FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
WAL-MART BANS NEWSPAPER BECAUSE OF CRITICAL COLUMN
RANDY HAMMER, PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL, FL - You can't buy the Pensacola
News Journal at Wal-Mart anymore. The store ordered us off their
property, told us to come pick up our newspaper racks and clear out.
So we did. . . Some managers at Wal-Mart didn't appreciate a column Mark
O'Brien wrote last month about the downside of the cheap prices that Sam
Walton's empire has brought to America. We all pay a little less, and
sometimes a lot less, at the grocery store and department store because
of Mr. Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. . .
Leave it to old Mark, whose column runs four days a week in this
newspaper, to find a downside to this:
"I like Wal-Mart prices the same as the next shopper, but there's a
downside, too. Many Wal-Mart employees lack the fringe benefits and
insurance that makes the difference between existence and a good quality
of life. Yet, we customers pay a surcharge from a different pocket —
subsidizing health care for Wal-Mart employees who can't afford it."
Mark then described how [Tom] Friedman's book pointed out that more than
10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees are in a Georgia health-care
program, which costs the state's taxpayers nearly $10 million a year.
Mark also pointed out that a New York Times report found that 31 percent
of the patients at a North Carolina hospital were Wal-Mart employees on
Medicaid.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/OPINION/507240314/1020
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DISNEY PLANS PRE-TEENAGE CELLPHONES
TIME - The Walt Disney Internet Group announced in early July that it is
teaming up with Sprint to develop a line of mobile phones, due out next
year, aimed squarely at preteen children. Meanwhile, the market is
already filling up. In March, Firefly Mobile debuted a model designed
for the lunch-box set. Later this summer, a company called Wherify will
debut its Wherifone, and in September, Enfora will introduce its
version, the TicTalk. . .
Instead of the standard numbered keypads, the kid phones have a limited
number of oversize keys and controls that prevent children from dialing
or receiving calls from numbers that parents haven't programmed in.
Wherifone comes equipped with a global-positioning system so parents
http://www.commercialalert.org/news-featuredin.php?article_id=766&subcategory_id=&category=&year=2005&month=07&day=24
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THE MEDIACRACY
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THE MEDIA'S ALREADY DECIDED: THE ONLY CANDIDATE IS CLINTON
YOU MAY NOT be aware that several potential candidates for president
spoke at the recent meeting of the Democratic Abandonship Council, the
corporado group most responsible for the decline of the Democratic Party
over the past decade. The reason for this is that the press gave almost
all its attention to Hilary Clinton. The rest got the treatment accorded
by the LA Times' Ronald Brownstein:
|||| Besides Clinton, about 500 elected officials and DLC supporters
heard from Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), the group's outgoing chairman; Iowa
Gov. Tom Vilsack, who replaced Bayh this month; and Virginia Gov. Mark
R. Warner. . . Each of the potential candidates delivered campaign-style
speeches that blended criticism of the Bush administration with calls
for Democrats to pursue centrist policies on issues such as national
defense, energy and the federal budget. ||||
Brownstein, however, did at least go outside the monied halls of the DLC
for some comment:
|||| Since Clinton left office, a broad array of liberal activists, many
of them clustered around left-leaning websites such as the Daily Kos,
have accused the DLC of weakening the party by advocating positions they
say have blurred distinctions with the GOP. These include support for
the Iraq war and free-trade policies.
David Sirota, a Democratic consultant who has his own liberal Web log,
responded to news of the "American Dream Initiative" by warning that
Democrats would be doomed to "permanent minority status" if they
followed the DLC direction.
"The fact is, the Democratic Party has to make a choice: Is it going to
continue to follow the DLC, be a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate
America, and lose elections for the infinite future," he wrote in an
e-mail. "Or is it going to go back to its roots of really representing
the middle class and standing up for ordinary people's economic rights?"
||||
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dlc26jul26,0,1878987.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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CITIES
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AFFORDABLE HOUSING DISAPPEARING IN METRO AREAS
JAMES M. WOODARD, COPLEY NEWS SERVICE - Teachers, police officers,
firefighters, retail sales workers - a huge number of folks we depend on
for providing a quality and safe lifestyle in our communities are having
a tough time finding a residence they can afford. Increasingly, they are
forced to spend a disproportionate share of their incomes on housing,
according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders. The
study revealed that the vast majority of rental apartments (about 92
percent) are beyond the reach of low to moderate-income families. They
must spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent.
The study also noted that in the few neighborhoods where workers could
afford to rent, the housing was older and more likely to be vacant,
suggesting there might be problems with construction quality. . .
Of the 21,000 Census tracts that comprise the top 25 metro areas, the
study identified only 1,000 tracts in which at least half the rental
stock would be affordable to a household supported by a retail sales
worker spending 30 percent or less of their monthly salary on rent.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=1593&topicId=21355&docId=l:297821498
______________________________________________________________________________
PAYOLA BACK IN RADIO BIG TIME
ROGER FRIEDMAN, FOX NEWS - The internal memos from Sony Music, revealed
today in the New York state attorney general's investigation of payola
at the company, will be mind blowing to those who are not so jaded to
think records are played on the radio because they're good. We've all
known for a long time that contemporary pop music stinks. We hear "hits"
on the radio and wonder, "How can this be?"
Now we know. And memos from both Sony's Columbia and Epic Records senior
vice presidents of promotions circa 2002-2003 — whose names are redacted
in the reports but are well known in the industry — spell out who to pay
and what to pay them in order to get the company's records on the air.
From Epic, home of J-Lo, a memo from Nov. 12, 2002, a "rate" card that
shows radio stations in the Top 23 markets will receive $1000, Markets
23-100 get $800, lower markets $500. "If a record receives less than 75
spins at any given radio station, we will not pay the full rate," the
memo to DJs states. "We look forward to breaking many records together
in the future."
Take Jennifer Lopez's awful record, "Get Right," with its shrill horn
and lifted rap. It's now clear that was a "bought" sensation when it was
released last winter. So, too, were her previous "hits," "I'm Glad" and
"I'm Real," according to the memos. All were obtained by Sony laying out
dough and incentives. It's no surprise. There isn't a person alive who
could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.
Announced today: Sony Music — now known as Sony/BMG — has to pony up a
$10 million settlement with New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
It should be $100 million. And this won't be the end of the
investigation. Spitzer's office is looking into all the record
companies. This is just the beginning. . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163537,00.html#1
______________________________________________________________________________
JUST AS YOU SUSPECTED, THE BRITISH HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH SINCE THE ICE
AGE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - Despite invasions by Saxons, Romans, Vikings,
Normans, and others, the genetic makeup of today's white Britons is much
the same as it was 12,000 ago, a new book claims. In The Tribes of
Britain, archaeologist David Miles says around 80 percent of the genetic
characteristics of most white Britons have been passed down from a few
thousand Ice Age hunters.
Miles, research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford,
England, says recent genetic and archaeological evidence puts a new
perspective on the history of the British people. "There's been a lot of
arguing over the last ten years, but it's now more or less agreed that
about 80 percent of Britons' genes come from hunter-gatherers who came
in immediately after the Ice Age," Miles said.
These nomadic tribes people followed herds of reindeer and wild horses
northward to Britain as the climate warmed. . .
The most visible British genetic marker is red hair, he added. The
writer Tacitus noted the Romans' surprise at how common it was when they
arrived 2,000 years ago. "It's something that foreign observers have
often commented on," Miles said. "Recent studies have shown that there
is more red hair in Scotland and Wales than anywhere else in the world.
It's a mutation that probably occurred between 8,000 and 10,000 years
ago."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0719_050719_britishgene.html
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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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LOCAL HERO: 15 YEAR OLD TAKES ON CURFEW AND WINS
KATE HOLTON, NEWS, AUSTRALIA A teenager has won a landmark High Court
ruling against the legality of child curfew zones, leaving Prime
Minister Tony Blair's high-profile bid to reduce anti-social behavior in
disarray. The boy, 15, brought the case against the Metropolitan Police
and his council over their right to remove any under-16-year-old
unaccompanied by an adult from an area after 9 pm, regardless of their
behavior. Lord Justice Brooke said everyone should have the right to
"walk the streets without interference from police".
He also said the law did not give police the right to force someone to
go home. The boy, known as W for legal reasons, said the use of curfews
infringed his right to liberty under the European Convention on Human
Rights, and discriminated against him because he was a child.
"Of course I have no problem with being stopped by the police if I've
done something wrong," he said in a statement. "But they shouldn't be
allowed to treat me like a criminal just because I'm under 16."
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said the ruling would affect curfew
orders across the country, but she insisted police still had powers to
break up large groups of teenagers causing trouble. However, they cannot
insist they go home.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15996180-23109,00.html
______________________________________________________________________________
SOCIALIST CANDIDATE WINS RIGHT TO KEEP DONOR LIST SECRET
SEATTLE TIMES -The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission unanimously
granted a request yesterday by a socialist candidate for mayor to
conceal the names of his campaign donors from public disclosure. Chris
Hoeppner, a member of the Socialist Workers Party, had sought the
exemption, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which found exemptions
appropriate if donors to candidates with unpopular political views could
reasonably fear harassment if their names were made public.
Though the office of Seattle mayor is nonpartisan, Jim Lobsenz,
Hoeppner's attorney, presented evidence that supporters of candidates
identifying themselves as socialists have been threatened and harassed
in Seattle and across the country. Though some commissioners expressed
discomfort with the notion of hiding donors' identities, they noted the
city had already lost a federal court case after the commission denied a
similar request by a socialist candidate in 2003.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002382719_ethics15m.html
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POLITICS
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GOVERNORS REVOLTING AT COST OF NEW DRIVER LICENSE REQUIREMENTS
AP - In the name of homeland security, motorists are going to see costs
skyrocket for driver's licenses and motor vehicle offices forced to
operate like local branches of the FBI, the nation's governors warn. The
new federal law squeezed this spring into an $82 billion spending bill
had Republican and Democratic governors fuming at their summer
conference, with several bringing their complaints to Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff at a meeting yesterday.
