Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may trigger a parliamentary brawl in the Senate late in July if he goes through with his threat to bundle some 100 spending bills being blocked by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn into one "Coburn omnibus."

Coburn has held up the bills to stop the practice of passing legislation without amendments or debates. If Reid uses the same tactics on the combined bill, Coburn is threatening to tie up the Senate with parliamentary tactics. "I'd welcome the opportunity to spend weeks debating wasteful Washington spending and Congress' misplaced priorities," said Coburn.

How much Coburn can do depends on whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican colleagues support him to prevent Reid from getting 60 votes needed to close debate on the "Coburn omnibus."

More information on this bill can be found in one of our posts from last month, linked here.

If you're wondering why Senator Coburn would hold up so many pieces of legislation, the video below might give you a little insight into his reasoning.  It's a little dated and its focus is on earmark spending, but it does show how his hatred toward frivolous spending has frustrated members of both parties.

Kerry says McCain lacks judgment to be president

WASHINGTON — John Kerry says Republican John McCain doesn't have the judgment to be president.

If that's the case, then it's probably a good thing McCain rejected overtures from Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to form a bipartisan ticket and run with Kerry as his candidate for vice president.

Kerry had no kind words for his Senate colleague Sunday, accusing McCain of poor decision-making on everything from backing tax cuts for the wealthy to making support for continuing the U.S. military presence in Iraq the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

"John McCain ... has proven that he has been wrong about every judgment he's made about the war. Wrong about the Iraqis paying for the reconstruction, wrong about whether or not the oil would pay for it, wrong about Sunni and Shia violence through the years, wrong about the willingness of the Iraqis to stand up for themselves," Kerry, who supports Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The rest of the news piece is here.

Out of all the people in the USA to be saying John McCain lacks judgement, John Kerry is the last one to be saying this. This is from an internet response to a woman defending Jane Fonda, on the website created by John Dennison, himself a Nam Vet. He is explaining to her why Fonda is a communist and traitor to the United States and he also mentions John Kerry's role in the "Winter Soldier" hearings where he lied and betrayed every man who served in Viet Nam!

"Ion Mihai Pacepa, a Romania's spy chief and general, stated Kerry repeated almost word for word our planted propaganda on the Vietnam War that they had spread in Europe in his U.S. Congressional hearing (before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee).

Pacepa, further stated "KGB chairman Yuri Andropov managed our anti-Vietnam War operation. He often bragged about having damaged the U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations. Vietnam was, he once told me, "our most significant success." "

Ion Mihai Pacepa wrote "The KGB campaign to assault the U.S. and Europe by means of disinformation was more than just a few Cold War dirty tricks." (National Review online - Kerry’s Soviet Rhetoric - By Ion Mihai Pacepa)

Jane Fonda lived in France in the mid to late 60's. This is where I suspect she first heard and read this disinformation on the Vietnam War that was spread by the KGB. Upon her return to the United States she continued to spread this disinformation. Jane Fonda, John Kerry and the V.V.A.W. worked on the Winter Soldier project in Detroit. Some of those people who testified before this hearing were not the persons they projected themselves to be, but were planted to spout the communist disinformation (propaganda). Kerry would use the information gathered at the Winter Soldier project for his Congressional testimony before the Unites States Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

The entire letter on the website can be read here.

He ends the letter giving what Kerry and Fonda's actions cost those who, without question, rose to the challenge of defending our country and answered the call.

"It is quite apparent to me that Jane Fonda, an admitted Socialist, was working on the behalf of North Vietnam. In my opinion, she was a traitor to the United States.

John Kerry's actions after returning home from Vietnam tarnished and diminished anything positive that he may have done in the Vietnam War. I believe that John Kerry betrayed the American Soldiers in Vietnam and used their blood for his own political advancement. American soldiers have been betrayed before by other war heroes in the past. One such betrayer was Benedict Arnold."

John Kerry, were you using good judgement when you dared to imply that John McCain "lacks judgment"????? What a major idiot!  I am not a big fan of John McCain, but I have zero respect for John Kerry and what he did to his fellow Vets with his lies.

Learn more about John Kerry's "disservice to his country" at Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and learn what a big liar and traitor to his country and service this man is.

http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/edsa20/view.php?db=1&article=20070227-51791

[Edited]

Last Sunday, Feb. 25, Cecile Alvarez and I reminisced about Edsa People Power on dzRH with Butz Aquino and Joey Lina, and we noted how all the details remained so vivid in our minds after 21 years. More importantly, as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo noted at the Edsa People Power celebration, many fruits of the compassion and sharing that it aroused in us Filipinos are now flowering, like Gawad Kalinga and Pondong Pinoy. Another is the Alay sa Kawal Foundation that a group of us professionals launched in August 1987, as a direct response to the reconciliation at Edsa between civilians and the reformed military. Recently there’s also the project launched by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, McDonald’s Charities Foundation and IBM Philippines, “Share Mo, Time Mo,” which is making a registry of volunteers on disaster risk management and response.

[Edited]

http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=39841

[Edited]

While that event was filled with pure Christmas joy, last Wednesday was excruciating for me because of something I and the board of Alay sa Kawal (ASK) Foundation, headed by Ramon Pedrosa, had to undergo. At the ASK office in Camp Aguinaldo, we turned over checks to 14 widows or parents of soldiers killed in action and to nine soldiers permanently discharged due to serious injuries sustained in recent combat with the New People's Army in various areas. An AFP official read the circumstances of the soldier's death or injury while trustee Llita Logarta read the circumstances of his family. We noted that many of the widows were in their early or late 20s and with just a high school education or two years in college. Many of them had several young children, and now the burden of rearing them would be entirely theirs. They wept as they came forward to receive their checks.

* * *

ASK was founded by a group of professionals 20 years ago as a response to President Corazon Aquino's challenge to foster closer ties between the civilians and the reformed military after Edsa I. Established in August 1987, ASK is the oldest NGO assisting widows and orphans of slain ordinary soldiers. Over the last 19 years, it has given financial assistance to almost 4,000 widows, amounting to almost P28 million, and to 290 soldiers permanently discharged due to injuries, amounting to P1.3 million.

* * *

ASK raises funds mainly from the private sector, although the government has helped in various ways. For instance, President Macapagal-Arroyo authorized a seed money of P5 million for ASK's "Doktor para sa Kawal," a brainchild of Dr. Roberta Carreon-Romero, on of its trustees. In this program, ASK funds the studies of medical students who, after graduation, are pledged to enlist as doctors in the service of the AFP. First Gentleman Mike Arroyo also donated in the past to ASK.

With the high casualties in recent years, however, ASK's funds have been severely drained, and it has become evident to the board that either we seek help or we fold up. Affected soldiers' families have asked us to continue, as the P30,000 we give them helps tide them over while their meager pensions are being processed. With this thought and in the spirit of Christmas, we at ASK would like to appeal for donations. Send your tax-exempt donations to Alay sa Kawal Foundation Inc., Account No. 324-414-2479, MetroBank Farmers' Plaza branch.

[Edited]

GOOD is the integrated media platform for people who want to live well and do good. We are a company and community for the people, businesses, and NGOs moving the world forward. GOOD's mission is to provide content, experiences, and utilities to serve this community.

That paragraph opens the way to a broad range of activities for the Good staff. There's not much one can do that doesn't fit somewhere in that purpose statement.

I bought the July/August 2008 issue and read many of the articles. It's an eclectic piece of work that concentrates on feature stories. There is one about a halfway house in LA that attempts to bring teenage prostitutes back into mainstream society. Another is about the purchasing power of $500 in a Paraguayan black market. Need your own AK-47? Another is about secret societies, including Yale's Order of Skull and Bones whose membership includes President Bush and other famous people. The magazine assesses the power of each of several of these organizations without explaining how they calculated their ratings. Accepting their conclusions requires an act of faith by the reader. Some editorial rigor seems to be missing here.

It's not obvious to me how the articles on secret societies and black markets relate to "good", and therein lies the puzzle of this magazine as far as I'm concerned.The magazine asks some interesting questions. In an article titled Train in Vain they ask why the American passenger railroad system is so awful. They don't quite live up to their promise of providing the reasons and instead concentrate on more obvious findings such as the discomfort of a transcontinental ride aboard AMTRAK. I did learn from the article that AMTRAK employs nearly 10 people for each car in its fleet. No wonder it can't make money and has to survive on federal subsidies. I was interested to learn that trains are twice as fuel efficient per passenger as airplanes.

The magazine is just coming up on its second birthday. My take on it is that it is still finding its way editorially. Given the open-ended purpose statement, editors and writers could argue in favor of just about any topic, and I suspect that's how the issue I read came together. Things may tighten up as time goes on, and my thanks to Richard for putting it on my radar screen.

In any case, I wish them well. We can use a magazine that concentrates on good things and on asking tough, unexpected questions about things that we often accept without question.

This initiative was the brainchild of Mr. Felix Henderson, a popular radio personality here in Dominica. Together with "Uncle Pawol" Alex Bruno and the rest of the DBS Team, this core of dedicated individuals has put together a unique event that is sure to be repeated next year. With sponsors both locally and internationally, the reading competition seemed to take on a life of its own, gathering momentum with each subsequent Round of Reading.

The Competition began on June 2nd, as children nine years of age competed through a series of Rounds. Schools sent their best readers to regional competitions at the Parish level, where in each Round the children read a narrative, followed by a shorter news segment. A panel of judges then graded the students on criteria such as accuracy, smoothness, confidence ad expression. The round continued through Quarter-Final and Semi-Final copetitions, until 10 finalists remained from a group of more than 60 children

The Grand Finals were held at the Arawak House of Culture on Friday, July4th 2008. The children read to a packed house. Dignitaries such as the Honourable Prime Minister of Dominica Mr. Rooselvelt Skerrit, Acting President His Excellency Conrad McIntyre, Minister of Education Hon. Vince Hendereson as well as other memebrs of cabinet. Performances by Calypsonians, Hunter, the Observer, and Daryl Bob, as well as a News Reading Segment in braille were highlights of the evening's event.

The ten finalists all won personal computers for their achievement (left to right):

• Nicole Jno. Lewis - Salisbury Primary
• Kareen George - St. Martin's Primary
• Gaiel Jno. Baptiste - Roseau S.D.A. Primary
• Tiarra Georges - Atkinson Primary
• Kadie Robinson - Wesley Primar
• Taj Brumant - Convent Prep
• Diane Robinson - Marigot Jr.
• Rhillah Benjamin - Berean Christian Academy
• Andrew Walsh - Pioneer Prep
• Darren Brumant - Soufriere Primar

A big congratulations to all ten finalists!

And the winners are...

• 1st place - Rhillah Benjamin, Berean Christian Academy
• 2nd Place - Taj Brumant, Convent Prep
• 3rd Place - Andrew Walsh, Pioneer Prep

Congratulations to all the Participants, Organisers anad Sponsors for putting on a fantastic, positive event for Dominica's youth and the entire nation.

Sunday July 6, 2008

MB expects ‘serious agenda’ during meeting with Sultan

SHAH ALAM: It has been a practice for the Selangor Mentri Besar to have an audience with the Sultan every Wednesday, but next week’s agenda is expected to be “more serious,” said Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.   

This follows a memorandum submitted on Thursday by a number of non-governmental organisations to Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah alleging weaknesses in Khalid’s administration in Islamic affairs.

“Sure, I have heard (about) the protest and the Sultan has informed me that he will study the contents. His Highness surely wants to give his views on the matter,” Khalid said after the Conference of Selangor Local Councillors 2008/09 here yesterday.

He said the memorandum was a political ploy by Umno to make sure its members remain in mosque committees.

“We want mosques to carry out more activities for the Muslims. Unfortunately, Umno only wants to put its men in the administration of mosques. This is absurd,” he said.

Khalid said the state government’s move to replace mosque committees was to reduce political interference.

“We must remember, the Sultan of Selangor in his every speech has stressed against using mosques for political purposes and His Highness has been consistent in stating his views,” he said. – Bernama

I absolutely agree with Tan Sri Khalid and I will be more than happy to step forward to share with everyone how the mosque I go to (and I suspect it is similar with many other mosques) has been absolutely mismanaged to the point of financial breech of trust especially in regards to funds collected - by the UMNO boy who sit on the committee.

I am more than willing to share that despite having a very robust Operating and Financial Enactment by Majlis Agama Islam Selangor, the mosque I go to has got no financial records, have never submitted their accounts to MAIS every six months as required under the enactment , no payment vouchers or receipts, no meeting minutes or records since the official inception of the mosque in  24th October 2003 (first friday prayers were held).

A feeble attempt at convening   the 1st AGM was done on 17th November 2007 and I am more than prepared to share how a very specific JAIS officer who attended the meeting insulted all of the attendees by telling them to not question the accounts and financials of the mosque. That the attendees should accept the accounts as true on good faith that  JAIS has audited the accounts and it was in good order.

Dear readers - the mosque was incepted in Oct 2003, the first AGM is convened in Oct 2007 and they had the cheek to present the accounts only  from January 2007 to June 2007 wheres section 26-2(e) of the enakmen pentabiran masjid clearly states that the accounts presented should be that of the preceding year. So this is a feeble attempt by the JAIS office to cover up for the UMNO boys who were running the mosque. Better still the accounts presented were not even signed by the "pemeriksa kira kira" nor any auditor.

Worst still, the JAIS guy confirmed that the accounts were correct - and it stated from the month Jan - June 2007 a total of RM12,500 was paid to TNB for electricity. A quick check with TNB revealed only RM 9,000 was paid in that period, payment as follows RM500 and RM4500 on 13/2/07 and RM 4,000 on RM 18/6/2007.  So what happend to  the remaining RM3,500?

Also the accounts showed a total income for the mosque from Jan - jun 2007 of RM45,716.75 and of that  payments made  to "Elaun Pegawai dan AJK" was a whopping RM11,500.00 or 25% of collection, a "fictitious" RM12,500 to TNB or 27% of expenses, another RM6,870 to "Perbelanjaan Pengurusan/Bank Charge/Repair"  None of these payments  are supported by invoices or receipts.

Likewise we hardly saw the faces of the "Pegawai dan AJK" masjid at the mosque. Not even the IMAM during  prayer time.  I will attest to the night I arrived late for prayers and saw the IMAM sitting outside his quarters as prayers were going on. I will attest to how after the call to prayers are made, people are all standing around waiting and hoping an Imam will show up.  Bear in mind, both IMAMS and Billal's are provided free housing no more that 20 meters from the mosque and are paid an allowance by JAIS. Talk about gaji buta.

On the issue of penceramah or speakers - I can vouch that we had a string of half dead, half baked ustaz coming in giving all sorts of fatwa. The most amazing I heard was that "if you only had 1 small bottle of water left and you had a bad/sinner person dying of thirst come up to you for water, it is haram to give him the water and better to let him die."  Is this what Islam teaches? Now these were the sorts of "UMNO" approved ustaz that we had coming by.

I can see over the last few months there has been a huge shake up in penceramahs, quality has gone up and more importantly attendance has gone up.  And yes the ceramah's do cross political lines but line is drawn at understanding the islamic political system in the context of malaysia.

Yes we had a very free an open discussion on SODOMY and how ISLAM views it, how would the issues of statutorybe viewed under the shariah and we also have very free and open discussions on  corruption, of how leaders should behave, we contrast the true leaders in Islam e.g Khalifah Umar Abd Aziz and that the our current Malay leaders. It is all very educational and enlightening and  certainly does put many  UMNO leadership traits in a negative light.   
 

I guess where the UMNO guys are hurting is that a lot of penceramah's now have no qualms about differentiating MELAYU from ISLAM and keep reminding people that we look for Islamic values in our leaders not MALAY values. And that Islam is not synonymous with MALAY although UMNO tries to make it so "To be Malay you must be Muslim."

The great thing is that my area which was always under an UMNO tyco fell to a Chinese female PKR assemble person at the recent GE. I guess she must have portrayed much better Islamic values like - helping the rakyaat, being humble, not going around in a convoy of heavily tinted expensive cars as compared to the what UMNO folks used to do.

My dear readers - the mosques are indeed a huge gravy train to disburse money and represent a key component in the election mechanism. Awards of contracts to build mosque, land, maintenance, you name it. And becasue it is the MOSQUE - who dares question?

Come elections, the mosque is able to conjure up all sorts to events that essentially puts food in peoples tummies and money in their pockets - a real feel good event.  Well I think that the time is over as mosques were created by GOD for GOD for the purpose of worshiping him, dissemination of information, education, discourse and social development.  

If anything the UMNO boys have a problem because the people who do come to the mosque are now seeing things become much better and improved and if this continues, Selangor under PKR will trulty earn the respect and support of the rakyaat.

