Saturday, July 3, 2010
THE MORNING BUZZ via Buzzflash
Declare Your Independence from Corporate Propaganda Journalism! When you financially support Buzzflash, you're not just supporting journalism that puts the GOP barbarians at the gate on the defensive, you are supporting a progressive community, one that is also building an alternative progressive commerce. Click here and help make it happen. Be a Change Agent with Your Contribution and Selection of a Gift!
Stimulus or Austerity: The People vs. the Banks -- Shamus Cooke for BuzzFlash
Obama announces $2 billion for solar power. Okay, we applaud this one. Can we make it $4 billion though. Send the fossil fuel industry packing? Let's move into the future.
Proof that America is in the Cuckoo's Nest -- Stephen Pizzo for BuzzFlash
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Friday, July 2, 2010
Via JMG: Concerned Women Are Concerned About How Immorality Caused The Oil Spill
The pesky Gulf oil spill wasn't caused by a Republican deregulated oil industry free to pursue profits over safety. According to the Concerned Women for America, it was caused by immoral government employees who were surfing for porn instead of doing their jobs.
President Reagan reduced government regulations that were choking the life out of business in our nation. He certainly didn’t lift all regulations so that federal workers could be paid to surf pornography and take gifts from those they were regulating. Given these recent examples of moral license leading to costly burdens on the American taxpayer, fiscal conservatives should rethink their ideas about giving up on the social issues that we at Concerned Women for America, and our half a million members, care about.(Via - Right Wing Watch)
Labels: Concerned Women Of America, disaster, dumbassery, environment, GOP
reposted from JoeVia Huffington: Paul Krugman: Myths of Austerity
When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options. Now I know better. Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis. And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Via JMG: Oregon Bans Credit Checks By Employers
Oregon has become the third state to bar companies from checking the credit records of potential employees. Under the new law, Oregon employers will no longer be able to use credit history as a factor in hiring, firing, demoting or suspending employees, unless they can establish that it's substantially related to the job. The law originated from a concern that credit histories could be inaccurate or unfairly represent job seekers down on their luck, said Sen. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland,who sponsored the bill. Oregon unemployment is hovering around 10.6 percent, and people don't need another factor standing between them and a job, she said. About 35 to 40 percent of employers nationally check credit scores, Bob Estabrook, a state Bureau of Labor and Industries spokesman, estimated. But the percentage is dropping as other states, including Washington and Hawaii, adopt similar laws. When someone is unable to obtain a job because of a couple of missed rent payments, the credit evaluation is "arbitrary ... and people don't get a chance to explain," Estabrook said. Using credit histories can also lead to inadvertent racial discrimination because African Americans and Latinos generally have lower credit scores, he said.Oregon's Republicans, of course, opposed the bill. Similar laws are under consideration in many other states. The Governator vetoed such a bill for California in 2008 and 2009.
(Tipped by JMG reader Aaron)
Labels: employment, Oregon
reposted from JoeTuesday, June 29, 2010
Via Huffington:
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Arianna Huffington: The Afghanistan Paradox: When the War's Defenders Make the Case for Why We Should Stay, They End Up Making the Case for Why We Should Go
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Monday, June 28, 2010
Via JMG: Pensacola Beach
If you can stand it, click over for more depressing photos. And it's not just the surface of the beach that is ruined: "A trench dug by a group of USF geologists shows a continuous layer of oil approximately six inches beneath."Labels: disaster, environment, Florida
reposted from Joe
Homes demolished in campaign to drive Baha'is out of Iranian village
The action occurred in Ivel, Mazandaran, when inhabitants – incited by elements inimical to the Baha'i community – blocked normal access to the village, while allowing trucks and at least four front-end loaders to begin leveling the houses.
Amateur video, shot on mobile telephones and posted by Iranian human rights activists on the Internet, showed what appeared to be several buildings reduced to rubble as well as fiercely burning fires.
The demolitions are the latest development in an ongoing, officially-sanctioned program in the area which has targeted every activity of the Baha'is.
"They're being forbidden to associate with Muslims, or even offer service to their friends and neighbours," said Diane Ala'i, representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.
"Even the smallest acts of good will – such as taking flowers to someone who's sick in hospital or donating gifts to an orphanage – these are being seen as actions against the regime."
Most of the Baha'i homes in Ivel have been unoccupied since their residents fled after previous incidents of violence or as a result of official displacement. In 2007, for example, six of their houses were torched.
"Baha'is have lived in this area for more than 100 years and it once had a large community," said Ms. Ala'i. "But in 1983, a few years after the Iranian revolution, at least 30 families from this and neighboring villages were put on buses and expelled.
"Since then, they have tried to seek legal redress to no avail, while returning in the summer to harvest their crops," she said.
The day after the demolitions took place, a Baha'i man who visited the site with his family to harvest his produce was beaten and insulted by other residents. In the past, those who are trying to drive the Baha'is out have set upon them when they tried to enter the neighborhood to rebuild or renovate their properties.
Persistent government attacks on Baha'is in all the mass media – along with inaction by local officials to protect them – have continued to incite hatred against the Baha'is in the region and throughout Iran, said Ms. Alai.
"This latest action shows the degree to which the authorities have completely failed to live up to their responsibilities to protect the Baha'is and their religious freedom," she said.
Members of the Baha'i community have made repeated complaints both before and after the latest incident to local government officials, including to the provincial governor in Sari. In every case, knowledge of the demolitions or the motive behind them was denied.
While reports about the latest action began appearing on various Persian-language websites on Friday, the Baha'i International Community was only able to confirm details of the incident today. Latest reports indicate that 90 percent of the Baha'i homes have now been demolished.
http://news.bahai.org/story/780
For the Baha'i World News Service home page, go to:
