Saturday, April 30, 2005
Conscientious Objector status for Army Sgt. Kevin Benderman denied
By Robert S. Finnegan
Managing Editor
Southeast Asia News
April 29, 2005 - Wednesday at Ft. Stewart Georgia, U.S. Army Sergeant Kevin Benderman was dealt a setback in his battle with the U.S. Army when his application for Conscientious Objector (CO) status was denied by his command.
Benderman applied for CO status after having already served one combat tour in Iraq during which his captain ordered personnel in the unit to fire on Iraqi children throwing rocks. This was one of many 
incidents during his deployment that Benderman said convinced him that war is immoral and it is his duty to refuse to kill.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has pronounced the war in Iraq illegal and recent polls show a significant decline in American and British public support for continuing what majorities in both countries now believe is a lost cause. Both administrations have been battered recently over revelations regarding non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Iraqi civilian casualties, torture allegations, missing funds, American casualty counts and aggressive recruiting practices targeting disadvantaged youths.
There has also been a recent surge in complaints from both active duty and Iraq war veterans, who are now going public with their stories. In addition, recent police actions targeting protesters at anti-war rallies, reminiscent of the Vietnam War demonstrations, have outraged the public and threaten to unleash a wave of lawsuits against both local and federal law enforcement personnel.
Benderman is also being charged with Desertion and Missing a Movement under Articles 85 and 87 of the UCMJ. His court-martial is scheduled for May 11 at Ft. Stewart, with a heavy worldwide media presence expected to cover the trial. read more...
Alabama Bill Targets Gay Authors
Books by Tennessee Williams, Alice Walker, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote and others would be banned under an Alabama bill being considered.
MONTGOMERY, Ala., April 27, 2005
A college production tells the story of Matthew Sheppard, a student beaten to death because he was gay.
And soon, it could be banned in Alabama.
Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.
"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."
Books by any gay author would have to go: Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" has lesbian characters.
Allen originally wanted to ban even some Shakespeare. After criticism, he narrowed his bill to exempt the classics, although he still can't define what a classic is. Also exempted now Alabama's public and college libraries. read more...
Friday, April 29, 2005
How Far Will The Army Go to Enlist New Recruits?
Apr 28, 2005 9:59 pm US/Mountain
How far will U.S. Army recruiters go to bring young men and women into their ranks? An Arvada West High School senior recently decided to find out. The following is CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger's report..
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) -- Last month the U.S. Army failed to meet its goal of 6,800 new troops.
Aware of this trend, David McSwane, a local high school student, decided he wanted to find out to what extent some recruiters would go to sign up soldiers who were not up to grade.
McSwane, 17, is actually just the kind of teenager the military would like. He's a high school journalist and honor student at Arvada West High School. But McSwane decided he wanted to see "how far the Army would go during a war to get one more solider."
McSwane contacted his local army recruiting office in Golden with a scenario he created. He told a recruiter that he was a dropout and didn't have a high school diploma.
"No problem," the recruiter explained. He suggested that McSwane create a fake diploma from a non-existent school.
McSwane recorded the recruiter saying that on the phone.
"It can be like Faith Hill Baptist School or something -- whatever you choose," the recruiter said.
As instructed, McSwane went on the computer to a Web site and for $200 arranged to have a phony diploma created that certified him as a graduate of Faith Hill Baptist High School, the very name the recruiter suggested. It came complete with a fake grade transcript.
"What was your reaction to them encouraging you to get a phony diploma?" CBS4's Rick Sallinger asked.
"I was shocked," McSwane said. "I'm sitting there looking at a poster that says 'Integrity, Honor, Respect' and he is telling me to lie."
McSwane also pretended he had a drug problem when he spoke with the recruiter.
The Army does not accept enlistees with drug problems.
"I have a problem with drugs," McSwane said, referring to the conversation he had with the recruiter. "I can't kick the habit ... just marijuana."
"[The recruiter] said 'Not a problem,' just take this detox ... he said he would pay half of it ... told me where to go." read more...
Full Interview With Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur
(8 Minute Video)
(click here to download quicktime)
Thursday, April 28, 2005
More evidence of Saudi doubletalk?
Judge caught on tape encouraging Saudis to fight in Iraq
By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 7:28 p.m. ET April 26, 2005
WASHINGTON - Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan, seen in video seated to the right of the crown prince, is chief justice of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Council. His sermons and words carry great significance.
In an audiotape secretly recorded at a government mosque last October and obtained by NBC News, Luhaidan encourages young Saudis to go to Iraq to wage war against Americans.
"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Luhaidan in Arabic on the tape.
He warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders. But he says going is religiously permissible.
"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.
The sheik also says those donating money to the fight in Iraq should be sure it actually helps the cause.
"This statement shows the real face of the Saudi government," says Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed of the Saudi Institute, based in Washington. read more...
About the game
After creating Montage-a-google, several people wrote to me suggesting I make a game based on the same technology. Montage-a-google is a simple web app that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user. Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking the keywords for you, the player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it's surprisingly addictive.
The game requires version 7 of the Flash player or higher to run, you can get the latest version here.
I hope you enjoy the game, happy guessing!
Please note: Although Guess-the-google uses images retrieved using Google's image search it is in no way associated with or endorsed by Google Inc.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Rally at Schatzi's
Today I attended a rally at Schatzi's on Main restaurant in Santa Monica, owned by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to protest the CSU budget cuts. There was aboout 100 or so students who attended. They made everyone wear caps and gowns that were provided by the organizers. We chanted slogans such as "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! We say Arnold has got to go!" and "Arnie, Arnie you can't hide We can see your corporate side." This event was organized by the California Faculty Association.
Sign the petition that is circulating through the faculty on every CSU campus that will encourage the governor to increase state funding for the CSU's 2005/06 budget.
Click here for a few more pix from today's rally.
Update: Two reporter's from my school's newspaper, The Daily Titan, have written up a good story that made the front page of today's paper.
Half the country thinks Bush fibbed on WMDs
Before a Senate commission revealed that the Bush administration's claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was "dead wrong," the public preferred to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt. According to a Gallup poll released today, that's no longer the case: Fully 50 percent of Americans now believe the Bush administration deliberately misled them on the issue of Iraqi WMDs.
Gallup also reported that a majority of Americans, 54 percent, disapprove of the way Bush is handling the state of affairs in Iraq, while 43 percent approve of his leadership. That's a significant change from three months ago, when 50 percent approved of Bush's job performance with regard to the war.
If Americans had any further questions about the WMD threat used to justify the war, the government's Iraq Survey Group put them to rest today with an announcement that its hunt for Iraq's elusive WMDs has ended empty-handed. Last week, another Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans, 53 percent, now believe the Iraq war was "not worth it."
Will the public's growing opposition to the Iraqi occupation have an effect on the Bush administration? Probably not, according to Gallup's editor in chief Frank Newport. He commented to Editor and Publisher that "although a majority of the public began to think the Vietnam war was a mistake in the summer of 1968, the United States did not pull out of Vietnam for more than five years, after thousands of more American lives were lost."
-- Julia Scott
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
New Shirt New Tie Tuesday!
 A U.S. soldier of the 3rd Brigade, 66th Regiment, of the 4th Infantry Division guards an underground ammunition storage bunker near Tikrit, Iraq, on Sept. 1, 2003. U.S. forces found ample supplies of conventional weapons such as these, but no weapons of mass destruction. The Associated Press Updated: 9:24 p.m. ET April 25, 2005 WASHINGTON - In his final word, the CIAs top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has gone as far as feasible and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion. After more than 18 months, the WMD investigation and debriefing of the WMD-related detainees has been exhausted, wrote Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, in an addendum to the final report he issued last fall. "As matters now stand, the WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible." In 92 pages posted online Monday evening, Duelfer provides a final look at an investigation that occupied over 1,000 military and civilian translators, weapons specialists and other experts at its peak. His latest addenda conclude a roughly 1,500-page report released last fall. On Monday, Duelfer said there is no purpose in keeping many of the detainees who are in custody because of their knowledge on Iraqs weapons, although he did not provide any details about the current number. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ultimate decision on their release will be made by the Iraqi authorities. read more... |
Dear CALPIRG supporter,
College students are going deeper in debt and working longer hours to pay for school. Their parents are feeling the same pressures.
Financial aid is the only way for some families to afford a college education. That's why it's so troubling that 70,000 eligible students did not receive a need-based Cal Grant last year because of the bureaucratic application process. We're working to pass a bill, AB 1241 (Mathews), which would simplify the application process so that all financially eligible students receive the financial aid they need. The bill faces important votes in the California Assembly next week.
Please take a moment to ask your Assemblymember to support the passage of AB 1241. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this link to them.
To take action, click on this link:
http://calpirg.org/CA.asp?id=403&id4=ESGovernor's team and Democrats may find common ground.
By Andy Furillo -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 20, 2005
The Schwarzenegger administration and Democrats are discussing a possible compromise to the governor's teacher merit pay proposal that would offer incentives to lure good teachers into the state's worst schools.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called the idea "combat pay." It is terminology that makes some educators cringe, but it is a concept that the governor's opponents also view as possible middle ground in the debate over teacher compensation.
Merit pay for teachers, instead of step raises, was one of four key areas Schwarzenegger outlined in his call for overhauling state government this year. But some political experts see the issue as generating little enthusiasm on the streets among those gathering signatures for a ballot initiative - and one that could be destined for a gubernatorial dumping.
"(Merit pay) doesn't seem to be getting anyone's attention," Republican political strategist Tony Quinn said. "You can see it going away, unless they want to spend a whole lot of money to put it on the ballot, and you get the sense it's something that can be worked out in the Legislature."
...
One scenario would have Schwarzenegger drop the merit pay initiative, assuming it qualifies for a special election he's considering for November, and work with legislative leaders to fashion what the governor has called the "combat pay" plan.
"If the teachers perform well, and if they can raise the grades and improve education of our children, (I proposed) that we should offer them more money, and we should offer them bonuses," Schwarzenegger said in a March 7 interview on Fox News. "Or combat pay for teachers that go into the inner-city schools - we should offer them more money because it's dangerous to be there and it's difficult to teach. We want to attract the best teachers to our inner-city schools." read more...
Monday, April 25, 2005
Former RSA Chief Faults Consolidation
Monday, April 25, 2005; Page A17
Joanne Wilson, who left her job as commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration on March 1, now says she quit in protest of what she said were the administration's largely unnoticed efforts to gut the office's funding and staffing.
"Programs for people with disabilities are being dismantled, and nobody is crying out and saying, 'Look what's happening,' " said Wilson, who, as RSA commissioner, was one of the government's highest-ranking disabled officials.
Michael Moore sets up scholarship at school that canceled his talk
(04-20) 15:44 PDT San Marcos, Calif. (AP) --
Filmmaker Michael Moore has established a scholarship for students who defy the administration at California State University, San Marcos â the same school that canceled his talk last year.
The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship will award two $2,500 annual scholarships to Cal State San Marcos students "who have done the most to fight for issues of student rights by standing up to the administration," according to a news release issued Wednesday.
The first scholarships will be awarded in the 2005-2006 academic year. Winners will be announced in June.
Cal State San Marcos President Karen Hynes revoked Moore's invitation to speak on campus last fall because she said the school was prohibited from spending state money on partisan political activity. Hynes said she did not believe there would be enough time to find a speaker whose opinions could balance Moore's liberal views.
A call to Hynes' office was referred to Cal State San Marcos spokesman Rick Moore, who has no relation to the filmmaker and said he did not wish to discuss the merits of the scholarship that encourages students to stand up to administrators.
"Mr. Moore has the right to do whatever he wishes to do and we're glad to see another scholarship available to students who go to our school," he said.
In October 2004, the "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker spoke to 10,000 people off campus at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, where he announced his plans to start what he called a "hellraiser" scholarship.