"It's outrageous to pass this off on the states," said Republican Mike
Huckabee of Arkansas, who will succeed Virginia Gov. Mark Warner as
chairman of the National Governors Association. "You're essentially
asking the front-line clerks at the DMV to become an INS agent and a law
enforcement agent."
The law that passed in June goes beyond an earlier measure that sought
to standardize state driver's licenses, requiring that states verify
license applicants are American citizens or legal residents. "This is
going to drive the cost of driver's licenses for ordinary folks through
the roof," said Democrat Tom Vilsack of Iowa. "I think it's going to
drive people crazy."
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050718-103446-4649r
______________________________________________________________________________
KATHLEEN HUNTER, STATELINE - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) became
the first to threaten to challenge the law in court for infringing on
states' rights. . . Richardson told Stateline that the stronger
identification verification rules, adopted by Congress May 10 as a
national security measure, are costly and intrusive and
unconstitutionally trample states' rights. "This is a state function,
and I think it's bad policy. In New Mexico, the Legislature approved a
measure to provide licenses to illegal immigrants, and it's working. It
increases safety. It increases insurance rates by motorists. ... This is
going to be a nightmare. So we will challenge it constitutionally. ...
We'll sue," Richardson said.
New Mexico is one of 10 states that do not require license applicants to
demonstrate they are legally present in the United States, effectively
granting licenses to illegal immigrants. . .
http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=43671
______________________________________________________________________________
DON'T EXPECT ANY LANCE ARMSTRONGS FROM BROWARD COUNTY
CHRIS KAHN, SUN SENTINEL - Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County
schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted
a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like
overkill. "I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads
open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader
in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run."
Broward's "Rules of the Playground" signs, bought from an equipment
catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district,
are just one of several steps taken to cut down on injuries and the
lawsuits they inspire. "It's too tight around the equipment to be
running," said Safety Director Jerry Graziose, the Broward County
official who ordered the signs. "Our job was to try to control it."
How about swings or those hand-pulled merry-go-rounds?
"Nope. They've got moving parts. Moving parts on equipment is the number
one cause of injury on the playgrounds."
Teeter-totters?
"Nope. That's moving too."
Sandboxes?
"Well, I have to be careful about animals" turning them into litter
boxes.
Cement crawl tubes?
"Vagrants. The longer they are, the higher possibility that a vagrant
could stay in them. We have shorter ones now that are made out of
plastic or fiberglass."
Broward playgrounds aren't the only ones to avoid equipment that most
adults remember. Swings, merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters and other old
standards are vanishing from schools and parks around the country,
according to the National Program for Playground Safety.
"Kids aren't using them the way they're supposed to," said the agency's
director, Donna Thompson, who led a national effort to get rid of animal
swings two years ago. "I'm pleased that a lot of these are
disappearing.". . .
"To say `no running' on the playground seems crazy," said Bartleman, who
agreed to be interviewed on a recent outing at Everglades. "But your
feelings change when you're in a closed-door meeting with lawyers."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cplaygroundjul18,0,4929507.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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INDICATORS
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TEN WORST PLACES TO BE BLACK
BRUCE DIXON, BLACK COMMENTATOR - About half the nation's 2.2 million
prisoners are black. With only 36 million of us, that's an astounding
3% of African Americans, counting all ages and both sexes, languishing
behind bars, with a roughly equal number on probation, parole, house
arrest or other court supervision. Almost one in three 18-year-old black
males across the board is likely to catch a felony conviction, and in
some communities nearly half the black male workforce under 40 have
criminal records. A felony conviction in America is a stunningly
accurate predictor of a life of insecure employment at poverty-level
wages and no health care, of fragile family ties, of low educational
attainment and limited or no civic participation, and a strong
likelihood of re-imprisonment. Each month, tens of thousands of
jobless, skill-less, stigmatized and often anti-socialized ex-prisoners
are released back into communities that lack job and educational
opportunities, where intact families are more the exception than the
rule, and where upward social mobility is a myth. . .
So if you want to know where black families fare the worst, where the
lowest wages and life expectancy are, where to find the highest
unemployment and the greatest number of single parent households among
African Americans, you don't need an online survey. You certainly don't
count the black businesses or the black elected officials. You count
the black prisoners, and the former prisoners, and the ruined
communities they come from and are discharged into. That's what BC did,
and here are the results.
Wisconsin leads the nation in the percentage of its black inhabitants
under lock and key. Just over four percent of black Wisconsin,
including the very old and the very young of both sexes, are behind
bars. Most of the state's African Americans reside in the Milwaukee
area, and most of its black prisoners are drawn from just a handful of
poor and economically deprived black communities where jobs, intact
families and educational opportunities are the most scarce, and paroled
back into those same neighborhoods. So Wisconsin, and in particular the
Milwaukee area justly merit the invidious distinction of the worst place
in the nation to be black.
Iowa, with only a small black population, is not far behind. The crime
control industries in Wisconsin and Iowa seem to have learned to make
the most efficient use of the preferred human material available to
them, locking up the few black inhabitants of those states at a rate
11.6 times higher than whites.
Texas, the nation's second largest state, is the third worst place to be
black in America, and is in a class by itself, first because its
extraordinary rate of black incarceration affects such a large
population. Only New York has more African Americans than Texas, and
only the two relatively small states previously mentioned lock up a
higher percentage of their black citizens. Though California has 50
percent more people, Texas has a slightly larger prison population and
only a 5 to 1 ratio between its black and white rates of imprisonment.
We may safely assume that since very few of its wealthy Texans are
behind bars, Texas is just a very bad place to be poor, whether you're
black or not.
REST OF THE LIST
http://www.blackcommentator.com/146/146_cover_dixon_ten_worst.html
______________________________________________________________________________
MOST POTTER FANS WOULD PUT DUBYA AND HRC IN SLYTHERIN
[We don't understand a word of this, but we are led to believe there are
some out there who do]
ZOGBY - With Saturday's release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince set for midnight, a new Zogby Interactive poll finds that most
Americans would place themselves in Ravenclaw, one of the four mythical
houses at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - but would
place both President Bush and New York Senator Hillary Clinton in
Slytherin, home to such treacherous characters as Harry Potter's
arch-rival, Draco Malfoy.
Despite the fact the main character resides in Gryffindor, the house
that respondents were reminded values loyalty and courage, most adults
saw themselves in Ravenclaw (41%), where intelligence and wit are the
attributes most valued. Gryffindor was second, at 30%, followed by
Huffelpuff, where loyalty, patience and hard work are valued, at 23%.
Slytherin, where cunning and ambition are considered the ultimate
virtues, was the house where just 2% of respondents saw themselves.
However, the same respondents who could not see themselves in Slytherin
could picture two prominent citizens there: 52% placed George W. Bush in
Draco Malfoy's digs, while 50% of respondents placed New York's junior
senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, there with him. Meanwhile, First Lady
Laura Bush, according to a 45% plurality of survey participants, would
be a good fit for Huffelpuff.
Pint-sized witch Hermione Granger would easily be elected President over
both Harry Potter and pal Ron Weasley. The poll finds that 57% of the
books' fans would elect her president, while just one-in-four (25%)
would choose the books' hero. His somewhat awkward and clumsy friend,
Ron, fared worst, however: just 5% would vote for the young redheaded
wizard.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1010
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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U.S SPENDS DOUBLE ON HEALTHCARE COMPARED TO 29 INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS
ST PETERSBURG TIMES - America's fragmented health care system is the
costliest in the world. The latest study, conducted by Johns Hopkins
University researchers and reported this month in Health Affairs, offers
more evidence of the same. The United States spent $5,267 per person on
health care in 2002. That's more than double, per capita, what 29 other
industrialized nations spent. The total amounts to 14.6 percent of the
U.S. gross domestic product. The United Kingdom, by comparison, spent
7.7 percent.
http://sptimes.com/2005/07/16/Opinion/The_wrong_Rx.shtml
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SCHOOLS & THE YOUNG
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STUDENTS SAY HIGH SCHOOLS LET THEM DOWN
NY TIMES - A large majority of high school students say their class work
is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder
if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online
nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors
Association.
The survey, being released on Saturday by the association, also found
that fewer than two-thirds believe that their school had done a good job
challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the
same number of students said their senior year would be more meaningful
if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of
their courses could be counted toward college credit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/education/16STUDENTS.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1121486702-6ASW/YlaQ2MRfAD8Rx4B+Q
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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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TO GET INTO DISNEY PARKS YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR FINGERPRINTS ON FILE
CHANNEL 6, FL - The addition of finger scanning technology at the
entrances of Walt Disney World theme parks for all visitors has caused
concern among privacy advocates, according to a Local 6 News report.
I think it's a step in the wrong direction," Civil Liberties Union
spokesman George Crossley said. "I think it is a step toward collection
personal information on people regardless of what Disney says. Tourists
visiting Disney theme parks in Central Florida must now provide their
index and middle fingers to be scanned before entering the front gates.
http://www.local6.com/news/4724689/detail.html
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INDICATORS
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The List
TOP GROSSING MOVIES ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
[From Movie Times]
Star Wars
The Sound of Music
E.T.
The Ten Commandments
Titanic
Jaws
Doctor Zhivago
The Jungle Book
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Ben-Hur
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Exorcist
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Sting
Mary Poppins
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jurassic Park
Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace
The Graduate
http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/alltime.mv?adjusted+ByAG
FROM ZOGBY
- 39% of Americans throw out recyclables on a regular basis. 14% throw
out recyclables on a regular basis despite local mandatory recycling
laws. 26% throw out cans and bottles despite paying a deposit.
- 79% of Americans vote for the person they are more comfortable with as
their chief executive, and 78% do the same when voting for governor.
Only 19% to 20% in each instance cast their ballot for the party rather
than the person. On the local level, party-line voting plunges to 11%
for mayoral candidates, with 85% voting for the person they feel is most
qualified.
- 42% of Americans listen to talk radio on their morning commute.
http://www.zogby.com
RANDY HAMMER, PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL, FL - You can't buy the Pensacola
News Journal at Wal-Mart anymore. The store ordered us off their
property, told us to come pick up our newspaper racks and clear out.
So we did. . . Some managers at Wal-Mart didn't appreciate a column Mark
O'Brien wrote last month about the downside of the cheap prices that Sam
Walton's empire has brought to America. We all pay a little less, and
sometimes a lot less, at the grocery store and department store because
of Mr. Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. . .
Leave it to old Mark, whose column runs four days a week in this
newspaper, to find a downside to this:
"I like Wal-Mart prices the same as the next shopper, but there's a
downside, too. Many Wal-Mart employees lack the fringe benefits and
insurance that makes the difference between existence and a good quality
of life. Yet, we customers pay a surcharge from a different pocket —
subsidizing health care for Wal-Mart employees who can't afford it."
Mark then described how [Tom] Friedman's book pointed out that more than
10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees are in a Georgia health-care
program, which costs the state's taxpayers nearly $10 million a year.
Mark also pointed out that a New York Times report found that 31 percent
of the patients at a North Carolina hospital were Wal-Mart employees on
Medicaid.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050724/OPINION/507240314/1020
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DISNEY PLANS PRE-TEENAGE CELLPHONES
TIME - The Walt Disney Internet Group announced in early July that it is
teaming up with Sprint to develop a line of mobile phones, due out next
year, aimed squarely at preteen children. Meanwhile, the market is
already filling up. In March, Firefly Mobile debuted a model designed
for the lunch-box set. Later this summer, a company called Wherify will
debut its Wherifone, and in September, Enfora will introduce its
version, the TicTalk. . .
Instead of the standard numbered keypads, the kid phones have a limited
number of oversize keys and controls that prevent children from dialing
or receiving calls from numbers that parents haven't programmed in.
Wherifone comes equipped with a global-positioning system so parents
http://www.commercialalert.org/news-featuredin.php?article_id=766&subcategory_id=&category=&year=2005&month=07&day=24
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THE MEDIACRACY
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THE MEDIA'S ALREADY DECIDED: THE ONLY CANDIDATE IS CLINTON
YOU MAY NOT be aware that several potential candidates for president
spoke at the recent meeting of the Democratic Abandonship Council, the
corporado group most responsible for the decline of the Democratic Party
over the past decade. The reason for this is that the press gave almost
all its attention to Hilary Clinton. The rest got the treatment accorded
by the LA Times' Ronald Brownstein:
|||| Besides Clinton, about 500 elected officials and DLC supporters
heard from Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), the group's outgoing chairman; Iowa
Gov. Tom Vilsack, who replaced Bayh this month; and Virginia Gov. Mark
R. Warner. . . Each of the potential candidates delivered campaign-style
speeches that blended criticism of the Bush administration with calls
for Democrats to pursue centrist policies on issues such as national
defense, energy and the federal budget. ||||
Brownstein, however, did at least go outside the monied halls of the DLC
for some comment:
|||| Since Clinton left office, a broad array of liberal activists, many
of them clustered around left-leaning websites such as the Daily Kos,
have accused the DLC of weakening the party by advocating positions they
say have blurred distinctions with the GOP. These include support for
the Iraq war and free-trade policies.
David Sirota, a Democratic consultant who has his own liberal Web log,
responded to news of the "American Dream Initiative" by warning that
Democrats would be doomed to "permanent minority status" if they
followed the DLC direction.
"The fact is, the Democratic Party has to make a choice: Is it going to
continue to follow the DLC, be a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate
America, and lose elections for the infinite future," he wrote in an
e-mail. "Or is it going to go back to its roots of really representing
the middle class and standing up for ordinary people's economic rights?"
||||
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dlc26jul26,0,1878987.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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CITIES
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AFFORDABLE HOUSING DISAPPEARING IN METRO AREAS
JAMES M. WOODARD, COPLEY NEWS SERVICE - Teachers, police officers,
firefighters, retail sales workers - a huge number of folks we depend on
for providing a quality and safe lifestyle in our communities are having
a tough time finding a residence they can afford. Increasingly, they are
forced to spend a disproportionate share of their incomes on housing,
according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders. The
study revealed that the vast majority of rental apartments (about 92
percent) are beyond the reach of low to moderate-income families. They
must spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent.
The study also noted that in the few neighborhoods where workers could
afford to rent, the housing was older and more likely to be vacant,
suggesting there might be problems with construction quality. . .
Of the 21,000 Census tracts that comprise the top 25 metro areas, the
study identified only 1,000 tracts in which at least half the rental
stock would be affordable to a household supported by a retail sales
worker spending 30 percent or less of their monthly salary on rent.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=1593&topicId=21355&docId=l:297821498
______________________________________________________________________________
PAYOLA BACK IN RADIO BIG TIME
ROGER FRIEDMAN, FOX NEWS - The internal memos from Sony Music, revealed
today in the New York state attorney general's investigation of payola
at the company, will be mind blowing to those who are not so jaded to
think records are played on the radio because they're good. We've all
known for a long time that contemporary pop music stinks. We hear "hits"
on the radio and wonder, "How can this be?"