So Tan Sri Khalid, don't sweat it, stay the course and I am sure HRH Sultan is very aware of what is happening.

BTW I actually wrote a post on this even before the elections and you can read it here.

this is Lisa Anderson's article in the Chicago Tribune:

NEW YORK—Who hasn't snickered at "Jaywalking," a "Tonight Show" segment in which host Jay Leno flummoxes unsuspecting young people on the street with such tricky questions as: In what country is Paris located?

Or cringed to see Miss America 2007 humiliated by a brainy bunch of 10-year-olds—who just happened to know the sun is the heavenly body with the greatest mass in our solar system—on "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Or witnessed the consternation of a cashier presented with a $20 bill and two quarters for a $12.50 tab?

Some consider such deficits in knowledge and ability no laughing matter, citing it as evidence of the "dumbing down" of Americans, particularly young adults. Others believe any decline in book smarts simply reflects the evolution of new ways of learning and "knowing," forged in a fast-paced wireless world where the data of the ages are downloaded in a nanosecond at the touch of a keyboard.

So, which is it? No one really knows. But the topic clearly is percolating through the popular culture: Read the less-than-reassuring poll of "What Do Americans Know" in Newsweek's July 7-14 Global Literacy 2008 issue. Or the cover story in The Atlantic magazine's July/August issue: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid? What the Internet is doing to our brains." Or the just-published "DISTRACTED: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age," by Maggie Jackson.

Dumbest generation?

The question is hotly debated in academic circles, where Emory University English professor Mark Bauerlein further turned up the temperature with his recent book, "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future." Its subtitle: "Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30."

That last phrase, a play on the hippie counterculture mantra "Don't Trust Anyone Over 30," underscores that many of yesterday's hippies are today's Baby Boomers. Confronting criticism of the younger generation's perceived shortcomings by the older generation, one might be tempted to ask: Wasn't it always thus?

"Kids have always been weak on history, weak on civics. The point about 'the dumbest generation' is probably a provocation more than an accurate description of simple comparisons," said Bauerlein, 49, who doesn't question the intelligence of young Americans but their intellectual health.

The difference he sees between the current generation and those of the past: "No generation in American history has enjoyed so much access to knowledge."

Yet, often, "when they give the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, more than half the 12th graders score 'below basic,' which is roughly a D and an F," said Bauerlein, referring to a federal assessment program, mainly in reading and math, that is dubbed the "Nation's Report Card."

Bauerlein attributes this to a number of things, including lack of reading and new habits of mind geared to absorb information by the byte-size, warp-speed, quick-hit and visually eye-popping standards of the Internet.

Ironically, Web sites demand that people read, but their information often is more to be accessed than retained, more to be consumed than assessed and more to be gulped than savored, unlike with a book, a poem or a lengthy article. "The material isn't lodging in their minds. There is not enough internalization of knowledge," Bauerlein said.

He recalled assigning a class to memorize a 20-line poem, and a student asked him why. "The idea of memorizing a poem doesn't make sense [to kids] because in a digital world, they can always call it up."

Information overload

To memorize, "they have to think, visualize, get the rhythm of the language. It's slow, slow reading, and this works against all their screen habits, which are ever faster," Bauerlein said.

Americans may have more access to information but "think also of the unprecedented overload," said Gerald Graff, president of the Modern Language Association and professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"The more accessible knowledge becomes, the more things there are to be ignorant about. Knowledge has increased, but the human capacity for knowledge hasn't increased that much," he said.

In fact, in its "What Americans Know: 1989-2007" survey, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found public knowledge of national and international affairs had changed little in 20 years, despite the emergence of 24-hour news channels and the Internet and dramatic increases in education levels; half of those surveyed would earn an F.

The least informed were those age 18 to 29, part of the same group that least follows the news, in any medium, according to David Mindich, a journalism professor at Vermont's St. Michael's College and author of the book "Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow the News." He is concerned about the potential effect of this on democracy because "the only way to hold leaders accountable is if you're really focusing on what they're doing."

In the workplace, there is a discernible difference between this generation and the Boomers, said Mary Ann Downey, an executive with the Seattle-based Institute for Corporate Productivity, a membership organization focused on improving workforce productivity.

Another generation gap

"I don't believe the younger workers coming in have the critical thinking skills and the creative thinking skills that are required," she said.

Downey added that employers also complain that young employees, unlike their parents, often have no patience for learning the ropes and tend to quit when frustrated.

Older generations have always found empty-headedness among the young, said UIC's Graff, quoting from the inaugural address of a former Modern Language Association president: "You are all aware of how dangerous it is to assume, on the part of our college classes, any definite knowledge of any subject." The speaker: Harvard professor Charles Hall Grandgent. The year: 1911.

This is Lisa Anderson's article in the Chicago Tribune on 7/5/08.  www.chicagotribune.com

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

Trooper Notices Large Bulge In Man's Pants

But there you have it. The bulge was cocaine, of course, not some anatomical wonder. The old "routine traffic stop" again.

[...] McCain has said he wants to push for a Bush Administration proposal to allow faith-based organizations to make employment decisions based on religion even when using federal funding.

TIME In Partnership With CNN

On the one hand, Christian Conservatives want to deny Federal funding to organizations like Planned Parenthood or have the government forbid them to perform perfectly legal procedures if they receive Federal funding, simply because said procedures violate their religious principles. In other words, because they don't like what Planned Parenthood does.

On the other hand, Christian Conservatives want the government to allow faith-based organizations to violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 by practicing religious discrimination, even when said organizations also receive Federal funding. You know, because they like what these folks do.

We all pay Federal taxes, so we all contribute to anything that is Federally funded. That's precisely why these wingnuts don't want places like Planned Parenthood to receive any Federal funding - they don't want their tax dollars being used to support something that violates their principles. But they're perfectly fine with using my tax dollars to support something that violates my principles.

Talk about wanting to eat your cake and have it. Good grief! It seems "inconsistency" is the watchword of the modern American right.

These people want to rule the world with their Bibles. And they don't even have the good sense to know they ought to be ashamed of that.

http://pia.gov.ph/Default.asp?m=12&fi=p051124.htm&no=22

Iloilo City (24 November) -- The families of the nine soldiers of the Philippine Army’s 47th Infantry Battallion, who were killed in the land mine explosion in Barangay Datagan, Calinog, Iloilo will be given the benefits due them, Major Lyndon Sollesta,, PA 3ID spokesman said.

[Edited]

Sollesta said aside from the commuted benefits and pensions, the dead soldiers’ families will also avail of the educational programs for their direct dependents.

He likewise mentioned financial assistance from the Alay Sa Kawal Foundation, and the HERO or Help Educate and Raise Orphans Foundation.

[Edited]

I suspect that this was as obvious to you as it was to me.

A grand jury in Pasadena, TX recently acquitted  Joe Horn on criminal charges after a November, 2007 incident where he purposely shot and killed two men as they robbed the home of an out-of-town neighbor. As Horn witnessed the theft taking place, he made a 911 call. Though the dispatcher repeatedly told Horn that the police were on their way and that he must stay in his home, Horn made he clear that he had no intention of doing so. Instead, Horn (after openly defying the dispatcher's instructions) took the law into his own hands, confronted the crooks (who incidentally were illegal immigrants), and killed them with a shotgun as they fled.

Juxtapose that story to the case of New Yorker John White; who was convicted of manslaughter after killing a teenager Daniel Cicciaro in front of his home.  The teenager and his friends decided to visit White's home with the intention of attacking White's son; or so they indicated approximately a half hour before they arrived. Rather than calling the police, White armed himself in anticipation of their arrival. As the boys arrived and confronted White, Cicciaro was shot in his face and killed.

So just to recap: a white Texan goes against instructions and kills two people of color who are committing a crime on somebody else's property. He walked and -- in many circles -- has actually been applauded as a hero. Meanwhile, a black New Yorker defends his family from people who have clearly indicated their intentions to do harm and he is convicted and currently serving a prison sentence.

Allow me to make one thing clear: this post was not written to paint Mr. White as a victim; nor was it intended to demonize Mr. Horn (though reading the transcripts of his conversation with the 911 dispatcher are pretty unnerving). I think that both men were dead wrong in their decision-making; pun intended. They both ignored due process allowed by the law and decided to partake in civicly disengaging acts of vigilantism. Both cases ended with lethal outcomes. As such, both deserved to face the consequences of their actions. But as it appears, only one did. I guess that what is more deplorable about these cases is that -- based on the culprits and the victims -- it was not very difficult to predict the outcome of the cases. As usual, the justice system failed to disappoint.

What do you think about these cases? Were the outcomes fair? Were the verdicts based on more than just the merits of each case? To what extent do you think the race status of the culprits/victims played a role?  Chime in if you'd like.

- ACL

http://www.ops.gov.ph/opnet/speech-2001may19.htm

Thank you very much secretary Reyes

Chairman Espiritu; General Villanueva; General Mendoza; Chairman Cunanan; Ladies and Gentlemen:

[Edited]

I remember very well the news we received when Thelmo Cunanan was wounded in the ambush, and although I had known for a long time that Alay sa Kawal was existing, because, as Ed Espiritu said, I was a contributor, now I know the whole history of the foundation and all the more it is admirable that Alay sa Kawal Foundation was started as a gesture of appreciation for the soldiers defending the newly reborn democracy under President Aquino.

And that we should have our tournament today also just after the latest show of defense again by our soldiers of democracy in the Philippines. So I am very grateful.

[Edited]

Workers -- and some judges -- frustrated in legal fights over benefits with large employers.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

"He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30.

But Spherion Corp., the temporary staffing company where Amschwand worked, told Amschwand-Bellinger she would not receive any of the $426,000 in benefits she believed she was due. When she went to court, Spherion succeeded in getting her lawsuit thrown out. The Supreme Court on June 27 refused to review the case.

Amschwand-Bellinger received a refund of the few thousand dollars in insurance premiums she and her husband dutifully had paid. The total, she said, would not cover the costs of his funeral.

The story has played out often under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Designed to protect employee benefits, the law has been used by employers as a shield against suits.

Read the rest of the story here.

Corporate greed and treating employees like disposable resources, rather than valued assets, are contributing to the destruction of American values.

Sunday July 6, 2008

Anwar behind high-stakes political drama, says Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad claims that PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is plotting the current high-stakes political drama.

“I am not seeking sympathy from anyone. But it is a little bit too much to expect me to forget and forgive something that is happening now as a result of Anwar’s plotting.

“Anwar has succeeded in blackening my name in the United States and Europe of course, but also in Muslim countries. They all think I simply threw him in prison for political reasons.

“He never said anything about how he was tried, how he was defended by nine lawyers, how the judge wrote a 360-page judgment against him, how his appeals were thrown out twice,” Dr Mahathir said in his blog atwww.chedet.com.

Dr Mahathir added: “He has sued me for RM100mil. He has successfully caused my lawyer to lose credibility. Now, I have no lawyer to defend me against his suit.”

Anwar, he said, had now turned his attention on Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“As usual, he (Anwar) has found someone to make incriminating statements for him. There seems to be no connection between his plotting against me and his attack against Datuk Seri Najib.

“But if we look into who would be the beneficiary, we would see the connection,” he said. – Bernama

 I think the cryptic words are in his last sentence “But if we look into who would be the beneficiary, we would see the connection”

We all know that Tun M has been gunning after Pak Lah for Pak Lah to step down.  Pak Lah on the other hand, to stay in power, has to neutralize Najib.  Obviously the current escalation of the Anwar - Najib feud plays well into Pak Lah's hands. Given the tremendous benefit Pak Lah gains from this escalation, can it also mean there is active collaboration  between Pak Lah's camp and Anwar Ibrahim?

Ezam is also in today's paper's saying Anwar has no chance to be PM and I quote:

“If he had the numbers today, he would be going to the Istana tonight.

“He just doesn’t have the numbers,” he told reporters after a closed-doorceramah at the Perak Umno building here yesterday.

Ezam, who left PKR last year and rejoined Umno last month, said if Anwar was really serious about forming the next government, he could have done so quietly instead of “making noise”.

“The focus should have been on strengthening the party. Instead, they (Pakatan) hold demonstrations to sidetrack the people.

“But you make noise because it’s a psychological war to bind together (a party) that is not strong. Only people who are not strong will make noise,” he added.

“The problem with Anwar is that he is self-centred. His one goal is to be prime minister at all costs and that is dangerous,” he said.

I fully agree with Ezam's analysis that the PKR route will not lead Anwar to the PM's job but what Ezam says that the end "His one goal is to be prime minister at all costs" is the underlying factor here and his only route to that job will be through BN-UMNO.