A "volunteer" police state
Why were we forced out of Bush's Social Security talk? And why won't the White House identify that fake Secret Service agent who stopped us?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Leslie Weise
April 25, 2005 | Just over a month has passed since two friends and I were forced out of President Bush's town hall-style "conversation" in Denver about privatizing Social Security. Despite the support we have received from elected officials in our request for answers from the White House regarding this incident, Karen Bauer, Alex Young and I still await a satisfactory explanation of why our First Amendment rights were violated.
I did not vote for Bush in the last election, but I was looking forward to participating in this historic occasion. It would be my first time in the presence of a sitting president, and I wanted to hear more about his plans to alter the Social Security system.
At the entrance to the March 21 event, a man wearing an earpiece and lapel pin was presented to us as a Secret Service agent. After Karen and I were told that we had been "ID'd," this man threatened us with arrest several times before stepping aside and allowing us to enter. (I asked if I was on some sort of list but received no response.) Before I'd had much chance to worry about what it meant to be ID'd by the Secret Service, the man with the earpiece was back to demand that we leave. read more...
John Bolton: The Anti-Diplomat
Tell senators to oppose his nomination
John Bolton has spent his career bashing international organizations. Now the Bush administration wants him to be UN Ambassador and American credibility is in jeopardy.
Friday, April 22, 2005
In your face, Earth Day
The House greenlights an environment-choking energy bill just in time for Earth Day. Why aren't more enviro groups rallying to plant trees and stop Bush?
By Amanda Griscom Little
April 22, 2005 | On the eve of the 35th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the House of Representatives has passed a grossly porkified energy bill that doles out billions in subsidies to fossil-fuel industries, shortchanges alternative energy and efficiency initiatives, and indemnifies makers of the gasoline additive MTBE against liability for groundwater contamination. And this time the bill may actually have a chance of passing in the Senate, perhaps as early as next month, after years of stalemate.
This and other dismal news rolling off Capitol Hill of late would seem good reason to make Earth Day 2005 a revolt, not a celebration. Yet when Muckraker searched high and low for organizers of big, spirited, on-the-ground protests, we found little resembling the kind of mutiny the political moment would seem to demand.
The biggest collaborative D.C.-based event in the works is -- drumroll please -- a press briefing. On Thursday morning, legislative experts from 11 major national environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters, will discuss the energy bill for an audience of journalists. Not exactly a cri de coeur.
Separately, the League of Conservation Voters is sponsoring a campaign with the catchy slogan "Plant Trees, Stop Bush."It's essentially a fundraising effort asking folks to send in $40 "in honor of Earth Day and to protest the Bush administration's abysmal record on the environment." In return, contributors get a white oak sapling. read more...
The pontiff formerly known as Joseph Ratzinger may have succeeded in swaying Catholics toward George W. Bush in last year's election when he wrote a letter urging U.S. bishops to deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights. But as the Chicago Sun Times notes this morning, Kerry, a lifelong Catholic, is making nice with the new pope -- at least sort of. In a statement on the selection of Ratzinger, Kerry said: "The election of a new pope is a great moment of hope, renewal and possibility for the Catholic Church."
-- Tim Grieve
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
| John Bolton: The Anti-Diplomat |
 | Support Our Soldiers, Expand the Army |
 | Give HOPE to College Students |
 | Stop Genocide, Secure Peace in Darfur |
 |
|
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.
Several U.S. officials defended the abrupt decision, saying the methodology the National Counterterrorism Center used to generate statistics for the report may have been faulty, such as the inclusion of incidents that may not have been terrorism.
Last year, the number of incidents in 2003 was undercounted, forcing a revision of the report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism."
But other current and former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.
"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who was among the leading critics of last year's mix-up, reacted angrily to the decision.
"This is the definitive report on the incidence of terrorism around the world. It should be unthinkable that there would be an effort to withhold it - or any of the key data - from the public. The Bush administration should stop playing politics with this critical report." read more...
Today in Salon
Saturday April 16, 2005
When a WMD isn't a WMD
The Justice Department indicts three men for conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States. But what's a WMD?
Tim Grieve
Going nuclear in the war on the faithful
With his finger on the button and an eye on his presidential hopes, Bill Frist aligns himself with the religious right.