Now we know. And memos from both Sony's Columbia and Epic Records senior
vice presidents of promotions circa 2002-2003 — whose names are redacted
in the reports but are well known in the industry — spell out who to pay
and what to pay them in order to get the company's records on the air.
From Epic, home of J-Lo, a memo from Nov. 12, 2002, a "rate" card that
shows radio stations in the Top 23 markets will receive $1000, Markets
23-100 get $800, lower markets $500. "If a record receives less than 75
spins at any given radio station, we will not pay the full rate," the
memo to DJs states. "We look forward to breaking many records together
in the future."
Take Jennifer Lopez's awful record, "Get Right," with its shrill horn
and lifted rap. It's now clear that was a "bought" sensation when it was
released last winter. So, too, were her previous "hits," "I'm Glad" and
"I'm Real," according to the memos. All were obtained by Sony laying out
dough and incentives. It's no surprise. There isn't a person alive who
could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.
Announced today: Sony Music — now known as Sony/BMG — has to pony up a
$10 million settlement with New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
It should be $100 million. And this won't be the end of the
investigation. Spitzer's office is looking into all the record
companies. This is just the beginning. . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163537,00.html#1
______________________________________________________________________________
JUST AS YOU SUSPECTED, THE BRITISH HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH SINCE THE ICE
AGE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - Despite invasions by Saxons, Romans, Vikings,
Normans, and others, the genetic makeup of today's white Britons is much
the same as it was 12,000 ago, a new book claims. In The Tribes of
Britain, archaeologist David Miles says around 80 percent of the genetic
characteristics of most white Britons have been passed down from a few
thousand Ice Age hunters.
Miles, research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford,
England, says recent genetic and archaeological evidence puts a new
perspective on the history of the British people. "There's been a lot of
arguing over the last ten years, but it's now more or less agreed that
about 80 percent of Britons' genes come from hunter-gatherers who came
in immediately after the Ice Age," Miles said.
These nomadic tribes people followed herds of reindeer and wild horses
northward to Britain as the climate warmed. . .
The most visible British genetic marker is red hair, he added. The
writer Tacitus noted the Romans' surprise at how common it was when they
arrived 2,000 years ago. "It's something that foreign observers have
often commented on," Miles said. "Recent studies have shown that there
is more red hair in Scotland and Wales than anywhere else in the world.
It's a mutation that probably occurred between 8,000 and 10,000 years
ago."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0719_050719_britishgene.html
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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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LOCAL HERO: 15 YEAR OLD TAKES ON CURFEW AND WINS
KATE HOLTON, NEWS, AUSTRALIA A teenager has won a landmark High Court
ruling against the legality of child curfew zones, leaving Prime
Minister Tony Blair's high-profile bid to reduce anti-social behavior in
disarray. The boy, 15, brought the case against the Metropolitan Police
and his council over their right to remove any under-16-year-old
unaccompanied by an adult from an area after 9 pm, regardless of their
behavior. Lord Justice Brooke said everyone should have the right to
"walk the streets without interference from police".
He also said the law did not give police the right to force someone to
go home. The boy, known as W for legal reasons, said the use of curfews
infringed his right to liberty under the European Convention on Human
Rights, and discriminated against him because he was a child.
"Of course I have no problem with being stopped by the police if I've
done something wrong," he said in a statement. "But they shouldn't be
allowed to treat me like a criminal just because I'm under 16."
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said the ruling would affect curfew
orders across the country, but she insisted police still had powers to
break up large groups of teenagers causing trouble. However, they cannot
insist they go home.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15996180-23109,00.html
______________________________________________________________________________
SOCIALIST CANDIDATE WINS RIGHT TO KEEP DONOR LIST SECRET
SEATTLE TIMES -The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission unanimously
granted a request yesterday by a socialist candidate for mayor to
conceal the names of his campaign donors from public disclosure. Chris
Hoeppner, a member of the Socialist Workers Party, had sought the
exemption, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling which found exemptions
appropriate if donors to candidates with unpopular political views could
reasonably fear harassment if their names were made public.
Though the office of Seattle mayor is nonpartisan, Jim Lobsenz,
Hoeppner's attorney, presented evidence that supporters of candidates
identifying themselves as socialists have been threatened and harassed
in Seattle and across the country. Though some commissioners expressed
discomfort with the notion of hiding donors' identities, they noted the
city had already lost a federal court case after the commission denied a
similar request by a socialist candidate in 2003.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002382719_ethics15m.html
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POLITICS
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GOVERNORS REVOLTING AT COST OF NEW DRIVER LICENSE REQUIREMENTS
AP - In the name of homeland security, motorists are going to see costs
skyrocket for driver's licenses and motor vehicle offices forced to
operate like local branches of the FBI, the nation's governors warn. The
new federal law squeezed this spring into an $82 billion spending bill
had Republican and Democratic governors fuming at their summer
conference, with several bringing their complaints to Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff at a meeting yesterday.
"It's outrageous to pass this off on the states," said Republican Mike
Huckabee of Arkansas, who will succeed Virginia Gov. Mark Warner as
chairman of the National Governors Association. "You're essentially
asking the front-line clerks at the DMV to become an INS agent and a law
enforcement agent."
