Poor Mojo's Newswire

THE communications regulator has been forced to change its internal processes after the address of a prohibited anti-abortion web page in its top-secret blacklist was widely distributed on the internet. The move comes after the Australian Communications and Media Authority threatened a fine of up to $11,000 a day against a web host for displaying the banned web page link. The host supplies services to popular internet community website Whirlpool. The problem began on January 5 when a Melbourne internet user, known online as Foad, complained to ACMA about "offensive content" on an anti-abortion web page (not the entire website). Two weeks later ACMA replied, confirming the web page contained prohibited or potentially prohibited content. ACMA's response contained the link to the offending web page, which soon found its way to various blogs and forums, including Whirlpool. ACMA has since learned from its mistake. "ACMA has modified its replies to complainants to omit the URLs of prohibited content and potential prohibited content," a spokesman said.

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian engineer who held his daughter Elisabeth captive in an underground prison for 24 years, today admitted he was responsible for the death of one of the seven children he fathered with her. In a shock move on the third day of his trial, the 73-year-old calmly pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, including negligent homicide and enslavement. He had already admitted four of the charges against him: incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment.

Apart from AIG's sophistry is a much larger point. This sordid story of government helplessness in the face of massive taxpayer commitments illustrates better than anything to date why the government should take over any institution that's "too big to fail" and which has cost taxpayers dearly. Such institutions are no longer within the capitalist system because they are no longer accountable to the market. So to whom should they be accountable? When taxpayers have put up, and essentially own, a large portion of their assets, AIG and other behemoths should be accountable to taxpayers. When our very own Secretary of the Treasury cannot make stick his decision that AIG's bonuses should not be paid, only one conclusion can be drawn: AIG is accountable to no one. Our democracy is seriously broken.

UPDATE: Cumo subpoenas AIG for executive bonus details "New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued a subpoena to American International Group Inc. seeking a list with the names of executives receiving bonuses," reported Albany Business Review. "'We had given AGI up to 4 o'clock today to provide the information on the latest round of bonuses that they paid out,' Cuomo said. 'Four o'clock has come and gone.'" "During a conference call with reporters, Cuomo said the subpoena had been issued 'as we speak.'" "In the letter to AIG's CEO Edward Liddy, Cuomo said he was disturbed to learn over the weekend of AIG’s plans to pay millions of dollars to members of the Financial Products subsidiary through it’s Financial Products Retention Plan."