Tim Grieve
You have been pre-approved
Amid all the talk about bankruptcy abusers, why are the credit card companies flooding bankrupt Americans with offers for new cards?
Tim Grieve
The executioner's swan song
Reflecting growing national unease with the ultimate punishment, New York strikes down its death penalty law.
By Emily Schmall
Anti-Arnold
A new poll shows that more and more Californians disapprove of their governor. And his wife wants him back home
By Dan Glaister
Friday, April 15, 2005
One Fingered Salute
Thursday, April 14, 2005
i promise this is last blog post for the day.
all of these news stories concern wal-mart, who is always in the news for it's shady business practices. after a wal-mart store in
...that's it. last (wal-mart) post of the day! heh.
...for all of you mario bros. geeks out there who can't get enough of that classic nintendo game console... i present to you nintendo a cappella!
another great find courtesy of blogsnow.com.
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
here are my results:
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 70% General American English |
| 20% Yankee |
| 10% Dixie |
| 0% Midwestern |
| 0% Upper Midwestern |
i forwarded this link to joy who seems to really enjoy these english/grammar quiz's. i am suprised they didn't ask what the difference between "dinner" and "supper" was, i always get those confused.
Wal-Mart Pharmacists Failing to Do Their Job
By Katy Lesowski of Portland, Oregon. Katy is a research coordinator at OHSU and a founding member of the Oregon Bus Project.
As if we needed another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart... A letter I wrote them:
Dear Wal-Mart Pharmacies,All over the country I have noticed a disturbing trend of pharmacies refusing to fill women's prescriptions for birth control. When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience. I ask that your company assure me and your other customers that no woman seeking prescription contraception will be turned away by your company's pharmacies.
No doubt a majority of your customers take for granted that women should be able to receive their birth control despite the personal beliefs of the individual pharmacist. Timely access to contraception is central to women's health, autonomy, and equality. We must trust women and their doctors to make their own reproductive health decisions.
I thank you, in advance, for protecting your customer's health by ensuring your pharmacy will guarantee women have unhindered access to their prescribed medications.
Thank you for your attention and support.
Sincerely,
Katy Lesowski
...and Wal-Mart's response:
Dear Valued Customer,Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.
Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription.
Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.
Sincerely,
Customer Service at Walmart.com
House To Pass Bill, Americans To Pay
April 14, 2005
Today a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives will pass a bill making it more difficult for Americans suffering from financial misfortune to file for bankruptcy. The credit card industry-which stands to benefit enormously-has pushed the bill relentlessly, blaming rampant consumerism for most bankruptcies. In fact, studies show that 90 percent of all filings are caused by loss of a job, high medical bills or divorce.
- Average Americans will be hit hard. The new bill will make it harder for people to recover from financial misfortune. Those seeking to file for bankruptcy will be forced to pay for credit counseling before they do so and the bill will raise filing fees, require more documentation and trips to court and will likely result in higher attorney fees for filers.
- The sick and recent war veterans will also suffer. An amendment allowing those who became bankrupt due to illness to be exempt from the new rules failed. Similar amendments that would have protected veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were also voted down.
- Credit card companies will win big. Although the bill creates new hurdles for Americans in debt, it does nothing to rein in the credit card industry. According to the National Consumer Law Center, the bill does not address companies' high fees or deceptive promotions. It also shields these credit card companies from liability and weakens legal protections from predatory interest rates.
Take Action to oppose the Bankruptcy Bill NOW!
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
GOP to American Vets - "Phuck You and Your Crisis!"
April 13, 2005
A $2-billion proposal to aid VA facilities said to be in crisis is defeated 54 to 46, mostly along party lines. WASHINGTON - Republicans on Tuesday defeated a Democratic effort to provide almost $2 billion in additional healthcare funding for veterans, rejecting claims that Veterans Affairs hospitals were in crisis. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) proposed providing $1.98 billion in additional funding for veterans' care. She said VA hospitals were underfunded and overcrowded. "There's a train wreck coming," Murray warned.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
"America! Phuck Yeah!"
