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US: Long-term jobless give mixed reviews to Obama's speech

Zachary Roth
The Lookout
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:42 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Julie Jacobson
Tera Burbank and John Clark had been out of work over two years in February 2011
You've heard what the pundits and expert analysts are saying about President Obama's jobs speech. But what about the real targets of the address: the long-term unemployed?

We asked Yahoo! readers who've recently been out of work for six months or more to tell us whether they heard anything last night that makes them more optimistic, or whether they saw the speech as more of the same. The verdict? We'd call it mixed.

Lisa W. was pleased. "I liked what the president said. It gave me hope," she told us. "Especially the part about the extension of unemployment benefits. Which I hope I don't have to use."

Lisa also gave high marks to the jobs training program that Obama announced. "I would work anywhere for more training," she wrote. "I'm not ashamed. It beats the heck out of sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring."

Another of the president's ideas appealed to James F. "Of particular interest to my situation were tax breaks for companies hiring those unemployed for more than 6 months (I'm getting close to 2 years)," he wrote.
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X

US: Cherokees Expel Descendants of Slaves from Tribe

Justin Juozapavicus
The Associated Press
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press
In late March, freedmen rallied supporters at the state capitol in Oklahoma City.
One of the nation's largest American Indian tribes has sent letters to about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by its members, revoking their citizenship and cutting their medical care, food stipends, low-income homeowners' assistance and other services.

The Cherokee Nation acted this week after its Supreme Court upheld the results of a 2007 special vote to amend the Cherokee constitution and remove the slaves' descendants and other non-Indians from tribal rolls. The 300,000-member tribe is the biggest in Oklahoma, although many of its members live elsewhere.

Olive Anderson, 70, of Kansas City, Mo., called the letter she received "a slap in the face."

"It tears me up to think they can attack my ancestors," Anderson said.

The tribe never owned black slaves, but some individual members did. They were freed after the Civil War, in which the tribe allied with the Confederacy. An 1866 treaty between the tribe and the federal government gave the freedmen and their descendants "all the rights of native Cherokees."

But more than 76 percent of Cherokee voters approved the amendment stripping the descendants of their citizenship. Tribal leaders who backed the amendment, including then-Principal Chief Chad Smith, said the vote was about the fundamental right of every government to determine its citizens, not about racial exclusion.
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Attention

US: Dallas, Texas mother 'glued two-year-old daughter's hands to wall and beat her into a coma'

John Stevens
Dailymail.co.uk
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:29 UTC
A two-year-old girl is fighting for her life after her mother allegedly glued her hands to the wall and beat her into a coma because she was struggling with potty training.

Elizabeth Escalona, 22, faces child abuse charges after she allegedly dragged her daughter through the house in Dallas and tortured her, leaving her with countless injuries and possible brain damage.

The toddler, Joselyn Cedillo, is on life support in hospital. According to police records, glue and paint were stuck to her palms, with skin torn away in places.
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Info

After Death: 8 Burial Alternatives That Are Going Mainstream

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:17 UTC
Cemetary
© Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience
A cemetery in Red Lodge, Montana.

The ancient world is full of examples of burial customs that seem strange now, from Egyptian mummification to bodies dumped in bogs to departed Vikings launched out on ships-turned-crematoriums. But space constraints and environmental concerns are pushing modern man to explore new options for dealing with the dead.

The most recent of these to land on American shores is a process that uses heat, pressure and chemicals to liquefy a body in just a few hours, leaving behind sterile remains that can be poured into the wastewater system.

But unusual customs, from launching cremated remains into space to old-fashioned burials in hand-dug graves, are a growing trend. Here are some of the newest choices (not all eco-friendly) for the end of life.
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Compass

US: Longshoremen Storm Washington State Port, Damage Railroad


The Associated Press
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Don Ryan
Police and union workers clash during a tense moment as union workers block a grain train in Longview, Wash., Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011.
Longview, Washington - Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.

No one was hurt, and nobody has been arrested. Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union believes it has the right to work at the facility, but the company has hired a contractor that's staffing a workforce of other union laborers.

Thursday's violence was first reported by Kelso radio station KLOG.
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Book

Police: US Woman's Home Had 2,000 Stolen Library Books 'Everywhere'

Tom Reopelle
Columbia Broadcasting Systems
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 07:47 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Oceanside, California: Police say a Southland woman suspected of stealing thousands of public library books and DVDs was likely going to hold a book sale of her own.

KNX 1070′s Tom Reopelle reports the investigation began when staff at a Carlsbad library noticed a significant loss of books between March and July coupled with suspicious activity by a frequent patron.

Authorities searched the Vista home of Maria Natar, 44, and found an estimated 2,000 books from Carlsbad and San Diego County libraries - most of which were about cooking, crafts, and animals.

"They were just everywhere, on shelves, in bins, stacks on the floor, just pretty much everywhere," said police spokeswoman Jodee Sasway.

The arrest came after Natar made a recent stop at the library to pick up some books.

"When she exited the library, the sensors went off, alerting the library people that not all the books were checked out," said Sasway.
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Laptop

Court bans man called Peter from calling himself Peter

Anna Leach
The Register
Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:34 UTC
Because he is accused of being Anonymous

A man called Peter has been banned from using the name "Peter" on the internet as a bail condition after being charged today with unauthorised use of a computer.

Peter David Gibson, 22, from Hartlepool, was among three men and one unnamed 17-year-old charged at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court this morning for offences in connection with the LulzSec and Anonymous hacks.
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Dollar

Germany: Deutsche Bank CEO Just Gave A Terrifying Speech In Frankfurt

Courtney Comstock
Business Insider
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:23 UTC
Image
Josef Ackermann just gave a terrifying speech about the fragility of the Euro banking sector right now.

At a conference in Frankfurt he said, "It is an open secret that numerous European banks would not survive having to revalue sovereign debt held on the banking book at market levels."

We have translated the speech based on Handelsbatt's, the organizer of the event where Ackermann spoke, account of it.

"In recent weeks, the distrust of the financial markets has spread to the banks because they are now suffering from the debt crisis in Europe and have a lot of exposure to, for example, Greek bonds."

"Since the financial crisis, some European banks have lost a third or more of their market capitalization," he said, according to Google Translate.

"Most institutions have a rating of "below the book value or at best."
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Bad Guys

Britain gives up legal sovereignty over European treaty

Steve Doughty
Daily Mail
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:42 UTC
Britain yesterday surrendered 1,000 years of legal sovereignty in return for a European extradition treaty.

Judges and magistrates across the continent will be given the power to demand the arrest and handover of British citizens simply by naming them as suspects.

The pact sweeps away the right of people in this country to turn to the courts here for defence against charges abroad.

Also brushed aside will be the historic principle that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and the habeas corpus protection against unjustified imprisonment.

The treaty, being rushed through as part of the war on terror, covers 32 categories ranging from fraud and rape to 'xenophobia' and ' corruption' - offences which are currently not recognised in British law.
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Light Saber

US: Congresswoman Lee Introduces Bill to Repeal the Authorization to Use Military Force

David Swanson
Truth Out
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:57 UTC
Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, like Jeanette Rankin before her, bravely stood alone in Congress against a vote for war, the vote in 2001 for the so-called Authorization to Use Military Force, a Constitutionally dubious passing of the war decision buck to President Bush and his successors. A majority of Americans now believes that the Afghanistan War that followed that authorization never should have been begun and should, in fact, be ended. So, the Congresswoman, along with initial cosponsors Jones, Woolsey, Grijalva, Conyers, and Honda, is offering us a second chance, a chance to get our response to 9-11 right, to restore war powers to the Congress, and to impose the will of the people on that body.

Congresswoman Lee has sent her colleagues this letter, which we should each send them ourselves by email, fax, phone, carrier pigeon, and by nailing it to their cathedral doors:
"Dear Colleague:

"Please join me as an original cosponsor of the 'Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act of 2011.' This legislation repeals the joint resolution providing overly-broad authorization to the President to use all necessary and appropriate force against those involved in attacking our nation and to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States.
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