News Roundup for The Week Ending April 11, 2008

This is the catch all basket for odd news items for the week ending April 11, 2008. We’ve got an escaped monkey in Orlando, Verizon employees picketing because their customer service is so bad, and a guy hitting a police horse. The elections supervisor can’t seem to get around to paying his property taxes either.

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Darwin on Today's Economy

Reuters has a report from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute showing that, “Since the late 1990’s average incomes have declined 2.5 percent for families on the bottom fifth of the country’s economic ladder, while incomes have increased 9.1 percent for families on the top fifth.” That got brought home to me tonight when I went to grab a bite to eat, and saw a couple have to forego eating so the kids could. More on that later in this story. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it.

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Baggage Handling at Tampa Airport

The Tampa Tribune is reporting that airport police have arrested three baggage handlers from Delta Global Services (contracted to handle Continental Airlines baggage) at TIA. It seems they had quite the little theft ring going stealing all sorts of electronics and sunglasses.

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News Roundup for the Week Ending March 21, 2008

Here’s the wrap up for some of the interesting stories for the week ending Friday, March 21, 2008. We’ve got a fight featuring beer and a hoe, and other fights using other interesting weapons. Starbucks is in the news, and we have a Mom getting her kid to pick her up some LSD at school, and Polk County deputies are smuggling pot into the jail.

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The Real Importance of Telecom Immunity to the Cheney Administration

Well, the House seems to be sticking to their guns, and not passing a FISA bill that will grant immunity to the telecom industry for illegal spying. This is critically important, because it’s the last best hope to have the illegal surveillance activities of the current Cheney Administration see the light of day. During a press conference on February 28, George Bush finally went rogue on Dick, and accidentally told the truth about the reason for telecom immunity.

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FBI Continues Revealing Surveillance Abuses

The AP reports that an audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year’s audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

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The Elliot Spitzer Affair

Good grief, could any more be made of this? New York Governor Elliot Spitzer had apparently been paying for a little something on the side, so now the Republicans demand that he resign. Senator David Vitter (R. Louisiana) was implicated in a prostitution case, but never resigned…why the double standard? Saying he’s involved in a prostitution ring is like me saying I’m involved in the fast food franchise business just because I ate at McDonald’s one day last week.

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