US: Bush's Former Campaign Manager Apologizes for Anti-Gay Marriage Agenda
President George W. Bush's re-election campaign manager and openly gay former Republican Committee chairman Ken Mehlman expressed regret with his role in the 2004 campaign's anti-gay marriage agenda. Mehlman, who left the Republican National Committee to work for a private equity firm shortly after coming out in 2010, apologized in an interview for pushing against gay marriage in 2004.
"At a personal level, I wish i had spoken out against the effort. As I've been involved in the fight for marriage equality, one of the things I've learned is how many people were harmed by the campaigns in which I was involved," said Mehlman in an interview with Salon. "I apologize to them and tell them I am sorry. While there have been recent victories, this could still be a long struggle in which there will be setbacks, and I'll do my part to be helpful."
Society's Child
© Unknown
© Dana Jensen/The Day
Members of the City of Groton Police Department talk to Erin Mitchell of New Haven before arresting her Wednesday for crossing a police line during a protest outside the main entrance of the Pfizer Research & Development facility in Groton.
Members of the City of Groton Police Department talk to Erin Mitchell of New Haven before arresting her Wednesday for crossing a police line during a protest outside the main entrance of the Pfizer Research & Development facility in Groton.
Seven of the protesters linked arms just outside the pharmaceutical giant's entrance and refused to move, telling a Pfizer contractor that they wanted to talk to a company official about its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is an organization that brings legislators and corporations together to write new laws that protesters say favor corporations over working people.
"Unfortunately, as usual, we didn't get a response," Jason Morris of New London said.
Chanting slogans such as "Hey, Pfizer, what's the news - we just want to talk to you," the seven protesters were ushered peacefully into a van by state and Groton City police as the Occupy group yelled, "The whole world is watching," harkening back to language of the 1970s peace movement.
© Mother Jones
Big Bank Theory
Big Bank Theory
Ecologists say that when the gene-pool of a species is reduced beyond a certain point that species is in danger of extinction because it may not have enough alternative genes to recover from a negative event such as a plague etc.
Could this concept be applied to our new globalized economy and even to our educational resources?
When I saw the documentary "Food Inc", I was surprised to learn that less than half a dozen corporations control almost all of American agriculture and food production.
I was talking to someone on the far left the other day who said that economic power has become so concentrated in the USA that if you nationalized some 20 corporations, then, in one blow, you would have created a de facto, ad hoc, "real existent socialism". He gave Walmart as an example of a perfect "planned economy". Maybe he is on to something.
© Jose Luis Villegas / jvillegas@sacbee.com
Tommy Lee Daniels listens as he is sentenced for the conviction of molesting five girls in his Citrus Heights home between 2003 and 2005 Sacramento, Calif.
Tommy Lee Daniels listens as he is sentenced for the conviction of molesting five girls in his Citrus Heights home between 2003 and 2005 Sacramento, Calif.
In handing down the term to the 49-year-old Daniels, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Trena H. Burger-Plavan told the pastor he "took advantage of his position of trust and confidence with very young victims."
Daniels, exhibiting facial grimaces throughout the sentencing hearing, made no comment. He has continued to maintain his innocence. His attorney, Michael L. Chastaine, filed a motion for a new trial that the judge rejected. Chastaine said afterwards he intends to appeal the Dec. 8 verdict handed down by the Sacramento jury.
The five victims in the case were between the ages of 5 and 13 when Daniels touched them inappropriately while they were in his family's care in his Wapiti Place residence. The molestations took place in his house between December 2002 and August 2007.
© Memri- TV
One academic, Prof. Alex Vitae of Brooklyn College, discussed the impact of OWS "locally and nationally" and pondered "whether or not this will have momentum that could have more far-reaching implications." Prof. Heather Gautney of Fordham University noted that the Occupy movement is "entering more into social institutions, and trying to pressure politicians or pressure leadership" and said that she thought "that the movement is going to be incredibly active in pressuring politicians to start addressing issues of social inequality." Both she and Vitae mentioned OWS's possible impact on the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
Prof. John Hammond of City University of New York spoke of the future, mentioning a "big movement planned in New York City, called Occupy the Corporations," and demonstrations in Chicago in May where the G-8 summit is set to take place.
US, Maryland- A lawmaker is hoping to force a change in the way passengers at BWI are screened by security.
As Mike Schuh reports, he's upset about the controversial pat-down searches.
At BWI, Judy Majorfox is at the beginning of her journey to California. First stop: Security.
Schuh: "If you had your druthers, would you have a pat-down or no pat-down?"
Majorfox: "No pat-down."
Yes, she wants a safe plane...and security to keep their hands off.
"Well, you know there's machinery now that can do that for you," Majorfox said.
© Unknown
US - Is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) forcing women to endure full-body scans so that voyeuristic security officials can sneak a peek at their physiques? That's the charge being made by a local news affiliate in Dallas, which recently discovered a shocking pattern of abuse after reviewing complaints from more than 500 travelers.
According to an investigative report, one Dallas resident traveling out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was forced to undergo three scans before being allowed to board. The passenger, Ellen Terrell, told a local CBS news reporter that a female TSA screener asked her, "Do you play tennis?" When Mrs. Terrell asked, "Why?" the agent replied, "You just have such a cute figure."
After making Terrell go through the scanner twice, the TSA screener spoke into her microphone and was overheard saying: "Come on guys. All right, all right, one more time."
US - A Washington, D.C., charter school teacher has been fired after it was discovered the teacher had assigned third-grade students a number of math problems framed around violent and illegal scenarios.
At first, the unnamed teacher at the Trinidad Center City School claimed he had been ordered to assign the problems, but it was quickly discovered that the teacher had actually downloaded them from a free homeschooling website called "HomeschoolingParadise.com."
"I was absolutely distressed," Dr. Beverley Wheeler, the CEO of Center City PCS, which oversees Trinidad, told WUSA9. "It doesn't follow anything we do. We are about character, excellence and service and I found them to be violent and racist."
Even more baffling, other parents at the school say the teacher in question is a minister.
On 2/28/2012, smoke was observed from between reactor 2 and 3.
It was from 10:52 ~ 11:58. The smoke reached over the reactor buildings.
It was from 10:52 ~ 11:58. The smoke reached over the reactor buildings.