I have never been so proud to be an American as last Saturday, crossing the border from Mexico back into the good ole' USA. Lisa, Jenna, Carolyn and I took a tour buss to T.J. and then on to Rosarita beach for only $10 each. As expected, both lines of cars and people waiting to get back into the USA was long and moving painfully slow. We had to exit the tour buss at the border and physically go through customs. Luckily for us, a brand new line opened up staffed by a friendly customs agent who checked my I.D. and asked me "Are you American?" I promptly smiled from ear-to-ear, nodded my head and said "Yes." and flashed my C.D.L. as I breezed on by. It was so exhilarating to feel the power and grandeur American Citizenship and get the hell out of Mexico. I have never been so proud to be an American as that very moment! Feeling quite giddy and satirical about the whole thing, I thought of a few other answers that I could have responded with when the customs agent questioned me about my citizenship.
Customs Agent - "Are you American?"
Me - "America! Phuck Yeah!" (Video of exactly how proud I felt)
or
C.A. "Are you American?"
Me - "Hell Yeah! No. 1 Baby!"
or
C.A. - "Are you American?"
Me - "USA! USA! USA!" (Jumping up and down, pumping fist into the air)
or
C.A. - "Are you American?"
Me - "God Bless Bush! God Bless Bush!"
or
C.A. - "Are you American?"
Me - "100% prime American beef baby!"
It's great being back in country where you can drink the water, and don't have to worry about stepping on horse poop when you walk on the beach. Even though we were only out of the USA for a few hours, i can appreciate how life is so much sweeter this side of the border. It's no reason why thousands of people a year, who live in one of the poorest countries of the world, risk everything they have to cross the border to come to one of the richest countries of the world. Here are pictures, courtesy of Carolyn, from this Saturday at Rosarito Beach.
Inflation has outpaced the rise in salaries for the first time in 14 years. And workers are paying a bigger share of the cost of their healthcare.
| April 11, 2005 |
By Nicholas Riccardi, L.A. Times Staff Writer
Monday, April 11, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
By Michael Barbaro, The Washington PostROGERS, Ark. -- The former head of Wal-Mart's U.S operations, ousted from the board after the alleged misuse of corporate funds, has maintained that the money was spent on anti-union activities such as paying people to identify stores where union leaders planned to recruit, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Such payments could violate federal law if they went to current union members. But lawyers for Thomas Coughlin, in rebutting what the company has called a "disagreement" over expense reimbursements, will argue that although he periodically paid people to keep tabs on organizing activity in Wal-Mart stores, none of the recipients were members of a union, the source said.
Coughlin "believes he was doing what was in the company's interest" by collecting information on union activity, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In countering the company, his lawyers will contend "he was not stealing" but reimbursing himself for work-related expenses, the source said.
Coughlin has not been charged with a crime. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has turned the matter over to the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment Friday. read more...
Here comes the Scalias
The religious right may have lost its battle over Terri Schiavo, but its war against "liberal judges" has just begun.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Farhad Manjoo
April 11, 2005 | The day after Terri Schiavo died, Gallup pollsters began calling Americans to ask them how various national figures had acquitted themselves in the operatic debate over whether to remove the terminally ill woman's feeding tube. The results seem to provide a simple outline of American opinion on the matter. In short, Americans think the Schiavo case was none of their business. The poll, like all other polls on the case, shows that Americans, by an overwhelming majority, don't think it was the president's or Congress' business, either. Asked what issues matter to them, Americans said pretty much the same thing they've been saying for months -- terrorism, healthcare costs, gas prices and the state of the economy. "Changes to how the federal courts handle moral issues" is an issue deemed "extremely important" by only 20 percent of the nation.
Here's the troubling thing: That 20 percent is running the country, and they're now pressing for such changes in the way the courts decide cases. While most Americans are apparently indifferent to the long-term implications of the Schiavo case, many religious conservatives see it as having lasting political utility. Its most important outcome, they say, is in highlighting an unsettling flaw in American governance. They call this flaw "judicial tyranny," though most of the rest of us know it by a friendlier name, "checks and balances." read more...
