifying a firm as "Political" if its director participates in an election, we examine the extent,...
(22min 11) Are we running head long into an energy emergency? The future of oil supplies seems to be the agenda item that politicians and corporations have chosen to ignore. On today's BTalk Australia, Ian Dunlop, Deputy Convenor of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak...
According to social media analyst Charlene Li, selling a product is much like selling a candidate. The best approach is tap into your core group of supporters, empower them to evangelize on your behalf and then let go! Li says that the rise of social networks has impacted the way...
"OUTLIERS" ARE not politicians who lie even more than other politicians. It is a term used by statisticians to describe some data that are far away from the average -- data on seven-foot women or freezing temperatures in Los Angeles, for example. "Outliers" is also the...
George Hawkins (Readers' Forum, Dec. 30) suggests that judges should be replaced by farmers. This conflict of interest was foreseen by our founding fathers. The jury was to be the deciding power in the courts. Lawyers and judges have watered down the power of the jury for their benefit. When...
CHICAGO -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's choice of a veteran black politician to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat could be a shrewd move, potentially helping win over black lawmakers eyeing his impeachment and perhaps even jurors in his corruption case. But is the appointment enough...
Ten years after its launch the single currency is riding high - but recession hasn't quelled the doubters, reports John Lichfield Catherine, a greengrocer in a small Norman town, has all her prices marked in euros and nothing but euros. Ten years after the creation of...
Britain in brief STUDENT DEATH A German politicians son was found dead in Edinburgh on Christmas Eve. Stephan Bisky, 23, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, is the son of Lothar Bisky, joint leader of Germanys Left Party. Mr Bisky moved to the city...
WHEN YOU read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual-Carnage-Responsibility-Back-To-Front- Upside-Down-Massacre-Disorder". For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more...
Judicial Watch, the public interest groupthat investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its2008 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list,in alphabetical order, includes: Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY): Let's start with the fact that HillaryClinton is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Secretary of State inthe...
WASHINGTON — Peter Hart, the veteran and highly respected Democratic pollster, talks almost reverentially about the political benefits that accrue to politicians from an association with Barack Obama. Nearness to the president-elect, he says, is worth at least 5 percentage points to any aspiring candidate. It is an illusion of...
At an early November rally before a parking lot full of bright- eyed canvassers, Chris Koster stands shoulder to shoulder with Jay Nixon and addresses the crowd. "My job is to fly under Jay's wing," he said, his voice booming over the audio system despite a...
At an early November rally before a parking lot full of bright- eyed canvassers, Chris Koster stands shoulder to shoulder with Jay Nixon and addresses the crowd. "My job is to fly under Jay's wing," he said, his voice booming over the audio system despite a...
Before you rush to judgement on the iniquity of Israel's lethal air strikes on the Gaza Strip - your own judgement, not a judgement borrowed from flailing politicians or vocal lobbyists for either side - could you answer one question. Have you ever been to Israel? I don't mean have...
AUSTRALIA: A proposed internet filter dubbed the Great Aussie Firewall which will make the country one of the strictest internet regulators among democratic countries has been criticised by consumers, civil rights activists, engineers and opposition politicians. The mandatory filter would block at least 1,300 websites banned by the government, mostly...
I'm really becoming weary of celebrities, politicians, specialists and pundits of all sorts who want to control the masses to further their own power grabs and financial agendas. Just who is this Robert Redford guy to build a monstrosity in the canyons and ruin that area, then...
The Pinole City Council made a foolish political decision to rehire Belinda Espinosa. When Espinosa was released 18 months ago, that council action prompted "the recall," which the Times opposed. Enter interim City Manager Charles Long, who quickly exposed glaring deficiencies in Redevelopment Agency...
PETER HART, the veteran and highly respected Democratic pollster, talks almost reverentially about the political benefits that accrue to politicians from an association with Barack Obama. Nearness to the president elect, he says, is worth at least 5 percentage points to any aspiring candidate. It is an illusion of near...
* Pre-election violence injures 85 supporters as political rivals trade accusations of corruption and vote-rigging ONE is a greying 63-year-old former prime minister whose husband, then the country's ruler, was assassinated by his political opponents. The other is a greying 61-year-old former prime minister whose father,...