The law that passed in June goes beyond an earlier measure that sought
to standardize state driver's licenses, requiring that states verify
license applicants are American citizens or legal residents. "This is
going to drive the cost of driver's licenses for ordinary folks through
the roof," said Democrat Tom Vilsack of Iowa. "I think it's going to
drive people crazy."
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050718-103446-4649r
______________________________________________________________________________
KATHLEEN HUNTER, STATELINE - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) became
the first to threaten to challenge the law in court for infringing on
states' rights. . . Richardson told Stateline that the stronger
identification verification rules, adopted by Congress May 10 as a
national security measure, are costly and intrusive and
unconstitutionally trample states' rights. "This is a state function,
and I think it's bad policy. In New Mexico, the Legislature approved a
measure to provide licenses to illegal immigrants, and it's working. It
increases safety. It increases insurance rates by motorists. ... This is
going to be a nightmare. So we will challenge it constitutionally. ...
We'll sue," Richardson said.
New Mexico is one of 10 states that do not require license applicants to
demonstrate they are legally present in the United States, effectively
granting licenses to illegal immigrants. . .
http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=43671
______________________________________________________________________________
DON'T EXPECT ANY LANCE ARMSTRONGS FROM BROWARD COUNTY
CHRIS KAHN, SUN SENTINEL - Andrea Levin is grateful that Broward County
schools care about her daughter's safety. But this year when they posted
a sign that demanded "no running" on the playground, it seemed like
overkill. "I realize we want to keep kids from cracking their heads
open," said Levin, whose daughter is a Gator Run Elementary fifth grader
in Weston. "But there has to be a place where they can get out and run."
Broward's "Rules of the Playground" signs, bought from an equipment
catalogue and displayed at all 137 elementary schools in the district,
are just one of several steps taken to cut down on injuries and the
lawsuits they inspire. "It's too tight around the equipment to be
running," said Safety Director Jerry Graziose, the Broward County
official who ordered the signs. "Our job was to try to control it."
How about swings or those hand-pulled merry-go-rounds?
"Nope. They've got moving parts. Moving parts on equipment is the number
one cause of injury on the playgrounds."
Teeter-totters?
"Nope. That's moving too."
Sandboxes?
"Well, I have to be careful about animals" turning them into litter
boxes.
Cement crawl tubes?
"Vagrants. The longer they are, the higher possibility that a vagrant
could stay in them. We have shorter ones now that are made out of
plastic or fiberglass."
Broward playgrounds aren't the only ones to avoid equipment that most
adults remember. Swings, merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters and other old
standards are vanishing from schools and parks around the country,
according to the National Program for Playground Safety.
"Kids aren't using them the way they're supposed to," said the agency's
director, Donna Thompson, who led a national effort to get rid of animal
swings two years ago. "I'm pleased that a lot of these are
disappearing.". . .
"To say `no running' on the playground seems crazy," said Bartleman, who
agreed to be interviewed on a recent outing at Everglades. "But your
feelings change when you're in a closed-door meeting with lawyers."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cplaygroundjul18,0,4929507.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
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INDICATORS
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TEN WORST PLACES TO BE BLACK
BRUCE DIXON, BLACK COMMENTATOR - About half the nation's 2.2 million
prisoners are black. With only 36 million of us, that's an astounding
3% of African Americans, counting all ages and both sexes, languishing
behind bars, with a roughly equal number on probation, parole, house
arrest or other court supervision. Almost one in three 18-year-old black
males across the board is likely to catch a felony conviction, and in
some communities nearly half the black male workforce under 40 have
criminal records. A felony conviction in America is a stunningly
accurate predictor of a life of insecure employment at poverty-level
wages and no health care, of fragile family ties, of low educational
attainment and limited or no civic participation, and a strong
likelihood of re-imprisonment. Each month, tens of thousands of
jobless, skill-less, stigmatized and often anti-socialized ex-prisoners
are released back into communities that lack job and educational
opportunities, where intact families are more the exception than the
rule, and where upward social mobility is a myth. . .
So if you want to know where black families fare the worst, where the
lowest wages and life expectancy are, where to find the highest
unemployment and the greatest number of single parent households among
African Americans, you don't need an online survey. You certainly don't
count the black businesses or the black elected officials. You count
the black prisoners, and the former prisoners, and the ruined
communities they come from and are discharged into. That's what BC did,
and here are the results.
Wisconsin leads the nation in the percentage of its black inhabitants
under lock and key. Just over four percent of black Wisconsin,
including the very old and the very young of both sexes, are behind
bars. Most of the state's African Americans reside in the Milwaukee
area, and most of its black prisoners are drawn from just a handful of
poor and economically deprived black communities where jobs, intact
families and educational opportunities are the most scarce, and paroled
back into those same neighborhoods. So Wisconsin, and in particular the
Milwaukee area justly merit the invidious distinction of the worst place
in the nation to be black.
Iowa, with only a small black population, is not far behind. The crime
control industries in Wisconsin and Iowa seem to have learned to make
the most efficient use of the preferred human material available to
them, locking up the few black inhabitants of those states at a rate
11.6 times higher than whites.
