Alex More, a law student in Austin, recently shopped at Whole Foods to load up on sprouted oatmeal, almond milk, and flavored flax crackers. "It's health food that I couldn't get at a normal big supermarket," he says.
On the front page of its business section today, the Washington Post reported on the arrests of 38 people in South Florida who are accused of defrauding Medicare offor $142 million in a series of scams in which the federal government was charged for services and equipments that were never actually ordered.
What, do the GOP presidential candidates think that Democrats are going to make it easy on them? In a nonbinding vote, the Democratic-controlled House voted this week in favor of some of the Bush tax cuts–such as the 10 percent tax bracket, marriage penalty relief, and child tax credits–so that they don't expire at the end of 2010 as they are now scheduled to do. Other tax cuts, such as the 2003 investment tax cuts (capital gains and dividends) and the 2001 cuts in marginal tax rates, are still on the chopping block. In other words, the Dems are latching on to the most populist, politically easiest-to-defend tax cuts and then advocating higher taxes for wealthier Americans to pay for new spending programs. Expect more or less the same strategy from the Democratic presidential candidates.
AP - Worried Congress' support for Iraq is deteriorating rapidly, Baghdad dispatched senior officials to Capitol Hill this week to warn members one-on-one that pulling out U.S. troops would have disastrous consequences.
AP - A wildfire burned several homes on the edge of Santa Catalina Island's main city Thursday as residents and visitors fled the resort isle more than 20 miles off the Southern California coast.
AP - North and South Korea adopted a military agreement Friday enabling the first train crossing of their heavily armed border in more than a half-century, the South's Defense Ministry said.
President Bush might not get a chance to follow through on his vow to veto a House-passed $96 billion war spending bill that would tie war funding past July to a progress report. The House's 221-205 approval on Thursday sends the bill to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future as Republican and Democratic leaders try to work out a compromise with the White House.
Stocks tumbled Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrial average giving up nearly 150 points one session after ending at an all-time high, as investors eyed higher oil prices, weak economic news and lackluster April retail sales.
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