Texas, the nation's second largest state, is the third worst place to be
black in America, and is in a class by itself, first because its
extraordinary rate of black incarceration affects such a large
population. Only New York has more African Americans than Texas, and
only the two relatively small states previously mentioned lock up a
higher percentage of their black citizens. Though California has 50
percent more people, Texas has a slightly larger prison population and
only a 5 to 1 ratio between its black and white rates of imprisonment.
We may safely assume that since very few of its wealthy Texans are
behind bars, Texas is just a very bad place to be poor, whether you're
black or not.
REST OF THE LIST
http://www.blackcommentator.com/146/146_cover_dixon_ten_worst.html
______________________________________________________________________________
MOST POTTER FANS WOULD PUT DUBYA AND HRC IN SLYTHERIN
[We don't understand a word of this, but we are led to believe there are
some out there who do]
ZOGBY - With Saturday's release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince set for midnight, a new Zogby Interactive poll finds that most
Americans would place themselves in Ravenclaw, one of the four mythical
houses at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - but would
place both President Bush and New York Senator Hillary Clinton in
Slytherin, home to such treacherous characters as Harry Potter's
arch-rival, Draco Malfoy.
Despite the fact the main character resides in Gryffindor, the house
that respondents were reminded values loyalty and courage, most adults
saw themselves in Ravenclaw (41%), where intelligence and wit are the
attributes most valued. Gryffindor was second, at 30%, followed by
Huffelpuff, where loyalty, patience and hard work are valued, at 23%.
Slytherin, where cunning and ambition are considered the ultimate
virtues, was the house where just 2% of respondents saw themselves.
However, the same respondents who could not see themselves in Slytherin
could picture two prominent citizens there: 52% placed George W. Bush in
Draco Malfoy's digs, while 50% of respondents placed New York's junior
senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, there with him. Meanwhile, First Lady
Laura Bush, according to a 45% plurality of survey participants, would
be a good fit for Huffelpuff.
Pint-sized witch Hermione Granger would easily be elected President over
both Harry Potter and pal Ron Weasley. The poll finds that 57% of the
books' fans would elect her president, while just one-in-four (25%)
would choose the books' hero. His somewhat awkward and clumsy friend,
Ron, fared worst, however: just 5% would vote for the young redheaded
wizard.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1010
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HEALTH & SCIENCE
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U.S SPENDS DOUBLE ON HEALTHCARE COMPARED TO 29 INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS
ST PETERSBURG TIMES - America's fragmented health care system is the
costliest in the world. The latest study, conducted by Johns Hopkins
University researchers and reported this month in Health Affairs, offers
more evidence of the same. The United States spent $5,267 per person on
health care in 2002. That's more than double, per capita, what 29 other
industrialized nations spent. The total amounts to 14.6 percent of the
U.S. gross domestic product. The United Kingdom, by comparison, spent
7.7 percent.
http://sptimes.com/2005/07/16/Opinion/The_wrong_Rx.shtml
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SCHOOLS & THE YOUNG
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STUDENTS SAY HIGH SCHOOLS LET THEM DOWN
NY TIMES - A large majority of high school students say their class work
is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder
if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online
nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors
Association.
The survey, being released on Saturday by the association, also found
that fewer than two-thirds believe that their school had done a good job
challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the
same number of students said their senior year would be more meaningful
if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of
their courses could be counted toward college credit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/education/16STUDENTS.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1121486702-6ASW/YlaQ2MRfAD8Rx4B+Q
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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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TO GET INTO DISNEY PARKS YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR FINGERPRINTS ON FILE
CHANNEL 6, FL - The addition of finger scanning technology at the
entrances of Walt Disney World theme parks for all visitors has caused
concern among privacy advocates, according to a Local 6 News report.
I think it's a step in the wrong direction," Civil Liberties Union
spokesman George Crossley said. "I think it is a step toward collection
personal information on people regardless of what Disney says. Tourists
visiting Disney theme parks in Central Florida must now provide their
index and middle fingers to be scanned before entering the front gates.
http://www.local6.com/news/4724689/detail.html
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INDICATORS
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The List
TOP GROSSING MOVIES ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
[From Movie Times]
Star Wars
The Sound of Music
E.T.
The Ten Commandments
Titanic
Jaws
Doctor Zhivago
The Jungle Book
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Ben-Hur
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Exorcist
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
The Sting
Mary Poppins
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jurassic Park
Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace
The Graduate
http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/alltime.mv?adjusted+ByAG
FROM ZOGBY
- 39% of Americans throw out recyclables on a regular basis. 14% throw
out recyclables on a regular basis despite local mandatory recycling
laws. 26% throw out cans and bottles despite paying a deposit.
- 79% of Americans vote for the person they are more comfortable with as
their chief executive, and 78% do the same when voting for governor.
Only 19% to 20% in each instance cast their ballot for the party rather
than the person. On the local level, party-line voting plunges to 11%
for mayoral candidates, with 85% voting for the person they feel is most
qualified.
- 42% of Americans listen to talk radio on their morning commute.
http://www.zogby.com
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 4:35 AM
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